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Today's
Stories
June 11,
2007
Patrick Cockburn
The
War on Journalists
June 9 /
10, 2007
Alexander Cockburn
Dissidents
Against Dogma
George Ciccariello-Maher
Behind
Venezuela's "Student Rebellion": Who's Pulling the
Strings?
Saul Landau
An
Interview with Ricardo Alarcon, Vice President of Cuba
Robert Fisk
Believe It or Not in the Middle East
Brian Cloughley
Troop Support: Deceptions and Insipid Sentiments
Ron Jacobs
Condoleezza Rice Names the System
Ward Boston
Searching for the Truth About the USS Liberty
Conn Hallinan
Dark Plots in Byzantine Beirut
Leonard Peltier
The Ongoing War on Native American Religious Practices
Lawrence Davidson
Israel's New Anti-Boycott Task Force
John Ross
Mass Nude-In Complicates Church-State Scuffling in Mexico
Kate Allan
Some People Think the Internet is a Bad Thing
Fred Gardner
Ignorance Marches On
Stephen Fleischman
Little Boy, Fat Man and Iran
Monica Benderman
Reading Tom Paine in a Time of Crisis
Geoff Bailey
A Real Oil Conspiracy: Gouged at the Pump
Missy Beattie
Faith and War
Patrick Dyer
A Democrat Revs Up Ohio's Death Machine
Tim Lengerich
Dispelling the Cowboy Myth: an Interview with George Wuerthner
James Irani
and David Rahni
Perspectives on the Arrests of Iran-Americans in Tehran
Gary Leupp
The Unfair Treatment of Paris Hilton
Michael Tillery
The Heart of a Sportswriter: an Interview with David Aldridge
Michael Simmons
Beating Off the Squares: the Hipness of Anton Rosenberg
Poets' Basement
Laymon, Davies and Ford
Website of the Weekend
This is Sea Shepherd!
June 8,
2007
Serge Halimi
What
Sarkozy Learned About Politics from the US
Patrick Cockburn
The Turkish Incursion
Jeffrey St. Clair
Israel's Attack on the USS Liberty, Revisited
Paul Craig Roberts
The Secret War
William Blum
What If NBC Cheered on a Military Coup Against Bush?
Joshua Frank
Swing-State Strategy: Looking for a Spoiler
Lance Selfa
How the Six Day War Changed the Middle East
Dave Lindorff
A "Criminal Conspiracy" in the White House
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
The Summer of Love: Flashbacks of a Human Be-In
Website of the Day
Robert Pollin: "Making the Federal Minimum Wage a Living
Wage"
June 7, 2007
Marjorie Cohn
The
Prison is the War Crime
Soldz, Reisner
and Olson:
A Q & A on Psychologists and Torture
Soldz, Reisner
and Olson, et al:
An
Open Letter to Sharon Brehm, President of the American Psychological
Association
Paul Craig Roberts
Losing Iraq, Nuking Iran
Bill Quigley
"How Long Must We Support a Mistake?"
Silvia Cattori
Sailing to Gaza
Carl G. Estabrook
What the June Bug Is: Politics in the Dismal Season
Ellen Taylor
Free the Tweakers!: The Good News About Meth
Corporate Crime
Reporter
BAE Systems, Prince Bandar and the $2 Billion Account at the
Riggs Bank
Brenda Norrell
Torture Training at Ft. Huachuca: Two Priests Face Prison for
Exposing Torture in Arizona
D. K. Wilson
What Gary Sheffield Really Said
Kevin Zeese
Iraq Occupation Coming to a Head Over Oil
Website of
the Day
How the Press Expired
June 6, 2007
Alain Gresh
Countdown
to War on Iran
Gary Leupp
Poddy's Crazy Prayer: Bomb Iran, For Israel and America!
Steven Sherman
The Perils of Humanitarian Intervention
Bruce Dixon
Is Bill Gates Trying to Hijack Africa's Food Supply?
Corporate Crime Reporter
The Professor and the Nukes
Brian M. Downing
The Iraq War and Presidential Politics
Ron Jacobs
Luv n' Hate: a Different Take on the Summer of Love
George Bisharat
The Mirage of the Two State Solution
Nicole Colson
Over to You, Dante: Falwell's Ministry of Hate
Bruce K. Gagnon
From Italy to Guam: A Global Peace Movement is Taking Shape
Website of the Day
How the Democrats Should Treat Bush
June 5,
2007
Michael Neumann
Canada
in Afghanistan
Jonathan Cook
The Shin Bet and the Persecution of Azmi Bishara
David Vest
The Democrats' War
Robert Fantina
America's Cuba Policy
Hoffman, Parsneau and Chowdhury
CounterTerrorism as International Healthcare
John V. Walsh
Shaming the Official Antiwar Movement
Richard Cretan
Yellow Dog: The Strange Love of Martin Amis and Tony Blair
Adam Engel
Days of Dread: an American Tale
William S. Lind
The News from Anbar: Has Al Qaeda Over-Reached?
Myles Hoenig
Free the Oaks! Cut Down Those Yellow Ribbons!
Jim Minick
Lead-Foot Nation
Website of
the Day
Punk Rock Soap Opera
June 4, 2007
Nizar Latif
An
Interview with Moqtada al-Sadr
Diana Johnstone
Sarko
and the Ghosts of May, 1968
Gregory Wilpert
RCTV and Freedom of Speech in Venezuela
Paul Watson
The Anchorage Whale Killing Bureaucrats Summit
Susan Rosenthal,
MD
How Cindy Sheehan Unmasked the Democrats
Richard Ward
The Right of Return to New Orleans
Eva Liddell
Don't Support the Troops
Zahi Khouri
Four Decades of Occupation
Evelyn Pringle
The FDA, GlaxoSmithKline and the Avandia Disaster
China Hand
About Those North Korean Benjamin Franklins ...
Karyn Strickler
George W. Bush: a "Ficeist" Leader
Website of the Day
The Guantanamo Files
June 2 /
3, 2007
Alexander Cockburn
The
Last of the Texas Outsiders
Marc Levy
Iraq
Dead Ahead: a Brief Military History and Civilian Guide to Arlington
National Cemetery
Martin Smith
Camilo Mejía's War: From Foot Soldier for Empire to Rebel
for Peace
Diana Johnstone
Great Power Meddling in Kosovo
John Ross
The Oaxaca Volcano Stews
Uri Avnery
On Generals and Admirals
Sunsara Taylor
This is Not a Story About Cindy Sheehan
Richard Neville
Were the Hippies Right?
P. Sainath
The Farm Crisis and 100,000 Indian Widows
Missy Comley
Beattie
Let's Roar
Nisrine Abiad
and Victor Kattan
The Hariri Tribunal: a Fait Accompli?
