f13.net

I know it's an accident and all.  I just thought this (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20060212/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney_hunting_accident_3) was interesting.

Woot, the chickenhawk's seen action at last. I particularly liked the part about how his ever-present entourage of medical staff made him a safer person than most to be shot by.

Moron should just keep his ass in the bunker, where he belongs.

Just when you thought that it was nothing more than the veep blasting a couple of stray pellets into some old codger, the story grows stranger (http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001995719). Apparently it wasn't reported for over 18 hours, the victim of the men who cannot shoot straight was in intensive care for more than a day, the sheriff wasn't notified (of a firearms accident... uh), and there was no indication that the incident would ever have come to light had the ranch owner not called a reporter friend.

What?!?!!  A high-ranking government official shows questionable judgment and attempts to lay low while it all blows over?!?!!??  Youre making this up!!!

 :-D

It must be nice to be able to kill people with impunity and call it your job.

Be All You Can Be, in the Army.

Alkiera

No no no, the army has rules of war it must follow.  If you shoot friendlies or non-combattants for example, you get in trouble.  I mean the job where you get to declare anyone who happens to be pissing you off at the momnet a combattant, and finish them off.  "Steal my quail?  Fuck you - *bang*" type of thing.

I can't wait to see what SNL does with this.

People still watch SNL?

Fuck, Boondocks re-runs for the 3rd time on Saturdays at 11, and that awful Stoker & Hoop at 11:30 and I STILL can't be assed to watch SNL over either of them.

The last two funny things I've seen from SNL in years have been the cowbell sketch and the Narnia rap video.

The caulk sketch this year was decent too.

As for Cheney, I am mildly surprised this guy was a friend and not a pool reporter. Maybe his campaign contribution check bounced.

Let's not forget this priceless moment (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8404050589472675191&q=snl)

I love the completely bogus story they came up for this.  "Came up from behind."  You would never track a bird 180 degrees while hunting ground-birds in a line.  That would mean you crossed EVERYONE into your field of fire.   He probably blasted him right next to him.  Otherwise I can't see how 28 gauge shot would cause the need for a helicopter flight and days in the ICU, especailly at the claimed 30 yards.  Lying for these people is like breathing for us, it comes natural.

The lying is always what burns people. Someone getting tagged on a bird hunt isn't a story. It is a risk of hunting. The press are making a big deal out of it because none of them hunt, I imagine, but the White House made this 10x worse by trying to sit on it.

Still, I would rather bird hunt with Cheney than let Teddy K drive me anywhere.

It happens less often than gun-related violent crime, as gun advocates are usually the first to point out. Hunting is usually very, very safe. Also, like, he's the fucking VP... so, its a story.

Heh, interesting... my dad knows that guy.

The guy with birdshot in his face, I mean.

Sorry, I just had too:

Speaking from the White house after returning from the hunting trip, Cheney had this to say:

"I really dont understand what all the uproar is about. I made it very clear that if he was going to speed hack, that I wasnt going to pull any punches. Well, he did, and I had to scare him a little. It wasnt a hack or an exploit, I just used a 75m rifle and shot him in the face. He made his choice, just like he chose not to have saberblock on.

And I am sorry, but if you go speedhacking into a PvE event without saberblock on, you are going to be immediately teffed and shot in the face. Get over it.

I'm sure there was something funny there, I just missed it.

I would think a 75m rifle would leave a rather large hole in your face.  That's what? a hole about 3/4's of the size of a football field?

And no - accidents like that don't happen unless you screw up. If he didn't know where his shooting partner was - he should not have been shooting.

78 year old lawyer?  Quail hunting?  Stinks of lobbyists to me.

My take on this is Dead Eye Dick told him to cough up the green-backs and the geezer didn't hop for his wallet with enough alacrity.

You're 100% correct, but I don't expect the NRA will be revoking his membership over it anytime soon either.

I liked the press conference tidbit where someone asked how come nobody reported it until a private citizen did and the response was something like:

"Well, that's one way to get information out to the public."

What the fuck? One way to get info out to the public is to not properly report info and wait around hoping nobody else reports it? Job well done!

I also like how Cheney and the Secret Service managed to "negotiate" with the local Sheriff to not give a statement until the next day, 14 hours after the shooting occurred.

I love how the news media is shitting itself to make the fact that he shot someone a huge story, but almost nothing about how he tried to hide it. ABC-Fucking-News had one of their talking heads out in a field with a bunch of redneck quail hunters this morning demonstrating what you do a fucking quail hunt.

