It’s no secret that the Google search engine is anti-gun. But the world’s most popular search engine continues to step up its fight against guns.

First the search engine would not allow gun companies to advertise in its AdWords program. But now it is apparently dictating to sites running the Google AdSense campaign what content they can or cannot include on their website. AdSense is the program through which AdWord advertisements are displayed on third party websites. Many blogs and other sites use AdWords to earn revenue. The site owner gets a few cents every time someone clicks on the ad.

According to an email sent out by the Local Shopping Network, GoLSN.Com, which serves the Mid-South region:

We regret to inform you that the ‘Firearms’ category and subcategories have been removed from the Local Sales Network.

Google notified us on April 28th that weapon-related content is in violation of their policies. They gave us 72 hours to remove the content if LSN is to continue earning income through Google’s advertising campaigns.

We understand this will displease a portion of the LSN community. Realize this action was not only difficult but absolutely required to maintain LSN supporting revenue. The Local Sales Network is a FREE service; the majority of financial support is earned through our 3rd party [banner advertisers].

As a result, you may no longer place any ads in any category advertising the sale of guns, rifles, firearms, ammo, or promoting any website that advocate the sale of the above.

Important! If you had any active Firearm Ads containing paid extras (featured, bold, advanced, or attention-getters), please send an email to support@golsn.com. We will credit your account, or refund the cost of any currently active features.

We understand this is a very popular service and we have a solution. Our programmers are currently working around the clock developing a new local website that caters specifically to firearm enthusiast. This new website will be a separate service from LSN and will not have Google advertisements. We expect the website to be open in only a few days.

Please visit and bookmark http://www.GunOwnersClub.com

Thank you for your continued support. LSN is proud to serve your community!

We’re just a week into the incessant news reports of swine flu, and already I’m weary of it. (Which is why it makes little sense that I have been occasionally posting about it. But anyway.)

It is noteworthy, I suppose, that Tennessee has its first (unconfirmed) case of this H1N1 flu strain, in Williamson County.

But much more noteworthy, in case you missed it, is yesterday’s declaration from the World Health Organization that only seven deaths — all in Mexico — are confirmed to have been caused by swine flu. And then there came confirmation from the Mexican government that it believes more than 150 have died from the flu, but only seven of those deaths has been confirmed.

It wouldn’t be surprising if you did miss it, of course, since media outlets insist on continuing with the 159 deaths theme. A quick Google News search reveals no stories about the WHO’s step-back-and-reassess approach to the fatalities. Even Matt Drudge, who linked to the story for a short time, has since taken the seven deaths link off his megapopular Drudge Report.

What does all this mean? Probably very little. Is it likely that more than seven have died in Mexico from swine flu? I would say so. Have 150+ died? I would think that to be less likely. But it’s telling that the mainstream news media continues to go with the higher death toll. I’m not sure what it tells, other than the media’s fixation with sensationalism, but it tells something, I’m sure.

If you read nothing else about the swine flu, put on your tin foil hat and read this. If you can get by the author’s conspiracy theory that all flu threats are an effort to make pharmaceudical types richer, it contains good information. For example: A report from scientists just this year (February) that concluded the primary killer of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that resulted in 50 million deaths worldwide wasn’t the flu or pneumonia but strep infections that resulted from the initial illness. That’s notable, since strep is usually easier to treat than either flu or pneumonia.

A week ago, I asked the question: I was sitting on the computer musing before a fishing trip and I wondered, is this potential threat legitimate, or hyperbole? It’s still too soon to tell, but even as the virus spreads, I’m becoming more convinced that it’s hyperbole (yeah, I know: A lot of you are going “duh!”). Maybe it’s dumb of me, but I’m more concerned about what this outbreak will mean to the opportunistic among us who insist on never letting a good crisis go to waste.

All the guys I hunt with say that I am a curse. Well, the cursed, I reckon, are afflicted in many different ways. My latest infirmity is, I have forgotten how to shoot. Until opening day back on March 27, it had been nearly 10 years since I had missed a shot at a turkey. In fact, I could easily count the number of times I had missed a big game animal with a firearm over the past 10 years — once at a deer with a muzzleloader, once at a turkey with a shotgun. But this year? A totally different story.

It’s been a very unusual season. I’ve heard less gobbling this year than I have in all my 15 years of hunting turkeys. I believe that’s simply due to the population of birds being way down in the areas I hunt. But I have managed to put myself in a number of positive situations. Part of that is by playing it smart (no wisecrack comments, please) and getting into areas where turkeys are most likely to be at whichever time of day it is that I happen to be hunting. A larger part is listening for the tell-tale phhhht-vrrooooooom sound of a tom turkey spitting and drumming. When it comes to turkey vocalizations, the gobble is a glory-hog. The spit-and-drum is equally, if not more, important. Because on a morning when a turkey isn’t gobbling, he’ll still be spitting and drumming if he’s strutting. The tone and pitch of this sound are such that a good many hunters cannot heari t. Others can only hear it at very close distances. While my directional hearing is bad, I’m blessed to be able to hear the spit-and-drum at distances of a little more than 100 yards before the woods have greened out, and a little less than that after. I may not be able to tell exactly where it’s coming from, but I can hear it. Anyway, I’m digressing. The point is that I should have filled all four of my Tennessee tags a long time ago. But stupidity and my gun (and, on at least one occasion, both) have prevented that from happening.