Rannie Amiri
Lebanon, Bush and the Three Stooges
Margot Pepper
Deconstructing "Return to Sender"
Eric Stewart
Censorship and Cop Brutality in the New Bison Wars
Ralph Nader
The Halberstam Camp
Dan Bacher
A Victory for the Fish
Shaun Harkin
and Sandy Boyer
Irish War Protesters on Trial
Richard Rhames
Selling Five Acres in Crawford
Frederick Hudson
The Rediscovery of Ella Fitzgerald
Poets' Basement
Lindorff, Landau and Buknatski
Website of the Weekend
Gimme Shelter
June 1, 2007
Dave Marsh
The
FBI and the Godfather (of Soul): James Brown's FBI Files
Saul Landau
Return
to Cuba: 47 Years Later in Havana
David Phinney
How the Baghdad Embassy Was Built: Forced Labor and Worker Abuse
Robert Jensen
The Bigot and the Boycott
Stanley Heller
Arrest Robert McNamara
Yifat Susskind
Indigenous Women Fight Back
Robert Weissman
Corporate Power Since 1980
Paul Buchheit
Africa and Its Discontents
William S.
Lind
The Folly of Maximalist Objectives
Sherwood Ross
78,000 Iraqis Have Been Killed by Coalition Airstrikes
Stephen Lendman
Terrorism Defined
Website of the Day
Desert Autonomous Zone
May 31, 2007
Robert Bryce
The
Language Barrier
Patrick Cockburn
Killing with Impunity: Iraq's Militias Under the Surge
Gary Leupp
Appropriate Disillusionment: the Despair of Cindy Sheehan and
Andrew Bacevich
Kathy Kelly
Being Hope
Marjorie Cohn
The Unitary King George
Chris Kutalik
and Tiffany Ten Eyck
Fallout from the Sale of Chrysler: Jobs, Health Care, Pensions,
All in Jeopardy
Corporate Crime Reporter
Zheng Xiaoyu Meet Lester Crawford
Dave Lindorff
Our Monica: a Hero of the Constitution
Website of the Day
Know Your Rights!
May 30,
2007
James Ridgeway
The
Bi-Partisan Con on Synthetic Fuels
Franklin Lamb
Lebanon and the Planned US Airbase at Kaleiaat
Terrence E. Paupp
Withdrawal Symptoms
Uri Avnery
To the Shores of Tripoli
Alan Maass
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Green Masquerade: Corporate America's Latest Counter-Attack
Rock and Rap
Confidential
Watching the Detectives: the Political Censorship of Hip Hop
Ralph Nader
Taming the Giant Corporation
Nirmal Ghosh
China, CITES and the Fate of the Tiger
Jean Daniels
Dealing Democrats: Folding to Mr. 28%
Tom Barry
Meet Robert Zoellick: Bush's Pick to Head World Bank
Website of the Day
Petuuche Gilbert on the Rights of Indigenous People
May 29, 2007
Stephen Soldz
Shrinks
and the SERE Technique at Guantanamo
Eliza Ernshire
Refugees
Forever: Inside Bedawi Camp
Ron Jacobs
The Exit of Cindy Sheehan
Dave Lindorff
Whatever Happened to Signing Statements?
Evelyn Pringle
What Qualifies Bush to Lead Iraq War
Mike Whitney
Bush's New Middle East
David Swanson
How We Got Here: The Democrats and the Antiwar Movement
John Holt
Gating Montana, Part Two: the Feedback Loop
Cynthia McKinney
Dreaming of a True Memorial Day
Martha Rosenberg
Mad Cows, Mad Pigs and the Horse Slaughter Lobby
Website of the Day
The Ruminant
May 28, 2007
Bill Quigley
Katrina
Activists: "Less Meeting, More Fighting"
Col. Dan Smith
The Paranoid and the Dead
Cindy Sheehan
Why I Am Leaving the Democratic Party
Dr. Susan Block
Dr. Laura's Little Monster
Jeeni Criscenzo
What I Learned About Being a Dickhead
Douglas Valentine
Memorial Day: a Poem
Website of the Day
Peace TV
May 26 /
27, 2007
Alexander Cockburn
The
Greenhousers Strike Back and Out
Michael Donnelly
Green
Sabotage as "Terrorism"
Patrick Cockburn
Sadr's Dramatic Reappearance
Franklin Lamb
Inside Nahr el-Bared: "Another Waco in the Making"
Jean Bricmont
The Moral Collapse of the Moral Left
Gary Leupp
Cheney, Israel and Iran
James Petras
Imperial Rot: The Beginning of the End of the American Empire?
William Peace
Ashley Unlawfully Sterilized
Judith and John Sharpe
The Saga of Our Son, Lt. Commander John Sharpe: Under Investigation
for Antiwar Sentiments
Saul Landau
Four Dead in Ohio: From Kent State to Tiannamen Square
Paul Craig Roberts Democracy
in Iraq, Tyranny at Home?
Jonathan M.
Feldman
Congress and the Iraq War Vote
Dave Lindorff
Democratic Blood Money
Missy Beattie
Congress Plays Dead
Mike Whitney
Swan Song of the Democrats
Badruddin Khan
AIPAC Intervenes on Iran and Congress Folds, Again
Ron Jacobs
The Crime of Silence
Zoe Blunt
The Antidote to Despair
Arjun Chowdhury,
Mark Hoffman
and Kevin Parsneau
The Can-Do Troops and the New Anti-Politics
Heather Gray
The 1969 Riots Against the Chinese in Malaysia: a New Explanation
N. D. Jayaprakash
Disarmament Negotiations: A History and Prospectus
Joe Allen
and Paul D'Amato
Cartoons with Class
Poets' Basement
Gowani, Ford, Anderson and Simon
Website of
the Weekend
Addicted to War
May 25, 2007
Robert Jensen
What
the Finkelstein Tenure Fight Tells Us About the State of Academia
David Vest
So
You Thought They'd End the War
John Stauber
Democratic Spin Won't End the War in Iraq
Evelyn Pringle
Congress Gives War Profiteers Another $100 Billion
Corporate Crime Reporter
Why Corporate Social Responsibility Programs are a Fraud
Susan Rosenthal,
MD
What's Missing from the Health Care Debate
Roberto Rodriguez
Us vs. Them in the Immigration Debate
Steve Fournier
Goodie, Goodie Goodling
Patrick McElwee
Venezuela and RCTV: Is Free Speech Really at Stake?
