“What’s the surprise. It’s not like we ever thought Dick was a straight shooter,” comments Maryb2004. Yesterday, while on a quail hunting trip in Texas, V.P. Dick Cheney “accidentally shot” a fellow hunter named Scooter Libby Patrick Fitzgerald Jack Abramoff Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old man (his name is spelled Whittington, according to the AP/Sun-Sentinal and BreitBart.com).
Whittington, a wealthy Austin attorney who was involved in at least one Bush scandal when Bush was governor of Texas (see the last story on Whittington below the fold), was sprayed with pellets by Cheney. This was breaking news on MSNBC, which is trying to learn more about the incident. (Update: NBC has confirmed the incident with Cheney’s spokesperson. Medics came and helped the man, who is “okay,” according to MSNBC.) (No, this is NOT a joke.)
I’ve Googled for Whittington. The results are below the fold..
Update [2006-2-12 16:4:22 by susanhu]: From the AP:
Harry Whittington, 78, was “alert and doing fine” after Cheney sprayed Whittington with shotgun pellets on Saturday at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.
Armstrong said Cheney turned to shoot a bird and accidentally hit Whittington. She said Whittington was taken to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital by ambulance.
Cheney’s spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said [Cheney] was with Whittington, a lawyer from Austin, Texas, and his wife at the hospital on Sunday afternoon [with a wad of cash, a pistol, and an “or else” message]. (See also: ABC News)
Okay. Who did he REALLY shoot?
About Whittington … oh, he fits right in with that bunch:
Just the guy we need to get those liberal and druggy hippie musicians outta Austin!
Little Guys who take on the government rarely win,
unless the Little Guy is a guy like Harry Whittington.
Whittington, an Austin lawyer, is very rich, very stubborn and very patient — qualities that come in handy if, like him, you’re waging a long legal battle against the city.
Six years ago, Austin condemned a downtown block Whittington’s family owned to build a $10.5 million parking garage. Whittington’s been fighting the city ever since. He racked up two legal victories last year, and on Friday racked up a third: The Texas Supreme Court denied the city’s request to hear an appeal, which basically re-affirms a prior ruling in Whittington’s favor.
The city law department, which has spent $387,000 on the case, doesn’t plan to throw in the towel just yet. … Austin Statesman
I just know he’ll help patients:
Whittington named committee head
Austinite Harry Whittington was appointed chairman of the Office of Patient Protection Executive Committee by Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday.
Whittington is a private practice attorney who has been practicing law in Austin since 1950. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas and received his law degree from the University of Texas.
The committee was established in House Bill 2985 during the 2003 regular legislative session. The Office of Patient Protection is responsible for helping patients who have complaints regarding medical service from Texas healthcare providers. … Biz Journal
And, when you die after Harry rejects your appeals, Harry is on the Texas FUNERAL SERVICE Association:
COMMISSIONERS
Harry Whittington ( Austin), Presiding Officer/Term Expires 2/1/07
Help me remember. Wasn’t there a big brouhaha about this major funeral association shake-up in 1999 — when Bush was still the governor of Texas? And Bush was involved?
AUSTIN – A former state funeral home regulator who said she was wrongfully fired for investigating a large funeral home chain operated by a longtime family friend ofGeorge W. Bush has settled her 2-year-old whistleblower lawsuit for $210,000.
The state will pay Eliza May and her lawyers $155,000 and Houston-based Service Corp. International will pay $55,000, said sources familiar with the agreement. … [,,,]
Ms. May contended in her lawsuit that she was fired in 1999 as executive director of the Texas Funeral Service Commission after SCI Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Waltrip met with Joe Allbaugh, a top aide to Mr. Bush while he was governor, to complain about the agency’s investigation of the company’s homes.
After the investigation, fines totaling about $450,000 were assessed against more than 20 of SCI’s affiliated funeral homes for using unlicensed embalmers. SCI has appealed, and a state hearings officer is expected to rule soon on the case.
