It is official ...

Lil' Mikey Vick will be going away for a long time. Vick was sentenced to 23 months in jail. And to tell the truth, I'm not all that surprised. After all, he is (or used to be) a rich black man who had a moderate amount of influence on a lot of people.
Come on now, ya'll know they had to get him. They let OJ get away the first time, now look what happened. That Bama came back for another taste of criminal law and I hate to say it, but this time, they're going to get him.
You know they can't let that happen to Mike Vick, who knows what he'll do the next time. You know "they" never learn. The next time, he might jaywalk or get caught doing 42 mph in a 35 mph zone.
Then again, speaking as a dog lover, I can understand the need to see him be put into jail. I mean, what if somebody did black men the way he did those dogs. You know, toss 'em into an arena and make them beat on each other until they're a pulp just to be treated half way decently. And then if they don't win consistently, we throw them away.
No, wait, they already do that. It's called boxing and it is recognized as a legitimate sport. The only difference here is the dogs can't spend millions and millions of dollars and marry white women and that makes it 'inhumane.'
Am I condoning illegal dogfighting? No, I don't condone illegal fighting of any sort, but I am still going to maintain my position that had it been Brett Farve or Tom Brady or even Kurt Warner fighting dogs, this case would have never seen the light of day.
Now, I'm not going to debate this any further but there are other repercussions that warrant mention. Since Vick is now a convicted felon, he can't own a weapon, serve on a jury (but who really wants to) and more important than that, he can't vote. But I'll bet my rent check they're going to tax him to high hell!
If he decides to maintain residence in the Commonwealth of Virginia, he will not be able to vote again until the law there has been ratified to allow ex-felon restoration. Virginia is one of only 13 of the countries states/commonwealths that do not allow for restoration.
On the other hand, if the Falcons agree to take him back and he changes his information to become a legal Georgia resident, then he will be eligible for restoration.
I don't remember much about U.S. History class, I mean, that was eight years ago. But I do remember a little catch phrase called "taxation without representation" and I think that is illegal. Now granted the citizens of that Hellhole they call Washington, D.C. (I hate that city) has been without representation for years, they are doing the same thing to Vick.
Vick is not by any stretch of the imagination comparable to a city but it is the same principle. Because he is in a high tax bracket, he already loses a substantial amount of his income. At the same time, he won't be able to vote for his candidate of choice thereby relieving him of any representation.
For the lack of a better term, that sucks!!! As if enough of us weren't already disenfranchised they gotta do it to the folks who mess up a time or two. Granted he messed up BIG, one could even say he F'd up, but was it so bad that they take away his right to vote? Gah!
Speaking of voting, I still don't have my candidate yet, not that I'm in a rush or anything. But I'll tell you what, if they accept write-in votes, put me down for Michelle Obama as president and Oprah for the vice president. Go ahead, chuckle if you want to but I'm serious. I just think that would be a power house team.
Quite frankly, I think Michelle should be running anyway. Sure Barack has more experience and he knows how the big dogs roll in Washington, but Michelle looks like she will get some things done. I think she would get up there and roll up into House and Senate sessions like, "I told you not to send me this or I was going to veto it! But you sent it anyway and now look, I vetoed it. I tell you one thing, it had better not pass in the second vote or else!"
Then Oprah would come behind her and smooth things over. "I know you guys have been working hard and things haven't been going your way, but ***singing in that annoying voice*** I've got a surprise for yooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! You get a car! ***pointing*** You get a car! ***pointing*** You get a car!"
Couldn't you just imagine it? ***smiling with my head cocked to the right***

Hope you guys had a great holiday ...

... I know I did. I swear I think I ate for at least three days straight. I saw a lot of my family and friends and had an all around wonderful holiday weekend. But with all that, I still had time to stay on top of the news, well, some of it anyway.

The main topic of conversation between my brother and I was Michael Vick and his decision to go to jail early. Since neither of us knows what really happened, we both have our theories.

He seems to think that some team in the NFL has already told Vick that they'll take him after his sentence is completed. It's no secret that he's going to get about 12 months so if he goes now, he can come in mid-season next year.

I told my brother that his theory was well-thought out and it makes a lot of sense. My theory on the other hand - well let's just say I don't think it has anything to do with his career.

I think that Mikey went in early so he can avoid the family discussion during dinner. Until recently, the family embarrassment was Mike's little brother Marcus and his childish and sometimes dangerous antics on and off the field.

