First of all......

[Joe Fields]

If a "pellet" is lodged in the "skin," how hard can it be to remove it? You should be able to pick it out with tweezers. Therefore, it now becomes flesh and organs, which is, of course MUCH more serious.

And, correct me if I am wrong, but if a pellet, or pellets are lodged in the heart, isn't the heart a pretty well protected organ, (you know, ribs, breast plate, chest muscle, cartilage, that sort of stuff?


One last thing: Did the hospital administrators buckle under the considerable weight of the White House to move Whittington, so as to make it look to the press that this incident was not serious at all? Me thinks so!

[H2O Man]

1. Yep.

The pattern of the wounds, from cheek to chest, made me think it was a more direct shot at closer range than being reported. This supports that belief.

[cynatnite]

2. depends on how deep the bird shot penetrated...

It can be superficial but still deep enough to make it difficult to remove and even find.

Bird shot can easily pass between ribs. It's small enough.

The last point: I agree. I think they wanted to make it look like a minor accident.

[Joe Fields]

4. but then it isn't just "skin" as has been reported.

see what I'm getting at? Then it is flesh. Not skin.

[cynatnite]

5. My suspicion is that Whittington was closer than what's being reported...

and that Cheney wasn't aiming for a bird. It was an accident, but Cheney was either being a complete idiot at the time or had been drinking.

[Joe Fields]

6. And besides, if Whittington was wearing a vest......

then just how close does a person have to be for birdshot to tear through the vest, clothing, skin and flesh to penetrate the heart.

Where is Grissom and the CSI team on this one? It has to have been a lot closer than fifty yards or even thirty yards, I'm thinking.

[Inland]

3. I'm thinking of all the big veins in the neck and shoulder.

That's why the guy goes into the ICU. They've been worried about a nick on a vein or artery and shot traveling to the heart from moment one.

[Peace Patriot]

7. Question for medicos: Can this pellet just show up NOW? Wouldn't an

MRI or other equipment have found a pellet or pellets in his arteries, or anywhere in his body? How come they didn't find this, and let him out of ICU?

-----------

I'm still stuck back at the beginning of this hunting tale, where the Secret Service let a member of the V-P's hunting party go off on his own, rifle in hand, to an unseen location, and then come back and "surprise" Cheney from behind (or whatever it was). Where WAS the Secret Service when Whittington vanished from the hunting party? Are they still sticking to this story?

That just doesn't happen, does it? Bunch of old guys playing with guns around the V-P, and they let one of them get out of their sight? And they let the V-P get "surprised"?

First premises like this stick in my head: Like, with 9/11, I just can't get past the fact that our nation's capitol had no NORAD protection for nearly an hour after the WTC got hit, prior to the Pentagon hit. An hour's time, and NOTHING and NOBODY protecting the capitol. (Then I learned that D. Rumsfeld pulled all NORAD decisions into his hands three months before--and he himself was AWOL during that hour--with a very lame story later. He was "in a meeting." Ahem.) It drives me nuts.

Same with Katrina: Four, five days go by. Bush on camera eating cake. Bush on camera playing guitar. Everybody else--including Karl Rove & PR team--AWOL. (I figured Rove and Cheney were negotiating something re: Traitorgate--Rove on strike, maybe; and Cheney blackmailing Bush in some way, to get the first no-bid for Halliburton and total WH control of Louisiana and all the $$ strings, in exchange for...? Not ratting on Bush re Traitorgate?)

So, now I'm thinking, a) Was Whittington trying to off Cheney (maybe acting on behalf of other Republicans, or on behalf of those "about to be indicted")?, b) Was Cheney trying to off Whittington for some reason (Whittington, Delay & Co. blackmailing Cheney?), and c) Was the Secret Service involved in either case? (How could they let Whittington get out of sight?).

I was also thinking (re: scenario "b") maybe there was a second attempt on Whittington's life, say in the hospital, or on the way?

I feel like an ancient Egyptian reading entrails. (entrails = war profiteering corporate news monopoly news reports).

[Peace Patriot]

8. I haven't been thinking about Cheney being drunk. That's a possibility.

Re: the pellet near Whittington's heart. It would not have to have penetrated his vest, right? It could enter an artery many other places and be pumped to the heart? Medicos?

But I still don't understand--with all the new MIR technology--how they could have missed a pellet in an artery?