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Dick, Dick, Dick…all you had to do was say this Saturday night, or even Sunday morning, and it would have saved myself and scores of other bloggers a lot of time and typing.

“Ultimately, I’m the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry [Whittington],” Cheney said in an interview with Fox News, adding that Saturday was “one of the worst days of my life.”

“You can talk about all of the other conditions that existed at the time, but that’s the bottom line.

“It was not Harry’s fault. You can’t blame anybody else. I’m the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. It’s a day I’ll never forget.”

It’s nice to see Cheney accepting the blame for something…Satan must be awfully chilly right now.

Holy crap! Time out…I need to go off-topic for a moment. I just noticed a HUUUUGGGGEEE mistake in the CNN.com story. Get a load of this:

The situation has been worsened, some said, by the fact that Steve Schmidt, who was Cheney’s senior counselor and was in charge of media strategy, left last week to manage California Gov. Arnold Schwarz’s election campaign.

SCHWARZ?!?! Of course, I’m sure CNN.com will correct it–probably by the time I actually post this. Trust me, though, it really does/did say that.

OK…back to Cheney…he still totally screwed this up. But what am I talking about? If there is one thing this administration excels at, it’s screwing things up.

Well, Vice President Dick Cheney will discuss last Saturday’s hunting accident in which he shot 78-year-old Harry Whittington.

The interview will be broadcast at 2 p.m. ET today on Fox News Channel.

CORRECTION: The interview will be taking place at 2 p.m. ET (which is the current time as I type this update) and will be broadcast at 6 p.m. ET tonight.

I’m sure the Fox News interviewer(s) will really be hitting the tough questions that need to be asked. I’m thinking the interview will last about five minutes, 4 1/2 of which will be spent by the interviewer(s) kissing Cheney’s feet for gracing him/her/them with his presence.

UPDATE: Brit Hume is conducting the interview.

Harry Whittington, 78, the man shot and wounded by Vice President Dick Cheney in a hunting accident Saturday, suffered what is being called “a minor heart attack” Tuesday when birdshot still in his body migrated into his heart.

Dr. David Blanchard, the hospital’s emergency room chief, said Whittington suffered an “asymptomatic heart attack,” without displaying symptoms such as chest pains or breathing difficulty. He said a roughly 5 mm piece of shot became lodged in or alongside Whittington’s heart muscle, causing the organ’s upper two chambers to beat irregularly.

OK…this will likely be my last post on the Dick Cheney hunting accident, but Time.com had this interesting story about how the news of the shooting eventually got out and thought I should share it.

More interesting, though, was the actual Web page on which the story appeared…

Note the ad I circled at the bottom right corner about winning a trip to one of eight Texas destinations…I sure hope the Armstrong Ranch isn’t one of them. And, if it is, Dick Cheney better be nowhere within shotgun range.

Well, after the White House was forced to acknowledge that Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot his friend in a hunting mishap, it decided to use its second-favorite tactic: blame-shifting.

Echoing comments made by Katharine Armstrong, the co-owner of the ranch where the shooting took place, the White House said victim Harry Whittington was to blame because he did not audibly announce his presence:

The White House blamed the 78-year-old man whom Vice President Cheney shot during a weekend quail-hunting trip in Texas for the accident, as officials struggled yesterday to explain why they waited nearly 24 hours before making the news public.

Neither Cheney nor President Bush made any public comments about the shooting. White House press secretary Scott McClellan tried to absolve Cheney for shooting wealthy Austin lawyer Harry Whittington, saying hunting protocol “was not followed by Mr. Whittington when it came to notifying others that he was there.”

“Unfortunately, these types of hunting accidents happen from time to time,” he said.

However, hunting experts and at least one National Rife Association representative say this is not the case, as Cheney did not follow a basic rule of hunting:

Several hunting experts voiced skepticism about McClellan’s view. They said Cheney might have violated a cardinal rule of hunting: Know your surroundings before you pull the trigger.

“Particularly identify the game that you are shooting and particularly identify your surroundings, that it’s safe to shoot,” said Mark Birkhauser, incoming president of the International Hunter Education Association, a group of fish-and-wildlife agencies.

Safe-hunting rules published by the National Rifle Association and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department echo Birkhauser’s advice.

This Philadelphia Inquirer story goes into more detail on the NRA’s stance on these types of situations:

The National Rifle Association places the onus of responsibility on the person pulling the trigger rather than the recipient of the gunshot.

“If that was just a regular Joe Blow, they’d say it was carelessness,” said Peggy Bodner, executive vice president of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, an affiliate of the NRA.

Bodner compared an unintentional shooting to a motorist who rear-ends another car. “It’s like if you were in a car and struck somebody from behind,” she said. “Even if the other person stopped short, it’s your fault.”