Take this morning, for example. Often times I don’t decide where I’m going until I pull out of the driveway. This morning, I decided to head to a little ridge on the edge of the Big South Fork NRRA to give one more chase to what has become a season-wrecker (those wily old birds that entrance a hunter and cause him to waste an entire season chasing them). I’ve taken to calling him The Early Bird because he flies off the roost so early — well before the other birds — each morning. And he usually roosts alone, even if there are hens nearby. Three times he has been chased across the ridge, and three times he’s lived to go back and laugh about it to his harem of hens. This morning was the same, unfortunately (for me, at least; I’m sure he feels differently).

I was easing along the ridge as the day broke, not hearing anything but songbirds. Any turkey hunter knows exactly the kind of morning I’m talking about. You’re wishing you had stayed in bed, or gone on into work, etc. Then, finally: Gaaaaarrrble. A gobble from way down the ridge. I’m sure he’d been gobbling since the first crack of light, but I wasn’t close enough to hear it. I started pulling my face net and gloves out of my vest pocket and set off in the direction of the gobbles, not thinking it was the same bird I had hunted before. He wasn’t roosted in his usual area, for one thing. For another, this gobble sounded somewhat different.

As I crested the hill near where I thought he would be, he gobbled for the sixth time. &$(#!, I was right on top of him (yes, I cursed under my breath; yes, it’s little wonder I missed after that). I glanced at the terrain and decided right quick that when he came out of the tree, he was going to come out in a different direction. So I needed to get back out of sight and circle around him. As I was doing that, he never gobbled again. I figured he had saw me when I got too close. Then, as I was easing into position, I looked down and there, 50 yards away, was a tom turkey in full strut. No wonder he had stopped gobbling; he had flown down off the roost already, even though it was way early. Early Bird! At 50 yards and in full strut, spitting and drumming.

All those thoughts went through the right lobe of my brain at the speed of lightning. The left lobe of my brain was uttering another four-letter word and screaming “sit!”, which I did. But I was leaning awkwardly against the side of the tree. I needed to be flat against the tree. I managed to scoot around while he was behind a tree that was between us, took out my Primos cutter box and yelped twice. The game was on. There was another hen, as it turned out, out of sight on down the ridge and calling to him. It became a battle between her and I, but I was closer, and I won. Thank goodness for small victories, anyway.

Early Bird continued to strut and spit and drum 40 yards from me, and I was torn up. I had the springtime version of “buck fever” in a bad way. A turkey inside 50 paces putting on a show is a sight to behold, and what makes turkey hunting fun. It’ll also make you a nervous wreck if you don’t have nerves of steel. And I don’t. That old bird came to within 25 yards of me before he cleared the brush and gave me a shot. A turkey’s head is smaller than a baseball, but we have the advantage because we’re toting a gun loaded with scatter shot. All it takes is one well-placed pellet in that walnut-sized brain to have fresh turkey breast strips for supper. But, as I’ve found out more than once this year, easier said than done. I missed. Again. The sad part of it was that he didn’t spook. But I did. I had already jumped up and jacked another shell in my gun, hoping to get another shot at him before he flew. If I had stayed on my seat, I could’ve probably worked him for another try after he had run across the ridge and then stopped. But because I was already standing, I had no choice but to go ahead and pull the trigger again. It was still an easy shot. But nothing happened when I pulled the trigger. As I jumped up, I had subconsciously put the safety back on (at least I did something right, even if I didn’t realize it). And ol’ Early Bird took off over the side of the hill as fast as his two legs would carry him.

The good news is that I’m down to two shells. Turkey loads are expensive and I have no intention of buying any more this spring, so maybe I can hang up my gun and put an end to this wretched season. Or maybe I need to go to the range and learn how to shoot all over again. Or maybe I’ll sell my beautifully camouflaged Remington 870. I’ve had nothing but trouble since I got it. I had much more luck with a scratched up old Winchester 1100 with a barrel that was about 75 inches long.

Let’s go ahead and issue a traffic alert for U.S. Hwy. 27 in Oneida on Friday. Tennessee First Lady Andrea Conte will be in town for the annual Nancy Swain Watters Memorial Walk, which will consist of several hundred walkers departing Oneida city hall at around 9:30 a.m. and trekking down Alberta Street.

