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Image via TMZ Video
Gossip site TMZ has video of ex-NFL QB star Michael Vick hanging out right here in Chicago (well, at O'Hare Airport) and that, of course, got tongues wagging about what it meant for the Bears. Reports have said Vick is close to signing with an NFL team, but a Bears spokesman told TMZ it isn't with Chicago. In fact, TMZ has confirmed this.
A rep for the Humane Society tells us Vick just spoke at an anti-dog fighting event in the Englewood section of the city -- which will help raise awareness about his efforts to clean up his own image.
So no need for Bears fan to break into for Vick/against Vick battle of words.
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So now I'm wondering if he took a detour down to Kankakee County.
Honestly, why not let the guy play? He did his time, he's taking steps prevent others from engaging in the same criminal behavior, he's not living a lavish lifestyle, let the man earn.
The insane dog people who want him in jail for eternity because they love puppies are a bunch of nutters. I don't see why a man can't return to a profession he's obviously excellent at, perhaps redeem himself in the process.
I agree with you, but only if he really is truthful about redeeming himself and does something about stopping this dogfighting bullshit.
And please stop making light of people who want to protect animals. "Loving puppies" really trivializes the vast problem we have with animal abuse. I know you don't care about the issue, but remember that people who abuse animals are about a tenth of a step away from abusing humans.
I get so sick and tire of the "they're JUST animals" crap. Like animals don't feel pain.
Do you really want to live next door to someone who has a chamber in their basement, furnished with batteries and cables to electrocute dogs who perform poorly in an organized dog fight for Christ's sake?
But I really would love to see Vic step up to the plate and become a spokesperson for the prevention of animal abuse. He could really be a role model in that area....but I don't know if I have much faith in it...I'm no psychologist, but once a sociopath.....?????????
I'm going to be deeply worried about doggies and those who delight in them fighting when the human children on the south and west side aren't being murdered by the score.
Call me a human supremecist if you like.
Yes, because we all know there is only room enough in any one person's heart to only be concerned about one group of living beings.
It's not mutually exclusive jess nevins, you can care about the well being of both. That argument is so lame and lazy.
And it is truly amazing the humanity that one can discover in oneself when one is taught how to respect animals. Have you seen how troubled, incarcerated teens and adults turn around when they are taught how to train and care for dogs while serving their prison terms? It's touching beyond words to see these former criminals experience love for the first time in their lives...to experience how to care for something that responds back to them with unconditional love.
http://www.helpingmomsconnect.com/pets/?p=223
Nobody says you have to be an animal lover, but to be so shallow as to think that you cannot work for the elimination of both animal abuse and child abuse is just absurd. It's all connected. Teach children how to respect and love and care for an animal, and he'll learn how to do the same towards his fellow humans.
If kids learn that nobody cares when they kick a dog, it can escalate into the very situation you're going on about with children in the south and west sides.
Having worked in the media I've seen what happens when a story about child abuse and a story about animal abuse run.
When a girl's father was arrested for raping and beating her we received maybe a dozen e-mails and a couple inquiries of how to help.
Same broadcast featured a story about kids beating a cat in an online video. 400+ emails and dozens of people sending checks and cash to the STATION to "help the kitty find a new home"
Companion animals are fine, and people can get a lot of joy out of them, perhaps even become more gentle. But what makes me nauseous is how people will lose their shit over an animal but accept the abuse of HUMANS as matter of course.
Sorry, I'd happily snap the neck of every kitten and puppy at anti-cruelty to save the life of the most broke-down crack-addled skel.
Honest opinion, please...
What makes a human's life that much more important than an animal's life? Self-preservation?
Well, I'm a human, I sympathize with my own species first and foremost, because no other species will. Watch "Grizzly Man" sometime to see how not remembering that can pan out.
Mind you, I'm quite "green" in my thinking. But sensibly so. Bees dying off worries me more than some kittens and puppies coming to a bad end. Saving ecosystems is a far more worthwhile endeavor than the BILLIONS spent on companion animals. Not to mention the waste of civic resources, and even court time.
I'd encourage you to read a book called "One Nation Under Dog by Michael Schaffer. He details just how insane the pet mob has gotten in the past couple decades and how it's nothing short of dangerous. It's eye opening to say the least.
You're always trying to buttress your point with ridiculous anecdotal stories about one or two completely insane people. Like this "Grizzly Man" is really a representation of all people who are interested in animal rights.
That guy was a self absorbed lunatic with no grasp on reality. He bears (pun realized) no resemblance to the every day Joe who loves his dog and would like to see people not abuse them.
It's like trying to say Octo-mom is a representation of all of us who are mothers and love our kids.
Calm down jess...i don't think you'll ever be called upon to snap the world's supply of kitten necks.
I could also recommend a library off books for you to read that would make my case as well.
Every cause has it's fringe. Just because there are some people who are nuts over animals, doesn't mean you have to go around snapping kitten necks for crying out loud.
