Off Topics for today: Michael, Elizabeth

This is just another water bottle incident blown all out of proportion.
Why all this breathless concern about a dog fighting ring found on property owned by Michael Vick? The man said it was his cousin's fault. The man said his cousin let him down. This is just like the water bottle incident where the police mistakenly detected the scent of pot in a secret compartment. We know from that incident how tongue-tied Michael gets. Is it his fault that his jewelry smells like pot? He was silent until after the police said there was no there there.

Now this dog thing, you should just take Mike's word that he knew nothing about any Pit Bulls found on the property, or the injured Beagles allegedly used as sparring partners for said Pits, in spite of what we learned about today about his sideline business, Vicks K9 Kennels, with the web site www.vicksk9kennels.com/. Don't bother to go there. It's not available, no doubt due to the massive hits it's taking today. Or, maybe they are shutting the site down. I know I would if I were Mike. If Mike says he has nothing to do with the dogs on the property, who are you going to believe, Mike, or some web site owned by a company called MV7?

He said he was going to amend his life, make changes, you know, reform. We should just take his word for it.

I wonder if Atlanta traded the wrong quarterback.

"After what happened Friday, and then what happened on Monday, I just wanted to crawl in a hole. I can't take it no more. I walk around with a smile on my face and act like I'm happy, but on the inside it's hurting. And it's killing me. I ain't got no more energy left for it. The more I continue to do things and my name is in the media, I'm not going to get anywhere. . . . I'm taking it upon myself and giving everybody my word that things are going to get changed around. Things are going to get turned around. I have a game plan for it. . . . The company I keep, a lot of things gotta change, and I mean that from the heart." ~~ Michael Vick

Meanwhile, The Humane Society says there is an undercurrent of dog fighting among NFL players. They want Commissioner Roger Goodell to do something about it. Animal fighting is against federal law as of May 3, 2007.

Fair And Balanced Reporting: Vick donates money to Va. Tech victims

UPDATE: Michael Vick Selling Property Linked to Dog Fighting

Screed Alert: Protocol for the Queen?

Elizabeth II is visiting Virginia to honor the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown colony (and to pay her respects to the victims of Virginia Tech). There have been several newspaper stories and a CNN blurb this morning on the proper "protocol" while in the presence of Her Majesty. That always frosts me.

The President of the United States is called "Mr. President" for a reason, that reason being to repudiate royalty and elevate citizens. Most Americans know how they treat the president while in his presence. It offends me that some Americans feel the need to do more for the Queen. So what if she is the head of sixteen or seventeen countries **, we have fifty States and a District. I'll match the GDP of California against any of them.

If you met the president at a state affair, you should stand, be generally respectful, address him as "Mr. President" or Sir, and do no more than shake his hand. (Since we're talking Bush, I would allow him to shake my hand.) No head of state deserves more from an American. Bowing and scraping are out of place. In fairness to the queen, Britain no longer requires that. There are plenty of American Anglophiles around here who fawn over British royalty. Americans who do need to be reminded of why there is an America. The reminder is this: Elizabeth of Windsor seems a nice lady. She has my permission to shake my hand.

She may be Queen of England, but I am King of Me.

** Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, Queen of the The United Kingdom of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, and is the Paramount Chief of Fiji.

Photo: www.stoppitbullattacks.com

Portrait: Queen Elizabeth II, www.chriatianfurr.com/