MSNBC bids Imus adieu

Look at that punim. Don Imus has reason to be cranky today. Yesterday, he was abruptly fired by MSNBC, ending an 11-year relationship with the network. The fate of his radio program is still in question. For now, CBS is maintaining that he'll be suspended without pay for two weeks. So far, that's the extent of his punishment.

I'm already tired of this story, to be honest, but I'd be remiss to leave out a few things. First, a good parody...



Stephen never disappoints.



Michael Smerconish brings up some interesting points here - he is right that people in our society walk around just waiting to be offended, but he's way off base with regard to the Rutgers women's basketball team. Words DO have meaning, and consequences. Yes, he was looking for a cheap laugh, by using racially hateful and insensitive comments.

Smerconish is normally a conservative I respect and listen to, because of his noted lack of hateful comments; he's level-headed and reasonable. But, he's got the Imus case all wrong.



I'm anticipating that this will be the first and last time in my life that I will agree with Laura Ingraham about anything, but I give her credit for reacting the way she did in this clip. The footage runs out, but evidently, she didn't return for the next segment.

It's hard to overstate how much I despise the insipid Hannity, and the footage above is precisely why the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson getting involved in this controversy clouds this issue. It gives conservative jackals fodder for the hypocrisy cannon, and distracts from what Imus said or what this whole story is about in the first place.

These two morons have a history of making highly racial and insensitive remarks themselves, so for them to come to the "aid" of Rutgers basketball players is absurd, and the height of hypocrisy.

What annoys me even more is the fact that Repubes are trying to make political hay out of the Imus remarks, when they really should keep their mouths shut. Take a look at this footage...



Terry Jeffrey, editor-at-large of Human Events magazine, probably says the most idiotic and contradictory statements I've heard on television in quite a long time.

"Don Imus represents the decline in standards in American broadcasting"?!? Surly you jest, Mr. Jeffrey.

Apparently Jeffrey's never heard broadcasts of Matt Drudge, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Michelle Malkin, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Tom DeLay, etc.? Talk about selective outrage. I'm choking on righteous indignation. Jeffrey almost (almost!) sounds like the right's idiotic answer to this whole mess vis à vis Sharpton and Jackson on the left.

As Keith Olbermann rightfully pointed out tonight on his show, where's the outrage over the "racist right's" comments. A recent sampling:

• Rush Limbaugh calling Barack Obama [and Halle Berry] "Halfrican American"

• Michael Savage saying the Voting Rights Act means "a chad in every crackhouse"

• Neil Boortz saying Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), an African-American Congresswoman, "looks like a ghetto slut"

• How about former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay comparing Democrats to Nazis? (Scroll down a few messages and you'll hear audio of it.)

These are just a few examples. I don't have enough time or energy to cite them all, but that's a pretty good "worst of" list.

Jeffrey winds up this clip with a breathtaking bomb:

"I think this type of programming underestimates the intelligence for the potential audience it has."

I'll remember that the next time I hear Rush Limbaugh comparing Democrats who oppose funding a destructive, idiotic war to Stalin, while Vice President Dick Cheney plays the role of Ed McMahon, nodding in agreement and braying like a donkey. (I blogged about this last weekend.)

By the way, and I know I've mentioned this before, but when you have five minutes to kill, drop by the Human Events Website - it really is a kick.

Here's a press conference that the Rutgers Womens Basketball Team held yesterday...



Elegantly said, and well put. It will be very interesting to hear what comes of the meeting between Imus and the team. I give those girls a lot of credit for even agreeing to meet with him; it's going to be a pretty uncomfortable meeting all around, but mostly for Imus. It should be.



Here's Al Sharpton on CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. I agree with just about everything Sharpton is says, but it's tough to get past the messenger. He's got such a checkered past, it's tough to look past his credibility problem. But, he's right about Imus.

I'll say it one more time, and then I'm movin' on, because I've had enough of this story already, but I hate it that Sharpton's even involved in this matter, because it's just fodder for the right's cannon of hate and intolerance.

I find it profoundly sad that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are spokesmen for African-Americans today in any capacity. Seriously, it undermines the issue whenever these two idiots show up and preen before the cameras and sound as if they've never done anything wrong in their lives.

Anyway, one down, one to go - time for Imus to go from CBS, too, but I'm not holding my breath.

I do wonder, getting back to Terry Jeffrey's comments, if this will be another excuse for Republicans to try and arrogantly push their morality on the rest of us. The FCC has done it before, and they'll undoubtedly try again. I really hope this isn't another Janet Jackson moment.

Imus suspended for two weeks

Don Imus has been suspended for two weeks. Big deal. So CBS and MSNBC gave the old lizard a two-week vacation.

