Over at pagunblog.com (a.k.a., Shall Not Be Questioned) TTAG antagonist Sebastian focuses his editorial ire on yesterday’s New York Times article For Some, Owning Guns Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Liking Them. While I blogged the article’s freak show absurdity, Sebastian went freak hunting. After scouring the net in vain for any record of gun-hating gun owner and self-professed competitive shooter Michael Kundu’s competitive record, Sebastian dug deeper. “This is not the first time Kundu has been in the media pitching himself as a self-hating, anti-hunting gun owner. CNN has taken the bait too. So who is Michael Kundu? . . .
Well, he was School Board President for Marysville School District who ended up in hot water in the past for writing a racist e-mail as a school board president. Also, as School Board President, he attempted to censor dissenting viewpoints on global warming from being discussed in schools.
Perhaps more telling, Kundu’s associated with Sea Shepherd, who were recently declared pirates by the 9th Circuit . . .
Sea Shepherd’s own web site says he was Pacific Northwest coordinator for the group in 1997. You can see a profile of him here. Additionally, his activities have earned him the ire of native Americans.
Thank God for the Internet and bloggers like Sebastian dedicated to telling the truth about guns, if not the truth about The Truth About Guns. [h/t Tom S]
this is my surprised face.
+1
Are you active duty Phil, or retired?
more Kundu: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-819429
What a freaking nut case, and they give this guy air time??
How did I put it in my comment? “Lying, misrepresented, or fictional”, I think. I believe this falls under “misrepresented”.
Some no-name blogger uncovers the truth that reporters at the New York Times were unable to find.
Either the New York Times has incompetent “journalists” or they are willfully spreading misinformation — e.g. propaganda. Neither shows me that the New York Times is an actual Newspaper as far as the First Amendment is concerned.
I hold the First Amendment protection of the Press to be as sacred as the Second Amendment. However, the First Amendment does not protect the Press so that they can distribute propaganda any more than the Second Amendment protects criminals for carrying firearms to rob banks.
> First Amendment does not protect the Press so that they can distribute
> propaganda
Nope, you are wrong on that account. The First Amendment helps protect the ability to call “bull sh!t” on NYT, but the NYT can and does disguise itself as news. Political opinion is supported….what we should do is call out the Times for what it is.
I appreciate your sentiments Pascal. Here is how I see it.
Our society needs factual, accurate news/information just as our society needs a healthy food supply. A “news” organization that willfully spreads misinformation is just as damaging as an agricultural organization that willfully spreads poisoned food.
I agree that we need the First Amendment to protect news organizations that publish controversial or even politically unpopular content. And we even need the First Amendment to protect organizations that produce fictional content.
What we cannot allow (legally, ethically, or morally) are “news” organizations that willfully distribute lies as truth.
If an armed citizen willfully brandishes or shoots at an innocent citizen, that armed citizen, by their own actions, became a criminal and faces years in prison. Imagine how much more accurate news would be if journalists faced the same possibility of imprisonment for willfully spreading lies as truth.
You are correct. Lying journalists are terrorists and should be labelled as such. At the very least, keep them under constant surveillance, and certainly forbid them gun ownership.
Henceforth, I will refer to the NYT as a terrorist organization. Probably the WP, now that they have shown their true colors and fired their ombudsman because he was actually showing their true colors.
The criteria for lying should be the same as for suing a newspaper for libel: reckless disregard for the truth.
The fact that the media has been effectively captured by one of the political parties is of considerable concern. Their omissions, misrepresentations and outright lies substantially influence elections, trials, regulations and legislation. I’ve read estimates as high as 20 point swings in the outcomes of elections, due to the media acting as an extension of the Democratic party.
If the roles were reversed, and the media were apparatchiks for the Republicans, we would hear no end to laments that “the First Amendment is broken,” and calls that the situation be forcibly addressed – regardless of whether or how that might run afoul of the 1A.
While your argument has quite a bit of appeal, especially given that the MFM sees iteslf as nothing more than a palace guard for Obama and the Dem party, any sort of law to actually enforce those requirements would immediately be turned against the few conservative and libertarian news outlets, including this blog. The law would be applied be the leftist mandarins who dominate the civil service and the judiciary to the benefit of the leftists who run the MFM.
Yet another example of the NYT acting as propagandists, i.e. an organ of Democratic party. This was in no way, shape or form a “news” article. The fake journalist was pushing an agenda, not uncovering “news”. They define propaganda and do it quite well by hiding it among actual news stories. Pravda would be proud.
Sebastian isn’t really no-name. A LOT of people link to him from a lot of different blogs. TTAG is sort of an aggregate in most cases, TTAG collects a lot of other blog posts and links them and adds its own commentary or fisks political/news segments. Usually if you have a large stable of gun blogs in your book marks you find the same info before hand, but it’s worth checking out here because they are like Sayuncle but they update daily rather than almost daily, and Foghorn/Kraft always, ALWAYS, have epic stuff when they post.
Like Sebastian is great, Tamara Keel over at The View from the Porch is like the best blogger in the world, she will make you laugh quite easily and quickly and completely justifies her nickname. “The Queen of Snark”, also Joe Huffman at The View from North Central Idaho, but they do not stick to just guns as TTAG does so The Firearm Blog is worth checking out if you want the latest gun news and the like. Box o’ Truth has a lot of testing and the like of different guns and ammo and penetration tests.
