response 21 of 218:

Feb 13 19:30 UTC 2006

Dum, dum, dum, dummy what have you done
Dum, dum, dum, it's the sound of my gun
Dum, dum, dum, dummy what have you done
Dum, dum, dum, it's the sound, it's the sound...
Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah....

Cheney's Got A Gun
Cheney's Got A Gun
His whole world's come undone
From lookin' straight at the sun
What did GW's daddy do
What did he put you through

They say when Cheney was elected
Halliburton had a lot to gain
But man, he had it comin'
Now that Cheney's Got A Gun
The Oval Office ain't never gonna be the same

Cheney's Got A Gun
Cheney's Got A Gun
His dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
Tell me now it's untrue
What did GW's daddy do

He jacked the elections baby
The man has got to be insane
They say the liquor spell that he was under
The lightnin' and the thunder
Knew that Cheney wanted Hussein

Run away, run away from the Valerie Plame
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

response 23 of 218:

Feb 13 22:39 UTC 2006

I find the whole thing appalling.  I hope the NRA revokes his membership, at
the very least.  As it was reported on NPR, the man who was shot came up
behind Cheney, and then Cheney, hearing the noise, turned around and fired,
hitting him in the face and neck with shotgun pellets.

Sure, I guess that's an "accident", but it sounds pretty irresponsible to
me.  I would hope, had the man died, that Cheney would be charged with
manslaughter.

I'm no hunter, so maybe the hunters here can asnwer whether that's something
that can happen to anyone, or was it a terribly irresponsible way to use a
gun?

response 25 of 218:

Feb 13 22:46 UTC 2006

From cnn.com:

Katharine Armstrong said Cheney has gone hunting there for at least 15
years, and she called him "a very conscientious hunter."

"I would shoot with Dick Cheney everywhere, anywhere, and not think twice
about it," she said Sunday night. But she said, "The nature of quail
shooting ensures that this will happen. It goes with the turf."

--------

So, is that bullshit, or is quail hunting that dangerous?  And if so, why
the hell would anyone do it?

response 27 of 218:

Feb 13 23:01 UTC 2006

i don't get any of those american jokes :(

response 29 of 218:

Feb 14 00:48 UTC 2006

Aruba hit it square on the head. This is not an "accident". When it
comes to firearms handling, there are no accidents. There is safe
handling, and then there is negligence. This is clearly negligence.

The lady who owns the land can talk all she wants about feeling safe
hunting with Dick, but we all know she is full of shit. This is not an
"accepted risk". You simply do not shoot until you are convinced you are
doing so safely.

Let me just put it this way: when I hunted pheasant we used dogs to lure
the birds into the air. If you were not sure of the position of each
dog, you simply DID NOT SHOOT. And these are dogs we're talking about,
let alone people.

I think another problem with this is the idea that hunting is some sort
of social-business activity like golfing or attending a football game.
It isn't. It is serious business, and you have to pay attention to how
you are handling your firearm as well as your impact on the environment.

response 31 of 218:

Feb 14 01:49 UTC 2006

No wonder he brought his lawyer to the hospital !

It'd suck to be in ICU and in the middle of a legal battle, though

response 33 of 218:

Feb 14 01:56 UTC 2006

Reportedly, he'll get a "warning" this time.

This, too, is relevent:  http://tinyurl.com/apmdh

response 35 of 218:

Feb 14 13:30 UTC 2006

In Michigan, if you were caught hunting without the appropriate 
license, you'd most likely get a warning and be expected to pay the 
conservation officer on the spot, or else you'd get a fine.  I wouldn't 
expect it would be treated as a criminal matter.

I find the vice president's accident to be no more (or less) 
reprehensible than a car accident.  He made a mistake.  Fortunately the 
person who was hurt is going to be just fine.

Cars are *much* more dangerous than bird hunting guns.  I'll bet the 
fatality rate for car accidents (as a percentage; deaths per accident) 
is a lot higher than the fatality rate for gun accidents.

This is a time for some perspective.  The vice president made a mistake 
and someone got hurt.  That's that.  If it had happened in 2009, and 
Cheney was no longer the VP, this would be no big deal to anyone.  Why 
is it a big deal now?  Only the politics makes it interesting, and 
there's just nothing political to be gotten from this unfortunate 
occurrance.  You're just not going to get the Congress to impeach the 
vice president because he did something stupid with a shotgun.

response 37 of 218:

Feb 14 14:09 UTC 2006

The furor seems to be less about the shooting itself, and more about the
White House's seeming lack of forthrightness about it.  The television
news people in particular are awfully worked up about it, far more than
over other alleged coverups of alleged wrongdoing by the Bush folk
(torture, Gitmo, Katrina, WMD, and so forth).

This, too:  Some here have said that the VP and his crew waited 24 hours
before calling police.  That seems not to be true.  AP sez that they
waited an hour, and made arrangements for the cops to come interview
Cheney the next morning.  When a deputy showed up at the ranch that
evening (just a few hours after the shooting), the Secret Service gave
him the boot.  Gotta give the Veep time to sober up, I guess.

  

response 39 of 218:

Feb 14 15:31 UTC 2006

What I take away from all this is that:

  (1)  Cheney is a man eager to take up arms and start shooting,
  (2)  He tends to handle arms somewhat carelessly, without a lot
       of thought toward safety precautions,
  (3)  He's likely to end up damaging people other than the
       theoretical target, and
  (4)  The white house will go into denial mode when it happens.

But, hey, we already learned all that about him in Iraq, didn't we?

response 41 of 218:

Feb 14 17:06 UTC 2006

I applaud the VP's attempts and only wish he'd invited more friends on the
hunt.

response 43 of 218:

Feb 14 17:13 UTC 2006

<out the side of his mouth> "Stick a Q'ran in his pocket for me.."