IU Men's Basketball Schedule | IUHOOSIERS.COM

As a Purdue fan and an IPFW fan and booster, I am pleased that Purdue has given IPFW the opportunity to play the Boilers several times at West Lafayette in the decade since IPFW moved up to D-I. This helps the IPFW athletic program in terms of exposure and also aids the IPFW athletic budget because IPFW is given a nice check to play a guarantee game at Purdue.

This season IPFW will play at Auburn and Notre Dame. In previous years IPFW has played at schools such as Purdue, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Marquette, Cincinnati, Xavier, Iowa, Nebraska, Gonzaga, and Washington State.

So it has always been a source of frustration for me that IU has never, not once, given IPFW the same opportunity to play IU in Bloomington, not even in the six years that Dane Fife was IPFW Head Coach!

So here is IU's men's basketball for 2012-13 in the link below. The pre-conference schedule includes games for IU in Bloomington against Bryant University, North Dakota State, Sam Houston State, Ball State, North Carolina, Coppin State, Central Connecticut State, Mount Saint Mary, Florida Atlantic, and Jacksonville.

We can exclude North Carolina from this issue for obvious reasons and Ball State because it is an in-state school. But that leaves eight games against schools that apparently will leave Bloomington with a nice check that those eight schools take back home with them.

As an IPFW fan and booster and an Indiana taxpayer I resent that. So what gives? Why can't that money stay in Indiana?

What makes it especially upsetting to me is the list of teams playing at Bloomington this season includes IPFW's Summit League foe North Dakota State.

I think Purdue and Indiana (and Notre Dame too even though it is a private institution) should play Butler, Ball State, Indiana State, Evansville, Valparaiso, IUPUI, and IPFW on a regular basis. Give our state's mid-majors an opportunity for the exposure and keep that money here in Indiana.

Note added 09/01/12: IU has played IUPUI in Bloomington. Why not IPFW? And Notre Dame and Michigan State have played IPFW in Fort Wayne! Thanks so much to both of those schools.

IUHOOSIERS.COM - Indiana University Athletics - Men's Basketball

Here We Go Again: Critical Flaw Found in Just-Patched Java | The Register

I just blogged about the need to turn off or minimize the use of Java again this morning. Today Oracle released an emergency Java patch and already today it has been reported that it too has a critical flaw.

"As in the case of the earlier vulnerabilities...this flaw allows an attacker to bypass the Java security sandbox completely, making it possible to install malware or execute malicious code on affected systems."

"Assuming Oracle does agree that the flaw exists, however, when it will be patched is anybody's guess. The next scheduled Java Critical Patch Update (CPU) isn't due until October 16 – and when Oracle released its last Java CPU in June, it had only patched two of the 31 flaws Security Explorations reported in April."

I think this is interesting enough to post now, but I promise this is the last time I will blog about getting rid of Java (unless the situation deteriorates even more).

Here we go again: Critical flaw found in just-patched Java • The Register

Illinois Bonds Downgraded over Pension Crisis | Via Meadia

The fiscal crisis of our dysfunctional neighboring state, Illinois, continues to deepen.

"Illinois taxpayers are facing huge liabilities for their state’s bloated, poorly managed, and underfunded pension system, and public sector workers face an uncertain future, as taxpayers are unlikely to cough up the huge sums required to make good on the debt.

Now everything is getting worse: S&P has downgraded Illinois bonds, meaning that the interest rate on the state’s huge debt is likely to rise, squeezing the state treasury even further."

Might Illinois eventually default on its debt?

Indiana and other states surrounding Illinois, like Wisconsin, should continue to entice businesses in Illinois to jump across the state line.

It makes you wonder even more why Navistar would move their technical center from Fort Wayne to Lisle, Illinois, especially when their own internal studies showed their costs would increase annually by millions of dollars.

Illinois Bonds Downgraded over Pension Crisis | Via Meadia

Windows 8 $15 Upgrade Offer: FAQs for Recent PC Buyers | PCWorld

"Microsoft is now taking sign-ups for $15 Windows 8 Pro upgrades, an offer that is available to anyone who purchased a new PC on June 2 or later."

