And Claire Wolfe says them best:

DOING THE RIGHT THING. If you're a gun person, you probably know all about this weekend's Jim Zumbo flap.

Mr. Famous Outdoorsman, who's been writing about guns and hunting for 42 years, spewed forth an ignorant blurt about "terrorist assault rifles" that put him straight into the Brady camp. After several thousand howls of protest, he followed up with an alleged apology that made matters even worse. Said apology never actually apologized for calling millions of us "terrorists." It simply said (I paraphrase): a) I was having a bad day, b) Ted Nugent's still willing to hunt with me, c) how can you hate me when I'm a member of the NRA?, d) how can you question my patriotism when I fly my American flag every day?, e) I help disabled veterans, and f) if you hunt or shoot, I'm the very best friend you could possibly have.

Seriously. Our Very Best Friend. Never mind that he still believes we're all "terrorists." Never mind that the Brady campaign had already picked up his words and was busily battering us with them. (The link above will take you to all parts of the Zumbo fumble. The original blog entries and the thousands of comments they generated are gone -- more below on that -- but Google still has them in cache. Here's the cached version of Zumbo's original screed. Here's the cache of his self-serving non-apology.)

This arrogant ass sold out millions of gun owners -- sold out freedom itself -- and did it without apparently the slightest concern or understanding that he was, as one commentator put it, "deliberately poking a hole in the life raft we're all floating in."

But this isn't about Zumbo. This is about the companies that made Zumbo possible. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

REMINGTON. I was impressed with Remington -- big time. The Sunday night that Zumbo's sponsors and publisher were being buried in thousands of protest emails, I received a response from Remington's CEO, Tommy Millner, saying his company was already cutting Zumbo loose.

At first I didn't believe the message was actually from Millner; there was some question whether the email address circulating for him was accurate. And after all, how many times have you ever written to the head of a big company and actually gotten a personal repsonse from him? Never, right? Well, make that "at least once." Turns out Millner was in Europe, where he was taking the time to respond to that enormous barrage of mail on his Blackberry.

Now that's impressive.

By Monday morning, still on the holiday weekend, Remington had officially announced it was severing all ties with Zumbo. No ifs, ands, or buts.

GERBER. The blade maker, another Zumbo sponsor, was the next one I heard from. I guess a knife-maker thinks it has less at stake than a firearms manufacturer. Zumbo's sell-out of the Second is no big deal to them. Maybe the Gerberites figure that after "they" come for the guns, Gerber will be able to sell more knives -- for a while.

In any case, a flack sent a carefully innocuous piece of PR spam stating, "...we respect the opinion of our sponsored hunters and users however, we do not necessarily agree with all their opinions, nor do we endorse their public statements. Our presence and development in the tactical and hunting markets is proof-positive we are committed to supporting these industries and all those involved."

Bleah. To add to the unimpressive impression, the flack pointed to Zumbo's "apology" as though it meant something, even though my original message was headed "Zumbo's apology isn't enough."

Well. No more Gerber knives in my future. How about yours?

HI MOUNTAIN SEASONINGS. The Wyoming-based vendor of jerky- and sausage-making products gets my Shining Light Award. They had already announced on their web site that they were severing any relationship with Zumbo when I wrote to thank them. Hans Hummel and his wife Kimberly own the company that -- until today -- helped keep Zumbo's Outdoor Network TV show on the air. They even feature Zumbo on their packaging. Hans sent both his company's official response and a heartfelt personal one.

Here's the official word:

Dear Fellow 2nd Amendment Supporters:

I am writing to thank all of you for your activism in making us aware of the comments made on Mr. Zumbo’s blog. Hi Mountain Jerky and Seasoning has been a sponsor of his hunting show on the Outdoor Channel, but is in the process of terminating our relationship. We do not support his statements regarding his view of the Second Amendment and would not have supported the show or had his endorsement on our packaging in the past had we known this. We fully stand behind the individual right to keep and bear arms as our Founding Fathers intended. It is truly heartwarming to see the grass roots activism in support of our Second Amendment, please know Hi Mountain Jerky and Seasoning stands behind you.

