[Nettime-bold] Bush chokes on a pretzel while watching TV

[Natalie Bookchin <natalie@action-tank.org>]

Buried in the  (analog) national section of the NY times, we learn 
that our heroic
president cant eat and watch tv at the same time.
(or maybe it was an extra tough pretzel sent by an al queda terrorist...)

proud-as always -to be an american,
natalie

(also, by the way, in an unrelated story, those of you in la,
Michael Hardt is speaking today at 4 pm at UCLA in Royce hall....)



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http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/14/national/14BUSH.html?pagewanted=print

NATIONAL

January 14, 2002
Bush Faints at White House

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 - President Bush fainted in his bedroom at the 
White House late this
afternoon while eating a pretzel and watching a televised football 
game, said Ari Fleischer, a
White House spokesman.

Mr. Bush was apparently briefly unconscious and fell and hit his head 
on the floor and a table, Mr. Fleischer
said. The president had been sitting on a sofa watching the Miami 
Dolphins-Baltimore Ravens game with his
two dogs, Barney and Spot. His wife, Laura, was reading in a nearby room.

The White House physician, Dr. Richard Tubb, examined Mr. Bush and 
"did not find any reason to think it
was serious," Mr. Fleischer said. According to Dr. Tubb's 
explanation, the president's fainting was caused
by "a temporary decreased heart rate brought on by eating a pretzel 
that did not go down right," Mr.
Fleischer said.

Mr. Fleischer said the pretzel had evidently stimulated the vagal 
nerve, which can decrease the heart rate and
cause fainting.

The president believed he was unconscious only briefly because when 
he awakened his dogs were in the
same spot, Mr. Fleischer said. "He said the only difference is that 
they were looking at him funny," Mr.
Fleischer said.

Because of the fall, Mr. Bush has a scrape on his left cheekbone 
about the size of a half dollar and a bruise
on his lip.

Mr. Fleischer said that Mr. Bush had told him he thought he "had a 
little bug" all weekend and that the
president had told Andrew H. Card Jr., his chief of staff, that he 
thought he was developing a head cold.

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