Animal Cruelty Laws Among the Faster Growing in the United States

Finally! There is some good news to be had when I read the paper this morning. After all, isn't it time that we FINALLY become a compassionate society? Why is it ok to torture animals because we deem them somehow less than ourselves? The answer is that it isn't, and anyone who would excuse such, does it merely for their own benefit.

Look at the sad case of Michael Vick. Not long ago, when the Vick debacle happened, Whoopi Goldberg had the incredible audacity to defend Michael Vick, the NFL football player arrested for abusing and murdering dozens of dogs. Whoopi said, " from where he comes from" in the South, dogfighting isn't that unusual".

"It's like cockfighting in Puerto Rico," she said. "There are certain things that are indicative to certain parts of the country." No matter how you slice it, this statement goes BEYOND ignorant!!!

This is what a bit bull puppy looks like. They are adorable, intelligent and fiercely loyal. They have a bad reputation because some ignorant people - like Michael Vick - train some dogs to be mean. Unlike a human being, it is not in a dog's nature to be cruel. What was Michael Vick's goal? I mean, did he really need more money??? Wasn't the MILLIONS that he was already making enough for him??

This is what one of Michael Vick's pit bulls looked like after a dog fight :



From Vick's indictment for these heinous crimes: "The 27-year-old Vick, whose nickname is listed as "Ookie" in the indictment, allegedly established the Bad Newz Kennels in early-2001 in Smithfield, Virginia. It was this property, for which Vick paid $34,000, that the star athlete and his codefendants used as the "main staging area for housing and training the pit bulls involved in the dog fighting venture and hosting dog fights." According to prosecutors, Vick and his cohorts began purchasing pit bull puppies in late-2001 and would eventually "sponsor" individual dog fights with purses as high as $26,000. In the indictment's most harrowing parts, federal investigators describe what happened to some Bad Newz Kennels dogs that either lost matches or did not perform well in test fights. After a March 2003 loss by a female pit bull, codefendant Purnell Peace, "after consulting with Vick," electrocuted the animal. In April, prosecutors allege, Vick, Peace, and Quanis Phillips, "executed approximately 8 dogs that did not perform well in 'testing' sessions." These animals, the indictment claims, were killed "by various methods, including hanging, drowning, and slamming at least one dog's body to the ground."

So Whoopi, I don't care what part of the "South" you are from - inhumanity and cruelty still look the same as they do in other parts of the country. Dog fighting is illegal and there is NO EXCUSE whatsoever - not your geographical origins as Ms. Goldberg suggests - not "Culture" as actor Jamie Foxx has suggested. There is NO excuse - PERIOD. Cruelty to animals is WRONG and those that engage in it - barely register as human beings as far as I am concerned.

One of my favorite books is "The Singer" by Calvin Miller. In it he recounts life in the Garden of Eden. God walks Adam through the Garden and introduces him to the animals. " And God called down the Sparrow from the Tree and said to Adam, 'Behold your Sister ~ a life not so great as yours but precious just the same."

All life is precious - human life - canine life - it makes NO difference no matter what part of the country you live in. Whoopi should be ashamed for defending this atrocity! To find out more about how you can help animals abused in this horrible way, please visit: the Animal Charities List . Don't sit idly by and let someone like Whoopi Goldberg continue to spew ignorance. Cruelty is never OK.

Now, thanks to laws changing all across the country, people like Michael Vick are no longer going to simply get away with murder because their victim is "just an animal". Thanks to conscientious and compassionate people everywhere, real change is happening. How can we suppose to live in a society that is cruelty free if that ideal does not extend outside of our own species?

He's a Dreamer.....

As my father and I sat and listened to Barrack Obama speak tonight, my 84 year old father turned to me, and with flat eyes said, "He's a dreamer...." Right away in my mind, I heard the words of one of my favorite songs, you know it, sing along with me..." You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one." Those are stirring words, and as always, they were stirring words that Barrack Obama spoke to supporters in Houston tonight.

You see, I agree with Obama that change works from the bottom up. I agree that the people are the power behind the change, and I agree that the time for change has come. It is time for our country to once again fulfill it's promise, to all it's citizens. I want to hold my head up high and say that I'm proud to be an American. I'm tired of the status quo in Washington, interest groups mattering more than the will of the people, and most of all, I'm tired of the nuances which divide us.

Red or blue, Republican or Democrat - each one of us is more alike than we are different. We all love our families. We all want our children to lead a better life. We all want security for ourselves and to have our basic needs met. If we work together, we can achieve our dreams. Imagine what that would be like. Imagine the kind of world that we could then pass on to our children.

Yes, Obama is a dreamer, but I say that in order to acheive great things, you have to first dream great things. I like the vision of my country that I see through Obama's eyes. I think it's time for that vision to be more than a dream.

Right now, I know what those in the Clinton camp are saying as their candidate talks to a high school crowd while Obama speaks in front of thousands...." Houston, we have a problem."