Get Your Face Painted At Michael Vick Day! There Will Be Ponies!

The following views expressed do not necessarily reflect the prevailing wisdom of most people in this country. I don't care in the past about having an unpopular view and I won't care five minutes from now. It's how I feel and I make no apolgies about it. That is why I hope the six people who read my blog appreciate what I write.

I am not into sports too much any more but I will tell you that I like to watch a well played game between two teams. With that said I can not stand watching sports center because lets face the cold hard reality; they do not play clips from any recent games but are more or less interested in player contracts and if Terrel Owens is a douche bag. I have more pressing matters in my life to actually sit around and be worried if Terrel Owens does not get along with Tony Romo anymore. You should too.

But Michael Vick man. People can't stop talking about that guy. Look he wasn't the greatest quarterback but he was a guy who could single handily win a game. I saw him do it against the Steelers one year. Actually scrap that I think that game ended in a tie. Who knows and who cares because it is not important.

But than he decided that he wanted to finance a dog fighting ring at one of his houses. It was a stupid and illegal thing to do and he was rightfully arrested and incarcerated for it. Good for America our justice system works (well scratch that. Michael Vick kills a bunch of dogs but OJ kills his wife and doesn't go to jail for that).

I came across this article about Michael Vick about how they are going to organize some Michael Vick day in his hometown. The article doesn't really say what the point of the festival but that is not what I care about. What really gets my goat is the comments from random readers.

For instance check out this comment on the web page left by someone who created a name of cowabunga_78.

"Celebrating MV's return to NN is wrong on so many levels. If they want to welcome him back, it should be done in a "Forgiveness" service at some church.

This is a con"vick"ted felon, and should be treated as such. He needs a great deal of psycotherapy -- and medication -- to keep him from further abusing animals and people. He does not need to be celebrated by a small faction of the community. Remember, he's not just an animal abuser, he's also a high-stakes gambler who places illegal bets. What's to keep him from betting on football?"

Cowabunga_78 is an idiot. People like him are the ones who vote Republican and think Pat Robertson won't burn in hell for his support of repressive African dictators so he can extract diamonds from their mines.

(Thinking about it I really hate Pat Robertson. He is a horrible human. I really mean that. HE is a liar, delusional at best, hates most minority groups, and only cares about money. I will have to write more about him at a later date.)

I think this is a very indicative quote from a guy named Mose.

"What is this country coming to? When we celebrate a convicted felony and his dog killing. Michael Vick is not the type of role model for my kids.
How can he speak on King's non-violence when in fact he "Bank Rolled" the killing of animals.
This celebration is out of place just like "Cash for Clunkers" program by the federal government."

You know what Mose yeah maybe pro athletes aren't the best role models for your children. Maybe instead of false idol worship you should actually teach your kid ethics and moral responsibility. And what the hell is the cash for clunkers program and how does it relate to Vick?

I could go on about these people. Their priorities are fucked. I think I wrote this previously but of course what Michael Vick did was wrong. I understand exploiting animals for your own personal enjoyment is wrong (think horse racing or those horrible people who put sweaters on their dogs). Its a damn horrific thing he did to them but he is hardly the worst person in the world.

I got into this with my mom the other day. Basically her point was that Michael Vick is the worst person ever. Guess what he is not. You know who is worse than him. George W. Bush, Bill Kristol, and every other of these conservative hacks who actively pushed us into a war in Iraq by selectively cheery picking information and making up lies about how Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The people who tortured people for kicks at Abur Garab are worse than Vick. The politicians like Bush and Obama who want to hold people in jail without any sort of trail in horrible situations.

I know people like dogs because they are furry and in Adam Sandler movies they hilariously hump other dogs. Believe me I love going to the website where people post pictures of their dogs wearing birthday hats and going down water slides. But give me a break. Vick is hardly the worst human being in the world. Of course I am different than most people and value all life whether it be animals or people and don't limit my anger to our furry friends in the animal kingdom.

Everything I ever needed to know about human rationale and personal relations I learned from a single scene from Independence Day.

For some strange reason that eludes the movie Independence Day has been on basic cable almost constantly over the last couple months. I mean it is on almost every channel I swear; TNT, Bravo, TBS, BET, Verses. I did not really care for the movie then nor do I now.

