Ethan S. Winner Behind Palin Smear Campaign

Big: The Jawa Report has uncovered a great deal of information about the smear campaign targeting Sarah Palin. Read it and pass it on because the MSM surely won’t be covering it.

The Madness Starts Tonight in Rupp

Pat Forde does a good job capturing some of the essence that is Kentucky basketball. It all starts with the fans.

Tonight’s Big Blue Madness starts yet another wonderful year of Wildcat basketball and I can’t hardly wait!

Kentucky Greatest College Basketball Program

ESPN, completed a fun exercise back in July—ranking college basketball programs based on clear categorical data. Sounds fun right? Here’s how they weighted their rankings.

• National title … 25
• Title game loss … 20
• National semifinal loss … 15
• Elite Eight loss … 10
• Best W-L record in conference’s regular season … 5
• 30-plus wins in a season … 5
• Sweet 16 loss … 5
• Conference tournament title … 3
• AP first-team All-American … 3
• Losing in NCAA second round … 3
• Player in Top 10 of NBA draft … 2
• NCAA first-round win as a 12-16 seed … 2
• NIT title … 2
• AP second-team All-American … 2
• 20-29 wins in a season … 1
• NCAA tournament berth … 1
• Postseason NIT berth … 1
• AP third-team All-American … 1
• NCAA first-round loss to a 12-16 seed … -2
• Losing season … -3
• Ban from NCAA tournament … -3

Only problem is that they only went back to the 1984-85 season. This was when the NCAA Tournament field was expanded to 64 teams (and possibly when a majority of their readers were born). Here’s how their Top 10 fell out.

1. DUKE BLUE DEVILS
2. KANSAS JAYHAWKS
3. NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS
4. KENTUCKY WILDCATS
5. ARIZONA WILDCATS
6. CONNECTICUT HUSKIES
7. UCLA BRUINS
8. UNLV REBELS
9. SYRACUSE ORANGE
10. GEORGETOWN HOYAS

It’s hard to argue with the results. By why not go all the way back and find the true top program of all time? Well, that’s what Mike Miller of MSNBC decided to do. He used his own criteria:

Much like Street & Smith did a few years ago, I set up several categories and weighed teams against each other to see exactly how everyone stacked up. Historical success (overall wins and win percentage), NCAA Tournament results (titles, Final Fours, win percentages and appearances), conference titles, NBA players, NIT results and recent performance (dominant seasons and last NCAA tourney miss) were considered.

Using his weighting system, he came up with results very similar what D. A. Resler of Street & Smith did back in 2005. Here is Miller’s rankings with supporting evidence. The number after the school represents their score and like golf, the lower the better.

1. Kentucky, 64. ‘Cats among top 4 in 9 categories. Even if Billy Gillispie doesn’t reach a Final Four soon, UK isn’t dropping on this list anytime soon.
2. North Carolina, 87. Heels 2nd or 3rd in six areas. Only hurt by NIT, though they fared better than KU or UCLA there.
3. Kansas, 119. ‘Hawks were top 5 in 10 categories, including No. 1 in conference titles and recent dominant seasons. NIT showing kept it from No. 2.
4. UCLA, 124. Bruins’ 11 titles, 18 Final Fours and 72 NBA players were tops. Recent seasons, NIT showings were significant factors for fourth.
5. Duke, 127. Devils have best NCAA tourney win percentage. Speaks volumes for how dominant they’ve been lately. Need more conference crowns (21) to move up.
6. Indiana, 156. Five NCAA titles are behind only UK and UCLA. But Hoosiers could fall behind Louisville overall due to recent slippage.
7. Louisville, 166. Cards do it all well, ranking among top 30 in every category. Top 10 in five. Another Final Four or title would move them up.
8. Arizona, 189. ‘Cats haven’t missed NCAAs since ’84. Also don’t have an NIT win. What happens when Olson leaves?
9. Syracuse, 210. Overall consistency helps Orange. Recent NCAA misses and long run as independent (no conference titles) don’t.
10. Connecticut, 219. Multiple NCAA titles and recent excellence key to Huskies’ rise. So do 28 conference crowns.

So that settles it, right? My the most appropriate, non-emotional criteria, Kentucky leads the nation. Sounds about right to me.

For the complete list and more, read THE GREATEST PROGRAMS: A POSTMOTERM and this article about why Kentucky is the best—THE GREATEST PROGRAMS: NO. 1, KENTUCKY.

Abortion Has Harmful Effects on Women’s Mental Health

Pro-choice supporters claim that their position is in the best interest of women. Doing so while ignoring the data that shows abortion deals damage to more than just the baby.

This from the FRC.

Abortion has more than its share of moral complexities, but a panel of experts at FRC headquarters today showed that it poses an especially dangerous threat to women’s mental health. To a capacity crowd, experts and clinicians did what the American Psychological Association refused to do in its latest report on abortion and mental health: told the truth-the whole truth-about the relationship between abortion and depression, anxiety disorders, suicide, and substance abuse.

The prevalence of these symptoms among the 30 million women who have had the procedure is climbing at an alarming rate. While the research has yet to give pro-abortion leaders pause, the American people are taking the harmful effects of abortion very seriously. In a blockbuster poll released at today’s lecture, the Elliot Institute found that 85 percent of American adults believe that “significant emotional problems” after an abortion are “common” or “very common.” Only 15 percent of the people surveyed believe that abortion generally makes women’s lives better. Seventy-one percent of participants across the ideological spectrum said that conducting research on these post-abortion complications should be a moderate to high priority.

David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute, hinted at the policy implications of the study. “Politicians who ignore the issue of post-abortion complications are ignoring an important concern of the American people.” Of equal concern to pro-lifers is that millions of these women are suffering at the hands of government-funded organizations like Planned Parenthood.

The public is ready to address this problem. Is Congress? If you missed the discussion, we encourage you to log onto our website, www.frc.org, and watch this outstanding panel for yourself.

Dojo Info 10/9/08

1. Rocking out with a pair of full-size Rock Band guitars
   These are just the first of many new rhythm music videogame peripherals.
2. Christian drama `Fireproof’ has unexpected success
   Facing the Giants was just so-so in my book so I hadn’t planned on watching this one but maybe I should give it chance?
3. “Mail Goggles” Might Prevent E-mail Regrets
   Ha! Leave it to Google to come up with something so common sense.
4. BlackBerry Storm has touch screen you can feel
   Touch screens are overrated. Seriously. I just want my BlackBerry to get all of the emails sent to my email address. Cool Web browsing like the iPhone would be huge!
5. Pa. trading cards highlight brains, not brawn
   Yeah, this is gonna catch on… </sarcasm>

Dojo Info 10/6/08

1. German company claims puzzle is world’s biggest
   Those crazy Germans. How about putting your minds to something useful, you know, like ice cream that doesn’t melt so fast.
2. Full Motley Crue Album Hits Rock Band On October 14
   Not a big Crue fan but I’d d/l Looks That Kill in a heartbeat. More DLC coming including 3 more from The Offspring.
3. Rock Band 3 to Include Keyboard? [Rumor]
   I’ve wondered about this but the problem is the software interface. How many note lines could a screen handle for a keyboard?
4. Hospital tells grandfather, 71, that he’s pregnant
   Being that he’s 71 makes that quite the achievement, to say nothing about the fact that he’s a he. Being 42 myself, I can see where this news might be a bit disconcerting although… if Arnold could do it why couldn’t this guy?
5. New software turns PC into TiVo TV recorder
   Yeah, I love avoiding fees as much as the next guy but how many of you have computers next to your TVs? Honestly, am I just strange? Wait… don’t answer that.