IT IS TIME TO STOP MICHAEL VICK

Michael Vick, convicted animal abuser, has been signed to do a reality show on BET about his life.

Let’s review: Vick, a college dropout who had a four year paid scholarship, opts to become a pro-NFL player. He’s good. Real good. But he’s a thug. Between 2001 and 2007 Vick the Thug makes minor headlines with keywords like marijuana, transmission of genital herpes, airport security skirmishes, more marijuana and oh…yes…dog fighting. Vick’s barbaric treatment of dogs finally lands him in prison, and as we all know, he emerges from his incarceration victorious, with a new NFL contract, great suits and a poorly executed appearance on CBS 60 Minutes. The next thing we know, the Human Society of America is shining spotlights on him and having him deliver animal cruelty speeches to kids. Nobody’s buying it and everybody wants him to go away. Poll after poll shows he’s persona non grata among football fans, animal lovers and well, just about everybody.

Now comes word that the BET Network will produce an eight-part “docu-series” called “The Michael Vick Project,” which will tell the story of Vick’s life from childhood to incarceration. You know, because we haven’t heard enough about the dog-murdering thug.

Vick told the L.A. Times, “I just want people to really get to know me as an individual. What I want to do is change the perception of me. I am a human being. I've made some mistakes in the past, and I wish it had never happened. But it's not about how you fall, but about how you pick yourself up."

Those of us who love and protect dogs, who realize the vital importance of treating all animals with kindness and respect, do not see Michael Vick as a fallen victim. We see him as a street thug who condoned the vicious use of dogs for blood sport. We do not have any interest in seeing Vick pick himself up. We do not understand a television network paying Vick a reported $600,000 to tell the story of his life. We might have at least minimal tolerance for the docu-series if we knew that Vick was donating all of the money to animal rescue organizations. But, of course, he is not. He is using the money to pay down the enormous debt he has incurred as a street thug.

Here is what you can do. First, write letters to Debra Lee, Chairman and CEO of BET, and to Scott Mills, President and COO of BET. This is their address: One BET Plaza, 1235 W Street NE, Washington D.C. 20018. If you wish to call them instead, this is the phone number: (202) 608-2000. Tell them you are boycotting BET until such time that the decision to air this program is reversed. Then, contact every animal rights organization you can and lobby them to put pressure on BET to cancel this program before it begins. If the program does indeed make it to air in 2010, as announced, boycott all of the show’s advertisers and write to each company’s executives to inform them of your actions.

It is time to stop rewarding young, deliberately uneducated athletes and others for their fully unacceptable behavior. When animals become the victims of these people’s sense of entitlement, we have to step up, en masse and take action. I urge you to take a look at your own pets after you read this piece and think about how important they are in your life. All of the dogs that Vick killed or allowed to bleed to death on his property could have had quality lives and could have been loved. They were not afforded that opportunity and it is up to all of us to see that the perpetrator of the crime is not granted airtime to rehabilitate his image. Please do it.

BAD BOYS: SUMMER SLEAZEBAG EDITION

Why do the bad boys always seem to be badder in the summer? (Yes, I know, I said “badder.” Live with it). Who knows, but there seems to be a pattern. This summer has been particularly frisky and mischievous for some of the most high profile bad boys. And don’t get all huffy about the exclusion of uber-bad boys John Edwards, Michael Vick, Rod Blagojeich and Glenn Beck from this piece. They’re still bad. Real bad. It’s just that I have written about all three of them ad nauseum lately, so I chose to focus herein on some of their bad contemporaries.

Plaxico Burress will serve two years in prison, it was reported this week, after pleading guilty to one count of attempted criminal possession of a weapon. But here’s the rub: Burress shot himself in the leg with the gun. Unfortunately, the gun he was carrying was not licensed. So, the married father of one, with another on the way goes to prison, and even when he gets out, it is not a given that the one-time Super Bowl star will be back in the NFL. "This was not an intentional criminal act," attorney Benjamin Brafman said. "In my judgment, a two-year prison sentence is a very severe punishment." So, that would suggest what? That Burress unintentionally carried an unlicensed weapon into a crowded public place? Burress, 32, has a history of unlawful behavior, which the judge probably considered. He’s still charged with smashing into the back of a Broward County, FL woman’s car with his Mercedes. Not only hasn’t he settled anything with her, but he was driving without insurance. And let’s not forget his two separate domestic disturbance instances in 2008, when he was hit with a restraining order in his own home. I hereby charge Plaxico Burress with serial badness.

Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina just will not go gently into that private night. He insists on staying public. This week he addressed a luncheon group and once again apologized for his bad judgment and behavior in carrying on an affair with an Argentinian woman. His wife and kids have already moved out, followed by a September Vogue interview in which Jenny Sanford is not cutting her husband much slack – you know, because he’s bad. Sanford now admits his political career is over, but he insists on finishing out the remaining 16 months of his term. More bad judgment on his part? You be the judge. Here is what a lame duck looks and sounds like:


Dr. Conrad Murray is on track to be charged with manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson, according to a report from Fox News. Murray, who has admitted administering the intravenous anesthetic propofol to help Jackson sleep just hours before his death, says the truth will set him free. Hmmm. Since the truth is that the doctor gave Jackson a drug that virtually everyone in the medical community agrees is for use only in a surgical setting, one wonders how that might free him. So, why manslaughter and not murder? Possibly because there is nothing much in the doc’s background to suggest criminal patterns, except for some unpaid child support. And, it seems clear (so far, anyway) that it was not his intention to kill Jackson.

