Birds I: And They Call This Hunting?

"Deadeye" Dick Cheney is bird hunting at a private reserve in western Pennsylvania, but the critters he guns down are even more defenseless that Harry Whittington who, after all, was armed, when the veep dinged him in an infamous incident in Texas last year but had the good sense to not return fire.

The Human Society of Pennsyvania described Cheney's last visit to the Rolling Rock Lodge near Ligonier, Pennsylvania, thusly:

"Upon his arrival . . . gamekeepers released 500 pen-raised pheasants from nets for the benefit of him and his party. In a blaze of gunfire, the group -- which included legendary Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach and U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), along with major fundraisers for Republican candidates -- killed at least 417 of the birds. According to one gamekeeper who spoke to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Cheney was credited with shooting more than 70 of the pen-reared fowl.

"After lunch, the group shot flocks of mallard ducks, also reared in pens and shot like so many live sheet. There is no report on the number of mallards the hunting party killed, but it's likely that hundreds fell.

" . . . Our criticism is simple to understand: Farm-raised pheasants are about as wary as urban pigeons and shooting them is nothing more than live target practice, especially when they are released from a hill in front of 10 gunners hidden below in blinds -- as Cheney and his party were. Such hunting makes a mockeryof the basic principles of fair play and human treatment . . ."

But then that's Dick Cheney for you.

Will Bunch has more at Attytood.