Who chose to schedule this thing on the first Friday of the month, when everyone and their brother will be going to Wal-Mart? Can you say traffic nightmare? (Try it, it’s not hard.)

But it’s for a great cause. The walk benefits the Children’s Center of the Cumberlands.

Also don’t forget that the Relay For Life will be Saturday at Oneida City Park, from 10 a.m. until midnight. Scott County is always near the top of the state for giving-per-capita at these events. Let’s show the rest of the state that even though we have the 2nd-highest unemployment rate, we will still contribute to cancer research. Opening ceremonies are at 10 a.m., survivor’s lap at around 10:30 a.m., entertainment starts at noon and a luminary ceremony will take place at 9:30 p.m.

Also on Saturday is Plateau Electric Cooperative’s annual meeting at their Oneida headquarters. It starts at 10 a.m. Hey, it’s a free chicken dinner.

In Urban Meyer’s own words. From RockyTopTalk:

I’m also going to talk about loyalty with our former athletes. Some are welcome, some aren’t. …We want former Gators to come back, but loyalty’s a two-way street. If you want to be critical of a player on our team or a coach on our team you can buy a ticket for seat 37F, you’re not welcome back in the football office.

and:

We’re evaluating Gator clubs, everybody wants to evaluate me. I’m going to evaluate you. We’ve cut our Gator clubs down because it’s very important I’m a father. We want to go to the best.

For example, I’ve been to some horrible Gator clubs with a couple hundred people. They hand me a mic like I’m Johnny Carson. We’re not going to do that. This is the way it’s supposed to look. We’re not going to places that aren’t very good anymore.

Do you think the pressure of Lane Kiffin is getting to him? Nah, he’s always been this way. But, wow. Our coach may be brash and cocky and insult other schools, but at least he doesn’t get all cannibalistic and start chewing on our own former players and fan clubs.

The CDC says it “fully expects” to see U.S. deaths from the swine flu outbreak (and, in fact, some say that the risk for a pandemic is growing, including a Memphis virologist who says the disease could become more virulant).

But while everyone is throwing around the pandemic term and will undoubtedly become alarmed if testing confirms that one or both of those California deaths were indeed caused by swine flu, consider this:

Based on the latest lab analysis, Besser said new flu infections are still occurring. He noted, however, that ordinary human flu accounts for about 36,000 deaths every year in the U.S.

I had no idea it was that many. I mean, of course we know the flu is always dangerous for the very young, the elderly and the immunocompromised, but 36,000 deaths per year is quite a bit. Just something you don’t think about, I guess.

Also, a thought on that report from yesterday from New York City health officials who said that “hundreds of students” were home sick with suspected cases of swine flu. I’m sure this has already been mentioned plenty of times, but I haven’t had the opportunity to take my daily jaunt around the ‘Net. But is it possible that they’re just counting every student who missed school and gave the flu as an excuse? I’m sure in a city that size it would be likely that there would be hundreds (even thousands) of students whose parents would keep them home just out of fear of reports that this swine flu is spreading there. No?

The weather was perfect Saturday for a trip down the river. So that’s exactly what we did.

Six of us hit the Clear Fork, putting in at Brewster Ford in Fentress County at 8 a.m. and arriving at Burnt Mill Bridge 10 hours later. We all made it out alive, we caught a few fish, and we saw portions of the river that a lot of people never get to see. That was the good. The bad? Swimming the rapids. Between us, we had logged hundreds of hours — maybe even thousands — on the river in canoes and boats, but the Big South Fork made us feel like novices this weekend.

The river was just the right size to be a little crazy. Rain swelled the normally gentle (relatively) Clear Fork to a not-so-gentle 2,000 cubic feet per second on Monday. By Saturday, it had subsided to around 500 cfs. Clear Fork at 500 cfs is a completely different experience than the Big South Fork further downstream at 500 cfs. The total count by the end of the day was five capsized boats (only once for me, thankfully). The gear loss was limited to one pair of sunglasses (mine), two ruined cell phones (guilty again), four cans of Mountain Dew and a bottle of sun screen.

Ironically enough, the most technical rapid on that stretch of the Clear Fork — Decapitation Rock a couple of miles from Historic Rugby — didn’t capsize any of our boats. Some kayakers and canoers from Byrdstown weren’t as fortunate.

We flipped our boat a half-mile from the put-in point. Another boat (Brandon’s) was capsized by an inconveniently-placed rock at the bottom of the rapid at the entrance to Gentleman’s Fishing Hole. The last boat capsized after taking on too much water in a series of rapids a mile below the mouth of White Oak Creek. Swimmers Rapid (which is actually a series of rapids and the only really technical rapid on that run besides Decapitation Rock) between Sheep Ranch and Skull Creek claimed two more victims.

