The 6 world powers including the U.S. have made a preliminary agreement with Iran. Can Obama sell this to the Republican led Congress. It is unlikely. Then can he go at it alone? I don't know. Is this a good deal? I don't know. All I know is that there is no good alternatives. Continue sanction is not going stop Iran from building the bomb. And as I said before, if it appears that it is the U.S. who stop the agreement, then the international sanctions will fall apart. Any sanctions voted by the Congress will be meaningless without other countries involved since the trade between Iran and the U.S. is not much to begin with. The other alternative of the U.S. attacking Iran would be wrong. We are not bombing North Korea for the benefit of a nonnuclear South Korea. So why would we bomb Iran for the benefit of a nuclear armed Israel? In any case, to stop Iran you would need a full scale war since bombing a few possible nuclear sites would not stop Iran's program.
There are even neocons who think that a bombing combine with effort to aid rebels for a regime change in Iran is the way to go. These people have no understanding of the world. Any time you attack a country, especially a preemptive attack, automatically invoke nationalism in that country. There will back lash against the U.S. even among people who are against the current leadership. It is very easy for the bad guys to recruit people world wide for terrorist attack when they can simply show that the U.S. is attacking a country even though it has not attacked the U.S. So not only will the plan for regime change fail miserably, it will lead to more terrorist attacks in the future.
MSU did very well to get into Final Four. They didn't play well against Duke. But I think the better team won anyway. I am rooting for Wisconsin to win on Monday. I like the idea of a team with players who stay for four years beating teams that have super one and done players.
Sunday, April 05, 2015
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It will be interesting to see if this deal goes through. I don't have much to say about it. The whole situation in the middle east is so convoluted. There really are no easy answers.
ReplyDeleteI found out yesterday that most of the struggles there are NOT based on religion, but on power. So, it is no wonder why we are in the situation we are in. It puts the U.S. in the middle of some conflicts that hurt relationships that it has. There is almost no middle ground.
I am rooting for Wisconsin to win, but I wonder if they'll be too tired after a hard game against Kentucky. Duke will be well rested after crushing MSU. I just think that the matchup for MSU against Duke is too overwhelming. Though, MSU did play Duke tough earlier in the year. Gotta give Duke a lot of credit of taking away MSU's perimeter shooting.
Looks like your blog is designed differently. Did you notice?
-LBOAYM
It is like when they say it is not about money, it is no doubt about money. So when they say it is not about power to control others, it is about power. Religion is a convenient way for certain people to gain power and recruit others to do the dirty work.
ReplyDeleteI see that David Price pitched a great game. The Tigers need him to have a Cy Young season since we don't know what they will get from Verlander this season. I knew they lost Scherzer but what happened to Porcello? I thought that he was their young rising star? Who else do they have after Sanchez?
My daughter changed my blog for me. I think it looks a lot better. I was weary that I might have to learn something new to write the blog. But it is the same for me so far.
The Tigers traded Porcello for Cespedes and I heard he signed a huge contract yesterday for 20 million per year.
ReplyDeletePorcello had his best year last year, so they got rid of him at his highest market value. They needed a player like Cespedes.
The had Soria coming back and everyone is hoping he stays healthy. Soria had a pretty good spring, so we'll see if he can keep going.
Then, the Tigers signed Alfredo Simon from the Reds. He's a decent pitcher and I'm excited to see how he does.
Verlander is on the DL. He didn't have a great spring, so we'll see how he does this year. I am not expecting much, but you never know. His career seems to be on the down trend. That's the problem with baseball contracts. They signed him to a huge deal and now they can't get rid of him.
Looks like your guy on DWTS was eliminated. I think they'll start judging harder now to weed out the dancers who are not as good.
The guy from Shark Tank has surprised me. But I wonder if he has a big enough following to keep going.
I got to watch the 2nd half of the NCAA championship. I don't like the way these games are being called and it's been a problem all year. I'm not saying that Duke cheats. I think that they play within the rules and take advantage of it. Not many teams can bullrush their way to the basket like they do.
But I don't understand the need to call any fouls on their drives. They are initiating contact and the defensive player has as much right to the space as the offensive player.
In a disturbing pattern, it seems that the 2nd half is called the opposite of how it's called in the 1st half. I don't know if it's a conscious decision or not, but it sure seems that the refs are trying to change the way the games are played in the 2nd half.
Now, if there's any transparency, then if everyone knows this is the way it's going to be called, teams need to adjust. The good and talented ones can.
-LBOAYM
Still don't get trading Porcello. You can't have too much pitching. Porcello had his best year but I thought they expected that he had even greater upside potential. That is why they got rid of Fister even though Fister was a better pitcher in 2013 then Porcello. Cespedes has a lot of power but power is not lacking in the Tiger lineup anyway. I don't expect Verlander will be better than average starter when he comes back. So the new guys better be good!
ReplyDeleteSam was not as good as I thought he would be. Still he should have lasted longer than the bachelor, Patty Labelle and Sommers. The Shark Tank guy is way better than expected. He now has bragging rights over Mark Cuban!
I thought the officiating was not bad, certainly not affecting Wisconsin badly. I mean, Okafor and Winslow were in foul trouble and Wisconsin failed to capitalize. I don't know how Kaminsky plays normally, but it seemed to me he should have posted up a lot more instead of standing at the top of the circle. Duke's guards played out of their minds and Dekker was off. But if they pounded into Kaminsky when they were up and Okafor was out, I don't think Duke could have come back.
I realized after I had written yesterday that I wrote down Soria. But it's Sanchez, who is in the rotation. Soria is a relief pitcher.
ReplyDeleteSo, the rotation is (not in order):
Price
Sanchez
Simon
Verlander (who is expected to miss Sunday's start)
Shane Greene (who pitched for the Yankees last year)
I think they expected to re-sign Scherezer but didn't. I also think they thought Porcello had reached his ceiling, so if there was ever a time to trade him, it would be now. I don't know if they could have re-signed him after this year anyway.
Porcello was not the future, with the way he pitched. I think Simon is just as good as Porcello, so that is a wash.
To me, Sanchez is the best pitcher, when healthy. It's really too bad that they couldn't get rid of Verlander and kept Scherezer!
They were actually short on power hitting in the middle of the lineup and needed a good fielder in center. We will see if the trade works out. They also got a couple of prospects too, but I haven't heard much about them.
It seems to me that the game was called differently in the second half. It's been like that all year and I don't understand it. It's almost like they put in a different crew out there.
I will say that with the way the game is called now, Duke is playing within the rules. I don't have to like it, but if it wins games, then why not do it? I thought that their guards were driving to the basket hard, but I don't know if Wisconsin should be called for half those fouls. To me, the defensive player has a right to be there and the offensive player is initiating the contact. To me, it's a no call.
Give credit to Duke and coach K for taking advantage of the situation and how fouls were called.
On the other hand, Kaminsky is a load and I think that Okafor had a hard time guarding him. But when they put a smaller guy on Kaminsky, the refs allowed a lot of lower body contact and I don't think Kaminsky could deal with it.
He is a pretty versatile player. Is good in the post and uses his body well. He shoots at weird angles. But he also can shoot from 3. He reminds me a little of Vlade Divac. It'll be interesting to see how he does in the NBA.
-LBOAYM