The New York Times reports that the White House has dropped its tone of levity over the Cheney shooting of Texas lawyer Harry Whittington, following Whittington's heart attack this morning, caused by a pellet that lodged or migrated to his heart.

The turn for the worse in Mr. Whittington's health changed the White House response to the hunting accident as well as the response of local law officials in Texas. Officials there said that they were monitoring the case and Carlos Valdez, the district attorney in Kleberg County, said a fatality would require a new report from the local sheriff and, most likely, a grand jury investigation.

Cheney's handling of the incident has caused tension between his office and the office of the President. And many medical experts are disputing the Texas doctor's version of Whittington's condition.

Attytood has more on lobbyist and Texas ranch owner Katharine Armstrong. Our prior post on Armstrong and her family's connections is here, and a related post on Kenedy County, hunting ground for the Texas political heavyweights is here.

Happiness may be a warm gun, but it looks like Cheney could get cold-cocked over this. He still hasn't made a public statement and even the White House thinks he should.

President Bush says the United States does not engage in torture.

Now look at these new pictures, among 60 previously unpublished photographs that the US Government has been fighting to keep secret in a court case with the American Civil Liberties Union. Here's a sampling:

• Photo 1
• Photo 2
• Photo 3
• Photo 4
• Photo 5
• Photo 6
• Photo 7

President Bush is a liar.

[hat tip Patriot Daily.]

Justice Sam Alito has chosen his five law clerks. The latest pick is not someone just out of law school, but a former Justice Department lawyer who was a close confidant of John Ashcroft:

Adam G. Ciongoli, 37, a senior vice president at Time Warner Inc., served as counselor to Ashcroft from 2001 to 2003. He attended Georgetown University Law Center, clerked for Alito at the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit from 1995 to 1996, and helped prepare the justice for his recent confirmation hearings.

It's a great day to show some appreciation for your favorite bloggers.

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Breaking:

The 78-year-old lawyer who was shot by Vice President Dick Cheney in a hunting accident has some birdshot lodged in his heart and he had a "minor heart attack," a hospital official said Tuesday.

Peter Banko, the hospital administrator at Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial, said Harry Whittington had the heart attack early Tuesday while being evaluated.

He said there was an irregularity in the heartbeat caused by a birdshot pellet, and doctors performed a cardiac catheterization. Whittington expressed a desire to leave the hospital, but Banko said he would probably stay for another week.

Scotty better lay off the jokes now.

In responding to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the National Security Archives and the ACLU, the Justice Department announced to the court that it could begin releasing the internal documents the Bush Administration used to justify its warrantless surveillance program by March 3.

Saddam arrived in court today and announced he and other defendants are on a hunger strike:

Observers say that the fitful proceedings appear to be edging closer to collapse after the judge struggled to maintain order during a raucous session when, for the second consecutive day, key prosecution witnesses refused to testify.

The proceedings lasted three hours and were adjourned. Here's a typical exchange:

The Government has filed its response brief in (Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, docket 05-184). Oral Argument is Friday.

The Bush Administration told the Supreme Court on Monday that the Justices could put a stop to a foreign national's challenge to a military war crimes trial without worrying about any constitutional violations, since detainees like him have no rights under the Constitution. In the latest court filing by the Justice Department on the meaning of the new Detainee Treatment Act, the Justice Department argued: "The Constitution does not guarantee aliens held abroad a right to habeas corpus." As a result, it said, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni national, "cannot claim the protection of our Constitution."

Shorter version: Detainees have no constitutional rights

Longer Version: The text of the Government's brief (pdf).

The 'Bali Nine' are learning their fate in Bali this week. Two have been sentenced to death. The rest, who were mules, were sentenced to life imprisonment. Renee Lawrence cooperated with authorites and prosecutors asked for her to receive a 20 year sentence. The judges sentenced her to life as well.

Boycott Bali. A country that sentences teens with no prior record to life in prison and young adults to death is a country with an inhumane system of justice that does not deserve to have tourists -- or your dollars.

Paul Hackett has dropped out of the Ohio U.S. Senate Race.

Mr. Hackett said Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Harry Reid of Nevada, the same party leaders who he said persuaded him last August to enter the Senate race, had pushed him to step aside so that Representative Sherrod Brown, a longtime member of Congress, could take on Senator Mike DeWine, the Republican incumbent.

Markos at Daily Kos explains what happened, and disputes it was a "betrayal."

From today's New York Times editorial on the Cheney-Whittington shooting:

The vice president appears to have behaved like a teenager who thinks that if he keeps quiet about the wreck, no one will notice that the family car is missing its right door. The administration's communications department has proved that its skills at actually communicating are so rusty it can't get a minor police-blotter story straight. And the White House, in trying to cover up the cover-up, has once again demonstrated that it would rather look inept than open.

Maybe there is a simple answer to this, but if so, it escapes me. Why does Kenedy County have a Sheriff and why is it a county?

More than 22 million people live in Texas. According to the Census Bureau, the population of Kenedy County is 407 persons. There are approximately 138 households. There are 4 non-farm privately owned businesses with employees.

But it has received 1,441 federal grants. Here are more statistics.

Did the ranchers buy themselves a county government? It sure looks like it.