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Former Bear Alysia Johnson qualifies for World Championships:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Former Golden Bear standout Alysia Johnson earned a berth on the U.S. team that will travel to the World Indoor Championships after a runner-up finish in the 800 meters, and David Torrence took third in the 1500 meters at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships Sunday at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

Johnson reached Sunday’s final after winning her heat Saturday in 2:06.15. In the championship race, Johnson crossed the line in 2:01.45, just behind Anna Pierce, the world’s No. 2-ranked 800 runner, who won in 2:00.84. Heather Dorniden was third in 2:02.33.

In 2007, Johnson won both the NCAA indoor and outdoor 800-meter titles during a season in which she was also named the Pac-10 Track Athlete of the Year. Later that summer, she captured the outdoor 800 at the USA Track & Field meet to qualify for the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan.

In Sunday’s men’s 1500, Torrence was engaged in a three-way battle with Leo Manzano, a 2008 Olympian and 2009 finalist at the World Outdoor Championships, and Will Leer, who placed fourth in the 1500 at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, coming into the final turn. However, Manzano used a strong kick to beat his countrymen and won in 3:49.16. Leer took second in 3:49.31 and Torrence third in 3:50.31.

Jahvid Best runs great at Combine:

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Former Cal football player TB Jahvid Best posted the best time among running backs in both the 40-yard dash (4.35) and 3 Cone Drill (6.75) on Sunday at the 2010 NFL Scouting Combine. His 40-yard dash time was also the third-fastest time among all players timed on Sunday behind wide receiver Jacoby Ford (4.28) of Clemson and special teams player Trindon Holliday of Louisiana State.

Best is one of six former Cal football players will be participating at the event that began Feb. 24 and runs through March 2 at Lucas Oil Stadium. Best, DL Tyson Alualu, WR Nyan Boateng, OL Mike Tepper, CB Syd’Quan Thompson and WR Verran Tucker are among hundreds of invited prospective NFL players.

At the combine, the participants are put through a series of drills, tests and interviews with more than 600 NFL personnel from all 32 teams including head coaches, general managers and scouts.

Workouts consist of position drills as well as measurable drills to include the 40-yard dash, bench press, vertical jump, broad jump, three cone drill and shuttle run. Visit nfl.com/combine for complete and live coverage of the event.

Women’s Tennis loses to UCLA:

LOS ANGELES – The No. 3-ranked California women’s tennis team (8-2) dropped just its second match of the season as No. 4 UCLA (11-1) took a 4-3 win on Sunday (Feb. 28) at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. As the first of two regular-season dual matches, the result will not affect Pac-10 standings. The Golden Bears met the Bruins in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship quarterfinal on Feb. 13, and handed UCLA its only loss of the season, 4-3, to advance to the semifinal.

For the 10th match this season, Cal secured the doubles point. UCLA took the upper hand initially as its 11th-ranked team of Andrea Remynse and Yasmin Schnack handed Cal’s No. 13-ranked team of junior Mari Andersson and sophomore Jana Juricova its first dual loss, 8-5, at the top court. The Bears’ freshman tandem of Tayler Davis and Annie Goransson evened things up as they took out Pamela Montez and Carling Seguso, 8-6, at the third court. Cal scored the first point of the match when No. 54-ranked junior Marina Cossou and senior Kasia Siwosz took a 9-7 win over Noelle Hickey and Nina Pantic at the second doubles court.

UCLA leveled things up at one-all as No. 125-ranked Stephanie Hoffpauir came away with a 6-2, 6-0 win against Goransson on the sixth singles court. But Cal went in front, 2-1, when No. 2 Juricova claimed her team-high 24th singles win in a 6-1, 6-2 victory over No. 5 Schnack at the top court. The Bears extended their lead to 3-1 as No. 20 Cossou dismissed No. 48 Hickey, 6-3, 6-3, on court two.

Facing a two-point deficit, the Bruins made a push to get back in the match as Montez earned a 6-3, 7-5 win against Davis on court four. UCLA got its third point to send the match into a deadlock as Maya Johansson bounced back to win, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, over freshman Nelly Radeva at court five. Just as the Bruins knotted up the match, No. 75 Andersson and No. 45 Remynse opened up their third set after splitting 6-4 sets. Andersson won hers first but Remynse responded to force a third set. Remynse went ahead 5-3 in the third but Andersson had one more push to come within one game before Remynse closed the books with a 6-4 win in the final set.

