The Senate weighs in on dogfighting
Senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) gave a stirring 20 minute speech to the senate today, nearly breaking down in tears as he talked about the atrocities of dogfighting.
"How dastardly!" he said. "...simply barbarc. Barbaric. Barbaric! Barbaric!!" he said.
Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) joined into the fray by calling on the NFL to suspend Michael Vick immediately. He also claims that he will be proposing new anti-dogfighting legislation.
Now... I'm just as against dog-fighting as the next guy is. Its cruel. Very very cruel.
I'm also no fan of Michael Vick. He's a Hokie (gross) and he's been a scar on the NFL (albeit a much smaller scar than he may become) for years.
But please, can we calm down a little bit?
Byrd's statements seemed truly inspired. The man was angry. And so he should be. So should we all. But his speech was over the top. One can make an impassioned plea without going that far. He made himself look silly and I can only imagine the youtube videos that will spring up of him saying "Barbaric" with various fist pumps and speech page wags. It detracts from his argument rather than supporting it.
And Kerry... Oh John Kerry... how far you have fallen. He sounds like a "me too!" little kid. There's a major headline? You can be sure that John Kerry will make some statement to try to get himself into the spotlight. He's not running for PotUS again, but he sure does act like he forgets that. Calling for the suspension of a man who has not been found guilty yet (granted, a federal indictment is pretty close to being guilty, but that's another blog post)? New dogfighting laws? If you're such a supporter of our canine friends, why weren't you proposing those laws 6 months ago? Oh? What's that? It wasn't a topic that "the people" were noticing 6 months ago? That's right, I thought so.
If Vick is guilty, I want him banned from the NFL and I want him to serve his time in jail. If he does his time, comes back and proves himself worthy, the NFL can lift the ban (their "indefinite bans" tend to be more finite then definite anyway). He should pay the price for what he's done - if he did it. If it turns out that he was being fed money while he was still in college (as some reports are saying) then Virginia Tech should have to face NCAA sanctions as well. But if none of that turns out to be true? He should be free to do as he pleases.
I'm watching this story closely and I'll likely have plenty more posts later.
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