Since we bought a new desktop PC a few weeks ago, we qualify for this offer. The problem is that I don't know that we should take it since I have read so many conflicting reviews of Windows 8.

This article also includes this link to a comparison of the four different versions of Windows 8.

Windows 8 $15 Upgrade Offer: FAQs for Recent PC Buyers | PCWorld

iPad Mini could be Apple's 'thermonuclear device' that destroys Android | ZDNet

Would  an iPad Mini debut late this year destroy the Google Nexus 7 market before I get one?

"The best way for the Cupertino juggernaut to "go thermonuclear" on Android is to obliterate its sales. The iPhone has the handset market well stitched up, and the iPad has all but wiped out high-end Android tablet sales. All that's left is the newly emerged budget tablet market created by the $199 Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 tablets. As compelling as the iPad is, it cannot compete with these chap 7-inch tablets."

iPad Mini could be Apple's 'thermonuclear device' that destroys Android | ZDNet

Java Zero Day Vulnerability Actively Used in Targeted Attacks | ZDNet

I have blogged before about the need to turn off or minimize the use of Java on your PC.

Here is another reason why.

"Security researchers from FireEye, AlienVault, andDeependResearch have intercepted targeted malware attacks utilizing the latest Java zero day exploit. The vulnerability affects Java 7 (1.7) Update 0 to 6. It does not affect Java 6 and below."

Java zero day vulnerability actively used in targeted attacks | ZDNet

Dropbox Trials Two-Factor Authentication Beta | ZDNet

From Michael Lee at ZDNet:

"A few weeks ago, when Dropbox users began reporting that their emails had been leaked to spam lists, Dropbox made some security changes and promised it would bolster its security measures further. The company has now made good on its promise, rolling out the beta version of a two-factor authentication system over the weekend."

I use Dropbox so I suppose that I should try their two-factor authentication system but texting is not available on my cell phone and I don't use any of the other authenticators available for Dropbox.

Dropbox trials two-factor authentication beta | ZDNet

Strassel: The Silent Second-Term Agenda - WSJ.com

Kimberly Strassel tells us what this election is really about. Obama has already told the Russians to wait until after the election when he will have more "flexibility" on issues such as our missile defenses. One can only wonder and fear what other flexibility Obama would wield from his re-election.

"President Obama has a reputation for talking, but not necessarily for saying much. He has achieved new levels of vagueness this election season. Beyond repeating that he's in favor of making the "rich" pay for more government "investment," he hasn't offered a single new idea for a second term. This is deliberate.

The core of the Obama strategy is to make Americans worry that whatever Mitt Romney does, it will be worse. That's a harder case for Mr. Obama to make if he is himself proposing change. And so the Obama pitch is that this election is a choice between stability (giving Mr. Obama four more years to let his policies finally work) and upheaval (giving Mr. Romney four years to re-ruin the nation).

The pitch is profoundly dishonest. While the choice between four more years of Obama status quo and Mr. Romney is certainly vivid, it isn't accurate. The real contrast is between Mr. Romney's and Mr. Obama's future (emphasis added) plans. And while the president hasn't revealed what those plans are, there is plenty of evidence for what a second term would look like."

"While Democrats will take careful pains in coming convention weeks to avoid outlining the president's intentions, they are sitting in plain sight. The real choice this fall will be between Mitt Romney's reform agenda and a Supersized Obama. No wonder the Democrats are keeping mum."

Strassel: The Silent Second-Term Agenda - WSJ.com

GM Goes From Bad to Worse Despite Obama Bailout | RealClearPolitics

Only time will tell but years from now we might decide that it would have been better for GM to go through an orderly process of bankruptcy in which it could have shed some of its obligations and then emerged a much stronger company. As it is right now, the future is not looking good.

"Obama talks about the auto bailout frequently, since it's one of the few things in his record that gets positive responses in the polls. But he's probably wise to avoid probing questions, since the GM bailout is not at all the success he claims.

GM has been selling cars in the U.S. at deep discount and, while it's making money in China -- and is outsourcing operations there and elsewhere -- it's bleeding losses in Europe. It's spending billions to ditch its Opel brand there in favor of Chevrolet, including $559 million to put the Chevy logo on Manchester United soccer team uniforms -- and just fired the marketing exec who cut that deal.

