Bush Mackel

This story came out last week, and I’m sure most of you are well aquainted with it. For those of you who aren’t, here’s the background…Michael Vick who is a professional football player in the NFL and quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, was indicted last week on charges of dog fighting.

That’s pretty bad. BUT it gets worse. Then, the news came out that he allegedly saw to the death of many dogs who weren’t “game” for dog fighting by shooting them, drowning them, hanging them and electrocuting them.

Me and Aminamals
It may not sound like it at times with my best friend the cat, but I’m very much an animal person. Ever since I can remember I’ve been around dogs. When I was little we had a poodle, and after that it was German Shepard after German Shepard. (Hey! - They’re the best dogs out there!) After that I met my wife and I was introduced to her two awesome dogs and the multitude of other animals she had including guinea pigs, ferrets, gerbils, a rat, rabbit and birds. Obviously, she loves aminamals too.

Animals are Wondrous Creatures
There seems to be a general consensus on that front. They are beautiful, intelligent and unbelievably loving. Your pets will be there for you when no one else is, giving you more affection than you could ever want only asking for food, water, and a show of affection in return. Personally, there have been may times when I was growing up where I felt like my only friend was my dog. When he was happy I was happy. When he was sad I was sad. And when we had to make the painful decision to put him down after something like a 13 year life…It was the most empty and pained I had ever felt before.

It’s for reasons like this that I’m writing this post…One that has been a long time coming to be sure. Nowadays, there are so many things on the news that aren’t really news. And as such I don’t bother to comment on them. They’re really only reported on because there’s nothing else interesting happening and in truthfulness, they don’t have any bearing on me. THIS on the other hand disturbs me so much that I literally feel sick deep in my stomach every time I think about it.

Which is Worse?
And honestly, I don’t know which one is…That Michael Vick allegedly did this or that there are those who apologize for him. Take Deion Sanders. In response to all this Mike Vick stuff he asks us,

Why are we indicting him? Was he the ringleader? Is he the big fish? Or is there someone else? The fights allegedly occurred at a property that he purchased for a family member. They apparently found carcasses on the property, but I must ask you again, is he the ringleader?

My response to that is: Who the hell cares? If Vick was engaged in dog fighting on a property HE OWNS and was responsible for the inhumane deaths of adult dogs and puppies, what does it matter if he was the ring leader or not?…I’m not a member of PETA, I don’t particularly like cats, but I can’t imagine how any person with a heart in their chest could ever look Michael Vick in the eye again. I don’t know how anyone could buy his jersey, put him on a football team or really be the same room with the guy. He’s a sick person, an evil person, and… and… *sigh* I don’t know what else there is to say.

I believe in our legal system, innocent until proven guilty and all that. But what’s been presented in the media so far seems pretty damning. To say that I’m dissapointed with how a lot of people have reacted (or not reacted) to this story would not do my emotions justice, so I can only hope that after all the facts come out that more people stand up and talk out against this.

(And I apologize that this post isn’t about blogging or web developement but I felt I had an obligation to say something. Sorry if I bored you).

(Disclaimer: Don’t read this is if you’re really squeamish).

I’m a dog person. My wife had a chance to change that with her cat Hermione, (whom she calls Kitties). But that chance has come and gone. It all started when I was awoken at 2am by a shadow moving besides my head as I slept. Turned out it was a freaked out rabbit the cat had brought in. Not too cool. Sometime after that, we found a severed rabbit head in our driveway. Not too cool.So this weekend I went to visit the wife and kid in WV. They went out there as part of my in-laws’ family vacation they take every year to somewhere on the side of a mountain with no cell phone reception where all you can do is hike. *rolling eyes* So anysvay I get back from “vacation” today, open the door and something just smells bad. As I pass through the doorway, I notice there are a lot of flies. I thought I had forgotten to take out the trash or something but of course my first stop in the house was to the computer to turn it on and grab all my mail. Well, not too long after this, I get thirsty and head into the kitchen for some water.

Once again - I catch a whiff of something not too money.I open the closet where the trashcan is and it smells, but not that bad. Not as bad as what I smelled when I came in the house. Furthermore, you’d think if it was the trashcan, the enclosed closet it’s in would smell PRETTY horrific. So I just kinda shrugged and started to leave and then it hit me again as I passed the kitchen table. I looked all around but nothing. No rotten fruit, no rotten meat, no anything…and then I looked below the table.

I hate presents from cats.

*sigh* I’m SORRY! But that’s the title I’m going with. So this morning, I’m just about to get ready for work and the wife comes in and says her dad let the dogs out last night, and our dog didn’t come back! So poor Fiyero was out all last night, and after about an hour of searching this morning, me and the wife find the little guy trapped behind a fence trying to get out so he can get back home!

If this was an isolated incident, it would be one thing, but seriously, this is like the 5th time the dad in law has let the dog out to chase rabbits at 1 in the morning. And we all asked him to stop because we knew something like this was going to happen eventually. Thank goodness he wasn’t hit by a car. (BTW, this is stock footage…Fiyero is much bigger now).