Thursday, April 30, 2009

The border

Close it some folks are shouting.

Movies

I rode two hours to see this cinematic beauty. More about it later.

NFL Draft

I've finally got around to making my pick for top draft performances.
I like what Buffalo and New England did, but I'm going to split my vote between the Packers and the Broncos.
The Pack has received a lot of praise for their draft work. On the other hand, Denver has taken some heat.
Moving to a 3-4 the Packers had to restock the defense and No. 1s BJ Raji-NT and Brian Cushing should start quickly.
Green Bay didn't pick again until the 4th round, but made it count. Tackle T.J. Lang is a very good prospect and they need young OL. Quinn Johnson should start at fullback quickly. Jamon Meredith-T has to stay in shape, but is a great value in the 5th. I like Jarius Wynn from Georgia in the 6th. He can help with the pass rush. The last two picks Brad Jones and Brandon Underwood are mysteries.
---
You can debate individual players the Packers selected but they did a very good job of taking players at the right time. The switch to a 3-4 forced their hands somewhat, but they responded well.
Denver is also moving to a 3-4 and pushed them to key personnel decisions, but I like it that they had the nerve to take Moreno with the 12th pick. They have a lot of sorting out to do in the backfield, but Knowshon gives them a TD maker.
They stepped up again by taking Robert Ayers to play in their 3-4. Most saw him as a 4-3 end but Denver is confident he can give them a Richard Seymour-like presence on the DL. Alphonso Smith, David Bruton and Darcel McBath could all help in the secondary. Seth Olsen-G, Blake Schleuter-C and Kenny McKinley are good late rounders. Brandstater (QB) I can do without.
A gutty draft and it could blow up, but if Denver is right about Moreno and Ayers, they could hit big. A LB or two would have been nice, but they aggressively addressed the secondary, which was overdue.
We'll see.
---
By the way, the Falcons did OK but they needed to come out of the draft with a better cornerback than Christopher Owens. Peria Jerry fell to them as if by design but they could have had Vonta Davis, who went to Miami right after Jerry was taken.
William Moore is a steal that late in the second round. He'll start.
Owens and Lawrence Sidbury could help quickly and if either develops into a starter it will be great for Atlanta.
In the later rounds I like OT Garrett Reynolds and DT Vance Walker from Georgia Tech. Healthy, Walker looked like a fine prospect.

NFL Draft

No one has been more critical of ESPN over the years than me, especially when it comes to their coverage of the NFL draft.
This year, I'll reverse course and praise them.
The reduction from 15 to 10 minutes between picks allowed ESPN to get rid of all of those annoying "features" on players. The quicker pace seemed to focus the talking heads on the main subject,the players and the teams taking them. Great!
I hated the 4 pm start time and the fact that they only did two rounds on Saturday, but the broadcast itself was pretty good.
Steve Young overdid the "quarterback is dominant" angle, it seemed like that was all he was prepared to talk about, but by and large the "heads" kept it interesting.
Kiper was Kiper, which is good, and they really used him. McShay was solid.
Even Berman stayed on the task at hand and gave the overbearing frat boy act a rest. Who'd a thunk it?
This presentation gets a solid B, but it really needs to start by 1 pm. To heck with the West Coast!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Rand

Bob Barr talks "Atlas Shrugged."

Movies

If you're a mat fan, "The Wrestler" is absolutely a must see movie. The business has never been shown so accurately and Mickey Rourke really is very, very good as washed up grappler Randy "the Ram" Robinson.
It's Rourke's show all the way as the battered and bruised Robinson struggles with both his shipwrecked career and his decimated personal live.
Maria Tomei, showing a lot more flesh than you might expect, is also good, but as I said earlier, Rourke's the main eventer.
The behind the scenes wrestling stuff is priceless. Lots of sharp details and a great feel for the business.
I recommend this highly.

The good life

Why can't I have one of these.

NASCAR

Hats off to Carl Edwards for not being a crybaby. A heck of a wreck.

Politics

Corruption-busting Democrats have plenty to do as this handy dandy scorecard from NRO shows.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

The border

Immigration steady according to piece from Newsweek. More Asians, which should calm Bill Gates.

Politics

Reason's Eadley Balko is unhappy with Obama's new highway honcho. A "zealot," according to Balko.

Mark Steyn

From National Review, Steyn asks if the American Era is over.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Your Sunday free tune

For Georgia's Matt Stafford. With cameos by Paul Lynde and Witchiepoo!

