Will the sound of crickets still be here next Monday? Jim?

WIVK has a frog as their mascot. Should a cricket be the mascot of WATE?

I was out of town most of last week with no computer.

I probably came down too hard on Metropulse.

It’s a good paper, but its editorials are predictable and petty, with the editorial or article on Lumpy being a case in point.

The moderator for this program kept referring to Greg Lambert and Tim Burchett (sp?) as ‘taking the law into their own hands.’ Those two men didn’t take anything into their own hands, – they protected their person and their property within the confines of the law. If they had of taken things into their own hands, they’d have shot those scumbags instead of calling the cops and feeding them cookies. I found the anti-gun bias of the moderator disgusting and disingenuous. But the media is SO far left, I should never expect reporting consisting of just the facts without opinion interjected. Shame on you for allowing this!

For the record, I think I used the phrase, “taking the law into their own hands” once and not (if you’ll watch the segment) in a negative way.

Most would agree that if you hide in the bushes to catch some thieves without aid from the police, that’s taking the law into your own hands. That is not an anti-gun statement. I also described it as a “citizen’s arrest.” Is that an anti-gun bias too?

As for just reporting the facts, the program was designed to illicit comments from my guests. I think we succeeded. Mike Cohen, Frank Cagle and Terry Frank each offered their opinions. If you review the segment, you won’t hear me offer my opinion. I’m simply the moderator.

As for the e-mailer’s description of me being “disgusting and disingenuous,” I have no defense for that. People have all kinds of opinions of me. Obviously, the e-mailer doesn’t care for me. I’ll live with it.

At least my dog still loves me (I think).

Last week there was this post on Say Uncle taking the Metro Pulse to task:

http://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2006/11/16/wate_fakes_out_the_metro_pulse/

I think this was the first post to discuss how dumb the Metro Pulse article was.

Why don’t you link to the Metropulse editorial which harrangues Lumpy for what he did (see Insty from earlier today for the link)?

It’s a good example of why I seldom read Metropulse and similar alt weekly papers.

Metropulse’s editorials usually seem kind of whiny to me, although it frequently has excellent articles on Knoxville history (which the KNS lack the creativity to think of or pursue).

Let’s face it – Metropulse is upset that a Republican represented official lawfully used a gun for its intended purpose, resulting in the apprehension of a murder suspect, instead of behaving like a victim.

Let me get this right. Getting the drop on a robber who is slowly drawing his own weapon, so he gets a look at the business end of yours while he fumbles with his own, is irresponsible. Behaving like a compliant victim, however, is responsible.

For that matter, who is going to believe that the Metropulse has any good advice on self-defense?

I think that I will stick with Jeff Cooper for advice on that subject.

I will bet that the victim that Stackhouse is accused of killing 10 hours before trying his luck with Lumpy wished that he had tried to draw on him.

I just saw again the Lumpy Lambert segment from last week where Lambert does a demonstration of what he did November 11th when suspected murderer Kane Stackhouse drew down on him. Tonight it was shown because Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison announced today that Stackhouse is a suspect in the murder of Walgreen’s truck driver David Lindsey. The Lindsey shooting occurred ten hours before the attempted robbery of Lambert.

Last week in one, and as far as I know only one segment, there was a voice over stating that the gun was unloaded and not chambered when the Lambert demonstration was done. But tonight your station showed the original demonstration without the voice over again giving the impression that Commissioner Lambert pointed a loaded weapon at the cameraman.

So only one time WATE understood it was important to disclose the gun was not loaded but the other five to ten times it was just fine to convey the wrong impression. Isn’t that what sensationalism is?

What is going on at WATE? Either there is manifest incompetence or bias at your station.

Which is it Jim?

Do I need to forward this to the appropriate individuals at the FCC? Or perhaps the NRA? Or maybe the ACLU?

I am glad that the New Sentinel has local blogs to speed their news sourcing.

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_5158006,00.html

Shoot me an e-mail if you get a chance.

So now it appears that not only did Lumpy Lambert not put himself at risk he probably saved his life and the lives of unknown others. If Kane Stackhouse were not in jail how many other people would have been in peril?

Paging Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, you have a call from Michael Bloomberg…