Nation/World Briefly: Cheney’s joke doesn’t sit well with West Virginia
Published 9:41 pm Monday, June 2, 2008
WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney apologized for saying Monday that he has “Cheneys on both sides” of his family tree — on his father’s and mother’s sides, going back to the 1600s — and adding, “And we don’t even live in West Virginia.”
The quip drew groans from the audience at the National Press Club, prompting the vice president to add, “You can say those things when you’re not running for re-election.”
The remark drew swift denunciations from West Virginians of both parties, with Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito calling it “disrespectful” and “certainly not funny,” and Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd saying that Cheney had displayed “contempt and astounding ignorance toward his own countrymen.”
Cheney quickly moved to defuse the matter, with spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride telling the Associated Press: “On reflection, he concluded that it was an inappropriate attempt at humor that he should not have made. The vice president apologizes to the people of West Virginia for the inappropriate remark.”
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:Sen. Robert Byrd in hospital
Sen. Robert Byrd was hospitalized Monday night at his doctor’s urging after suffering from lethargy and sluggishness at the Capitol and later at his home, along with a fever, a spokesman for the 90-year-old Democrat said. His press secretary said the West Virginia senator would be in the hospital overnight for observation.
@3. Headline News Briefs 14 no:Soldier awarded Medal of Honor
President Bush on Monday presented the nation’s highest military award to a 19-year-old soldier who died saving the lives of four comrades in Iraq by jumping on a grenade tossed into their military vehicle. Army Pfc. Ross McGinnis was in the gunner’s hatch of a Humvee on Dec. 4, 2006, on a patrol in Iraq when a grenade sailed past him and into the vehicle where the four other soldiers sat. He shouted a warning, then jumped on the grenade while it was lodged near the vehicle’s radio. “By that split-second decision, Private McGinnis lost his own life, and he saved his comrades,” Bush said.
Patient data breached at Walter Reed
Sensitive information on about 1,000 patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military hospitals was exposed in a security breach, sparking identity theft concerns and an investigation by the Army. Names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and other information was released, hospital officials said Monday. The computer file that was breached did not include information such as medical records, or the diagnosis or prognosis for patients, they said.
Florida: Discovery to the rescue
Space shuttle Discovery docked at the international space station Monday, delivering a mammoth lab and spare parts for a balky toilet. “You looking for a plumber?” shuttle commander Mark Kelly called out as he opened the hatch leading into the space station. Back at the Cape Canaveral launch site, meanwhile, NASA hurriedly set up an investigation to figure out why the launch pad suffered its worst damage in 27 years of space shuttle flight. Bricks and mortar flew off the pad during Discovery’s liftoff Saturday. Discovery was not struck by any of the debris.
California: Studio fire an accident
A Los Angeles County fire official says the fire that burned part of Universal Studios has been ruled an accident. Workers had been using a blowtorch to heat asphalt shingles to apply to the roof of a building facade early Sunday, said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Michael Freeman. The fire erupted on a streetscape featuring New York brownstone facades, then destroyed a King Kong attraction, the courthouse square from “Back to the Future” and a streetscape featured in “Spider-Man 2” and “Transformers.” The blaze also gutted a building housing up to 50,000 videos, but Universal Studios said there were duplicates of everything.
Syria: Probe of alleged nuclear reactor
Syria will allow U.N. inspectors in later this month to probe allegations that a remote building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike was a nuclear reactor built secretly with North Korean help, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday. The U.S. says the Israelis flattened the alleged reactor as it was close to startup. Syria has denied wrongdoing, asserting the attack destroyed a nonnuclear military building.
France: Crash kills seven children
A train slammed into a bus carrying middle-school students at a railroad crossing in the French Alps on Monday, killing seven children and injuring 24 people, regional officials said. The collision near Allinges ripped off part of the bus’ rear and caused its roof to cave in. Officials said the cause of the accident was being investigated.
Pakistan: Danish Embassy bombed
A huge car bomb exploded outside the Danish Embassy in Islamabad on Monday, killing at least six people just weeks after an al-Qaida leader urged attacks against Denmark in response to the publication of caricatures in Danish newspapers depicting the Prophet Muhammad. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
From Herald news services