The NRA drills members on three fundamental safety rules: Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction, always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot, and always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.

Hunters add a fourth commandment: Be sure of your target and what lies beyond it.

“This means observing your prospective area of fire before you shoot,” the NRA says on its Web site and in its promotional pamphlets. “Never fire in a direction in which there are people or any other potential for mishap. Think first. Shoot second.”

Somebody posted this on the PhilliesPhans.com site and I decided to do the same here…

OK…I took some artistic license with the quotes around the word “accidentally” in the headline, but I couldn’t resist.

Here’s the AP story (via CNN.com).

UPDATE: I guess I was too tired from shoveling snow yesterday to focus on this story and didn’t notice that this happened SATURDAY. The world didn’t find out about it until late afternoon SUNDAY.

Are you telling me this administration is so secretive that the Vice President can shoot a man and the world not be told about it until more than 18 hours later? I ask that rhetorically, of course, knowing the answer is “yes.”

According to Editor & Publisher, the Corpus Christi (TX) Caller-Times was the first newspaper to report the shooting, which took place around 5:30 p.m. Saturday. But the first reports did not come until Sunday afternoon.

And more questions were raised by Editor & Publisher late Sunday night:

E&P has learned that the official confirmation of the shooting came about only after a local reporter in Corpus Christi, Texas, received a tip from the owner of the property where the shooting occurred and called Vice President Cheney’s office for confirmation.

The confirmation was made but there was no indication whether the Vice President’s office, the White House, or anyone else intended to announce the shooting if the reporter, Jaime Powell of the Corpus Christ Caller-Times, had not received word from the ranch owner.

One of Powell’s colleagues at paper, Beth Francesco, told E&P that Powell had built up a strong source relationship with the prominent ranch owner, Katharine Armstrong, which led to the tip. Powell is chief political reporter for the paper and also covers the area where the ranch is located south of Sarita.

Armstrong called the paper Sunday morning looking for Powell, who was not at work. When they did talk, Armstrong revealed the shooting of prominent Austin attorney Harry Whittington, who is now in stable condition in a hospital. Powell then called Cheney’s office for the confirmation around midday. The newspaper broke the story at mid-afternoon–not a word about it had appeared before then.

Powell asked Cheney spokesperson Lea Ann McBride if the White House intended to release information about the shooting and was told by McBride, “I’m not going to speculate. When you put the call into me, I was able to confirm that account.”

The E&P story goes on to say that McBride, when asked why she or the White House did not make a statement about the incident on the day it happened, told the New York Times, “We deferred to the Armstrongs regarding what had taken place at their ranch.”

So now it’s the job of a property owner to put out a press release saying the man who is second in command of the United States of America (or first in command, depending on who you ask) shot somebody? Are you freakin’ kidding me?

The E&P story ends with some strong words from the Chicago Tribune’s Frank James, who wrote the following on the paper’s “The Swamp” blog run by the paper’s Washington bureau:

When a vice president of the U.S. shoots a man under any circumstance, that is extremely relevant information. What might be the excuse to justify not immediately making the incident public?

The vice president is well-known for preferring to operate in secret….Some secrecy, especially when it comes to the executing the duties of president or vice president, is understandable and expected by Americans.

But when the vice president’s office, or the White House, delays in reporting a shooting like Saturday’s to the public via the media, it needlessly raises suspicions and questions of trust. And it may just further the impression held by many, rightly or wrongly, that the White House doesn’t place the highest premium on keeping the public fully and immediately informed.

Figured I’d blog along as this nor’easter goes through the area overnight…

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 – 4:28 p.m. EST
Some more pics…
I took this from ground level in the middle of the sidewalk leading to the parking lot. That’s my building in the background.

Here’s my snow-covered VUE. I think this may be the first photo of my car to ever appear on this site without it being on the back of a tow truck.

I took four measurements and three of them came in between nine and 10 inches. Although drifts make it difficult to get an accurate reading, I’m going with 9.5 inches as the official snow amount for my particular area.

Just a photo of the cars in the parking lot.

I cleaned off my car and started shoveling around it. However, the person who was parked on the one side of me came out and started cleaning her car. So, after I got the other side of my car dug out, I offered to help her get her car shoveled out. To speed things up, I started just piling snow up on the side of my car I had not done yet. The plan was to get her space cleared and then finish up shoveling mine. Of course, guess who showed up at that point? The owner of the car parked on the other side of me came out and started cleaning off his car, so now the one side I had done was just going to get snowed in again.

Hence, I gave up, came back inside and enjoyed my traditional, post-shoveling meal of grilled cheese and tomato soup…mmm, mmm good.