I remember seeing that movie in the theaters when it originally came out years ago. There were two things about the movie that pissed me off (besides that it existed). The first one was that all it took for the people of the world to unite and work together was the mass extermination of the human race as a species by an extraterrestrial threat that was leap years beyond the people of earth in both terms of technological know how and strategic capability. I hope this thought makes you sleep well at night as it does me. Though I'm sure the minute after Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith lit up their stogies and Goldblum finally won the acceptance of the President by implementing a virus into the mother ship to drop the defensive shields that protected the martians from our ineffective weapons that Israel continued to illegally create more settlements on the Gaza Strip while The United States tried to put missiles in Poland to piss off Russia. I guess for the whole we are the world feeling to kick in again we'll have to wait for Independence Day 2 which I'm sure will involve some sort of asteroid slowly making it way to the earth that will obliterate all civilization as we know it.

The other thing that I remember about the movie Independence was the whole scene where the aliens finally decided to obliterate various parts of the earth with their high tech martian death rays. What we the viewers get to see is millions of people dieing what I can only guess are quick painless deaths. The particular scene that pissed me off was towards the end of all the death and destruction and I'm sure you will remember it to. It was the scene where Vivica Fox's character and her son have to run from their car to escape their impending doom. They are able to break open a door in some sort of tunnel(!) so they can live to be reunited with Will Smith (was it worth it)? Wait one second though because Max the family dog is doing what most dogs do; standing around like a fucking idiot on the street while a wall of fire is rapidly approaching him. Luckily Vivica Fox's tears must smell of kibble so the dog was able to jump in through the door and barely escape a horrible, fiery death.

What I remember really pissing me of at the time was that the whole theater applauded in unison when the screen faded to black and the dog was safe. I for one did not clap because of two reasons. The first reason being I'm not a fucking toddler. The second reason is that I find it hard to clap when millions of people are whipped off the face of the earth in a nanosecond while one dog escapes! Are we serious as a society? Did anyone clap when Vivica Fox's character and her little kid were safe? I don't think so. What does this say about us a society that we value animals more than we do human life. I can bet that if something like this happened there would have been less clapping and more people demanding their money back.

Hey. I do like dogs. I swear I do. I have even had some as a pet. You would be surprised that I even got sad when they died. But I think it says something about who we are as a society that we get upset about cruelty to animals but don't really get too concerned about the quality of life or suffering of are fellow human beings.

And I know what you are saying. "Webby you are full of shit. Independence day is just a movie. You're point sucks." I know it is just a movie. I only recently learned that it wasn't based on a true story like Spaceballs was. Let me remind you of a recent event and how you felt about it in relation to other events around the world.

Remember the Michael Vick case? I'm sure you do because it was all over the news. He is now in jail for federal charges related to his involvement in a dog fighting ring. Yes I know that dog fighting is a vicious and inhuman activity. I know it is particularly egregious since the dogs really have no choice in the matter involving their participation in such an event. How outraged were you? You had a right to be.

Now take into account the amount of people in this country who don't have health care. Statistics say that around 46 million people do not have health care insurance. How do you think their quality of life is? How about our soldiers who fought over in Iraq who lost their lives, limbs, or their mind? How outraged does that make you especially considering the way the war was sold to the American people and managed by those in charge? How about the vast number of Iraqis who have either been killed in the occupation or the millions who have been forced to leave their homes and their countries. How about the thousands of people who died in the Gaza Strip recently. How about are homeless situation? The exploitation of children in third world countries?

I think it says something about are culture and us as Americans when we get more worked up about dogs than we do each other. I would blame the media for pumping up the Vick dogfighting story but I think the American people are more culpable in this situation because the media are only providing what they think the American people want.

I understand why the deaths of some dogs get people more worked up. They are seen as innocent entities and they are cute to boot. Admitely is easy to get worked up about it and people should. I just wish it was easier for people to get as outraged about something like the Michael Vick situation as it it is to get pissed off about the suffering and death of their fellow man. This planet might be a better place. And maybe it wouldn't take an alien invasion and our threatened extinction by an interplanetary enemy to unite the people of earth. Or even worse another horrid we are the world song. Talk about human suffering!

(And I do love dogs honestly. But I should disclose that to keep my youthful appearance I drink the blood of kittens while bathing in the blood of golden retrievers.)