Baseball crushes CSU Bakersfield:

BAKERSFIELD, CALIF. – Behind outstanding pitching from sophomore right-hander Dixon Anderson, the Cal baseball team produced its fourth shutout of the year with a 13-0 victory over host Cal State Bakersfield Sunday, Feb. 28 during the final day of the Cal State Bakersfield Tournament at Hardt Field in Bakersfield.

The Golden Bears (6-1) – which also had a 19-hit attack with three hits apiece from junior designated hitter Austin Booker, sophomore catcher Chadd Krist, sophomore left fielder Danny Oh and freshman third baseman Tony Renda – ended up capturing the tournament after defeating Central Michigan, 9-4, on Friday; and Saint Mary’s, 5-4, Saturday.

Anderson improved his record to 2-0 after throwing 7.0 innings with five hits, three walks and seven strikeouts. In two appearances this season, he has not given up an earned run in 14.0 innings and has tallied 15 strikeouts and only three walks. Senior right-hander Daniel Wolford (1.0 inning, one strikeout) and junior right-hander Brian Diemer (1.0 inning, one walk, one strikeout) threw the last two innings of the contest.

Womens basketball falls to ASU:

Cal had their five-game win streak snapped, falling to the Arizona State Sun Devils, 57-50 in Tempe. Alexis Gray-Lawson led the Bears with 16 points.

In a seesaw and extremely physical first half that featured five lead changes, neither team was able to earn more than a five point advantage through most of the period. Cal’s biggest lead came with just over ten minutes left in the first half when a layup by freshman forward Gennifer Brandon on a perfect feed from senior point guard Natasha Vital gave Cal a 14-10 advantage. Arizona State went on a 7-0 run to move back into the lead. ASU broke the five-point advantage barrier with 1:12 left in the half, taking a 29-22 lead. After a Sun Devil turnover under their own basket, Cal had possession with 24 seconds remaining in the half, giving them a chance to cut into the lead before the break, but the tight Sun Devil defense didn’t allow Cal to get off a shot. ASU went into the locker room with the 29-22 advantage.

Cal pulled within two after senior guard Alexis Gray-Lawson was fouled on a made-layup, converting the freethrow to make it a 33-31 game. Cal made it a one-point play when freshman guard Eliza Pierre drove through the lane, scoring a layup with 14:39 remaining to make it a 34-33 game. On Cal’s next possession, Gray-Lawson came up with an offensive rebound and a putback to give Cal a 35-34 lead. Freshman forward DeNesha Stallworth had a floater down low go in to extend the Cal lead to 37-34 with 13:32 remaining.

EIGHT OVERTIMES?!?!?!??!!?

IRVINE, CALIF. – The No. 4-ranked California women’s water polo team fell to No. 3 UCLA in the sixth sudden death overtime period in the third place game at the UC Irvine Invitational Sunday at the Anteater Aquatics Complex. The eight overtime periods between the Golden Bears and the Bruins is the longest match in NCAA women’s water polo history. This was the second time in the last week that Cal lost to five-time defending champion UCLA, who defeated the Bears 7-6 last Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Complex. Cal defeated No. 15 UC Davis (13-5) and No. 6 Hawai’i (8-4) in the first two rounds of the tournament before falling to No. 2 USC (10-5) and No. 3 UCLA in the second day. With their two losses today, the Bears drop to 12-4 on the season.

Senior Meghan Corso and sophomore Emily Csikos, Cal’s leading scorer with 41 goals, paced the Bears with six scores each in their four games of the UC Irvine Invite. Sophomore Stephanie Peckham continued her strong defense by adding 27 saves in the second two rounds, bringing her total to 51 for the four-game tournament.

In the match against the Bruins, Cal and UCLA each scored two goals in the opening period. The Bears were able to shut out the Bruins in the second quarter and take a 4-2 lead into halftime. Both teams traded goals in the third period, giving Cal a 5-3 advantage heading into the final quarter. However, UCLA was able to comeback and outscore the Bears 2-0 in the fourth period to tie the score at five apiece and force overtime.

In the first three-minute overtime period, the Bruins scored one goal to take the lead. The Bears were able to answer back with a goal of their own in the second overtime period to set-up the sudden death showdown. Both teams were held scoreless in the first five sudden death overtimes, but with 1:07 remaining in the eighth (sixth sudden death) overtime period, UCLA’s KK Clark scored the game-winner to give the Bruins the 7-6 victory.

