If anyone cares... update on Michael Vick

Parent Cafe
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<p>There’s truth on all sides here. Vick committed a heinous crime against the doggies, and should do his time. It is also true that he didn’t wake up some morning at the age of 22 and say, “Gee, I’m going to run an interstate dogfighting operation, and spend hundreds of thousands to do it.” The idea came from somewhere, as did his susceptibility to it.</p>

<p>Send him to prison, alongside those who REALLY deserve it. Alberto Gonzales. Dick Cheney. Colin Powell - who lied to the entire world. George Tenet of Clinton/Tenet Big Lie/Slam Dunk fame. Bill Clinton, who killed a milllion people, half of them children, and has his Secretary of State say, “we think it is worth it.” </p>

<p>I’ve got a long list. Doesn’t mean Vick shouldn’t be on it. But killing doggies doesn’t rank below the 1st or 2nd ring of the Inferno. I’m reserving the lower rings for our more famous murderers and sycophants.</p>

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<p>HL - I agree with you. I don’t think he has a clue why everyone is so up in arms. I think he sees some dogs as pets and some as fighters and that is that. I grew up on a farm and it was common practice for local landowners to put kittens in a sack and drop them into the river. No one ever got arrested that I know of and some of those people were and are pillars of the community. People in rural areas still drop puppies and kittens off on the side of the road - every pet I had growing up came to me that way - sometimes we’d see, from out porch, the car speed off. Some were not so lucky and wobbled immediately into the path of a car. Europeans love horse meat and slaughter houses in the US supply some of the meat. Take a trip to the kill pen at a horse auction and you may want to strangle the mom and pop who dropped off the little fat pony still wearing the pink halter with “my buddy” embroidered on it. People are cruel to animals in so many ways - some ways are just more acceptable than others.</p>

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<p>So that means we should just let people like Vick go free? Because the jails are crowded, and they’re costing us money to run?? </p>

<p>The expense to taxpayers with these overcrowded prisons is the least of our worries in this country. We’re spending billions in Iraq–over $600 billion already, with more going down the tubes. Taxpayer money on cramped jail cells is absolute pocket change in comparison. </p>

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<p>In the short-run, seeing him rot in jail for a while (and lose his career) gives people like me great satisfaction. In the “long-run,” it will teach him that you can’t live your life like a criminal, figuring because you’re a big football star (it is football, right?), getting paid big bucks-- that laws, decency, and living like a civilized person simply don’t apply to you. In the long-run, he’ll realize he has to pay for his criminal actions and, hopefully, be redeemed (though probably a fat chance of that). In the long-run, I don’t think he should ever be allowed around animals again, though I do hope he finds someone who takes a great liking to him in prison.</p>

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<p>Well, I don’t think Bill Clinton should ever be allowed around children again, having killed so many of them by depriving them of safe drinking water and medical supplies, but I doubt he’ll ever pay for his criminal actions. And the expense to the taxpayers of his actions (and the Big Lie that followed) far exceed anything imprisoning all the doggie batterers in the world for life would ever even get close to costing.</p>

<p>I was happy to see Vick contrite yesterday, away from his million-dollar handlers; I expect and hope he’ll do his time, and I hope he gets the chance to play again. But, most of all, I think we need to put this in proportion.</p>

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<p>mini: And what do you think of George Bush and his handlers?</p>

<p>I’ve thought about this and put it “in proportion.” Vick needs to go to prison. Actually, I think he should be strung up in the town square, but that’s just me. </p>

<p>Let me clarify. I think anyone who can even contemplate torturing animals has got to have some serious, serious issues. He needs help and prison–perhaps help IN prison. He’s a complete psycho in my book. Put him away for good.</p>

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<p>“Europeans love horse meat and slaughter houses in the US supply some of the meat. Take a trip to the kill pen at a horse auction and you may want to strangle the mom and pop who dropped off the little fat pony still wearing the pink halter with “my buddy” embroidered on it.”</p>

<p>Please don’t embelish. There is no “kill pen” at a horse auction. There are three slaughterhouses nationally that currently provide horsemeat to Europe and Aisa. Recent legislation will soon end the practice. Yes, people bought horses at auction for slaughter, without disclosing their intent. That too, has become harder to do. </p>

<p>It just took a little more public knowledge that one of the true icons of America, the american wild horse, was being captured, auctioned and slaugthered, ending up on french and korean dinner tables to turn the tide a bit.</p>

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<p>“I think we need to put this in proportion.”</p>

<p>I think this the problem. Everyone is trying to compare bad acts to rank them. It’s not whether Vick’s stuff is better or worse than somebody else’s. That doesn’t matter. How can anybody really justify one bad act over another as “better” or “not as bad”? </p>

<p>What should be apprieciated is that in this case, a bad act has a consquence, a punishment.</p>

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<p>Agree with Opie above.</p>

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<p>yes there are kill pens, look it up</p>

<p><a href=“http://citypages.com/databank/19/913/article5199.asp[/url]”>http://citypages.com/databank/19/913/article5199.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>what makes Vicks actions so horrid and abomidable is that he had every opportunity, every benefit, every chance, but he had to get his jollies watching animals suffer for his pleasure</p>

