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The strange and sad case of Michael Vick got a bit stranger this week when the newly-signed Eagles quarterback appeared on 60 Minutes--complete with a spokesman from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)--to deliver his obligatory mea culpa to a waiting world. What makes this incident stranger than most is that America's love of animals, specifically dogs, has trumped the heretofore indestructible use of racism as a defense for wrongdoing and so has not saved Mr. Vick from the wrath of millions.

Accusations of racism have long been employed to excuse the behavior of thugs and gang-bangers who happen to populate the sports and entertainment worlds. Take the case of Allen Iverson, NBA superstar and long-time bad-boy. In trouble since his high school days when he served four months in a correctional facility for his conviction in a felony mob assault case (later overturned), this paragon of virtue once quipped, "associating hip-hop styles of dress with violent crime, drugs, or a bad image is racist." Yet, as so poignantly pointed out by columnist Bryan Burwell,

What has happened is that we let the real African American culture get buried under the darkest element of a hip-hop generation that glorified and perpetuated all the worst racial stereotypes our parents, grandparents and great grandparents took their lifetimes to erase...Now they come glamorizing thug life and prison fashion, legitimizing derogatory racial insults into the mainstream, and convincing an entire generation that the only measure of true blackness is a hard-core gangsta edge, and anyone who rejects this is either hopelessly out of touch or a sad Uncle Tom.

And, of course, should any whites agree with the courageous Mr. Burwell, they would most certainly be called racists. Still, the most curious aspect of the Vick flap remains that since his release from prison, not even the race gambit has been able to rehabilitate the rogue quarterback in the eyes of the public. After all, he did not rape anyone, he was not implicated in any shootings, nor has he been involved in any drug accusations. No, he was cruel to animals; and in America, almost no one, except maybe W.C. Fields, can hate dogs and get away with it.

Now, on the face of it, this doesn't seem like much of a problem. I mean, who would not abhor the sick acts perpetrated by Vick and company against innocent animals. But if one looks deeper, this is a most disturbing development. Of all of the ways in which the left has made inroads into the psyche of the American public, this is perhaps the most insidious: the equation of humans with animals.

In the old days, pets were looked on as welcome additions to a household; as watchdogs, or as companions for elderly adults or the children. Today, the dogs have replaced those children. Indeed, the term adoption, when applied to pets as it has been for a few decades now, should give one a clue. In my town, there is one hospital for humans and six for animals.

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