1:15 pm CST
A Beautiful Gray, Bitter Cold Day

Early last month I was complaining about the failure of winter to arrive here in Central Texas. At that time, the weather was warm and dry; not only did this raise the risk of brush fires throughout the state, it was also extremely unpleasant. I do not entirely dislike sunshine and warm weather, but we get so much of it the rest of the year that I look forward to winter for some relief, therefore feel cheated when winter doesn't come.

However, today, I am happy to report that it is bitter cold in Central Texas. Yesterday the daytime high was in the mid-30s and last night there was freezing rain in the area; in fact, as I write this (1 pm CST), the temperature is only 32 degrees and there are still a few icy patches on bridges and overpasses.

Also, the sky is a beautiful leaden gray. I have opened the windows to enjoy it. I know it will not last; I know that in a few days the harsh, glaring sunlight will return, and the days will be warm and miserable again. But, for now, I am content.


12:52 pm CST
Cheney's Hunting "Accident"

From the police point of view an accidental shooting usually involves injury but one that winds up in a narrow line of the victim's head, neck and chest carries an insignia of suspicion. If someone calls in to police that an accidental shooting took place and the bullet winds up right there between the eyes of the shooting victim, police rightfully are going to have serious questions for the shooter. The concentration of shotgun pellets in Mr. Whittington's head, neck and chest area is bona fide evidence of a potential deliberate attack. Thus, Mrs. Armstrong's observation that the quail was 100-150 yards out, allows a low line of sight to target, the victim's area of injury explained and buttressed by Cheney having Mr. Whittington standing in a gully to explain how the shot wound up in his head neck and chest ...
Was Cheney Close To Turning An Accident Into Murder?


12:49 pm CST
How to Wake Up from Mass Delusion

Dr. Norman D. Livergood: Life as Awakening

11:42 am CST
Alex Jones Video

Scientific Proof Cheney's Shooting Story is a Lie


11:28 am CST
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man





11:23 am CST
The Pentagon Has Seen the Enemy ...

And it's us! (It sure ain't al Qaeda.)

The government concluded its "Cyber Storm" wargame Friday, its biggest-ever exercise to test how it would respond to devastating attacks over the Internet from anti-globalization activists, underground hackers and bloggers ...
U.S. concludes 'Cyber Storm' Mock Attacks

The Pentagon has developed a comprehensive strategy for taking over the Internet and controlling the free flow of information. The plan appears in a recently declassified document, "The Information Operations Roadmap," which was provided under the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) and revealed in an article by the BBC ...
The Pentagon's War on the Internet

Are you an anti-war blogger? Are you afraid the Pentagon will take out your blog? Or, even worse, take out YOU? ... Well, be afraid no more! Stop your bellyaching about the war and enlist today as a Pro-War Blogger! Not only will you and your blog be safe, you'll make Big Bucks! Do it today! ...

The U.S. Army is giving "exclusive content" to pro-war bloggers through a propaganda company funded by American tax dollars.__The Washington Post's national security columnist reported the shameful news today.__The goal of the Army's propaganda is to obscure the horrible truth of the Iraq occupation, the propaganda company admitted in an e-mail to unquestioning supporters of the endless war ...
How to Be a Pentagon Whore aka Paid Pro-War Blogger


11:16 am CST
Cheney's Hunting "Accident"

Cheney Shoots Whittington -- Unanswered Questions


11:14 am CST
I can relate ...

"In wilderness areas where wild elephants have no contact with human beings they are, by and large, fairly tolerant ... The more human beings they see, the less tolerant they become ..."
Elephants Attack Villages in Revenge for '70s Poaching

1:12 pm CST
The Surveillance State


It would be a requirement for the building code:
Houston's Police Chief Proposes Surveillance Cameras in Apartment Complexes and Private Homes

"Suspicious people" were taking pictures in the vicinity:
Surveillance Cameras to Monitor Santa Monica Promenade, Pier

Nick Novich, owner of three Chicago bars, worries about the cost. "Every added expense ... puts a small business in greater jeopardy of going out of business," he says. Daley says cameras will deter crime, but Novich says, "That's what we're paying taxes for ..."
Chicago Mayor Wants Security Cameras at Bars


9:42 am CST
Accidentally on Purpose

Speculation: Last Saturday, Vice President Dick Cheney, an experienced hunter, was hunting quail with several well-heeled Republican acquaintances, including Texas lawyer Harry Whittington. The two men had been drinking throughout the afternoon, and at one point began to quarrel about a business venture of mutual interest which had gone awry. The argument became heated. Whittington sneered at Cheney's declining public standing and the most recent disclosure, by Cheney's former chief of staff Lewis Libby, that Libby had leaked classified information to the press at Cheney's direction. When Cheney responded with an obscenity-laced remark, Whittington, a man who knows where many bodies are buried in Texas politics and business, suggested he might arrange for certain facts of a sensitive nature to become public knowledge. Cheney, enraged, stormed away, then turned, lowered his shotgun and discharged it, hitting Whittington's face and upper body ...
Unresolved questions in the Cheney shooting incident