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 – 11:45 a.m. EST
Another pic…

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 – 11:02 a.m. EST
Just heard something on Philly’s NBC 10 that prompted me to write this…to all those who plan on driving in this mess today, here is one request: CLEAR OFF ALL THE SNOW FROM THE TOP OF YOUR VEHICLE!

I cannot stand these ignorant bastards who just clear off the snow on their hoods, windshield and windows, and then drive away cluelessly. Just to let you idiots know, THAT SNOW IS BLOWING ONTO THE CARS ON THE ROAD BEHIND YOU! And that hinders the visibility of other drivers on the road, which is very dangerous.

I never understood why people do that anyway. I mean, the first thing I clear off is the roof of my car and then work my way down. That seems like the logical thing to do…at least it is to me.

OK…end of rant.

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 – 9:23 a.m. EST
OK…update time. And it looks like there is a whole lot of snow outside my door. NBC 10 in Philly just showed some snowfall amounts in the area. Warminster, PA, which is a few miles to the west of me, reportedly has about 16 inches of snow on the ground (although I have a feeling drifting may be skewing that count). Meanwhile, Lawrenceville, NJ, a few miles northeast of me and where I drive to work everyday, is reporting 13 inches of snow. Since I am pretty much right in the middle, I have to assume I am going to be digging out of a double-digit snowfall…so I guess I was wrong about being on the low end of that 8-12 inches prediction (see two updates down).

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 – 5:42 a.m. EST
I was just about go back to sleep when it happened…THUNDER-SNOW! The wind suddenly picked up and the snow started hitting the window a bit harder. Then, I saw a flash of light through the window and…BANG…thunder. I love me some thunder-snow!

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 – 5:29 a.m. EST
Weather Channel still saying 8-12 inches for my area, but I think we’ll max out in the low end of that…but I could be wrong. Here is the radar image from National Weather Service:

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 – 5:13 a.m. EST
Another photo below of the scene outside my window. There is definitely a decent amount of snow outside, but I can’t really tell how much. At least there wasn’t a snowmobile incident this time (see below).

Saturday, Feb. 11, 2006 – 11:47 p.m. EST
Below is the scene outside my window, but something odd happened while I snapped this picture…if you look closely, there is an object right behind the post. What is it, you ask? It’s some idiot riding a snowmobile around my complex. He was in mid-turn when I took the photo and he appeared to almost crash into the other side of my building. That was the first and only time I have heard the noise from it, so he either decided to drive it somewhere else or he learned his lesson.

(Yes, I know the photo is blurry…I didn’t use a flash and I moved the camera when I reacted to the noise of the snowmobile…sorry.)

With the “Blizzard of ’06” in its early stages outside my window, I was bored and went looking on the fantastic YouTube.com for some interesting videos. Perhaps inspired by Peter Gabriel’s performance of John Lennon’s “Imagine” during the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, I searched for Peter Gabriel videos on the site and came up with this classic Genesis classic, “The Musical Box.”

Yes, that is Peter Gabriel as lead singer and Phil Collins on drums and vocals, along with Mike Rutherford (bass, guitar) and Tony Banks (keyboards, guitar) and Steve Hackett (guitars).

Adventurer Steve Fossett broke the record today for longest non-stop flight in aviation history, surpassing the previous mark of 24,987 miles when his experimental plane — the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer — flew over Shannon, Ireland.

Fossett was supposed to land at Kent International Airport in Manston, England, but his plane suffered an electrical problem and he had to make an emergency landing at Bournemouth International Airport — blowing out two tires in the process. However, Fossett is safe on the ground after a few tense moments.

CNN had been breaking into their Saturday programming every now and then to give updates on Fossett’s progress. Right after they broke in to say Fossett had broken the distance record, I noticed on the GlobalFlyer tracking site that the plane had made a sharp southwesterly turn west of London that took it from its intended southeasterly route to Manston. The plane then seemed to circle near Bournemouth, giving it the appearance that it was making a landing approach there.

Finally, the text updates on the tracking site confirmed this, saying “mayday declared…diverted to Bournemouth…generator problem with aircraft…Steve avoided having to ditch…Steve safely on ground.”

However, a few minutes later, CNN again gave an update on the flight, but the weekend anchor erroneously reported that Fossett “has successfully landed at Kent International Airport in England.”

Now, I know it’s not a big deal, but CNN had been covering the story and now when the flight finally comes to an end, it gets the story wrong. I’m just somebody who was casually following the GlobalFlyer on its official tracking site and knew what had happened. How come a major news organization can’t get it right?

Oh, well…another media screw-up.

Congratulations to Fossett and his team!