Now that Mikey's been caught abusing Fido and he's losing all his money, the family has a helluva lot to say. Ya'll know how black families are, word travels fast and eight times out of 10, it is the wrong information.

I imagine the conversation would have gone something like this:

Random relative: "So Mike, what happened man? ShayShay said something 'bout they got you on tape fighting dogs. Man, I thought you knew better than that. You know how white folks are about dogs. And then you taped it too? Man that was stupid!"

Random relative 2: "I know, right? I heard they fired you too. What 'choo gon do for money now? You know you can't do nothing but play football."

For real, I think he went to avoid it. I know I would have.

Something else that caught me kinda off guard was the Miss Puerto Rico pepper spray incident. In case you guys haven't heard, somebody spiked the evening gown and make-up of the newly crowned Miss Puerto Rico Ingrid Marie Rivera with pepper spray.

The woman smiled and kept her composure long enough to be crowned and receive her accolades but went back stage and violently ripped her gown off and packed her hive-covered face and body in ice.

Now, authorities are investigating her and her people saying that the sabotage was likely an inside job. I hardly think that she would douse herself in pepper spray and put herself through that hell.

I would be more apt to believe that it was a disgruntled make-up artist or a jealous rival(s). I mean, hey, those girls are pretty but they have a competitive nature that is out of this world. I don't know personally but I've seen just about all the beauty pageant movies out there.

Anyway, according to CNN, authorities are investigating Rivera because they want to know how the woman was able to keep her composure in front of the judges. Now, I don't know about beauty pageant jargon, but when I was in JROTC, we called that bearing. We were told no matter what was going on or went wrong to always keep your bearing. I just think she was trained well.

Either way, she has the crown now and she still has hives. They still don't know who did that to her, but I suggest when they find out who did, they lock the person in a room with her and then drop all the charges, if there are any.

I was all set ...

... to write about the 50th anniversary of the Little Rock Nine's integration at Central High School.
I was set to write about how courageous these teens had to be to walk into one of the most dangerous situations of that time.
I was going to tell you guys how they went through Hell just for the right to get the same education as their white counterparts and how we owe them so much for blazing the trails so we wouldn't have to. I was so ready to tell you guys how much we should be rejoicing because we have the opportunity to sit in a classroom with our white counterparts and learn without National Guard escorts.
Oh I was ready, but then - I watched the news.
And ya'll when I watched the news, I saw so many different acts of outright foolishness that I just could not hold my mule!
First, I have to let my mule loose on Bill O'Reilly. In case you all haven't heard, the Crown Prince of right-wing media had dinner with Rev. Al Sharpton at Sylvia's and he of course had to talk about it on his radio show.
I have taken the liberty to copy and paste some of the information from the transcript from the segment.
"I think black Americans are starting to think more and more for themselves."
"And we went to Sylvia’s, a very famous restaurant in Harlem. I had a great time, and all the people up there are tremendously respectful."
"And I couldn’t get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia’s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patronship."
"There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, "M-Fer, I want more iced tea."
"You know, I mean, everybody was — it was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn’t any kind of craziness at all."
You can hear part of the conversation at: http://mediamatters.org/items/200709210007?f=h_top
Now of course, that was only a portion of the conversation between him and Juan Williams during his radio show. I really want you guys to listen to the excerpt but I also want you guys to really read his words.
Now of course he's said that his comments were misunderstood and how Media Matters and CNN were dishonest and all of that. The funny part to me is U.S. media is built on soundbites and he should have known better.
No one else on cable news, network news and anywhere else has used more soundbites and taken only part of a comment more than O'Reilly and now he's getting a taste of his own medicine.
The conversation began with a discussion on the "sewer" culture of rap music and they used Ludacris, Twista and Snoop Dogg as their whipping boys. He said tonight that he said all of that
CNN has lost all "credibility" with him - whatever that means.
Regardless of the context his words were taken, he still said it. He knew that his words were going to be chopped up and to be completely honest, I think he counted on it. The bottom line is O'Reilly operates on his shock value and he was starting to fade quietly into right-wing oblivion. I mean - he had to say something.
The second thing I have just got to address is Mike Vick's state charges. In case you haven't heard, he's been indicted in Virginia for dogfighting. The official charges are unlawfully torturing and killing dogs and promoting dogfights.
Now I'm wondering, can they bring him up on state charges if Virginia is not a state? It's a commonwealth.
Either way, I think the man has suffered enough. We get it, you want to throw him under the bus. He did a bad thing, a very, very bad thing, but they were dogs - people. Not people - dogs.
Granted they are cute and cuddly and they are so loyal, but we don't put as much stock into people as we put into animals. He's going to pay for his crimes and now I guess adding the "state" charges is going to drive the point on home - "do whatever you want to other people, but you'd better not ever harm a dog!"
Give me a break!
Another teacher has been arrested for having sex with a teenaged boy. Forty-nine-year-old Karen Robbins was charged with three counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and three counts of committing a lewd act on a child.
Maybe I'm missing something but what is it about these teenage boys that is turning these teachers on? Granted, they don't make them like they used to, but there is a down side to all of this, they don't make them like they used to.
Some of those teenagers are just crazy, I am wondering what these pedophile teachers are missing that they think they can find in the arms and minds of teenage boys. As far as I can remember teenage boys are annoying and they tend to carry a stench.
According to the news story on CNN, the 15-year-old boy alleges that he and this South Carolina school marm had, uh - relations in her car and twice at her home between September and November 2005. The story doesn't say if the boy is 15 now or if he was 15 then, either way, if she had sex with that boy, she is still a pedophile.
And last but not least, a dynamic duo of female, sword and dagger yielding ninjas robbed a Pennsylvania gas station of cash, cigarettes and lottery tickets at 3 a.m. And guess what, the women are still at large.
The police chief said, "They were all covered in black and carrying swords, so it did appear that they were dressed like ninjas." Then he said, "swords, daggers could be used to seriously harm victims, so this is a very serious crime."
*Hehehehehehehehe*
Ya think? Ninja please.