Robert Weissman
Resisting the Commercialization of Public Schools
Website of the Day
New DNC
Motto: "We Suck"
May 24, 2007
Franklin Lamb
Who's
Behind the Fighting in North Lebanon
Corporate Crime
Reporter
House Democrats Buckle to Big Oil: Strip Down Price Gouging Bill
Robert Fantina
Giuliani: Righteous, Indignant and Wrong
Norman Solomon
Deadly Illusions, Rest in Peace
Dave Lindorff
Kerrycrats All!: Now It's a Democratic War
Sen. Russell
Feingold
We are Moving Backwards on Iraq
Fred Gardner
Doctor of Last Resort
Mike Whitney
Paulson in China
Kevin Parsneau, Arjun Chowdhury
and Mark Hoffman
Becoming Imperialist: a Warning to Iraq War Critics
Caroline Paul
My Brother the "Terrorist": Animal Liberation and Prosecutorial
Overkill
Eva Liddell
In Defense of Lying on Job Applications
Website of
the Day
Johnny's
Jumped the Shark
May 23, 2007
Patrick Cockburn
Opium:
Iraq's Newest Export
Rev. William
Alberts
Faith-Based Imperialism
Joe DeRaymond
Colombia's Civil War and the US
Sudhanva Deshpande
and Vijay Prashad
The Political Economy of a Crisis
Paul Craig Roberts
Republicans in Self-Destruct Mode
Glen Ford
A
Less "White" USA
Rannie Amiri
The Great Bank Heist of Tripoli
China Hand
China's Great Wall of Cash?
Zoe Blunt
Tales from the Tree Tops: Veteran Tree Sitter Tells All
Nivien Saleh
Who's to Blame for Iraq?
Website of the Day
Debating the Israel Lobby
May 22, 2007
Robert Fisk
A
Front Row Seat for the Bloodbath in Lebanon
Joshua Frank
Hillary Clinton's Achilles Heel?
Harvey Wasserman
Drop Dead, New Yorkers: Giuliani and the Toxic Fallout from 9/11
David Mos Masumoto
An Orchard Without Workers
Sonja Karkar
Israeli Forest Named After Australian Prime Minister
Conn Hallinan
The Afghan Quagmire
Dave Lindorff
A Widening Chasm on Impeachment
Jeffrey Kolakowski
Meet Us in Detroit: an Open Letter to John Konyers
Evelyn Pringle
A Misleading Suicide Warning
Jim Baumer
Politics Gary, Indiana-Style
Website of the Day
Should the Democrats Fear Mike Gravel?
May 21, 2007
Patrick Cockburn
The
Secret US Plot to Kill Sadr
Nicole Colson
Much Ado About the Fort Dix Pizza Plot
John Ross
Shooting for the Top: Mexico's Drug Gangs Take Aim at Calderon
Stephen Fleischman
Werewolf of Washington: Wolfowitz Comes Full Circle
M. Shahid Alam
Chosenness and Israeli Exceptionalism
Ron Jacobs
Green Mountain Days: Return to Vermont
Peter Rost, MD
Pfizer CFO Resigns
Alan Farago
Can the Everglades Save Florida?
Paul Buchheit
The Dark Side of Democracy Promotion
Website of
the Day
Code Monkey: Live!
May 19 /
20, 2007
Andrew Cockburn
Why
America Lost the War in Iraq
Uri Avnery
The Next War
Peter Gelderloos
My Arrest in Spain: The Easy Road from Tourism to Terrorism
Saul Landau
Bush's Accomplishments
Robert Fantina
Iraq's History: Lessons for the Present and the Future
Fred Gardner
Hemp vs. Pot, a False Dichotomy
Ralph Nader
Timid Democrats and the Antiwar Movement
Jean Daniels
Waiting for Obama
Reza Fiyouzat
Vietnam Syndrome: Dead or Alive?
Missy Beattie
Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani and Osama's Fatwah
Robert Alvarez
Magical Thinking About Nuclear Waste
Sonja Karkar
The Palestinians of Iraq
Dave Lindorff
Mumia Case on Hold
Jeff Sher
Keep Workers Healthy and Reduce Health Care Cost: Eliminate Co-Pays
Julian C. Holmes
Torture, Maine Style
Clancy Sigal
Red Mutiny: 11 Fateful Days on the Battleship Potemkin
Prairie Miller
The Murder of Fred Hampton
James Murren
The Dog Ate Karl Rove's Homework: When Turd Blossom Met the Teachers
of the Year
Poets' Basement
Davies, Valentine and Engel
Website of
the Weekend
Yellowstone's Shame: Harassing Newborn Bison
May 18,
2007
Adam Jones
When
Does Genocide Purify? Ask the Pope
Sharon Smith
The Death of Triangulation Politics?
Christopher Brauchli
Cheney's Middle East Adventure
Peter Rost,
MD
Bribes and Spies in the Drug Industry
Denise Maloney Pictou
The Murder of Our Mother, Anna Mae Pictou Aquash: After 31 Years,
It is Time for Justice
David Swanson
Of Snoops and Dupes
Ali Khan
The Lawyers' Mutiny in Pakistan
Susan Rosenthal,
M.D.
Cho Seung-Hui Delivers His Message
Samer Assad
Israel and the Refugees: Fifty-Nine Years of Dispossession
CP News Service
Bidding for Extinction: Ivory Trade on eBay Threatens Survival
of Elephants
Website of the Day
Another War Criminal Goes to Harvard
May 17,
2007
Tariq Ali
The
General vs. the Judge
Yifat Susskind
Honor
Killings in the New Iraq: The Murder of Du'a Aswad
Dave Zirin
Being Ali or Being Owned: an Open Letter to LeBron James
Brian J. Foley
Hell, No, Harry Won't Go!
W. John Green
The Godfather of Colombia: Uribe and the Para Scandal
Eric Johnson-DeBaufre
Challenges for the New Sanctuary Movement
Badruddin Khan
Rebirthing the Neocons: Bernard Lewis' Latest Call to Arms
Martha Rosenberg
From Cockfighting to Foie Gras: On the Menu and on the Docket
China Hand
Pope Rat in Brazil: "The Amazon Tribes Longed for Christianity!"
Dan Vojir
Falwell's Tinky Winky Legacy: Who Will Battle the Telebubby Threat
Now?
Website of the Day
Welcome to the Terrordome
May 16, 2007
Patrick Cockburn
Chalabi
Speaks
Ashley Dawson
Who's Afraid of Wolfowitz?
Joshua Frank
Obama's Cash Flow: Maverick or Kidder?
