Well, better late than never.  Four years after I implored Jim Harbaugh to come home, he is finally coming back to Ann Arbor.  Brady Hoke is a good man and a good coach but he was over matched at the highest level of college football.  If there is anyone out there who can revive the storied Michigan program, it is Harbaugh.  It would have been great if Harbaugh had accepted the job four years ago, but in a way it is a blessing in disguise.  For one thing, having coached in the NFL gives him more experience and more credential in recruiting.  If he had taken the job four years ago, he may be restless at Michigan now, wondering about the challenge of the NFL.  Having gotten that out of his system, he may be staying at Michigan for a long time as opposed to jumping to the pros after a few years. So I look forward to a long reign for Harbaugh at Michigan.

Of course fans should not get their hopes up too high in the next few years.  The cupboard is relatively bare as Hoke has not recruited well and the records in the past two years is not going to help.  Add to the great job of MSU in recruiting in the state of Michigan and OSU dominating the state of Ohio, it is going to take at least a couple of years to stockpile enough stars to compete with those two programs.  I see 7-5 next season and 8-4 after that.  Michigan can be competitive for the Big Ten championship in 3 years and maybe win it by the time Harbaugh's first recruiting class are seniors.  I think anything more than that is unrealistic and anything less than that and he would not be worth 8 million per year!

I am not trying to get out of my own predicament or elicit sympathy for being an old man but I made some stupid mistakes in my predictions.  I found the first newspaper where I circled the Big Ten winners that led to a 5-4 prediction.  I has PSU winning originally but had not noticed Illinois playing!  So when I go write my blog I used a different newspaper and I missed the PSU game and couldn't figure out how I came up with 5-4 the first time.  After a while I just decided I must have predicted Illinois winning instead of losing to make it 5-4.  When LBOAYM pointed out that the PSU game was missing, I figured the Big Ten can't possibly win 6 games so I decided to make PSU a loser.  So I should be 4-0 at this point but instead I am 2-2!  Nobody's fault but my own so I will stick with the bad result.  But obviously I am getting old:  not able to count to ten and can't remember what predictions I made in the first place!

Despite complaints from older Cuban Americans and certain Republican politicians, I think Obama is correct in engaging Cuba.  It reminds me of Nixon opening up China.  I think very few people today think that was a mistake.  China is still communist today and Cuba may be communist in the foreseeable future.  But I think it is better for the U.S. and the world that China is prosperous today.  The same thing if Cuba's economical condition improves and Cubans and Americans have a lot more exchanges.  Let's put it this way, 50 plus years of sanctions and isolation have not worked.  It is time for a new approach.

The good thing about the Sony hacking scandal is that it wakes us up about how vulnerable we are in this age of the internet.  The smallest and weakest country can potentially hurt us with a cyber attack.  I don't think that Iran and North Korea will ever launch a nuclear attack against us, knowing that a retaliation by us will mean the end of them.  But cyber attacks are real.  Why spend money on training physicists, obtaining uranium and finding ways to launch a nuclear bomb when you can train bunch of hackers and cause great damage?

Here are my predictions for Big Ten bowl games:
Illinois, Rutgers, MSU, Minnesota, Iowa winners.  Maryland, Nebraska, OSU, Wisconsin losers.  So that makes 5-4.  LA Times have Big Ten at 2-5.  The odds makers have even less faith.  All nine teams are underdogs!  So I think I am really going out on the limb here.

Some people are saying that the report criticizing the CIA for torturing will lead to more attacks against us.  I don't think so.  The people who hate us are going to try to attack us anyway.  The people who are on our side understand that intelligence work is difficult and most other countries will have spies who do the same things in the same situations.  Being a democratic and free country does not guarantee that we or anyone else do not do the wrong things sometimes.  Being a democracy does mean that we can be up front about our errors and try to correct them.  I think airing our dirty laundry make us look better in eyes of most of the world.  Look at countries like Russia and China.  They don't tell the world about their human rights abuses.  Do they look good in the eyes of the world?

This is why people like John McCain should be respected.  Unlike other Republicans who criticize the report, he endorses it and call for reforms.  Contrast that to Dick Cheney, who would never admit to any mistakes.  I think by not admitting the Iraq war was wrong, we already know what kind of person Cheney is.  His criticism of the CIA report just cement what most people of the world think of him.

I did see Jeremy Lin wear the "I can't breath" shirt.  I think anyone should be able to voice his opinion.  I think it is great if that is what he feels.  I just hope he didn't feel obligated because all of his teammates are black.

The Ferguson and choke hold cases have brought on protests all over the country.  They also brought on demonstrations and comments by athletes.  So far no repercussions for these athletes such as the Rams players or Charles Barkley.  Nor should there be any.  Athletes, like celebrities, have a forum to make their views of known that the rest of us don't have.  It does not mean that people should agree with or follow what they say.  They are no smarter than us.  But they certainly have rights to their opinions.  The Rams players sided with the protesters and the NFL did not punish them.  Barkley sided with the police and TNT allowed him and Kenny Smith argued on the air.  All those are right calls.

My own opinion is that there should have been indictments in the two cases.  I am not saying that the cops were guilty but as I said before, grand jury indictments are usually easily obtained as compared to convictions.  I think that if prosecutors wanted indictments, they certainly could have presented the evidence in such a way that the grand jury would agree that there were probable causes.  I think if civilians and not cops were involved, there would be no question that the two cases would have gone to trial.  And here is a conflict that I see:  Prosecutors usually work with the police to get the bad guys.  Are there conflict of interests then when it comes to prosecuting cops?  I think in controversial cases they should move outside the area or at least bring in federal prosecutors who do not work with the local police on a regular basis.

Whether the officers were guilty or not in these two cases, there is no denial of the fact that blacks are arrested more frequently, killed more often by police and sentenced to longer jail time.  This is true even if you factor in the higher rates of crime committed by blacks than whites.  A lot of that is due to economic difference.  Rich people do get away with more.  Charles Barkley got community service and fine for throwing someone through a bar window!  A poor black guy would have been punished much more harshly.  Of course, Barkley is recognized by the police and the judges.  He also can afford the best legal representation.  Beyond economics, however, racism I think still involved in a lot of situations.  I do think we are way better as a country in race relations, but we still need to do better.

Alabama, Oregon, FSU and OSU are in!  I have no problem with these selections.  I think that the committee made the right final choices.  The controversy comes with the TCU and Baylor situation.  I think having TCU dropping 3 spots after winning the last game and Baylor got jumped over by OSU are controversial, although not really surprising.  So if they had not release weekly standings all along and just gave the names today, I think there would be little argument.  So let us just have the final standing next season!

Congrats to Landon Donovan for going out as a champion!  A great career playing for the Galaxy and the U.S.  Soccer fans will miss him.  To bad for Lee Nguyen for getting injured during the game.  It would have been great to see Nguyen and Donovan involved in a Finals PK shootout!

After Ole Miss. got clobbered by Arkansas yesterday, I am thinking that if Alabama, which is in first place in the playoff poll, deserves to be there since they lost to Ole Miss.  Alabama can claim first because they beat Miss. State which was first before last week.  But Miss. State's claim to first place was mostly based on beating Auburn which has proven to be not so tough lately.  Is FSU the best team then since it is undefeated?  I don't know.   They have been doing the great escape every week.  But until someone can beat them, they deserve to be in the playoff for sure.  I am thinking they should just make it an 8 team playoff.  The champion of each of the big 5 conferences are in and then 3 wild cards are given, with no more than 3 teams from any conference.  The top 6 bowls would host the quarterfinals and semifinals.  There will still be controversies but if you win one of the big 5 conferences, you deserve to be in.  Otherwise there is no basis for complaint.

DWTS is very close.  So I won't make my final judgment until after seeing their last dances tomorrow.

I am amazed by the power of this blog.  Last week I commented that Lee Nguyen is an MVP candidate for the New England Revolution of MLS.  I also wondered why he has not been selected to the U.S. national team.  Immediately, Jurgen Klinnsmann called up Nguyen and played him toward the end of the game against Colombia.  Nguyen came close to scoring, only a great save by the Colombia goalie stopped him from putting the U.S. ahead.  I think Nguyen and his teammate Jermaine Jones will be a great midfield duo for the U.S.  Hopefully he will get a chance to prove that in the future.

In DWTS Tommy Chong has to go tomorrow.  Despite my sympathy for his advanced age, he is by far the worse dancer left and it would be a travesty if he makes the finals.

Ben Carson apparently is throwing his hat into the ring for president.  So we will have another black Republican candidate in 2016!  Carson is obviously a lot smarter than Herman Cain who ran in 2012.  For one thing he is a retired pediatric neurosurgeon.  But more importantly he is a  U. of Michigan alumnus.  Cain cannot match those credentials.  But like Cain, Carson's candidacy is bound to fail.  For one thing he considered himself an independent until recently even though he worked for Fox News.  He has not held any political office.  In the past he has come out against assault weapons and admitted that affirmative action had helped him.  Those things will be attacked by factions within the party.  It is easy for Republicans to embrace him to make them look more diverse.  It is another thing to embrace him to be their leader.  Carson is capable of doing a lot better than Herman Cain but he will not be the Republican nominee.

