MICHAEL VICK'S NOT GUILTY PLEA DOMINATES THE NEWS, SO MUCH FOR OUR TROOPS IN IRAQ

Where Are Our Priorities?

To a chorus of boos as he walked inside the Richmond Virginia courthouse, Atlanta Falcon's quarterback Michael Vick just entered into a not guilty on federal animal cruelty charges.

Some Americans are obsessed and outraged, yet the same kind of passion, disgust and resolve is not being expressed over the 3,632 U.S. troops who have died in Iraq.

The Vick story is nationwide. The mainstream media and the Internet are both flooded with everyone demanding the brother's head on a platter. The NFL commissioner is beside himself and Falcon fans in Atlanta are willing to scrap next year’s football season to see Vick “get what’s coming to him”. An NFL Football team willing to sacrifice its season? Pro Football is America’s sport, so we must be taking this serious.

Funny man Drew Carey recently announced on "The Late Show With David Letterman" that he would be the new host of "The Price Is Right" game show.

Did you catch Carey's quick slight where he said, “If Vick is allowed to play football, I won't watch a single (NFL) game.” Wow, is this the comedy equivalent of Walter Cronkite speaking against the Vietnam War?

Meanwhile, what about Iraq. Where is the outrage, where is the indignation, where are the passionate cries for President Bush's head?

As of Sunday, July 22, 2007, at least 3,632 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to the Associated Press. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,977 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

The latest identifications reported by the military:

Four soldiers were killed Wednesday by explosives and small arms fire in Adhamiyah. The soldiers, all assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany, were:

Army Sgt. 1st Class Luis E. Gutierrez-Rosales, 38, Bakersfield, Ca
Army Spc. Zachary R. Clouser, 19, Dover, Pa.
Army Spc. Richard Gilmore III, 22, Jasper, Ala.
Army Spc. Daniel E. Gomez, 21, Warner Robbins, GA

The NBA's Kobe Bryant didn’t take this much heat from his Colorado charge of rape and molestation of a human being.

See, we do care more for animals than humans. The examples are endless, from bald eagles to, seal pups, to every whale that beaches itself, the public is galvanized by helpless animals.

Wake-up folks! Because over in Iraq, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, are now the only endangered species that really count.