Just morbidly blue-skying a bit, the question arises whether Harry Whittington is still alive or not.

Of course, you wouldn't expect a whole hospital to be in on the game, but then again there's probably only a limited number of people who have seen him.

Of course, if this were a mystery novel or something, the kicker might be that the man in the hospital is still alive, but he's not Harry Whittington. In that case, the real victim died in that Texas field, and someone else agreed to take a shot for Dick Cheney. The hospital staff are being told that he's Harry Whittington, when in fact he's just someone else.

I'm just blue-skying, I said! However, feel free to post something like that to DU or DK if you have an account there. Just for fun.

Meanwhile, a Field & Stream contributing editor offers:

Reports from the owner of the ranch where the VP was hunting that Whittington violated some sort of ``Texas protocol'' requiring hunters to make formal announcement of their comings and goings in the field were a bit misleading. Everywhere that upland birds are hunted, the drill is pretty much the same. It makes sense to let other hunters know when you're moving to the left or right, or that you're back after visiting a nearby tree, but there's no requirement to do so. The onus is on everyone who carries a gun not to shoot at anyone else.

Cheney shot another hunter. Sooner better than later, he should own up to his mistake.

Also, Slate has some thoughts:

If there is anything that Harry's friends at the Vaughn Building are angry about, it is not the shooting itself but the attempt by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan to place the blame on the victim. It's the shooter's duty to know what he is shooting at and where his companions are. A shooting accident is always the fault of the shooter. Always.