Priorities, people. Priorities.

The CNN website has an article up entitled "Cheney hunting trip under fire for Confederate flag". Take a look:

UNION VALE, New York (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney spent about eight hours hunting Monday at a secluded Hudson Valley gun club where well-heeled enthusiasts shoot ducks and pheasants.

It was Cheney's second visit to Clove Valley Rod & Gun Club in Dutchess County, about 70 miles north of New York City. The previous trip was in fall 2001.

Although a heavy police presence kept the media and curious local residents at a distance, Cheney's visit did stir up a bit of controversy when a New York Daily News photographer snapped a picture of a small Confederate flag hanging inside a garage on the hunt club property.

The photo was shown to New York City civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton, who issued a statement demanding that the vice president "leave immediately, denounce the club and apologize for going to a club that represents lynching, hate and murder to black people."

Look, I agree with Al Sharpton, okay? But where's the outrage about the suffering of the poor ducks and pheasants? Notice it's a "gun club" where people "shoot ducks and pheasants" - not where they hunt them. The poor birds don't have a chance. Cheney likes so-called "canned hunts" where the birds are domestically raised and then released just to be shot. The cruelty is simply beyond horrible. People who are so callous about the suffering of non-human sentient beings are also likely to be cavalier about humans as well. That's not just my opinion. It's been validated by psychological research.