Posted on 08/23/2007 6:07:00 AM PDT by libstripper
It's been a hoot reading and listening to pundits and armchair legal analysts speculate on the fate awaiting Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick on charges of illegal dogfighting.
First the easy part: You can expect Vick to be handed a harsher sentence than the one year being bandied about by some observers.
The judge has already said the acts described by Vick's co-conspirators suggest "aggravating" circumstances. Often that means a sentence more harsh than lenient.
With Vick as the major, if not only, source of funding for the operation, it's likely the judge will view him as the ringleader of the enterprise.
The federal guidelines generally suggest a sentence of anywhere from 12 to 18 months for the crime to which Vick will plead guilty. My guess is that the judge may well hand down a longer jail term. Why? Because the men who pleaded guilty ahead of Vick will probably get the stiffer end of the suggested sentencing range, or about 18 months.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Unfortunately, there is a stigma in America and most black Americans have suffered indignities and lack of acceptance. I’ve seen it up close in a more personal way, being the only white guy playing basketball in a black neighborhood and/or hanging out after the game.
Sometimes I’ve felt that most people don’t understand what it can really mean to be black. You have to have heart because you need to overcome this and move forward with life in a positive way. Some do and some don’t. But so many growing up without fathers doesn’t help one bit.
From their perspective, a black guy not suffering the consequences like an OJ or Vick is a sort of balanced justice. I don’t believe they see it as justice. I think they see it as a counterbalance of sorts.
It appears to me that the other people involved have much more guilt in this than Vick although he’s as guilty as heck.
But the key to getting a lesser sentence is get a headline prosecutor and have a co defendant be a celebrity.
BS. Dogs were bred by stone age man to be docile animals. Not too many wolves as pets these days. Thugs breeding back the natural aggression that’s been suppressed for eons is stupid, not to mention illegal. It is creating a ticking time bomb in your back yard that will take on your own child if you turn your head for even a moment.
Dogs in normal fights do not fight to the death. Few, if any, species do so when fighting amongst their own. These kind of forced dogs fights, fueled by the theft of meek, helpless house pets who don't stand a change against the trained killers, are a sick, sadistic expression of man’s baser nature. There is no comparison between staged dog fights and a tussle between Fido and Spot.
Yeah, it’s a big deal.
What’s the difference between those people and the people here that always take the side of drunk drivers?
July 2008...in the midst of the election...we will all forget Vick...and he signs with the Raiders. Vick will quietly take the Raiders all the way, and they win the Super Bowl in 2009...thanks to Vick. I’m no fan of his...but this will all be forgotten...trust me.
It’s easy for a “running quarterback” to throw a football game.
Screw the NFL, watch college football.
Peta is planning to sue apparently. For what?
After all I've been hearing about Vick and his buddies, I find it hard to believe that the NFL even HAS standards!
Carolyn
Them dogs be racist
Raiders. Cowboys. Bengals. All teams that seem to like criminals.
Of course the Bears had Tank Johnson who they gave chance after chance to and finally let him go. Ironically they replaced him with someone who’s better.
The old foot-in-mouth disease. Just goes to show you where people stand on ethics and life. Let ‘em talk.
See Count 17 of Vick's indictment.
"In or about April 2007, PEACE, PHILIPS, and VICK executed approximately 8 dogs that did not perform well in "testing" sessions at 1915 Moonlight Road, by various methods including hanging, drowning and slamming at least one dog's body to the ground."
The NFL is a business and it in the business to make money by marketing its "product".
The value of the "product" is decreased if the NFL customers are repulsed by having an animal torturer mixed into the "product".
Vick is a BUSINESS ITEM - not "the product". An item with as much value as rotted hot dogs, moldy hamburgers buns and weevil-filled Cracker Jack boxes at the stadium concessions. Spoiled items that the business throws into the corporate garbage.
And whatever you do for a living I’m sure there are criminals in your profession.
This is people being morons saying the NFL is a thug league because some of their players are in trouble.
There are over 1500 people on NFL rosters. It is inevitable there will be some in trouble.
You're assuming he had the money to do so. I hear otherwise.
Yes some braindead people are saying Vick is a thug so all NFL players are.
I better lock my doors. Several Bears live near me. Obviously they are all thugs.
I’m going to look out my window and see Rex Grossman roaming the street with a machine gun. After all he plays in the NFL he must be a thug (He just bought a house across the street and 2 doors down from me).
Of course it being Rex he’d probably drop the gun or shoot at the wrong house.
I have seen folks question the propriety of calling someone who blows .06 a drunk driver, but I have never seen anyone on this forum or anywhere else for that matter, take the side of a drunk driver.
I know a couple black people who say OJ is innocent. As one guy said to me ---while standing up, raising his voice and spitting his words, "He dint kill dat wh*re".
Har! Ouch! I am laughing so hard that it hurts. I always knew it was this way, but you are the first to publically admit it.
Kobe was finished for life until he wasn’t. Same thing will happen to Vick. Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe should be so lucky.
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