Neither SCI, Mr. Bush nor any of the other defendants admit wrongdoing under the terms of the settlement. Attorney General John Cornyn, who was also named as a defendant as a result of a legal opinion he wrote that was favorable to SCI, represented the state in the case. … [,,,]
Harry Whittington of Austin, who was named presiding officer of the Funeral Service Commission after a major shakeup of agency in 1999, said his board reluctantly agreed to pay $50,000 as part of the settlement to end the 2-year-old case. … At Crawford Peace House’s Web site, and originally printed in the Dallas Morning News
How do we know Cheney doesn’t shoot people all the time? They cover up so much it’s hard to tell the truth anymore.
Dan Quayle, Cheney just got his nouns and surnames mixed up.
The other 3 people he “missed” will commit suicide next week, or are now in an “undisclosed location”.
I got a pellet in the ass from the Vice President.
“Shot in the back” is much more likely.
Peace
He been giving the American People more than pellets in the ass for the last five years..if you know what I mean.
My understanding (via NPR ‘s top story) is that Whittington was shot in the the chest, the cheek & the neck. He was also treated initially by Cheney’s very own traveling band of medics.
He was also treated initially by Cheney’s very own traveling band of medics.
Cheney’s Doctors follow him around with a defibrillator?
or like the got milk campaign…’Got pellets’?
Well, normally Cheney goes to Skull Island, where they release ghost detainees for him to hunt and shoot, but thanks to this effin’ Libby mess, he was a little pressed for time this week.
LOL, Lees!
This reminds me of when William Sullivan, head of counterintelligence for the FBI, who was himself shot and killed while hunting, even though he was wearing a bright orange hunter jacket. This was called a tragedy, but curiously, he was just about to testify to the House Select Committee on Assassinations about the JFK and MLK cases.
You’re a riot.
(“Khalid, Khalid, come out, come out wherever you are! Sheikh that tail Khalid … it’s just a game. They’re just rubber bullets. It’s now I haev fun.”)
What an asshole.
WHAT AN ASSHOLE!
BooMan, you’re being so kind.
Cheney got a little nervous after hearing that on Faux neuws this AM, Sen. George Allen, R-VA, along with Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. would call on Special Counsel Fitzgerald to probe Cheney’s having leaked.
No, no, I didn’t mean that leak. Ya know the CIA/Scooter outings, spilling classified stuff.
Imagine killing little quail,
Texas quail
They’re gorgeous little birds. And their babies are the cutest things ever…. the parents are extremely dedicated and protective.
Maybe Dick’ll choke on a bone someday.
He should go to Washington State where the quail is not endangered. Almost 200,000 are shot there every year by hunters. The question lingers, how long will it be before they are endangered?
The hunters? I’d say they’re endangered already ..
license requests are declining.
What’s the surprise. It’s not like we ever thought Dick was a straight shooter.
That’s a scream… i’m stealnig it.
feel free
Cases like this end in charges of Reckless Use of a Firearm. Of course, in Texas, it is probably a justifiable attempted birdicide. And given the other major crimes this vice president has so far committed with impunity, somehow I doubt he’ll face the criminal justice system.
It was just an accident. I lost count of how many times the MSNBC anchor said that…. like she was expecting a torrent of angry e-mails or a dreaded call from the White House.
Yeah. In my state, when you accidentally shoot someone with a hunting rifle, it is frequently charged as reckless disregard of a firearm. Just something about having a duty, when you are doing dangerous things, like say shooting a shotgun, to ensure that you are not shooting toward another human being. We Michiganders are funny like that. I understand how our laws and customs might be considered quaint. You know. We don’t hunt much up here.
“We don’t hunt much up here.”
Oh, yeah – that’s why what seems to be the entire male population heads Up North for deer hunting and our high school only had girls in class on the first day of pheasant season {g}
I am in no way supporting Dick “Dick” Cheney, but…
As a life long wing shooter I can attest, from experience, that these things happen; generally due to negligent stupidity and lack of awareness on the part of the shooter.
