Thursday, November 29, 2007

Dog day afternoon

I’m gonna keep this brief cause your folk is madder than a mug right now. Just found out to day in an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution that former Falcon Quarterback Michael Vick has agreed to leave a large amount of loot to take care of some 50 or more dogs that were left on his property, $928,073 to be exact.

According to his lawyer, it will be set in a escrow account controlled by Billy Martin’s Washington, D.C. based law firm. They say it’s to pay for restitution decided upon by the court. This makes me sick to the stomach, giving all this money to dogs.

Why couldn’t he or his lawyer say that the money would go to scholarships for African American males leaving high schools for college or for after school math and science programs for primary and middle-school age African American male youth? I tell you why, because it is still more appropriate to provide a nurturing environment for a dog (Canis domesticus) than African American men in these United States of America.

No one can find the caretaker of the dogs now for comment Rebecca Jean Huss (in picture), a professor of law at Valparaiso University and the court appointed caretaker of the dogs. Ain’t that some shit, it takes $900,000 to maintain and find homes for some pit bulls according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and groups like PETA.



Glad to see folks care more about dogs than me. That’s why I said before, Mr. Vick was stupid for the choices he made, now not only is he losing money, but his philanthropy, albeit court order has more significance for dogs, than his own folks.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

she kind of looks like a pit bull if u asked me

Anonymous said...

Sorry Torrance, but I totally disagree with you on this one. Restitution pertains to the crime committed and while I wholeheartedly agree that there needs to be MUCH more money spent on education for all of our youth, Michael Vick perpetuated abhorrent crimes against innocent animals and that's where his money needs to go, whether it be for their care or the education of others about the humane care of and compassion toward animals. (Studies have shown for years that there's an undeniable connection/cycle between animal abuse and child abuse.)

I know there's a large contingent that believes Michael Vick suffered more than others would have because he's black, and there's nothing I can say to change anyone's mind on that. All I can say is that it doesn't matter to me one bit what color his skin is, just as it wouldn't matter his sexual orientation, his political party, his religious beliefs, and so on. The only thing that matters to me is that this man was involved in the disgusting practices he was and should be held accountable for the crimes he committed.

You started the blog entry stating how upset you were, and I know when something really has me pissed and I blog about it I tend to speak to the heat of the moment. That being said, I have to ask: Do you REALLY believe that money going to the care of dogs (direct relation to the crime committed) somehow indicates the lack of concern for you or African American youth? I'm just having a hard time seeing the connection.

PS Did you change the identity options for posting comments? Not allowing them as before.

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

socal - its ok to disagree. I just think it would have been preventive and proactive to change the attitudes that may engender in young black men that would make them consider fighting dogs to be an appropriate behavior. I firmly belive that 900 stacks is excessive to house and main tain dogs. That money could have been used to for example, provide scholarships for my folk to go to vet schools, or to study and focus on pedagogy in general

yes im down with accountability but not the ridiculous, i mean, i'd rather for the loot to go to making change than maintaing the status quo, wonder how much of that loot will go to the organizations i named for their education programs for our youth? just a query


anon - yep she does - LOL

hottnikz said...

I added your book to my shelf, even though I haven't read it yet. So love with a lanky link...

hottnikz said...

that should be show love...

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

hot - thanks for the love shoot me an email and i will send u som short stories frommy last book butterbrown, and i have a book of essays coming out in dec and a book of plays in jan. good lookin...luv

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

we talking about $171,000 per dog. the question is what does it do for the society as a whole? othing, in these crunching economic times, dogs dont pay taxes nor do the add to the social and economic fabric of america, scholarships would have done more than paying to house and mantain dogs as a form of restitution - to society

Don said...

I think Vick trying to work on that sentence before he steps footin the courtroom. Show him as having more compassion for the dogs now compared to before.

He's a fool, but not that foolish. lol.


Now if he gave the Falcons back that $20 million dollar signing bonus then I'd think he was crazy

E.R. Carpenter said...

Damn them dogs when human beings are suffering. I say we take it one step further. Ban the allowance of pets until there is no poverty in America. No dogs. No cats. No pet food sales allowed.

Vick is just playing the game to get his life restored. You think he really wants to give a million dollars towards the caring of dogs? Of course not. He just wants his career back, and this may be the start of getting it.

