Piss Darth Cheney off - go to jail, directly to jail.

[Dos Equis]

Cheney has his Secret Service detail lie under oath.

A dissenting citizen who had the temerity to speak to the Sith Lord gets imprisoned, and sent to a hole in Guam to rot, out of the reach of reporters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/us/18colorado.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

[john9001]

<>

touching someone without permission is called battery.
-----------------------------------

poke a tiger with a stick.

hire a lawyer, sue them quick.

[lutrel]

See Rules #4, #5

[Mickey1992]

Who is stupid enough to reach out and touch/pat/strike the vice president?

[Airscrew]

Originally posted by Mickey1992
Who is stupid enough to reach out and touch/pat/strike the vice president?

Apparently Mr Steve Howard is....

[Yeager]

Holy crappolaman!  talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill.

All in all sounds like our government and judicial system is working, in spite of the eveeeel darth cheney

Actually, I would have been alright if the secret service had simply overreacted and pig piled the guy under the weight of 600 pounds of frenetic seceret service agents.  Of course the guy still would have sued....seems like the radical movement type.

[Airscrew]

Originally posted by Dos Equis
Cheney has his Secret Service detail lie under oath.

A dissenting citizen who had the temerity to speak to the Sith Lord gets imprisoned, and sent to a hole in Guam to rot, out of the reach of reporters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/us/18colorado.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Dos Equis also needs work a little on his reading comprehension skills...

Mr. McLaughlin said Mr. Reichle, who has since been transferred to Guam, asked him in a call several hours after the encounter to say that there had been an assault to bolster justification for the arrest.

Mr. Reichle, Secret Service agent was transferred to Guam, Not Mr Howard...

Mr. Howards spent about three hours in the Eagle County jail.

Imprisioned?  ok, if you say so...

Mr. Reichle had told him he would be charged with assaulting the vice president, but that local law enforcement officials filed only a misdemeanor harassment charge.

That charge was later dismissed at the request of the Eagle County district attorney, Mark Hurlbert, who said in an interview in October 2006 that he had been told that the government did not want to pursue the matter. Mr. Hurlbert said that he could not recall whether Mr. Cheney or the Secret Service had made that determination, though it was his understanding that the vice president did not want to prosecute.

surely Dos Equis you can find better bait material than this...

[REP0MAN]

Make a snide comment to me then try touching me? I'll give you reasonable grounds for your lawsuit, pal.

Yeager hit the nail on the head, mountain outta mole hill.

Funny little "get rich quick" scheme though.

[Dos Equis]

Correction on my part: It is Riechle who was transferred to Guam.

Mr. Howard is not in prison.

Here is what I find disturbing:

"Mr. McLaughlin said Mr. Reichle, who has since been transferred to Guam, asked him in a call several hours after the encounter to say that there had been an assault to bolster justification for the arrest."

So you have a secret service officer saying, in a statement, that no assault happened and then stating, for the record, that another secret service officer called him and asked him to change his story.

I guess nobody finds the idea of the secret service colluding to change a story, regardless of Mr. Howard's stupidity in touching the Vice President (something that people at fundraisers do all the time), a bit concerning. Especially when the changed story then becomes a felony.

No no, it's attack me for being a Democrat, attack the messenger. The usual.

The issue is apolitical. It's about an administration willing, yet again, to reinvent truth to fit a political end, regardless of the consequences or the morality therein. Or even what it means to other people.

Oh, and touching somebody without permission is not battery. That would mean everyone you bumped into getting on the train you committed a crime against.

Criminal battery requires an intent to inflict an injury on another, as distinguished from a tortious battery.

"In the United States, the common law defines the contact for battery as "harmful or offensive". The offensive prong is determined by the reasonable person standard. Looking at a contact objectively, as a reasonable person would see it, would this contact be offensive?"

- Wikipedia

It appears to me that several agents acted as the reasonable man standard, and then were asked - directly - to change their minds about it.

[Dos Equis]

See Rule #5

[Mickey1992]

I encourage you to read Steven Howards' deposition.  He amazingly seems to remember very little about the encounter.  Every other answer is "I don't recall" or "I have no recollection".  This guy was so determined to give the Vice Pres a piece of his mind that on two different occasions he loses track of his children in the mall and can not find them.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/20080118_Steven_Howards.pdf

Q Now, during that period of time did you have a cell phone with you?

A Probably, but I don't recall.

Q Have you read any of the witness statements that have been produced by the defendants in this case?

A I've scanned them.

Q Okay. So you're aware that at least one agent reports in his witness statement that he overheard you speaking on your cell phone about the Vice President, correct?

A I -- I'm not aware of that.

Q Okay. Do you remember taking out your cell phone and calling someone and telling them that you had seen the Vice President?

A The only person I would have called would have been my wife, and I -- I don't recall -- usually I carry a cell phone. I don't recall if I was carrying one then or not. I -- you can tell by -- when -- when the agent went through my pockets, you can -- I'm sure that it will tell you whether or not I was carrying a cell phone, but I don't recall.

Q Well, Agent Doyle specifically stated in his report that he overheard you say on your cell phone something about, "There's Vice President Cheney, I'm going to ask him if he's killed any kids today." Do you recall making that statement?

A No.

Q If Agent Doyle testified that he heard you make that statement, would you deny that you made that statement?

A I have no recollection.

Q Okay. Is it -- is it at least possible that you made that statement?

A I have no recollection.

[Airscrew]

Originally posted by Dos Equis
See Rule #5

you seem to be getting a lot of excerise jumping to conclusions.

a quote from your post

The issue is apolitical. It's about an administration willing, yet again, to reinvent truth to fit a political end, regardless of the consequences or the morality therein.

please show me how Bush's administration is involved here...

What I see is the possiblity that at the very least a couple of agents disagreed on the encounter.  At the worst it would appear that Agent Riechle screwed the pooch and wanted his fellow agents to do a little CYA.  I have to wonder about Agent Riechle because he goes from being assigned to the Vice Prez security detail to being transferred to Guam...

But you go ahead and keep looking for the conspiracies I'm sure you'll find one someday...

[yankedudel]

Take it easy on Dosequis.  He is from Michigan (like me:cry )  you just wouldnt understand!:noid

[Dos Equis]

Originally posted by yankedudel
Take it easy on Dosequis.  He is from Michigan (like me:cry )  you just wouldnt understand!:noid

Good thing Bell makes those Black Helicopters and not GM. Otherwise, they'd be coming off the production line in Mexico instead of Texas.

[lasersailor184]

Honestly, what this sounds like is not Cheney trying to punish this guy, but the Secret Service being embarrassed and trying to retaliate somehow.

The Secret Service wasn't paying attention, and let a random guy touch/tap/hit the vice president on the shoulder.