Privately he mourned that it was especially wrenching for him to have to deal with this, given his own passion for freedom and liberty. He also asked everyone to be patient because it could take months for Zumbo to disappear from all Hi Mountain packaging at the retail store level. But the show sponsorship? That's over today.

Hi Mountain is a small, family-owned business. I'm sure this whole thing has been difficult -- and could be costly -- for them. So please go visit their web site and give them the most meaningful sort of thanks. Buy stuff. And tell your friends.

MOSSY OAK, the camo people, didn't respond to my email, but did swiftly sever their relationship with Zumbo via a notice on their (very beautiful) web site.

CABELA'S. I haven't heard from that lovely outdoor superstore yet, either. But a fellow letter-writer has. The official word is that they don't like what Zumbo did, they recognize Zumbo's views are antithetical to theirs and most of their customers'. And their lawyers are looking into the situation. Okay, it's a beginning.

OUTDOOR LIFE. Finally these are the folks who seem to deserve a thorough raking over red-hot coals. I don't think they deserve blame for publishing Zumbo's dumb blurt. They couldn't have expected one of their own "experts" to be not only an anti-gunner but an idiot who can't tell a semi-auto firearm from an "assault rifle." But so far, their only responses have been tepid at best, creepy at worst. First the editor puts up a note on the offending Zumbo blog entry, saying he liked Ol' Jim even if he didn't agree with him in this case. Well, okay, I can see responding like that while you're just trying to catch your breath. It's feeble, but it's something. Next, they discontinue the blog "for the time being." But instead of just freezing the thing, they "disappear" the blog -- and the thousands of outraged comments -- completely.

So, is that a preparation for canning Zumbo? Or is the sudden disappearance a cowardly attempt to shove the whole controversy down the Orwellian memory hole? (Ah, but the memory hole doesn't work so well in a Google-fied, blog-ridden world!)

Outdoor Life has also, to the best of my knowledge, not responded to any of the thousands of furious emails they've received. I've written three myself, copied to various OL addresses (kindly provided by Kregener on TCF) and haven't heard so much as a squeak.

So should Outdoor Life become the next Kmart? That is, the next target for a mass gun-owner boycott? For some, it's already begun. Me, I think they should get another 24 hours' chance to stand up and do the right thing. After all, this whole mess hit on a holiday weekend, and it hit them so hard they're probably still spinning. But heck, with major sponsors pulling out, canning Zumbo's not just the right thing to do for gun owners, guns, and freedom, it's the self-interested thing. So do it already, people. Get it over with.

So ... Mega-kudos to Remington, Hi Mountain, and Mossy Oak. No mucking about, no backpedaling, no compromises, no weasel words or weasel actions. Just respect for gun owners and the right to keep and bear arms. Next time you buy a gun or ammo you know for sure that at least one firearms maker really means it when they say they support the Second Amendment. Next time you buy jerky seasonings and supplies, Hi Mountain's the place to go. You'll know your freedom won't be abused. I hear their stuff is delicious, besides. Looking forward to trying it myself. You now know whose brand of camo you can trust -- and a visit to Mossy Oak's web site is a pleasure all by itself.

Cabela's? We're waiting to hear from you.

Gerber? Well, there are a lot of good knife-makers out there. We really don't need you as long as you give financial and moral support to enemies of freedom.

Outdoor Life? You still bear the major onus here. It's up to you. Hope you do the right thing.

And Jim Zumbo ... May you lie happily ever after in the arms of Sarah Brady, you ignorant, elitist, traitorous, backstabbing scum. Maybe she'll sponsor your program or publish your column now that the whole world knows you're on her side.

Still looking for another conservative libertarian or two who want to contribute to a Pro Liberty Blog on a semi-regular basis. If you are interested please leave a comment. 