Mostly I enjoy the political commentary here but in some cases they go completely different direction then I do and it’s always nice to understand/hear from other viewpoints on your side as well as the other side.
Honestly if you’ve been reading gun blogs for more then a few months I’d expect you to have seen Sebastian’s website before, it’s worth bookmarking.
I miss Kim du Toit.
I loved his blog.
Guy22
The First Amendment protect lies as much as the truth. If it only protected the truth then it wouldn’t be worth much. The internet generations has this absurd idea that back in the good old days newspapers were often wrong but not necessarily lying. Anybody who has studied the early days of the Republic would see what kind of nonsense this idea is. The press has always been partisan and has always lied to support a particular agenda. The press has always been there to misinform as well as inform.
“You supply the pictures, and I’ll supply the war”.
The notion of an unbiased media is a rather recent one, and really uniquely North American. It’s actually a rather pernicious idea, a way of making certain uncomfortable topics so out of bounds that they just can’t be discussed by “decent folk”.
Yeah, whenever I hear about the good old days of “honest” journalism, I can’t help but think of the blatant manipulation Hearst and His competitors made fortunes off of. Hell, some of the headlines from 1800s America make modern day headlines look positively bland.
Once again, the New York Times lying and using misinformation to push an agenda….nobody is surprised….Mark Kelly is probably taking notes for his next deception. Sadly, the libtard lap dogs and polls will eat that sh!t up without questioning a single word in the article.
But, when gun owners go on the attack with actual facts or Mr. Colin Nior makes a statement, we are racists, loons, crazy, and I could go on and on.
I find it laughable that the supposed “intellectual elite” that read the NYT take it all at face value without question but still call themselves superior intellects to gun owners.
I remember seeing how these types should be treated at the beginning of a movie some time ago….
http://blogallalong.com/images/pirates_be_warned.jpg
Liberal/progressive/socialist/communist/marxist=self-loathing, self-hating, self-contempt.
This explains the support of a belief system that denies the rights of personal freedom, private property and self defense and gives that up to some amorphous collective good.
This is why they go nuts at the killing of baby seals but applaud the “right” to murder an unbirn child, this why they support the destruction of the livelihoods of whole communities to protect the spotted owl.
These people hate themselves and all human beings, how else could they support the armed guards at a bank but enforce by law that our children are forced naked into the lions den to killed freely by human predators in “gun free”.
These people have a culture ot degredation, tyranny and death, aculture completly hostile to children, families and human life itself.
The NYT never likes to scrutinize sources that agree with their worldview, regardless of the subject. They’ve been caught in this sort of thing before… and will be caught again. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, because those of us who have caught the NYT out on their reporting before won’t ever trust it again, and for the liberal toffs who style themselves as urban sophisticates, who would never be seen reading an actual source of facts on icky guns… the NYT can do no wrong, ever, in any way. For them, reading the NYT is like being seen drinking “fair trade, organic coffee,” – it’s a way to reinforce their unctuous, preening self-image.
So if you have a complaint, talk to the moose.
Let me suggest that it does matter. While those not of the liberal/progressive ilk have turned away from outlets like the NYT, and the media in general has lost a lot of credibility, there is no question that the Democratic party’s lock on the media works to their great advantage.
For those of us with a different point of view, we need to imagine what Sal Alinksy would do, or Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. Glenn Reynolds has suggested conservative billionaires acquire media outlets to begin to start to take back the media.
Every day the status quo remains, it is to our significant detriment.
“or Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn”.
I’d prefer to stay non-violent and legal, thank you. Terrorists should not be our inspiration, no matter how mainstream they’ve become on the left.
Please, I don’t think Phydeaux is suggesting that we bomb the Pentagon. I believe he is suggesting unconventional PR aimed at the credibility of the grabasses.
Dude is an asshole, but I don’t really have a problem with him keeping junk science out of School
“Moderate” simply means someone who takes no stand and instead gives in to whichever party shouts the loudest. They are governed by emotion. They are the voting equivalent of mercenaries and tend to lean in whatever direction the wind blows.
This is not to be confused with open-mindedness and those who use critical thinking to make their choices, overcoming both emotions and party doctrine. We need more of these people.
Good job bloggers.
Nice article. I appreciate the hard work. But in comparison to the amount of readers of the original propaganda, how many people do you think will read the exposure of these shills, and of those people how many will believe it?
Why do a lot of the anti gun people seem to regard guns the same way the Holy Inquisition would view a Pentagram?
Just seeing one could drive you to evil, even if made of mashed potatoes.
FRACK cr*pola like this. I have no use for such creeps. Dianne Feinstein, I understand. She’s virtually the Evil Dead. But people like this make me slice pillows open.
RESTORE THE ANGER, PEOPLE.
YEAH, I have ANGER issues. Them what have problems with it, THE PROBLEM IS YOU.
The ends justify the means for liberal/progressive/ socialists; lying and misrepresenting the facts is the least these people are capable of. They are best known for mass murder and murdering thier own after they have served thier purpose; it is the collective good that is sacred after all.
The reason for this behavior is founded on self-hatred and self-loathing. this explains thier going ballistic at the killing of baby seals but applauding the “right” to murder unborn children.
This explains thier forcing the children to be pushed naked into the lions den and be prey to any predator by creating gun free zones in our schools.
The liberal/progressive belief system is a cult of enslavement, tyranny and mass death; completly hostile to personal dignity, respect and life itself.
Don’t you mean “protagonist”? I mean, Sebastian is on our side, right?