Womens Swimming doing great:

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Hannah Wilson won the 100-yard freestyle and California withstood strong challenges from Arizona and USC to finish in second place at the Pac-10 Women’s Swimming Championships on Saturday night at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. The Golden Bears were unable to repeat as Pac-10 champions but still produced strong performances at the conference meet as well as two Pac-10 titles – Wilson’s and senior Lauren Boyle’s in the 500 freestyle on Feb. 25. At the conclusion of the four-day meet, the Golden Bears collected 1341 points to trail only conference champion Stanford, which had 1489 points. USC claimed third place (1298.5 points) and Arizona was fourth (1223.5).

The results included Saturday’s Pac-10 Women’s Diving Championship performances at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Complex in Federal Way, Wash. None of the Bears in Washington reached tonight’s platform final, with junior Laura Sanford recording Cal’s top prelim finish in 10th with a score of 216.30. Arizona State’s Elina Eggers won the final with a score of 308.75.

Womens Lacrosse loses to Northwestern:

BERKELEY – California slowed down No. 1 Northwestern early in the game but couldn’t stop the five-time defending NCAA champion in a 17-3 loss to the Wildcats on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. The Golden Bears’ record fell to 0-3, while the Wildcats improved to 3-0 after the nonconference match. Vail Horn led Cal with two goals. Katrina Dowd led all players with six points and five goals. Shannon Smith scored five points and four goals for the Wildcats.

The Bears came out strong Sunday after falling behind early against Ohio State in their previous game, a rainy 19-5 loss on Feb. 26 in Berkeley. This time, Cal produced the first two shots of the game, from senior midfielder Alyse Kennedy and sophomore Lauren Johnson, before Northwestern’s Brooke Matthews scored at 4:27 into the first half.

Cal also collected six of the first eight draw controls. The Bears had a 12-10 advantage on draws for the game, including a 10-7 advantage in the first half.

“I thought we started out the game very well,” Cal head coach Theresa Sherry said. "The first six to eight minutes were pretty good. We fought. We were doing pretty well in the draw controls in the entire first half. We just had trouble hanging onto the ball. Especially when we first came out, I thought our defense did a solid job and even created a couple of turnovers.

Cal fell behind 3-1 at the 8:18 mark, with Horn, a sophomore midfielder, scoring Cal’s goal at 7:26.

Womens Gymnastics doing well:

The California Golden Bears women’s gymnastics team finished fourth at the Stanford Quad Meet at Stanford. California scored 188.825, trailing Stanford (196.525), North Carolina (192.975), and Eastern Michigan (190.125).

It was a tough meet for the shorthanded Bears. Cal’s top all-arounder of the season, freshman Madisyn O’Brien, was restricted to just one event, the bars, recovering from an ankle injury. O’Brien earned a 9.60 for her lone performance. Freshmen Nikki Lew and Stina Olivere had the top marks for Cal on the bars, both earning a 9.675.

The Bears only had five floor performances, but it still managed the top event for the team. Junior Avery Gee once again delivered with her routine, earning a 9.825, the top mark of the season on the floor for the Bears. Sophomore Alex Leggitt scored a 9.625.

Avery Gee and freshman Chelsea Spomer led the Bears on the vault, each scoring a 9.625.

Avery Gee was the Bears sole contender in the All-Around. She earned a combined score of 38.350 in the four events. She finished fifth among the all-around competitors.

Indoor Track kicking butt:

SEATTLE, Wash. – Mark Matusak and Deborah Maier won the men’s and women’s 3000-meter titles, respectively, to lead the Cal track & field team at the MPSF Indoor Championships Saturday on the University of Washington campus. In addition, Patrick Kowalsky captured the shot put competition and Mike Morrison prevailed in the two-day heptathlon to give the Golden Bears four individual crowns at the meet.

The Cal men finished in third place in the team standings with 90 points behind winner UCLA (108.50) and runner-up Stanford (95.50). The Bear women were fifth with 64.50 points.

Overall, Cal athletes posted 11 personal bests, exceeded eight NCAA provisional qualifying standards and set one school record Saturday.

Perhaps the most significant achievement was by Maier, who won the women’s 3000 in 9:20.05 despite falling down midway through the race. Not only was her time a Cal indoor school record, breaking the time of 9:36.26 set by Alison Greggor last year, but it also was lower than the Bears’ outdoor mark of 9:21.42 run by Marilyn Davis in 1986.

