Response

As one might expect, there has been enormous
response and commentary to this initiative for
decency.

Interestingly enough most respondants have not
actually read the article, or read it in detail; and tend
not to come back after promising to read it before
disagreeing with it.

There is a standing offer to set up an open Yahoo
discussion group for those willing to go public, to
under their own full name and organizational
affiliation discuss these issues point by point.

So far no one has taken up this challenge.

Notice that I do not support eradication of the Pit
Bull as a breed or the blanket breed specific
legeslation as has come to pass in Ontario for
instance. Rather we need to deal with pit
fighting as a criminal conspiracy, just as we
in the end we dealt with the Mafia as a conspiracy
rather than waging war on Italian Americans
in general.

The prosecution of Michael Vick under federal
law and by federal agents is a huge step in
the right direction.

One of the primary points made in response is that
the best solution to the problem of sport pit killing
is enforcement of existing laws and appropriate
penalties. In general I agree with this and agree
that the place to start against criminal pit fighting
is enactment of appropriate penalties.

But there are limits. At a certain point severe
penalties for drug possession have only tended
to fill up our jails with relatively minor criminals
and left the real perpetrators, the higher level
distributors, still out of reach.

This is why the concept of conspiracy as a legal
principle has come into use, as a way of reaching
the real cause. This is why the elimination of
the pit killing establishment, the people and the
dogs must be broadly based and seek out root
causes in order to be ultimately effective.

But in the broader sense the Mafia did not disappear
into legend because of rigorous law enforcement,
it disappeared because American society opened
up, giving smart, aggressive young Italian Americans
role models of successful Italian business men
and political leaders to emulate, which they have
done.

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