We Got Our Man -- Let The Games Begin

The feds got their man.

They will extract their pound of flesh for actions not against a human or even an animal, but against sensibilities.

The highest paid man in football will plead guilty to federal charges related to dog fighting, according to his lawyers.

To hear the reporting and commentary, we might think Michael Vick is charged with cruelty to animals.

Not so. Read the indictment for yourself at thesmokinggun.com.

A grand jury charged him with "conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities." Those activities were gambling and dog fighting.

If the operation had not crossed state lines, Vick might be suiting up for the game Monday instead of copping a plea.

It seems clear Vick financed and participated in dog fighting since 2001. It is not clear he killed a dog.

The indictment details each killing and the individual who did it — until the end of the document.

There, it alleges that in April 2007, the month their kennel was raided, two other men and Vick killed "approximately" eight dogs.

Approximately?

So, the month of the raid, about the time the suspects knew trouble was afoot, we have our first killings done not by an individual, but done instead by a group, Vick included.

Vick goes six years without killing a dog and suddenly he participates the month the bust goes down?

The indictment smells. It reeks of either a setup by informants under direction of the feds or the manipulation of informants to say anything to cut a deal.

Whatever Vick admits on Monday will be the result of a negotiation. It may or may not be the truth. That's how this game works.

Regardless, we may note with relief that if allegations of animal abuse are true, for which the man has not been charged, they did not include waterboarding, bondage and sleep deprivation.

These methods the federal government reserves for itself to squeeze the guilt from suspects without the inconvenience of presenting evidence in trials.

We need not worry about the more than 50 dogs confiscated from the kennel. The government will kill those, presumably by lethal injection. The killing object most alleged in the indictment was a bullet. For the dog, either method is as final, but the bullet is quicker.

Which is more humane? Whose sensibilities will we satisfy? The dogs' or our own?

As for gambling, Michael Vick got too big for his britches. Gambling is the domain of the states — of the people. As we sit down to our Friday night poker games, we will tolerate no affront to our lotteries, casinos, tracks and bingo halls.

The charges of crossing state lines, without which there would be no indictment, are the government's method of outlawing behaviors over which the Constitution gives it no power. The federal government may regulate interstate commerce, which was a power given it to ensure order in economic relations between states, not to crack the federal whip upon behavior lawmakers think offensive.

You will not find dog fighting in the Constitution. The men who wrote it believed government's only function was to protect life and liberty — of people.

Regulation of sensibilities, of behavior and of association was left to citizens, who had freedom to make judgments, to shun the Michael Vicks, if they so chose.

Try that today and you find yourself afoul of some other government edict of association — of religion, gender, race, handicap, pants size or hair color.

If Michael Vick is guilty, so are we. Our offense would be hypocrisy.

We showed that cocky fellow, didn't we? He got just what he deserved.

Phil Lucas is executive editor of The News Herald in Panama City, Fla. Contact him at plucas@pcnh.com. To find out more about Lucas and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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