Science Sans Politics.

The Administration is touting big savings in health care by adopting universal electronic record-keeping. Two pro-Obama doctors have looked at the performance of such systems and have concluded otherwise.

Perhaps the President should confine policy decisions "based only on scientific merit" for issues with no perceptible moral dimension, such as medical record-keeping. Nat Hentoff reminds us that the President may have political or ideological investments in issues of life and death.

Simplicity.

Our flytying skills are, shall we say, rustic. Accordingly, we'll keep our spring flybox very simple. "Syl" Nemes is the great champion of soft hackle patterns, and his DVD on tying them has encouraged us to have plenty of Partridge & Green, Pheasant Tail Soft Hackles, and Midge Soft Hackles on hand for the last Saturday in April. Borcher's Special, a truly superb pattern for the Au Sable, is also an essential. Henrickson Duns, BWOs, Hare's Ears and Pheasant Tail nymphs, and the odd streamer will round out our Opening Day Flybox.

And a Man's Fancy Turns To...

Enough politics! It so ruins the digestion. We will, for now, put aside our lance and shield and defer battle with the dragon. So we shall turn to fishing. This weekend we attended the Midwest Flyfishing Expo in Warren, Michigan. It was a badly needed tonic for a weekend of rain and gloom. Good exhibitions on casting & tying, and a good turnout . There was a very fine demonstration on the double-haul (we will definitely make this part of our repertoire!); we had a delightful conversation with Au Sable legend Jerry Regan, and an inspirational one with volunteers with Project Healing Waters about the efforts to use the holistic powers of flyfishing for physical and spiritual recovery for wounder warriors. We finally saw a copy of Voelker's "Anatomy of a Fisherman". It includes a superb color photo section of the fishing retreats of the 1950s Upper Peninsula. Definitely required for the library.