Harry Whittington
Harry Whittington, the hunter shot by our Vice President over the weekend, has had a minor, asymptomatic heart attack. Mr. Whittington should be ok, but will need to remain in the hospital for a week or so.
It’s fairly obvious by now that despite the White House’s attempted spin on this, both men were to blame for the accident. Both are experienced hunters who should have known to take further precautions. Details on the type of weapon Cheney was using and how common accidents like this are. Whittington was quite lucky that Cheney wasn’t holding anything more powerful than a .28 guage filled with #8 birdshot.
Someone in my office asked if the VP could be brought up on charges of involuntary manslaughter if the worst were to happen and Mr. Whittington were to die. I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t think that would be possible. The prosecutors would have to prove either criminal negligence or that one or both were committing a crime. I don’t think missing a $7 stamp qualifies.
I’ve decided that I’m not going to link to the bipartisan multitude of tasteless jokes about this that have been floating around. Upon reflection, there’s really nothing funny about a 78 year old man being shot in the face and neck. Painful and sad, yes. Funny, no. I’ve also deleted the link to wicked_wish’s post with a picture that I posted yesterday. It’s at her LJ if y’all would like to see it.
It’s fairly obvious by now that despite the White House’s attempted spin on this, both men were to blame for the accident. Both are experienced hunters who should have known to take further precautions. Details on the type of weapon Cheney was using and how common accidents like this are. Whittington was quite lucky that Cheney wasn’t holding anything more powerful than a .28 guage filled with #8 birdshot.
Someone in my office asked if the VP could be brought up on charges of involuntary manslaughter if the worst were to happen and Mr. Whittington were to die. I’m not a lawyer, but I don’t think that would be possible. The prosecutors would have to prove either criminal negligence or that one or both were committing a crime. I don’t think missing a $7 stamp qualifies.
I’ve decided that I’m not going to link to the bipartisan multitude of tasteless jokes about this that have been floating around. Upon reflection, there’s really nothing funny about a 78 year old man being shot in the face and neck. Painful and sad, yes. Funny, no. I’ve also deleted the link to wicked_wish’s post with a picture that I posted yesterday. It’s at her LJ if y’all would like to see it.