Titled:   You Really Need to Stop Using Google

We Swear brings us an interesting angle on Google.

Not content to censor the Chinese population, they also seem to have a bias against right-of-center sites in their main search engine, either in News, Search or both:

As it turns out, the mega search engine Google has been taken over by the left and any key words that someone there deems “hate speech” results in that piece disappearing.
...
Google has become the single largest private corporate underwriter of MoveOn. According to sources in the Democrat National Committee, MoveOn has received more than $1 million from Google and its lobbyists in Washington...

Even the Washington Times has written about the story:

As Newsbusters reports, in March 2005, Rusty Shackleford, who runs the conservative blog the Jawa Report, received an e-mail message from Google informing him that: "Upon recent review, we've found that your site contains hate speech, and we will no longer be including it in Google News." A year later, Jim Sesi, who runs the conservative MichNews.com, received a similar e-mail from Google: "We have received numerous reports about hate content on your site, and after reviewing these reports, decided to remove your site from Google news." Two weeks ago, Frank Salvato, who runs the conservative New Media Journal, also heard from Google that his site was being removed, again because of "hate content."
    Aside from each of these three sites being largely conservative in outlook, the offending material cited by Google were articles criticizing radical Islam and Islamists. Upon review, the articles contain language no more -- in some cases far less -- inflammatory than the numerous Muslim Web sites a user can find when searching Google News. So, at least on the surface, it's reasonable to assume that it is Muslims who are complaining to Google, which then chooses to avoid further criticism by simply expelling the sites.

Michelle Malkin weighs in with an example of clear bias:

Actual headline featured in Google News' top U.S. stories section:

Gonzales confirmed: war criminal to head US Justice Department

Google is happy to allow Uruknet.info, an Iraqi resistance propaganda outlet, to appear at the top of the News section, but won't add respectable sites from the right?

Newsbusters points out the make-up of the staff at Google:

In the case of Google, there is some evidence that its employees lean strongly to the left. According to a February 2005 USA Today article on the subject: “As it claws for greater power, the Democratic Party has found a newly rich ally in one of the fastest-growing U.S. companies: Google.” The article stated that of the over $200,000 Google employees gave to federal candidates in 2004, “98% went to Democrats, the biggest share among top tech donors.” And, with a largely successful public stock offering making “scores of millionaires among [Google’s] 3,000 workers,” “Democrats now have a potentially potent source of cash as they fight to retake the White House and Congress.”

With over 49% of the searches in the US made though Google, maybe it's time to move to another engine.

Fair and balanced indeed!

I would like to expand the Blogging pool here at Liberty1st so if you are a conservative / libertarian wanting to get a start in Blogging email me at "blog at liberty1st.org". Since Dave and I are both from the Great Lakes area it would be nice to keep a theme going but not necessary. Just let me know what part of the country you are from.

All that is necessary is a libertarian perspective with a Conservative / Right of Center slant. However, there is no political line you have to toe or political party you have to support. Any politician or act from a politician that infringes on liberty is fair game.

And my rules are very simple:

1. No making or spreading wild conspiracy theories.
2. No personal attacks on anyone ever.
3. Be prepared to back up everything you say.
4. Keep it clean.
5. 90% or more of the content should focus on Liberty, Freedom, Politics, etc.

So if you like what Dave and I do here and are interested in contributing just send and email to "blog at liberty1st.org"

A few posts ago I commented on how Google has been collaborating with the Chinese government to censor certain images and writings from the Chinese population.

DhimmiWatch has spotted how Yahoo is doing something similar right here in the US:

Yahoo! is banning the use of allah in email names - even if the letters are included within another name.

This was uncovered by Reg reader Ed Callahan whose mother Linda Callahan was trying to sign up for a Verizon email address. She could not get it to accept her surname.

Enquiries to Verizon revealed that a partnership with Yahoo! was to blame. Yahoo! will not accept any identies which include the letters "allah".

