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Dick Cheney And A Two Car Funeral Procession By John Henry Lee
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Feeling Sorry For the Vice President
(REUTERS/Fox News Channel)
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Dick Cheney accidently shoots a 78 year old man while quail hunting; the press is upset because they were not informed immediately; Harry Whittington, the man he shoots, has a mild heart attack; The New York Times reports that if Whittington dies, Cheney could be brought before a grand jury, Cheney gives an interview to Brit Hume of Fox News saying he accepts full responsibilty and Jack Cafferty of CNN says it is "a little bit like Bonnie interviewing Clyde;" a big deal is made out of Cheney's rifle being worth 22,000 bucks; the late night guys are having a ball making fun of the shooting.
I'm sure that if someone could get inside the VP's head, they would be amazed at what he is thinking, These days I could screw up a two car funeral possession. At least, you know he has got to be thinking I am having one helluva bad week.
I must admit that there has been some smiling from various quarters; but me, personally, I feel a little sorry for Cheney. I'm a hunter but not a very good one. In fact, the last time I went hunting with my buddy in North Dakota, we went pheasant hunting and I figured that every pheasant I got costs me at least five hundred bucks. I know a little about hunting, however, and have never shot anyone.
Cheney Screwed Up
(REUTERS/David Bohrer/White House)
| First of all when you are hunting birds like quail or pheasant, the rule is you never fire until the bird is in the air and you have to fire upward; you never fire straight or on a level. Any hunter will tell you that he's been sprayed by errant buckshot from time to time, but there's a vast difference when those BBs are falling from the sky and when they are blasting you straight away.
This was an accident, but let's face it, Cheney violated the rule. One of the reasons you have to be cautious hunting birds is that the little mothers will stay right on the ground and fly at the last minute; you can't get spooked.
Iraq And Quail Hunting
(AFP/File/Tim Sloan)
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The flip side of the coin may be that one of the reasons that we are in Iraq is that the so-called, neocons (neo conservatives) led by the good VP were too quick on the trigger and convinced the President that all signs pointed to taking Saddam out.
This may sound like a stretch, but what one does in a situation like hunting (cool head, following the rules, weighing the consequences, being aware of others positions both literally and figuratively) would very much translate to sitting around planning a war.
If the neocons had waited, who knows what an outcome we might have now, but they didn't. Someone said that for most of us who make a decision, we have half a second in which to change our minds. True, oh, but to have been a little more cautious.
Providing A Laugh
Inadvertently, we owe the VP a great debt for this unselfish act of shooting his fellow Republican millionaire. The country needed a laugh. Hearing Jon Stewart, Leno, and these other guys, my Dad's words reverberate inside my head: you might as well laugh as cry.
One good thing going in Cheney's favor this week is that the Sheriff's department in Kennedy County, Texas has just closed their investigation into the shooting, but I doubt the late night comedians are going to let "sleeping dogs lie" that easily.
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 My Grandma Has a Blackberry book signing for women with breast cancer .
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