Breaktime!

To my adoring friends.

On hiatus 'till 2 Feb 19

Cheney Shotgun Accident Changes Status

Listening to Hugh Hewitt's radio show I heard a caller say that there are four types of incidents like the Cheney/Whittington hunting incident.

Not newsworthy - example: A man trips, catches himself and walks on...

Funny - example: A man carrying a cake trips and falls face first into the cake...

Unfortunate - example: A man trips, falls and breaks his arm...

Tragic - example: A man trips, falls and cracks his head. Dies from concussion...

Harry Whittington now has a single buckshot lodged near or in his heart. -

Quote from Dallas Ft. Worth Star Telegram -

Harry Whittington, 78, was moved back into the intensive-care unit at Christus Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi after doctors detected an irregular heartbeat and decided to run tests. He remained in stable condition with no date set for his release.

"Some of the birdshot appears to have moved and lodged into part of his heart in what we would say is a minor heart attack," hospital administrator Peter Banko said during a televised news conference.

Cheney called Whittington in the hospital and assured the longtime Republican activist that "he stood ready to assist" in any way he could, according to a statement from the vice president's office.

"Mr. Whittington's spirits were good, but obviously his situation deserves the careful monitoring that his doctors are providing," the statement said. "The vice president said that his thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Whittington and his family."


What would have been barely newsworthy had it been Joe Blow off the street became funny when it was the VP who shot his friend. Previous VP blunders and incidents such as Gerald Ford whacking someone with a golf ball and Jimmy Carter flailing at a crazed rabbit with an oar came to mind.

But now what started out as humorous has changed status to unfortunate. I for one pray that it does not turn to tragic. I hope others will join me.

For more on the media handling of this affair check out Howard Kurtz and Hugh Hewitt.

prying1 sez: When will the media get it through their thick skulls that it is not all about them and we now have other sources for news.

Technorati Tags: cheney

Dick Cheney Arrested For Shooting Lawyers Out of Season

Ok, Just to clue you in, Cheney wasn't arrested. That was a joke. One of many of which I'm sure Dick Cheney will be hearing for the rest of his life. The man Dick Cheney accidentally shot, Harry Whittington, who was peppered with birdshot, is doing fine.

"Waskiwy Wepubwican Wawyers" better watch out too. I can hear the lawyers secretaries now, "Excuse me Mr. Finster, A call from the Vice President. He wants to go hunting for you."

RadioBlogger.com has an excellent MP3 montage of the White House Press Corps 'peppering' Scott McClellan with a bunch of egotistical, 'Why wasn't I notified first' questions. RadioBlogger notes that not once did they ask how Mr. Whittington or the VP were doing. Generalissimo says, "It seems like all they care about is not being notified for 24 hours, because of course, it really is all about them."

- I (prying1) concur... -

My favorite from the montage was some dingbat reporter woman asking, ""Would it have been much more serious if the man had died?"

I'm still rolling here over that one!

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A 'borrowed' collection follows

"Daily Show" host Jon Stewart, speaking as a "concerned parent," urged viewers never to let their children go on hunting trips with the vice president. "I don't care what kind of lucrative contracts they're trying to land, or energy regulation they're trying to get lifted. It's just not worth it."


"Good news, ladies and gentlemen, we have finally located weapons of mass destruction: It's Dick Cheney." Said David Letterman - & - "We can't get bin Laden, but we nailed a 78-year-old attorney."

Rush Limbaugh: - "Would you rather go hunting with Dick Cheney or riding in a car over a bridge with Ted Kennedy?" (The punch line: At least Cheney takes you to the hospital.)

The Herald in Scotland declared, "Cheney Bags a Lawyer," while the Sydney Morning Herald headlined its story "Cheney Hunts Quail and the World Ducks."

Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal says he'd be proud to hunt with the vice president: "cautious, but proud."

Jay Leno quipped "Cheney's popularity is now at 92 percent - having shot a lawyer."

"The CIA assured Cheney that Harry Whittington was actually a pheasant," - Democratic speechwriter Jeff Nussbaum.

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"It has become clear that Cheney was doing the country a service when he avoided service."

prying1 sez: - Hoping you went to RadioBlogger.com and listened to the MP3. Put him in your favorites! -

One thing I have not heard re: the MSM being notified so late is the fact that names in incidents like this are not immediately released in traffic accidents, murders, accidental shootings etc., to give time for friends and relatives to be notified prior to hearing it on the 'news'. The delay in the MSM getting this is no big deal except to show once again how these 'news gatherers' think the world revolves around them.

