Storch, the argument that you put forward that a man should be allowed to do what he wants with his own property is a very old one. The right to own property is basic to the very nature of our republic, and was one of the foundations our early legal system. Jefferson described it as one of the unalienable rights bestowed upon man by his Creator. Such rights are, by that definition, sacrosanct.
As history has shown, any such right or legal tenet can be abused by base and brutish men. In the Dred Scott decision the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that slaves were property, and could not be freed without their master's consent. A similar attitude exists in many of the poor Third World countries which you cite. How they treat their animals is sympomatic of a greater sickness which exists there. Some of those nations are simply rife with slave labor, child prostitution, and indifference to the sufferings of others.
That what troubles me most about this thread, the indifference exhibited by some of those posting here.
Yet, that isn't even the point, in my opinion. Michael Vick isn't some poor slob from an undeveloped country. He is a vicious, spoiled gang-banger who has millions of dollars worth of assets. The dog-fights he sponsored weren't necessary to feed himself or a starving family,
They were done for kicks...because his type of punk loves to thumb his nose at the law and at polite society.
Well, I am polite, but only to a point. The bottom line is this; American society has rendered it's judgement that such activities are illegal and unnecessarily brutal. I agree completely with that assessment.
If a neighbor of mine engages in such activities I WILL turn his bellybutton in.