Corporate Crime
Reporter
Corporate Drug Pushers
Ray McGovern
A Four-Letter Word for Tenet
Glen Ford
Black Labor and the Big Mission
Joe Bageant
The Ghosts of Timothy Leary and Hunter S. Thompson
Sonja Karkar
The 59-Year Catastrophe
Mickey S. Huff
Preaching Hate: Farewell, Falwell
John Chuckman
Falwell's Lone Act of Kindness
Kaz Dziamka
What Ever Happened to Rogerian Argument?
Website of
the Day
We're All Going to Hell
May 15,
2007
Michael Neumann
Two
States, One State and Snake Oil
Patrick Cockburn
An American Nightmare
Ashley Smith
How the US Set Iraq on Fire
Marc Gardner
Parole and the Long-Distance Trucker
Dave Lindorff
and Linn Washington, Jr
Mumia Case Reaches Its Climax
Ben Terrall
Benchmark as Theft: Iraq Oil Workers Strike to Stop Privatization
Ron Jacobs
Cheney Threatens More War
Harvey Wasserman
The Legacy of Seabrook
Marcus Mabry
Shopping During Katrina
Dr. Susan Block
Cheney and the DC Madam's Cookie Jar
Website of the Day
Save Jean Klock Park from the Mega-Developers!
May 14,
2007
Jennifer Roesch
Giuliani
Time: the Mussolini of Manhattan
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Humans,
CO2 and Climate Change
George Bisharat
For Palestinians, Memory Matters
Diane Wachtell
The Real Imus Lesson
Ramzy Baroud
From Palestine to Rotterdam
Rosemary and
Walter Brasch
When the National Guard Goes Missing: An Ill Wind and American
Policy
Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed
Blair's Exit
Roberto Rodriguez
The Elusive Bars of Justice
Jonathan Culp
Cutting Out Collage: Copyright and Art in Canada
Website of
the Day
Uranium Rock
May 12 /
13, 2007
Alexander Cockburn
Who
are the Merchants of Fear?
Patrick Cockburn
State of Surge
Jeffrey St. Clair
High Line Fever: a Trip Across the Dark Side of Montana
Diane Farsetta
Untold Stories from the Pat Tillman / Jessica Lynch Hearings
Ralph Nader
Strip Mining the Newsroom: Mr. Zell and the Tribune Company
Jean Bricmont
The Great Illusion: Sarkozy and the "Decline" of France
Marcus Breen
Cheering Sarkozy: the US Media and the Rightwing Takeover of
France
Joe Bageant
Rising Above Politics
Conn Hallinan
European Missiles and the Camel's Nose
Fred Gardner
The Unreported I-880 Fire
Juan Santos
and Leslie Radford
Public Terror: Escalating the War on Migrants
Eve Bachrach
Inside Colombia's Flower Industry
Missy Comley
Beattie
Shame
Ron Jacobs
The Bitterness of Regis Debray
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
The Sepoy Mutiny After 150 Years
Susie Day
Jesus Christ Weds Pat Robertson
Poets' Basement
Newberry, Engel, Landau, Katz and Davies
Website of the Weekend
The Shipyard: Recycling as Art
May 11,
2007
Patrick Cockburn
Blair's
Depature: the View from Baghdad
Kathleen Christison
Playing at Peace
Mike Ferner
Collateral Genocide
John Holt
Gating Montana: A Ghastly Disneyland with High Rise Outhouses
Laurie Hasbrook
This Minute and Then the Next: a Plea from an Antiwar Mother
Christopher
Brauchli
The Children of Limbo: Will the Pope Finally Set Them Free?
Margaret Kimberley
GOP Openly Embraces Gipper Values: Racism, Violence and Control
Dave Lindorff
Use It or Lose It: The Democrats and the Impeachment Clause
Nicole Colson
Anger Erupts at Conditions in For-Profit Indiana Prison
John V. Walsh
Beware the Do-Gooders in Body Armor
Website of the Day
Take the Terrorist Quiz!
May 10,
2007
Tariq Ali
Adieu,
Blair, Adieu
Patrick Cockburn
Killing of Teachers Turns Iraqi Sunnis Against al--Qa'ida
Neve Gordon
and Yigal Bronner
In Israel Not All Blood is the Same: The Death of Samir Dari
Marjorie Cohn
Fighting Terror Selectively: Washington and Posada Carriles
David Rosen
The New Disappeared: Sex Offenders, Civil Confinement and the
Resurrection of "Evil"
Alan Farago
Why the Everglades Have Dried Up: Developers and the South Florida
Drought
John Hellman
France: From Pétain to Sarkozy
Kathy Rentenbach
A 100 Days of Rafael Correa
BANCO
The Stage is Set for Sentencing Another Innocent Black Man
Richard Rhames
Is Paris Burning?
Website of the Day
Tame the Corporation
May 9, 2007
Jeff Leys
Iraq
and Afghanistan Supplemental Spending, 2008
Patrick Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign Minister on Iran and Iraq
Glen Ford
No Black Plan for America's Cities
Paula Rothenberg
Feminism Then and Now
Kathryn Weber
A Conversation with Norman Finkelstein
John Chuckman
The Likely Historical Significance of the War in Iraq
Jordan Flaherty
Looking for Justice in Jena, Louisiana
Dave Lindorff
Pelosi's Toothless Threat to Sue Bush
Stephen Lendman
Criminalizing Speech: the War on Free Expression in a Post-9/11
World
Website of
the Day
"Fifth and Market": a Short Film About the Iraq War
May 8, 2007
Dave Lindorff
The
Great Oil Robbery
Patrick Cockburn
The Horrific Stoning Death of a Yazidi Girl Sparks Waves of Revenge
Killings
Corporate Crime Reporter
Snuff Politics: Democrats Escalate Attack on Single Payer
Ralph Nader
The People's Crusade of Mike Gravel
Malini Johar Schueller
Decoding Harlan Ullman: Shock and Awe as Sexual Fantasy
Juan Santos
The Hate Equation: Targeting Migrant Children in LA
Dave Zirin
Jason Whitlock, the Clarence Thomas of Sportswriters?
Joshua Frank
The Price of Fire in Latin America
Evelyn Pringle
Serotonin Syndrome
Eamonn McCann
Irish Peace Dividend for Discredited Premiers
Website of the Day
The Pagan Science Monitor
May 7, 2007
Patrick Cockburn
The
Great Wall of Baghdad Rises
Monica Benderman
Land of Opportunity
Greg Moses
Hutto Prison Rebuffs UN Rapporteur
Rannie Amiri
The Sham at Sheikh: Iraq Regional Conference a Flop
Fitrakis / Wasserman
Media Silence on Kent State Revelations
Fred Wilhelms
Another Royalty Forfeiture From SoundExchange: And This Time
It's Secret!