Well Hallelujah …

Mike Vick has found Jesus!
This is so funny for so many different reasons. I’m not laughing because Jesus found him, because He was never lost. I’m not laughing because he copped a plea that will have him out of jail in no time.
I’m laughing because in this whole situation, everybody has made him out to be this monster and now, he’s leaning on Jesus. Now I am in no position to question anyone’s spirituality – that’s between them and the God they serve – but I am in a position to question the morals of all these people who are hanging Vick out to dry.
Click here: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/08/27/michael.vick/index.html
I don’t recall seeing these people picketing and protesting when Tank Johnson and Pacman Jones got into trouble. I don’t even recall seeing them when Ray Lewis got in trouble or when they found Rae Carruth hiding in the trunk of that car in Tennessee.
Shoot, these animal rights activists have all but said, ‘we care about animals more than we do black folks.’
Of course I have no way of proving that but actions do speak louder than words and the way these folks are acting, they care about animals more than they do us.
I went to see Erykah Badu live on Saturday and she made a very valid point. She said that we live in a country where people can go and get a license to go out, shoot and kill an animal and put his head on a wall for display. But they persecute Vick for killing dogs. She said all that to say they need to make up their minds – and I agree.
Rights for all animals or rights for none of ‘em. They’re no more like people than they were before they were domesticated.
I think all of this was a witch hunt to take out another one of our brothers who was on top. I tell you what, Donovan McNabb, LeBron and ‘nem had not better get any pets. Or better yet, from now on, the favorite pet of the “Brotherman” should be fish.
Then again, if they get too big, somebody will be trying to fry ‘em up.
Oh never mind.

They finally got 'em ...

Mike Vick is going to prison for dogfighting. Now I wonder what effect this will have on his career. Personally, I am empathetic toward Mikey but at the same time, I am kind of glad they got him.
Anyone whose purpose for owning animals for the sole purpose of harming them should be in jail. But on the other hand, if he had harmed a person or if there would have been any sort of altercation that resulted in a fight, where would the protesters have been then? What about picket signs, would there have been any picket signs? And would they have had Mike Vick shooting targets printed up as opposed to Mike Vick chew toys?
We don't know do we? We also don't know if he did anything. All we have is the statements from his other co-defendants who are playing a very effective game of C.Y.A (cover your a--).
According to the developing story on CNN, Vick has accepted a plea deal that will send him to prison for 18 to 36 months. Not that he doesn't deserve any prison time, but he will also suffer the consequences financially.
He has already lost a significant amount of endorsement revenue, not to mention the unpaid suspension he is currently serving and the head guys for the Falcons are turning on him.
Even if he wasn't suspended, he should have been about ready to take a year off.
Either way, I just wish the brother the best because the next few years are going to be kinda "ruff."
I know it's corny, but I couldn't resist!