Moral: don’t hunt with people you don’t trust…
Peace
They happen. And there is usually a police or DNR report, and a prosecutorial review, and a decision to charge the misdemeanor (or worse, FSM forbid there is a death). I’m just interested to see that process play out here.
I don’t think it is likely that Dick Cheney will see that process.
And the lesson to the (RED) hunters of America . . . if you can’t trust him during a hunting trip, when CAN you trust him.
I’m sure The Dick will be reprimanded just as much as the Gropenator was for his motorcycle accident when it was found out he had no license for(and never had)driving a motorcycle.
A Felony in Texas, depending on what the investigation (er, what inverstigation) turned up. I’m not sure how it would be charged like a similar misdemeanor in my jurisdiction, but there is a felony in Texas for reckless discharge:
I love having your lawyerly perspective around here BostonJoe. I can always count on you to quickly come up with such pithy information.
Yeah, and what “inverstigation?” My socks will be far into the next county if that ever happens!
Possible legal defense:
1- Thought I loaded my gun with spit balls
2- My pacemaker gave me an electrical jolt
3- The gut was furious with me and decided to use the new gun laws which say that if the guy is threatening me, I can shoot em
I agree BJ
It is always the shooters responsibility – fault – negligence – when it happens, and depending on the seriousness of the injury should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I, like you, do not hold any expectations that Darth will be charged, let alone prosecuted.
Personally, I have never shot anyone but have been peppered, only once having a penetration wound, fortunately, very minor. I have had some very close calls where I have been forced to “hit the ground” as it were, and those were, without exception, when hunting with persons I did not know. (Nor have I ever participated in a hunt that resulted in serious harm to anyone involved.)
When even peppering happens I, as well as the people I generally hunt with, take whatever steps are necessary to see to it that the danger is eliminated…to the point of taking the offending party’s weapon away and not allowing them any farther participation.
I, we, are very serious about gun safety…No Excuses – No Exceptions.
Peace
I don’t hunt, by family members do and they say the same thing. But what I hear you saying is that in this instance the remedy is practical rather than legal. Unless there was such serious injury you would be unlikely to press charges. But you would immediately take the gun away and probably never shoot with the guy again. And even guilt him into paying all the expenses of the ruined trip, including medical if any.
Under what circumstances would you press charges?
I’m saying that under these circumstances — an accidental shooting, I’ve seen a number of individuals charged in my jurisdiction. For accidentally shooting their companions. Not exercising appropriate care with the weapon. Carelessness. Recklessness.
I’m also saying that in Texas, there is a statute that is implicated by this incident.
I’m further saying, that in my state of disbelief over what Cheney has gotten away with on a much larger scale, I don’t think there will be much of an effort to hold him accountable for this much smaller wrong.
And as for the policy of charging in instances like this, yes, I’m saying that prosecutors frequently charge under the public policy of gun safety. To make an example of those who are unsafe, so the story gets in the newspaper, and hopefully enforces the notion that others take more care.
any hunter will tell you that Cheney is an asshole. You can’t describe it any other way. You don’t fucking shoot your hunting buddies with bird shot. It’s idiotic.
You don’t just swing your gun around and shoot anything you see in the sky. That just indicates a fucking moron is acting like an asshole.
I hope the guy made sure to call him an asshole as he lay bleeding and waiting for medical care.
I hope the old bastard wasn’t hurt too badly to prevent him from giving it to Cheney in a big way. I just don’t see big “Dick” being all that apologetic. To you. Have you ever seen the fucker act with any humility or sorrow. I don’t see a lot of it in him.
From the sliver of conduct I’ve seen of the man, I see his driving ethic as, “What’s in it for me?”
Is it good for my stock holdings. Then it’s good.
Is it good for my party. Then it’s good.
Is it good for me personally. Then it’s good.
And, putting on my fiction writer hat, when a character like that shoots an old hunting buddy, he runs over and says, “Aw fuck. Somebody call 911.” Then he thinks, this stupid son of a bitch walked right out in front of me. And I would have hit that quail, too, if he hadn’t gotten in the way.
