Vice president showers man with itty bitty harmless pellets
According to today's follow up in the AP, the poor bastard Cheney shot is back in the ICU after having a heart attack from bird shot near or in his heart. Specifically, The shot was either touching or embedded in the heart muscle near the top chambers, called the atria, officials said.
Earlier in the story, it was noted that Hospital officials said they were not concerned about the six to 200 other pieces of birdshot that might still be lodged in Whittington's body. Cheney was using 7 1/2 shot from a 28-gauge shotgun. Shotgun pellets are typically made of steel or lead; the pellets in 7 1/2 shot are just under a tenth of an inch in diameter.
See, there's nothing at all to worry about. The doctors aren't worried. And why should they be? The vice president merely spritzed this fellow with a light dusting of quite small bits, well, specks really. Barely more than motes in fact.
1 comment:
And suddenly S' reaction to the story seems like less of an overreaction. "six to 200 other pieces...?" 200 pieces of LEAD just hanging out in the guy's body? Well, I guess, he's 78 years old after all. Something else will probably kill him before the lead poisoning gets too bad. Maybe the next time they go hunting together, the VP will aim better.
Especially striking is the way the White House is treating this like a big joke, very much in the "boys will be boys" vein. http://www.eitb24.com/portal/eitb24/noticia/international-news-cheney-shooting-accident-white-house-jokes-abo?itemId=D12711&cl=%2Feitb24%2Finternacional&idioma=en
Less so, now that Harrington is in critical condition. Peppered, indeed.
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