My Sunday column

Our man Mel


Saturday was the first day of the NFL Draft. It continues today.
The draft is the National Football League’s equivalent of a slave auction. Young athletes, after having being poked, prodded and questioned intensively for weeks, are divvied up by NFL teams and told where they will be working.
One key difference — many of these “slaves” will be paid millions of dollars.
I am a Draft Dork. A Draft Dork is different from an average NFL fan. The average fan has some interest in the draft because he wants to see who his team selects and try to figure out if the new players will help much next season. A Draft Dork shares that interest, but his passion runs much deeper.
We — I proudly embraced my Draft Dorkhood brethren — want to see whom every team drafts. We want to estimate how every team will be impacted by the draft. And most of all, we want to see Mel Kiper — say his name with reverence — blast some nimrod general manager for making a stupid pick
Mel Kiper is a visionary. He is a genius. He is a leader. He is the King Draft Dork.
Years ago Kiper fell in love with the NFL draft. But instead of just vegging out over it as others had done in the past, Mel remade himself as America’s first draft guru. And he did this without ever having played or coached pro football. Heck, I don’t even know if he’s ever actually gone to a game.
Some NFL types resent Mel’s success. More than one coach or general manager has been known to string together profanities when discussing Mel.
But for Draft Dorks, Mel is MEL.
Like that computer HAL in “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
MEL is HAL, except with a big unfashionable pompadour.
Mel is THE draft dude in America. He publishes numerous high dollar specialized draft publications, the most noteworthy being “the blue book,” the bible of the NFL draft. In “the blue book” Mel profiles hundreds of prospects, lays out each team’s needs and makes his highly educated guesses about who will be playing for which teams in the near future.
“The blue book” is pricey but every year I steal the necessary money from my daughter’s college fund to buy it.
Mel is also on TV, radio and the Internet pretty much year round now, confirming his supremacy on all things draft-related. His main gig is at ESPN, the host network for the draft.
In a stroke of programming genius, the brains at ESPN have created an opponent for Mel, a young challenger to his crown.
Todd McShay — speak his name with derision — is the Youthful Pretender.
McShay actually knows his stuff and seems like a decent enough fellow, but it’s clear that Mel — the bull elephant in the NFL draft herd — doesn’t like another pair of tusks being around.
Mel and McShay went at it pretty vociferously last year and in the weeks leading up to this year’s draft they seemed ready to rumble again.
Oh goody!
You see, Mel is at his best when his face gets red and he starts breathing through his eyes. That’s when he really unloads on all the faux experts around him. That’s when Mel really becomes MEL.
And our Draft Dork chests swell with pride!

Jimmy Espy is executive editor of The Daily Citizen. He blogs at espysoutpost.blogspot.com. You can see his views on the NFL draft, and a lot more, there.

NFL draft 2

Some guys I like a lot for Sunday (in no particular order):

1. Asher Allen-CB Georgia
2. Jasper Brinkley-MLB S. Carolina
3. Antoine Caldwell-C Alabama
4. Derrick Williams-WR Penn St.
5. Juaquin Iglesias-WR Oklahoma
6. Brannan Southerland-FB Georgia
7. Ellis Lankster-CB W. Virginia
8. Jared Cook-TE S. Carolina
9. Michael Bennett-DE Texas A&M
10. Graham Harrell-QB Texas Tech

NFL draft

A few thoughts on Day 1


The first two picks in the first round went as expected: Matt Stafford to Detroit and Jason Smith to the Rams.
At three, the Kansas City pick, things got weird. The Chiefs turned up their nose at Aaron Curry and instead took LSU defensive end Tyson Jackson. The earliest most people saw Jackson being picked was mid first round, but the Chiefs saw something more in him. Physically he is perfect for end in the new KC 3-4 defense, but isn’t known to be much of a pass rusher. They overreached.
Seattle got lucky with Curry at 4, but paying big bucks to another OLB isn’t going to sit well with unhappy veteran Leroy Hill.
Mark Sanchez went at 5, which calmed the ESPN hosts down some. They looked like they were going to cry when he didn’t get picked earlier.
Knowshon Moreno going at 12 surprised me. I thought he’d fall into the 24-32 range. Good for him, but the young man should have put on a decent suit and represented.
Moreno will be joined in Denver by Tennessee DE Robert Ayers, who the Broncos plan to bulk up for their new 3-4. The wheeling dealing Broncos also added a cornerback and a safety for the defense and a TE in a busy round 2. That might mean a deal for veteran TE Tony Sheffler is coming. A Jay Cutler pal, he may be on his way out.
Two centers went in the first round, a real rarity. Cleveland traded down repeatedly and then took Cal center Alex Mack. The need reinforcements up front but a C was definitely not what their fans were hoping for out of the fifth overall slot. Eric Wood from Louisville went to Buffalo.
A third C went in round two but the Seahawks might move Max Unger to guard or tackle.
The Falcons got a solid player in DT Peria Jerry. Cornerback was an even bigger need, but DT needed bolstering as well. They got another solid player in the second round in Missouri safety William Moore. Both should quickly start.
Georgia’s Mohamed Massaquoi made a big senior season count and went in round two. That’s pretty good considering how bad he was as a junior. The Browns took him and Ohio State’s Brian Robiskie, which could mean they want to unload unhappy veteran Braylon Edwards.
The Patriots traded down and piled up four second picks. All four can help. Ron Brace will work up front. Darius Butler and Patrick Chung will boost the secondary. Surprise pick Sebastian Vollmer was my dark horse player this year. Apparently the Pats felt the same way about him
Auburn’s Sen’Derrick Marks probably made a mistake coming out early but the Titans liked him enough to take him at the bottom of round 2. In round one, they finally broke down and drafted a wide receiver, big Kenny Britt.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Your Sunday free tune

