Shooting a lawyer? So what? "Hunting" farm-raised birds? That's sick!

[BurtWorm]

I have to agree with Pharyngula's PZ Myers on this. Citing a description of Cheney's favorite "sport" on firedoglake, Myers then goes on to explain why he finds this much more distrubing a sign of Cheney's alleged "character" than his accidental blasting of his lawyer pal:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/02/these_guys_at_the_top_are_desp.php


Monday's hunting trip to Pennsylvania by Vice President Dick Cheney in which he reportedly shot more than 70 stocked pheasants and an unknown number of mallard ducks at an exclusive private club places a spotlight on an increasingly popular and deplorable form of hunting, in which birds are pen-reared and released to be shot in large numbers by patrons. The ethics of these hunts are called into question by rank-and-file sportsmen, who hunt animals in their native habitat and do not shoot confined or pen-raised animals that cannot escape.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported today that 500 farm-raised pheasants were released yesterday morning at the Rolling Rock Club in Ligonier Township for the benefit of Cheney's 10-person hunting party. The group killed at least 417 of the birds, illustrating the unsporting nature of canned hunts. The party also shot an unknown number of captive mallards in the afternoon.


I'm not some knee-jerk bleeding-heart animal lover; I think living things should be respected and treated honorably, but that killing is part of the pattern of life. I don't hunt myself, and I don't think it is an unquestionable privilege, but I can respect the skill and intentions of someone who does a little game hunting.

But this…it's simply sickening. Blowing away a horde of pen-raised animals, released in front of you to scurry into your gunsights, is not a sport. It's disgusting bloody-mindedness, a lazy, cowardly, vicious sort of abuse.

They say that torturing and killing helpless animals is one of the signs of a sadistic sociopath. Somehow, it's fitting that our vice-president is the kind of guy who takes glee in unfeeling butchery.

[pitohui]

1. people eat pen-raised birds every day

while i would not choose to participate in this so-called sport, i would not take the shooting of pheasant, quail, or duck, food animals all, as any evidence of sociopathy

we have real evidence we can point to, such as the cynical maneuvering of 9-11 to pick a war w. iraq and to prop up the value of cheney's stock options at halliburton, which previous to 9-11 was headed to bankruptcy because of the asbestos claims stupidly acquired when halliburton stupidly bought out dressler

that is evidence of sociopathy, looking for ways to kill innocent people in a far away land to save yourself from the embarrassment of a stupid business decision

hunting canned pheasants because you are not a good enough tracker to find real ones probably wouldn't be accepted by most shrinks as evidence of anything except that, in usa society, we are much too hurried even to spend time properly enjoying our sport or developing the skills of our sport

[BurtWorm]

3. It's a sign of an overall pattern.

Cheney needs to feel like a big man, but he can't be one like a man. He needs to send other young people to die for his alleged "principles." He relaxes by blowing hundreds of tame birds out of the sky. He's a sick individual who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a gun, let alone the levers of power.

[librechik]

7. yeah--murder, murder, think about mass murder, and murder....

typical Cheney patttern.

[DELUSIONAL]

2. sadistic sociopath -- yep that describes Cheney perfectly

[Maru Kitteh]

4. glee in unfeeling butchery

Yes, that pretty much sums up his character very well.

[LiberalEsto]

5. Maybe he should change jobs

He could work in a slaughterhouse.

[mzmolly]

6. "torturing and killing helpless animals is one of the signs of a sadistic

sociopath"

Bush and Cheney have this sick hobby in common if I recall?

[Odin2005]

8. Real hunters, like myself, find crap like this disgusting.

[lyonn]

9. Release of wild bird by the local govt. is done often

About once a year on our farm we see about 15 or so turkeys wandering around the place. At first we wondered where they came from, rarely see them ordinarily. By the way, they don't seem to survive out here, coyotes I guess. Then it dawned on us they had been released by the game and wildlife assoc. or something similar. They would be so easy to shoot, we see them from our kitchen windows. So, if one were a sportsman how would that be a challenge? Just asking. Now, shooting coyotes is another thing, they are wylie!!

[wtmusic]

10. It's been around for a long time

My dad used to haul me out to a hunting club where they would release pen-raised pheasants. The one pheasant I shot was my first and last.

While I understand subsistence hunting in the wild, and the sense of satisfaction it gives to some, IMO people who enjoy the hunting club variety of the "sport" have issues.

[Bridget Burke]

11. The Texas quail may have been "wild"....

The hunt took place on a pretty big ranch. Your story dates from an earlier "hunting" trip; I share your disgust.

But "beaters" probably did flush the quail for the shooters. Just like those hunts on Masterpiece Theater! But I those dignified hunts had no human casualties--unless cads and/or bounders were out to (a) secure an inheritance or (b) hide a scandal.

[Bake]

12. I like a good lawyer joke as well as the next person BUT

Can we cut the "so what, he shot a lawyer" routine?

Lawyers are people too.

Bake, Esq.

[BurtWorm]

13. Nothing personal against lawyers. Seriously.

I mean, it was an accident that wouldn't have happened if he didn't have this insane desire to murder things.