It botched the launch of its new Chevrolet Malibu by starting with the green-friendly Eco version, which pleased its government shareholders, but which got lousy reviews. And it's selling only about 10,000 electric-powered Chevy Volts a year, a puny contribution toward Obama's goal of 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.

'GM is going from bad to worse,' reads the headline on Automotive News Editor in Chief Keith Crain's analysis. That's certainly true of its stock price.

The government still owns 500 million shares of GM, 26 percent of the total. It needs to sell them for $53 a share to recover its $49.5 billion bailout. But the stock price is around $20 a share, and the Treasury now estimates that the government will lose more than $25 billion if and when it sells.

That's in addition to the revenue lost when the Obama administration permitted GM to continue to deduct previous losses from current profits, even though such deductions are ordinarily wiped out in bankruptcy proceedings.

It's hard to avoid the conclusion that GM is bleeding money because of decisions made by a management eager to please its political masters -- and by the terms of the bankruptcy arranged by Obama car czars Ron Bloom and Steven Rattner.

Rattner himself admitted late last year, in a speech to the Detroit Economic Club: 'We should have asked the UAW (the United Auto Workers union) to do a bit more. We did not ask any UAW member to take a cut in their pay.' Non-union employees of GM spinoff Delphi lost their pensions. UAW members didn't.

The UAW got their political payoff. And GM, according to Forbes writer Louis Woodhill, is headed to bankruptcy again.

Is this really what Obama wants to do for all manufacturing across America? Let's hope not. "

GM Goes From Bad to Worse Despite Obama Bailout | RealClearPolitics

Charles Krauthammer: The Cordesman Criteria - The Washington Post

The clock keeps ticking and I don't think we are paying enough attention to what could happen in the Middle East in the very near future.

Charles Krauthammer writes about the recommendations "from Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Cordesman is a hardheaded realist — severely critical of the Bush administration’s conduct of the Iraq war, skeptical of the 'war on terror,' dismissive of the strategic importance of Afghanistan, and a believer that 'multilateralism and soft power must still be the rule and not the exception.'

He may have found his exception. 'There are times when the best way to prevent war is to clearly communicate that it is possible,' he argues. Today, the threat of a U.S. attack is not taken seriously. Not by the region. Not by Iran. Not by the Israelis, who therefore increasingly feel forced to act before Israel’s more limited munitions — far less powerful and effective than those in the U.S. arsenal — can no longer penetrate Iran’s ever-hardening facilities.

Cordesman therefore proposes threefold action."

1. “Clear U.S. red lines.”

2. “Make it clear to Iran that it has no successful options.”

3. "Give Iran a face-saving way out."

Charles Krauthammer: The Cordesman criteria - The Washington Post

Time for Obama to Get Serious about Debt | Opinion - The Orange County Register

This is what is important to Obama.

"If it's minor, if it's petty, if it's nothing at all to worry about, President Barack Obama is concerned, focused and ready to speak out loud and clear, as on the question of Mitt Romney's tax returns. We've got to have them, going way back and then some, for how, after all, is the nation otherwise going to survive?"

I don't care about Mitt Romney's tax returns. If we would find out that he pays more taxes than he is required by current laws and IRS regulations, then I would think that he is too stupid to be President of the United States.

Here is what is important to me. We are on a fiscal path that is unsustainable. Anyone with any understanding of economics and mathematics understands that. Failure to address our fiscal issues will eventually lead to the end of our nation as we know it, one way or the other. And the longer we wait to address them, the more drastic the corrective measures will necessarily be.

"Meanwhile, he has given up negotiating with anyone much and has seemed more interested in spending more than spending less, which is to say goodbye economy, goodbye America. Everyone who knows anything knows we have to do something about the debt. Here are some of those I mean when I say everybody:

• The bipartisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO has observed that the publicly held portion of the debt is the highest since World War II and says inaction will lower economic production and increase the likelihood of fiscal crisis. The CBO also has looked at the Obama 2013 budget spelling out ideas for the next decade and concluded it would prompt trillions more in deficits over the current formula.

• Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve. He has told Congress that if we keep on borrowing at the current rate, there will be less private investment, less economic output, lower incomes and reduced standards of living. If the government does not begin to rectify things, watch out for "financial turmoil," he said, forecasting a vicious circle in which debt grows ever higher and solutions get harder and harder to come by.

• Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart, professors at Harvard University and co-authors of "This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly." Here are two of the world's foremost experts on debt, and here is one thing they say: When gross national debt is over 90 percent, GDP growth is going to shrink. Our gross debt (both money owed to the public and by the government to itself) is now over 100 percent of GDP. Our economic growth in the second quarter of this year was 1.5 percent, compared to an average since World War II of 3.3 percent. Low growth equals low everything else, including low employment.

• Erskine Bowles, former White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, and retired Republican Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming. They were co-chairmen of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform established by Obama. Bowles says that without tax reform and dramatic spending cuts, "we face the most predictable crisis in the country's history." Simpson, while also criticizing Republicans, says Obama needs to get serious about whittling down entitlements, his "sacred cow." The great tragedy is that Obama walked away from the Bowles-Simpson compromise on debt, a workable plan that required both Democrats and Republicans to relinquish something they held dear. Here was a chance for bravery, for leadership, for Obama to do something for his country instead of just himself, and he said no thank you. He could still sign on, as a matter of fact, but I guess he is too worried about Romney's tax returns."

Time for Obama to get serious about debt | obama, debt, tax - Opinion - The Orange County Register

Gov. Deval Patrick's New Health Law Is Flat-Out Dangerous - Forbes

If you are a new or experienced health care professional (not an administrator) who is considering joining a health care practice in Massachusetts, why would you?

If you are a health care professional (not an administrator) already practicing in Massachusetts considering retiring or relocating to another state to practice medicine, why would you not?

If you are a health care consumer in Massachusetts, would you be concerned? If not, you should be.

Gov. Deval Patrick's New Health Law Is Flat-Out Dangerous - Forbes

Google Nexus 7 review | ZDNet

Should I put this on my Christmas wish list? If so, should it be at the top of the list with 8GB or 16GB? Or should I wait for the next generation?

Google Nexus 7 review | ZDNet

This looks like some good first steps for a new owner of a Nexus 7.

First 10 things to do with your new Nexus 7 tablet | ZDNet

2012-2013 IPFW Omnibus Lecture Series

This post has been updated on 08/23/2012 with this link to a Journal-Gazette article by Dan Stockman.

Actress, CNN analyst headline IPFW series

Mia Farrow, Actor and Activist
With Knowledge Comes Responsibility: The Darfur Crisis
Wednesday, September 12, 7:30 p.m.

Jeffrey Toobin, News Analyst and Author
Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
Wednesday, October 24, 7:30 p.m.

Jon Meacham, Historian and Author
Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
Wednesday, November 7, 7:30 p.m.

Naomi Tutu, Human Rights Advocate
Hard Conversations: Talking about Race and Racism
Thursday, February 21, 7:30 p.m.

Grant Imahara, Robotics Engineer
Engineering in Entertainment
Monday, March 25, 7:30 p.m.

Susan Orlean, Journalist and Author
My Encounters with Extraordinary People
Thursday, April 18, 7:30 p.m.

All lectures are scheduled to be held in the Rhinehart Music Center on the IPFW campus.

Review & Outlook: A Voter ID Victory - WSJ.com

So why are Democrats, liberals, progressives, etc. hell-bent on prohibiting states from insuring that only valid votes are cast in our elections?

"In a July report on voting irregularities in Philadelphia, City Commissioner Al Schmidt compiled a list of assorted errors at the polls, including a woman who voted twice, 23 unregistered voters who cast ballots, and eight non-Democrats who voted in a Democratic primary.

That number of votes won't turn any except the closest elections, but it's still useful democratic hygiene to ensure that voting lists are as accurate as possible. Access to the ballot is important, but so is the integrity of each vote. If fraudulent votes are routinely cast, they cancel out the ballots of legal voters."

Review & Outlook: A Voter ID Victory - WSJ.com

Vice President Joe Biden Tells Black Audience GOP Wants To “Put Y’all Back in Chains” — EDITORIAL - NYPOST.com

This is the first time that I have seen this very interesting report.

