Playing the Race-Card– On Two. Set. Hike!

This is not an issue of race. People are not reacting so harshly to this group of four black men, or even the one black superstar, because of the color of their skin. The courts are reacting because they broke the law. The NFL is reacting because Vick broke their rules. The public is reacting because they find dog-fights and the ensuing executions to be barbaric. This is not an issue of race.

This did not stop one NAACP leader, of course, from recently calling for Vick to be given the benefit of the doubt by his former league, team, and sponsors. R.L. White, president of the NAACP’s Atlanta chapter, told America that “as a society, we should aid in his (Vick’s) rehabilitation and welcome a new Michael Vick back into the community without a permanent loss of his career in football.”

What ‘rehabilitation’ is he talking about?

Vick said, just weeks ago, that he was looking forward to ‘clearing his name’ of the charges against him. Now, in the face of his co-defendants turning on him, he immediately announces that he will plead guilty. These are not the actions of a remorseful man looking to better fit the mold his society wishes for him; they are the actions of someone who knows when he is beat and is trying to salvage some semblance of his former decadent life.

White alluded to this very fact, saying that he supported Vick’s guilty plea, if it was in the man’s best interest, but that he believed it was a decision more about “cutting losses than the truth.” Why are these two mutually exclusive? It seems to me to be a clear case of Vick and Co. cutting their respective losses in the daunting face of the truth.

White went on to say that Vick has received more negative press “than if he had killed a human being,” and that he considers dog-fighting to be “as bad as hunting.” So the real bottom-line for this guy is not that dog-fighting should be legal, but that other activities that he finds immoral, should be illegal as well. Maybe this guy is working for the wrong group; I am sure PETA would love to have a little chat with him.

Comparing a sport which is enjoyed the world over and follows in the foot-steps of man’s survivalist instinct to breeding animals with the express intent of locking them in brutal, mortal combat with each other for your own amusement and financial gain is pretty sad. It is even worse when you juxtapose a hunter stalking his prey and turning a successful kill into useful meat, hides, etc. with a bunch of drug-fiends hanging, drowning, and electrocuting dogs whose only crime was poor fighting ability.

Perhaps Mr. White’s most pervasive bit of wisdom shared that day though was his simple summation of the charges against Vick, “His crime is, it was a dog.”

No, his crime is, he bred and trained dogs to fight (a crime), gambled on the fights (a crime and NFL rule violation), while taking drugs (a crime), and then executed at least eight dogs in barbaric fashion (a crime, unlike hunting.)

If this guy was really concerned about racial injustice then perhaps he would have a better defense for Vick than saying that the quarterback has been hung out to dry by his co-defendants who are also black. That is merely supporting the man who has the most power and influence to lend to your side and nearly as ludicrous a case of passing the buck as comparing the charges against Michael Vick to sport-hunting.

Con-Vick

Well that was fast.

What had appeared to be several long months or years of Michael Vick ‘clearing his name’ in the court and media came to an abrupt halt yesterday as it was announced that the quarterback would plead guilty to the charges against him. At least Vick is smart enough to listen to his legal team and know when he is licked.

 

This was the only halfway intelligent move Vick could have made at this point. His thin sliver of hope at retaining his NFL career was rapidly diminishing (given that he was also facing gambling charges) and, as even Vick’s most vocal supporters were espousing, his chances at trial were pathetic given the public outcry already unleashed against him.

So, as the Vick drama is seemingly all over but the sentencing, I am left with questions. I do not condone dog-fighting or other activities of that ilk but neither do I believe that fighting dogs should necessarily warrant as much as five years in the clink. Afterall, the case here is over mistreatment of animals, and people seem to get off a lot easier in many cases for abusing and murdering other people.

Remember Kids, Like Russell says…

I recognize that these are animals which are bred and raised specifically to meet their inevitable violent death–granted. But then again, so are beef cattle (to a certain extent.) The lobsters we order for $10/lb have drawn a similar lot in life, don’t you think. But I digress from my previous point– I am left with questions.

Why kill the losing or feeble dogs in such a cruel fashion? Why electrocute, drown, or even hang a dog? Each seems an overly-involved and overly-dangerous way to do away with an unwanted animal. Moreover, it’s not like the other dogs are going to ‘get the message’ here. These are not kidnapees or POWs; they are dogs! We hang humans because it makes for an easy and graphic means of dispature of someone over which we already have corporeal control. I cannot imagine the process of hanging a pit-bull that has been bred for mortal combat to be a very easy one.

These are the offenses of Michael Vick which most anger me. If you breed dogs for violence, and they fail in that end, why needlessly brutalize them further in death? These are not rhetorical questions; I would honestly like some feedback on this. The only logical benefit I can see Vick and his cronies deriving from this cruelty is some sick psychological pleasure in killing these animals in such a fashion.