Underclassmen rugby crush UC SC:

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – On a beautiful day overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the Golden Bears used a frosh-soph lineup to defeat UC Santa Cruz, 88-11. California’s 13 tries included four by Josh Tucker and a pair each from fellow winger Matt Fulton and inside center Jared Braun.

Santa Cruz got out to an early lead with a first-minute penalty kick and booted another following Cal’s first try to keep within one point at minute seven, but the Bears (18-0) added four more tries before halftime and the younger depths of the roster jumped at the chance to continue their development.

Sunday’s participants took advantage of their opportunity and fellow underclassmen Seamus Kelly, Brendan Daly and Anthony Lombardo were held out of the match following their participation against UBC last Wednesday.

The Bears have two TBAs over the next two weekends on their schedule before Cal hosts Saint Mary’s for homecoming on Saturday, March 20, at 1 p.m. Announcements of any fixtures prior to March 20 will be made on CalBears.com.

Softball beats Long Beach State:

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – The No. 14/13 California softball team scored four runs in the third inning to end the weekend with a win – an 8-1 victory over Long Beach State – on Sunday afternoon in the closing moments of the Palm Springs Classic. Sophomore Jace Williams led the Golden Bears (11-4) with three RBI while junior hurler Valerie Arioto notched her fifth win of the year in the circle, allowing just two hits.

Cal wasted no time in getting down to business thanks to the first two batters of the game. For the second consecutive day, Jamia Reid had a game-beginning single and then stole second base. Shannon Thomas had a bunt single to advance Reid to third and then stole second herself. A wild pitch during Valerie Arioto’s at bat plated Reid and moved Thomas to third. Arioto sacrifice flied out to center, scoring Thomas to give Cal a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

After the top of the first, no players for either squad crossed the plate until Cal’s marquee top of the third inning, which began once again thanks to Jamia Reid, who singled to second and then stole second base. Though Shannon Thomas grounded out to second, the sacrifice moved Reid to third to bring up Arioto, who singled to center field and plated Reid. Lindsey Ziegenhirt singled to left center, putting Arioto at second with Jace Williams up to bat. Williams took the fifth pitch she saw and sent it into left field for a two RBI double. Jordan Wallace, in her seventh at bat as a Bear, hit a single to left to score Williams. Wallace’s RBI was the first of her Cal career and further put the Bears ahead, 6-0.

LINK

Newell’s Bears, coming off the 1959 NCAA championship, stormed through the 1960 AAWU (the Athletic Association of Western Universities, a precursor of the Pac-10) season at 11-1, losing only to USC. They played three games against John Wooden’s UCLA team, winning all three, which meant that Newell – who retired after the 1960 NCAA Tournament – won his last eight matchups against Wooden.

(It didn’t seem like such a big deal back then. “Of course, Pete beat Wooden – what else is new?” But you might say things changed a bit after Pete’s departure. Over a 25-year period, the Bruins went on a 52-0 run against Cal.)

In a sense, 1960 was Newell’s greatest year. Minus three starters from the glory team, the Bears stormed into the NCAA Tournament with a 24-1 record, then knocked off Idaho State, Santa Clara, Oregon and Cincinnati (featuring the great Oscar Robertson) to reach the championship game against Ohio State at the Cow Palace. All season, fans gave Newell thunderous ovations before tip-off at home games, so captivating was the Bears’ intelligent play (there was so much to be learned about winning strategy, some compared it to an actual Berkeley classroom).

The Bears are now ranked 21st in RPI.

They’re ranked 18th in Pomeroy.

One more win should put us over the top. A few more wins could help our RPI. Only two bad losses (and I mean they’d be REAL bad losses to lose to the bottom feeding Furd and the 8-9 winner) in a row could put us on the bubble.

LINK

Extensive vandalism of a UC Berkeley campus building and nearby establishments resulted in two arrests early Friday morning.

During the wee hours of the morning on Feb. 26, what began as a dance party to gain support for upcoming March 4 statewide protests against massive education budget cuts escalated into a violent riot. It ended with the vandalism and occupation of Durant Hall, according to the UC Berkeley newspaper, The Daily Californian.

UC Berkeley students began dancing on the outdoor Upper Sproul Plaza on campus Thursday night and shifted to Durant Hall, which houses the university’s East Asian Library and is undergoing renovation.

More than 100 people broke into Durant Hall, after cutting the locks on the south gates. The group continued to party and vandalized the interior and exterior of the building. They broke several windows, sprayed graffiti, overturned portable toilets, and ripped several holes into the newly refinished walls, according to the university.

