next morning

Well the story of Cheney's shooting incident this past weekend is really
growing. The downplaying of the incident to be minor injuries now appears to
also be fabricated per the

Associated Press:

Cheney apparently did not see Whittington, and the vice president
accidentally hit him in the face, neck and chest with bird shot.

So we know that Cheney damn near killed this poor guy. What really troubles
me is how the White House seems to continue to downplay the actual accident. It
is not the place of the White House to decide if Cheney was at fault or not and
the severity of the injuries. Those decisions are left to law enforcement,
prosecutors and also the medical staff.

From this same article we also learn that Bush was notified on Saturday night
about the accident:

White House chief of staff Andy Card told Bush Saturday night about
Cheney's involvement in the shotgun accident.

McClellan was informed Saturday night that someone in the Cheney hunting
party was involved, but he didn't know that Cheney was the shooter until the
next morning, the spokesman said.

McClellan said when he learned, around 6 a.m. Sunday, he urged the vice
president's office to get the information out "as quickly as possible."

Of course McClellan is now saying that "I think you can always look back at
these issues and look at how to do a better job," when asked about the series of
events.

One big question still remains out there though. This question involves the
notification of law enforcement. Any shooting incident is required to be
reported to local authorities. If the parties involved don't notify them then
the hospital will.

It’s a nice summer evening. You have just finished supper
and are relaxing with your family after your hard day at the office. Your
favorite reality show is on television, and you along with your wife and kids
are heavily engrossed in it.

Suddenly your door gets pounded down and men with guns and
helmets come rushing in and tackle you to the ground so they can cuff you. Your
family is in terror, but also they are in shocked because they notice the
lettering on the uniforms of these men – FBI.

Your drug off and thrown into a jail cell where you wait to
hear what crime you have committed. You sit there saddened with great concern of
your family. Your wife is in a frantic because she does not know where you are
or what crime you have committed. She thinks of calling an attorney, but what
good can it do when she don’t know your crime. Also she has your children to
worry about and wonder how she will survive.

The next morning comes and you hope to hear why you have
been taken, but as they day dwindles so does your ambitions of hearing any news.
Sad part is this continues for another week.

A greater feeling of discouragement rises in you as you
realize you have been jailed now for over a month, charged with no crimes and
you nor your family know what happened. In fact you begin to wonder if life is
even worth continuing.

This is a horrible story that I pray none of you ever have
to live. The truth is though, it is a story that could come to being under the
USA Patriot Act.

This act was rushed through Congress as a means to fight
terrorism in the home front, but in fact it has given an abusive amount of power
to law enforcement and essentially voided the fourth amendment.