But you have to remember, if we lived in a society that was brought up to respect animal life, we'd have a lot less violence towards your human species. Not sure what you don't get about that...maybe it's hard to get reason past someone whose fantasies involve snapping kitten necks, I don't know, but when was the last time you read about a baby being put inside of a plactic container, next to a dumpster so it could suffocate, slowly in the sun...a story that was in the Baltimore news yesterday, only it was not a baby, it was a bunch of puppies. Wasn't much public outrage over this, but I'm pretty sure if it were a human baby, the police force would leave no stone uncovered to find the perp. And they should do whatever they can to find the person who did that to a baby too. But it doesn't make animal abuse less heinous.
People who abuse animals are sociopaths and a danger to society...these are the people who are shooting children on the south side and beating them on the west side...they have no humanity.
And when there are stories of child abuse in the news, when you read the comment sections, there is outrage a-plenty. I think the reason so many people get worked up over animal abuse is that these animals are not only completely helpless and dependent on their owners (as are babies), but they also give us unconditional love and companionship every day of their lives. Dogs don't complain when you're being an asshole, they are always ready to go.
I'd encourage you to read a book called "Animals Make Us Human" by Temple Grandin. Another excellent book is "Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men" by Donald McCaig. See? I can spout off books too... the difference here is kind of Palin-esque though...the books I recommend are not divisive or defensive or exaggerations or mean spirited meant to disparage a group of people. These books might actually make you a more rounded human being. Yeah..I know...this diatribe is falling on deaf ears, but I had to give it a shot.
I'll leave you with this very true quote to ponder about how dogs did, in fact, make us human:
"It has been 20,000 years since man and dog formed their partnership. That we have altered the dog genetically is well understood; it is hardly known how they changed us. Since dogs could hear and smell better than men, we could concentrate on sight. Since courage is commonplace in dogs, men's adrenal glands could shrink. Dogs, by making us more efficient predators, gave us time to think. In short, dogs civilized us."
In short, dogs civilized us
Goodness, that's the worst kind of Lamarkian evolutionary balderdash I've seen in a while. Donald McCaig, whose other work includes spin-off novel of "Gone with the wind"? Why, there's a reliable source on genetic theory.
Humans also domesticated horses, cats and a multitude of barnyard animals both as food sources and work animals. What "made us human" is the ability to do that, not the animals. It's like arguing that paint, and not the act of painting, makes one an artist.
I mentioned a book that is excellent, thoroughly research and takes a tact that many in the media would never dare, for fear of riling the mass of pet lovers out there.
And the fact you bleet about being a mother and yet write about how, apparently unlike children, dogs don't complain when you are "an asshole" and are always "ready to go". Pity the poor child in Ingrid's house who dares raise their voice or drag their feet.
I am in no way excusing Vick of what he did. What he did was absolutely horrendous. And - Ingrid, you know this - I'm a dog-lover and I love my dog with all my heart.
But I do have a hard time understanding the lingering vitriol about Vick specifically.
Where's the anger at Donte Stallworth? He KILLED A MAN while DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE. You know what THAT netted him? A month in jail and a year suspension from the NFL. I haven't seen nearly as much outrage over Stallworth than we did over Vick. And I still think that Vick's biggest problem was not saying no to his friends, his "posse," who were all the first to turn on him when shit hit the fan.
Again, I'm not excusing him and dog fighting is a horrific, monsterous thing, but sometimes I feel Vick would have been better off killing a person than killing dogs.
I don't have vitriol against Vic, but the fact is that what he did was sociopathic. I don't know if you can cure that...but if you can, I would hope that he'd come out and be a spokesperson against dog fighting and animal abuse. He has a name, he could do a lot of good in that area if he wanted to. And it's not up to me if he gets to play again, it's up to the NFL. If they do let him play then good for him, everyone deserves a second chance.
And you're all ignoring the fact that animal abusers go on to abuse humans. There are people who text and drive and kill people and get off with a slap on the wrist. There are people who steal money and do more time in prison than the guy in the next cell who murdered someone. I don't make the laws, I think it's ludicrous that money means more in this world than a human life. Do you think Madoff would have gotten the time he did for murder? No way. People are going to go on despising this guy for eternity, but we make movies romanticizing the likes of John Dillinger who killed many people, innocent people AND cops. I would be dollars to donuts there will NEVER be a movie where the likes of a Johnny Depp will play a humanized and sympathetic Bernie Madoff.
@Jess nevins: "Pity the poor child in Ingrid's house who dares raise their voice or drag their feet"...shows what you know, dont' assume jess...if you were to read my daughter's facebook page there is a section about how she never wanted to grow up because her childhood was so awesome. Friends who come to my house don't want to leave because of the nurturing and love they feel here and they tell me this to my face.
And if you want to learn about horses, cats, pigs,etc...seriously...read Temple Grandin's book that I mentioned above. It's a lovely book, if you want to take time out from your daily kitten strangling.