"A recent poll by the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling gives Romney 20 percent of the black vote in North Carolina — a state where Obama took 95 percent of black votes in 2008.

And where, as recently as May, he was winning 87 percent of those votes.

Polls in other states with a large black vote have shown similar results."

Vice President Joe Biden tells black audience GOP wants to “put y’all back in chains” — EDITORIAL - NYPOST.com

One of the most tragic things I know...

"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today."

- Dale Carnegie 

GO Quote: July 30 | FranklinCovey GO Community

Ivy Tech Snags Safety Academy | The Journal Gazette

This is a win-win-win for everyone involved, especially for Fort Wayne taxpayers who have been saddled with this Public Safety Academy financial albatross. It might have been another idea that looked good on paper, I guess, but it was trying to fulfill a need that obviously didn't exist. I wonder if we will ever really know how much public money has been buried in this project in total from Day 1 until Ivy Tech assumes control of the facility in 2013.

I also wonder if this will have any impact on the growing relationship between IPFW and Ivy Tech. For now I will assume that the answer is no since Ivy Tech says this will be a satellite campus.

I am hoping this will be a case of "All's well that ends well" but it sure can serve as another example of how easy it is for public leaders to squander public funds created through the efforts on taxpayers on projects of dubious value.

Ivy Tech snags Safety Academy | The Journal Gazette

Update added from News-Sentinel.com:

"The new agreement would give Ivy Tech rights to own the 133,000-square-foot academy in 2021, after the city pays off the remainder of a bond that was issued to finance the $27 million facility, which opened in 2007."

Ivy Tech to take over Public Safety Academy in Fort Wayne - News-Sentinel.com:

Passenger rail's return pushed | The Journal Gazette

I understand that passenger rail might never come back to Fort Wayne. I have taken Amtrak from Waterloo a few times so I wish Amtrak stopped in Fort Wayne but I question if it will ever be economically feasible.

Passenger rail's return pushed | The Journal Gazette

But if there is a serious possibility that Amtrak could return to Fort Wayne, why should a new depot be built in Waterloo at a cost of $6 million dollars as was announced in June?

Waterloo Amtrak station to feature new depot | News-Sentinel.com

Noonan: A Nation That Believes Nothing - WSJ.com

Peggy Noonan makes some very good points in this column where she touches on several aspects of the presidential campaign. This makes me think more that the campaign is Romney's to lose. It's up to him to run an effective campaign.

Here is a good suggestion that I will try to apply myself. Don't compare our economic problems to Europe. We don't have to look that far away. Just compare our economic problems, how to make them worse, and how to solve them to California. In Indiana we don't even have to go that far. We can just look at Illinois.

"But he (Romney) and his supporters should drop the argument that if we don't change our ways we'll wind up like Europe."

"What Americans are worried about, take as a warning sign, and are heavily invested in is California—that mythic place where Sutter struck gold, where the movies were invented, where the geniuses of the Internet age planted their flag, built their campuses, changed our world.

We care about California. We read every day of the bankruptcies, the reduced city services, the businesses fleeing. California is going down. How amazing is it that this is happening in the middle of a presidential campaign and our candidates aren't even talking about it?

Mitt Romney should speak about the states that work and the states that don't, why they work and why they don't, and how we have to take the ways that work and apply them nationally.

Barack Obama can't talk about these things. You can't question the blue-state model when your whole campaign promises more blue-state thinking.

But Mr. Romney can talk about it.

Both campaigns are afraid of being serious, of really grappling with the things Americans rightly fear. But there's no safety in not being serious. It only leaves voters wondering if you're even capable of seriousness. Letting them wonder that is a mistake."

Noonan: A Nation That Believes Nothing - WSJ.com

Israel and the US Would Come To Deeply Regret Air Strikes against Iran | The Guardian

Is there any greater responsibility or heavier burden than that on the leader of a nation still suffering from the extermination of millions of its race in the last century who must make a decision whether to strike first at a nation developing nuclear weapons and whose leaders have vowed to annihilate his nation and wipe it from the face of the earth?

I understand those who urge restraint. But what if that is the wrong course? This could be another situation where a nation and its leaders take the course of action that appears to be the least bad.