Nor will Yahoo! accept yahoo, osama or binladen. But it will accept god, messiah, jesus, jehova, buddah, satan and both priest and pedophile.

A commenter added:

Compare:

Yahoo Images: search for "mohammed cartoons"

Google Images: search for "Mohammed cartoons"

The times are indeed troubling.

god_messiah_jesus_jehova_buddah_satan_priest_pedophile@yahoo.com

Titled:    Cheney, in First Intervew, Gets it Exactly Right

WizBang nails the Cheney story right first time too:

If there are 2 stories the media are guaranteed to screw up, it is a story involving a gun or an airplane. (and they're not too good at hurricanes either) There is basically zero institutional knowledge about either guns or planes in the big media. Add the complication that it was a structured hunting trip and the big media had no chance of getting it right in a timely fashion.

And Cheney gets to the bottom of why the media is having such a cow over not being told sooner.

"I had a bit of the feeling that the press corps was upset because, to some extent, it was about them - they didn't like the idea that we called the Corpus Christi Caller-Times instead of The New York Times," he said. "But it strikes me that the Corpus Christi Caller-Times is just as valid a news outlet as The New York Times is, especially for covering a major story in south Texas."

Well worth the time to read.

Titled:    I am not being censored by the Chinese government

TriggerFinger notices he is not being censored by the Chinese and publishes a picture to help the cause:

We note that Liberty1st is not censored either 

Titled:   When all else fails, crack down on the law-abiding folks

Wizbang brings us news of micro-stamping of ammo rearing its ugly head again. This time it's Boston's turn to penalize the law-abiding and avoid doing anything sensible to crack down on crime.

When problems refuse to be solved by the old methods, new ones are often required. Politicians need to look at new, novel approaches that might curb the crisis.

Unfortunately, the leaders in Boston can't quite grasp that. Instead, they are "stuck on stupid" and returning to variations on the classic liberal themes: don't single out the bad guys, blame everyone.

So, to keep criminals from shooting people, they're cracking down on those who buy bullets.

Their ideas so far are rather visionary, such as requiring guns to "micro-stamp" their serial numbers on the shell casings they fire. Other notions are restricting how much ammunition someone can buy at once and recording who buys bullets.

The irony is, there is a simple solution to their problem, one readily visible just across the border here in New Hampshire: it's called "punishing the guilty." We don't believe in punishing everyone just because a few act irresponsibly; we make examples of them, partly to encourage others to not follow their lead.

He references Boston.com News:

Police and city officials acknowledge that criminals could buy ammunition on the black market and out of state, but they say they have noticed an apparent shortage of ammunition on the streets. They also say that youths, who are both suspects and victims in many shootings, might be deterred if ammunition is more difficult to get.

I guess in the theoretical world of idealism, in which these folk live, it could really work, as long as you ignore criminal activity, ammunition theft, casings left at gun ranges, filing down of parts, reloading, black markets, insanity and the existing 300 million firearms floating around the country. 

It would certainly increase the market for revolvers, which leave no casings behind anyway.

Titled:   After 150 yrs, Western Union ends telegram service

"Effective January 27, 2006," the company said in a note posted without ceremony on its Web site, "Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage."

James Lileks, as usual, has gathered some long lost art from the bygone days:

Happy Caucasian Patriarch Day! Here you see the variety of boilerplate available to the tongue-tied son. Note the art in the corner – either Dad has ascended in the Rapture, or was the victim of spontaneous human combustion. Note also that one could send a telegram from home and have it charged on your phone bill – something that must have seemed quite modern. Which, I suppose, it was.

Titled:   Think the police will protect you?

TriggerFinger brings us news of San Francisco's lack of success in solving homicides and the difficulties of working with the police department to protect citizens. The original article from December 2005 at sfgate.com reports that 80% of homicide cases from 2005 remain open.

