State Trial for Michael Vick Set but Could be delayed past April 2

Posted on March 14, 2008
Filed Under Minor Developments | Leave a Comment

The State trial of Michael Vick is still officially set for April 2.  However, it could be pushed back just as similar cases for his co-defendants have been pushed back.  The reason for the delay in the codefendant cases is due to the logistics of moving the prison inmates from prisons in New Jersey and Oklahoma to Virginia.

Michael Vick has a similar problem since he is currently residing in a Kansas prison.

State trials of Vick, co-defendants likely to be delayed | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

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Did Michael Vick Welch on Bet with NFL Contract?

Posted on February 15, 2008
Filed Under Minor Developments | Leave a Comment

The NFL is trying to get a federal court to vacate and earlier ruling that would have allowed Michael Vick to keep his $16.5 million of his signing bonus.  One of the key aspects of this case and the request hinge on the concept that Michael Vick breached his contract with the Atlanta Falcons by committing a felony (which he admitted guilt to in his plea agreement). That felony and his admission have him sitting in prison where he cannot live up to his agreement.

I ask you, if you committed a felony, and admitted it to a Judge and if you were then sent to prison, would your employer continue to pay your salary while you sat in jail?

The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS —

The NFL is asking federal court to vacate a judge’s ruling allowing suspended quarterback Michael Vick to keep $16.5 million in bonuses.

The NFL also wants to end the jurisdiction of U.S. District Judge David Doty over labor matters.

Doty ruled earlier this month that the Atlanta Falcons would violate the NFL collective bargaining agreement if they tried to recover the roster bonus Vick already received. The league argues that Doty’s public comments show he is biased against them.

Vick is serving a 23-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to federal charges in a dogfighting operation. After the plea, the Falcons tried to recover about $20 million in bonuses Vick earned from 2004 to 2007.

“Michael Vick breached his contract and cannot play because he was convicted of a felony and is sitting in jail,” the NFL said in a statement. “Despite those facts, the judge held that Vick is entitled to keep nearly $20 million in bonus money paid to him for playing football through the 2014 season.”

The league also questioned whether Doty, who presided during the 1992 antitrust suit that led to the 1993 labor agreement after six years without a contract, should continue to oversee its dealings with the NFL Players Association.

“No other industry has its labor relations supervised by a federal judge in the way we do, and at this point, after 15 years of labor peace, it is hard to understand why such oversight is necessary or (why it is) an appropriate use of judicial resources,” the statement said.

NFL challenges Vick bonus ruling - 02/14/2008 - MiamiHerald.com

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Updated Mission for the Campaign to Sack Michael Vick

Posted on February 12, 2008
Filed Under Minor Developments | 8 Comments

We have updated several of the points in our mission statement.  Our mission has not changed and is not currently fulfilled as there is still an open murder investigation relating to Michael Vick and Michael Vick is still a member of the Falcons and the NFL(temporarily suspended).

Michael Vick is also scheduled to head back to court in a couple months.  We will monitor that trial and look to see if any forward progress can be made on the murder investigation of one of Michael Vick’s partners in the illegal dog fighting ring.

Note - I call the person a partner as he did business with Michael Vick, selling Vick one or more dogs and fighting dogs that he owned against Michael Vick.  As this activity is illegal, it is not technically a business partnership as illegal activity can not be contractually bound.  I use the term partner in the loose sense that they did illegal business together.  In one situation, Michael Vick appears to be a customer of the deceased and in the other (the dog fights) he was the backer of dogs that fought illegally.  I do not have any details as to how money either party won or lost in dog fighting directly with each other before the murder occurred last spring immediately after Vick’s Property was seized.

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Michael Vick Sticks it to the Falcons in the Back From Jail

Posted on February 4, 2008
Filed Under Major Developments | 2 Comments

It was just like old times for Michael Vick today as he won a court victory that stuck it to the Atlanta Falcons and the NFL.  He was allowed to keep the majority of his bonuses despite the fact that he seems to have started breeching his contract within days or weeks of signing with the Falcons.

That will hurt the Falcons in the pocket book and in the line up for sometime to come, but Vick still miraculously hopes to do what’s right to get back in the NFL.  Obviously, he wants to help out some other NFL team not the Falcons as he’s just skewering the Falcons and his old teammates many of whom have doggedly stood up for him as recently as a few weeks ago.

