Judiciary Report - Michael Vick

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Michael Vick - It's A Dog Eat Dog World

Crime And Consequence

September 5. 2007

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has agreed to a plea deal in the federal indictment that was handed down against him and his cousins, charging them with dog fighting and illegal gambling.

They were accused of animal cruelty in drowning, hanging and slamming the bodies of dogs against the ground that performed poorly. This infuriated animal rights groups, who began to protest Vick.

Vick denied killing the dogs. He has however admitted in his official plea that he did bankroll the illegal operation. Under the plea agreement, he could be facing one to five years in prison and fines for his conduct.

It is thought that he did not confess to certain charges in his statement to permit him being able to play in the NFL after the case and sentence concludes.

NFL commissioner Goodell was not so good to Vick. He has kicked him out of the NFL indefinitely. In a sternly worded statement he denounced Vick in no uncertain terms.

He has given approval to the Falcons to recoup $22,000,000 in signing bonuses that had been given to Vick. He’d made $40,000,000 prior to that in addition to base salary.

In any sports association, team owners and league executives are always careful to distance their organization from illegal gambling, lest it taint the sport in the public eye. They want to be able to sell their leagues as a family sport, enabling them to gain greater revenues.

However, the Falcons have stated they have too much of an investment in him to let him go from the franchise. They have pledged to work with him.

While I do not believe celebrities should be treated differently from everyday citizens, especially in the eyes of the law, as they certainly are not better than everyone else, this situation is truly sad and has brought out a lot of uneven thinking in some people.

Yes, what Vick did was wrong and animal cruelty is unkind, but how is it balanced or humane that people want to kill Vick, a human being, over this. He did not kill a human being and this case highlights how some care more about animals than they do people.

Am I the only one seeing the joker from Batman in this pic?:

Leona "Queen of Mean" Helmsley

Another case that highlights this undeniable fact is that real estate mogul, Leona Helmsley, left $12,000,000 and her 28 room mansion with servants to her dog in her will and nothing to her grandchildren. I don't care what anyone says, that's your flesh and blood...and human beings.

She looked much better when she smiled:

Back to Vick. He came from poverty and rose to stardom in the league. He became a black NFL quarterback, when there aren't that many, in a great city, Atlanta. He was doing so well and to get in trouble at this stage is regrettable.

The whole thing was just a bad idea. The dogs shouldn’t have been subjected to that cruel treatment and he should not have been gambling.

I’m not a fan of gambling in any measure. It is especially dangerous when you’re an athlete. You must think of appearances and what it can evolve into, becoming detrimental to your career.

While Vick’s conduct was illegal, I have a question. Why is it there seems to be some serious disparities in how blacks and whites are treated by the FBI/DOJ. One can’t help but notice it.

There are white stars in Hollywood that have been committing very serious, sick, life threatening crimes for over two years, even abhorrently violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 click here, far worse than anything Vick has done, and they have not been indicted or even remotely ordered to desist. Yet Vick is being treated like a mass murderer and is facing federal sentencing. How do you explain that. If you're going to lock up one set of people for breaking the law, then lock up others who transgress the law as well.

Same old racist double standard from the FBI. Well done Fuhrer Mueller…not! History is going to record you in a terrible way.

Robert "Fuehrer" Mueller