<p>disgusting at best</p>

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<p>cgm,</p>

<p>1998?</p>

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<p>U.S. House of Representatives Votes to Stop
Horse Slaughter, Again</p>

<p>WASHINGTON, D.C. (Aug. 2, 2007) – Once again, Congress has voiced its opposition to horse slaughter. The U.S. House of Representatives today approved an amendment to the 2008 Agriculture Appropriations bill that will temporarily bring horse slaughter to a halt by stripping funds from the federally required inspection of slaughter-bound horses. Without the inspections, the slaughter cannot proceed.</p>

<p>Introduced by U.S. Representatives John Spratt (D-SC), Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Ben Chandler (D-KY), the amendment ensures that horse slaughter stops while Congress considers the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (AHSPA), a permanent ban on this abhorrent trade. The measure must now go to the U.S. Senate for consideration.</p>

<p>The amendment is almost identical to one that passed overwhelmingly in the U.S. Congress two years ago, with the addition of language to prevent the U.S. Department of Agriculture from circumventing the will of Congress – as it did in 2005 when the slaughter continued.</p>

<p>More than 100,000 horses were brutally slaughtered in the United States last year at three foreign-owned slaughterhouses for human consumption in Europe and Asia. Tens of thousands more were exported for slaughter in Canada and Mexico. Currently, Cavel International (DeKalb, IL) is the last remaining horse slaughter plant in operation in the country. The only other plants, both in Texas, were effectively closed down earlier this year under state law.</p>

<p>A hearing on Aug. 16 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit will determine whether Cavel International will remain open or be forced to shut its doors, following last April’s passage of a similar law that was signed by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.</p>

<p>“Once again, when the entire House has the chance to vote on ending slaughter, support for a ban is overwhelming. Sadly, a few politicians and misguided business associations continue to thwart the Democratic process by stalling enactment of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act,” said Chris Heyde, deputy legislative director of the Animal Welfare Institute. “I implore these individuals to stand with the majority of Americans who support a ban on horse slaughter and allow this measure to move forward.”</p>

<p>The American public, over 500 animal protective organizations, horse industry organizations and veterinarians all support the effort to end the slaughter of America’s horses. Congress must now pass the AHSPA (H.R. 503/S.311) to end the slaughter of American horses nationwide and ensure that they are not exported elsewhere to be killed for those who wish to eat them.</p>

<p>While it took a while and it will probably come down to the phony cowboy to sign off. Only one horse slaugtherhouse remains inside the United States. The two in Texas were shut down last year. Just another dirty little secret that needed to come to light.</p>

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<p>and your point is what, that the slaughter continues, well duh, and yes there are killpens. to deny that is quite sad</p>

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<p>I had never heard of killpens until CGM posted that article here. Amazing to me that people will treat so poorly animals that presumably they had loved.</p>

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<p>“and your point is what”</p>

<p>And yours is what? Did you contact your congressperson to make your voice heard? Or is your voice only to be critical of those whom actually have taken steps to end this? Nobody is denying anything, things have changed, things are changing and people like myself are helping get it to where it should be. Now maybe if you got off your “high horse” and didn’t attempt to kick those who are working towards ending the slaughter of the American Horse. But kick away, be aggressive, be nasty, be all the things you want to be.</p>

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<p>Opie - if you are going to try to correct me - especially with an attitude - then at least know what you’re talking about. Of course there are kill pens at auctions sites - the meat buyers have to keep the horses someplace while they wait to be hauled. Rescue operations often send representatives to auctions to buy horses from the kill pens. They can often be bought for anywhere from $50-$100 more than what the meat buyers paid for them. Some horses are loaded pretty quickly and only stay in the pens for a few hours - some are there for a few days before transportation because they typically don’t want to haul with a less than full truck.</p>

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<p>“What should be apprieciated is that in this case, a bad act has a consquence, a punishment.”</p>

<p>That’s in fact what makes it so unusual. </p>

<p>"mini: And what do you think of George Bush and his handlers?'</p>

<p>I already said, in a previous post (#121). (Though all their actions still don’t yet approach the numbers involved - and the children involved - in the Clinton genocide, and the 2002 neocon lie - and the “slam dunk” - was only an extension of the Clinton/Tenet Big Lie of 1998.)</p>

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<p>What was so bad about what Vick did that warranted such punishment? I think he only made dogs fight each other…there’s been lots worse done and less punishment delivered.</p>

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<p>FredFred: As I stated earlier, the dogfighting/gambling ring was one thing–bad enough–but his torture of animals was quite another (in my book)–on a totally different scale. If he can do that to an animal, think what he might be capable of with people. That’s what he did that was so wrong and quite quite sick. He needs to be off the streets. Now.</p>

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<p>Dog fighting = animal cruelty.
Killing dogs = animal cruelty.
What kind of person gets their kicks watching animals tear each other to pieces?</p>

<p>In addition, dog fighting is linked to illegal gambling.</p>