Lazy

So yet another Administration official has resigned under a cloud of suspicion for corruption. One David P. Smith, an Interior Department official no one has ever heard of, has stepped down. He appears to be involved in a tit-for-tat deal with Dan Duncan, a wealthy Texas energy tycoon and hunter, to designate Houston as a port for exotic animal importation. His apparent payoff was the right to shoot a buffalo (the AP story helpfully points out that the buffalo is the symbol of the Interior Dept. - hello irony) on Duncan’s ranch. As far as corruption scandals go, this one is pretty harmless unless you are a buffalo. In fact, I wouldn’t even bring this up were it not for the description of how this very masculine and brave man took down a dangerous buffalo.

Smith said the aging buffalo he shot had torn up some ranch equipment, rammed vehicles and terrified ranch hands. He said he drove in a pickup to within 100 yards of the buffalo — the official symbol of the Interior Department — and shot it between the eyes with a .30-caliber bolt-action rifle.

Jesus Christ – that is not hunting. That is target practice. WTF? Why not just drive directly up to the creature and give it one behind the ear Soprano style?