Oh, Mike Vick, you ol' dog

[Milo Meningocele]

Actual Portis quotes, from the espn.com article: "I don't know if he was fighting dogs or not, but it's his property, it's his dog. If that's what he wants to do, do it. I think people should mind their business."

When told that dog fighting is a felony, Portis replied, "It can't be too bad of a crime."

Could Goodell please give this guy two games just for being an ignorant asshat?

[leedsunited]

Actual Portis quotes, from the espn.com article: "I don't know if he was fighting dogs or not, but it's his property, it's his dog. If that's what he wants to do, do it. I think people should mind their business."

When told that dog fighting is a felony, Portis replied, "It can't be too bad of a crime."

Could Goodell please give this guy two games just for being an ignorant asshat?

Right on point. Really stupid comments.

[Don]

yeah all i heard was paraphrasing on the john riggins show this afternoon. i felt bad for chris samuels cuz he was standing next to him and his answers were the patented "innocent till proven guilty" etc etc, then portis goes off and makes a moron out of himself. i just dont understand how u defend that type of.... really.

[HedleyLamarr]

Actual Portis quotes, from the espn.com article: "I don't know if he was fighting dogs or not, but it's his property, it's his dog. If that's what he wants to do, do it. I think people should mind their business."

When told that dog fighting is a felony, Portis replied, "It can't be too bad of a crime."

Could Goodell please give this guy two games just for being an ignorant asshat?

Portis does have a point, however.

I just looked up the Virginia laws on dogfighting (though, I'm too lazy to research it more tonight). It is considered a "Class 1 Misdemeanor", and carries penalties up to 12 months in jail and/or fines up to $2500.

However, if anyone here knows someone that's been to jail/prison before, they can tell you that those offenders who caused some sort of cruelty towards children or animals get their comeuppance from both the guards and inmates during their stay.....

[Milo Meningocele]

Portis does have a point, however.

I just looked up the Virginia laws on dogfighting (though, I'm too lazy to research it more tonight). It is considered a "Class 1 Misdemeanor", and carries penalties up to 12 months in jail and/or fines up to $2500.

The penalties aren't necessarily relevant in assessing the seriousness of a crime, though. Just think of how unbalanced a lot of our current laws are. No matter how leniently it is punished, animal fighting is a despicable, indefensible practice, showing no respect for creatures that are living beings just like we are.

[Lee.]

Portis does have a point, however.

I just looked up the Virginia laws on dogfighting (though, I'm too lazy to research it more tonight). It is considered a "Class 1 Misdemeanor", and carries penalties up to 12 months in jail and/or fines up to $2500.

The penalties aren't necessarily relevant in assessing the seriousness of a crime, though. Just think of how unbalanced a lot of our current laws are. No matter how leniently it is punished, animal fighting is a despicable, indefensible practice, showing no respect for creatures that are living beings just like we are.

Is it worse than smoking pot?

Just askin', is all.

[Don]

Portis does have a point, however.

I just looked up the Virginia laws on dogfighting (though, I'm too lazy to research it more tonight). It is considered a "Class 1 Misdemeanor", and carries penalties up to 12 months in jail and/or fines up to $2500.

The penalties aren't necessarily relevant in assessing the seriousness of a crime, though. Just think of how unbalanced a lot of our current laws are. No matter how leniently it is punished, animal fighting is a despicable, indefensible practice, showing no respect for creatures that are living beings just like we are.

Is it worse than smoking pot?

Just askin', is all.

yes, yes it is worse than smoking pot. you are harming another living creature that has no free will of its own.

[HedleyLamarr]

Portis does have a point, however.

I just looked up the Virginia laws on dogfighting (though, I'm too lazy to research it more tonight). It is considered a "Class 1 Misdemeanor", and carries penalties up to 12 months in jail and/or fines up to $2500.

The penalties aren't necessarily relevant in assessing the seriousness of a crime, though. Just think of how unbalanced a lot of our current laws are. No matter how leniently it is punished, animal fighting is a despicable, indefensible practice, showing no respect for creatures that are living beings just like we are.

I'm not defending Portis' statement any. I'm just pointing out Virginia's consequences on dog-fighting.

To my suprise, Portis was close to accurate on his "It can't be too bad of a crime" statement....

[Milo Meningocele]

Portis does have a point, however.

I just looked up the Virginia laws on dogfighting (though, I'm too lazy to research it more tonight). It is considered a "Class 1 Misdemeanor", and carries penalties up to 12 months in jail and/or fines up to $2500.

The penalties aren't necessarily relevant in assessing the seriousness of a crime, though. Just think of how unbalanced a lot of our current laws are. No matter how leniently it is punished, animal fighting is a despicable, indefensible practice, showing no respect for creatures that are living beings just like we are.