WHY? FOR FUCK'S SAKE, WHY IS THAT GODDAMN RELEVANT? HOW ABOUT THE FUCKING WAR IN IRAQ WHERE PEOPLE ARE GETTING KILLED AND SHIT? HOW ABOUT ARMIES OF CRAZED MUSLIMS BURNING SHIT OVER A DAINISH CARTOON AND SHOUTING "DEATH TO AMERICA?" IS THAT NOT GODDAMN NEWS, YOU ASS-SNIFFING CROTCHPHEASANTS?

Actually, that's not the case at all here in central Texas.  The local media seems to be quite aware and focused on that exact point.

Good for the Texans.  Reading Scotties Spin Session this morning made me want to puke.

Preach on brotha.  

Seriously, this is news because there's no actual reporting involved.  The story is a nice tidy package that's all there when the news team shows up.

With the names changed it would be page 5 news in a 8 page small town newspaper.  

Actually, there's a good chance it wouldn't be news at all, anywhere.  It's just part of celeb news feeding frenzy that our culture has created.  For example... If Jane Doe drives down the street with a baby in her lap, she gets a fine... but she's not on every TV screen and magazine cover for it since her name isn't Britney Spears.  The VP of the United States is no less a celebrity than anyone else, really.

Oops. (http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/14/D8FP24A00.html)

Well, he DID shoot someone in the face... and he IS the vice president of the United States....  and he DID appear to try and hide it, although I probably wouldn't go around telling everyone if I had accidentally mistaken some pensioner for a bird and shot his beak off.  I was interested enough to watch the entire story on CNN but now I don't care anymore.

28 gauge birdshot lodged in the heart.  30 yards my Aunt Fanny's fanny.

See ?  I wouldn't even have thought of that.

I don't know about guns.  Lying weasels, that I know about.

7½ .100" (2.41 mm) diameter
8 .090" (2.29 mm) diameter

I just wish I could afford the $75,000 gun Cheney was hunting with. I wouldn't spend the money on that, but I wish I could afford it.

No doubt, I can guarantee that it's at least 375 times more accurate and reliable than a $200 shotgun you could buy at Walmart. Besides, if our country's rulers didn't have absolutely vital shit like $75,000 guns to buy, what other excuse would they have to relentlessly subvert our Constitution to make it easier to keep a chokehold on wealth and power?

The Bush administration is like my friend Dave - lies just because he can, even if there is no need. It's an end in itself!

I like how the guy was basically just scratched and now he has shot lodged in his heart! That's a great evaluation there doctors. I'm guessing next they'll say he was already dead before he was hit.

This is like the stories about how Air Force 1 was targeted during 9/11 and that's why the president did what he did and went where he went. Instead of just saying "we thought it would be prudent to do X Y and Z" they had to make up some story that turned out to be completely false.

These guys are just allergic to truth or something.

While I dont see the point of spending nearly 100 grand on a gun I must say I have gone sporting clay shooting with both the walmart special and a VERY nice 2k over and under shotgun. The over and under gun made me look like I actually knew what I was doing out there. I was hitting at least twice as many with it as I was the walmart special and it had a much better weight and balance.

If one is going to have a hobby and really wants to do it getting a good quality gun is not a bad plan but 75k is silly.

edit
word of warning when popping open an over and under shot gun to reload do not crack it open while looking straight at it. Ejected hot shells to the face is not so fun. I didn't realize there was a spring ejector for the spent cartridges once you cracked it open oops.

kaid

Dick Cheney was the CEO of fucking Haliburton, and still has stock options. I think his stock options made more than 75k in 2003.

He can afford it.

BTW, the Daily Show coverage of this event was just fucking hysterical. Rob Corddry talked about the hunting ranch where they shot the quail, which apparently weren't wild quail, but farm-raised. Corrdry called them "witless, wingless quailtards" and I almost shit myself.

I loved the insert of Duck Hunt.  I cried.

Could he have been under the influence at the time?

Your're paying for a Master Craftsmans time. Just google for expensive shotguns and check out Purdeys that are engraved by Grifnee or the like.

I didnt actually see a link to the actual SG, so guessing its something like a Purdey btw.

Which is why the SS wouldn't let the police talk to him?

Since I know you all want an update... I give you this (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20060215/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney_21).