Ah, what the hell… Just fry him.

Dog Bites Vick

Well things continue to look worse and worse for dear old Michael Vick. The remaining two of Vick’s three co-defendants yet to cop a plea bargain did just that last week and have now admitted their guilt in the dog-fighting ring. Vick now stands as the sole hold-out in the court and, with his buddies now building the state’s case against him, the former NFL star looks to stand even less chance of beating this rap than his Atlanta Falcon’s do at making this year’s NFL playoffs lead by Joey Harrington.All this, of course, comes just a week after Nike and Reebok yanked all of their Vick-related shoes and jerseys from store shelves and effectively ended any future compensation from their respective contracts with the star. Michael Vick’s collectibles will also be absent from at least two of the major trading-card companies’ future offerings (we are told that the stick of gum in each pack, however, will still be present– hard and unpalatable as always.)

Never fear, those of you who still need to see Vick’s grinning mug on some mundane object in your everyday lives, because there is still one piece of Vick merchandise available on the open market. In spite of, or rather in response to, Vick’s fall from grace we are lucky enough to bear witness to the launch of a new era in commercialized crap– the Michael Vick doggy chew-toy.

Now your very own dog can do the job that Michael Vicks’ parents clearly never did and beat some sense into this moron. For just $10.99 (plus S&H) you too can watch as your Shih-Tzu exacts its toothy Cujo-esque revenge (once the several weeks of back-orders are processed anyway.)

So while you may no longer find Vick jerseys and t-shirts lining the shelves of your local store, the American quest for the almighty dollar continues. One man has lost his fortune and fame; Nike, Reebok, and their ilk are out millions of dollars on merchandise which will never sell; and the city of Atlanta is without its star quarterback. Yet the money is still flowing somewhere and, as is so often the case in America, it is the enterprising, inventive individuals who reap the benefits.

Terrorists Elect Not to Sue- Sort Of

What a gregarious move by the legal team of the six men who are suing for discrimination after their suspicious actions on an airplane caused them to be pulled off. Apparently, they have decided to no longer pursue legal action against the passengers who mentioned their actions to authorities so that they can focus on their civil case against the airline and police.

Let me set the scene for you:

• Six Muslim men (imams as it turned out) purchase tickets on a U.S Airways flight; half of them are one-way tickets.

Nothing overly suspicious so far.

• Several of them are perform what are described as “loud” Muslim prayers in the terminal before their flight.

Okay, it is part of their religion and should not overly alarm most air-travelers.

• Most of the imams request ’seat-belt extenders,’ typically used to accommodate the obese, in spite of having no need for them.

Hmm…

• The six position themselves evenly spread throughout the plane; two near the front, two in the middle, two near the rear.

Come to think of it, that does sound familiar.

• Although none were apparently seated directly adjacent to one another, one Arabic-speaking passenger reported hearing the group mention Saddam Hussein and criticize the U.S. involvement in Iraq while they spoke loudly in Arabic.

Excuse me, stewardess! Is my ticket refundable?

Okay, so these guys were not terrorists; but every passenger who reported them, along with the flight crew and police they alerted should all be commended, not prosecuted, for their actions that day.

These six imams stepped into the public eye and did everything they could to set off every red-flag in order to get themselves ‘racially profiled.’ These men are not stupid; they knew that a case like this will set legal precedent in the new amalgam of Homeland Security and the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act; a precedent which may be set in their favor.

If they were to win, it would eliminate the few teeth our nation’s rapidly decaying front-line in air security/defense has in avoiding another 9/11, so-called ‘racial profiling’ and a little vigilance among the citizenry.

He Got What He Deserved

Are there any better arguments against gun control than stories like this one?

This dirtbag breaks into a 93 year-old man’s home to steal his few modest possessions, beats the old guy over fifty times with a soda can… and then the homeowner regains consciousness and blasts the guy in the throat with his .38 special while he is ransacking the house.

Translation: What’s mine is yours.

Score one for gun-toting, self-defense-minded Americans everywhere. It’s just too bad that stories like this one rarely make even the back pages of the main-stream media while we are flooded with an unending torrent of gang-shootings and moronic high-school kids whose parents thought that ‘gun-control’ meant passing laws when it is really teaching your children that shooting up your school-mates is not the proper way to respond when someone gives you a wedgie.

The best part of the whole home-invasion-gone-awry story though… when the cops showed up and found the beaten, bloody old man and his assailant with the fresh tracheotomy, the thug told the cops, “I can’t feel my legs and I got what I deserved.”

You said it, buddy.