Is it worse than smoking pot?

Just askin', is all.

I don't want to threadjack this into a pot debate, and maybe you were just yanking my chain. But of course it's worse than smoking pot. Smoking pot is a victimless crime, provided you don't do it around children and you don't drive while high.

[Lee.]

Not looking for a pot debate.

But if the US in general wants to jail someone for smoking pot, while dog fighting is a fine and suspended sentence, then there's a serious problem with priorities souf' of the border.

See: Ricky Williams v. Michael Vick.

Also, IMNSFHO, while you shouldn't smoke pot around kids, I'd like to extend that same logic to smoking in general. Big tobacco's the killer, and if I see one more high school mom blowing smoke into their infants' faces while feeding them, I'm going to call protective services. That's just bull .

Now THAT's a derail.

[BlueSky]

Don't know where your info is coming from ref it being a misdemeanor but the story in Atlanta from day one has been that dogfighting is a felony in Virginia.

Ironically, Georgia is the only state in which it is not illegal to attend a dogfight.

[whitedawg22]

I have nothing to base this on, but I'm going to guess Portis was just trying to create a stir and get his name in print again. After all, this is the guy who shows up to press conferences in wacky costumes just so people will talk about him...

[hrivnak]

What the ever happened to due process?

[Jamikel]

Actual Portis quotes, from the espn.com article: "I don't know if he was fighting dogs or not, but it's his property, it's his dog. If that's what he wants to do, do it. I think people should mind their business."

When told that dog fighting is a felony, Portis replied, "It can't be too bad of a crime."

Could Goodell please give this guy two games just for being an ignorant asshat?

Portis also went on to say that he knew of places where he grew up where dog fighting was commonplace, so to simply say that he is an ignorant asshat is pretty naive. There are much deeper issues to this case than just the well-known fact that Michael Vick is a dumbass.

[TFoA]

What the ever happened to due process?

The court of public opinion gained too much power.

[EatSleepJeep]

My parents took me to a bullfight when I was 7. I don't think they knew that they really kill the bull. My memories are still vivid, I thought it was very cool.

It actually might explain a lot...

[Milo Meningocele]

Portis also went on to say that he knew of places where he grew up where dog fighting was commonplace, so to simply say that he is an ignorant asshat is pretty naive.

I'm sorry...were you arguing for or against my point? I think you just inadvertently did a fantastic job of backing me up. Never having personally seen a dogfight, I still know that it is wrong on every level. But Portis has actually been around them and doesn't see a problem...how is he not an ignorant asshat?

[Jigga]

b]how is he not an ignorant asshat?

That's an easy one. "Ignorant" means lacking in knowledge or training or information as to a particular subject or fact. As you state:

But Portis has actually been around them and doesn't see a problem...

He has firsthand knowledge of dogfighting...therefore he is NOT ignorant. On the other hand, ss you state:

Never having personally seen a dogfight...

YOU are ignorant when it comes to dogfighting.

NOTE: This is not a serious attack on you, Milo. Just having some fun with semantics.

[Milo Meningocele]

Touche, greg--at least on the first part. But not having seen a dogfight with my own eyes doesn't mean I lack knowledge of them, and thus I am not ignorant of them.

I believe that ties the score at 1 in this matter.

Yes, semantics are fun. And while he may not by definition be ignorant here, there's no denying that Clinton Portis is guilty of asshattery in the first degree.

[Jamikel]

I'm sorry...were you arguing for or against my point? I think you just inadvertently did a fantastic job of backing me up. Never having personally seen a dogfight, I still know that it is wrong on every level. But Portis has actually been around them and doesn't see a problem...how is he not an ignorant asshat?

You may take it for granted that cruelty to animals is wrong. But let's look further at the comments of Senor Asshat. Because, as every good fan of Shakespeare knows, truth comes from the mouths of fools.

"I don't know if he was fighting dogs or not," Portis said. "But it's his property; it's his dogs. If that's what he wants to do, do it."

Portis said dog fighting is a "prevalent" part of life.

Portis, a native of Laurel, Mississippi, added: "I know a lot of back roads that got a dog fight if you want to go see it. But they're not bothering those people because those people are not big names. I'm sure there's some police got some dogs that are fighting them, some judges got dogs and everything else."

The sad truth is, as despicable as dog fighting may be, it isn't a rare occurrence, especially in poorer areas. So instead of naively saying "how could anyone do this?" I personally think a better question is "How can this viewed as acceptable behavior by so many people?" Portis and Vick both seem to have the view that these animals as property, not pets. Our dominant culture has a very benevolent view of animals, but this isn't universally true. EatSleepJeep gave another good example of animal cruelty being acceptable by society in bullfighting. I'm really surprised that the media has been so focused on Vick and hasn't done much to address the larger issue of dog fighting in general.