SCIENTISTS FIND cosmic ripples from birth of universe.

Astronomers have discovered what they believe is the first direct evidence of the astonishing expansion of the universe in the instant following the Big Bang -- the scientific explanation for the birth of the universe some 13.8 billion years ago.

But who (or what) 'kicked the ball' to get it rolling?

PROPERTY OWNERS DO HAVE RIGHTS: Supreme Court victory vindicates property owners beset by Big Green's 'rails-to-trails' movement.

VERTICAL TAKEOFF/VERTICAL LANDING ROCKETS ARE REAL. Here's Morpheus, a NASA prototype, and Grasshopper, the SpaceX prototype.

JUST THINKIN': During the Bush administration almost every nightly news broadcast kept a running total of the number of U.S. and NATO casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.

With the advent of the Obama administration, that running total has mysteriously disappeared. How many Americans know that six U.S. soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan on March 4 of this year? Or that

Before Tuesday's crash, there had been 149 NATO fatalities in Afghanistan this year, 119 of them US soldiers, according to the independent icasualties website.

The annual total peaked in 2010, when 711 NATO troops died.

Little people only count when there's a Republican administration.

LIFE IN A BANANA REPUBLIC: Obama Refuses to Deport Fugitive Brothers Who Funneled $90,000 to His Campaign.

JIM GERAGHTY: Why Liberals Can't Govern.

THOMAS SOWELL: If liberals cared about minority children, they would embrace charter schools.

But they don't: "Charter schools take power from politicians and bureaucrats.... That is obviously offensive to those on the left, who think that our betters should be making our decisions for us."

THE OFFICIAL first day of Spring is March 20th this year, but given what happened today I'm starting my official annual 'signs of spring' watch a couple of days early. Here's what it looked like outside early this afternoon:

I'll be posting pictures every week about this time until there is a full, green, leaf canopy over our house. Hopefully next week we'll at least be able to see the yard.