Our priorities are so screwed up in this country. Some human beings don't know where their next meal is coming from and a million dollars is going to dogs. Screw that!

Eb the Celeb said...

yeah, this is crazy... obviously the life of a dog is more important than the life of a black man, or the education of a young black person... boggles me that we have organizations like PETA like would die for an animal, and yet we have homeless children all around that world that no one seems to think is at important

John "JP" Pickens said...

This is over the top. I agree with you man, fo sho. I am amazed at the liberties being taken with Vick as a whole. I've seen other folks in pro sports get off lighter after beating thier wife, or killing someone while driving drunk.

I guess the only thing worse than black on black crime is black on anythingotherthanblack crime.

Unknown said...

Yeah im kind of mad about it. That money could be paying for my education!

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

memphiz - u dont fight dogs do u lol, where r u in school anyway - i went to hamilton

thic - a replication of the world we have always lived in and at this rate nothing will change

ebonne - they dont give parents who adopt or take in foster kids tha kind of loot
don and Eman - my sentimenst exactly

Unknown said...

that's a lot of loot!! I've never heard of this.. the dog fighting cases I've heard of they usually put the dogs to sleep if they can't find home or they stay in the pound. I've never heard of the person having to pay for the wellfare of the dogs once the state/gov takes them... But I guess tehy can do it if he's paying.. sounds a little weird, not to say it's not true but just never heard of it.

Mz.Bria2U said...

@Socal Muchacha...your post was excellent, thanks for the enlightenment.

My question is this: where in the world are they housing these dogs?? the Taj Mahal? Trump Towers?? what in the world are they eating swarovski crystal laden doggy chow??

I think its ridiculous and excessive. I understand restitution, but I dont understand how that would justify 900k to house some dogs.

gotta love the justice system.

@ebonne...shoot we have homeless,neglected kids right here in U.S.A. who's paying for them?? Do you know how many vaccinations, coats, shoes etc that could pay for?!

I wonder about those PETA people...probably incapable (on some level) of carrying on functional human interaction and thus pour their energy into a cause such as PETA. THROWING BLOOD ON A COAT?? I remember when Mary J Blige came out with her white fur coat on and PETA was around throwing blood on coats...they didn't throw none on hers!! lol...they're fanatical, but they're NOT THAT FANATICAL!!

guerreiranigeriana said...

wow!!!...that has to be pretty close to the stupidest thing i've heard in a looooonnnnnngggg time...i hate that it surprises me...i should be used to it...in a country where people will stop and cause freeway accidents during morning rush hour traffic, trying to coax a damn dog off the freeway and into their car, but won't even stop to give the homeless man food; or buy stupid fn 'dogclothes' so their gd dogs are as flossy as they are at the award show, while children in the projects, tucked away in the inner city, wear tattered second-generation hand me downs, i guess this is the least we can expect...those fuckers in virginia who sexually assaulted the black lady (i'm bad with names), will they have to pay out of their ass fees for so-called 'restitution'?...when the government realizes that they have wrongfully subjected someone to the perils of prison for the past twenty-odd years and let them go, do they get such a sum in so-called 'restitution'?...

..this shit pisses me the f off...seriously...i am all for nature and reconnecting, but god-damn-it...like someone above said, pets shouldn't even be allowed until poverty has been eliminated...it sickens me to see animals treated better than humans...i don't at all advocate mal-treatment of animals, but $171,000 a dog (i don't know the time period this is for), especially since dogs will never work, or contribute to the elimination of poverty, racism and injustices, it just doesn't make sense...in some countries, dogs are edible...and since there are people, human beings, who work DAMN HARD, on a daily basis-7 days a fn week who don't even get paid that amount in five years of work...*leaving, before i really blow a fuse here*...

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

Sin - they wanna end welfare, to increase it for dogs, go figure (added u to the roll folk)

Ivent - I concur with your sentiments with socal. & the TajMahal may except dogs b4 someone that looks like me - i hope not

guerreiranigeriana - edible, yummy. lol. u been added too

Unknown said...

what up folk;
these people really need to get their priorities straight!! I mean I like (some)animals and all, but come on!! you got homeless people right outside the white house and all over the country yet you worried about some dogs?! PETA and some of those organiations really need to reexamine themselves.. not all are bad though.

Nicole said...

