The Cheney slaughter, revisited. It was two years ago today that
Cheney shot 70 captive pheasant in a single binge:
Cheney arrived at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe on Monday [December 8, 2003] to do some hunting at the Rolling Rock Club and Game Preserve -- a private club with farm-raised pheasants; but some say it was no hunt -- it was a slaughter.
"Your average hunter may shoot more than three pheasants a day; Vice President Cheney shot more than 70 -- and an untold number of mallards... We're appalled that so many animals were killed for target practice essentially."-- Wayne Pacelle, V.P.- Humane Society of the US
Five-hundred pheasants were released in front of Cheney and his men; and the ten-man hunting party killed 417 of the birds. Vice President Cheney alone shot over 70 pheasants.
The birds were then plucked and vacuum-packed in time for Cheney's afternoon flight back to Washington, DC.
This is entirely consistent behavior for a hawk who had "other priorities" during Vietnam and who sanctions torture now — that is to say, a craven coward.