Senator John Ensign is the next in the long line of legislators who seem to believe that if they just don’t talk about their extra-marital sexual indiscretions, they whole thing will just somehow go away. However, Ensign, who admitted having an affair with the wife of one of his best friends, (both worked for Ensign), now comes forward to say he did nothing legally wrong. No mention of ethics or morals or any of that, just nothing legally wrong. Ensign, who was among the loudest legislators calling for Bill Clinton’s resignation during the Lewinsky affair, says there is a big difference between his situation and Clinton’s. I haven't done anything legally wrong. President Clinton stood right before the American people and he lied to the American people," Ensign said. Still, like Mark Sanford, Ensign keeps apologizing. And like our old friend David Vitter, he’s hoping the whole thing magically disappears.

I could go on – I mean I could talk about Jon Gosselin (oh, God, are we still talking about him?), or former NY Times reporter Jayson Blair. Blair is the guy who ruined his own career and brought down two of the most powerful men in the NY Times newsroom, when he fabricated stories a few years ago. Blair, long considered in journalism circles the worst of all bad boys, has taken on a new profession – life counselor. So Woody Allenish, no? Anyway, I’m not going into any great detail about that because anecdotal evidence suggests that you stop reading after about 700 words on a blog entry – we’re at 811 right now. So I lost many of you somewhere in the John Ensign paragraph. Damn. So much badness to report, and such short attention spans.

MICHAEL VICK: THE BADDEST DOG OF ALL

If anything positive can possibly result from Michael Vick’s murderous behavior with animals, it may be that the national discussion about humane treatment of animals has been amped up. As soon as Vick was hired by the Philadelphia Eagles all hell broke loose from coast to coast. You could not turn on a talk radio show without hearing from those who feel he should not be re-instated in the NFL, and from those who feel he has paid his debt to society and now should be allowed to live his life.

In fact, Vick will live his life, and at age 29 in a society that lionizes professional athletes, he will probably do quite well. Nobody said life is fair, right? Vick’s two-year deal is reportedly for $1.6 million with the second-year option worth $5.2 million. Still, I have faith in the social consciousness of the American citizenry, and I believe that for the rest of his life, Vick will be known as the football player who maimed, tortured and murdered dogs, and who bankrolled an illegal, barbaric dog fighting operation on his own property. And I believe that is how he should be remembered. On Sunday, Vick appeared on “60 Minutes.” Here is part of what he had to say:


Vick says that the first time he understood the magnitude of the decisions he had made was when the prison door was slammed behind him. I can’t help wondering why the same realization did not hit him when he watched dogs being beaten to death, asphyxiated and methodically murdered. What I am hearing here is that the first time he felt any level of remorse was when it directly affected his comfort, his public image and his financial status. Is it just me, or do you hear that, as well? When he speaks of crying all alone in his cell, he lists off all of the things that he was crying about and never mentions the dogs.

“Bad News Kennels,”(right) as the dog fighting operation on Vick’s property was called, was an obscene endeavor that offered no comfort or respect for innocent animals. Dogs were routinely shot, electrocuted and drowned. This went on for six years, until he was caught. Now he says that he knows he could have halted the operation for the sake of his “career and family.” Again, no mention of the dogs. Now, after losing a $130 million NFL contract and being shunned by many within the league, Vick says he “was wrong” to do what he did. I’m not buying it. And many others are not buying it. Vick is not an ignorant man. He knows right from wrong. He made a decision to hurt and kill dogs. Period.

The bigger issue is dog fighting nationwide. In a CNN report published this week, there was this: "At the height of attention on the Vick case, things quieted down across the country with some of these dogfighters getting out of the business," veteran animal abuse investigator Tim Rickey said. "But then, the headlines went away, and people thought the attention was off. It just started right back up, almost stronger than before. Every Saturday night in every county in Missouri, there is a dogfight going on.”

Something tells me Mr. Vick could direct law enforcement to many dog fighting rings. It is inconceivable that Vick could have murdered animals for six years and not become closely tied in with the dog fighting underground. So it begs three questions: First, why didn’t the judicial system maneuver this case into a revelatory moment when harsh light would shine on dog fighters coast to coast, courtesy of prisoner number 33765-183, Michael Vick? Second, why didn’t the judge impose fines on Vick based on any possible future income he would derive from professional sports? Would it not have been a great idea to put a lien on his future earnings and earmark the money for animal protection and investigations that would lead to arrests of dog fighters? Third, why didn’t the courts ban Vick from ever owning, fostering or caring for a dog? And why does it take a blogger to come up with something so obvious?

We are a nation of dog lovers. I have often said I would rather spend my time with dogs than humans. I know others who feel the same way. The Vick horrors have directed a much-needed spotlight on dog fighting in the U.S. If you suspect or know of dog fighting operations, here is what you can do. Please do it:
• Call the local branch of the Humane Society
• Call your local “Crime Stoppers.” Check the national crime stoppers web site for the community organization nearest to you.

Or...Just call 911. Just do it.