StarTale and TSL battle to stay alive in groups

Both StarTale and Team SCV Life come into their IPTL showdown needing a win to avoid a 0-2 start in their groups, putting the loser in a desperate situation.  The winner will join Prime at 1-1 with a good shot at making it into the playoff stage.  Let’s take a look at how these two juggernauts match up against each other!

Lineups

StarTale:

• Curious (Z)
• PartinG (P)
• Squirtle (P)
• Bomber (T)
• Life (Z)
• SuHoSin (Z)
• Virus (T)
• Hack (T)
• AcE (P)
• TREME (P)
• Sound (T)
• Avenge (P)
• Harrier (T)

TSL:

• Symbol (Z)
• Polt (T)
• Shine (Z)
• Revival (Z)
• HyuN (Z)
• inori (P)
• RagnaroK (Z)
• Cyrano (P)
• Punisher (T)

Potential Starters

StarTale: SuHoSin (Z)

In a recent GSL broadcast, Wolf and Khlador perfectly described the play style of StarTale's quirkiest player; they called him "predictably unpredictable."  SuHoSin is capable of pulling off every all-in in the Zerg playbook, and will choose that sort of build in nearly every game in all three matchups.  This is a particularly strong sort of player to have in a team league scenario, as there is absolutely no way an entire roster can prepare themselves for such a unique player.  SuHoSin may have fallen entirely out of the GSL recently, but you don't necessarily need to be a top form player if you catch an opponent with a two-base all in.  He is very, very dangerous.

TSL: Shine (Z), Revival (Z), Ragnarok (Z)

In their last IPTL match, TSL sent out their relatively unknown Zerg Ragnarok in the leadoff spot, where he met an untimely end at the hands of Prime's super-starter MarineKing.  Though we could easily see RagnaroK take that spot again, TSL honestly has a number of mid-tier Zerg players to throw at StarTale at match's start, notably Shine and Revival.  All three of these players are solid, but by no means great players, who can surprise with a small win streak if given the opportunity.  However, it will be tough goings against StarTale for any of them, and unless TSL surprises us by sending either Symbol, Polt, or HyuN out first, I do not expect the TSL starter to make much of an impact.

Key Players

StarTale: Life (Z), Curious (Z)

Honestly, the StarTale lineup has so many strong players that it's hard to really narrow down to a small number of impact players, but I will specifically point out two Zergs with very different stories.  Life is the new kid on the block, and by that I mean he is literally a 15 year old kid.  However, most teenagers can't say they made it into the Code S round of eight before they learned to shave.  If he can continue his current GSL run while making an impact in this team league, Life could very well steal the ace spot from Squirtle.  Curious, on the other hand, has made a career out of setting himself up for great expectations, then letting us down, ever since his Code A championship run last year.  We'll have to see which Curious shows up in this match: the seemingly invincible Zerg monster, or the forgettable player who just can't do quite enough to make his mark.

TSL: HyuN (Z), Polt (T)

Fans of the IPL will know just how good HyuN is.  In the words of Boromir, one does not simply win the IPL Fight Club eight times in a row, but this TSL Zerg has done just that, taking out world-class players like Squirtle, aLive, and most recently GuMiho.  Anyone capable of performing a feat like that stands more than a chance of doing some real damage in a clan war, even against the stacked StarTale lineup.  Polt, on the other hand, is the player who will not go away.  Very few Starcraft 2 players have been able to maintain the same sort of success over the same period of time, but Polt has weathered the ever-shifting metagame with his nearly peerless micro and multitasking abilities.  As a Terran among the swarm, Polt is heavily relied on by TSL to take out opponents who represent a threat to the Zerg core of the team.

The Aces

StarTale: Squirtle (P)

He may have been knocked down into Code A recently, but Squirtle should certainly be back, as he is still in every conversation about who is the best Protoss player in Starcraft 2.  Very few players bring the same mix of theory and execution to the table as the StarTale Protoss.  Squirtle is very difficult to prepare for, especially in a team league scenario, as he has a build for just about anything against anyone.  Unfortunately for StarTale and Squirtle, TSL has a ton of Zerg players, and a Zerg has knocked Squirtle out of his two most recent Code S tournaments, and one of those Zergs was TSL's own Symbol.  While this is not a good omen to be sure, do not be surprised if Squirtle can buck this trend, as he is still a fantastic player.