I think it is important to remember that the first responsibility of the leaders of Israel is to the safety and security of its citizens. How they decide to insure Israel's survival will affect all of us in many ways.

"His latest set of outgoing signals seemed to suggest that an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities may be likely before America's presidential election in November. It is unclear if that is a coincidence, because of assessments that Iranian progress in uranium enrichment and bomb design will have reached a highly dangerous point by then; or maybe it is based on Netanyahu's calculation that President Barack Obama will be more supportive of Israel prior to election day – and perhaps not at all after he wins or loses on 6 November."

Israel and the US would come to deeply regret air strikes against Iran | Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv | Comment is free | The Guardian

What Does Your Email Address Say about You? | ZDNet

This article made me chuckle at least a couple times.

"Let's say you're looking for a job as a social media manager. You've sent out query emails to a bunch of likely companies. Obviously, the subject line of the email is important. But what about your email address?

Opinions are often formed by many subtle factors. A social media manager has to be well-connected, and certainly seem current on all the new technologies and trends. You might have a good Klout rating, you might have a lot of Facebook friends, and you might even have four or five digits worth of Twitter followers.

But can your email address sink you in the eyes of the tech glitteratti?"

See how the author ranks some options.

Does your email address say you're a rube? | ZDNet

‘Les Riches’ in France Vow to Leave if 75% Tax Rate Is Passed - NYTimes.com

I am still trying to figure out why anyone thinks that the US needs to become more like Europe. 

" 'We’re getting a lot of calls from high earners who are asking whether they should get out of France,' said Mr. Grandil, a partner at Altexis, which specializes in tax matters for corporations and the wealthy. 'Even young, dynamic people pulling in 200,000 euros are wondering whether to remain in a country where making money is not considered a good thing.' "

"The French finance ministry did not respond to requests for an estimate of the revenue the tax might raise. Though the amount would be low, some analysts note that a tax hit on the rich would provide political cover for painful cuts Mr. Hollande may need to make next year in social and welfare programs that are likely to be far less popular with the rank and file.

In that regard, the tax could have enormous symbolic value as a blow for egalité, coming from a new president who has proclaimed, 'I don’t like the rich.'

'French people have an uncomfortable relationship with money,' Mr. Grandil said. 'Here, someone who is a self-made man, creating jobs and ending up as a millionaire, is viewed with suspicion. This is big cultural difference between France and the United States.' "

At least the French President is open and honest about his dislike for the rich. However it does seem that the Obama campaign is doing all that it can to raise suspicion and envy against those who are successful in the US. I guess class warfare and envy is another way in which Obama is trying to remake the US to be more like Europe.

‘Les Riches’ in France Vow to Leave if 75% Tax Rate Is Passed - NYTimes.com

Microsoft Sticks to IE10 Default Do Not Track Setting | ZDNet

Summary: Online advertisers and analytics companies were furious with Microsoft's decision to enable Do Not Track as a default in IE 10. Microsoft today announced it's sticking to its guns. How will the tracking industry respond?

"When Microsoft shipped its Release Preview of Windows 8 in June, it announced that the default browser, Internet Explorer 10, would have the Do Not Track (DNT) signal enabled by default. That actionunleashed a heated debate in the Tracking Protection Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

To the advertising and analytics companies that make up the tracking industry, this issue is an existential one. If the default browser in the world’s most popular operating system is set to disallow tracking, the effect would be profoundly disruptive to companies that live and die by their ability to follow users around the web."

I think this is a fascinating debate between Microsoft and advertising companies. I'm not sure what the eventual outcome will be, but I do wonder about Microsoft's motive. Whatever it is, I have to assume they believe that such a decision is in their best financial interest.

Microsoft sticks to default Do Not Track settings in IE 10 | ZDNet

U.S. Men Lose Two-Set Lead to Russia via NBC

It is remarkable how often a volleyball team goes up two sets to none, cannot win a match point in the third set then loses the third set, and eventually falls three sets to two. That was the fate of the USA Men's Volleyball Team Saturday against Russia at the Olympics.

