RE: Michael Vick. Um, didn't we beat him up enough when he was first busted?

[Taverner]

Don't get me wrong, he deserved a good beating.

But he got one. Served his time. Paid for his transgressions.

Yes, I know what he did was despicable, but he isn't doing it now (that we know of) so why do we continue the beatings?

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. yeah, he got a good beat down in DU

[hlthe2b]

2. with all due respect, Taverner...

snd no offense intended, but this is getting really old.

Can we talk about the weather or your Christmas vacation, your New Years' plans, how ridiculous your a)neighbor; b) inlaws; c)boss; d)spouse, SO, or other love interest; (pick one) might be?


Please? ;)

[Taverner]

3. Sure. How do you crack an egg without breaking the yolk?

[hlthe2b]

5. well, I used to pass it off to my Mom to do it...

But there's your answer. Ask someone with such talent to do so. LOL

[onehandle]

4. 'Cause I could pass that football

Look at me now
Four years of college
Famous professors
Tutoring me

Scholarship kid
Everything paid for
Food and vacations
All of it free

Day that I left
Everyone gathered
Their cheering still rings in my ears

Ray Wreck rah
Rah Wreck Ray
Rah Wreck
Wreck rah
Rah Wreck, Wreck
Wreck, we love you

'Cause I could pass that football
Like nothin' you have ever seen

Couldn't spell a lick
Couldn't do arithmetic
One and one made three
Thought that dog was C A T

But I could pass that football
Like nothin' you have ever seen

Couldn't write my name
Couldn't translate 'je vous aime'
Never learned to read
Mother Goose or Andre Gide

But I could pass that football
Like nothin' you have ever seen

Couldn't figure riddles
Puzzles made me pout
Where the hell was Moses
When the lights went out?

I couldn't even tell red from green
Get those verbs through my bean
But I was buddies with the dean
Like nothin' you have ever seen

Passed without a fuss
English Lit. and Calculus
Never had to cram
Even passed the bar exam

'Cause I passed that football
Like nothin' you have ever seen

Couldn't dance for beans
Mashed my girls to smithereens
Sometimes blood was spilled
Still my card was always filled

'Cause I could pass that football
Like nothin' you have ever seen

Then there was the week
Albert Einstein came to speak
'Relativity'
Guess who introduced him? Me

'Cause I could pass that football
Like nothin' you have ever seen

Had no table manners
Used to dunk my roll
Always drunk the water from the fingerbowl

Though I would not get up for any she
The prexy's Mom, age ninety-three
Got up and gave her seat to me
Like nothin' you did ever see

In our hall of fame
There's a statue with my name
There we stand, by heck
Lincoln, Washington and Wreck

'Cause I could pass that football
Like nothin' you have ever, ever seen

[dkf]

24. Is that what this is? Resentment of rich football players?

Figures

[old mark]

6. K&R.Thanks, T. nt

[Union Scribe]

7. Because people insist on elevating him

into some paragon of rehabilitation because he can throw a football. There's a difference between giving convicts a second chance and singling a dubious one out for a slap on the back from the damn White House.

[Nye Bevan]

8. The liberal ideals of rehabilitation and redemption do not apply to Vick

according to many DUers. As far as I am concerned he served his time and paid his debt to society and is free to earn a living in his chosen profession. I don't have to like him, and I don't particularly think he should own a dog, but I don't know why we have a constant flow of Vick threads where some DUers seem to take great delight in posting those horrible pictures of mutilated dogs.

[panader0]

9. The beatings will continue untile morale improves

enough already

[TexasObserver]

10. No. It's never over.

Some people like animals better than humans, for a variety of reasons that can't be said because of rules against being that candid.

[Itchinjim]

15. Well, I certainly like my dogs more than I like Vick.

Candid enough for ya?

[TexasObserver]

27. I mentioned the REASONS one would like dogs better than humans.

I never suggested that some humans don't value dogs over humans. I think everyone can agree that is true.

There are a multitude of reasons why a person would prefer animal interactions over human interactions, but the most obvious reason is inability to relate well to other humans. Many humans cannot relate well to other humans, and find interacting with animals preferable to interacting with other humans. I'm sure you must have known someone who fell into that category.

Your devotion to your dog over some guy you don't know or like is not surprising.

[Itchinjim]

32. "Many humans cannot relate well to other humans, and find interacting with animals preferable....

...to interacting with other humans."

Maybe you should get a dog.

[TexasObserver]

36. My statement is factually accurate.

[Itchinjim]

39. Arf!

[TorchTheWitch]

35. it has nothing to do with not relating well to humans

it's the realization that humans are the most nasty, despicable, disgusting, selfish, greedy creatures on the planet and appreciating the honesty and affection of fellow creatures who stand head, shoulders and torso above us humans in integrity, honesty and forgiveness and without the slightest hint of the superiority complex that humans indulge in and are the least deserving of.

[TexasObserver]

37. Ha! Thanks for the laugh.

Hilarious!