San Francisco supervisors turned their attention to the city's surging homicide rate Monday, holding an inaugural meeting of a new committee on gun and gang violence and receiving a grim briefing on the scale of the mayhem and failure to hold perpetrators accountable.

Words such as "surging", "grim", "mayhem" and "failure" do suggest that all is not well in the pistol-free City of Peace and Love.

Titled:     Questions from the Audience?

Titled:      This is the end...?

Ravenwood is considering throwing in the blogging towel:

That's why, after more than 44 months of official "weblogging", it is with great regret that I must walk away. I must take a vacation, at least for now. I know what you're thinking. He'll be back. It's too hard to stay away. Just like those that have quit before him, Ravenwood will eventually return. That may happen. But for now, I'm looking forward to the time off...
To all my loyal readers and friends, I say goodbye at least for now. I may be back eventually, but for now I really need a vacation.

Ravenwood is one of the blogs that became a daily staple for me and inspired me to give this blogging lark a go.

Have a good vacation Ravenwood, and come back refreshed. Please.

We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street.

We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members.

But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process.

As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future.

Signed,

N.Z. Bear, The Truth Laid Bear
Hugh Hewitt, HughHewitt.com
Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.com
Kevin Aylward, Wizbang!
La Shawn Barber, La Shawn Barber's Corner
Lorie Byrd / DJ Drummond , Polipundit
Beth Cleaver, MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
Jeff Goldstein, Protein Wisdom
Stephen Green, Vodkapundit
John Hawkins, Right Wing News
John Hinderaker, Power Line
Jon Henke / McQ / Dale Franks, QandO
James Joyner, Outside The Beltway
Mike Krempasky, Redstate.org
Michelle Malkin, MichelleMalkin.com
Ed Morrissey, Captain's Quarters
Scott Ott, Scrappleface
The Anchoress, The Anchoress
John Donovan / Bill Tuttle, Castle Argghhh!!!

Yes, this looks like something that makes sense to me. Time for reform - Real Reform.

Count me in.

I always find these amusing - the terms people visiting the site used in search engines to find us. Over the last couple of weeks, the following search terms have appeared in the logs:

• iranian girlfriend
• 3d picture porn
• funny blog red*
• bait and switch ccw dodge city
• the tactics of public relations
• Rep. Tom Casperson shoot to kill
• Fire Tune
• Promote general welfare
• "how can I get a gun silencer in England UK"

• define frivolous

Titled:   The End of Blogs?

Say Uncle reports on what may be the end of blogs as we know it. Aparently on January 5th 2006 H.R. 3402, the “Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005″ outlawed any anonymous comment on a blog that "annoys" another party.

According to CNET News.com:

Buried deep in the new law is Sec. 113, an innocuously titled bit called "Preventing Cyberstalking." It rewrites existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet "without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy."

Because the penalty is up to two years, that is enough to ensure you would lose your Second Ammendment rights too.

The word "annoys" is clearly a problem too, being so vague and not specifying even a reasonable level of actual harm and distress.

It looks as if the Right to not be Annoyed has trumped at least the First and Second Ammendments.

You know you've hit the big time when your blog gets recognized in the "The Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem".

The Liberty1st blog has reached a ranking of #17880 making us a Multicellular Microorganism.

Thanks to all readers, linkers and commenters for helping us reach a level at which we can at least probably move, even if intelligent thought is a few steps away.

At the risk of ruining whatever reputation I might still have, Say Uncle has the best blond joke ever!

This being the season for new resolutions and other such leaps into the unknown, I very quickly snatched the "Blogger Required" sign from the window and sent Buck a long and winding email. Something must have clicked, because after a flurry of messages, a password followed allowing me access to this very blog. And who am I, you may be asking? Well, I'm an ex-Brit, who chased a dream all the way to frosty Michigan. I hope to bring a little different perspective to the discussions on this blog and hopefully prompt some of you to become frequent commenters, contributors and active advocates for the cause of liberty.

