Uncommon Sense

Visit a national park before it's too late

Yellowstone Canyon, Yellowstone National Park

There are few better respites from the hustle and bustle of work and life — and even fewer more affordable vacation spots — than America's national parks.

The opportunities for solitude and discovery are amazing, whether walking on a boardwalk above the geysers at Yellowstone or under the arches at Arches.

I have had the good fortune to do both.

As well as hike to "the Window" at Big Bend and crawl through the cave dwellings at Mesa Verde. And view, with jaw-dropping amazement, the canyons at Canyonlands, Black Canyon and biggest hole of them all, the Grand Canyon.

Every American should be required to visit at least one national park in their lifetime.

And as a nation, we must all do more to protect our national parks. Recently, we have failed in our role as stewards of these amazing natural gifts.

A downside to visiting the national parks is the encroaching civilization and the hardships it causes for the parks.

There's now a cell phone tower within eyeshot of Old Faithful at Yellowstone. And on most days, smog messes up the view at Big Bend and Great Smoky Mountains, and new subdivisions suck the water out of the Everglades.

Similar problems, as the Associated Press reports, can be found through the national park system, which in addition to the big "flagship parks" includes dozens of monuments, memorials, historic sites, seashores, nature preserves and other sites.

Here's the crux of the AP story:

An Associated Press review finds the national parks are facing unprecedented pressures inside and outside their borders from population growth, homeland security concerns and Americans' insatiable desires for conveniences such as hotels, restaurants, stores, cell phones and vacation homes.

Read the whole story here.

Here are my Top 10 Favorite National Parks, in alphabetical order (It's really unfair to rank them 1-10, as they are all spectacular in their own ways. The commentaries are my own.)

Arches National Park, Utah
Why go? The red-rock formations, including one of the largest concentrations of natural arches in the world.
Pressure from the outside world? Tourism and other development have made nearby Moab, Utah, a former mining town, a boom town again. Also, oil and gas firms have been given the OK to explore just outside the park's boundaries.

Big Bend National Park, Texas
Why go? In one wide-open space as big as Texas, you can explore three environments — desert, mountains and river.
Pressure from the outside world? Smog from industries in Mexico and U.S. often obscures the spectacular views. And in dry times, the Rio Grande slows to barely a trickle because of upstream development.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado
Why go?The narrow canyons, which at spots are more than 1,500 feet deep.
Pressure from the outside world? Developers would love to build luxury homes on approaches to the park. Outsiders also have their eyes on the water flowing through the canyon.

Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Why go? The convergence of the Colorado and the Green rivers produces some of the most spectacular canyons not named "Grand Canyon."
Pressure from the outside world? See Arches National Park.

Everglades National Park, Florida
Why go? There may be no better place than a swamp to witness the rich diversity of the natural world.
Pressure from the outside world? Millions of acres have been lost because of development. There are plenty who would love to take what's left. (For a primer, read "Skinny Dip," by Carl Hiaasen.)

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Why go? To feel really, really small.
Pressure from the outside world? Traffic, on the roads and in the air above, and encroaching tourist-related development.

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Why go? The most spectacular mountain vistas in the Lower 48.
Pressure from the outside world? Developers who want to sell the view, along with expensive new homes.

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
Why go? To attempt to answer these questions: Why did the Indians build on the cliff walls? Why did they leave? And where did they go?
Pressure from the outside world? I do not recall any that hindered the experience of visiting the park.

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Why go? To touch the sky.
Pressure from the outside world? Traffic and residential and commerical development creeping up right to the park's entrances.

Yellowstone National Park, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming
Why go? The geysers. The elk. The bears. The buffalos. The waterfalls. The mystery of it all.
Pressure from the outside world? The traffic. The tourists. The snowmobilers. The cell phone towers. The insanity of it all.

If I could only visit one park for the rest of my life, it would be Yellowstone, one of the most beautiful, most unique places on earth.

Where would you go?

Find the complete list of National Park Service sites here.

The death of Jesus is re-examined

Jesus may not have died like this

AFP has an intriguing story about how Jesus Christ may not have died on the cross exactly how his death has depicted over the years.

Of course, for believers, why he died, not how he died, is what really matters. Putting Jesus' death into historical or scientific context, as British researchers did, does not diminish that.

But then there are some who argue he didn't die on the cross at all.

Wal-Mart makes Plan B an option

Its conscientious objection policy, which allows its pharmacists to pick and choose which prescriptions they will fill based on their beliefs, is objectionable. But Wal-Mart deserves kudos for reversing its earlier opposition to dispensing emergency contraception, sometimes called "Plan B," at its pharmacies.

The company — the nation's largest pharmacist — announced Friday that start March 20, all of its pharmacies will stock Plan B.

Previously, the company had argued that emergency contraception — which essentially is a super-dose of birth control pills designed to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex — was not commonly prescribed or within the "usual needs of the community."

On Friday, though, a company spokesman acknowledged the opposite.

The Associated Press reports:

The announcement comes after Massachusetts last month ordered the world's largest retailer to stock the so-called Plan B pill, following a lawsuit by three Boston women against Wal-Mart.