TSL: Symbol (Z)

With another strong Code S run, Symbol has continued to make his case for being the best Zerg player in the world.  All of his matchups could be tested against top-level players, with his biggest test likely being a ZvZ against Life, closely followed by Squirtle.  However, I still think Symbol should be considered the strongest player on either of these lineups at this point in time.  Judging by their recent encounters, I give Symbol the slight edge over Squirtle if they play a set, and if he can take down the Protoss stud for the opposing team, TSL will gain a significant edge.

Prediction

StarTale: 5 > TSL: 4

With players of this caliber, if anyone has a particularly good day, they can utterly dominate the other team.  That makes it almost impossible to call a match like this, but I'm going to predict that while Symbol will do quite well, Life will play better and play a huge part in a StarTale win.  The up and coming Zerg superstar can beat anyone in ZvZ, and that is a very useful trait to have against TSL.

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Early voting in Iowa, other states kicks off presidential election

Let the voting begin. 

More than five weeks before Election Day, voters in the Iowa battleground began to cast their ballots Thursday as early voting opened. 

The opening helped mark the start of a process that both campaigns have tried to take advantage of -- though it also challenged President Obama and Mitt Romney to quickly make their closing arguments to this group with considerable time, and three presidential debates, still left on the calendar. Iowa is the first swing state to open in-person early voting, though a few other states including South Dakota and Idaho have already started. 

In Iowa, experts predict four in 10 will likely end up voting before Election Day. A total of 32 states and the District of Columbia allow early voting, with relatively few restrictions -- many states launch the process next month. 

For some, Iowa's early-voting window was a chance to get their civic duty out of the way after a tiring campaign season. 

"I'm just so sick and tired of the process, and maybe it will cut down the calls," said Jane Ommen, 70, a retired University of Iowa clerical worker who voted for President Obama at the Johnson County Auditor's Office. 

The Obama campaign worked for weeks to promote early voting, which it sees as a key advantage in the race for Iowa's six electoral votes, and was quick out of the gate. Its theme to supporters was "Be the First," drawing a parallel between the state's first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses that launched Obama to the White House and its status as one of the earliest voting swing states. The start of voting comes as polls show Obama pulling into a lead in Iowa. 

To be sure, Republicans are also urging voters to fill out absentee ballot requests, The Quad-City Times reported. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, was leading a rally to support GOP nominee Mitt Romney, the report said. 

The Democrats have built a nearly 5-1 advantage statewide in the number of absentee ballots requested as of Wednesday, with 119,318 compared to 24,909 for Republicans, according to the Iowa Secretary of State's Office. Another 41,000 independent voters have also requested ballots. Both campaigns say they believe the gap will narrow as Republicans increase their early voting efforts, but it also reflects differences in the parties' get-out-the-vote operations. 

Democrats have been casting a wide net looking for early votes, from party activists to college students to voters who usually favor the party but do not always turn out. They are putting a greater emphasis on voting in-person at county auditor's offices and at satellite locations in places like libraries and grocery stores than the Republicans. 

Voters lined up as county auditor's offices opened from Des Moines to Dubuque to be among the first to record their preferences in the battleground state, one of the first states where the election process is now in full swing. Some said they were excited to vote, while others were simply eager to put the bitter election behind them. 

By contrast, Republicans are sending out mass mailings with absentee ballot request forms targeting swing voters, allowing them to request their ballots and vote by mail, said Tom Szold, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee in Iowa. He said the Democrats' intense efforts toward early voting shows the party is worried about turning out its base, while Republicans are confident their voters will show up in greater numbers on the Nov. 6 election, as they typically do in Iowa. 

Obama campaign spokeswoman Erin Seidler said that after years of organizing in the Hawkeye State, the campaign has a wide network of supporters who are eager to vote. The campaign is far ahead of where it was 4 years ago for early voting, with tens of thousands of additional ballots having been requested, she said. 

Statewide, more than a third of the 1.54 million votes cast in 2008 were cast early, which was slightly above the national average. Elections officials expect another increase this cycle, with perhaps 40 percent of votes coming in the 40-day window before Election Day. 

While Democrats organized walks to early voting sites, Republicans planned a rally Thursday with Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in Cedar Rapids to promote early voting. Szold said similar events in coming days will promote voting in-person and by mail. 

