I made a chatty new friend today while waiting for my car to be serviced this morning. The young man is a native of Virginia, where his two brothers used to be (before their arrests and incarcerations) deep into the dog fighting underground. Despite his initial protestations that the first rule of Dog Fight Club is that you do not speak about Dog Fight Club, he was more than willing to share stories of Dog Fights He Has Witnessed, and the picturesque details of How Dog Fighting Culture Works. I'll spare you the extremely gory and appalling particulars.

Anyway, here's the rumor-mongering part: he claims that Michael Vick is deeper into this than you may have suspected. He told me that he met Michael Vick at a dog fight once -- back when Vick was mere lad on the edge of seventeen. And, he predicts that Vick will get off scot-free. Why? Because dog fighting is such an entrenched and "historic" (his word) activity in Virginia, that people at all levels of government are implicated. That's right, folks, the claim was that various highly-placed state and federal elected officials are involved as participants, breeders, and backers. Allegedly, Vick can name names and point fingers. This might prove to be more fun than the D.C. Madam's little black book.