The group also broke the windows of a local eatery, set garbage cans on fire, and threw bottles at police. Later, dozens from the group continued a path of destruction, setting a University Art Museum trash bin on fire.

Berkeley police responded to the incidents and were finally able to disperse protesters by 4 a.m. Friday with the help of Oakland police and the California Highway Patrol.

Police arrested Marika Goodrich (a UC Berkeley student) and Zachary Miller (a former student at the university).

Should be noisy!

March 4th has gone viral.

The upcoming Day of Action to Defend Public Education – rallies, marches, teach-ins, even political theater – began as an idea on the UC Berkeley campus last fall and has caught fire up and down California, from elementary school to graduate school, and across two dozen states.

On the surface, Thursday’s Day of Action seems likely to be an unprecedented show of unity among public education advocates at all levels who are angry that politicians and university officials with fingers on purse strings are letting the system decay.

“Everybody’s coming together,” said Callie Maidhof, a student at UC Berkeley, where students have protested tuition hikes, budget cuts and layoffs since last fall.

LINK

Up and down the Golden State, visitors are flocking to culinary tours. “I didn’t invent the wheel,” Rogovin says. Paying homage to California’s culinary creativity and its dominance as an agricultural state, they’re sampling chocolate in Sonoma, authentic Italian gelato in Old Pasadena and tortillas in San Diego.

Some say Peet’s Coffee & Tea started the movement in 1966, along with the Cheese Board, to shape Berkeley’s taste for sustainably sourced, organic and fresh ingredients. This mini-explosion happened five years before Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse Restaurant, known to locals as a neighborhood bistro, in the north Berkeley area.

Food, glorious food, is mostly what the Gourmet Ghetto is all about.

It’s an enjoyable area to walk. Its main thoroughfare, Shattuck Avenue, with sidewalk tables and chairs sheltered by trees, gives it a small-town feel.

It’s even better as a stroll with a gourmet guide. Rogovin has offered her weekly three-hour tasting tour since 2007. She had worked for Gourmet magazine and started culinary tours for Ritz-Carlton. After selling her house and doing the “eat-pray-love routine” in 2005 and 2006 — 14 countries in 10 months — she returned and expanded her tours.

A group of us — eight women and one guy — assemble in front of the Cheese Board Collective, which Rogovin calls “the cornerstone of the Gourmet Ghetto.” We introduce ourselves and discover that we share a love of food, but not all the participants consider themselves serious about it.

LINK

Students at the University of California, Berkeley, can win free textbooks if they fill out their Census forms.

LINK

A UC Berkeley constitutional law professor and civil rights advocate was nominated Wednesday by President Obama to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Goodwin Liu, 39, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, learned English in kindergarten and later became an honors graduate at Stanford and a Rhodes Scholar. He has taught at Berkeley since 2003 and was named associate dean of the law school in 2008.

He also worked as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and as a special assistant to the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.

That one that you’ve been seeing over and over during the Olympics.

GET READY to hear gasps of horror emanating from the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce during the early moments of NBC’s new domestic drama, “Parenthood.”

“Berkeley is a living hell,” a surly teen announces to her mother. “I’m not moving there!”

Oh, great. The East Bay, too often overlooked by television, finally becomes the setting for a prime-time series and it gets dissed like that? Even worse: The girl would rather stay in Fresno, of all places.

But Sarah Braverman (Lauren Graham), a financially strapped single mom, isn’t about to let daughter Amber call the shots. So they, along with her son, Drew, head to the Bay Area to be closer to family. Who knows? Maybe Amber will eventually get to love the place. Maybe, she’ll even attend Cal.

Based on the hilarious 1989 movie, “Parenthood” follows three generations of the sprawling Braverman clan. Among the principals are headstrong patriarch (Craig T. Nelson) and his wife (Bonnie Bedelia), Sarah’s grown brothers (Peter Krause and Dax Shepard), and sister (Erika Christensen). Toss in their spouses, offspring and girlfriends and you’ve got a cast that is larger than some Olympic teams and a pilot episode that is so overstuffed that it groans under the burden of its own weight.

However, only the pilot will be shot in the Bay. The rest will be shot in LA. NBC, cost-cutting? Oh, I’m shocked!

Wilner:

So if you’re interested in coaching Andrew Luck, send your resumes to Harbaugh, James, care of the Stanford athletic department.