The USA won a remarkable first set 29-27. Then after winning the second set, the USA continued their command of the match right to a match point at 24-23 in the third set but they couldn't finish. From that point on Russia totally dominated the fourth set and deciding fifth set.

There is a lesson here. When you have a team down you have to close them out. Don't let them back in the match.

The USA is still in a good position going forward in this Olympics, but I hope they learned a valuable lesson Saturday.

U.S. men lose two-set lead to Russia, fail to win group

Burn Down the Suburbs? - Stanley Kurtz, National Review

"President Obama is not a fan of America’s suburbs. Indeed, he intends to abolish them. With suburban voters set to be the swing constituency of the 2012 election, the administration’s plans for this segment of the electorate deserve scrutiny. Obama is a longtime supporter of 'regionalism,' the idea that the suburbs should be folded into the cities, merging schools, housing, transportation, and above all taxation. To this end, the president has already put programs in place designed to push the country toward a sweeping social transformation in a possible second term. The goal: income equalization via a massive redistribution of suburban tax money to the cities."

If this assertion is true, then this is the type of policy that should be debated in the presidential campaign, but obviously that will never happen. And if it is true, it makes one wonder what other undisclosed plans are already in place to be carried out in a possible Obama 2nd term.

"Since the failure of Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty and the collapse of federal urban policy, leftist theorists of community organizing have advocated a series of moves designed to quietly redistribute tax money to the cities. Health-care reform and federal infrastructure spending (as in the stimulus) are backed by organizers as the best ways to reconstitute an urban policy without directly calling it that. A campaign against suburban “sprawl” under the guise of environmentalism is the next move. Open calls for suburban tax-base “sharing” are the final and most controversial link in the chain of a reconstituted and redistributive urban policy. President Obama is following this plan.

Middle-class suburban supporters of the president take note. It isn’t just the pocketbooks of the '1 percent' he’s after; it’s yours."

Burn Down the Suburbs? - Stanley Kurtz - National Review Online

Viral Video of Man Picking on Chick-fil-A Worker Gets Him Fired | Fox News

I have not watched this video and I don't intend to watch it. But I suppose many employers would terminate a CFO who is incompetent enough to use a drive-thru to order free water.

"Adam Smith, who posted an online video of himself going through a Chick-fil-A drive-thru and ordering only the free water, was canned from his gig as chief financial officer of Vante, a Tucson medical manufacturing company, after the video made the rounds.

'Chick-fil-A is a hateful company,' Smith tells the employee. 'I don’t know how you sleep at night,' Smith adds at another point. 'This is a horrible corporation with horrible values.'

After the employee, who never loses her composure, wishes Smith a nice day, he responds 'I will. I just did something really good. I feel purposeful.' "

Viral video of man picking on Chick-fil-A worker gets him fired | Fox News

Unemploy Obama | The Weekly Standard

In normal circumstances any president with the record of the last four years like Obama's would not have a chance for reelection. It seems his campaign recognizes that he cannot run on his record so he resorts to a strategy of destroying Romney to win reelection. And he might well succeed with the unrelenting help of the mainstream media.

Normal circumstances or not, the challenger must convince voters that he is a reasonable alternative to a failing incumbent.  Romney has a few months left to do that.

He could do a lot worse than the these ten points from the article linked below to get our country moving in the right direction again.

• Extend the Bush tax cuts for one year
• Arrange for mortgage forgiveness
• Impose a moratorium on new regulations not urgently needed to save lives
• End crony capitalism
• Break up the big banks
• End the madness that lets bankers totter off with giant bonuses
• Make wealth and success respectable again
• Treat small businesses as the valuable wealth and job creators that they are
• Get health care reform right
• Attack the deficit
• Move against trading “partners” who live off sales to Americans but restrict access to their own markets. And those who steal our intellectual property.
• Save entitlements

Unemploy Obama | The Weekly Standard

Carbonite Drops Limbaugh Then Earnings Fall | WashingtonExaminer.com

I have used Carbonite now for a number of years to backup all the files on our desktop PC at home. Unlike their CEO, I will base my decision to continue our subscription to their service based solely on their performance and price measured against their competitors and other available alternatives.

Politics will not enter into the equation. Too bad for Carbonite that their CEO doesn't follow that prescription.

