Why is aerial wolf hunting legal and dogfighting a Federal offense? Suspended Atlanta Falcon quarterback Michael Vick is currently serving a two year term for felony dogfighting.
Meanwhile, the champion of aerial wolf hunting, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, has just been rewarded with the VP slot on the McCain presidential ticket.
I'm really sick of this hypocrisy. Either shooting animals, like dogs, or wolves (they are rather similar, are they not?) is cruel and barbaric, or it isn't. You can't have it both ways.
And I'm really sick of the practice of locking up so many people in this country, especially so many blacks.
Incarceration of Blacks
· In twelve states, between 10 and 15 percent of adult black men are incarcerated.
· In ten states, between 5 and 10 percent of black adults are incarcerated.
· In twelve states, black men are incarcerated at rates between twelve and sixteen times greater than those of white men.
· In fifteen states, black women are incarcerated at rates between ten and thirty-five times greater than those of white women.
· In six states, black youth under age eighteen are incarcerated in adult facilities at rates between twelve and twenty-five times greater than those of white youth.
If Governor Palin can offer 150 dollars per foreleg of wolf, and Mitt Romney can hunt rabbit for fun, and Cindy McCain can steal drugs without being arrested, then there are some people in this country, especially black people, that need to be let out of jail.
We can start with Michael Vick, who, not inconsequentially, will never be allowed to vote again.
Michael Vick's crimes in no way reveal him to be a risk to actual human beings in this society. We took a gainfully employed (there's an understatement for you) successful professional and locked him up because he engaged in dogfighting for fun and profit. Wolf shooting for fun and profit, however, is legal, rewarded, and encouraged by the Governor of Alaska.
Alaska is the only state where wolves are not on the endangered species list, and Governor Palin seems determined to get them on it. Of course she would probably sue if that ever happened.
It may be that the wolf population needs to be "managed" in Alaska. I have found no evidence that overpopulation of wolves is actually a problem (not that I've actually looked), but theoretically, it is possible that the wolf population would need to be thinned.
I'm not that freaked out by wolf hunting, actually, even the aerial stuff. It's not the point of this diary. I'm not a PETA guy. I eat wild game. I fish. I'm okay with hunting, especially in places like Alaska.
I'm just sick of the hypocrisy and ashamed that we lock up more people in this country than anywhere in the civilized world, and maybe even anywhere in the uncivilized wold.
And I'm especially distraught about the number of African Americans that are incarcerated.
Please, don't even think of making a comment that suggests the overwhelmingly disproportionate number of incarcerated blacks has nothing to do with racism. I don't have time for another diary right now.
Michael Vick should be playing football, not serving time at taxpayer expense, and Sarah Palin has no business being Vice President or, God forbid, president of this country.
End rant.