Vick is the victim, according to the Baltimore Sun's Reimer

THEY SHOULD HAVE REOPENED ALCATRAZ FOR HIM. How dare you? How dare you vindicate, explain away, or even eradicate what that man did? The only reason he stopped is because he was caught. He deliberately, repeatedly and flagrantly abused animals on a regular basis. He's sorry? I strongly doubt it. He's sorry because he was stripped of the things that his professional career afforded him. He's sorry because he no longer lives in his million dollar homes. He's sorry because he no longer drives his luxury cars. Is he sorry for the unspeakable agony he caused to those poor animals? Is he sorry for the eletrocution, strangulation, drowning, mutilation and suffering he caused to those defenseless animals? What if if were your pet or something you dearly loved? What if Michael Vick was running a child pornography ring or dealing methamphetamine? Would you be so defensive of him then? The fact that is was dogs means it's okay? Enough's enough? IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH FOR THAT MAN. He should still be in jail and still be paying for his crimes. The fact that he was in the position he was makes him even more accountable. He and all others in the public eye have a moral obligation and duty to lead more exemplary lives. They should be more conscious and conscientious of their decisions and their lifestyles. When things like this are discovered it is even more of an outrage. Suppose he was dabbling in other activities such as drugs, pornography or child prostitution? If your child or relative or neighbor was a victim would you be so quick to take up his defense? God bless the Humane Society. Free publicity? Shame on you, they deserve all the free publicity they can get. You love humans more? You love human beings who inflict senseless suffering upon another life form who feels pain, torture and agony. I don't care what race, sex or religion you are, you have no right to do the things that he did to any person or animal. Just because an animal is not a human being does not make them any less susceptible to pain or suffering. Poor Michael Vick. He has to drive a pick up truck. He should have to walk barefoot until his feet are blistered and skinned. He shouldn't even be considered for any pro-ball contract. That's another slap in the face to anyone with any integrity. What he did is reprehensible. Your coming to his defense is a disgrace. Next you will be condoning what Hitler did during World War II. Or is that something that can be accepted as well? Maybe everyone should make him some nice sweaters for wintertime with bite marks, gouges and bloodstains in them. Susan Reimer, you ought to be ashamed of yourself and the commentary that you printed. You should feel the pain, you should feel the agony, you should feel the misery and the torture, then let's see what your journalism (if you can call it that), consists of. At the very least you should be fired. The next job you should be allowed to have is in an animal shelter where you can see first hand man's inhumanity to animals. Kerry Taibi, Las Vegas NV ktaibi@cox.net

over 2 years ago by Anonymous

No, I don't agree at all with Ms Reimer's assessment of Vick's treatment. I can't understand where her head is and I wouldn't want to be one of her dogs! Thanks to Leslie Smith for laying it out so well and so articulately. I can't say it any better than Ms. Smith did. And Reimer's response to Ms. Smith's critique was just silly. Vick made "Vick-tims" of helpless animals in the cruelest way possible, and can never "pay" enough for his crimes, in my opinion. To think there are more wicked people such as he out there, and more like Reimer who try to make his crimes seem less than they were, is truly sickening and a sad commentary on human beings. If Vick really is sorry as he said he was, he should do his best to set Reimer straight about her support of his "predicament." *He* should be the one standing up and telling the world that what Reimer wrote in his defense is outrageous, and that he paid and is paying a small price, a VERY SMALL price, for the meanness of his horrifying choices. I'll believe in his sincerity when I see him doing a lot more on behalf of other Vick-tims of his own volition, by his own choice, without being ordered to speak out or donate or help his Vick-tims recover from his maltreatment. He may be paying the price he was ordered to pay for his crimes, but what is he doing above and beyond what he was ordered to do? Does he feel as sorry for himself as Reimer feels for him, or is/will he take responsibility for his crimes and *actively, by his own choice* do everything he can with his celebrity and his millions of dollars to stop the cruel mistreatment which he so actively participated in before he got caught? I'll believe Vick's apology when I see him doing more than he *must* do; right now he's not sorry, he's just gotten caught! I believe it's irresponsible for anyone, especially a columnist or a journalist who has a public forum, to criticize the justice of a guilty person who was caught in a terrible crime, convicted, and served and/or is serving the sentence he earned. It is offensive to me to see a criminal, when there is no question that he committed the crimes he was convicted of, try to be vindicated in the media as if he hadn't committed any "real" crime, as if he was being victimized and wrongly vilified, when the truth is that he *is* a villian, he *is* a criminal, he *is* a convicted sadistic predator. Ms. Reimer, wake up and look at the crime he committed and then lied about committing it! To act with such lack of conscience, lack of compassion, lack of care for innocent life, takes a very callous, brutal, and hateful being, and he did these crimes for sport and for money! His actions before and after he was caught were heinous and self-serving! His "apology" was self-serving! He *should* be ashamed for what he did, and we, the people, *should* be outraged at what he did! *You* should be outraged at what he did! As for the money he was ordered to pay to help his Vick-tims, it could never be enough to fit the crimes he voluntarily committed and enjoyed. And he's making plenty of money now as a professional football player to give much more to the cause of rescue and rehabilitation of other Vick-tims, if he so chooses. I would love to be in his financial shoes! However, I thank the Lord that I'm not in his spiritual shoes, because I don't believe for a minute that he is sorry for what he did; I believe he is sorry for getting caught. When you say "animal loving doesn't extend to human beings," what in the world do you mean? If he had done to humans what he did to those dogs, he would be on death row. Are we to feel sorry for him when he is tackled in his profession of choice, which includes being tackled on purpose as part of the game? He is viewed as a villain because he *is* a villain, and it's great that a group of people will donate to a good cause every time this villain is tackled as part of the game -- not injured, not broken, not unnecessarily roughed in the game, just tackled as he should expect to be anyway! There's more to be said about letting a convicted criminal be hired and play in a profession in which children and young people find their role models, but that's a subject for another day. Today, I say, "NO, THANK YOU!" to your public support and sympathy for a brutal, conscienceless, sadistic criminal who is plenty wealthy yet short - maybe totally lacking - on remorse for his dirty deeds. Signed, A VFW Retired Military Who Abhors Unnecessary Violence

over 2 years ago by Anonymous