Illinois also requires pharmacies to carry the prescription drug, and those are the only two states where Wal-Mart has so far stocked emergency contraception.

"We expect more states to require us to sell emergency contraceptives in the months ahead," said Ron Chomiuk, vice president of pharmacy for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart.

"Because of this, and the fact that this is an FDA-approved product, we feel it is difficult to justify being the country's only major pharmacy chain not selling it," Chomiuk said in a statement.

As a business, Wal-Mart has the right to decide what it will or won't see in its stores, as long as the product is legal. But its pharmacies also serve a public purpose, assisting in the health care of millions of women. If the FDA says emergency contraception is safe and that it is commonly used, it is only right that Wal-Mart dispense prescriptions.

As for pharmacists at Wal-Mart and other businesses, if they can't bring themselves to dispense an otherwise safe, legal drug, they should find another line of work.

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On Plan B, politics trumps science

Susan F. Wood, a former official with the Food and Drug Administration, writes in a guest column in this morning's Washington Post about a disturbing pattern during the Bush administration during "which our federal health agencies seem increasingly unable to operate independently and that this lack of independence compromises their mission of promoting public health and welfare."

An example of where politics has trumped science and good health, according to Wood, is the FDA's refusal to let the emergency contraceptive known as Plan B be available to women 17 or older over the counter. Plan B, which can prevent a pregnancy after unprotected sex, is available only by prescription. (The manufacturer addressed earlier concerns about possible abuse by juvenile girls by agreeing to limit OTC access to adults.)

For three years, the question of OTC access for Plan B has been before the FDA, and for three years, it's been one bureaucratic stall after another. Meanwhile, how many unborn lives have been lost to abortions performed because women did not have the Plan B option to prevent pregnancy?

Some who are opposed to abortion, including readers who commented on my previous post on this topic, suggest Plan B is an abortion by another, more antiseptic name.

Not true, writes Wood:

(T)he only connection this pill has with abortion is that it has the potential to prevent the need for one. Emergency contraceptive pills work exactly the same way as other birth control pills, and they do not interfere with or harm an existing pregnancy. Emergency contraception is simply a higher dose of daily birth control pills; it is not RU-486, the "abortion pill." Indeed, emergency contraception has been used as a method to prevent unintended pregnancies for decades by women who had physicians advise them on how many pills in their regular pill pack to take. So people who are comfortable with oral contraceptives as methods of contraception should be just as comfortable with emergency contraception.

The best government is one that is run competently, in which decisions are made in the best interests of the governed. On matters of health and science, that means relying on the best available objective evidence, and not on subjective notions of morality held by this or that political group. Too often, as on Plan B, the Bush administration has allowed politics, and not science, to guide its decision-making.

Wood concludes:

It's been nearly three years since the first application came in to make Plan B emergency contraception available over the counter, so that women, including rape victims, could have a second chance to prevent an unintended pregnancy and the need for an abortion. How many chances have we missed? I still can't explain what is going on here, and why women 17 and older are still denied this product in a timely way. When did adult access to contraception become controversial? And why have we allowed it to happen?

Remembering Columbia

Columbia's final crew

Three years ago this morning, a brilliant blue sky over East Texas exploded with a terrible rumble as the space shuttle Columbia broke apart as it re-entered the earth's atmosphere, raining debris across the forested landscape and killing seven astronauts onboard.

I remember how the sonic booms caused by the shuttle's many pieces, big and small, shook my house and my heart, as I realized with a sickening kick to my stomach what had just happened. And I remember never doubting that some day, somehow, America would return to space.

The shuttle disaster was one of the seminal moments in my newspaper career, perhaps the biggest story I have covered. Professionally, I have rarely been better than I was on that horrible day.

But today, I will do my best not to dwell on the effect the disaster had on my life and career. Instead, I hope to do my small part to remember the legacy of the seven astronauts who died Feb. 1, 2003, in service to their nations — there were five Americans, an Israeli and an Indian on Columbia's final mission — and to all mankind.

To read an earlier posting about Columbia, including a link to a NASA site about the disaster, and the future of the space program, go here.

"Intelligent design" is not smart

A California school district and a group of parents have settled a lawsuit filed against the district over the teaching of a class about "intelligent design," a theory that life is so complex it must have been created by some kind of higher power. School district officials said it was a "philosopy" class, not a religion class, but that was only a marketing ploy in a hapless attempt to pass legal muster. Despite the school district's protestations to the contrary, certain evidence, like the course description and the teacher's announcement that the Lord had lead her to teach the class, belie that this class was more about religion than it was science or philosophy.

(ID strikes me as a religious viewpoint, as almost an article of faith for its adherents. But supporters seem willing to diminsh its religious value, i.e. calling the California class a "philosophy" class, only so that it can gain secular acceptance. A similar tactic has been see in past attempts to win approval for displays of the Ten Commandments on public property. Their religious faith clearly drives former Judge Roy Moore and others to rally for such public displays. But to make their case, they are willing to denigrate the commandments' religious significance by arguing instead about their historical and secular significance.)