Katherine Armstrong: "There may be a beer or two in there, but remember not everyone in the party was shooting ..."
'Beer quote' pulled from MSNBC Cheney hunting party article

9:32 am CST
Latest on the Hunting Incident

Kevin Smith: Secret Service stalls and delays for Cheney / Cover-up in progress and Shotgun ballistics don't match-up

Alex Jones and Paul Joseph Watson: The media seems to be focusing on the delay in reporting the original incident and the White House cover-up of the fact that Whittington had a heart attack. These are important issues but why are no questions being asked about the incompatibility between the official story and the injuries sustained by Whittington? ...
Media Ignores Cheney 'Smoking Gun'

Meanwhile, at Harry Whittington's office in Austin, there is skepticism about the official story and considerable anger:
Full of Holes / The gossip about Cheney's bad shot

Kevin Smith on INFOWARS radio today stated that Harry Whittington, the rich Republican lawyer who was shot by Dick Cheney, is one of the owner's of the property that just burned, destroying the KOOP headquarters ... (there had been a previous fire in recent weeks)
Dick Cheney's Target Shooting and KOOP's Demise

Every local hunter interviewed by The Washington Times yesterday said the vice president violated hunting's cardinal rule: Never pull the trigger unless you are 100 percent sure of your target. And, they said, he violated Rule No. 2, as well: Never swing on game outside the safe zone of fire ... (he was either very drunk, very angry, or both)
Experienced Hunters Put Cheney at Fault in Shooting

Dr. David Blanchard, the emergency room chief, estimated that Mr. Whittington had more than 5 but "probably less than 150 to 200" pellets lodged in his body ... (that's quite a range)
Fellow Hunter Shot By Cheney Suffers Setback

2:56 pm CST
Pure Meanness

Today we learn that the Secret Service did not permit the Kenedy County Sheriff to question Dick Cheney after the hunting accident in which he shot attorney Harry Whittington. This by itself is an eyebrow-raiser.

In another development, Whittington has suffered a heart attack due to some birdshot lodging in his heart. This is a much more severe injury than should have happened if the man was shot from a range of 30 yards. Ten yards is more likely.

At this point, one thing is certain: Whatever happened on that ranch is not what they say happened. Therefore, we can only speculate.

Some say Cheney dropped his gun. But, if that is so, why cover it up? Why pretend it was some other kind of accident?

I suggest it was no accident. I suggest that Cheney shot that old man for the pure meanness of it.

It is well known that Cheney has an anger problem. Who can forget the time he told Sen. Leahy to fuck himself, right on the Senate floor?

A man who cannot control himself any better than that in public is a man whose self-control in private may be non-existent.

What set Cheney off this time is impossible to say. I only know it must have been a terrible thing to witness: Cheney, wild with drunken rage, spewing obscenities. Everyone on the scene frozen to the spot with fear as Cheney takes aim, then--BLAM! ...

Yes, it must have a terrible thing to witness. I sure wouldn't have wanted to be there.

Then, after the shot was fired and the old man was carried away to be "taken care of" by Cheney's doctors, his aides had to think up an explanation.

So, in haste, they cobbled together the one we got--and it has not held together. Oh, how they must now wish they had simply said he dropped the gun!

6:03 am CST
"Deadeye Dick" Cheney and the Most Dangerous Game

Jeff Wells: Accidents Will Happen


8:43 am CST
El Santo!






8:41 am CST
Deadeye Dick: Questions about the Hunting Accident

The more than 18-hour delay in news emerging that the Vice President of the United States had shot a man, sending him to an intensive care unit with his wounds grew even more curious late Sunday. E&P has learned that the official confirmation of the shooting came about only after a local reporter in Corpus Christi, Texas, received a tip from the owner of the property where the shooting occurred and called Vice President Cheney's office for confirmation.

The confirmation was made but there was no indication whether the Vice President's office, the White House, or anyone else intended to announce the shooting if the reporter, Jaime Powell of the Corpus Christ Caller-Times had not received word from the ranch owner.

In another bit of intrigue, The New York Times reported late Sunday that Whittington was commissioner of the state's Funeral Service Commission. In 1999, George W. Bush, then governor of Texas, named Whittington to head the Commission, which licenses and regulates funeral directors and embalmers in the state. "When he was named," The Times revealed, "a former executive director of the commission, Eliza May, was suing the state, saying that she had been fired because she investigated a funeral home chain that was owned by a friend of Mr. Bush ...
LINK

... Was the VEEP, like so many tough-guy hunters, juiced for this hunt? That would add the element of negligence to his basic stupidity. There are some suspicious things about this incident ... First off, Cheney waited 24 hours to report the shooting. Very odd. His office claimed it was "out of respect" for the owner of the property, Katherine Armstrong, who claims she forgot for a day because of concerns for Whittington. Could the delay have had more to do with clearing Cheney's blood of alcohol, and getting everyone's stories lined up? ...

Second, the story that Whittington exited the vehicle the tough-guy hunters were riding in to look for a quail he'd just shot, and that Cheney then got out to check out a second covey of quail sounds queer. When someone fires a shotgun, typically all quail in the area take flight. It seems unlikely Cheney could have found another covey right nearby ...
LINK