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March 06, 2006
Accidents, Cheney go hand-in-hand
Let’s say you shoot somebody in the face, accidentally of course, while hunting. Let’s say that this person is your friend. You’re worried, and while your friend gets relatively prompt medical attention, you forget to notify the police until about an hour later. What’s more is that you don’t let them question you until the next day. Oh, and by the way? You weren’t exactly authorized to be hunting, either. A few days later your friend survives a “silent heart attack” caused by injuries from the shooting, and news is released that, contrary to earlier statements, alcohol may have been a factor.
If this hypothetical situation were true, you could expect to get at least a slap on the wrist from enforcement officials, along with a fine for the game license violation and most likely a charge of criminal negligence, right? Right - unless, of course, you happen to be vice president of the United States.
Most of us can recognize the aforementioned crime as having been committed by our very own Dick Cheney not long ago. The funny thing is that while Cheney is being issued a warning citation for hunting without proper bird stamps, that incriminating little criminal neglect charge doesn’t appear as if it will be a problem for the VP.
There’s a job with one hell of a benefits package.
I don’t think in any way that Cheney tried to do this on purpose, nor do I deny that accidents do happen. However, what started as an unfortunate and mildly humorous event soon turned into a disturbing showcase of cover-ups once measures taken by the Bush administration to protect Cheney were revealed.
It comes to no surprise that Cheney alerted only the county sheriff’s department, and that the sole news source contacted by the hunting party was the small county-based newspaper. It’s going to take much longer for the story to spread when you first report it in a conservative county with 414 residents.
If a regular citizen had been the shooter in this fiasco, they would’ve been landed with criminal charges for failing to alert officials promptly. If a well-known Democrat had been the shooter, every Democrat in the public spotlight would have been expected to apologize or explain the action. There is something deeply unsettling when one man and one administration wields this much power; where not only can they do questionable acts countrywide, and unspeakable acts internationally, but also blatantly stall criminal investigations at a personal level in order to maintain face.
At the root of it, the real issue here is not about hunting accidents or game stamp violations. It’s about the Bush administration’s shameful practice of skirting laws and avoiding punishments for their own benefit- something that is much more damaging, and even more frightening, than Cheney in the woods with a shotgun.
Posted by dwright at March 6, 2006 10:41 PM
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