"During the height of the Rush Limbaugh/Sandra Fluke controversy in March, software company Carbonite announced it would no longer sponsor the conservative radio host."

"Liberals touted the action as proof that Limbaugh was becoming toxicand his show was in danger. So how has dumping Limbaugh worked out for Carbonite? Not so well. Turns out alienating Rush’s fans may have been more damaging than alienating his critics."

Ex-Limbaugh sponsor says dropping show during Fluke controversy hurt company | WashingtonExaminer.com

Actual Amount of Americans Working Dropped by 195,000 via CNBC

Whenever the government releases any economic report, it is a good idea to ignore the headlines and read the entire report.

"Despite the seemingly good news, the report's household showed that the actual amount of Americans working dropped by 195,000, with the net job gain resulting primarily from seasonal adjustments in the establishment survey. The birth-death model, which approximates net job growth from newly added or closed businesses, added 52,000 to the total.

The household survey also showed 150,000 fewer Americans in the workforce."

And then it gets even worse.

"A measure that takes into account those who have stopped looking for jobs as well as those working part-time for economic reasons has hovered near 15 percent. The so-called "real" unemployment rate, or U-6 measure, is above 20 percent in Nevada and California.

On a national level, that more encompassing rate edged higher to 15.0 percent."

Economy Creates 163,000 New Jobs but Rate Rises to 8.3% - US Business News - CNBC

Minimum Wage: Raise It to $10/Hour Says Dean Baker | Daily Ticker - Yahoo! Finance

These quotes about Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, appear in this article.

"Baker joins The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task in the accompanying interview to discuss what more can be done to stimulate the economy. He believes the Federal Reserve could and should be doing more and also says raising the country's minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to almost $10 an hour would go a long way in stimulating consumer demand and jobs growth."

"A counter argument to raising the minimum wage is that employers would be less likely to hire new employees, hurting job growth. But Baker believes there is no substantial evidence to support this and says a 20 percent increase in the hourly rate might only lead to a 2 or 3 percent decline in hourly jobs."

When I read these I wonder who he is trying to fool. He won't fool a business person. Anyone with the most rudimentary understanding of economics knows that a $10 an hour minimum wage would result in countless minimum wage workers joining the ranks of the unemployed.

How high does he want the unemployment rate of young workers, especially minority young workers, to go? And does he really believe that a loss of "only" 2 or 3 percent of hourly jobs in this economy is no big deal? And how is a loss of only 2 or 3 percent of hourly jobs equivalent to jobs growth?

I'm not suggesting that one can support a family on $7.25 an hour, but he clearly has no understanding of real-world economics and how business really works. I don't think you can support a family on $10 an hour either, so why stop at $10? If he is right, then raise it even higher. Heck, let's raise it high enough to get me a raise too to see if my job becomes one of the "only" 2 or 3 percent of jobs that are lost as a result.

Minimum Wage: Raise It to $10/Hour Says Dean Baker | Daily Ticker - Yahoo! Finance

For a view differing from Baker's see this article.

"Minimum wage increases from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 an hour over a three-year period, from 2007 to 2009, particularly affected young and low-skilled Americans.

When Social Security, workers compensation, and unemployment insurance are added to the $7.25 minimum wage, the cost to the employer is about $8 an hour.

That means that employers will rationally hire only workers whose output exceeds $8 an hour. Some inexperienced young people, whom it makes sense to employ at $5.15, will not be employable at $7.25."

So do the math to figure out what it would really cost to employ at minimum wage worker at a minimum wage of $10.

How To Keep the Young Unemployed via MarketWatch

SDSU Newlyweds Sign On in Germany | The Argus Leader

As an IPFW booster and a Summit League fan I found this article about newlyweds Jill Young and Clint Sargent interesting and fun to read. Each starred for South Dakota State University so I have seen them both play multiple times.

They have signed to play professional basketball in Heidelberg, Germany where Clint played last season. Jill Young not only holds the SDSU women's record for career three-point shots made but also edged out IPFW's Anne Boese by only three three-point shots to set the new Summit League career record as well.

I wish them both well.

Vandrovec: Jacks newlyweds sign on in Germany | The Argus Leader | argusleader.com