When Bob Seger was young and so was I. Katmandu live and rockin'

My Sunday column

I, extremist


Evidently the federal government is keeping an eye on me.
Why?
Because I have certain views which qualify me as a potential nutcase.
Among those:
• I like guns, grenades, submarines, old fighter planes, Panzer tanks and samurai swords.
• I have odd religious views such as my refusal to believe that God cares one iota about the minutiae of my life (or anybody else’s) and instead concentrates on Big God Stuff. (Just because He can hear a sparrow fall doesn’t mean he sits around listening for it.)
• I get my philosophical, political and economic views from radicals. Yup, nut cases like Jefferson, Madison and Patrick Henry, as well as Rand, Heinlein, Hayek and Jerry Jeff Walker.
• I eat red meat, drink cold beer and wouldn’t know a quiche if it wandered into the crosshairs of the infrared scope on my high-powered assault rifle.
• I don’t like to pay taxes, but I do. I probably would like to do some drugs, but I don’t. In both cases, I think the government has far too large a role.
• I watch old war movies and root for the Americans, especially John Wayne when he’s leading the charge.
•I like my deer trophies big and my federal government small. Real small. Real, real small. Smaller than Keith Olberman’s brain small.
• I own a Confederate battle flag, subscribe to America’s Civil War and can tell you whose division shattered the Union line at Chickamauga.

See, I told you I was crazy.
Speaking of crazy, George W. Bush must have been right off his rocker when he fathered the Department of Homeland Security.
The idea that creating a vast bureaucracy to oversee other vast bureaucracies was going to make this country safer was and is laughable.
But Bush did what government boobs always want to do, he made more government.
This time, he assured us, we’ll get it right.
Now, a few years later, the Democrats have control of the security apparatus and when it comes to spreading bureaucracies and wasting loot, they’re going to make the Republicans look like the amateurs they are.
But for the record, there are millions of us who believe that radically smaller government is better. It makes for a more free and more prosperous society. We don’t plan on blowing anything or anybody up, but we retain the right to make our case. Loudly and proudly.
That said, we also retain the right to be left alone. If that means moving into a backwoods cabin in Idaho and reading “Lee’s Lieutenants” for the 17th time, so be it.
We have always been a nation of cranks and there’s no reason that should stop now.
On the flip side, my fellow oddballs need to use a little common sense.
It’s OK to talk about the coming Global Super Storm, but converting your swimming pool into a bunker and stocking it with 400 cases of Van Camps pork and beans is sure to draw unfavorable comment.
It’s OK to dislike our new president, but that doesn’t mean he’s the anti-Christ or a super secret radical Muslim agent working closely with renegade Knights Templar to bring about the destruction of Christianity.
Ease up fellows.
There’s crazy and there’s CRAZY.
We know the difference, even if Johnny Law can’t figure it out.

Jimmy Espy is executive editor of The Daily Citizen. He writes about a wide range of topics at espysoutpost.blogspot.com

JG Ballard, RIP

J.G. Ballard was a fine writer, one of the best the science fiction genre produced. He had a wonderful sense of the weird and kinky but wrote with tremendous precision. Here's the Wikipedia entry for him. It's not bad at all. "The Crystal World" is one of my Top 10 sci fi novels and I love "The Drowned World" and "High Rse," too.
Fortunately you can find some of his better books in second hand stories and on the Internet.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Boggs back in Majors

PHOENIX (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals have placed pitcher Chris Carpenter on the 15-day disabled list, one day after he had to leave a game with a pulled left rib cage muscle.
Right-handed reliever Brad Thompson also was optioned to Triple-A Memphis, and right-handers Mitchell Boggs and Chris Perez have been recalled from Memphis.
Boggs likely would fill Carpenter’s spot in the rotation. Perez was one of three pitchers competing for the closer’s job in spring training.
Carpenter was hurt grounding out to third base to end the fourth inning Tuesday night against the Diamondbacks. He called for a trainer after warming up when he took the mound.
Carpenter missed virtually all of the last two seasons with elbow and shoulder injuries. He was the NL Cy Young Award winner in 2005.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

On the border

This looks like material for a bad movie starring Jennifer Lopez. Mexican chick guarding arms cache. Oliver Stone will direct and the blood will flow.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Braves

A good feature by Carroll Rogers on Gene Garber. To heck with Pete Rose.