Ramzy Baroud
The Hourglass of Blood: Darfur Revisited
Bruce K. Gagnon
The Democrats Don't Own the Antiwar Movement
T. W. Croft
Home Movies from a Weekend in Paris--And Related Dreamscapes
Sonja Karkar
Prizes for Supporting Israel?
Website of the Day
Posada Carriles: the Declassified Record
May 5 / 6, 2007
Alexander Cockburn
Trying
to Catch Up with the Voters
William Blum
How America Has Changed Iraq
Uri Avnery
Exercise in Escapism
Franklin Lamb
Harvard's Twisted Report on Israel's Invasion of Lebanon
Fred Gardner
Elective Surgeries Kill
Lawrence R.
Velvel
The American Moral Meltdown Accelerates
Missy Beattie
Lying and Dying: The Moral Sensibility
of Military Recruiters
Robert Fantina
Bush's Veto: Hypocritical Words and Actions
Carla Blank
American Massacres and the Media
Linn Washington,
Jr.
The Long Ordeal of Harold Wilson
Stephen F. Jackson
Taking It to Drummond: Paramilitaries and Mining Companies in
Colombia
P. Sainath
The Jailing of Indian Farmers
Anthony Papa
Time to End New York's War on Itself
James T. Phillips
Blather Cancer
John Ross
Last Days of the Willie Loman of the EZLN
Stephen Lendman
Chavez's Oil Policy Sparks Panic at Wall Street Journal
Ben Terrall
Iggy Pop at 60
CounterPunch
Newswire
Advice from a Geezer Assassin
Poets' Basement
Valentine, Engel and Davies
Website of
the Weekend
Mountain Justice Summer
May 4, 2007
Patrick Cockburn
How
the Surge is Failing
Col. Dan Smith
From Watergate to Gonzogate
Norman Solomon
FOX on Wall Street
Azmi Bishara
Why is Israel After Me?
Ron Jacobs
Sitting in on Senator Kohl and the War
Dave Lindorff
Clinton and Byrd are Calling for Revocation of the Wrong AUMF
Kevin Zeese
The Democrats Cave to Bush
Bob Fitrakis
Why Four Died in Ohio: Kent State, Gov. Rhodes and the FBI
Janet Kauffman
"Stop the Mudness!" Bare Earth is Scorched Earth
Website of
the Day
Let Us Gather in Missouri!
May 3, 2007
Jeff Halper
The
Livni-Rice Plan for the Middle East: a Just Peace or Apartheid?
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush's
Best and Brightest: From Dr. Keroack to Bernard Kerik
Dave Zirin
Talking Sports from Death Row: an Interview with Kevin Cooper
Corporate Crime
Reporter
Big Pharma Gets Its Hooks into Seton Hall Law School
Robert Fisk
Olmert Comes Undone
Mike Ferner
Bush Veto, Right for the Wrong Reasons?
Mike Whitney
A Stock Market Post-Mortem
Pham Binh
The Democrats and War Funding
Dave Lindorff
Kucinich's Impeachment Train: Look Who Just Stepped Aboard
Michael A.
Johnson
Tenet on 60 Minutes
Website of the Day
Olivia Wilde: the Interview
May 2, 2007
Saul Landau
Would
Jesus Wear a Rolex on His TV Show?
Dr. Susan Block
Hookergate II: Madame Julia's Big Black Book of Cheesy Republican
Sex Acts
Carla Blank
Historical Amnesia: Worst U.S. Massacre?
Margaret Kimberly
The Candor of Mike Gravel: "These People Frighten Me"
Kevin Zeese
Durbin Gives Edwards More to Apologize For
Carlos Villareal
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Impeachment? Why Bother?
|
June
11, 2007
Press
Hounds
Untangling
Michael Vick from the Dogs
By D. K. WILSON
I give you one of my tennis rackets.
You go to the tennis courts to play against another player. You're
playing horribly. At one point during your match with the other
player you totally freak out, smash my racket. In the process
you destroy a chair and a bench, and then you take the tennis
racket and attempt to throw it over the fence. Unfortunately
for you the racket slips out of your hand and it hits the other
player, breaking his nose.
A reporter sees you and gets
on her celly and calls the police. The police arrive about the
same time the ambulance does. The other player is taken to the
hospital, but first tells the police that, yes you went nuts,
but didn't mean to hit him in the nose. The reporter, though,
says you not only went crazy on the property but purposely hit
your playing partner. In the process of questioning you, you
tell the police I gave you the racket: they take down my address.
The reporter overhears all of this.
About 30 minutes later I'm
leaving my house to do some grocery shopping. I'm met outside
on the sidewalk by three police cars and five policemen. They
want to question me about you. Why? Something about you and a
tennis racket and a guy with a broken nose.
Three days later on the 6 o'clock
local news the reporter is breathlessly reporting the tennis
court incident and demanding that the police investigate and
arrest me.
Why?
She says that while investigating
a local story about a man - you - she saw go crazy on a tennis
court she found that the tennis racket belonged to me. She also
found that I took the racket to a shop and had it restrung three
times.
She breathlessly tells the
television audience that it was actually the strings that caused
your playing partner to have a broken nose and that I am ultimately
responsible for the damage on the tennis court caused by you
because the tennis racket was originally mine.
That is the story of Mary Kay
Mallonee of Norfolk's WAVY TV. But more importantly, this is
the Michael Vick dog fighting story in a nutshell.
* *
*
Dog fighting has its roots in ancient Rome in
the days of the Roman Coliseum. Centuries later the activity
was alleged to have reappeared in medieval Europe, particularly
England. Dog fighting was not confined to Europe. The activity
is documented in Japan during the Kamakura Period (1185-1333).
Today dog fighting still occurs
in some parts of England and in pockets throughout Europe. However,
dog fighting is especially popular in Latin America. This reporter
has seen dog fighting pits alongside cock-fighting pits in Mexico,
Belize, and Guatemala, and been invited to cock and dog fights
in both Belize and Guatemala.
In the every state in the United
States dog fighting is a crime, but the punishments vary. It
is a felony in all but two states, Idaho and Wyoming. Yet dog
fighting does occur and is popular in rural areas and in all
Southern states.
* *
*
On the WAVY website, a drug
investigation involving Vick's cousin Davon Boddie led authorities
to a house in Smithfield, Va. purchased by Vick:
According to the search
warrant for Michael Vick's property, detectives seized guns,
illegal ammunition clips, suspected marijuana and paperwork on
dog fighting.
Included on the list was
a semi-automatic gold-metal 45-caliber pistol along with other
guns. Investigators said this has turned into a much bigger case
than they ever expected, and will take some time to complete.
