Brian....did you catch this months (oct 2008) Scientific American cover story about the Big Bang might have been the Big Bounce instead. I admit that Quantum Physics is tough for me to grasp but this was an interesting article although i had to read it twice to understand it's basics about how he theorised how the Universe started with an Implosion and then Bounced out of it and finally inertia is what's carrying on the expansion of space and making us think it's a Bang and not an Implosion and then a Bounce.
He uses ''Loop Quantum Gravity'' in his theory and mathematical calculations to figure this out. He's a researcher at the Gravitation and the Cosmos at Penn State University.
Here's the story for those interested.
Big Bang or Big Bounce?: New Theory on the Universe's Birth: Scientific American