"pets shouldn't even be allowed until poverty has been eliminated"...okay, but what about ipods, luxury vehicles, cell phones, condos with fancy hardwood floors, etc? People aren't going hungry just because of these dogs or any other pet. Now that it's Christmas time, people will go to the mall and spend hundreds they don't have on things they don't need all to prove their love and then walk out and drop a couple of pennies in the United Way bin. People will spend hours watching football and what not on Christmas day, but how many will give one hour at a food bank? Yes, our priorities are screwed up.

Putting some of that money towards education as it relates to
animal care and cruelty would be wise (in addition to caring for the animals that were injured); but if you're angry with the system then take your anger out on the system, not on the dogs that got caught in the middle. The $900,000 is excessive, but as we've seen with other cases (the woman who sued McDonald's because SHE burned herself with coffee, the teens who tried to sue because THEY became obese eating at McDonalds all the time), the legal system is out of whack all around.

Also, I'm not a member of PETA, but I know some people who are and you'll find that, in general, they don't value human life any less (and most refuse to take part in throwing blood, etc - all groups have their extremists), they just choose to speak for those who can't speak for themselves. Peoples' causes come from the heart and the soul and I don't think you can judge that. If you can, then who's more righteous, the AIDS activist or the person fighting against child abuse? If trying to protect animals is what moves you, then be you. If it's education, curing cancer, whatever, then do it. Just be moved by something other than yourself...THAT I think is unacceptable.

Unknown said...

hey nicole;
Great counterpoint! I agree with you that people's causes come from the heart and you can't judge that, I just think that it's a little extreme and that they are trying to make an example out of him. People's priorities are out of whack, not just some of these organizations..

Cennetta said...

All I can say is: "LAWD today!"

Anonymous said...

Vick could have given that, and much more to AA males, before he got into trouble, if he cared, more about them than his dogs.

Just think, all that money that Vick invested in illegal dogfighting, what if he had set up a scholarship fund.

esk said...

Interesting post...I actually just posted a blog post on Michael Vick, too...my views differ from yours though. LOL.

I definitely hear you about using money to educate our youth. But I don't think that we should do the Woe-is-me-nobody-cares-about-black-folks-bc-we-fined-him-instead-of-using-the-$-for-something-else, everytime an African American person is appropriately punished for a crime.

Michael Vick and everyone else involved in dog fighting should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

They're sick individuals in my opinion. Participating in such senseless, inhumane acts...smh.

Old School Fridays said...

That is so dumb, shouldn't he give it to a charity that uses dogs to benefit lives, such as a seeing eye dog type of charity.

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

GRAPEVINE - I AGREE

Sage -im down with punishment to full extent of the law, but im also Candide - the pragmatist

anon & mahogony - i concur
sincere & nicole - true, but such an option is feculent in the eyes of folk here

Anonymous said...

Torrance and iventbyblogging (btw, love that name...I quite often vent that way as well ;)), just wanted to thank you for reading what I wrote with an open mind. I think we all agree we'd love to see that kind of money being spent on education and housing of those in need, but these are situations which have nothing to do with one another. Should we all be advocating for increased funding for education, health care, housing, and so on instead of BILLIONS of dollars on Bush's war, of course. But that doesn't mean we have to sacrifice the care of others, including animals. The money Michael is paying is for the care of animals who HE CHOSE to use as fighting dogs. If he wants to give to other causes, then so be it. This is restitution for laws he broke. Btw, the animals are to be taken in by 8 different rescue groups, but mostly by Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah, and a pit bull rescue group (BAD RAP) in California. The most money associated for one dog is 20K (for lifetime care), with the total Vick deposited in an escrow account being just over 928K.

We ALL have different viewpoints on the value of care and compassion for animals, so I wouldn't even TRY to change anyone's mind, but telling an animal lover like myself that I shouldn't concern myself with an issue such as animal welfare because I should instead be worried about other issues, just doesn't wash. Believe it or not I can actually support more than one; and trust me, I do. ;) (Talking in general terms here and not saying anyone in particular was saying that.)

Again, thanks Torrance for allowing differing, respectful opinions on your blog. :)

lboogie said...

It just boils my blood that Vick gets 5 years minimum in prison (he did do something extremely stupid as a public figure) but what angers me is that those police officers that killed that 90 something year old lady IN HER HOME get released from prison after a year. That just goes to show that a dog's life is worth way more than any of our lives...we need to live wiser and stop playing into these people's hands.

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