Movies

Zombies are cool? That's what Time Magazine says.

Mondo Bizarro

Billy Bob Thornton is hilarious in what has (?) to be a spoof interview. Funny stuff.

Mark Steyn

So many distractions, so few solutions.

Your Sunday Free Tune

Was John Lee Hooker always old? Here he is from 1968 with his classic Boom Boom.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Movies

Four straight motorcycle movies on TCM Monday, starting at 8 pm. Brando is there and so is Nancy Sinatra, so it's got to be good.

I'd like to teach the world to sing ...

Nuke free Obama is starting to sound like a dude I went to college with. He was in his ninth year, smelled badly, never actually seemed to go to class and railed on and on about multinational corporations and proto-fascists. He also smoked a lot of dope, which I assume our president can no longer use as an excuse for his trippiness.

The new fascists

Geithner makes it clear who the boss is.

The Braves

Steve Hummer of the AJC does a good job on this Chipper Jones feature.

The new fascists

Keith Hennessey notes a key word missing from G20 declarations.

Politics

Mark Steyn from NRO.

The crisis

Stuart Varney is hardly a radical, but this column is strong stuff. Why not call it what it is --- facism. Obama is the new Duce.

Your Sunday free tune

SRV in his prime, healthy and clean. Soon after he was gone. A terrific performance of "Crossfire."

My Sunday column

It will be interesting to hear what U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal and U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson have to say on Tuesday at the Congressional Update sponsored by the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce.
Both lawmakers, as well as U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, are aware of criticism aimed at them which has appeared in this newspaper. If that criticism has anything to do with their appearance on Tuesday, great! We’re just glad they made it to town.
Anyone who wants to come to the event can. It costs $18 to buy a ticket, which entitles you to a breakfast. But if you choose to choke down your grits and bacon at home, you can get in for free. That wasn’t the original plan. But when word got to Washington that locals were angry that they had to pay to hear their elected representatives speak, phone calls were made and the ground rules quickly changed. “Y’all come!” became the new battle cry.
As Mel Brooks once said, “It’s good to be the king!”
If only they could fix problems in Washington with such dispatch.
Let’s be fair.
Isakson, Chambliss and Deal aren’t exactly wielding a lot of muscle around Washington these days. The thumping administered nationwide by Democrats in 2008 has left them on the sidelines as the Obama Administration stretches its considerable muscle. Maybe someone on Tuesday will ask that exact question, “Is there anything you guys can do up there?”
Certainly legislation aimed at reviving the housing industry — and with it our own slumbering carpet mills — would be welcome.
On a broader level, this country badly needs an intellectual counterweight to the Big Government future being actively constructed by the Obama Administration and its leftish allies in Congress. Can Isakson, Deal and Chambliss, all veterans of the spend-spend Bush years, change their spots? Can they help build a Republican Party that returns to its core values with a passion, or do they to need to be swept out the door?
Maybe we’ll hear some things on Tuesday that give us reason to hope.
Maybe not.
–––
There’s a lot of garbage on TV. But there’s also treasure.
Daily Citizen sports writer Marty Kirkland recently loaned me the first season of the HBO series “The Wire.” His generosity cost me a lot of sleep as over the past few weeks I repeatedly stayed up way too late watching the fascinating series unfold. Eventually he coughed up all five seasons and I finished the show last week.
It’s terrific.

“The Wire” is set in Baltimore, one of America’s most historic cities but also one of its poorest and most violent. The show, which was filmed in the city and featured several local non-actors in key roles, is centered on a colorful and combative group of local law enforcement officers and their prey, primarily major drug traffickers. Neither side is painted in black and white. A cop may turn out to be a bum while a drug dealer shows moments of decency, even tenderness. You know, like in the real world.
While the cops and crooks stuff is the core of the show, each of the five seasons spins off in a new direction, illustrating an important strand of the social fabric. For instance, in season four, the cops and crooks share screen time with the public school system.
The writers of “The Wire” are intensely skeptical of the current “solutions” offered by government — local, state and federal — to many of the problems facing our nation’s cities. From drugs to education to economic development, “The Wire” relentlessly looks to show how many well-meaning (and some not-so-well-meaning) policies are either doomed from the start or create secondary effects the do-gooders could never imagine.
If you like your heroes on a great white horse and if you need for the problems in a storyline to all be resolved happily at the end, “The Wire” isn’t for you.
But if you want a fearless, challenging show that takes a lot of chances, check it out on DVD.

Jimmy Espy is executive editor of The Daily Citizen. He writes about a wide range of topics at espysoutpost.blogspot.com

Friday, April 3, 2009

Thursday, April 2, 2009