Sorry. The fucker is just not human to me at this point. He is a caricature. I don’t think I can hang around to question my prospective Congress person tonight. There is an ill wind blowing in my heart.
well at least he spent some time with his buddy at the hospital. He’ll be lucky if he didn’t blind the guy.
and I have only been bird hunting once and once was enough to have it thoroughly explained (beaten into my nugget)that that barrel doesn’t get pointed any place other than the ground that I wasn’t previously focused on beforehand and that was and is completely removed from any and all human beings both foreign and domestic. What kind of fucking narcissistic self entitled total asshole accomplishes something like this?
I was just reading Firedoglake (which has a great picture of Elmer Fudd with his wabbit hunting gun) and Jane raises the question of drug / alcohol testing and whether it would be required under Texas law for these types of incidents. It’s an interesting question I hadn’t thought of.
but this is so damned weird for an experienced hunter to do that he must have been drunk on his ass or something!
I would posit that ‘Dick” is not what I, nor most others who are hunters, would classify as ‘experienced’.
Canned hunts, those he is typically involved in, are like a shooting gallery in a county fair arcade.
Cheney is not an experienced hunter. He is a reckless and dangerous man.
Peace
He is the czar; they release the game, he shoots. The thrill is not in the sport it is in the number of kills.
he is not a hunter…he is a reckless, dangerous, killer.
Unfortunately, his prey most often walks on two legs and has only limited ability, if any, to fight back.
Peace
we are not in disagreement
I was asking DaDa but I’m ok with you answering me. How bad did the injury have to be for it to be charged? Seriously. Would a flesh wound be prosecuted? Anything that required fixing at a hospital? Something worse?
I’m all for prosecuting Cheney, I’m just trying to figure out when a less well known person would actually be prosecuted in a case like this.
The injury has little impact on the decision, short of death. If it is a death, then you are in a whole other world of analysis. Manslaughter?
If someone get’s shot, short of death, that means someone was careless. At the very least a mistake was made. And that warrants, in my judgment at a prosecutor, an investigation, and a charge if the statutory elements are met.
In Michigan. A misdemeanor. And some process. A plea bargain. Something to send a message. Serve as a general deterrent (i.e., send a message to be careful).
Clearly death is a whole other category.
OK — I’m pissed too.
And he is an asshole.
About time you got on board. 😉
I don’t know. I’m just boiling over. Pissed doesn’t even cover it. I am an enraged lunatic, unfit for public consumption.
Takes me a long time to warm up to the idea of having an emotion — so many of them are wasted. Especially with this administration.
I am not saying “that in this instance the remedy is practical rather than legal“. I was merely pointing out that hunting is : 1. Dangerous, and 2. Sometimes these things happen.
Given WW’s recent comment above concerning the nature and location of the wounds, ie: chest, neck and face, in other words the man was apparently facing him at a reasonably close range, my experience tells me that this was not so much a “shooting” accident, but more likely a situation that involved the mis/improper handling of a gun. In the field, ie: the actual process of a quail hunt, you are never face to face with another hunter. (There are some forms of hunting, esp. pheasants, where this is not the case and they require much attention and awareness from the parties involved. But explaing all the nuances of this is not required, I think.)
As to circumstances where I, personally, would press charges…hospitalization/ER treatment would be #1 on the list.
Peace
thanks, that makes sense.
You might not even get the misdemeanor here much less the felony. For the felony you have to prove “knowing” discharge of a firearm in the direction of the individual. I would think that includes some amount of intent.
And even the misdemeanor is hard.
The presumption won’t apply because no one is going to testify that Cheney “knowingly pointed” the firearm at the guy — as in, he looked right at the guy and aimed at him. No one is claiming that even right now.
So now you’d have to prove reckless.
And you always had to prove imminent danger and serious bodily injury.
And then you have to get around the fact that he’s Cheney. And its Texas. And he’ll have a jury. Come on, fella’s. We’ve all been sprayed with a little shot ain’t we? Nobody thinks that is Serious bodily injury? So what if he had to go to the hospital.
