We cannot escape our natures

So the vice-president shot a guy in the face and upper body over the weekend while hunting for quail in Texas.

Cheney violates cardinal rule of hunting

By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney apparently broke the No. 1 rule of hunting: be sure of what you're shooting at. Cheney wounded fellow hunter Harry Whittington in the face, neck and chest Saturday, apparently because he didn't see Whittington approaching as he fired on a covey of quail in Texas.

Hunting safety experts interviewed Monday agreed it would have been a good idea for Whittington to announce himself - something he apparently didn't do, according to a witness. But they stressed that the shooter is responsible for knowing his surroundings and avoiding hitting other people.

"We always stress to anybody that before you make any kind of a shot, it's incumbent upon the shooter to assess the situation and make sure it's a safe shot," said Mark Birkhauser, president-elect of the International Hunter Education Association and hunter education coordinator in New Mexico. "Once you squeeze that trigger, you can't bring that shot back."

I am forced to wonder about the carindal rules of unprovoked war. Shouldn't we have been certain that there were nuclear/biologica/chemical weapons before invading Iraq and misleading more than 2,000 American troops to their deaths. Shouldn't we have been certain before fomenting an insurgency on a foreing country? Shouldn't we have been certain before starting a war that has claimed tens of thousands of Iraqi lives? Shouldn't we have been certain that our cause was just before wasting the international good will we had been showered with post 9/11? Shouldn't we have a new President?

Cheney, an experienced hunter, has not commented publicly about the accident. He avoided reporters by leaving an Oval Office meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan before the press was escorted in.

President Bush was told about Cheney's involvement in the accident shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday - about an hour after it occurred - but the White House did not disclose the accident until Sunday afternoon, and then only in response to press questions. Press secretary Scott McClellan said he did not know until Sunday morning that Cheney had shot someone.

Facing a press corps upset that news had been withheld, McClellan said, "I think you can always look back at these issues and look at how to do a better job."

Katharine Armstrong, the owner of the ranch where the shooting occurred, said she told Cheney on Sunday morning that she was going to inform the local paper, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. She said he agreed, and the newspaper reported it on its Web site Sunday afternoon.

Nice to see that there's no type of news that isn't subject to White House spin and stifling.