On Sunday, a team of 11 Red Star Animal Emergency Services responders from the American Humane Association will return to a shelter near St. Louis to help care for and socialize some 500 dogs that were rescued in a July dogfighting raid, the biggest in U.S. history, which spanned Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas. This news comes on the heels of guilty pleas from Robert Hackman, Teddy Kiriakidis, Ronald Creach and Michael Morgan entered Monday to conspiracy and other crimes, admitting their roles in breeding, trafficking, fighting and killing pit bulls in a lucrative dogfighting network, the Associated Press reports. A fifth co-defendant, Jack Ruppel, pled guilty Sept. 4.

Humane responders take on task of socializing 500 dogs from raid – Paw Print Post: A community for Dog, Cat, and Pet Owners – USATODAY.com

Michael Vick’s dogs will be receiving some media attention today, helping to focus the spotlight on some of the victims of his crimes as opposed to shining the glory of the lights on the criminal as has been done all summer long by most news and media outlets.

Dr Phil’s looking for feedback – Should Michael Vick have been reinstated?

“Do you live in the Philadelphia area?  Do you feel that Michael Vick should have been reinstated to the NFL? Yes or No?  Why do you feel this way?  If you think Michael Vick deserves a second chance to play professional football, please let us know, and give us your reasons why.”

If you want Dr Phil and his audience no how you feel about this situation, leave your comments here.

September 15, 2009 : 8:44 AM ET

On Wednesday, Sept. 16, some five million to seven million viewers of the popular “Dr. Phil” talk show will get a look at the Vicktory dogs at Best Friends Animal Society.

A segment of the show will be devoted to NFL quarterback Michael Vick, who recently suited up with the Philadelphia Eagles and returned to the football field after serving a 23-month sentence on a federal dogfighting conspiracy charge.

But more importantly, the segment will feature some of Vick’s victims — 22 of whom came to Best Friends in January 2008 to heal from the trauma they suffered at the hands of Vick and others in his dogfighting ring.

I’m a lover…

“What is important to us is that people consider the dogs,” says Ed Fritz, campaign specialist for ‘Pit Bulls: Saving America’s Dog,’ one of four Best Friends’ campaigns aimed at reaching the goal of No More Homeless Pets. “There’s a lot of talk about Michael Vick and if he deserves a second chance, but no one is talking about the dogs. Don’t these dogs deserve a second chance? As long as Vick is playing with the NFL, it’s up to us to support the victims of his cruelty. Michael Vick didn’t serve one day in prison for animal cruelty. He was punished for dogfighting conspiracy.”

Vick has apologized publicly, but many question his sincerity.

“To our knowledge, neither Vick, his handlers, nor the NFL has called to ask how the dogs are doing,” wrote Best Friends co-founder Francis Battista in a moving commentary in the Philadelphia Inquirer. “And these very real, living victims of the crime are nowhere to be found in the continuing debate about Vick’s rehabilitation.” Read the entire commentary here.

I was reading an interesting article in the Dallas Morning News today.  The article managed to sum up a number of items that seem to result in the most arguments here in our comments section, which have been upgraded a bit so that you can now click on a persons name and view other comments they have left in other threads or articles.

The Dallas News article ends with the following question essentially, “Does it matter if Michael Vick showed remorse?  and if so has he shown Enough remorse yet?”

Now personally, I view the situation differently.  Michael Vick lied about dog fighting for years and years, even after his home was raided and he was caught by the feds, even after the Falcons and the NFL commissioner spoke with them he still lied and they all bought it at the time.  This tells me one thing about Michael Vick, he is good at telling lies.  So with that in mind, I personally don’t care how much remorse he ‘shows’, because he has a long long history of telling lies and making people believe him.  Could be he’s a great actor or could be he’s a sociopath and doesn’t know the difference between a lie or the truth.  I don’t care either way, it is still just a lie being told by Michael Vick.

However, I don’t represent everyone but a long shot, so what do you think?

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Please share your thoughts here, but also stop over at the Dallas Morning News and let them know, or drop an email over to Mark Davis the reporter of this article at mdavis@wbap.com

A jail term and NFL consequences are one issue. Public opinion is another. What do we think of Vick’s return? Does he deserve the honor of putting on an NFL uniform ever again? In an NFL that features the occasional wife-beater, whoremonger and drug user, we must prioritize: Where does animal cruelty fit on the indignation spectrum? From the beginning, I’ve found a demographic component in the varying answers to that question. Many in the black community, and many people of all races who live in rural areas, still wonder why this is a big deal at all. I guess it depends on whether the dogs in your life sleep in your bed or in the back yard. But there are enough dog lovers in America to give Vick a rough ride as he travels with the Eagles this year. At Eagles road games, look for picketers outside the stadium and taunts inside, whether he’s playing or not. Dec. 6 should be an interesting exercise as Vick returns to Atlanta, where he rose to NFL prominence. Meanwhile, I will wait for that Humane Society PSA campaign and other evidence that his remorse is real. Mark Davis is heard weekdays from 8:30 to 11 a.m. on WBAP-AM, News/Talk 820. His e-mail address is mdavis@wbap.com.

Mark Davis: Sorting out questions about Michael Vick | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Opinion: Viewpoints