We got the two bombers but why they did this is still unclear.  All I know is that the Russian government is happy that Chechens are involved.  This will make it easier in the future for the Russians to go in and claimed that they are going after terrorists.  In the past, the U.S. may have considered Chechens freedom fighters.  I guess terrorists are the ones against your cause, while freedom fighters are those for your cause.  From indications so far the bombers did not do this for political reasons.  It seems likely that the older brother was radicalized because of feeling of alienation in this country.  That certainly was a reason in terrorist activities in the U.K.  But in this case, I think this is not a valid excuse for these brothers.  For all account they were doing well financially and the young one was in school and had many friends.  They had lived what most immigrants think of as the American dream.  To turn against the country that gave them asylum is just evil.  If they did not like it here, they could have gone back like their parents.  In fact one went back for 6 months, he could have just stayed there if he thought America was evil.

So are they going to ban pressure cookers now?  If shoe bombs and liquid bombs have failed and still we have to take off our shoes and give up our water before boarding, why allow pressure cookers which have succeeded, to be sold?   Oh, I forgot.  Being a successful weapon now, pressure cookers will be protected under the Second Amendment as arms.

After following the Masters this weekend, I am convince more than ever that it is the most annoying sport.  I rarely watch golf except when Tiger is in contention or when Jack Nicklaus was in contention in the old days.  These two were so much better than their contemporaries that you just have to watch to see if they can come up with the heroics.  Sure, once in a while somebody like Lee Trevino, Seve Ballesteros or Tom Watson might go on a good run and you may watch.  But otherwise if Tiger or Jack were not in contention, I do not watch.

So this weekend with Quan Tianlang being the youngest player ever to make the cut and Tiger being in contention, I tuned in.  So what happens?  They penalize the poor 14 year old for slow play.  Now, I see players agonizing over two foot putts, changing clubs and even going to the porta-john during golf tournament and they are going to penalize this kid for slow play?  The LA Times wrote that since 1997 there were 22 penalties for slow play in the European Tour.  There were none in the U.S. PGA tour during this time.  The official that penalized Quan is European.  He is also the guy that penalized Ballesteros twice and Harrington once in a major.  It seems to me that is not uniform officiating.  Maybe this guy is one of the few who is enforcing the rules correctly.  Or maybe he just like to get on tv.  They said that Quan's group was 22 minutes behind by the 17th hole.  Well, the kid maybe the reason for this but I would think that Ben Crenshaw shooting an 84 during that round may have slowed things up.  If they want to speed up the game, have the players run the course instead of walking.  This way the 14 year old will have an advantage for sure!

Tiger then got penalized 2 strokes for dropping the ball 2 yards from where he was supposed to.  I mean what is 2 yards when you are 200 yards from the hole.  If he move the ball near the green, yes, he should be penalized or even disqualified.  I know Tiger should know the rules.  But he obviously did not otherwise he would not have incriminated himself by saying he dropped it 2 yards from his previous shot while being interviewed.  In fact, the rule committee had watched the tape after a view called in about the violation and decided there was not enough evidence to penalize Tiger.  It is only with his own incrimination that they made the ruling.  Can you imagine someone calling in and say Lebron had stepped out of bounds and the replay was not conclusive and they ruled only after Lebron admitted he stepped out, after the game.  If golf has all these anal rules and they insist they be followed, then have officials everywhere on the course to observe every shot and ball drops and make rulings right there.  It is a rich sport that can afford the number of officials needed.  It is not fair for the players to know every rule and then say that not knowing the rule is not an excuse on not calling a penalty on himself. 

Given all my displeasure with the game, obviously I don't think it should be in the Olympics.  We don't need to add another rich man's sport to a menu that already include sailing and equestrian.  It is a game even someone like Tiger or Jack win less than 20% of the time, so it is relatively meaningless to be called an Olympic champion.  Also can you imagine the controversy if an European official call a penalty on a Chinese golfer who is in contention for a medal?  It will be USA/USSR basketball 1972 all over again!

I am not too bummed about M losing to Louisville.  I think the better team won although M could have won that game.  Burke is going to the NBA as expected and Hardaway will probably also even though I think he will be drafted higher if he stayed another year.  I think Spike proved that he can be the point guard and the other freshmen will be much better next year.  I am already surprise how much McGary has improved already.  So I think they will be in contention again next year in the very tough Big Ten.

After I had said that North Korea did not post much of a threat, Kim Jong Un started to cause problems by putting North Korea in a state of war preparation.  That would seem counter to my claim that secular dictators are not irrational and their first priority is to survive and keep power.  Kim's action does appear irrational, trying to pick a fight with the most powerful country in the world.  It is possible that he is crazy and thus throw out all of my theory.  But it is not likely the case.  His father also had seem to be crazy at times.  But each time he threatened, he was just trying to get concession from the U.S.  Kim Jong Il also had at least 3 sons so if Jong Un is really crazy, I don't think he would have been picked as the successor. 

I think that being so young and being the third generation dictator, there is a lot of pressure to show that he is tough enough for the job.  There may even be some possibility of someone planning a coup.  If Kim knew about such threat, the best way to prevent it is to rev up nationalism and making himself look tough and capable of leading.  Certainly having been educated in Europe, he can't possibly think that he can win a war.  But if, like his father before him, he is able to get some concession, then his hold on power will be stronger.

The U.S. should act calmly.  We should put more military power into the region but do not sound threatened.  I think eventually China will get through to Kim behind close doors.  China has great interest in keeping the peace because a war would destabilize the region.  War would also likely destroy North Korea.  Even though North Korea is an unreliable ally, China gains leverage with the U.S. by being North Korea's main benefactor.  China also does not want war refugees coming over the border.  Most importantly a war would mean greater U.S. involvement in the region.  This will increase American influence in Asia and make China's goal of becoming the dominant power in Asia much more difficult to achieve. So China will make some assurance to Kim about his survival and convince him to pull back.