You'd think with a widely publicized hunting trip on the horizon, and frothy-mouthed media mavens eagerly clawing for post-buckshot story material, that Dick Cheney's entourage would have at least scrubbed the Clove Valley Rod and Gun Club for controversy before his arrival.

Apparently Confederate Heritage Month came early this year in rural New York, as it often does, and Mr. Cheney's hunt-crisis-management office is again fighting an impending public firestorm after a photographer spotted a Dixie battle flag hanging in the gun club's garage. Can this story get any better? Darth Vader hates Muslims, eats babies and supports slavery!

No one so far has pointed out the obvious, which is that hunting folk north of the Mason-Dixon line don't tend to pine for the Lost Cause ... but then again, neither do wine-swilling Californians married to French imperialists.

The Reverend has something to say, though, and that means we have to pay attention:

"I am calling on Vice President Cheney to . . . denounce the club and apologize for going to a club that represents lynching, hate and murder to black people," the Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement.