Dog fighting rings, bad news on war spending legislation and what we've all been waiting for, the demise of the worst TV show of the last decade

- Mike Vick has already built a checkered reputation for himself, what with the obscene gesture to fans leaving the field after a game last season, taking a bong/designer water bottle through Atlanta airport security and of course, refusing to pose for a picture with me last March when we were on the same late-night flight from the ATL to Newport News, Va. When in possession of a rep like the one Vick has built, here’s one thing you’re going to want to avoid: having the cops raid a house you own in house in Virginia and finding dozens of emaciated and neglected dogs and evidence of a dog fighting ring. To be fair, Vick doesn’t live at the house, but his name is on the deed, so even if it’s his cousin who lives there, M. Vick is going to get dragged into this. Police are funny like that; they tend to be pretty concerned with the legal owner of a property or vehicle when that property or vehicle is involved in criminal activity, regardless of whether the owner is present at the time. Flat out, whoever is responsible for this mess is absolutely reprehensible and should be ashamed. There are many things you can do with dogs - play with them, go hunting with them, use them to fetch things, use them to assist blind people, use them at hospitals to brighten the day of sick patients, etc. - but having them fight one another to the death is not an acceptable option. Neither is refusing to feed them, because dogs kind of rely on humans for food, what with not having opposable thumbs and being able to cook their own meals. Not a lot is asked of pet owners to be honest, and as long as you feed your pet, provide a reasonably clean living space for them and don’t physically abuse them or force them to fight other animals to the death, no one is going to bother you. Vick should learn a lesson from this as well, namely that when your name is on a legal document as the owner of anything, you had better know what’s going on with your personal property.

- Crap. That’s my initial response to the news that the new spending bill for the Iraq war only passed the Senate by a 51-46 vote. Those 51 votes are 16 shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override the impending presidential veto, meaning we’re almost certainly one step closer to Congress conceding in some fashion to W.’s demands for funds to finance his own personal Vietnam and to do so without setting any sort of time table for ending this whole debacle of a war. The veto will mean a removal of the troop-withdrawal language, but Democrats are exploring ways to put pressure on W. and the Iraqi government in order to facilitate American troop withdrawal from the war sooner rather than later. Kudos to White House spokesman Dana Perino for continuing to bury his head in the sand on the matter and declare that, “What the president asked for is for the Congress to give - and for the American people to give - this plan a chance to work.” Umm, D-Man, doesn’t waiting more than three years with no real progress count as “giving it a chance to work”? And in order for us to give the plan a chance to work, doesn’t there need to be some sort of a plan in place? Kinda hard to give a plan a shot when there is no plan and no progress has been made in any particular direction, unless that direction is getting thousands of American soldiers needlessly killed fighting a contrived, presidentially created conflict that should have never even started. Still counting down the days to inauguration of our new president in January 2009, only a few hundred more to go……….

- Baseball fans need a feel-good story right about now, with noted cheat and bitterman Bar-roid Bonds just weeks from breaking the all-time home run record thanks to his years of using beef ‘roids and chlomid. Look no further than the Bronx for that positive story, courtesy of the most overpaid roster of underachievers in professional sports, the New York Yankees. Now if I were paying a group of guys a total of $250 million in salary, I might want something better than an 8-12 record and a last place spot in the AL East in return, but maybe George Steinbrenner is different. You’d assume Big Stein is pissed about his team’s lackluster start, even as everyone outside the Bronx cheers wildly at the failure of the team they love to loathe. The Boss has a history of blow-ups when his Yankees falter, but so far he hasn’t made a single public statement about this season. Perhaps a Mount Vesuvius-like eruption is imminent, but anyone who’s ever had to watch the Yankees rip a high-priced free agent or buy a player that their own team wanted just because of Big Stein’s deep pockets is rejoicing right now and clipping today’s standings out to blow up and post on their wall. Sadly, this trend isn't going to continue the whole season, but oh man if it did……..well, a guy can dream. But the Yankees will find their collective stride and at season’s end, they at least won't be looking up in the standings at the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. For now, enjoy the sight of not one, not two but four teams perched above the hated Yanks in the standings and count the first month of the MLB season as an unequivocal success because of it.