Whenever someone mentions about black neurosurgeons, only one other name is mentioned along with Ben Carson.  That is Keith Black.  Interestingly, Black is also a graduate of U. of Michigan Medical School.  He is head of the dept. at UCLA.   While Carson is a perfect example of affirmative action doing good, Keith Black is someone who shoots down the idea that minorities always need affirmative action.  Black made it into Michigan's prestigious 6 year undergraduate/medical school program.  This means he only took 6 years to get his BS and MD which most people take at least 8 years.  You cannot get in if your scores and maturity are not way up there coming out of high school.  So who knows?  Maybe if Carson makes a decent run, he can open the way for another neurosurgeon in politics in the future.

I have a complaint about Steve Nash.  Some people are mad that Nash, having declare himself out for the season, is shown on Instagram hitting a golf ball.  I know that hitting a golf ball is not anywhere the same as playing in an NBA game.  So I don't have problem with that.  But I am disappointed that while he has time to play golf, he has not been showing up at practice and games to support his teammates.  He is still being paid while not playing so at least he can do is contribute SOMETHING to the team.  Young guards like Jeremy Lin and Jordan Clarkson sure can use his teaching.  So how about trying to be the highest paid coach in the NBA for this season, Steve?

So as expected the Democrats got beat badly yesterday and the Republicans are going to take over the senate.  Given the mood of the country and the fact that the Democrats had to defend in so many red states in a midterm election, this result is probably inevitable.  But in a lot of close races, the Democratic candidate shied away from Obama completely.  I understand that Obama has low approval ratings.  But if the Republicans are making the election about Obama and you are running away from Obama, aren't you agreeing with the Republicans?  I believe that the best defense is offense.  I would have asked:  "Are you better or worse today than 2008 under the Bush administration?  Do you want to elect someone who will go back to the Bush policies that got us into recession and unpopular wars?''  Obama would have some impact to get out the minority vote.  All this may not have worked but by pushing Obama away, it only fed into the Republican message and made the Democratic candidates look weak.

So now what?  Nothing changes.  The Republicans are not going to agree among themselves what agendas to push forward.  They can waste their time trying to repeal Obamacare.   But Obama still has the veto.  Things like immigration reform, which Obama would sign if presented with a bill near what he wants, will not pass Congress even now because the Republicans won't be able to agree among themselves.  So we will continue to have a do nothing Congress and a lame duck president.  The only thing that this election may make a difference is if there is a Supreme Court opening in the next two years.  The Republican majority will make it more difficult for whomever Obama will nominate.

Praying for a speedy recovery for Mr. Hockey!

Last week I saw a video of Mark Zuckerberg conducting an interview at Tsinghua University of China entirely in Chinese.  That was quite impressive and unexpected.  The audience was surprised and delighted.  I give Zuckerberg a lot of credit and I think more businessmen going to China should learn the language.  It certainly create good will and by learning the language, one can better understand the culture and thinking of the people.  This would help immensely when negotiating and may help when the other side is speaking in Chinese to each other in say, the bathroom!

Having given Zuckerberg kudos for learning Chinese, I must say that  there is a double standard.  When my brother in law who is white goes to a Chinese store in LA and starts to speak in Cantonese with the clerks, immediately he is surrounded by Chinese women googoo and gaagaa over him.  They are surprised that he speaks fluent Cantonese.  Now I walk into a GAP store and speak fluent English and no woman ever comes up to me, all delighted.  Isn't this a double standard? 

The World Series was a good one this year.  But I must say the Giants and Royals are the two worst teams among the ones who were in the playoffs.  I understand the teams that are hot at the right time deserve to win.  But when every series in this playoffs was won by, I think, the inferior team, then there is something wrong with the game.  I means the Tigers killed the Royals during the season and the Dodgers killed the Giants.  OK, enough sour grapes.  I will salute the Giants who won for the third time in five years.  That is hard to do in this era.  And they did it without an extraordinary payroll.  Plus Madison Bumgarner won games 1, 5 and saved game 7 on two days rest.  That reminded me of Mickey Lolich winning games 2,5 and 7 in the 1968 Series.  So maybe we can go back to depend on a great starter more in the future instead of endless change of relief pitchers.

Nurse Kaci Hickox has been put under mandatory quarantine by the state of New Jersey after returning from helping Ebola patients in Africa.  New Jersey, New York and Illinois are forcing health workers returning from Africa to be isolated.  I think this is a gross over reaction and is a decision based on fear and not scientific facts.  It is like what they say about war:  The first casualty is truth.  The truth is that the nurse is not sick as Chris Christie claimed.  She is also not contagious  because she does not have symptoms nor fever.  She has been tested twice for Ebola and has been negative both times.  All these facts are ignored and she is being held against her will.

Chris Christie is not protecting the public by making false statements about a person he knows nothing about.  He is causing more fear and hysteria among the public with his order.  He is not a doctor, he has no right to make medical decisions against the advice of infectious disease experts.  These mandatory quarantines only fan more fear.  Already health care workers at Bellevue Hospital, where Dr. Craig Spencer is being treated, are being refused food service!  By the way, I think the only person who may have reason to worry about getting infected by Dr. Spencer would be his girl friend.  Again, this disease require extreme close contact with the patient or his body fluid.  Nobody at the bowling ally or subway is at risk.  Even Duncan, the patient who died, did not infect anyone from his family.  This is even after his treatment was long delayed.

The flu, pneumonia, meningitis, etc. all are way more likely to kill in this country than Ebola.  So let's get our appropriate vaccines and practice good hygiene.  That's the message politicians should get out.  They should not spread false rumors and fan fear.

After the Republicans demanded that Obama name an ebola czar, he named Ron Klain to the post.  Klain is not a doctor nor an infectious disease expert so the GOP is complaining about that.  The GOP does complain a lot about anything Obama does.  In this case they do have a point.  At times of crisis you need a voice that the public can have confidence in.  If the leader named to fight the spread of this disease has no medical background, it is hard for the public to feel confident about what he says.

It seems to me we don't need to create a new position to fight ebola.  The surgeon general should be the right person for this.  The problem is we do not have a permanent surgeon general right now.  Obama had nominted Vivek Murthy, an Indian American, to this post in 2013.  Murthy graduated from Yale medical school and is an internist.  He seems to have the academic qualification for the job.  The GOP claimed that he is too young (37 years old).  They do have a point there since most doctors don't get to the peak of their career till at least in their 40's.  But the real reason they would not confirm him is that he was a big supporter of Obama in his campaign and he had come out for ban on assault weapons.  The NRA  come out against him and there are few GOP senators who are not afraid of the NRA.  So his nomination is in limbo and Harry Reid won't bring up the vote unless he thinks he can win, which he cannot at this time.

So it is a hypocritical for the GOP to derail Murthy's nomination and then claim that Obama fails to have a surgeon general.  So Obama should not have nominate an ebola czar with no medical background.  He should have gone on the offensive and dare the Republicans to deny a well qualified physician the post that is so vital at this time.  If the nomination fails, he can call out the GOP during the midterm election.  Then he should name an ebola czar with medical background.

With the news that a nurse who took care of an ebola patient has contracted the disease in the U.S., there is more reason for concern.  We are supposed to have the necessary precautions in place to prevent the spread of the disease to health care workers here.  The two patients that were brought back to the U.S. were successfully treated and none of the caretakers contracted the disease.  So it is apparent the precautions in place worked.  But until we figure out what error or errors were committed in the latest case, it is a bit worrisome.  After all, humans make errors even if we are trained and are careful.

At least we know that the virus spread only by close contact when a patient has symptoms.  I think screening at airport is reasonable.  It shouldn't take too long to take the temperature of a passenger as he walks through customs.  This was done in Asia during the SARS epidemic.  It is not 100% effective but I think it at least give travelers a sense of assurance and stop people like Rand Paul who wants to limit traveling from certain areas of Africa to the U.S.

I think of more immediate concern is the spread of enterovirus D68.  Unlike ebola, D68 can be spread by air.  This is means that one can be several feet away and still catch it.  D68 is already in almost every state so we can't screen people by travel history like ebola.  The symptoms are flu like and we are in the flu season so it is difficult to differentiate it from the flu.  Hope people take their children to get the flu shot so that doctors know that it is less likely to be the flu when the kid comes in with flu like symptoms.  It is going to be tough winter for pediatricians and ER doctors!

On a light note, here in LA, the management of the Dodgers and Angels are under fire for losing in the first round of the playoff.  I am sure that is similar in Detroit.  There are mistakes by management to be sure.  But ultimately it is the players who win or lose.  I mean the difference between winning and losing in the playoffs seems most correlated with relief pitching.  That is almost impossible to predict before and even during the season.  Who knew before the season that Brian Wilson couldn't be a set up man?  Who knew that the pitchers of the Royals would be so good?  Last season the Red Sox beat the Tigers because of the bullpen.  This season the Red Sox relievers are terrible.  So I think if a GM can put together a team that win the division, it is hard to fault him for losing a short series playoff.

MSU is getting closer with the results over the weekend.  Too bad Baylor pulled it out.  How are the Red Wings going to be this season?

The chief executive of HK is putting tomorrow as the deadline for the demonstrators to move out of the streets.   Exactly what he would do if the demonstrators don't move is unknown.  But this is a fight that the protestors cannot win.  As I said before, there is no international pressure on China.  China can shut off the water supply to HK and blockade its port and that will bring HK to its knees.  Of course, China would not want to go this far.  But the average people in HK is not going to put up with the financial costs of the demonstrations either.  Already the demonstrations have cost millions to the economy and fights between people in HK have broken out.  So I think it is time to pull back.

