Thursday, April 10, 2008

Headlines (remember the Whatzit?; The best things in life are free / But you can keep 'em for the birds and bees; J. Long update)

McCain Urges China to Clean Up Its Act

""Unless they change something pretty quickly, I would not go to the opening ceremonies," McCain said...I would say to the Chinese, 'Look. Clean up your act here. This is not acceptable.'"

He said a nation that is a world's superpower shouldn't behave like this and a strong message needs to be sent to the Chinese." -- the Sun-Sentinel.
On one hand, I a) do enjoy the summer Olympics and would hate to see it submarined; b) believe -- in theory -- that in the spirit of the event, the Olympics should be a rare opportunity for all of the nations of the world to get together and peacefully break bread; and c) don't much care for John McCain.

But on the other hand, I actually can agree with him (and then tangentially, also with Hilary and Obama, whom I believe both feel the same way).
Be it democracy, communism, socialism, anarchy, or whatever other form of government a country operates under, said country should not historically and habitually trample over its own citizens. And China is guilty of that. Unalienable rights have been denined -- in Tibet and beyond. And I've heard the standard rebuttals...China isn't the only country that violates human rights, the U.S. is guilty of its own share of atrocities against man, we shouldn't stick our noses in everyone else's business, etc., etc...but if we profess to have a certain set of principles, then I would expect us to stand completely behind them.

New Lotto jackpot rises to $17 million


That's nothing. Kevin Garnett (Boston looks great, but I still don't think they can beat the top teams out West), Shaq (fat), Kobe (MVP), Stephon Marbury (awful), Allen Iverson (he's really tiny in person), Jermaine O'Neal (he's really fallen off lately, hasn't he?), Tim Duncan (boring), and Tracy McGrady (I don't know if he's ever gonna get out of the 1st round, but he and his Rockets have had a great season) will all make much more than that this year alone.


Dolphins begin contract talks with potential No.1s Long, Gholston


"Apparently content to keep the No. 1 overall pick, the Dolphins have begun discussing contract parameters with at least two players on their short list of candidates to become the draft's top selection.

Official contract negotiations with Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long, and Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston were started this week, according to a source. Coincidentally, Long and Gholston are represented by the same agency, CAA, but have different agents." -- the Sun-Sentinel
Of course this could just be a pre-draft smokescreen, but assuming these contract negotiations are sincere, I think this is a very good sign. Jake Long is a massive offensive tackle that doesn't give up sacks, doesn't get pushed into the backfield, and never gets flagged for penalties. Add all of that to the fact that we really don't have an O-Line to speak of and it suddenly seems like an open-and-shut case to me...he should be our pick.

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