- There are times in life when your opinion just doesn’t matter. For example, perhaps you are the groom-to-be and in planning the wedding, you have concerns over certain details of the big day that your future wife is set on. You can voice your concerns if you want, but ultimately you’re not winning that battle. Another such time would be if you are a Venezuelan citizen who took part in a poll about President Hugo Chavez’s plan to kick an opposition-aligned television station off of the country’s airwaves. Two-thirds of those polled opposed Chavez’s plan, which means two things: 1) when those people mysteriously disappear in the coming weeks and are never heard from again, we’ll know why, and 2) that Chavez will take delight in knowing that his dictatorial, unilateral decree will piss off about two-thirds of his citizens and they can't do a thing about it. The chief lament among those polled is that the decision will infringe upon their right to choose what they watch, a cry that is going to fall on deaf ears. In fact, when Chavez and Vlad Putin meet up at the next Fascist Dictator Summit in a few months, I’m sure they’ll have a good laugh about this one.

- I’d like to know what Miss America’s problem is. Current titleholder Lauren Nelson just doesn’t get what being a beauty queen is all about, because for some reason she is intent on conducting herself with dignity and class and putting her influence behind the noble cause of catching Internet predators of children. Nelson will appear on a special show with America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh showing a series of perverts who responded to online photos of Nelson used to lure predators/sexual deviants who thought they were hooking up with a teenage girl. They showed up, a la To Catch a Predator, and were bagged by the cops. Why can't Nelson take the lead of beauty queens like Tara Conner and her friend, the former Miss Teen USA, and give us some skanky Internet pics, reports of her boozing it up at a club, hooking up with other chicks and acting like a slutty sorority girl? Is it too much to ask that you act as irresponsibly and out of control as possible, L.? What is this world coming to when Miss America has the gall to be noble, poised and classy and to neglect partying nonstop in order to wage a campaign against online sexual predators? This is truly a dark, dark day for America.

- In case you were wondering, the next musician to whore out his or her musical career and associate with American Karaoke will be Jon Bon Jovi. JBJ was already on thin ice with music fans that aren't still perming their hair to ginormous proportions and living in the ‘80s, and appearing on a glorified karaoke contest should be the fatal blow to his credibility. Part of me wants to embrace the rubbernecker mentality and tune in to see the impending wreck that will ensue when the talentless hacks on the show try to recreate some of JBJ’s tunes, but a little something called dignity, self-respect and an aversion to ear-assaulting crap will help me to steer clear of this ten-car pile-up in the making.

- Someone had better make sure 7th Heaven is really dead this time. About this time last year, the WB promised over and over that our television nightmare was almost over and that the trite, preachy, sappy, sugary sweet family values infomercial masked as a drama that is 7th Heaven was ending. Yet when the CW took over, combining UPN and WB programming under one incompetent, leaky umbrella, the show was resuscitated in unarguably the worst show renewal decision in television history bar none. In the process, a great show (Everwood) lost its spot and millions of TV fans with IQ’s above 40 were crushed. Now, the CW is claiming that 7th Heaven really is going to die, and you’ll have to pardon me if I don’t believe them. Frankly, I’m willing to make sure this really happens and do it in person if necessary. I’ll fly out to California, douse the entire sound stage, all of the props, sets and wardrobes with gasoline and bust out a blowtorch to burn up every last vestige of this dying, decaying piece of crap. The show stopped being relevant or watchable five or six years ago, and its return killed my beloved Everwood, so 7th Heaven can't die soon enough or in a big enough ball of flame. Adios, you worthless hunk of garbage, it’s more than half a decade overdue.