Frankly I am disappointed in the silence from the UK.  Having negotiated the agreement with China to return HK to control of China, the UK can and should voice its displeasure over China going back on its word of letting HK govern itself.  I understand that since the UK was HK's colonial master, it is hard to complain about another country denying political freedom for HK.  But having negotiated the treaty on behalf of HK, the UK certainly can complain about China's deviation from the freedom that it promised to give HK for 50 years.

Bad week for Detroit sports.   The Tigers got swept by the Orioles even though they should have won 2 out 3 games.  The incompetent Lions lose to the terrible Bills at home after a 14-0 lead.  How do you explain sports.  The Angels, with the best record, got swept by KC.  Clayton Kershaw losing a 6-1 lead!  I guess sports is thrilling and heartbreaking.  I learned a long time ago not to get to involved since at the end only the fans of one team is totally happy!  That is a lesson I only learned as I got old.  It comes in handy especially after this weekend!

College and high school students in Hong Kong are occupying the Central district to demand greater freedom in this territory controlled by China.  I have mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand it is good to know there are idealistic young people in Hong Kong who are risking everything to advance democracy, not only in HK but perhaps in China.  On the other hand, if someone gets seriously injured or even die from this, I don't think this fight is worth it at this time.

First, the issue at hand is the election of the chief executive of HK.  Since China took over HK, the CE  has been elected by committee, in other words by those loyal to China.  There was no direct vote by the people.  By 2017, there is supposed to be direct election by citizens of HK for CE.  But word came out recently that the candidates have to be vetted by a committee.  This means that candidates hostile to Beijing will probably not be on the ballot.  This sparks the protest.  The problem as I see it, is that being a communist country, Beijing will not meet the demand of the protestors and will use force if needed.  The timing is also bad as the U.S. and the UK are all occupied with ISIS and Ukraine.  They need China, if not for support, at least do not veto any resolutions in the UN.  So far there is no words of support from the western powers to the protestors.  Given no international support, this is a road that lead to nowhere.  There are reports of injuries already, and given that any change of the mind of Beijing is extremely unlikely, it certainly do not seem worth the risk of life at this time.  At the very least, this election in 2017 is not a backward step.  People of HK can choose the less of 2 or 3 evils rather than have the evil handed to them by Beijing.

Interestingly, at the same time, Beijing was making overture to Taiwan about negotiation for reunification!  President Xi is promising the same one country two system of HK to Taiwan.  Not that Taiwan would have said yes anyway, but the timing of this with the protest in HK is peculiar.  Certainly Xi would not think that what is happening in HK would in anyway encourage Taiwan to come back to China!

Scotland voted to stay in the U.K.  That was not too surprising even though the polls were very close.  I don't think there is much animosity between England and Scotland for the separation to occur.  It is not as if the Scots were suffering under the British flag.  Having won concession for more self rule from Cameron, I think it was best not to split up.

The problem now for Cameron is to back up his promises.  There will be people in his own party who do not support the concessions.  But if he goes back on his words, then there will again be calls for separation.  But if the concessions are given, are we going see demands from Wales, Northern Ireland and even England to have more self rule from the U.K.?  I would think that Northern Ireland has less attachment to the U.K. than Scotland.  So having avoided one crisis, Cameron and future prime ministers may face more in the future.

Canada, Spain, China and Turkey all root for Scotland to vote against independence.  Quebec has had 2 referendums for breaking away and the last one lost by 2 % points.  So if Scotland had voted yes, the Quebec separatist movement would have pushed hard for a future vote again.  In Spain, if the vote is allowed, Catalonia will probably vote to leave Spain.  With the Scotland vote, the Catalonia momentum is stalled a bit.  But I think in the near future, Spain will have to allow the vote.  By not allowing the vote, the anger will grow.  Of course, China does not care about anger in Xinjiang and Tibet and no vote will be allowed.  Nor will Turkey allow a vote for Kurdistan independence, although if ISIS continues to grow, perhaps Turkey would like to have Kurdistan as a buffer zone between its border with Iraq and Syria.  So stay tune for more demands for independence in different areas of the world.

Obama said what he had to say last Wed.   But of course there are no real coalitions out there.  I have not heard anyone willing to put troops on the ground.  So if NATO countries are not sending troops nor are Arab countries, then it is impossible to destroy ISIS.  It will be a prolonged war of attrition.

Couple of years ago I considered Spain to be best sporting nation in the world.  They were the world champions in soccer, second best in basketball and had Rafael Nadal and many other great tennis players.  But since then, Spain has lost badly in the World Cup, lost in the quarter final in basketball as host country, and Rafael Nadal is injured and no longer number one.  So fortunes can come and go quickly.

U.S. wins world championship in basketball by destroying all competition.  This is a team without James, Durant, Paul, Howard, Anthony, Love, Griffin.  Any other country would not field a decent team without seven of their best players.  But the U.S. won easily.  It was felt that since the original Dream Team, the gap had closed significantly between international teams and the U.S.  But with this tournament it seems the gap had widened again.

Been on vacation then away for Labor Day weekend.  Finally caught up with all the work.  Have not been reading and watching the news carefully in these past couple of weeks.  But it is obvious the ISIS and Ukraine situations are getting worse.  There are no good solutions out there.  So I don't blame Obama for not coming up with any great plans.  But I think he has made a lot of mistake in at least public perceptions.  For example, going golfing after the conference about Foley's beheading.  Also having leaked that the administration have no plan yet against ISIS was politically inept.  When there are no good solutions, at least act and talk tough but offer no specifics that can come back to haunt you, such as Assad's use of chemical weapons as the red line.  Look, nobody wants to send troops to Iraq and Ukraine.  So none of the hawks have a legitimate idea either.  For now, continue air power and send weapons.

Nishikori vs Cilic?  Whoever made a bet on this daily double can plan for retirement.  Or he may be investigated for blackmailing Djokovic and Federer.

Can the Big Ten play any worse?

My last blog before going on vacation!  China wins chess Olympiad with India finishing third.  China becomes the first Asian country to win what is essentially the world team championship in chess.  It is also the first time two Asian countries medal in the same Olympiad.  This has to be very frustrating to Russia as it finishes fourth and has failed to win the championship for 4 straight times!  Russia in chess is like the U.S. in basketball.  Their number 5 player is better than most teams' number one.  Sure a Bobby Fisher can beat any Russian but in a team competition over 11 rounds of play, you would think they cannot lose.  In fact China did not send 3 of its top 5 players, including their number 1.  So Russia's number 5 is ranked higher than Wang Yue, who played first board for China in this championship.  India is also missing its top 2 players, including its former world champion!  So how did this happened?  I have no idea.  But with this result, you can bet there will be a surge in chess in China, India and maybe other places in Asia.

First night on the NBA schedule:  Houston at Lakers.  I did not know that the NBA wants to give Jeremy Lin a chance at revenge so fast!  Well, Lin vs Rockets is not the top story line here.  How about Kobe vs Dwight after they parted ways last season?  Or Kobe vs Harden since Kobe is upset that people are saying Harden is the best SG in the NBA. Looking forward to opening night on TNT!

Now that the Tigers have traded for Price and Soria, they just need couple more starting pitchers and couple more relievers and they can maybe catch the Royals!

Obama decides to use air power to stop the advancement of ISIS.  I am ambivalent about getting involved in Iraq again.  It seems we are just trading one dictator for another whenever we are involved in this area of the world.  ISIS appeared to be our worst nightmare.  A terrorist group that somehow got so powerful that it is operating in the open and destroying the Iraqi army that we have trained.  The major reason for this is that the current government refused to be inclusive of the Sunni minority which led to the rise of ISIS.  It is also so corrupted that the military is run by incompetent people and thus many of the soldiers refuse to fight for them.  So unless there is significant change at the top, I don't see how the U.S. can help them.  We sent in "advisers", just as Kennedy did in Vietnam.  But like Vietnam, if the people are not willing to fight for that government, we will end up in a quagmire.

So is Obama making a big mistake by using air strikes now when he did not do so in Syria?  I don't think so.  In the past few days before the air strikes, ISIS was advancing toward Kurdish territory.  This area has been an oasis in Iraq.  The Kurds were abused under Saddam Hussein.  They were hopeful that after the first Gulf war, Bush the First would have gone into Baghdad and got rid of Hussein and help establish Kurdistan.  That didn't happen but the U.S. did create a no fly zone to help the Kurds somewhat against Hussein.   Since the fall of Hussein, the Kurds have been trying to be loyal to the new government despite not getting anywhere politically.  They have also made peace with Turkey so that now I think Turkey would accept an independent Kurdistan at its border.  The area has been democratically run and westernized.  So I think we cannot let this oasis fall to ISIS.

The Kurds are willing to fight for their homeland, unlike many of the Iraqis under the Baghdad government.  They had to retreat due to the overpowering forces of ISIS.  But I believe with U.S. air power, the Kurds can turn back ISIS.  So here we have a democratic ally that needs our help.  It is essential that we give them help.  Criminals like easy targets.  Once they realize that they can't overrun Kurdish territory like they did in Mosul, ISIS will turn back toward other areas of Iraq.  We should allow Kurdistan to be declared an independent nation.  If it can survive and prosper, we may have a model for other countries in the area.

First a water pipe broke near UCLA spewing millions of gallons of water, breaking concrete roads, flooding parking lots and buildings, including the famous Pauley Pavilion.  Then underground gas lines exploded in Taiwan, destroying buildings and killing people.  Then the water supply in Toledo got contaminated with a toxin from algae, causing a run on bottled water and shutting down restaurants.  All of these may seem like isolated incidents but I am wondering if more of these things will increase in the future.

