An article in the Illinois Statehouse news recently reported that the Asian carp, which supposedly is threatening the ecosystem of the Great Lakes, is now being caught by fisherman and to be sold to China. This is what I had advocated all along. Why were we thinking of spending millions to put electronic "fences" in rivers to prevent the carps from migrating into the Great Lakes? If these carps did come from China, I would bet the Chinese had been eating them all along. The Chinese are known to eat anything that moves. There must be a market for the carps. The only thing that I worry about is that we are too good in fishing them and they become almost extinct. Then some group will argue to put them on the endangered species list. Then what are we going to do? Right now with this deal with China we stop the carps from spreading and employ some fishermen and workers in processing plants. It is a win-win. Why wasn't this thought of before by the Illinois government?

Of course anything that is bad from nature, we seem to blame it on Asia. I mean, how did the carps get here in the first place? Are they really from Asia? Where I live, citrus agriculture is very important. Now there is a warning about an insect known as Asian citrus psyllid invading. Are we so sure that this is from Asia? How many times have we heard of a flu coming from Asia? Remember the Hong Kong flu? I don't remember anyone in Hong Kong proclaiming that we invented a flu and it is spreading to the rest of the world. Of course, it maybe that people in Hong Kong do blame themselves too much. Take athlete's feet. It is caused by fungi that are all over the world. But you know what the people of Hong Kong call it? Hong Kong feet! So I will blame my inability to dance on the disease "Hong Kong Two Left Feet".

The whole Shirley Sherrod affair may be a poor reflection of the Obama White House. Andrew Breitbart is obviously the original villain but people like him are all around. It is not unreasonable for government officials to not fall in such a lousy trap by this dishonest person. Would it took that much effort for Tom Vilsack to look at the whole video and listen to what Sherrod had to say before making up his mind to fire her? Or was the order coming directly from the White House? Either way it is not good for Obama for his administration to act so impulsively.

The NAACP doesn't look very good either. I mean they should have known about Sherrod's speech better than anyone. Why did the NACCP attack Sherrod in the first place. Is it because they feel the heat after calling the Tea Party racist? I am sure there are racists in the Tea Party, just as there are racists in the NAACP and any large organization. Andrew Breitbart looked stupid in saying that he showed the clip to show racism in the NAACP. So both sides are playing the race card without any intelligent and fair discussion about policies. It is sad that this is typical of the political divide we have today.

I think Miami has become the most hated team in the NBA, replacing either the Celtics or the Lakers. That crass ESPN show by Lebron I think will hurt his legacy unless he win 3-4 championships in a row. Even then many people will feel that he couldn't have done it without Wade who already has a ring. If somehow they don't win, which is very possible (remember the Lakers with Chamberlain, West and Baylor?), then his commercial value will plummet. I think this move to Miami just made Kobe Bryant more popular!

Having said that, Cleveland's owner Dan Gilbert's open letter was way too much. James has a right to make a business decision, just as Gilbert can get rid of any player he doesn't think is doing the job. James made a lot of money for the Cavaliers and Gilbert in the past few years. So this rant just makes Gilbert look as bad as James. Yes, I feel for the fans of Cleveland, but I don't feel for the owner.

If controversy kept people focused on the NBA in the summer, controversies made the World Cup more interesting this year. But the final was a yawner. The Netherland and Spain are two of the most artistic teams in the world. But today's game was terrible. It seems that the finals are almost always bad, just like the Super Bowl. The third place game is always better. Maybe they should tell the finalists that they are actually playing the third place game and see if that makes the game better!

Spain has become the Miami of the sports world. They just won the most important trophy in sports, they are the second best to the U.S. in basketball, Pau Gasol won two titles after somehow ended up with the Lakers, Rafael Nadal is dominating tennis, a Spaniard may well win the Tour de France. It is time to root against Spain! Well, at least they don't have a guy like Rooney or James that people like root against.

Well, there goes my theory of South American soccer superiority over Europe. The only team left from S.A. is Uruguay. And they should have lost. Brazil and Argentina showed a lack of discipline once they got behind. Ultimately what I like about Brazil and Argentina is what cost them. They try to attack first and defend second. So on a given day with the attack stalled, they are vulnerable from counterattacks. The 3 European teams deserve to be in the semi-final but overall I still think South America outperformed Europe.

In an attempt to save face, I will predict the winners of the semi-final. The Netherlands have the best record in World Cup history without winning. And having beaten Brazil, I think they deserve to win this time. While I like the way Germany has played (except against Serbia), I will take Spain over them because I don't think the young German team can sustain 3 impressive games in a row. The Netherlands, I predict, will win the championship. Europe will get its first champion in a World Cup played outside of Europe!