It's going to take me a couple of days to get up to speed but I'll leave you with something hopefully a little more revealing: a meme for new bloggers stolen and adapted shamelessly from Seeing the Forest:

Why I'm A Guest Blogger

Four of your favorite foods: 
Steak and Roast Potatoes 
Special House Lo Mein
Melted cheese on toast
Hungry Howies 5 item pizzas

Four movies you could watch over and over:
Lawrence of Arabia
The Full Monty
Snatch
Amelie

I have this web space that, for the most part, is going to waste. I just don't have the time to devote to it it anymore and haven't for a long time. Anyway I hate to see this space go to waste so much so that I am looking for someone interested in Blogging (a Blogger wannabe) to help the Liberty 1st Blog reach its a potential audience.

So if you are a right of center libertarian (or a Conservative purist) who always wanted to try out Blogging but didn't have the web space or don't know how to get started this may be the perfect opportunity for you.

Email me at "blog at Liberty1st.org" for more info.

Liberty 1st Forum - A relatively small conservative forum.

Thats all the mention I get? I am going to have to turn up the rhetoric or something.

By the way, that mention was via the cdcustard who bills him/herself this way.

I am the civil discourse bustard. Please visit these sites and change some minds. Be Civil. Have Discourse. Please pick your first site by picking one whose name begins with the same first letter as yours. We can't all hit all of the "A's" at once. Thanks for your help. E-mail us or make comments on the main page: bustardblog. All ranting belongs on the main page - not at these linked sites.

I am a conservative, the Liberty1st blog has conservative slant but the forum is whatever the people who are currently discussing topics happen to be at the time. I hope that some of the regulars of the cdbustard blog, if not the author himself, do join the forum and do try to change some minds. I, for one, look forward to it.

Did you know there was a Museum of Left Wing Lunacy? Me neither. However we do now.

Also there is a Conservative Brotherhood, which bills themselves as a group of African American writers whose politics are on the right hand side of the political spectrum. Expanding the dialog beyond traditional boundaries, they seek to contribute to a greater understanding of African Americans and America itself through advocacy and commentary.

I can't remember how I found the first link but I found the second one via The Black Informant.

Titled: Two-Fifths of Americans Online Have Read Political Blogs

Two-fifths of Americans who are online have read a political blog, and more than a quarter read them once a month or more, according to a recent Harris Interactive poll.

Still, 56% of the public has never read a political blog and only 7% of online adults have posted a comment, according to the poll.

Of online adults who have posted comments on a political blog, 21% have posted 10 times or more in the past year. Half have posted between two and five times and 20% have posted only once.

People who identify themselves as Liberals are mostly likely to post comments to political blogs (28%); Moderates (17%) and Republicans (17%) were least likely.

Interesting. See the rest of the results here.

I just added another Gun Blogger to my daily read list & Blogroll. It goes by the name "The War on Guns" and can be found here.

If Say Uncle can post a picture of his dog so can I.

Isn't he precious?

Update: My wife thinks I am retarded for posting a picture of my dog. I think she's jealous.

Kevin from Always Low Prices, which features both positive and negative news items concerning Wal-Mart, is being "asked" by Wal-Mart to stop using their slogan on his site, which by the way he has been using for over a year now. Anyway he is reaching out to the Blogosphere to ask for some help/advice in how to respond. If you are such a person or know such a person he would like to talk to you.

I don't have comments turned on for this Blog but you can always put your two cents worth in at the Liberty 1st forum found here. Registration is required.

1. Zendo Deb has a few things to say about the U.N. and its record on human rights.
2. Say Uncle wastes his time making rational arguments about gun control to irrational people.
3. David Hardy has an interesting post about the 2nd Amendment, the 14th Amendment and individual rights.
4. Bruce found some New England Patriots along the southern border of the United States.
5. Denise has this on Democrats getting rid of gun control. 

Did you know Michelle Malkin has an Immigration Blog? No. Well she does. You can check it out here.