The investigation apparently
had origins in an April 20 arrest of Boddie where he gave the
address to police in Hampton, Virginia. Boddie was arrested for
possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute. Police
then procured a search warrant and on Wednesday, April 25 searched
the home for signs of drugs and or drug paraphernalia.
That the police found it necessary
to immediately seek a search warrant for the address and its
home is a questionable act. Young black man lives in an exclusive
rural setting in a 4,700 square foot home? With cursory research
the police surely found that the owner of the home was Michael
Vick (Vick recently sold the manse for what was called a "cut-rate"
price). What was just another black man perhaps selling a little
weed became a potential cause celebre calling for swift
action.
In a May 4 interview given
by Mallonee to the Mayhem in the AM crew at WQXI Radio 790 The
Zone out of Atlanta, Georgia, during the search of the home an
investigator is purported to have heard dogs barking on the property.
Mallonee told 790 interviewers that the investigators asked someone
at the house what the barking was about. The person willingly
took the investigator to a set of kennels where more than 70
dogs were housed, many of which appeared as though they suffered
injuries from fighting. From the WAVY website report:
Chopper 10 captured exclusive
video of animal control officers removing the last of more than
70 dogs from Michael Vick's property on Friday.
Animal control officers said
they also rescued at least ten beagles and said these dogs are
commonly used almost as bait to train the larger pitbulls to
attack.
Thursday, officers seized truck
loads of equipment used for training fighting dogs. They found
treadmills, whips, chains, injectable drugs and breeding equipment.
Investigators said this is part of one of the biggest and most
elaborate dog fighting compounds they have ever seen.
As of Friday night, the 70
plus dogs that were found are all safe. There are animal control
officers spread out across several local cities who are taking
care of them.
The number of dogs removed
from the home is debated. Dave Forster of the Virginian-Pilot
reported:
Authorities removed the last
of 66 dogs Friday from the home about 10 miles from Smithfield,
where Vick's cousin Davon Boddie lives.... The animals removed
include about 54 pit bulls, many of them badly scarred, said
[Kathy] Strouse, animal control coordinator for Chesapeake.
It is at this point that the
story of a home owned by Michael Vick becomes twisted in to something
surreal and otherworldly. It is here where television reporters
stray from journalism and venture into thoughts of becoming the
sound and fury and face behind the story; where dizzying dreams
of that magical progression from the local beat, its low pay
and long hours, to the world of prime time major network and
major cable recognition becomes a possibility.
If only the "right"
spin is applied to - Michael Vick.
And it is here that the Vick
saga is time and space and event bent. It is where, for the sports
fan, in a 24-hour span Vick giving the finger to a fan spewing
a stream of consciousness cursing tirade directed toward the
quarterback after a football game in November of last year is
equated with the demonic activity of dog fighting. It is in just
another television show segment later where a water bottle with
a secret compartment that contained - marijuana(?) jewelry(?)
nothing(?), that has since disappeared from public view and media
mention, the Miami International Airport Transportation and Safety
Administration's offices and the Dade County police's purview,
is now another in a long line of Michael Vick in discretions.
It is where, just after the commercial, more "experts"
will tell a now-enraptured audience that these events make Vick
the Scarface of the dog fighting world; that this "long
chain" of three happenstances puts Vick on the level of
10 times investigated, arrested, or otherwise hassled
NFL villain du jour Adam "Pacman" Jones: "I mean,
with this long line if incidents, when do you start thinking
of Michael Vick like Pacman Jones," said ESPN's Trey Wingo.
The result of the above is
that the Michael Vick-dog fight story reeks on several fronts.
It reeks of racism, imperialistic worldviews, cultural insensitivity,
and jingoism.
Yummy.
* *
*
That racism plays a part in the Vick saga should
be of no surprise. That it is so readily manifested publicly
is always surprising. Consider this statement from John Goodwin,
who handles dog fighting issues for The Humane Society of America,
made to ESPN's Dana Jacobson on the worldwide Leader's morning
show First Take:
"Dog fighting is part
of a larger culture in the NFL. It has no place in the NFL
or in civilized society."
Goodwin went so far as to,
along with his boss Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane
Society of the United States, send a letter to NFL commissioner
Roger Goodell detailing some facts and many conjectured allegations
concerning various NFL players relative to dog fighting. Goodwin
averred that he had compiled the information sent to Goodell
several years ago and that Vick is just another in a long line
of NFLers involved in dog fighting.
To Jacobson's credit, she pressed
Goodwin on this issue, asking him once why he waited so long
to send this letter to the commissioner's office and asking a
second time, why he waited for the Vick incident to send a letter
to Goodell. Predictably, Goodwin skirted the questions by attempting
to levy an offensive attack and subtle charge of negativism toward
Jacobson's valid queries:
"I am not gonna stand
by and let people do what they want when it comes to dogs,"
barked Goodwin, as if his "tough on crime" act-statement
was a proper substitute for failing to address Jacobson's questions.
In another interview Goodwin
went farther with his accusations of Vick:
"We heard there was a
video existing with him sitting next to the pit," says John
Goodwin, deputy manager of animal fighting issues for the Humane
Society of the United States. "I don't know if the video
has been destroyed or does exist. I don't think you need that
kind of evidence. There have been dog fighting cases that have
led to convictions with less evidence. You got scarred-up dogs,
a carpet with blood on it that dogs fought on, veterinarian drugs
and syringes used for pre- and post-fight treatment and equipment
they used to prepare dogs for fights.
"There's a store owner,
despite Vick's denial that he is involved, saying (Vick) has
been there buying veterinarian drugs. All the pieces are there."
The untruth that Goodwin "heard"
there was a video of Vick was a classic "planted" story
seen regularly in politics. In the political arena, though, getting
close to the source of that plant is often difficult. Fortunately,
in sports matters are much more transparent. In this case the
story arose directly from the halls of the Humane Society instead
of through a newspaper or television report given anonymously
to a journalist. This time we can see that the video lie was
planted by either Goodwin or his associate Kathy Strouse, animal
control coordinator for Chesapeake, Virginia.
Goodwin had this to add to
Steve Wyche, Atlanta-Journal-Constitution NFL writer and
beat writer for the Atlanta Falcons:
"We have well-placed sources
in the dog fighting underworld," John Goodwin, deputy manager
of animal fighting issues, told the Journal-Constitution. "His
involvement has been brought to our attention numerous times.
We pay people for information that leads to arrests."
Goodwin said The Humane Society
did not know the location of a dog fighting of Vick's until Wednesday's
investigation.
And there is an example of
the Goodwin's twisting of facts, stretching of the truth, or
outright lies. The Vick operation is purported to have been on
the Humane Society's radar for years and was known to be a well-funded
operation. If this is true, it is nearly impossible for Goodwin's
"well-placed sources" who, in the past have investigated
NFL players and who know that Virginia - as are all Southern
states - is known as a dog fighting hotbed not to have known
the exact whereabouts of Vick's alleged operation.