This one struck me.


Even after shooting someone the guy is most concerned about public perception and how he was effected. It could be the nature of the interview and it could be the stress.    It still seems that this guy is a pretty cold character.

For the kind of public figure you're talking about, I don't think it's that abnormal for him to be thinking about saving his own ass in the public eye. He's a freaking politician. They eat, sleep, and breathe "image."

That also doesn't mean it's not a douchebaggy thought process.

I'm not entirely convinced the local PD does have juristicion if the VP shoots someone.  The Secret Service or FBI seems more likely and I doubt if there is any legal requirement to contact the local town sherrif or state attorney.

Don't get me wrong, I see this as clear evidence that Dick is incompetent and probably shouldn't be any where near authority but from the PoV of the rules of law that we all live by I'm not sure there was anything done 'wrong'.

There was a radio talk show a friend was telling me about where the commentator was so fed up with this that he interviewed an 8 year old and asked her, "Which is a more important a news story?  The Vice President accidentally shoots someone or that Iran is building nuclear bombs." and the kids goes, "Nuclear Bombs."

There is a reason I pretty much ignore main stream news media I guess.

"It was important to convey the truth...how could I do that?

It's been argued before that the 'truth' is whatever the majority perception of it is.  I think at some point, far enough up the chain, the truth is whatever the news media says it is because they dictate public perception.  Under that definition no politition can EVEN know the truth without a reporter to define it for him.

Err...the truth is what actually happened. You can't really change that. People's memories may change, their intentions may be shrouded in secrecy, but what happened is what happened, and that's the truth of it. Argue that all you'd like. It'd be a bullshit argument.

Poor Sky.  Doomed to go through life disillusioned and heart broken.

edit:

Let me add this.  You will never know what happened, not really.  Therefore the truth, for you, will be whatever combination of reported 'facts' you decide you like, probably most of those will be the ones that were presented to you in a way you found pleasing.

There may be an absolute truth to what happened in the reference of what molecules and atoms were where and doing what at each Planks Constant time quanta but according to Schroedinger and quantum physics thats probably only knowable to a certain probability anyway.

There's the "Truth"  :-D and then there's the truth  :x

Murgos aka Lionel Hutz

(http://www.thesimpsonsquotes.com/images/hutz_pointing.gif)

I move for a bad trial thingy.

You can't handle the truth!  :nda:

I've actually evolved my intellect to the point where I can handle knowing I don't know the truth of the matter. The truth for me won't be whatever spin is manufactured, the truth of this matter will remain unknown. Apparently this is an oddity? You have an odd view of truth, if I'm the disillusioned one.

How is this news? (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20060216/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney_43)

The president sides with Dick.  I'm still reeling with shock.  Now if 'ol George said he screwed up... THAT might make for some interesting print.

The local station has Lampooned Aerosmith's "Janie's got a Gun" to "Dick Cheney's got a gun."  Highly amusing.  I'll try and find an mp3 of it.

I heard an interesting "commercial" this morning on a local radio station. Brokeback Cheney.

It had the shooting victim and his wife speaking in defense of Cheney, it went something like this:

Man: I like Dick
Wife: I like Dick too but you like Dick more than me
Man: But Dick sprayed me in the face

etc etc. It was twisted. I wish I could find a link to an mp3 for you guys. It was pretty funny.

I don't get it.

Clearly.

I too disagree that 'majority opinion defines truth'.  There is always a truth to every situation.  It may not be possible for us to know what the truth of a situation is, but it doesn't change whether there is a truth or not, or what exactly the truth is.

Then again, I also disagree with moral relativism, so what do I know.

Alkiera

There is always a real truth, sure.  However, Heisenberg was not wrong.  Plus, you can act against the truth or against the world's perception of truth, with the latter being more likely to garner results... because people suck.

Meh, my point was simply that the truth, for a politician concerned with stayng a politician, is whatever the media reports.  Sky seemed surprised that Cheney wouldn't assert what the truth was rather than wait for it to be told him by a reporter at a press conference.

I've seen people make the claim that whatever a politician asserts to be true must infact be false because otherwise why would he/she assert that?  It's tinfoil hattery at it's best, you know?  "That's what they wan't you to think so qed the truth must be something else."

It's your world, I'm just commenting on it.

Anyway, the 'facts' and the 'truth' are certainly not the same thing, dont believe me?  Go watch 12 Angry Men again, you missed something.