Sure, it’s a blow to Stanford’s staff. But not a big one.

Harbaugh can take over the day-to-day coaching of the quarterbacks, which is exactly what he was doing until Turner was hired.

As for the receivers: Harbaugh can coach them, too. Or RBs coach David Shaw will deal with the receivers (his former duty) and Harbaugh will also oversee the running backs.

Potentially new park to be built in Oakland so park attendees can take in Bay Bridge parking lot exhaust.

Let’s make the Bears final regular season game a home away from home! I count at least 70 tickets available on StubHub.

Probably more if you go through official channels, also scour Craigslist the closer you get to the game.

EDSBS:

Senior season bearing down on him, Mustain still hopes to make starter at USC. Matt Barkley wasn’t really all that fantastic as a freshman, (15/14 TD/INT ratio,) so there’s a glimmer of hope down there shining in the wreck of what was going to be a spectacular college career for the once-ballyhooed blue chip quarterback. Lane Kiffin has declared all positions open, except that of Captain Gigantoballs, which is his and his alone until someone wants to come up here and tell him he’s not the Prime Minister of Poontown and its Colonies Partylandia and Awesomeville.* Get me my scepter, Ed. I need it to go knock some heads down at campus parking.**

At least the reasons I saw arguing against it were really absurd.

Here are some of the other arguments that’ve been used against gay marriage.

You need to distinguish between rational reasons and correct/well-supported reasons. For instance, many people believe that children are better adjusted if they have both a male and a female parent, or that they will have severe social problems due to having such a different home experience than their peers. Many people claiming to be psychological experts make this claim in popular media all the time, so a reasonable secular person could believe this.

Actual studies have shown that these concerns are not actually true, such children are fine; however, someone with no training in psychology and who was unaware of these studies could easily hold this reasonable but mistaken belief.

The US legal system has had a long history of trying to preserve the nuclear family. Griswald v. Connecticut was the case that challenged Connecticut’s ban on contraception, a law created to prevent promiscuity and preserve families. Michael H. v Gerald D. in California was the challenge of a state law that acknowledged children of married couples to be the natural offspring of both parents and does not easily allow for an actual biological father (if the wife had an affair) to challenge for parental rights, solely because it would bring undue harm to the stability of the family.

Most state and federal social policies are created to ensure as much as possible that families consist of a man, a woman and their children, and nothing else occurs. Of course, that’s a complete failure, but when the Supreme Court eventually reviews a challenge of Prop8 or a similar law, they will have to consider if marriage between two men or two women is a right that society has traditionally valued or protected; this is how it determines if rights are rights and if they are being infringed. Though it is clear to anyone with logic, compassion, or both, that same-sex marriage should be legal, but it might be a tough sell in court.

Isn’t the answer money? I don’t hold this opinion but you could construct an argument that went along the lines of; Married homosexuals will increase the cost of health insurance as their partners are enrolled for benefits. Further, the tax exemption for married couples would reduce the federal government’s yearly income. Compensated bereavement and sick leave would increase as homosexual couples would be entitled to the same privileges as heterosexual couples causing companies to lose productive hours and be forced to pay for absent workers.

The only rational (not good) argument I’ve come across comes from a conservative view of the family to the tune of, “males need a clearly defined and regulated social institution to stay committed to their partners,” and closely related, “every child deserves both a mother and a father.”

The argument that I have heard is this:

The reason that marriage is a favored and defended institution in our society is because of the benefits it confers to society. Stable families tend to behave in ways which are beneficial to society as a whole:

    *

      Raising children in homes with both a male and female role model, a proven benefit to children
    *

      Buying homes. Communities tend to improve as the percentage of home ownership rises, and married couples, especially those with children, buy homes.
    *

      Some other random economic/social benefits, I don’t remember them all

The counter to this is, of course, that all of those benefits kinda go out the window when you look at the divorce rate. And it’s hard to argue with that counter.

That’s why I think that government should get out of the marriage business altogether. Civil unions for all. A lot of people don’t see marriage as a sacred unbreakable thing, it’s just something you do for tax purposes when you’re living together. So let’s make it easier for those people not to get married and solve the whole equality thing at the same time.

WARNING, POTENTIAL LOST SPOILER

“Lost” creators: We will not answer all your questions

Many of the questions posed during the run of “Lost” that have been keeping you up at night are never going to be answered on the show but will instead be tossed in the compost heap like an old turnip, because, the writers say, they have run out of time.