BANANALOGIA

Accidents happen. Dick Cheney's shooting of his quail hunting companion with a shotgun was, however, one of those mishaps that reaches out of television or radio news and grabs you with its sheer surprisingness. Perhaps because no one expects politicians to have non-political accidents - a little like when George Bush fainted eating a pretzel while watching NFL. Or fell off his bike. Or crashed his bike into a policeman at Gleneagles. It makes you wonder whether the current US administration is the most sports accident-prone in history.

A man, 78-year-old lawyer Harry Whittington, has been hurt ("peppered pretty good" in the words of ranch owner Katherine Armstrong) but there are jokes ... and the likelihood of more to come. One contributor to Eschaton exclaims: "Dick shot a lawyer! Is he nuts?"

# posted by alvaro @ 6:55 p. m.