Swimming the rapids is never fun. Swimming them at 8:30 a.m. on an April morning? Even worse. Cold. But our bruised egos were helped by the fact that even the not-so-novice paddlers from Byrdstown and Knoxville, who we encountered along the way, were capsizing plenty of times as well. And below the series of rapids just below Sheep Ranch we found a couple of lost paddles and a busted canoe. So it could have been worse.

I usually float Clear Fork in the summer, when the water is 100-200 cfs and boats have to be pulled over many of the rapids. So, the increased technicality made it the most exciting paddling trip I’ve had since hitting the “Big Three” of the Big South Fork in a raft two years ago. Now I’m ready to hit it again.

New York City is reporting “hundreds” of students sick with suspected cases of swine flu. If I remember news reports correctly, this thing got to NYC because some school students had taken a trip to Mexico. Two more people in the Big Apple are hospitalized with suspected cases of the virus.

The death toll has topped 150 in Mexico, with 2,000 said to be hospitalized in the capitol city.

It’s amazing how quickly this illness is spreading. Assuming the statement out of NYC isn’t just hyperbole and hundreds of students can become ill within just a few days, the transmission rate of this bug must be astounding . . . maybe even higher than the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, which impacted 50% of the world’s population and killed an estimated 50 million?

The other thing that is amazing is that there are 150+ dead in Mexico City but none elsewhere in the world, despite confirmed cases in nearly every region of the world and in a number of U.S. states (California, Texas, New York, Kansas, Indiana, etc.). (Edit: California is apparently investigating the deaths of two men, ages 33 and 45, to see if they were caused by swine flu.) Is it there a reason why more people are more seriously inflicted in Mexico than in the rest of the world? In the U.S., only five of a confirmed 64 cases required hospitalization. And is it fair to keep throwing the term “pandemic” around when there have been no deaths outside Mexico? Or is there a risk of the virus mutating and becoming much more dangerous, as at least one doctor has suggested.

I have two major gripes with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency: #1, the November muzzleloader season (only one weekend, and seven days total) is too short. #2, Unit B (East Tennessee) gets treated like the proverbial redheaded stepchild when it comes to deer hunting.

I’m happy to say that TWRA’s proposals for the 2009-2010 hunting seasons might cure both of those ills.

Assuming the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission approves it next month, the muzzleloader season in December will be tacked onto the November season. In other words, the November season will be longer and the December season will be eliminated. That’s good. Pre-Thanksgiving hunting is great. Post-Thanksgiving hunting is not so great, and the second muzzleloader season is under-utilized.

Under the proposal, the muzzleloader season would open the first Saturday of November, as it has in recent years. That would be Nov. 7 this year. Instead of closing the following Friday, however, it would stay open a week longer, all the way up until the day before the Thanksgiving gun season begins. This year, that would be Nov. 20. In Units A and L, that’s nothing more than rearranging the season. Here in Unit B, though, it actually gives us more days to hunt. Because while Units A and L have traditionally had a 7-day muzzleloader hunt in December, ours was only three days in Unit B.

It gets better. While there is still no hope for a antlerless quota hunt in Scott County (TWRA proposes cutting back on quota hunts on the Cumberland Plateau because they feel it is reducing the herd too much), it appears that TWRA’s proposal will allow us to harvest a doe during the muzzleloader season and continue hunting for a buck. Previously, the limit during the November season was one deer only (a second deer was permitted during the December segment).

It gets better still. The rest of those days when hunters in Units A and L could traditionally hunt and we couldn’t are also being made up. Under the proposal, every deer hunting season in Unit B will be open the same as the seasons in Units A and L. The only difference between the units will be the bag limits.

Another major change would be increasing the buck limit in Unit B from two to three. Currently, it’s three statewide, but if you’re in Unit B you can only kill two. This would create a true statewide buck limit. I’m not sure this one will be approved. When the TWRC reduced the Unit B buck limit from three to two some four years ago, it did so without TWRA requesting it, but because commissioners wanted it.

There is sure to be a ton of opposition to some of the proposals. The 2-buck to 3-buck change is sure to generate the biggest outcry. I’m sure hunters will turn up en force at the TWRC meeting next month to protest the proposal. That could play a role in the commissioners’ decision. There’s also a segment of Tennessee hunters who want to see fewer firearms hunting days during the rut — not more — and they will be opposed to the extended November muzzleloader season. I would imagine that there might be an organized effort by these hunters at the TWRC meeting as well.

Chris Lofton just might play his way into the NBA if he has many games like his last one. The former Tennessee 3-point sharpshooter is in his rookie season in Europe’s EuroBasket league, where he is a member of Mersin Buyuksehir Belediyesi, a Turkish team. He’s averaging just over 20 points per game and shooting nearly 50% from 3-point range (wow!), and this weekend scored 61 points and shot 17 of 22 from 3-point range (double wow!).