Another Teachable Moment?

I found this brief little story in our local newspaper but it is chock full of "teachable moments". It appears to have all of the correct buzz phrases from our liberal friends style sheet for journalism.

Community organizers in Michael Vick's Virginia hometown are preparing a "celebration" for the former NFL quarterback.

The event is being planned and sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Council, which is merely a sister organization of the NAACP.

One of the organizers, resident John Eley, says the "Michael Vick Community Celebration" is intended to give the city a chance to "enjoy and embrace" Vick.

I am really tired of all of the efforts to rehab Michael Vick's image and I really ain't into all of this forgive and forget. Forgive is okay, but I will never forget. I am tired of athletes getting the kid gloves treatment, whether it is from the case of Donte Stallworth in Florida running over a person and killing them and only getting 30 days or Ray Lewis managing to skate after killing 2 people in Atlanta, and yes he was involved I don't give a damn what happened in that courtroom and a lot of folks from around these parts believe like me.

It has gotten to the point in our country where it seems the only occupations to aspire to are personal injury lawyer or professional athlete. They seem to be a separate class of citizens. In the one case you can go on to be a politician and thereby exempt yourself from all of the laws that apply to the rest of us, you know like congress, or at the very least sue the hell out of anybody who does actually try to provide jobs.

In the other case you are revered as some sort of modern day gladiator and therefore are also exempt from being held accountable for any sort of bad behavior.

Killer Walks After 24 Days, Media Yawns

Well, at least someone noticed what the rest of the media won't.

SOCIAL, political and racial commentators and activists for years have told us that justice in this country unjustly favors wealthy white Americans, those who can buy their way out of serious problems. And I've never doubted that.

And so I was kind of thinking and hoping that late last week, when that kind of justice shifted to favor a black American, that some significant, albeit perverse, progress had been made -- and, fair being fair, those same voices would make a lot of media-delivered noise in response.

Fat chance.

Early on the morning of March 14 of this year, Donte Stallworth, two weeks after signing a $35 million free-agent deal to play wide receiver for the Browns, was driving his Bentley in Miami Beach when he struck and killed Mario Reyes, 59. Stallworth, previously entered in the NFL's substance abuse program, was charged with DUI and manslaughter.

Stallworth pleaded guilty, reached a financial settlement with Reyes' family and was sentenced to 30 days in a Miami jail. On Friday, he was released after serving 24 days. Not bad, huh? Some minor skin rashes last longer.

But neither those political, social and racial commentators and activists nor their cooperative, obedient enablers in the media seemed interested in this story.

But just imagine . . .

Imagine if Stallworth had been a white pro athlete, his dead victim black, and Stallworth had escaped with a cash settlement and 24 days of three hots and a cot in the local lockup.

Imagine the outraged noise the Rev. Al Sharpton would have made -- and he'd have been right -- about perverted justice. Imagine the noise the media, from CNN to ESPN, would have made. There would have been televised town meetings, protest rallies and demands to remove the district attorney.

So here was an opportunity to clearly and loudly note that significant progress has been made: In America, people of privilege, black and white, now can get away with manslaughter.

But nothing. Opportunity lost. Maybe, because the story didn't meet with activists' preordained agendas, it was ignored. And maybe, because the media just don't have the stomachs for reporting impolitic truths, it made small news. But, geez, if it's equality under the law we demand, well, progress is progress.

At least NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has the good sense to suspend Stallworth indefinitely. But how much do you want to bet he'll be accused of racism if he's deemed too harsh on Stallworth? That'll happen a heck of a lot faster than race pimps like Sharpton ever open their big mouths about this outrageous injustice.

30 Days For Manslaughter If You Play Football

Imagine if this was you or me and we had driven over somebody and killed them while drunk. For a lot of us we can get 30 days in jail on the DUI charge alone. Sure must be good to be a professional athlete where any trangression is forgiven.

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte' Stallworth is going to serve 30 days in jail after pleading guilty in Florida to a DUI manslaughter charge.

The plea deal announced Tuesday calls for the 28-year-old Stallworth to also serve 10 years' probation and do 1,000 community service hours for killing a pedestrian he hit with his car. Stallworth had faced up to 15 years in prison.

I guess since he is on probation that means they will have to trade him to the Dallas Cowboys.

The guy has one helluva lawyer apparently since according to the terms of the plea agreement he is also protected from being sued for wrongful death by the family of the person he killed.

So engaging in dog-fighting will get you more time in jail then getting tanked up and running over somebody in your ridiculously priced luxury car.