AP) Jailed quarterback Michael Vick can keep all but $3.75 million of the nearly $20 million in bonus money he received from the Atlanta Falcons following a ruling Monday by a federal judge.
The Falcons sought to recover the bonuses after Vick pleaded guilty to federal charges in a dogfighting operation. The bonuses were paid from 2004-07.
A special master ruled in October the Falcons were entitled to recover the bonuses. The Falcons argued Vick used proceeds from a contract he signed in 2004 to finance his illicit activities.
But U.S. District Judge David Doty of Minneapolis ruled that recovery of most of the bonus money by the Falcons would violate the NFL collective bargaining agreement. The agreement does not allow roster bonus money to be forfeited once it’s been earned, the judge wrote.
The NFL criticized Doty’s ruling. The league has suspended Vick indefinitely without pay.
“It makes no sense that an individual who willfully violates his contract is entitled to be paid tens of millions of dollars even though he is in jail and providing no services whatsoever to his employer,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statement.
Vick’s personal attorney, Lawrence Woodward Jr., said Vick was happy with the ruling but understands there could be appeals.
“He’s grateful for some good news but he realizes he needs to keep doing all the right things to get back to playing football,” Woodward said.

Judge: Vick Can Keep $16.25M In Bonuses , Judge Rules Jailed Quarterback Michael Vick Can Keep $16.25M In Bonuses From Falcons - CBS News

This decision is bound to hurt Vick’s chances to get back into the NFL on good terms, as he has essentially taken this money and run.  It will increase the power of the NFL players union in the short term, but in the long term the NFL and teams will look very skeptically at paying a big signing bonus for anyone.  Long term agreements will be even more difficult for the NFL to consider.

Now, I have to say it. I do not agree with Michael Vick’s means, but he may have just done the NFL a favor by screwing the league and future big stars out of millions of dollars in signing bonuses.  Maybe when future stars come up (with a lot less money) they will not face the same temptations that Michael Vick faced. 

Let’s just hope that they will have a little more courage and currency in their moral bank accounts.

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Michael Vick’s Walk towards Bankruptcy?

Posted on February 1, 2008
Filed Under Minor Developments | 2 Comments

Is this the first card in the deck that will tumble Michael Vick into bankruptcy?  He definitely appears to be positioned to sit on his assets and not pay anyone a dime.

ATLANTA (AP) — A default judgment for $1.08 million has been entered against suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and a business partner in a lawsuit over a loan for an Atlanta-area wine shop and restaurant.

Wachovia Bank brought the federal lawsuit several months ago against Vick and his partner, Gerald Frank Jenkins. The judgment was entered Jan. 17.

inRich.com

Wachovia may have won the judgement, but getting payment could be a long way off.

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Let’s Not Forget About the Kids that Michael Vick Has Un-Inspired

Posted on January 31, 2008
Filed Under Michael Vick's Impact on Youth | Leave a Comment

Over the last few weeks, we have covered a lot more of Michael Vick’s conviction and likely next steps or mis-steps.  We  have also covered a good deal about the dogs.  Its been a few months since we talked about all the kids, high school students and athletes, even the college players that are getting some really bad messages from Michael Vick.

So I wanted to take a moment to throw out the question, especially to any of you that have kids preparing to go into high school sports or that are in high school sports, What do you think Michael Vick’s Actions say to kids?

Promote the Kids - Promote the High Schools

I came across a great site called Takkle that seems to be sponsored in part by Sports Illustrated.  Its a social network that enables high school athletes to come together and learn from each other.  I wonder if this might actually be part of the solution to the problem that Michael Vick and other bad example public figures create.

Click Here

Maybe kids will work through these issues just fine if they emphasis is not placed on a twenty something athlete that makes a quarter of a billion dollars, but instead places the emphasis on the kids themselves.  I suspect that it should be about the kids emulating Michael Vick at all no matter how many Nike dollars push it. I think that maybe kids will start to come together to support and promote each other.  I’d rather see those hundreds of millions of endorsement dollars go to high schools than to a professional athlete that uses the money to buy dogs for torturing and killing any day.

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Feeding Rescued Dogs to People - Bad Idea - Already Happening?

Posted on January 31, 2008
Filed Under Pets and Animals | 1 Comment

I have received a ton of emails from people asking why I do not make a statement about the recently re-exposed practices of the beef industry after it came to light that many of the cows are literally being tortured.  They are not being tortured as George Bush would define torture, because the cows like some accused terrorists are being water boarded.

Do they have intelligence that is essential to protecting national security?  Nope, they are just cows and they won’t give up names, places or dates regardless of how much you torture them.

First, let me say (again) I am not a member of PETA.  I am not a vegetarian either (hot dogs for lunch and chicken for supper).  I love a good steak, but don’t eat hamburgers very often as they give me indigestion. 

After you finish this story, they may give you indigestion too.

