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Vick “did not retain a lawyer until yesterday, Monday�

What!? The feds have been literally digging around on his property for three months! He didn’t hire a lawyer when the first warrant got executed??!? Then he waited nearly a week after he got indicted?!?!1?

Mike Vick: Much, much dumber than you could possibly have imagined.

I think he’s had “lawyers” for some time, for various contractual matters. But as you know, that’s not the same as a criminal defense attorney.

At any rate, that’s what Blank said. I thought it pretty stunning as well.

That’s what makes it so shocking. The guy clearly has business lawyers. But business lawyers aren’t usually qualified to take on a federal criminal conspiracy case. (I say that as a business lawyer who isn’t qualified to take on a federal criminal conspiracy case.)

But I hope most of us would at least make a phone call to make sure the CLIENT knows that he should get a criminal defense attorney. Either they didn’t do that (perhaps thinking it was too obvious), or he ignored them.

There’s really no telling what happened. But it is really, really bizarre.

Despite the fact that Michael Vick is as intellectually as sharp as a baseball, I think what everyone is forgetting is that we are dealing with a sadistic socio-path. Like O.J. Simpson, I’m sure Vick has rationalized his horrific behavior quite nicely. In the urban, thug culture, you are admired and respected for being born without a conscience. My guess is he’ll hire the best lawyers money can buy but not for one second will he feel any remorse. And I’ll be anxious to see the make-up of the jury if it goes to trial. Hopefully, we learned an important lesson from the Simpson fiasco. I’d also like to know how many of his “brothers” on the Falcon football team regularly visited his personal slaughter house and cheered on the brutality. Evil loves company.

One of the great tragedies about this whole episode is that it makes some people feel vindicated in their racism. Then we have to put up with them trotting their racism out in front of everybody, veiling it only thinly with words like “Thugs” and “brothers.”

In the urban, thug culture, you are admired and respected for being born without a conscience.

Top shelf anthropology, right there. You should write a thesis.

This has nothing to do with race, except for those who think everything has to do with race. Dog fighting is not just an “urban” thing, in fact, its roots are in the rural areas, long before “rap” was born. And the type of people who would enjoy that type of thing, scum, come in all colors, shapes and sizes.

But there is a base primal aspect to this. Donna Bliss, assistant professor at UGA:

“Dogs, for most people, are like kids.It creates inside them a visceral reaction of utter repugnance that anyone would torture, mutilate (and) slaughter dogs.”

Bliss said many people feel removed from certain crimes but just about everyone owns a dog.

“People probably think of their puppies, or their little dog that lies by the fireplace,” Bliss said. “That crosses lines for so many people.”

To me, it goes a step further than people think “pets are like their kids.” I know it is not the same thing, but it echoes the disgust one feels towards child p0rn.

Because it involves “people” who are both enjoying and profiting from the abuse of innocents who are unable to protect themselves from such predators.

It is that basic. Anything you want to lather on top of that is your own icing of personal choice.

To ascribe dogfighting or any other version of animal cruelty to one race or another is in itself the most blatant of racism. Now, on the other hand, if his lawyers don’t play the race card, I’ll be really surprised, lawyers being lawyers and all.

What’s going on with dogfighting is the tip of the iceberg, and if this story gets some attention shown to the various forms of it, then there’s some positive in it all. Even as a hunter, I really can’t stomach some of what’s being done in the name of ‘sport’- watch this, and you may hate hunting, but don’t- hate these guys who are doing something far from hunting:

www.youtube.com/watc…

Unfortunately, I feel very little vidication. That will only occur when Vick is behind bars and his NFL career has been effectively destroyed. Also, a person would have to live a very sheltered life to assume that my reference to a “thug culture” pertains to only blacks. It is pervasive among young adults of all colors and when I say “thug”, that’s what I mean. It is what it is. And I would be shocked if there was a single member of the Atlanta Falcon football team that didn’t know what was going on with Vick and his property. That aside, I do agree with Reid- this shouldn’t be about race. It’s about extremely cruel, socio-pathic people who get their jollies torturing animals.

Some choice words from your first comment, James: “urban” “thug” “O.J. Simpson” “make-up of the jury” “brothers.”

And you’re going to sit there and pretend you don’t have a racism problem that you need to work on?

Quit kidding yourself and get some help, man.

I’m a bit surprised that they postponed the trial to November, considering the usual expedience of that particular area. A few people I’ve talked to were surprised he pleaded not guilty and didn’t immediately plea out but what would that prove at this point? I actually think he has a better than average chance of beating the charges. However, it is getting old hearing people like Dan Reeves attributing all his current problems on the type of friends he associates with. No one put a gun to his head and ordered him to do anything. Whether he survives this trial intact or not, he’s officially on his own. And if he doesn’t do any jail time, I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be in his shoes. Can you say, “perptetual police protection?”