Goodwin, on the PetAbouse.com
website attempted to further justify his inability to know the
whereabouts of Vick's purported dog fighting operation:
"We get a lot of calls,
and people were always kind of kicking his name around,"
Goodwin said. "But it was always difficult to put together
a complete case on the guy. The word is that he has multiple
layers of protection. When the search warrant was executed and
they found all the things they found, it really came as no surprise."
While Goodwin could never quite
pin down Vick, Don Banks of Sports Illustrated seemed
to have no problem finding people to snitch on Vick. Banks penned
an accusatory piece on Vick based on "multiple sources who
have known Vick well for years." These "sources"
who allegedly know Vick so well apparently don't know his cousin
because they never implied that they'd visited Vick's cousin's
home where the Atlanta QB is said to spend so much of his off
time:
...they say his troubling pattern
of recent behavior reflects a penchant for questionable judgment,
an unwillingness to distance himself from the wrong crowd, and
a long-standing belief that the rules don't apply to him.
While the sources spoke on
the condition that their names not be used due to their relationship
with Vick, two of them said they were convinced the quarterback
has been involved with the illegal dog-fighting ring that authorities
believe they discovered last month while conducting a drug raid
on a house Vick owns in Smithfield, Va.
"He knows what's going
on in that house in Virginia,'' one source said. "There's
not a doubt in my mind he's involved with it.'' The other source
cited Vick's longtime "affinity'' for the dog-fighting subculture,
and expressed certainty that Vick was aware of what was happening
at the house.
Back to the Humane Society
posse, Goodwin's boss, Pacelle spoke at length with NBC sports'
Tom Curran on the subject of dog fighting. In the article, Pacelle,
like Goodwin and Strause is steadfast in prosecuting Vick in
the court of public opinion before all the facts of the case
come to light:
"Any high-profile case
that results in exposure or arrest sends a signal to others that
they are playing with fire will help," said Wayne Pacelle,
president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States.
"There's no type of animal cruelty that comes with harsher
penalties than organized dog fighting. It's a felony in 48 states
and a federal felony.
"Hopefully, an unfortunate
case like this with Vick brings attention and gets into the minds
of those involved and causes them to say, 'Hey, I need to think
about whether this is something I want to continue being a part
of.'"
Not only does Pacelle personally
indict Vick, but he attacks the entire world of rap music.:
"Tens of thousands of
people are involved in pit bull fighting," he said. "It's
glorified in rap, it's celebrated by athletes. The same impulses
that caused people in the days of the Roman Empire to go to The
Coliseum to see staged fights between lions and bears are in
this. There is something that appeals to a segment of people
in terms of bloodlust."
The tag-teaming of Vick by
the Humane Society continues with John Corbin, Deputy Manager
of the Humane Society's Animal Cruelty Campaign and an expert
on animal fighting issues. In the same NBC Sports article Corbin
said the following:
"We understand (Vick)
is very involved. From the informants that have called us on
the issue of dog fighting, Mike Vick would be the No. 1 athlete
involved. It's going to be hard for him to hide behind saying
he was ignorant of the whole thing when at least one store owner
says he comes in all the time and buys syringes and veterinary
equipment."
Unfortunately, without media
scrutiny to this point Goodwin's and his bosses' persistent and
shrill cries have finally drawn the interest of Congress:
On Friday, Rep. Tom Lantos,
D-Calif., joined two prominent animal rights groups in putting
pressure on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to "act swiftly
and forcefully" if Vick was involved in dog fighting. Lantos
hinted that the government may get involved if the NFL doesn't
act appropriately.
"I am outraged that one
of the National Football League's superstars is affiliated with
such a heinous enterprise," Lantos wrote in a letter to
Goodell. "The level of cruelty involved in exploiting animals
to the point that 60 malnourished and injured dogs were removed
from Mr. Vick's property is mind-boggling. I will view anything
less than the strongest repudiation of Mr. Vick's involvement
as tacit support for this atrocious activity."
False statements like these
set up the perception that Vick is nothing more than another
highly-paid black malcontent athlete who, along with his flaunting
of the law and disrespect for others is also a lowly inhumane,
uncivilized cur.
Additionally, this is an issue
that is tailor-made for Congress. It lands itself automatically
to bipartisan support: after all, a dog is a man's best friend.
And the weak threat that "the government may get involved
if the NFL doesn't act appropriately" is just that - weak.
At the same time, it is not improbable for the government to
take dog cruelty and run with it. The cause of defending animals
will not only join Republicans and Democrats, but neoconservatives,
liberals, traditional conservatives, and progressives. Both sides
can even elicit the aid, be seen with, and join hands with their
Hollywood compatriots without it seeming like just another photo
opportunity.
For one moment, just when the
approval polls for Congress are lower that those of the President,
all of government can band together and show the country just
how our representatives can show their collective humanitarian
side - just when the U.S. begins to gear up for the 2008 elections.
The following statement elucidates the contrived stirrings the
Human Society is attempting to arouse at the expense of Vick:
The Humane Society of the United
States issued the following statement from Wyane Pacelle, president
and CEO: "The Humane Society of the United States has heard
troubling reports for some time that Michael Vick has been involved
in organized dog fighting, and we fear that this investigation
may validate that very disturbing allegation."
While Goodwin acts on the national
front whipping up a false frenzy, it is Strouse who performs
the Humane Society's dirty work on the local level. Strouse has
viciously attacked Virginia Commonwealth Attorney Gerald Poindexter.
According to the website Pet Abuse.com Strouse:
"...has served as a resource
for the Virginia Legislature on animal fighting legislation and
is a Bloodsports Investigations Instructor for the National Animal
Control Association Academy. Recognized as an expert in dog fighting
and animal cruelty cases, Strouse's experience with these cases
will be a crucial part of any potential criminal charges that
may be sought [against Vick]. "
Strouse has taken it upon herself
to use mostly local media sources to pound Poindexter, the black
prosecutor from Surry County, Virginia where Boddie resides.
Strouse has told several sources that she cannot believe that
Poindexter has failed to produce an indictment for Vick. Yet,
she too is not averse to carrying the message of 'Gerald Poindexter
is inept,' to the national press. In a Yahoo.com article written
by Jason Cole, Strouse attempted to bury Poindexter:
For her part, Strouse was not
backing down and essentially challenged Surry County Commonwealth
attorney Gerald Poindexter to charge Vick. Last week, Poindexter
made statements indicating he was reluctant to charge anyone
with dog fighting.
