Contrived?

Three writerly observations about the timing between Cheney's blood clot and the Libby verdict:

1) coincidences feel finagled -- by authors in fiction, by conspiracies in real life;

2) something negative (for Cheney, a health threat) can turn positive (insulation from reporters' questions about the verdict); from other points of view, it turns in the opposite direction; and

3) God enjoys a deus ex machina even if readers don't.