I am not sure what happened in Taiwan.  It maybe an accident from nearby petroleum companies.  The UCLA situation is obviously a sign of crumpling infrastructure.  The pipe that broke was over 90 years old.  It is estimated that the pace of repair and changing pipes in southern California is such that it will be 300 years before all the pipes will be repaired or changed.  So if the pace is not picked up greatly soon, I see a lot more pipes bursting.  And it is not pipes underground but bridges are not being maintained in this country also.   Remember the bridge that broke in Minnesota a few years back?  That bridge was fixed but I have not heard of a national effort to check and repair all the bridges.  There will be more collapsed bridges for sure.

The detection of toxins in Toledo actually worked well, giving warnings before anyone got sick.  But isn't algae always going to be growing in Lake Erie?  Are there any proactive plans to prevent contamination in the first place?  I think most of the time, the local government spent money on what the people can see, such a police, fire and schools.  Most people never think about what is under the ground or the electric grid until something happens.  So unless we demand that our infrastructure be upgraded, we are just waiting for the next disaster to happen.

Besides exposing our poor infrastructure, I am worried that what happened in the last few days also give terrorists ideas.  It seems to me that if they have a few smart scientists they can figure ways to cause explosions in gas pipes or contaminate our water supply.  So besides upgrading, we also would need to find ways to protect our infrastructures.

Meanwhile I am thinking what my late grandmother used to admonish me:  stock up on more rice and water!  I am also going to drive faster when on a bridge so that I will spent less time on it!

The downing of a Malaysian Airline plane over Ukraine will mean a cold relation between Russia and the U.S. for years to come.  I think it is obvious that Ukraine rebels fired the missile, mistaking the plane for an Ukrainian air force jet.  But the sophisticated weapon can only be supplied by Russia.  Putin will lie and try to cover this up but nobody from the western world will believe him.  The U.S. had announced tougher sanctions days before this and will tighten the grip on Russia more now.  More importantly, the Europeans, who had not been as tough on Russia because of their larger trades with Russia, is now much more outraged.  So I believe the Russian economy, which had been slowed lately, may well going into a recession.

While we can use Russian help in Syria, Iran and North Korea, they have not been much help anyway.  Putin will hang on power because of propaganda about Ukraine have increased nationalism in his favor.  But eventually the economic blows will make it hard for him to stay in power.  This may take a few years but we must be patient.  After all there is no military solution to this.

I see that Dick Cheney is calling Obama the worst president in history.  I will call out Cheney and others with the same view their credential as historians.  Are they such experts in our presidents that they know how good Fillmore. Pierce, and Garfield were?  I believe such claims have racist overtones.  There were 43 white president and they think that Obama is worse than all of them?  I don't think Obama is the best president ever but he is way better than George Bush for sure.

Let say Obama was elected before Bush.  Let say  during Obama administration 9/11 happens, the economy collapses, we invade Iraq and thus taking our eye off Afghanistan and allowing bin Laden to escape and the war causes a trillion dollars and thousands of American lives.   Let say during the Bush administration bin Laden is killed, the economy revives and the wars are over.  If all of the above are true, would any of these Obama haters call Bush the worst president in history?  I think we should ask Dick Cheney this question and see what lies he comes up with.

Due to too much time spent on monitoring the NBA free agent deals and watching the end of the World Cup, I have not looked into Hobby Lobby case carefully as promised.  So let me just make two quick points and see if there are specific questions out there.  It appears from what I read that there are other ways for woman to obtain contraceptives other than directly from employer health plan.  But again I don't see how corporations can be same as people.  Isn't a major reason an owner incorporates his business is to separate his personal liability from the liability of the business?  So for example, if a business is sued and loses, the owner is liable only for his investment in the business if it is incorporated.  So that same owner is claiming that the corporation is same as him now?   If a corporation is owned by someone whose religion forbids treatment by medical doctors, can it then refuse health coverage altogether?

Great news out of the NBA is that Jeremy Lin is coming to LA!  So now I can follow my favorite player all season!  Also it is great for him to get out of Houston where he is basically told to stand in the corner while James Harden run the offense.  I only wish that D'Antonio had not resigned so that he and Lin could have reunited.  D'Antonio's offense system work best with a point guard in charge and is best for Lin.  The new coach may very well let Kobe Bryant run the offense.  But at his age and coming off two major injuries, Bryant cannot carry a team anymore and I think he would welcome someone who can lighten the load for him.  Plus there is no guarantee that he and Nash will last the whole season.  Finally, the chance to learn from Nash will be of great value for Lin.  So I think this will work out much better for Lin than the last two seasons in Houston.

This is the last blog regarding the World Cup 2014 unless something extremely crazy happens.  At this point, any one of the final four winning the Cup would not be shocking.  I will still go with Brazil to win it all even though they won't have Neymar and Thiago Silva.  On paper Germany is now a slight favorite but I think this may actually be advantage to Brazil.  There is still great pressure but instead of being heavy favorite they are a slight underdog.  They may play with a chip on their shoulder instead of a heavy burden.  And teams like Colombia, Costa Rica and France have lost top players and have played well.  Given the depth of the Brazilian team, they should be able to weathered the losses better than those teams.  So I will go with Brazil but as I said before, all four remaining teams can win it all.

There seems to be a lot more parity in this World Cup with the CONCACAF and African teams doing better than expected.  But I don't agree with those who think that the U.S. are close to winning the cup.  The U.S. has the best goalie in the world and we always produce great goalies.  We have speed and athleticism.  But our skill level are nowhere near the top teams.  We lost in possession in every game and the discrepancy in possession and shots in the Belgium game only points to our lack of world class skills.  The gap will not be closed completely in 4 or even 8 years.  Only Bradley and Dempsey can start on most teams in the world.  We have 5 Germans on the team and except for Green, Germany have no interest in them.  So unless we get athletes like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant to play soccer and we get a grass root system like they have in European countries, we have a long way to go before we can win the cup.  Sure, we can beat one of final four team on a given day, but to win four knockout round against the best teams, we can't do it in the near future.

My prediction of Roger Federer winiing Wimbledon almost came true.  He played a great tournament but unfortunately father time wins again.  I think this is his last chance to win another major.  I expect that Nadal will pass him in major titles.  Is he the greatest ever?  Given that he has a losing record against Nadal, even though Nadal was rising as Federer started to decline, it is hard to say that Federer is better than Nadal.  But I think Federer is still the best all around player, being in the top 3 of all time on clay, grass and hard courts.  This is something I don't think any other player can claim.

Great weekend of World Cup soccer.  It seems the quality of play in this tournament is much better than recent ones.  Two out of 4 games went to penalty kicks which is not best way to decide the game but was tremendously exciting.  The thought that Brazil could easily have been knocked out was just unbelievable.  CONCAFCAF earmed a lot of respect with the showing of Mexico and Costa Rica.  Mexico should have won but I think they made a mistake of packing it in with the lead.  Playing defense was right but you have to have a counterattack.  By taking out Dos Santos, they couldn't counter and let the Dutch attack at will.  Costa Rica almost suffered the same fate but hung on to penalty shots despite being down a man.  If someone watching this weekend do not like soccer afterward, you will never convert him.

The Holland-Mexico game was decided on a penalty shot.  It was a foul although as I talked about before, the punishment was much too great for the crime.  The Alexi Lalas said that it was an accumulative call. In other words, there were maybe possible penalty shot calls earlier on Mexico that was not called and so finally this one had to be called.  Other commentators also said that a play in the first half involving Robben should have been a penalty.  Interestingly, Robben said that the deciding call was correct but that he had dived on the first one.  So if you believe Robben, then the referee got it right.  But even in slow motion, the commentators felt that the first one was a penalty.  This goes to show how difficult it is to referee these games.  So again I call for more fouls called but less penalty shots so that the referee is not the deciding factor in these big games.

Obama is sending "advisers" to Iraq.  I hope they are not the type of advisers Kennedy sent to Vietnam.  Those advisers became a big military operation.  I trust that this will not happen.  But you never know.  As Vietnam proved, supporting a brutal dictatorship will not be successful even if the enemy of that dictatorship is a worse alternative.  So unless Obama can convince Maliki to change his way and bring the Sunnis into the government, the "advisers" we are sending will be of no value.

The U.S. was 30 seconds away from clinching a spot in the second round of the World Cup today.  I don't know how they allowed that last goal.  Shouldn't they all be back in the box to defend?  Even though we are still likely to advance, a crazy scenario is now possible.  If Germany and the U.S. ties both will advance regardless what Ghana and Portugal do.  Klinsmann is German and the German coach is his good friend.  If Germany and the U.S. play to a listless 0-0 tie, I will bet that there will be an uproar about an agreement between the two teams before hand!

A busy weekend in sports.  First the World Cup.  There has been more scoring.  Also couple of upsets, particularly Spain losing 5-1.  There were also a few games where a team comes from behind to win, not very common in soccer.  The new goal technology seems to be working well, without slowing down the game.  So a lot of positives so far.  There are still the usual problems with the game, however.  One is the calls on possible penalty kicks.  Soccer is still very low scoring,  So a penalty shot which is successful over 80% of the time, can very well decide a game.  Brazil benefited from such a call in its game against Croatia.  Then there are a lot of times, particularly on corner kicks where everybody is fouling each other and no calls are made.  In basketball where there are two hundred points scored, one bad call does not make that much of difference.  In soccer where there are only about 10 legitimate chances of scoring in a game,so one bad call is a big deal.