"He was at the home and
saw the equipment that we seized," Strouse said of Poindexter.
"When we were there, he said he had enough right there to
issue an indictment. He didn't say who he would indict, but he
said he had enough.
"Now, with what he has
said, it makes you think, 'What in the world is going on in Surry
County?' This certainly doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy about
the Surry County attorney," Strouse said.
Amazingly political and racial
in nature, Strouse in the above statement, equates Poindexter's
- a black man - reticence to jump into prosecuting a case involving
dogs before all the evidence is compiled, to his treatment of
the citizens of the county he represents. And it is Strouse who
is believed to be behind the words of the media pawn for the
Humane Society, Mary Kay Mallonee.
Mallonee's (pictured at
right) genteel Southern accent makes it easy for a listener
to tell when she is betraying her emotions and they range from
conspiratorial tones when she relates what "investigators"
are saying to her off the record, to demeaning laughter when
describing the state of the interior of the home occupied by
Vick's cousin and his friends.
Through it all Mallonee's "evidence"
implicating Vick is sorely lacking:
"There's a store nearby,
the clerks there say he [Vick] buys lots of supplies [for the
dogs] like syringes."
I don't know when buying syringes
became evidence of dog fighting. But what is worse about Mallonee's
statement is when asked if the store had security camera tapes
of Vick in the store, Mallonee had to admit sheepishly:
"Not that I've heard of.
Not that I've heard of."
When asked: "And uhhh,
Mary Kay, we had heard here in Atlanta, at least, that the Humane
Society had a dossier or at least heard questions, questionable
things going on about Mike Vick and the Humane Society gets involved
Did they provide any information in this investigation,"
this was her answer:
"You know, there have
been it's, it's interesting there have been, ummmm, signs of
this for years. There's people talking about this for years.
The Humane Society, neighbors, I mean different pockets of people,
ummmm, trying to get investigators on this for years. And so
you've got a lot of people including the Humane Society, including
neighbors, including people who work at stores that have sold
all these supplies who are wanting to help investigators ummmm,
nail this case down."
Huh?! The only reports from
neighbors were that they'd seen Vick once or twice walking a
dog that obviously was not a fighting dog. The clerks at stores
have never spoken ill of Vick.
When asked: "So right
now it's on the record that people saying they've seen Mike Vick,
it is not a few and far between or rare occurrence to have Mike
Vick anywhere near or around that house," Mallonee answered:
(Loudly) Oh No! It doesn't
sound like it at all. From all the different people that we've
talked to it doesn't sound like it's, it's a rare occurrence
at all. But I will tell you, I, I don't think that it's just
word-of-mouth. I think police have something else more concrete
that shows that he is there on a regular basis
Here, Mallonee subtly brought
up the specter of a video of Vick in attendance at a dog fight
on the property. However, even Kathy Strouse must admit that
there is no video of Vick, though she obviously holds out hope
that some damning evidence exists:
"Let's be very accurate
here, because some of the reports out there are not accurate,"
Strouse said on Tuesday. "We have information from informants
that a tape exists of a dogfight and that Michael Vick is present.
Whether that tape exists, we do not know that it exists."
Mary Kay Mallonee is very willing
to point the finger at Michael Vick for a dog fighting operation,
but much less willing to separate fact from innuendo. The Humane
Society is happy to have Emmy-winning talent on their side.
The Humane Society has opted
not to pursue cases like those Clinton Portis spoke of, the cases
near his birth home in Laurel Mississippi:
"I know a lot of back
roads that got a dog fight if you want to go see it. But they're
not bothering those people because those people are not big names.
I'm sure there's some police got some dogs that are fighting
them, some judges got dogs and everything else."
Because of his statement, Portis
is the subject of derision throughout the sporting press. That
is often the reaction when someone comes out of the blue, breaks
through fallacy, and baldly tells the truth.
On a website that was linked
to Vick (it has been since removed from the Internet), www.vicksk9kennels.com,
listed for sale American pit bull terriers and presa canarios
-- a breed once used in dog fighting. A picture of a presa canario
stud named Pepe was featured prominently on the Web site. The
caption accompanying that photo read:
"Look at this ultimate
canine that is highly intelligent, powerful, well-framed, and
has tenacious courage. He is naturally confident and will go
through great lengths to fulfill all of his owner's commands.
No other breed can compare. This dog has dignity, strength, an
appealing appearance, and is committed to having extreme performance.
You are looking at a well-qualified family pet and protector."
Also prominently stated on
the website were the following words:
"We do not promote,
support, or raise dogs for fighting."
Vick's former dog breeding
website and its message, like the facts behind Portis' statement,
will go largely unreported. That Michael Vick owned a known and
apparently responsible dog breeding kennel is not of interest
to the media. They want blood and guts - Vick on a skewer. Portis'
statement, on the other hand, hits too close to home. It raises
the thought that someone you know may be involved in dog fighting
- especially if you live in the South.
Instead the Humane Society
and the media seek Michael Vick.
The premise of the Humane Society's
attack on Vick is, the sports media dislikes him enough already,
so we can piggy-back on them. As far as our case goes, if we
throw enough crap at the wall, hopefully some of it will stick
and perhaps we'll have a case against this well-known athlete.
We will be in the limelight, have a better chance at receiving
easy Federal funding and a multitude of high-dollar private donations.
Better yet that he's black because many will automatically vilify
him.
This problem the nation now
has with Michael Vick is borne from his lack of production on
the field and his having the temerity (in the eyes of the press
and the public) to flip off a fan who lets loose with a stream
of consciousness cursing tirade at Vick as he left the field
after a game.
The problem with our nation
is that we're far too willing to believe the story that tugs
at our heartstrings, no matter how far-fetched, rather than examine
cold-hard facts. We want to believe in the pleasant face of Mary
Kay Mallonee and a host of administrators from a place known
for saving animals, like the Humane Society.
Whether Michael Vick was a
willing participant in dog fights, or whether he bankrolled an
entire dog fighting operation will come to light. Virginia Commonwealth
Attorney Gerald Poindexter is a black man who, during the post-Civil
Rights era, came to Surry County, Virginia and guided the first
three black members of the county board of supervisors through
how to govern a county at the expense of many of the parents
of the people attempting to disparage his character now.
Poindexter will get to the
bottom of whatever happened at the house owned by Vick. He just
won't allow his emotions to be his guide. And he will not allow
the Humane Society or Congress or local news talent or the national
sports media to dictate his methodology for his investigation:
"I don't believe in trying
cases in the press," said Poindexter, who is up for re-election
in November, "and I find that despicable, OK?"
Okay?
D. K. Wilson writes for the dynamic sports site
The Starting
Five.
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