Ange1o DePa1ma wrote:
> You have obviously never hunted with a shotgun with a group of people.
I certainly have too...
> A person who "disappears" to get a better shot 50 years away can easily be
> mistaken for something edible.
Not at all what happened according to reports.
> Whatever you think of Cheney, that was an
> accident. And even if it were due to negligence who was going to snitch on
> him? He was with a party of friends and the victim, who was barely
> scratched, did not even consider pressing charges.
A good deal worse than barely scratched: (USA Today, starting quote
from a Ms. Armstrong, property owner):
"The vice president didn't see him," she said. "The covey flushed and
the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And
by god [sic], Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty
good."
Armstrong said the shotgun pellets broke the skin.
"It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were
open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that," she said.
The accident was not reported publicly by the vice president's office
for nearly 24 hours, and then only after it was reported by the Corpus
Christi Caller-Times on its website Sunday.
McBride said the vice president's office did not tell reporters about
the accident Saturday because they were deferring to Armstrong to
handle the announcement of what happened on her property.
Armstrong said everyone at the ranch was so "focused" on Whittington's
health Saturday that it wasn't until Sunday she called the Caller-Times
to report the accident. Her ranch is about 60 miles southwest of Corpus
Christi.
Sally Whittington told The Dallas Morning News her father was being
observed because of swelling from some of the welts on his neck. His
face "looks like chicken pox, kind of," she said. (end quote)
His observation was being carried out in the Intensive Care Unit. Loved
the small-g God thing. USA Today, always vigilant!
More, from a different source ( Wiki,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Whittington ):
<On February 11, 2006, Whittington, a Bush-Cheney campaign contributor,
was accidentally shot and injured by U.S. Vice President **** Cheney
during a quail hunting trip, at a ranch in south Texas owned by
Katharine Armstrong. Armstrong is heavily involved in lobbying, mostly
with Republicans. Most of the damage from the shotgun blast was to the
right side of his body, including damage to his face, chest, and neck.
He was taken to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital by ambulance.
Armstrong stated that Whittington was shot when Cheney was shooting at
a covey of birds. She also says that Whittington did not alert Cheney
to his location and was simply caught in the middle. The Kenedy County
Sheriff's office has cleared Cheney of any criminal wrongdoing in the
matter [2].
On February 14, hospital officials revealed that some of the lead
birdshot lodged in Whittington's heart caused a minor heart attack [3].
Doctors do not plan to remove all the pellets from Whittington's body.
They are not certain how many pellets are lodged in Whittington's body,
but estimated there are "less than 150 or 200." [4] [5]
Whittington was discharged from the hospital on February 17, 2006.>
"Lodged in the heart". A mighty deep scratch! "Armstrong heavily
involved in lobbying with Republicans". Six days in the hospital...
There were other quotes from various stories, such as "comes with the
territory" and "this happens in quail hunting". Aside from the
attempted first-line cover-up, of course.
So: Are you on the payroll ("barely scratched") or donating your time
for the cause?
My family were all hunters and fishermen. Shooting someone would indeed
have been an act of great shame-- Rule #1: Be sure of what you're
shooting at! ("Don't turn around to follow birds", which apparently is
what Cheney did, as Whittington was reportedly catching back up to the
shooting group after picking up a dead bird.)
Cheney admitted to "having a beer at lunch" (you may google for
confirmation). Drinking *anything* alcoholic in any amount before the
hunting day is over? Totally irresponsible, in terms of judgement and
eyesight acuity, especially for an older person. No alcohol blood tests
were taken, by report.
> Had Cheney been firing away while talking to his stockbroker on his cell
> phone, then I say hang the guy.
Nice try at further deflection. Had Cheney learned about shooting in
the military (fire zones), since he obviously didn't get any early
training at home, this "accident" wouldn't have happened. Well, as he
said, he had better things to do...
http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=list&category= NEWS; Chickenhawks
or the same in TinyURL:
http://tinyurl.com/qkor
Thanks for your time. --D-y