You may or may not. It would depend on the facts of what happened. Facts that will be determined by, I’d tend to guess, will be determined by a very friendly officer.
But it is certainly plausible. The statute says, “knowingly discharges a firearm at or in the direction of.”
So, if “A” knows that “B” is walking on his left flank, and “A” wheels to shoot left, he may be considered to be “knowingly” shooting in the “direction” of a “human being.”
All things for argument. The question is simply a) is there some evidence (i.e., probable cause — very low burden) that the crime has been committed and b) does it warrant prosecutorial invervention (i.e., gee, maybe as a prosecutor I want hunters to be very vigilant before they shoot their buddies).
Frequently charged.
Yes, may or may not. I wasn’t saying it couldn’t happen, just that the facts as we now know them don’t point to an automatic case for a felony and the identity of the parties may make even the lesser charge difficult. I’m not saying its right, I’m just saying don’t pin your hopes on a felony conviction of old Dick.
Joe, when I was growing up, a graduating senior — the son of the school system’s chief music teacher and a woman who ran a ballet/tap dance studio where all the kids took dance lessons — was out hunting, and he accidentally shot and killed a man.
I don’t know all the details because I was just a kid. But he received probation and was able to go to college and thereafter had quite a life … i think he’s a superintendent of schools in the Midwest now.
The sentencing for such crimes — particularly accidental ones — was far, far lighter in those days.
Only in the ensuing decades have we increased the sentencing guidelines/mandated sentences for such crimes. And I truly think thtat the lighter sentences, for the most part, are the best.
Should Cheney have been arrested? Damn straight.
Should he go to prison? Yes, for leaking classified information. Would I wish anyone to go to prison for accidentally shooting a friend? Why? It’s well known that prison is no answer.
Should he be heavily fined, have his guns taken away, lose his hunting licenses (all of them), have to report to a probation officer frequently, and have to do 100s of hours of community service? You bet.
Your suggested handling of such cases is about what would practically happen. To the average person. Probation and some sentence to impress the crime. Not prison.
I’m doubtful that will happen in this instance. I wouldn’t be surprised that after a couple of days, it will never again be mentioned. Except on crazy blogs.
Well since their Republicans I can only think of pre-shooting conversation:
VP: Shut up Whittington I can shoot you in the ass and get away with it.
Whit: Yeah, shoot me in the ass you, SOB. What is it with that eavesdropping..are too F##((* cheap to pay for phone sex?
VP: Aren’t there any birds here Texas?
Whit: I got a bird for you..as he flips of VP.
VP: Why your just another Texas, MF. (sound of gun fire).
Wow, with Susan around, do I really need to turn on my TV? This cracked me up, and after reading Susan’s info on the guy, the thought occurred to me: Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, probably. Maybe this is a good sign … when the baddies start shooting each other, what’s next?
I bet Keith Olbermann will have a field day with this tomorrow … can’t wait.
Not to mention Jon Stewart! it’s almost too easy…
I can’t wait to hear the MSM spin of this over the next 24 hours. I can write it already. This is a manly sport that Cheney engages in and these things happen. No harm no foul. VP appears at hospital and comforts his comrade in arms in the battle against the Quail. They vow a renewed war against the Bird menace as soon as old guy recovers.
If this were Kerry who shot someone, he would be a pansy, French, non-hunting idiot at best — if not criminal. Can’t trust them libruls who hunt for show. Man I am sick of this country. And these stories haven’t even been written yet.
I love the dynamics in this group. What a spectrum. Some are pissed the moment they hear the news. You have to think the whole thing through, including researching the statute, and THEN you will decide whether or not to be pissed off. I’m not criticizing you — that’s how I am too. I’m just sayin
That’s where I’m at. The GBCW diary. I’m right there. I didn’t feel productive posting there, but I’m right there. This whole thing — our political system — seems like a charade to me. And my own place in it just a part of the theatrics. Because no matter whay you do or say, it is just the same. I swear I can see things happening now in the MSM, before they actually happen. You know, the story lines a pre-made.
