Americans care more about pets than people

Torture some dogs, go to jail for 19 months; hit and kill a person while driving drunk, spend 30 days in the clink and get probation.

Seems like the gap between Michael Vick's dog slaying sentence and that of Donte' Stallworth's DUI manslaughter is rather wide.

After all, they were just dogs he slaughtered (cue the torch-carrying mob) while an innocent 59-year-old man was hit by a drunk driver.

On the surface, it'd seem Stallworth's crime was far more severe, but the sentences would indicate otherwise. We think there are two key reasons for that:

1. Stallworth's was a horrible, unthinkable accident that we wouldn't wish on anyone (how the hell do you live with that?). But he took complete accountability for his mistake. He handled the situation in as responsible a way as he could -- he cooperated with the police, didn't flee the scene after the accident and apologized profusely. As awful as a tragedy as this is, there's sympathy for apology.

Vick tortured dogs. And didn't seem to think twice about it or feel any remorse for doing it. In many ways, it seemed he enjoyed it. And he certainly wasn't sorry about it.

2. Money. The family of the victim in the Stallworth case wanted their nightmare to end. A settlement helped do that. Vick wasn't afforded the same luxury; there's no number of doggy bones that could bring Buster back (bad joke. Sorry. But **** you for not laughing. Jerk.).

Maybe we're completely wrong on this (tell us if we are), but this seems like a pretty concrete example of how people have the willingness to forgive if responsibility is taken (this is a good thing. Steroid users, do take note).

And that people ******* love animals. Kill animals and you're all sorts of screwed. Accidentally kill a pedestrian on the other hand while breaking the law...