What Would Frank Castle Do about Michael Vick?

This has been one of the hardest things for me to write about. I love animals. For any number of reasons - health, environmental, compassion - I have tried my damnedest to give up eating m meat or for that matter using anything harvested from an animal. This isn't exactly easy, but it is without question the compassionate thing to do.

I love a good barbeque. I was raised on a Korean dish called Bulgogi - thinly sliced, marinated beef. Give me some of that, rice, steamed bean sprouts, and some kimchee, and I'm happier than a pig in shit. But I'm trying to give that stuff up. Rather than get on my soapbox about why it's the right thing to do, I wanted to say that I am trying to do the right thing. So, when I see some stunningly evil piece of shit like Atlanta Falcons' Quarterback Michael Vick and what he's done to dogs, I have to think, "What would Frank Castle do?"

Frank Castle is one of my heroes. I know he's fictional, but as Marvel Comics' brutally cold and righteous anti-hero The Punisher, he does what we'd all love to do. Go ahead. Click on the link. I'll wait.

When we see someone who runs a criminal enterprise for years as well as knowingly infecting a woman with Herpes Simplex 2, what do you think someone like Frank Castle do? Michael Vick not only bet on dog fights, he (along with 3 other assholes) set up "Bad Newz Kennels" on his 15-acre property (valued at over $700,000) near Smithfield, Virginia. Bad Newz Kennels would bring dogs across state lines to fight in seclusion. On top of that, whatever dogs did not die in matches were executed by gunshot, electrcution, drowning, strangulation, and/or hanging.

On April 25th & 26th, 2007, police had raided his property and found overwhelming evidence including 60 dogs (including pit bulls) scarred up and in generally poor condition. For this alone, he and the three other assholes face $350,000 in fines and up to 6 years in prison if convicted. Additional state charges are being pursued, and this case has generated an overwhelming amount of public protest. I'd love to see Michael Vick and the three other people responsible for this travesty suffer like the same animals they saw suffer. I'd really love to see them die slowly, painfully and loudly. They did this to animals commonly thought of and feared as aggressive and deadly. The sad reality is that domesticated animals like dogs want nothing more than love. A little food, walking, playing, and a hug doesn't cost all that much, and the payback is a buddy for life. Dogs aren't born evil - it takes pathetic losers like Michael Vick to turn them into killing machines. How long will it take those surviving dogs to come to trust people again? Will they ever trust someone to be their buddy?

I can think of a lovely punishment for these guys involving epidurals, strategically placed mirrors, and wood chippers. This not being possible, we need to do whatever we can to make their lives an unending Hell. PETA has a petition that they're presenting to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. You can sign the petition here. Currently Michael Vick is still raking in a lot of dough from his deal with Nike. While the Air Zoom Vick V shoe was scheduled to be released from Nike this summer, they're holding off, and waiting until all he's enjoyed due process to determine if they should sever their relationship with him. This is not good enough. The Humane Society is currently running a petition they're sending to Nike CEO Michael Parker. You can sign it here. Inquire why the ASPCA and PETA aren't running similar petitions.

Make sure that Michael Vick and the rest of the Bad Newz Kennels receive the same compassion they showed dogs.