No question. I mean, look at this bracket. KU vs K-State in the final four? Nuf said. Smartest POTUS ever.

In the last couple days, Virginia Del. Bob Marshall has come under fire for specific assertions, as reported by the News-Leader in print and audio, that women who had abortions were punished by God with subsequent children who were disabled.  Marshall stated, “The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children.”

This is not the first time that Marshall has suggested that women who have abortions will face complications in later pregnancies.  In his 1991 book “Blessed are the Barren: The Social Policy of Planned Parenthood,” Marshall suggested that, despite studies indicating otherwise, when a woman has an abortion it increases the likelihood that subsequent pregnancies will result in complications.  Marshall sets up a straw man using a American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) white paper on the safety of legal abortions that details a 1989 study conducted by Planned Parenthood that found, “there was no loss of fertility” in the women who received the 170,000 abortions they examined in the study.  Marshall disagreed, stating, “This is an interesting assertion,” since the study failed to follow up with all 170,000 women initially examined.  Marshall further claims that:

Planned Parenthood’s follow-up procedures are limited to immediate or short-term postabortion [sic] complications, and they do not include verifying postabortion childbearing capabilities,  Moreover, a majority of Planned Parenthood’s abortion clients accept contraception that is offered as part of the abortion service.  How was their return to fertility verified?

…Did the “no loss of fertility” simply mean the return of menstruation or did it mean successful childbirth?  [Blessed are the Barren: The Social Policy of Planned Parenthood, Robert G. Marshall, p. 199-200, 1991]

For Marshall now to claim that he was taken out of context appears disingenuous at best given the fact that while he hadn’t spelled it out before, Marshall has for years suggested that abortions lead to future pregnancy complications.

There’s a petition urging Marshall to resign which you can sign here.

It’s officially the most snow in the District of Columbia since they started counting. That’s 126 years. If you’re counting, Chester A. Aurthur was president and on November 4, 1884, “Democrat Grover Cleveland defeats Republican James G. Blaine in a very close contest to win the first of his non-consecutive terms.”

Via – DCist

As the snow totals have been steadily piling up, we’ve all been thinking that we can’t remember ever seeing this much snow in D.C. before. Well, now it’s official: no one has seen this much snow in D.C., at least not since Pat Collins‘ great-great-granddad started sticking yardsticks in area snowpacks back in 1884. As of 2:00 this afternoon, the National Weather Service is reporting that this is indeed the snowiest winter in recorded history for D.C., Baltimore, and Dulles.

Please give what you can to victims of tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti. Text “Haiti” to 90999 to contribute $10 to the Red Cross.

allen

In 2008, Nesbitt Research worked for America’s largest labor union to help unseat two-term incumbent Republican Sen. Gordon Smith in one of that year’s most closely watched elections.  Our comprehensive in-person search took us to the offices of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, where we uncovered evidence of Smith’s long record of environmental problems.  We found that his company had repeated environmental sanctions and fines, one for $70,000.

We also scrutinized Smith’s voting record.  In doing so, we exposed the former senator’s habit of flip-flopping on key issues and his overwhelming tendency to side with former President George W. Bush.  Finally, we obtained documentation regarding Smith’s pay and perks, travel expenses and personal and campaign finances, which revealed a long history of earmarks, no bid contracts and questionable pay-to-play relationships.  Armed with our exhaustive research, the labor union conducted a poll and a multi-million dollar ad campaign.  Jeff Merkley won the hard-fought election with 49 percent of the vote. Smith received 46 percent.

In 2008, Nesbitt Research helped Chris Koster’s team win both a heated three-way Democratic primary and a tight general election for Missouri Attorney General. Koster was a sitting state Senator at the time, and we detailed his legislative record and analyzed his personal financial records, travel records and pay and perks. We examined Koster’s record as a county prosecutor, examining court records and local news sources to paint a full picture of his
successes and failures.

Koster’s team relied heavily on Nesbitt Research for rapid response and earned media, using our analysis of campaign finance records to counter opponents who attacked Koster on the issue. Koster’s team also tapped Nesbitt Research to detail the records of his two primary opponents, one of whom, our research revealed, had taken money from a tobacco store with a history of selling to kids, while voting against anti-smoking measures. This information, combined with Koster’s strong record on crime, gave his team the information it needed to win.

In 2006, Nesbitt Research helped Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson’s campaign explore the complex business dealings of Ameritrade’s (now TD Ameritrade) founding family.  We compiled SEC filings, news stories, articles from Lexis-Nexis news databases, civil legal issues from the Cayman Islands to Nebraska, Hoover’s Business records and Dun & Bradstreet records into a comprehensive report on company and family operations.

We detailed the target’s compensation package and compared it to that of the average Nebraskan.  We highlighted the company’s layoffs and subsequent hiring of a new CEO, both of which netted poor results for shareholders and company staff in Nebraska.  After much powerful advertising — some based on our research — Nelson won reelection with 63.9 percent of the vote.

DCist Brings the good news:

No big surprises in the first D.C. Council vote on legalizing same-sex marriage: the Council today voted 11-2 to approve the “Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009,” with Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) the only dissenters.

Via – LJWorld.com stories: Sports

There are reminders of Kansas University’s 2008 national title victory over Memphis all over Allen Fieldhouse.

Thanks to Doug of Doug Draws the new nesbittresearch.com has drawn some initial design praise. Thanks to Doug for the flattering write up and once more to our design team of Billy from Protagonist Theory and John from DIY Ninjas, both are excellent. Of course, none of this would have been possible without Wordpress and Thesis Theme, what a bargain!!!

Doug writes:

To give you an idea what I’m talking about check out this site for Nesbitt Research. This is an awesome example of simplicity and what’s even more amazing is that Nesbitt is using the Thesis theme. The reason simplicity works is because …