I suggest a rule change where unless there is an intentional hand ball or a vicious open field foul, the penalty will not be a direct shot from 12 yards.  Instead, you get a regular free kick from the spot of the foul.  If it is less than 10 yards from goal, the wall can be set up half distance from the shot.  In exchange for the less harsh penalty, the defense will be called for fouls in the box where maybe the referee would have let go in the past because he thinks a penalty shot in this instance is too harsh.  So basically I am calling for more fouls called in the box but less penalty shots.

The other controversy is the offside call.  It is very difficult for the side judge to see a pass that starts from 40 yards away and at the same time see if anyone got behind the defenders at the exact same time the passer strikes the ball.  Unless they come out with something similar to the goal line technology, I suggest that each coach gets one challenge per game for a video review.  I don't think that would slow down the game too much.

The U.S. starts their World cup chase tomorrow.  Klinsmann said that it is not realistic for the U.S to win the cup.  I agree with that.  But then I also agree with Bruce Arena who said that if we have 23 players better than Landon Donovan, we should be able to win the World Cup!

Alert!  Above paragraphs were written yesterday.  I decided not to publish till after the U.S. game today.  It appears to be a good move since the U.S. won!  Without jinxing the team, I think we have a very good chance to move out of group play with Portugal losing badly today.  If we can tie Portugal, I think we will be in because Germany would have locked up advancing before they play the U.S.  They may well play their B team.  We have beaten their B team before and even if we lose, it should not be anywhere close to 4-0!  So we need to tie Portugal!

The Spurs clobbered the Heat again to win the championship.  The Spurs are the ultimate team.  They are so well coached.  But I notice that they have 9 players who were born outside the U.S.  Could it be that these foreign born players are easier to coach than Americans?  I have not done any scientific research on this so I can't say for sure.  But my hypothesis is that foreign born players are happy that they made to the NBA and if they don't work hard and listen to the coach, they will not last.  Contrast that with young American stars who have been pampered way before they got to the NBA.  Also Americans who have poor work ethics are given more chance to succeed.  Witness Andrew Bynum and Kwame Brown.  So maybe the Spurs look for guys who are willing to sacrifice in the Popovich system and as a result they ended up with a lot foreign born players.

The Spur and Heat series also points out the importance of point guard play.  The Heat had none.  Basically, James ended up with the point guard work plus the scoring load.  This failed miserably against a championship caliber team.  Something for the Rockets to think about when they try to use Harden to run the offense while their point guards stand outside the three point line.

A couple of new items today, but first I like to comment on Bergdahl.  Thanks to LBOAYM, I read O'dwyer's article which I agree with almost completely.  It was obviously a PR disaster for Obama.  The news conference with Bergdahl's dad was dumb.  The only thing I can think of is that Obama thinks the dad looks more like the Duck Dynasty guy than a Muslim.  The reason I held off commenting was whether I agree with the trade at all.  This is where I disagree with O'Dwyer.  I don't think I would have traded given the uncertainty of how he was captured.  I understand the ideal of not leaving anyone behind.  I also disagree with the conservatives who say that this makes the enemy more likely to try to capture American soldiers.  I think even if we don't trade, the enemies will capture Americans any time they can.  In fact, if we don't trade, they are more likely to kill them and display them on tv.  So not negotiating will not make our soldiers any safer.  But given the known controversy of this case, I would not have traded at this time.

Eric Cantor loses!  Does this mean the Tea party is back in control.  No, but I guess you should not write its obituary either.  So in liberal California, the Tea party candidate loses to an unknown.  In a conservative district in Virginia, the extreme conservative beats a conservative.  Neither of these have any national significance.  It just means the GOP is split and while they will do well in the mid term election, they will have problems in the 2016 presidential election.

Iraqi militants took over a Mosul, the second largest city.  It seems the current government is in trouble.  It goes to show you, you can't bring democracy to another country by force.  All you are trading is one dictator for maybe something worse.  Al Qaeda was not in Iraq before Hussein.  Now, after billions of dollars and thousand of American lives lost, you have more sectarian violence.  In fact, this militant group is even worse than al Qaeda.  So Obama was right when he was a senator:   The Iraq invasion was wrong.  He is also right in not using military force in Libya, Egypt and Syria.  Until we have a reliable partner, military action in this part of the world will not bring good results.

A few follow ups today.  First, Donald Sterling is going to sell his team for $2billion.  As they say the rich gets richer even if they are not good people.  He made out better than McCourt did when he sold the Dodgers.  But unlike McCourt, who took his money and faded from the public, Sterling still cares what people think of him.  All those ads touting his charity contributions were designed to make himself look good to the public.  So was his rambling attempt to defend himself on CNN.  But no matter how much money he accumulates, he will never be fondly remembered by the people.  So he would fail at the one thing he wanted: adoration from the public.

Neel Kashkari did beat out Tim Donnelly for second place in the California gubernatorial open primary.  So he gets the distinction of losing to Jerry Brown in November.  I am not sure why he tried to win this impossible race and spend a lot of his own money.  I think the GOP in California is relieved that a moderate is going on the ballot instead of the tea party Donnelley.  They helped Kashkari, I think, because if Donnelley is on the top of the ballot in November, it would drive away moderate Republicans and independents who may vote for Republicans in elections that are winnable.  They would not win much anyway but with Kashkari, maybe they win some of the close races.

The U.S. did win all three of the send away games before Brazil.  They looked pretty good without Donovan and the German Americans that Klinnsman kept on the team maybe helpful.  (Except for Julian Green, who is too young to be on such a big stage).  With Ronaldo's fitness in question, maybe we can get out of the group of death.  But I still rather have Donovan in there.

I am rooting for the Spurs.  But all those people who were making fun of Lebron for getting cramps during the first game were not being fair.  Some people even said that he should have stayed in.  People like James, Kobe, and Jordan would play in serious pain and nobody should ever doubt their injury.  As expected James came back today and helped the Heat even the series.  I hope the Spurs win the series but I don't want it being decided by an injury.

Can't anyone be a decent closer once they go to Detroit?  I can't remember a decent closer in recent years on the Tigers.  Saw Al Kaline on the ESPN telecasts tonight.  He still looks good and is as humble as always.  Too bad he can't pitch.  Is Willy Hernandez or Fred Gladding still alive?

It is shocking that Landon Donovan is left off the U.S. soccer team.  Donovan is the greatest player in U.S. history and at age 32 may have passed his prime.  But he is not way over the hill either.  There is no way that he is not one of the top 23 players in the country right now.  Klinsmann has not given any reasonable explanation for leaving Donovan off the team.  To say he is a step behind others is not an explanation.  That is like saying someone is just better than him.  But in what way?  Is Donovan out of shape?  I don't think so.  He is playing full time with the Galaxy right now.  Is he slower than others? I don't think so.  I would bet he beats at least 3/4 of the team in a foot race.  Certainly not because of experience since he has the most caps and goals on the team by far.

So is it because Klinsmann is still upset that Donovan took time off last year and he thinks that Donovan is not as committed to soccer as he needs to be?  If that is the case, he is wrong.  I think if Donovan did not take his leave of absence last year, he may be burned out this year and be of no use to the Galaxy or the national team.  Is Klinsmann going for the youth movement since he does not think the U.S. can get out of the group of death and so might as well let the young guys get experience for 2018?  Again that would be wrong because even though it is unlikely that the U.S, can get out of the group, it is not an impossible task.  They can certainly beat Ghana and Portugal is maddeningly inconsistent despite having Christian Ronaldo.  And players like Julian Green will not play much if at all in Brazil anyway.  They have 4 years and many friendlies and tournaments to get ready for 2018.  So the youth movement can start after the World Cup.

Even if Klinsmann does not think that Donovan can be effective for 90 minutes, it is important to have a player like him on the team.  Lets face it:  the U.S. will not beat anyone by a big margin.  The best they can hope for is play great defense and get a goal from counterattack or a set piece.  These are the situations where Donovan is by far the best American.  I want him to take that free kick at crunch time.  If he can't run 90 minutes, put him in during the second half of a close game.  He is our best chance to get a goal or assist on one.  If the game goes into a shootout, I want Donovan to be one of the shooters.  So I think it is a big mistake to leave Donovan off the team and the chance of the U.S. to have a successful World Cup just went down 50%.

Karl Rove said that Hillary Clinton may have brain damage from an injury.   He defended himself by saying that a presidential candidate's health should be under scrutiny.  He is right about that but Clinton has not declared her candidacy.  I mean, are we going to make Chris Christie's obesity an issue now before he is a candidate?  At least Chrisitie is in office right now.  Clinton is a private citizen.  This sort of attack may fire up the base but to independents it seems like Rove is scared that Clinton will be the nominee.  If Clinton does have brain damage why would Rove be scared that she runs?  You mean your candidate, whoever he or she will be, cannot beat a brain damaged person?  If she is incapable of being the president, it will come out in the campaign.  She may get herself disqualified by, for example, not remembering which 3 cabinets she would get rid of if she becomes president.  So by attacking Clinton now, Rove just makes himself look scared of Clinton.

I predict that Amy will win DWTS.  I would agree that Davis is the best dancer left but I think the difference in skill is so small between the two that Amy will overcome that with the voting.

The movie about Dan the Korean adoptee is now on YouTube.  Look for aka Dan on YouTube.  The movie is broken down into 7 segments of about 15 minutes each so there is interruption with the flow as you click for the next segment.  There is also some repeated scenes.  But the excellence of the movie makes these minor annoyances irrelevant.  Please be sure to check it out.