Saw Condi today on MTP. Her language. Fucking haunting. I paraphrase: “We have no quarrel with the Iranian people. It is the Iranian regime. And they (the regime) have a choice. They have many options where they can comply with the will of nations. But they are pushing this conflict.”
Does that sound vaguely reminiscent to anyone with half a wit. Fuck. I hate to do a Google search, but it is the same damn speech they toted out in 2002 before the run up to our last great war to end terrorism. It is like reading one of those Mad-Libs, fill in the blank, travel game things. (Country name here). (Statement of non-option options here). (Statement of fear here). Presto. Instant public opinion supporting war.
Fuck it. A clueless, clueless people. Fogged by a very well oiled propaganda machine.
People REALLY didn’t get the GBCW diary did they?
I guess I didn’t. Made me think that someone is clearly on to something. I have never seen an entire population of people so entirely immune to such overwhelming evidence of incompetence and fraud. We’ve been lied into a war for crying out loud. We’re getting ready to be lied into another. The very basic rights that our country was nominally founded on are under assault by our government, and I get to hear Democrats on the news tell me that they “fully support the President’s NSA program — it just needs to be tweaked.”
This place. The frog pond. Is like a small piece of sanity, I think. Or a small piece of insanity. But after a while, it is just overwhelming. To me.
You might want to go read Cabin Girl (not Crabbin Girl’s) comment on the BGCW thread.
GBCW, but you knew what I meant
I didn’t read the comments. Until so directed. But whatever the diarists intent (Cabin Girl may be right) it said something different to me. That being, it literally expressed about how I’m feeling. End of the rope. In terms of willingness to participate in the charade. Happens to everyone at some point in time, I bet.
I’m sure Tracy (oops I mean yurt) is happy she reached you. 🙂
I’m beginning to be convinced that this blog should just stay away from satire — both on the giving and on the receiving end.
Satire is a subtle thing. Some can use it. Some can understand it. Not everyone can do both.
Dude,
And I’m presuming you are a dude, here. I am seriously on the brink of falling right off the face of the planet. And I’d be happy to go. It doesn’t matter what I do personally. There is no change. Speak out. Or stay silent. This wave is just going to rush on.
Fucking MTP today. I almost lost it. Daschle and Dem Rep who is minority chair of House Intelligence. Both saying, when asked, should this NSA program continue? Both — yes. Absolutely necessary. That is the loyal opposition. Line up and march right on the fucking constitution of our United States. Absolutely mindless. We don’t need a terrorist threat to take us out. We’ve taken ourselves out. The mere threat of death — some unspecified hokey bullshit threat — and we as a people are massively ready to surrender any notion of freedom. Not a problem. I don’t know the numbers. But it seems overwhelmingly clear. We just don’t give a fuck.
And Iran. We are ready. As a people, the tide has turned. The whole cartoon war is the coup de grace. This is a crusade. Once it was a mistake for Bush to utter the word, but that fiction has fallen away. I am convinced we are headed to an awful global type of war. And I’m convinced that my team has some pretty kick ass weaponry that will allow us to slaughter multitudes. And I’m convinced that Christians will go to church and pray to thank their God that we are roasting “those fuckers.”
Fucking Ann Coulter is brave enough to publically use the term “rag head.” This is mass hysteria. And I’m so sorry for what this country is doing. But I can’t do a fucking thing about it.
Eisenhower — he was right. He was a fucking prophet. We are there. We are controlled beyone all hope. A brilliant control. With the illusion of freedom and liberty. We are a deadly hateful people. With smiles and Big Macs.
I want to be carted off to a re-education center. But the beauty is — they don’t even need to take me there. Because the system provides a mechanism whereby voices that say such nonsesne as — stop using my money to bomb children — are marginalized to the point of ridicule. It is a laughable notion to suggest we stop bombing children. It is not serious. Ridiculous. It is irrational to tell your lawmaker that you object to having a secret prison system engaged in torture. Laughable. Silly. Responsible people do not want to lunch with you, when you start speaking these thoughts out loud, outside this blog site. Because you are a raving lunatic. I am a raving lunatic. And I can almost accept that. I am a raving lunatic. It is not so bad. Just wish they would let me take something for the pain.