The Democrats also were bringing in prominent Obama backers to shine a spotlight on voting. Actor Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza on "Seinfeld," was to be in Des Moines to promote the effort Thursday. First Lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to hold a rally Friday at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls to encourage early voting. 

Mrs. Obama recorded a web video asking Iowa supporters to vote early and to bring at least one other relative, neighbor or coworker to the polls with them. 

"We know that early votes provided the difference between winning and losing in key battleground states in 2008," she says on the video, "and we all know that this year's election is going to be even closer." 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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White House warns planned budget cuts 'deeply destructive' to military, other agencies

A new White House report issued Friday warns that $110 billion in across-the-board spending cuts at the start of the new year would be "deeply destructive" to the military and core government responsibilities like patrolling U.S. borders and air traffic control.

The report says the automatic cuts, mandated by the failure of last year's congressional deficit "supercommittee" to strike a budget deal, would require an across-the-board cut of 9 percent to most Pentagon programs and an 8 percent cut in many domestic programs. The process of automatic cuts is called sequestration, and the administration has no flexibility in how to distribute the cuts, other than to exempt military personnel and war-fighting accounts.

"Sequestration would be deeply destructive to national security, domestic investments and core government functions," the report says.

The cuts, combined with the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts at the end of the year, have been dubbed the "fiscal cliff." Economists warn that the one-two punch could drive the economy back into recession.

The across-the-board cuts were devised as part of last summer's budget and debt deal between President Barack Obama and Capitol Hill Republicans. They were intended to drive the supercommittee — evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans — to strike a compromise. But the panel deadlocked and the warring combatants have spent more time since then blaming each other for the looming cuts than seeking ways to avoid them.

The White House report continues in that vein, blasting House Republicans for an approach to avoiding the sequester that relies on further cuts to domestic programs while protecting upper-bracket taxpayers from higher rates proposed by the president.

In advance of the report's release, White House press secretary Jay Carney went on the offensive, blasting "the adamant refusal of Republicans to accept the fundamental principle that we ought to deal with our fiscal challenges in a balanced way."

In advance of the election, rival Democratic and GOP sides are dug in, unwilling to make the required compromises and unable to trust the other side. It's commonly assumed that there will be more serious efforts to forestall the cuts in a postelection lame duck session, though it may only be for a short time, to give the next Congress and whoever occupies the White House a chance to work out a longer-term solution.

If not, sharp cuts are on the way.

The report warns that the Pentagon faces cuts that "would result in a reduction in readiness of many nondeployed units, delays in investments in new equipment and facilities, cutbacks in equipment repairs, declines in military research and development efforts and reductions in base services for military families."

On the domestic front, the White House warns of dire effects as well.

"The number of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, Customs and Border Patrol agents, correctional officers and federal prosecutors would be slashed. The Federal Aviation Administration's ability to oversee and manage the nation's airspace and air traffic control would be reduced," the report says. "The Department of Agriculture's efforts to inspect food processing plants and prevent foodborne illnesses would be curtailed."

Many big programs, like Social Security, Medicaid, federal employee pensions and veterans' benefits and health care would be exempted. Medicare would be limited to an $11 billion, 2 percent cut in provider payments.

Also cut would be $14 million to treat emergency responders and others made ill as a result of the 9/11 attacks; $33 million for federal prosecution of violent crimes against women; and $2.5 billion for medical research and other work by the National Institutes of Health.

Other cuts would include $5 million from Obama's own office at the White House; $140 million from financial aid for college students; $216 million from efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons; $471 million from highway construction and $1 billion from aid for handicapped and children with other special needs.

The 394-page report, however, simply lists the dollar amount of the cuts but fails to address their real-world impact. For instance, it would cut the number of food inspectors and air traffic controllers on the job. But when asked on a conference call, a top White House official wouldn't say whether such cuts would require closing meatpacking plants or shutting down smaller airports.

"The report makes clear that sequestration would cause great disruptions across many vital services, from cancer research at NIH to food safety efforts at the Department of Agriculture, and public safety at the FBI to lowered military readiness," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the Budget Committee's top Democrat. "It's time to stop the political games and start working together to prevent the sequester, protect the economic recovery and get our fiscal house in order."

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