Michael Vick, Wikileaks and The US Gov't.

Yesterday I exchanged tweets with a Michael Vick supporter. In case you don't know, I love dogs. I have had several and every single one of them taught me that dogs do nothing in the world but offer love. So as you might imagine I'm not really a Michael Vick fan. I believe what he did wasn't just despicable. It wasn't just criminal. I believe what he did was indicative of his mental state.

In society today we worship athletes as heroes. Kids pick up on that. Regardless of what parents may say about not making them heroes in kids' eyes, if we're honest about it we fail on that point. How could kids not think athletes should be admired? We pay them millions more than even soldiers who we claim to idolize and thank. We pay them more than firemen who come to help us at our worst moments. If we are going to allow any guy to be paid so he can afford a mansion, but not police or firemen, what signal is that sending. When's the last time you saw a poster of a doctor for sale at Wal-Mart?

So when Vick got caught for electrocuting dogs among other atrocities he was fired and sent to prison for less than 2 years, not even close to the maximum. During his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson said to Vick, "I'm not convinced you've fully accepted responsibility,".

It's my belief that the sense of entitlement that Michael Vick had is what led him to do what he did. He thought he would get away with it. He figured, as most in America do, that because he was an athlete he could go to prison and come out and get another job in the NFL getting paid millions. He believed that when he got back to playing people would idolize him again. They'd praise his performance and forget about what he did. Good thing that didn't happen, huh? Oh wait...it did! What did Michael Vick apologize for then? Answer in a paragraph or two, let me bring in the other topic.

Wikileaks has been on a roll lately, releasing hundreds of thousands of documents classified by the US government. So far, it doesn't seem to have hurt the Obama administration. It certainly can't be judged yet how much damage this paperwork has caused or the danger it puts Americans in. But nevermind that, Obama,Clinton and the rest are having hissy fits even though so far what's been reported of the papers is just embarrassing with the one exception of the Yemen strikes being outed.

Remember Valerie Plame? When caught no one was prosecuted except Scooter Libby. It became a big "oops" and that was it. But now there is all this vitriol towards Wikileaks from the leaders in our US Government. Why? I think I know. I think it's the same reason Michael Vick apologized . I think it's the same a kid apologizes when he's caught stealing a cookie. The same reason a teenage boy blushes when someone accidentally stumbles upon him having fun in a way Christine O'Donnell would not approve of.

They're sorry got caught.

How do I know? You find out if some one's really sorry if they change their behavior, right? If they lose something, if they pay a price and change their behavior. There's a reason that people convicted of bank robbery don't get hired to work at a bank. There's a reason you aren't going to hire Michael Vick to be your dogsitter.

But Michael Vick did get to keep his job ultimately and make millions (can you name anyone else who's not an athlete who got to do that after a felony conviction?). I suspect Michael Vick also does other things we don't know about and he's happy he's not gotten caught.

Obama, for all his posturing has continued Bush's policies and we know that especially now that the Wikileaks papers have come out. He hasn't changed his behavior. And yes, teenage boys recover from their embarrassment and keep on making Christine O'Donnell nervous.

When you hear them pine away for the leaks to stop and won't someone think about the soldiers?....just remember who puts the soldiers there. Just remember that when you're punished for stealing a cookie it wasn't the cookie or the getting caught that got you into trouble. It was you. You chose to electrocute animals or use Predator Drones to kill people. It was you who chose to call allies names. My mom always said not to do anything you would be ashamed of getting caught for.

They are mad and apologetic because they got caught.

Email me at mnorton1972@gmail.com

or follow me on Twitter @colierrannd