What the NCAA will likely end up doing with this punishment program is encourage the smaller schools to cheat more and/or better. By punishing the honest little guy without rigorously investigating the dishonest big guy you've set dishonesty as the model behavior. If it does indeed proceed this way the NCAA program will encourage worse academics by the athletes and better coverup by the schools.

Mr. Meyers,

"the universe is not dying a heat death"

Really? What's happening then? Current consensus is that it will.

About the Xenu/Zeno thing. Zeno was the philospher that is famous for his paradox descriptions. And I believe there were some medieval explorers by that name, but the Philospoher is where it gets the name.

What's with all the people in the letters columns thinking everything is a hoax or fake?

I disagree. Her article intros are my favorite parts of the articles. That and the closing paragraphs. The in-between stuff is nice, but I'm not watching any of it so it isn't as much fun.

Someone should start airing ads for South Dakota.

Want to marry your sister, daughter, niece or mom and have a passel of kids? South Dakota is for you!

Want to have sex with people against their will and know you'll get kids you don't have to care for? South Dakota welcomes you!

So come to South Dakota today and father some unwanted children. You may go to jail, but Single Motherhood is all the rage.

Have sex with relatives and force them to bear your young! Inbreeding, it isn't just in Deliverance, it's a way of life for South Dakota!

I like that most people having a problem with the tables being turned on the conservative don't end up answering the question either, they just post a new question. Why? Because that's what conservatives do when they don't have an answer, they change the question to something they like better.

To "A Parent"

I'm not alive and reading this because "my mom chose not to kill me." I'm alive and reading this because my mom chose to have me. There's a big difference there.

How do I feel about that? I'm sorry the women in question didn't have full access to do so in all states. Lets take the fetus that you consider a baby out of the woman and see if it can survive. No? Then it really isn't a baby yet. Dr. Spock calling it one is a convenience of terminology, not a scientific definition. He's writing for people that are intending to have a child.

And lets consider the flip side of the problem that all the "Every Sperm is Sacred" crowd never wants to talk about. Abused children, unwanted children, abused women, abandoned children, mothers who can't take care of the children, people who might be fine parents some day, but not now and women horribly mutilated because of illegal abortions.

If you really want to reduce abortions, make birth control and sex ed universal. Support research into better birth control. You'll never end them all, human behavior and sex being what it is, but you can reduce them with real education and better social programs. The abstinance only nonsense is just that, nonsense.

As far as "debating cells in a petri dish", once the others on the "make all abortion illegal" side are willing to debate it, let me know. They aren't talking about 8 weeks, they're talking about ANY weeks. Just look at the earlier poster "A reader" who's arguing just that.

Here's the problem with most conservatives, including those making this type of argument. They have no ability to understand that not everyone is in the same situation they are. They look at themselves and think everyone in the world is exactly the same. They aren't.

Kate,

Don't forget the men that got them pregnant in the first place! Throw them in there too! And the makers of the bed/car/kitchen counter that was so condusive to conceiving in the first place. Oh, I'm sure we can think of more...

Kate,

Accessories. If you're going to be charging everyone else involved, might as well go all the way. They set in place the conditions for the woman to go to jail, so they should go too.

And don't fool yourself, what the "conservatives" want is to go back to the days when most types of sex were against the law and probably to expand it so all sex outside marriage is illegal.

The only way an answer could be used to make an ass out of him is if he knows the answer he'd give is actually wrong. If you say you save the 5 cell clusters as his logic would dicatate, there's no question it is the right thing to do. If you honestly believe they're as alive as the 2 year old, you won't look like an ass in your own opinion. There's also no hesitation, you see the 5 lives which are easier to save than that of the 2 year old, you save the 5, not the 1. Since he knows that's not really the case, he won't say it 'cause he'll look like an ass. He also can't tell the truth 'cause then he'll have admitted he knows what the right answer is.

It isn't a question of "gotcha", it isn't a question of who to save, it's the Right's inability to tell the truth. They've backed themselves into logical corners and the only possible response is to capitulate or plead the fifth.

and Alex3917, what a real conservative would do is save his or her own sorry ass and expect a fireman to do the saving.