There is an Indian-American running for governor here in California.  His name is Neel Kashkari.  He has no chance of winning because the latest poll shows that he is only favored by 2% of the voters vs Jerry Brown who has 47%.  He even trails another Republican, Tim Donnelly, whohas 10%.  Even though he has no chance of winning and based on what I read, I don't agree with him on several topics, I will keep an eye on him.  This is due to the fact he is an unusual candidate and I want to see if his unorthodox candidacy can at least beat his Republican opponent in the primary and give Brown a run in the general election.

First of all, Kashkari has never run for office, so he is not a career politician.  Despite not known by the electorate, he is endorsed by the likes of former governor Pete Wilson, Congressman Darrell Issa and Mitt Romney.  Trained as a mechanical engineer, he eventually got his MBA and a job at Goldman Sachs.  It was at Sachs that he worked under former Treasury secretary Hank Paulson.  Paulson tabbed Kashkari to be in charge of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in 2008.  A life long Republican, he voted for Obama in 2008 and stayed at the helm of TARP after Obama took office.  He left to work for Pimco in 2009.  He voted for Romney in 2012.

I find Kashkari's story interesting because he uses his work at TARP on his resume as a badge of honor.  His Republican opponent, of course, says that no Republican should vote for someone in charge of TARP and voted for Obama.  Most Republicans have accused Obama as a socialist for TARP, not mentioning that it was Paulson's idea under Bush that TARP got started and it was run by a Republican even when Obama took over.  Many Republicans say TARP was a waste of tax payer's money.  But now a Republican running for office with backing of moderate Republicans, is saying that TARP saved the financial market.  There is argument on both sides but if Kashkari beats Donnelly, will other Republicans support Kaahkari?

The other thing about Kashkari is that, unlike most politicians, he does not speak in vague terms.  He has already written what he would do if he was governor.  Now I don't agree on some of the things he say such as no raising of the minimum wage and no corporate income tax for 10 years for any company that move to Californiia. But he isputting it out there for discussion as oppose to someone who says:  "I am going to create jobs".  Kashkari also does not mince words.  He told a mix crowd at Berkeley that reversing the ban on affirmative action as advocated by Democrats is just a way of saying there are too many Asians at Berkeley.  He is not afraid of being politically incorrect.

So he has a lot of people on both Republican and Democratic sides mad at him.  By the way, his remark about not raising the minimum wage came right after Romney said that it is reasonable to raise the minimum wage.  So Kashkari is not afraid to antagonize one of his own big name supporters.  So to sum up, he has no chance of winning.  But I am hoping he will have a decent showing even though I am not sure if I would vote for him.  But having both sides attack him while bring concrete ideas for discussion, makes Kashkari a candidate that I am interested in following.

This past week Neal Rubin of the Detroit News tried to rewrite history.  He published an article on the 1982 case of the killing of Vincent Chin.  To summarize the case:  Chin was having a bachelor party at a strip joint when two unemployed auto workers, mistaking Chin to be Japanese, hurled racial epithets at him.  A fight ensued but was broken up.  All involved were thrown out of the bar.  The killers, Ebens and Nitz then got a bat out of their car, hunted Chin down the street and beat him to death.  For this murder, the killers were given probation, no jail time.  The case pulled the small Asian community of Detroit together to protest.  It drew national attention but the fact remains that these two killers got away with murder.

Now for unknown reason, Rubin claims evidence show that Chin is partially at fault by throwing the first punch.  This is a complete lack of logic.  Not only has Rubin failed to prove who started the fight, it is absurd to assign fault to the victim in this case.  Let's say a slur was aimed at that person's race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation, would it not be reasonable for that person to stand up for himself?  It would be totally understandable that a black, Latino, Jewish or gay person may throw the first punch in this situation. Sure, a monk may not respond to a slur but I would think that no monk would be in a strip joint.  So if you are calling someone names in a bar, aren't you the one looking for trouble in the first place?  But let say Chin started the fight, it does not matter when it comes to assigning blame because that fight in the bar was OVER when they were kicked out.  If Chin had gotten hit, fell and hit his head and died in the bar, one can argue that accidents happen in a bar fight.  But the truth, and nobody disputed this:  Ebens and Nitz had time to cool off after leaving the bar but they chose to get the bat and hunt Chin down.  A lot of time had passed for them to change their mind but they chose to use a weapon!  So this was pure murder and you can't rewrite such history.  Chin is being slurred once again 32 years later.

The Chin case mobilized the Asian community.  We were not successful in getting justice for Chin then.  But we are a bigger and stronger community now.  We cannot let anyone insult us in the media today.  The Chin case has mobilized us again 32 years later. We have way more economic power today than 32 years ago.  If we get no apology from Rubin or the Detroit News, it is time to plan economic boycott and other pressures against them.

Well, Donald Sterling deserves a blog post of his own instead of being a comment from the Bundy post.  So here it goes.  I know I always say innocent until proven guilty.  But if he is not the guy in the tape, then why isn't he denying it?  So I think he is the one on the tape and the NBA investigation should not take any time longer than asking Sterling if he has any defensive statement.

I never liked Sterling.  He is one of those guys that tries to buy fame and accolades with money.  At least once a month he takes out a full page ad in the LA Times blowing his own horn about charity giving.  He would "honor" people for their charity work with galas but at the same time implying how much his foundation is helping these people.  Ironically plenty of minorities are featured in these galas including Magic and other black athletes.  So I don't know why Sterling would tell his mistress not to associate with blacks since he associates with them to make himself look good.  Various charities and famous people are happy to be featured in his ads because I believe that he showers them with money.  In a couple of weeks, the NAACP was scheduled to give Sterling a life time achievement award!

As I said before, when someone is successful in business or something else, it does not make him smart or a good person.  You can't buy everything, specially respect.  Old rich guys have trophy wives.  In this case, a trophy mistress.  But like any trophy, if you buy it, it is meaningless.  In fact people laugh behind your back because that young woman is just taking your money and making you look like an old fool.  It is like buying a tennis trophy.  Nobody will think that you are good in tennis, just that you are shameless.

Back to racism.  Sterling had been sued by minorities in the past for not renting his apartments to them.  So he may be a racist.  But then he was sued for racial and age discrimination by former Clipper GM Elgin Baylor.  That suit was tossed and rightly so.  Baylor had like 20 years at the helm and the entire time the Clippers were the laughing stock of the NBA.  Any owner would have fired him a long time ago.  If Sterling is a racist, why was he so loyal to Baylor?  And what about all those black leaders, including NAACP and Magic.  Didn't they have a clue that Sterling was a racist all those years?  Or did money kept these people from saying anything until this episode goes public and all these people had to express shock and outrage?

Finally, why was there even a talk of Clippers boycotting the game yesterday?  How is forfeiting going to help?  These players are paid millions to represent the team and the city, not to represent Sterling.  How would disappointing the fans help?  I was angry at some pundits, mostly white, who said that the Clippers played poorly yesterday because they were distracted or down emotionally.  Come on, if someone in the family died, I can see a player would be affected.  Racist comments from an 80 year old is going to affect a pro player?  I would have used it as a motivation to play better!

The NBA, I don't think, can make Sterling sell the team.  They can suspend him.  But so what?  He is not running the team anyway.  The only thing that can hurt him is to fine him, say a million.  This should be used in a charity to improve race relations.  Money can't buy respect and it won't make people's impression of Sterling any better.   But at least it will get him out of the news. 

Cliven Bundy is the guy in Nevada whom the government accused of owing one million dollars in fees for cattle grazing on public land.  The government decided to sent armed federal agents to roundup Bundy's cattle.  This made a lot of people angry because they think it is government bullying the little guy.  So bunch of people showed up with guns to protect Bundy from the government.  Not wanting to escalate this into another Waco, the government has backed off.  After becoming a hero among conservative politicians and pundits, Bundy goes off and started saying things like black people are better off being slaves than being on welfare.  These remarks made him toxic to the conservative movements and people like Rand Paul are quickly distancing themselves from him.  There are still a lot of people with guns protecting Bundy at his home right now.

First, the government could have handled this a lot better.  Have they not arrested people for not paying before?  And the one million dollars may not be accurate since I don't see why they let that much accumulate before showing up.  I mean, I am sure the IRS will not let me accumulate a million in back taxes before coming after me.  But in any case, why does this guy thinks that he should be able to feed his cattle for free?  And all those people who are supporting him, don't some of them own businesses?  And how would these business owners feel if their competitors got free resources from the government to compete against them? That would be a government over reach, wouldn't it?  By grazing for free, wouldn't Bundy be getting welfare from the government?  Why are people like Rand Paul not against this type of welfare in the first place?

I am not labeling Bundy a racist yet.  He is obviously wrong to say slavery is better than being on welfare.  I mean, if he loses in court, he will find out first hand that welfare is a lot better than slavery.  He will lose his free grazing land which was essentially welfare to boost his income and then he will have to pay the government money so he may be working for nothing which is similar to slavery. 

I won't label Bundy a racist until I have info about how he treats people of other races.  I know of people who treat others equally without regard to race but are outspoken about government policies such as welfare.  I do agree with them on some issues.  For example, single mothers get more money than  those who are married with the same number of children.  This encourages parents not to get married or get divorced if they are married.  This is unhealthy for the family and the community.  It is possible that Bundy only meant to criticize certainly policies but at the same time treats everybody equally.  He may just have a problem expressing himself.  I am not betting on this but innocent until proven guilty, right?

I am sure there will be more debates on Bundy but I am sure that Bundy is happy that Donald Sterling is replacing him in the news!  More on that one after I get more info.