You are right, they are wrong. Even though there are so many of them. Even though they have so much money and so many bombs.
You are a decent, thinking man, and the Resistance will find you, just like the Frank family found Miep. 🙂
I have been sitting here, patiently waiting for you to bring up Miep Gies…
I got held up watching a report about the Michelle Kwan story.
Well, I guess you have your priorities… 🙂
of descendants who had momentarily seized the mouse to determine exactly when the ski jumping would be available, and it took several minutes for me to impose my will.
ski jumping?
Cheney?
hmmm
ski jumping.
The mechanism for our collective control. Circuses.
will have been the omission of bread.
I was going to worry about how the movie ended tomorrow. I was given a gift though this afternoon of being who I am and being needed for who I am and it filled me up inside. Tomorrow I am still going to have to open the book though all over again and seek out the small service to my fellowman. I am literally living one day at a time having to exercise a kind of patience I had never expected. All that I have left is to take who I am and all the lessons of life that I have been given that have brought me to who I am and have defined me personally and politically and get out there and work it with my two small hands in real time.
I think everybody should see that movie, again if they’ve already seen it.
I now reserve the right to refer to Dick Cheney as ‘Ol’ Scattershot’.
I think he meets the definition.
Peace
…was misinformed as to the difference between a lawyer and a quail. Who would have thought a whittington could look like a bird? Nobody thought that. Hindsight is always easy. We are reorganizing our intelligence to prevent tragedies from occuring like this in the future. Whittington may be “alert” now, but he wasn’t very alert THEN, now, was he? Terrorists are threatening our very lives while political opportunists help the Enemy by suggesting that our beloved leaders are the gang that can’t shoot straight. What is one assfull of buckshot against all the Americans that die of terror every year? Why does everybody keep misinforming us? Not my fault.
instead of a 60-something one, and if Harry were a horse, then maybe justice would be served!
well, now we know why Scalia didn’t share a duck blind with him.
That said, mention of Service Corp International reminded me of a fairly recent unpleasant moring’s research on Google because SCI and it’s subsidiaries which have had many problems being caught dumping bodies in the past (indeed it seems to be their specialty) also got the no-bid contract for post Katrina
body recovery
Do all these guys go hunting with Cheney?
“Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.
Now that’s sports hunting, folks. From your own chauferred car, you too, can hunt itty bitty quail.
I’m genuinely glad the victim in this incident is apparently not gravely injured and is expected to recover. A 28 gage shot gun is relatively small. (Quail are small birds, a 12 gage would blow them apart) BUT if this wasn’t the case, imagine the spin. People don’t accidentally kill people, shotguns do?! Err… did I get that twisted?… No, that’s right, the gun did it. Scotty, help us out here, tell em what I mean.
Well, I’d say Scotty can be thankful the incident is under routine investigation. That always saves his ass.
Scotty will just refer to the press to the VP’s press secretary. President offers his best wishes for full recovery blah blah blah
Crap, by morning they’ll have spun this as Cheney’s heroic effort to stem the surging tide of bird flu, and the guy who got himself shot (note exculpatory use of passive voice) will be just another unfortunate but inevitable casualty of the Bush administration’s war against whatever-you-got.
Uhh…
1 – The man Cheney shot spent at least one day in intensive care
2 – Nobody in the gov’t reported this incident. It was only because a local reporter was friends with the owner of the property where the incident took place that it was even publicized (24 hours later)
3 – I still don’t see anything on the White House’s website about it
4 – Let’s not forget when Cheney went duck hunting with Scalia right after Scalia ruled that the Energy Task Force records could be kept secret (and they still are).
Pax
The limited coverage of the daily press conference of McClellan’s was just about the most bizarre display of denial I’ve ever seen.