Harry Whittington

[zarq]

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

Comments

[fengi]

It's always hard to prove manslaughter when the accused has control over all the evidence. I hate to say it, but I'm more than willing to believe the truth of this has not been told and will never be told it's not just the stamp, it's the entire timeline and manner of how this was handled.. Cheney has bluntly, and agressively lied about larger things. I shudder to think what coverup might have happened if the guy had died. The first thing to let go of is the idea these people every act for the greater good or choose the simple honest path.

[zarq]

*nod*

I'm relieved he didn't die, though. Have you seen Molly Ivins take on the incident?

[bernmarx]

Thanks for the reminder to stay on the high road about this. Privately, I wandered to the low road, but I'm not sure if I strayed publicly. :) Regardless, you're right -- whatever humor value Cheney's incompetence might have is more than lost in the idea that someone is seriously injured.

Cheney shooting a weather vane thinking it was a quail? That would have been funny. This is tragic.

[zarq]

I didn't mean to lecture my flist! :) Normally I live for political jokes, but I just couldn't stomach these. What's amazing to me is that the jokes have been totally bipartisan.

[xiphias]

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.

If it makes you feel any better, he's the chairman of the board of a funeral company which was charged with desecrating Jewish graves, digging up the bodies, and dumping them in the woods to be eaten by wild pigs, so that they could re-use the graves.

After that, said company got a no-bid contract to collect bodies after Katrina.

So, it's not like he didn't DESERVE to be shot in the face.

[caelidh]

Are you serious? reallY? Or is this a joke?

It is so hard to tell anymore.....

I am not laughing on Whittingtons behalf.. but laughing on Cheney's.. What a fool.

Although, I think anyone who Gucci Hunts is a loser anyway. I don't have much respect for that type of hunting.

"avid hunter".

translation: "I am tough.. don't mess with me.. "

[xiphias]

Well, I'm not being entirely straight here, and I MAY be being slightly harsh. But I don't think so.

Harry Whittington has run the Funeral Service Commission since 1999, which is the government agency which oversees funeral homes in the area.

SCI, Service Corp International, runs Menorah Gardens, where this happened in 2001.

However, there are strong indications that the Funeral Service Commission is bought and paid for by SCI, which suggests that the Menorah Gardens situation was facilitated by Whittington. There were whistleblower lawsuits, a couple years later, on an unrelated matter, that of unlicensed embalmers, in which it came out that the FSC started to investigate SCI, the SCI CEO complained about it, and the investigator was fired.

To me, it looks like Whittington was complicit, and so I can't cry too many tears about the guy getting a load of birdshot in the face and chest. Even if he dies from the pellet lodged in his heart, I can't see that it's much more than he deserves.

[zarq]

o.O

I wasn't aware of any of this. :( Shocking. :(

I've made a note to read up on this when I have more time.

[windswept]

I don't see how it's Cheney's fault at all. There is a standard hunting protocol, and Whittington broke it. I don't understand what all the hullaballoo is about - this is a non-event. There are a lot of reasons to hate the guy, but this lies solely on Whittington.

[stilldocked]

I think the issue now is less the shooting, and more the fact that the White House is trying to make this a non-issue. Yes, there was what seems to be an accident. However, when a hunter is shot in my neck of the woods, it gets a mention on the evening news, because I live in an area that doesn't have much breaking news (Upstate New York). When the Vice President of the United States is involved in a hunting accident, it is news worthy, and it should have been addressed immediately. The failure to do so promotes the idea that the Vice President and, by extension, the Bush White House, are incredibly secretive and were "trying to get away with something" which is what David Gergen was trying to bring up in yesterday's briefing.

There are a lot of reasons to hate the guy, but this lies solely on Whittington.

I disagree. I have hunted before, and one of the first rules I was taught was, "Know what you are shooting at." Apparently, the Vice President was taught a different rule than I.

[windswept]

I don't know if you've been quail hunting, but it involves following a flight path which causes you to rotate, unlike, say, deer hunting. That's why it's incumbent upon other members of the hunting party to a) stay out of that arc, and 2) notify the shooter when they're out of position, which is what didn't happen in this instance. Whittington moved up into Cheney's "airspace" without saying anything, and Cheney rotated and fired and Whittington was standing in the pre-agreed line of fire.

[zarq]

I've been hunting, and I've even been pheasant and quail hunting. It is also incumbent upon any experienced hunter to make sure no one is in your line of fire (including your possible arc,) and that you know at all times where all the members of your hunting party are. I'm no expert and I haven't been hunting in more than 14 years yet I still remember those rules -- they were drilled into me as a part of Hunting 101.

This was an accident, yes, but Cheney obviously missed one or both of those steps. Even if Whittington didn't appear in his arc until he was turning and firing, Cheney should have known his location before the birds were flushed. If there was any question, he should have checked.

Both men have been hunting for decades and yes, accidents happen. But I do believe this could have been avoided with a little more caution on both their parts.

I wanna see!

[zarq]

*grumble* Every time I click on that user, it's not coming up for me :(