In the El Tejon case, the lawsuit and settlement thwarted an attempt to instill a little bit of religion into the public schools. ID is more religion than science, because accepting it as a scientific theory requires that you have a particular religious viewpoint.

Also, accepting ID has a serious explanation of how the world works seems to require that you short-circuit scientific examination and jump to a faith-based conclusion.

That's part of why the Vatican doesn't think too much about ID either. In an article in the Vatican newspaper, of which the pope is the publisher, an Italian evolutionary biology professor writes that intelligent design should not be taught in schools as science.

Catholic News Service reports:

The problem with intelligent design is that it turns to a "superior cause" — understood though not necessarily named as God — to explain supposed shortcomings of evolutionary science. But that's not how science should work, the article said.

"If the model proposed by Darwin is held to be inadequate, one should look for another model. But it is not correct methodology to stray from the field of science pretending to do science," it said.

The article said a Pennsylvania judge had acted properly when he ruled in December that intelligent design could not be taught as science in schools.

"Intelligent design does not belong to science and there is no justification for the pretext that it be taught as a scientific theory alongside the Darwinian explanation," it said.

From the church's point of view, Catholic teaching says God created all things from nothing, but doesn't say how, the article said. That leaves open the possibilities of evolutionary mechanisms like random mutation and natural selection.

"God's project of creation can be carried out through secondary causes in the natural course of events, without having to think of miraculous interventions that point in this or that direction," it said.

What the church does insist upon is that the emergence of the human supposes a willful act of God, and that man cannot be seen as only the product of evolutionary processes, it said. The spiritual element of man is not something that could have developed from natural selection but required an "ontological leap," it said.

The article said that, unfortunately, what has helped fuel the intelligent design debate is a tendency among some Darwinian scientists to view evolution in absolute and ideological terms, as if everything -- including first causes -- can be attributed to chance.

"Science as such, with its methods, can neither demonstrate nor exclude that a superior design has been carried out," it said.

From a religious viewpoint, it said, there is no doubt that the human story "has a sense and a direction that is marked by a superior design."

A visit to America's Space Coast

Vehicle Assembly Building, Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

On Feb. 1, 2003, America's space program got up close and personal with me when the space shuttle Columbia exploded over East Texas, and my house. The events of that morning, and the subsequent weeks and m onths, helped shape one of the biggest stories, to date, in my newspaper career. Since the Columbia disaster and recovery effort, I have felt just a little bit closer to America's space program and more appreciative of how continued exploration of space h as benefited the nation and the world.

That kinship was confirmed the day after Christmas when we visited the Kennedy Space Center, on Florida's East Coast. We took the "up-close tour," so we got within a mile or less of some of the significant landmarks at the space center, including the giant Vehicle Assembly Building; two launch pads used by the Apollo program and now the space shuttle program; and the 15,000-foot runway on which the re turning shuttle lands. A very informed tour guide filled us in on the details about NASA's past, current activities and its future. But I didn't need her to tell me that this was a very cool place, indeed. I have visited plenty of historically significant spots in the United States, but few of those are as significant today and for the nation's future as the Kennedy Space Center.

A added highlight of our visit was the chance to see the space center's vast natural surroundings. KSC sits on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, home to hundreds of animal species, including birds, manatee and an estimated 5,000 alligators — several of which we saw on our tour.

Click here to see larger image.

One of the most significant moments of our visit was when we saw a memorial to astronauts who have died in the line of duty. A giant mirror is inscribed with the names of America's fallen heroes, including the seven astronauts who died on Columbia. Nearby, there is a bronze plaque engraved with their likenesses. I never met these men and women, but after spending months on the story of the shuttle's destruction and recovery, and meeting some of the people lucky to have worked with them, I felt as if I did know them.

Click here to see larger image.

The price we paid for the "up-close tour," which also includes admission to the nearby Astronaut Hall of Fame, an IMAX theater and other exhibits, costs about as much as a ticket to Disney and the other theme parks in Orlando 50 miles to the west. There are cheaper options, but whatever you pay, the value you get will surpass any thrill you might get from riding a few roller coasters or shaking hands with a giant mouse.

Honor their memory by returning to space

The shuttle program is currently grounded, as engineers try to fix the problems that led to Columbia's demise; hopefully, the program will return to flight in May. Whenever man is again launched from KSC into space, it is vital that America and the world continue to push farther and deeper into space. Almost five decades of manned space flight have given us tremendous benefits and tremendous understanding of our universe. That success in the past, despite various setbacks along the way, demands that we keep flying. We must do that for the memories of our fallen heroes, and for ourselves.

How small are we?

Go here and find out that in the grand scale of the universe, we and everything around us, are really, really small.

So get over yourselves, especially you two.

Tip of the hat to a good friend for sending me the link.

(Updated upon the suggestion of the Pine Blogger.)

Dog DNA may teach new tricks

Yellowstone

Blue

These are my dogs Yellowstone and Blue. They are friendly, loyal and always eager to please. So it seems only natural that their kind, through the study of their DNA might one day help cure some of the ills of mankind.

(As an aside, I would love to see a study of Blue's genetic heritage. To call her a "Heinz 57" seems to tell only part of her story.)