Suggestion to feed unwanted dogs and cats in animal shelters to the poor and hungry

I read an article this evening suggesting that the United States should consider feeding cats and dogs to people that are hungry, starving or too poor to eat regularly.  A number of facts about the number of homeless and hungry were cited along with some estimates of the unwanted animal population that is put to death each year.

The same goes for cats and dogs. The problem of unwanted cats and dogs isn’t going away. Why not turn those millions of unwanted pets into some tasty snacks for people who would otherwise go hungry?

Title -  Please don’t hurt me!

The suggestion is a bit rhetorical, but it also points out the fact that many people do not realize that they are already eating euthanized cats and dogs every day!

You may have eaten someone’s unwanted pet this evening for supper.  I may have unknowingly eaten a stray cat for lunch.

Sometimes when you have your pet put to sleep, you can take the pet home and bury it and sometimes you can pay a hundred dollars to have the pet incinerated.  Many times however shelters and other facilities sell the dead carcasses of these animals to Rendering Plants that have the sole and legal purpose of recycling the dead animals into

Cows and Chickens Eat Dead Dogs and Cats too

rendering-plant-animals These products are all used as animal feed.  That recycled meat is sold to pet food manufacturers and to poultry and beef farms where the ground up cats and dogs and road kill and left over parts of other cows and chickens are fed to chickens and cows.  When I was a kid growing up in Illinois, people used to even trap raccoons and possums.  They would sell the animal whole.  The pelts were worth so much and the meat was sold to a rendering plant outside of Peoria that sold the products to Purina.

That’s right, rendering plants might even sell your pet dogs carcass to be made into pet food.

The Real Problem with this Process is the Toxic Waste

Now let’s be real for a second.  Human kind has included carnivores and omnivores for thousands of years.  Vegetarians are a definite minority in our population and in our history.  The primary issue with this process (as was exposed last year when thousands of pets died as a result of poisoned pet food) is that toxic wastes are not removed from the rendered meat.

GIGO - Garbage In Garbage Out - Toxic Deceased Pet In Toxic Recycled Meat Out

 

The following menu of unwanted ingredients often accompany with dead animals and other raw material:

  • Pesticides via poisoned livestock

  • Euthanasia drugs that were given to pets

  • Some dead animals have flea collars containing organophosphate insecticides

  • Fish oil laced with bootleg DDT

  • Insecticide Dursban in the form of cattle insecticide patch

  • Other chemicals leaked from antibiotics in livestock

  • Heavy metals from pet ID tag, surgical pins and needles

  • Plastic from:

    • Styrofoam trays from packed unsold supermarket meats, chicken and fish

    • Cattle ID tags

    • Plastic insecticide patches

    • Green plastic bags containing dead pets from veterinarians

    Source

 

Where is the Media on This Fiasco?  Covering Michael Vick too much

rendering-plant-meat-cutting-screwsSo you may ask the question why isn’t the media covering this issue?  The cynics in the crowd that come to this website will respond that they are too busy covering Michael Vick. 

The reality is that they are covering this issue, and on a different site designed for the right purpose so am I.  I present this here just to holistically cover it from the Michael Vick perspective, but you can see this coverage in a great USA Today articles titled Consumers may have a beef with cattle feed.

There are many more articles like that out there too.

My view on the situation

As I see it, I and many people around the world are not going to completely stop eating meat anytime soon.  The industry needs to be cleaned up so that toxic wastes can be removed from the system and we can work to insure the safety of both human food as well as the safety of pet food and the food fed to the animals we eat.

Am I comfortable with the thought that when I slice into a steak, I might be eating something one meal removed from someone’s pet or a rotted deer on the road or a lame cow fed back to the herd.  No, I am not.  I didn’t grow up on a farm and I am not yet conditioned to just accept that.  However, I do understand that we do exist within an ecosystem and a food chain and that this is not terribly unreasonable.  The food, the feed, the pet food, it all has to come from somewhere.  We cannot create miles of pet cemeteries.  We can not burn up every animal that we put to death and pollute the air either or exhaust a bunch of fuel or electricity to do it.

This is an organic process.  It needs to be cleaned up significantly but it is a real process. 

I do feel that we can find someway to grow and raise all the animals involved in a way that does not torture the animals.  We can eat and exist without being sadists.  Even though our pet cats may play with a mouse and torment it, we humans can do a little better.  When the day comes that someone invents some mush or gruel or a pill that feeds us more efficiently and tastes better and we do not have engage in this practice, I may just embrace it.  However, I am not going to agonize over one of the necessities of life, like a vampire character in an Ann Rice novel fretting over having to kill to survive.

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