[Celeborn Skywalker]

42. Yeah, ok

:eyes: :crazy:

[xchrom]

11. vick doesn't care if you think it's all cool now or not.

he. doesn't. give. a. damn.

he only cares that he got caught.

[Taverner]

20. I don't care much about him either

But Another poster here was right when they said this was an underhanded way of slamming Obama

[namahage]

12. You really think this new rash of "beatings,"

many of which are from people who couldn't be found condemning Vick in the past few weeks, but only now are finding their inner Ingrid Newkirk after Obama's phone call, has anything to do with Vick?

[dkf]

25. You have a point.

[Itchinjim]

13. The dogs Vick murdered don't get to play catch with a football.

Fuck Michael Vick and the Eagles and the NFL.

[davidinalameda]

14. amen to that

this guy is being held up a role model?

he's a thug

[Skittles]

34. yup

[AndrewP]

40. Word +1

[Iggo]

16. It's never enough, man. (n/t)

[one_voice]

18. I was gonna pm you...but since you're here....

I was thinking last night and I get what you're saying about kids choosing who will be their role models. And I do agree. However I still maintain that I can choose to live as I please without having to worry about being someone's role model. Sometimes kids pick the wrong people to emulate--like drug dealers--and this goes back to my original point as well PARENTS have to be vigilant and teach their children what's right and wrong.

So I rescind my second "shove it" remark. :blush:

Cool?

[Iggo]

30. Very cool. No problemo.

:toast:

[one_voice]

17. This outrage has more to do with..

with slamming the President than Michael Vick.


The weirdest story of the morning is President Obama's call to Jeffrey Lurie, the owner of the NFL Eagles. Two things apparently happened during the call: Obama praised the team for giving Michael Vick a second chance, and then he asked some questions about the Eagles' plans to use alternative-energy sources to power the stadium. Now the White House is spinning the call as the sort of everyday inquiry the president makes into eco-friendly architecture. "The president did place a call to Mr. Lurie to discuss plans for the use of alternative energy at Lincoln Financial Field, during which they spoke about that and other issues," Bill Burton told Mike Allen.


That explanation makes a lot less sense than the one Lurie himself offered, which was that Obama is "passionate" about the fact that "it's never a level playing field for prisoners when they get out of jail. And he was happy that we did something on such a national stage that showed our faith in giving someone a second chance after such a major downfall.''

Patting Lurie on the back for playing Vick might give the White House communications shop some headaches, but it's also worth doing: About one in 100 Americans are currently behind bars, and more were behind bars at some other point in time. And as this Pew report (pdf) shows in grim detail, the punishment doesn't stop when convicts leave prison: "Serving time reduces hourly wages for men by approximately 11 percent, annual employment by 9 weeks and annual earnings by 40 percent." And those numbers hide a serious racial tilt: "Incarceration depresses the total earnings of white males by 2 percent, of Hispanic males by 6 percent, and of black males by 9 percent."

Then there's the downstream effects on children and families ("Even in the year after the father is released, family income remains 15 percent lower than it was the year before incarceration"), and on cities with a high population of ex-convicts, and so on. As you might expect, the recession is making all this even worse.

*snip*

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/12/why_obama_weighed_in_on_behalf.html

[Taverner]

19. Meh. What a non-story

[Mike 03]

21. It is because dog fighting is ugly, and it finally has a face.

Dog fighting is one of the ugliest things in the world, and very few people faced it before a celebrity was exposed as being involved in it.

[LynneSin]

22. Because we are DUers

:D

[Possumpoint]

23. Stop And Shut Up For A Moment

Listen to what you're saying. Man did the crime and did his time. You want to continue the punishment? How is he suppose to make a living. Stretch that out to other felons who have done their time and can't find decent or even any employment. Our prejudices prevent people from making a decent living so what happens, they return to crime.

I'm not a sports fan and don't watch any sports except maybe the Super Bowl. I love dogs and think what this man did sucks. Yet, he paid his dues.

[Taverner]

26. Huh? I'm arguing the same side as you and I have to shut up?

[Possumpoint]

29. My Comment Wasn't For You

It was for the majority slamming Vick.

[ecstatic]

28. Someone said it best--old testament liberals vs. new

testament liberals. The former group tends to be almost fundie-like in their fury when they feel betrayed.

[malaise]

31. Ding ding

we have a winner.

[Ignis]

41. Thanks for the broad brush, but many of us aren't Judeo-Christian.

But when all you have is a hammer, I guess everything looks like a nail. :shrug:

[Skittles]

33. NO

[bullwinkle428]

38. The Vikings don't think so.

[JuniperLea]

43. The animals he tortured are still suffering...

Too bad they didn't get the memo.

Why do we continue the beatings, you ask? Because this kind of atrocity doesn't just magically go away... this kind of mental sickness doesn't either. When I think of Vick, I think of the dead animals... and I think of those who still live in a disfigured and painful body. They will never have a normal life.