These liberals always talk about touchy feely and caring but not one of them cared about poor Scott McClellan and his feelings... I would not last long in his job. I'd be laughing in the faces of the idiot questioners...

- One more thing - I bet Cheney is glad his name is not associated with this one - Man's elbow, mistaken for squirrel, shot -

Check the Value of Your Home For Free!

This is a pretty handy little site. You type in your address (or your neighbors if you are insecure) and a picture pops up of your neighborhood with estimated prices of all the properties. Seems to just work with homes and not businesses.

Check it out at: Zillow.com -

Thank You Michelle Kwan For Being So Graceful

Michelle Kwan has bowed out of the Olympics. I believe it was a graceful bow she took. Bravo and a standing ovation to you Michelle! You are loved! You are a class act!

By BARRY WILNER, AP Sports Writer/via ESPN website - TURIN, Italy -- A career so long and sweet ended far too quickly, with tears and heartbreak.

Michelle Kwan heads home from the Turin Olympics empty-handed, betrayed by a body that carried her to nine U.S. championships and five world titles, but no Olympic gold.

"It's always been a dream to win the Olympics," Kwan said Sunday, her eyes red and puffy from the tears that flowed for who knows how long. "But I've learned it's not about the gold, it's about the spirit of it and about the sport itself."

A new groin injury suffered in her only practice on Olympic ice forced Kwan to withdraw from the U.S. team she made in the first place on a medical bye.

"I evaluated my body and had to make a decision," she said. "It's one of the toughest decisions I've had to make, but I know it's the right one."

And the most painful one, because it almost certainly is the end for Kwan.

At 25, it was too much to expect Kwan to soar like a teenage prodigy -- even she understood that. But skating's ultimate trouper had turned low expectations into championships so often that it wasn't a reach to rule out anything, including gold.

Until, that is, she reached the ice in Turin.

"I have no regrets. I tried my hardest," she said. "And if I don't win the gold, it's OK. I've had a great career. I've been very lucky. This is a sport, and it's beautiful."

I don't know about you but I've always loved Michelle Kwan. Still do and always will. I felt a bit closer to her than other figure skaters because I lived in her hometown of Torrance CA for many years.

I often drove by the rink she used to practice in and I would think of her. I've skated on the same ice as she did. She probably fell on it more than I did. I didn't fall as much because I never pushed myself to excellence as she did.

How I admire those who push themselves.

Thank you Michelle! The world is a better place because of people like you.

Was Hitler a Christian?

Was Hitler a Christian? Not according to the book, Hitler's Table Talk. Norm Weatherby tells about it on his site, Quantum Thought. Included are some quotes straight from the **"Complete Pagan's"** mouth . Well worth the time to visit. The book is available and can be purchased at various online book sellers if you decide you need a copy.

** - as Hitler referred to himself - **

Sonorous

I got an email from Patri-ette who had borrowed The Violence Worker's website while he is on vacation. She was answering a comment I had made that referenced Barbara Streisand. In it she said, " She is another one of the Hollywood liberal elite that believe that we are entitled to her sonorous opinion."

I loved the adjective 'sonorous'! So much so that I had to use it so I thought I would in conjunction with this post.

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From Dictionary.com
sonorous \suh-NOR-uhs; SAH-nuh-rus\, adjective:
1. Giving sound when struck; resonant; as, sonorous metals.
2. Loud-sounding; giving a clear or loud sound; as, a sonorous voice.
3. Yielding sound; characterized by sound; as, the vowels are sonorous.
4. Impressive in sound; high-sounding.
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Last night saw a group of kids outside a Starbucks in a local shopping center parking lot. One of them had his car stereo just blasting and rattling windows a block away. I am always envious of those who are oblivious to others around them. If I cared for my fellow man in the same fashion I could get away with a lot more and might still have a clean conscience. Well these kids seemed intent on entertaining the world for as far as they could distribute sound waves.

I went up to the car owner and loudly asked him if he ever heard the word, "distortion"?

He turned down the (so called) music and I again, not as loudly, asked, "Have you ever heard the word, 'distortion'"?

He said, Huh?

I said, "With the volume level turned up so high all you are getting is distortion. The sound has ceased to be music." I then walked away. The kids started hooting at me and I kept walking but turned and said, "Go ahead. Turn it back up."

He hadn't by the time I had gone.

At least I gave the world a few moments of peace and quiet.