Pro Russian groups have taken over government buildings in eastern Ukraine.  Russian forces are lined up on the border of eastern Ukraine.  What will Russia do next?   Will Ukraine fight?  What should the U.S. do?  I don't know is my answer for the first 2 questions.  My answer to the third depends how the Russians and the Ukrainians answer the first two.

My feeling is that Putin himself does not know the answer to the first question.  Having aroused nationalism to make himself more popular at home he is painting himself into a corner.  Any mistake by the rebels or the Ukrainians can spark a civil war and cause Russia to get involved.  Is that what Putin really want?  If it is, our answer should be swift.  No military forces from us but arms and economic aid to Ukraine that will make Putin's life miserable.  It will be his Vietnam and Afghanistan.  The Russians helped the Viet Cong against the U.S. and we helped the Mujahideen against the USSR  without actually sending troops.  We must make it clear to Putin that if Russia invades Ukraine the end result will be like our result in Vietnam and their result in Afghanistan. 

Will the Ukraine fight?  Well if they don't and is willing to give up the part of the country that is Russian majority, then why should we get involved?  But if they want to preserve the integrity of their country then we should help them.  This was all instigated by Russia and we cannot have another country helping an ethnic group partition a nation.  It would be like Mexico helping Mexican Americans take over California.  But it all depends on Ukraine willing to fight long and hard to turn back the Russians by attrition.  So answer to question 3 depends on answers to 1 and 2.

With Jeremy Lin there are supporters who think that he is a greater point guard than Magic or Nash if only given a chance.  Then there are detractors who think that he does not belong in the league.  So I decide to look at the starting point guards in the NBA and decide where Lin fits in.

First I will admit that I am a Lin fan although I think Linsanity was a fluke and cannot be repeated.  I do believe that he is not in a situation where he can possibly flourish.  Houston's offense is run by Harden who holds the ball for 10 seconds and then either drive, put up a 3 pointer or passes with only a few seconds left.  Lin is standing by the corner and is not involved most of the time and then is expected to hit a 3 with seconds left while in no rhythm.  Look, all NBA players especially point guards, are good players.  But no point guard can play well if his quickness and passing ability are not utilized.  While Harden has won games with his individual skills, he also has lost them by not playing team ball.  The Rockets actually have a higher win percentage without him this season, although it is a small sample.

There are some guards that I think has about the same ability as Lin but are given the control of their teams' offense and thus have better stats.  John Walls was a former #1 draft choice the same year Lin came out.  From the first summer league on Lin has outplayed Walls.  But given the starting job in Washington and confidence of his coaches, Walls has become an all star this season.  I think Lin can do the same given the same situation.  Goran Dragic is even better than Walls this season.  Dragic has a better shot than Lin but he is not as fast and I believe worse on defense.  Dragic has been in the league longer and was learning from Nash when he came into the league.  So I think if Lin was in the same offense as Dragic in Phoenix in a year or so, he can be just as effective. 

The point guards that are better than Lin are Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook and a healthy Derrick Rose. Also Kyrie Irving and Damien Lillard, given their young age, will be better than Lin even in the future.  I would say that I would not take Deron Williams and Rondo over Lin because I think they are on the down sides of their career.  There are several others that I can see where someone would argue they are better than Lin under any circumstance.  I would only say those players maybe better than Lin but to me it is not definite.

So the bottom line:  I hope Lin gets traded to a system where he can run the pick and roll like D' Antonio did in NY.  Houston, despite having Howard, rarely give Lin a chance to run the pick and roll.  He will never flourish under McHale's system.  But if he goes to the right system, even if we don't get Linsanity 2, Lin can be an upper echelon NBA player.

Couple of items in the news caught my attention.  First Jeb Bush defends those who crosses the border illegally to work, calling it an act of love to provide for their children.  I agree.  If China was next to the U.S., my parents would have crossed over well before getting their green cards.  But I guess Jeb Bush is NOT trying to get the Republican nomination for president in 2016!

The Supreme court refuses to hear an appeal from a photographer from New Mexico who was cited for refusing to photograph gay weddings.  I agree with the ruling but does it really matter?  I mean, which gay couple will be dumb enough to hire this person for their wedding?  Do they really want their wedding pictures upside down or totally blurred?  It is like the court compelling a racist surgeon to operate on me.  Thanks but no thanks!

In regard to DWTS, apparently we have a big fan in LBOAYM!  I agree that Davis and White are clear favorites.  For the other contestants it must feel like the two players who drew Ken Jennings in Jeopardy's Battle of the Decades.  You know you have no chance.  The only way to beat Davis and White would be to get scores close to perfect and then have more fans' votes than Davis and White.  There are a few who may get 27-30 scores but I think of those only the handicap woman may get more votes than Davis and White.  Davis does have an edge over White because I believe a woman "amateur" have an edge over a man "amateur" since she does not have to lead.

Good news!  The Georgia legislature has passed a bill allowing possession of guns in places like churches, airports and government buildings.  This will make us all safer in Georgia according to the bill's supporters. What better way to celebrate our heritage than to go back to our wild wild west where every cowboy carried a gun.  Just ask the Indians how safe they felt.

I say the law does not go far enough.  For example, at airports and government buildings you can only have guns up to security check points.  If carrying guns make us safer, why do we even have check points?  Why should our second amendment rights be abolished at a check point?  If we can stop crimes with our guns outside, why can't we stop terrorists inside the airport with our guns?  I am sure someone like George Zimmerman will protect us by going up to a real terrorist, question him, and then shoot the terrorist in self defense.  If he did not have a gun, I am sure Zimmerman will not be so brave as to go up to someone so dangerous.  So let people like Zimmerman and the ex-policeman,  who shot someone in a theater for criminally talking on the cell phone, carry guns to protect all of us.

Lastly, why do they have check points at the Georgia legislature building?  Why can't someone go into the Georgia legislature chamber with a gun?  You never know if some bad guy may be in the audience and is upset about the debate on the floor and decide to attack the legislators.  With good guys in the audience with guns, this type of violence will be stopped right away.  So no metal detectors inside the Georgia legislature!

The LA Times editorial recently called out three Asian American California state senators for backing out of their support for repealing prop 209 which banned affirmative action.  Supposedly the three liberal Democrats withdrew their support because they received "thousands" of complaints from Asian Americans fearing that the repeal will decrease Asian American enrollments at Berkeley and UCLA.  The Times said that the debate should be about whether diversity in universities is a benefit and not whether a particular group gain or lose acceptance letters.

First, I would agree that we should argue whether diversity is important enough to justify racial and "gender" bias.  By the way, if prop 209 is repealed, then gender affirmative action can also be used.  In that case, it would benefit males as they represent less that 45% of the enrollments at Berkeley and UCLA.  I would like to see what liberal female groups think about that!  But by singling out selfish desires of Asian Americans, the Times is being dishonest.  I am sure that Latino and Black groups who want affirmative action are not doing so because of diversity but because they want increase in enrollment of their own group.  If these groups and liberal whites believe diversity is that important then they should have complained about black colleges and women colleges.  Would they come out and say the students in these colleges receive an inferior education due to lack of diversity?  Anyway, I would submit that Berkeley and UCLA is more diverse as it is compared to most elite colleges.  Its white enrollment is less than 40%  compare to some famous liberal art colleges that are 70% plus white.  Asian Americans ARE a diverse group.  There are big difference between East Asians, South Asians, South East Asians, Pacific Islanders etc.  They are also diverse in socio-economic status, immigration history and religious preferences.  They are also diverse in conservative and liberal ideology.  I would argue that a political science student at UCLA would have a more diverse experience than someone at Howard or Amherst.

I do believe that the playing field is not level.  Kids who go to private schools and have SAT tutoring have big advantage over poor kids.  So to me using affirmative action due to socio-economic status is fair.  A kid who came from a poor family and went to a bad school, regardless of race, should be given extra points against my kids when applying to college.  But Obama's kids should not have an advantage against my kids just because their parents are black.  I am sure the president would agree with that.

An aside, MSU and Michigan put up good fights.   The Big Ten could have easily gotten 3 of the final 4 spots.

Back to the serious problem in Ukraine.  Not surprisingly Russia has taken over the Crimea as expected.  There are people, including some of my friends, who think that the problem is Putin is a stronger leader than Obama.  One person even said that Obama should have sent warships and aircraft carrier into the Black Sea from the beginning.  He thinks that it is the inaction of the U.S. in Syria that emboldens the Russians.  I need to remind these people that in 2008 after we have invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, showing the might of the U.S. military, the Russians invaded Georgia.  And I do not remember that Bush sent troops to fight the Russians then.  The truth is that even though we are really the only super power in the world, we cannot and should not, be the policeman of the world.  Ukraine and Georgia are too close to Russia for us to intervene.  I am sure if we decide to invade Cuba, the Russians will not be able to do anything militarily either.

The question is will Putin stop at Crimea or will he take parts of Ukraine and eventually advance to eastern Europe.  I believe the answer is no.  Crimea is majority Russian.  Even if there was no election fraud, the majority would have voted to go back to Russia.  I think Putin may go into eastern Ukraine only if there was provocation, giving him an excuse.  There is no chance that he can take Ukraine whole and it would be dumb for him to try.  And he would be committing suicide if he tries to take Poland, for example.  Unlike my friend who thinks that Putin dreams of a new Soviet Union, I think Putin just wants to put a stop to the expansion of the European Union into former Soviet territories.  But by trying to stop this expansion by force as in Crimea, Putin will pay a price.  Even China refuses to back him.  Russia will be hurt economically as well as politically.  More eastern European nations will turn more west and away from Russia as a result of this and Putin will not be able to stop the trend.

Final four prediction:  Kansas, MSU, San Diego State, Michigan.  Kansas will be the champion.

DWTS:  Davis, White and Purdy the final three with White the champion.  Non athlete dark horse:  Danica McKellar.  Is it just me or does Erin Andrew sounds like a man?

Missed Jeopardy today and found out Arthur Chu lost!  I understand he lost big on the daily double.  So all the complaints about his strategy of getting the daily doubles are nonsense.  If you can't come up with the correct answer, then the strategy actually hurts you.  I understand that a graduate student from Ann Arbor beat him.  So Michigan may not win so much in football anymore but we dominate in ice dancing and jeopardy!

Chu said that the 12 games were taped over 3 days back in November.  So stamina and consistency are almost as important as knowledge and quickness.  It makes the absurd streak of, I think, 74 games by Ken Jennings so much more impressive!

Hilary Clinton is calling Putin's invasion of Crimea similar to Hitler because in both cases the excuse was to protect their own people.  Of course this is a hyperbole because Nazi Germany was capable of invading all the countries around it while Russia, even if successful in Crimea, will not be able to push westward.   Sure, Russia is still powerful militarily but it has shown an inability to defeat even weak opponents and then occupy their territories.  Witness their debacle in Afghanistan and Chechnya.  Able to push toward Poland, Romania etc?  I don't think so.  The occupation of Crimea will be a bad move for Russia.  It will make Russia even more despised in the former Warsaw Pact nations.  Russia's influence, which is what Putin tried to increase by propping up Ukraine's pro Russia factions, will decrease with this strategic error.

Having said that the situation is still very uncomfortable for the Ukraine people.  You can never know exactly what a powerful dictator next door will do next.  Without any military options, the U.S. and Europe are promising billions to Ukraine to help it get out of its debts and make the pro western government more popular in eastern part of the country.  But most of the debts that Ukraine owe is to Russia.  So if you give Ukraine money, wouldn't the Russians indirectly benefits?  I say hold the money but have the Ukraine offer to sell Crimea to Russia.  This is a way to save face for both sides.  Ukraine will not have surrender Crimea due to force.  Russia will get Crimea, which it had given to Ukraine years ago, back without firing a shot.  This way Russia can say that it only wants to acquire Crimea back to protect the majority Russians living there and was not being the aggressor.  Ukraine gets rid of an area where their people are a minority without suffering any humiliation of defeat.  Win win for both sides and the U.S.

I am under no illusion that the above will be accepted by both sides.  But the idea here is that conflicts occur often not because someone really needs a land but usually because both sides are too macho to back down.  Once Putin made the decision to put soldiers into Crimea, he can't just back down even if he has no intention of expanding toward western Europe.  The Ukrainians don't want to give up Crimea because that will make them look weak, even if Crimea is not that important to leaders in Kiev.  But the longer the stalemate, the longer someone, maybe just a soldier, will make a mistake and ignite a war.  All those tough, empty threats coming out of politicians in Washington are not going to help but can also escalate the conflict.  So the best solution is that someone will need to find a way for both sides, particularly Putin, to save face.  I put up one idea, anyone else has a better one?

Came across several articles about Jeopardy champ Arthur Chu last week and decided to watch Jeopardy for the first time in years to see for myself.  Chu has been criticized for "gaming" the system by jumping from one category to another and not going from lower value clues to higher value clues in that order.  This was supposedly to find the daily doubles before the other contestants and thus pile up the score.  From what I read, I don't see anything wrong with these strategies.  He was also called obnoxious and arrogant and for that I had to see for myself. 

In the five games I watched, I can't see anything he did on the show that was improper other than could have dressed better and get a better hair cut.  And if those criteria make a bad contestant then many went before him were just as guilty.  As for his strategies, none are new.  My all time favorite Chuck Forrest started jumping around in the 1980s and he is considered one of the all time greats of this game.  The bottom line is:  Chu wins because he is quicker on the buzzer and knows more trivia than his opponents so far.  If he had just gone down each row in order, he would have won all these games anyway.  No less authority than Forrest, Ken Jennings, and Alex Trebek have come out and say that Chu plays the game right.

So is all these internet hate Chu gets due to racism.  I do not think it is 100% because some are due to old Jeopardy fans who like the tradition of slow play going down each row in order.  Some fans also like to play along and Chu's quick style may not be to their liking.  But there are many mean spirited criticisms of Chu that obviously are race related.  Chu takes the high road but he answers those mean spirited people with humor.  Read Jennings' interview with him on the internet and you will find an articulate man with very good insight about society in general.  He is certainly not a nerd who sits in the basement memorizing trivia.  So I salute him not just as a great Jeopardy champion but a great human being with a great perspective about life.

As I said before, I am not a fan of the winter Olympics.  But since the games are over and thank goodness no terrorist attacks, I will make some comments.  I had predicted that the U.S. would beat out Russia for the medal count.  I was wrong but it was not fair.  I had no idea that Russia would get 6 medals from non Russians.  "Viktor" Ahn, a former South Korean short track speed skating star was enticed by the Russians to represent them.  Ahn had injury issues in recent years despite being a big star in South Korea before.  He was left off the Korean team and so he took the Russians' offer.  He won 3 individual medals plus a relay gold medal for Russia.  Then an American Vic Wild decided to do snowboard for Russia because they gave him more money.  He wins 2 gold for them.  So that is 6 medals for non Russians and the difference between Russia and the U.S. was 5 medals.  So I would have been correct if real citizenship was enforced.  To be fair the Russians did lose a gold medal to Switzerland because one of their guy, nicknamed "I Pod", won the half pipe for Switzerland after having represented Russia in the past.  So it would have been a tie between U.S. and Russia but the U.S. would have won on gold medal total under "fair" competition.

Speaking of fair, I think that Yuna Kim should have won.  It was a close competition and not highway robbery.  But I think that even though the Russian had more jumps and thus technical difficulties, she did double footed one of the landing.  This should have made the technical part much closer and Kim wins based on artistic performance.  I understand there is home court advantage in any sport but the fact that one of the judges is married to the head of the Russian skating federation and another judge had been found guilty of cheating in the past, does make this outcome more suspicious.  By the way Ashley Wagner did all right but her complaint about being robbed seems absurd.  Who cares if she is 6th or 7th?  Controversial decisions are common place in figure skating.  If not for one of those decisions, Wagner would not have been in Sochi in the first place.

The Winter Games keep adding sports and events to fill the schedule and try to get younger viewers.  An old person like me have little interest in these sports.  If I had any interest I would have watched the X Games.  If they need more sports for the Winter Games, I would suggest that they move wrestling and the martial arts sports to the Winter.  The Summer Games have too many sports according to the IOC.  These sports are indoors and can be done in winter or summer.  It would fill out the tv schedules better for the Winter Games and give these sports more exposure than they are receiving in the Summer Games.

Couple of rich people's statements last week makes me wonder if being smart is a prerequisite for becoming wealthy in this country or that once you became rich you have lost all perspective.  Tom Perkins, a venture capitalist, said that people should only be allowed to vote if they pay taxes and it is one vote for each dollar a person pays.  He also said that the assault on the rich today is like the Nazi's assault on Jews.  Frankly I do not know of anyone who is assaulting the rich today that can send Tom Perkins to the gas chambers.  I am shocked that no Jewish group has come out to attack Perkins for making light of the Holocaust.  Asked in what way are the rich being assaulted, Perkins cited higher taxes under Obama.  I think that a lot of Jewish people who perished under the Nazis would have been glad to pay Perkins' tax rate.  As for one dollar one vote idea, I always thought that this nation was created under the idea that all men were equal.  So Perkins believe that if you pay a million dollar in taxes and I pay a thousand, then he is one thousand times greater than me.  I think he needs to go back to high school history class.  And with the one person one vote system we have now, there are many millionaires in Congress but no one on welfare is in either chamber.  So in what way are the rich being underrepresented now?

Then there is Bud Konheim, CEO of a luxury retailer.  He claimed that people at the poverty level in this country would be rich in 99% of the world.  He set the poverty level at $35,000.  I am sure a lot of poor people in this country, not just in other parts of the world, would be happy to be making $35,000.  But of course by making this argument in the first place shows how absurd his thinking is.  I am 5 ft 5 in tall.  I am taller than overwhelming majority of the people in the world. (Don't forget women, old people who have shrunk, and of course children).  This fact does not make me feel tall, nor would anyone consider me to be tall.  A person making the minimum wage in this country cannot take his money and buy food and housing in Africa some place.  He has to eat and live here!  To make such statement just makes me wonder how this guy got rich in the first place.

These two guys proves Warren Buffett's point.  That is just because you are good at something and also was lucky to be successful, it does not make you a better person.  Buffett said that if someone puts him in the jungle somewhere, he would not survive.  He was just lucky that investing pays off well in this country.  I agree with him.  I consider myself a hard working, self made immigrant.  But if I grew up some place else, under different circumstances, I would not have done anywhere as well.  So yes, I know there are irresponsible people who take advantage of the system and blame the rich for their problems.  But it is fair to say that those who have made it rich, depended on the system to help make them succeed.  They did not do it by themselves.  If they think they can create wealth without the system, then I suggest that Perkins and Konheim be dropped off in the jungles somewhere with a couple of welfare recipients and see who survives better.  I will bet on the welfare recipients.