Earlier today, Imus appeared on Al Sharpton's radio program, and it got pretty heated - people were calling in and shouting at Imus, and of course Imus returned the fire.

After I put up a post about this earlier today, I did some more reading about this incident, especially a lot of opinion pieces about Imus. The one thread that many of the articles had in common was this - politicians who go on his show enable his behavior, whether they consciously wish to or not.

If the guests didn't call in or show up, he's clean up his act or get out of the business.

The same thing applies to Rush Limbaugh. By Dick Cheney frequently going on his program, it does nothing but verify Limbaugh's legitimacy in the eyes of the mindless people who gobble up every syllable of hate that comes out of Rush's mouth.

So, people like Rush and Imus are only around because the people who go on his show and the sponsors who advertise on them are enabling this to happen.

That is in no way excusing the crap these two fill our airwaves with every day, but it is an explanation as to why the companies that employ these two continue to do so.

Here's partial video (apologies for the Fox clip)



For a full-length video clip, click Here.

What annoys me most about Al Sharpton getting involved is that he's despised by many, many people, so that merely distracts from the issue of what Imus did in the first place. That distraction has already started.

I know it's just a stupid comment on a Website, but I couldn't resist reposting this comment from the YouTube clip above, from a mindless GOPer...

Imus is a moron, but Sharpton is a liar and a hate monger. Now that he's involved in this, Imus doesn't seem so bad at all. Sharpton what the hell do you do for a living? Are there people really that stupid to donate to your self serving cause?

I'm not a fan of Al Sharpton's, and never will be, for many reasons. His getting involved in this just distracts from what Imus did, and that helps no one. Unreal.

"Racust" in the Morning blabbers on

I have no idea what kind of a person Don Imus is. But maybe his idiotic statements from last week about the Rutgers University Women's Basketball Team is knowing enough. If I owned the radio station that Imus works for, I'd fire him. Without equivocation.

The only good thing about this is watching this old lizard squirm and try to come up with some reason, any reason, that he should be kept on the job.

I laughed in this video when I heard him say that "these young women don't know me." They don't need to, moron. A racist is still a racist, so Imus' attempt to put his comments into context adds nothing. Zero.

"I'm a good person who said a bad thing"? I dunno - it sounds like a PR job to me.

His lame explanation that "we make fun of everyone on this show, including me" is no defense, either. So, he's been making fun of everyone for the past 30-odd years on his show, Imus in the Morning. So what?

Hey, I'm a Howard Stern fan, and had he said the same thing, I'd think he should be fired, too. Stern has toned down his act quite a bit since moving over to Sirius Satellite Radio, though. I wonder if money has anything to do with it? He only got a $500 million, five-year deal. It's a whole new ballgame when you cross over to the largely uncensored medium of satellite, but I digress.

When Howard was on terrestrial radio, he should have been fired on a number of occasions, and on a few, he was. Since I've been a fan, the one big thing that I remember he got into hot water about was making fun of Selena's death, but in that instance, he wasn't making fun of her race, if I'm remembering it right. Still, one could have made the case that he should have been fired, and he nearly was.

Anyway, back to Imus - yes, he does do a great deal of charitable work, without question, but it's obvious why he's bringing it up now - to try and save his job. His charitable work does not excuse what he said.

It's interesting to see him go on the Mel Gibson/Michael Richards apology tour. It's fun watching him squirm and agreeing to talk to Al Sharpton and to meeting with the basketball team. He wouldn't be doing any of this if his job wasn't in jeopardy.

Here's footage of Newsweek's Howard Fineman giving it to Imus this morning on his radio show, but in a respectful way. Nice job, Howard. And Fineman's right - this is a teaching moment. Maybe he'll survive this and continue his show. He does have the support of a great many politicians who come on his show, but I don't know if they support him in this case.



By the way, Imus seriously needs to consider putting the cowboy hat back on - without it, he looks even more disturbing.

Check out these gadgets

Check out this crazy invention - it's a bread stamper! Groovy, baby. The Zuse toaster can burn black and white images onto a slice of toast. It mounts on a wall in your kitchen (or your bathroom if you eat while getting ready for work), and it's activated when you put a slice underneath.

Totally unnecessary, and totally cool. Imagine the possibilities? You could eat a picture of your boss every morning before work. Righteous! Or, with an election coming up, I could bite Rick Santorum's head off every morning before washing him down with a Red Bull. I can think of worse ways to start my day.

I doubt toast stamping will catch on, but hey, dumber habits have been created by technology. Hell, employees are being fired via text messages now. All the more reason to bite off the head of your CEO every morning, flavored with your favorite spread.

First obstacle - what if you eat wheat bread? What about African-Americans? Sounds like the Zuse people have some work to do, before Al Sharpton goes all Samuel L. Jackson on their asses.

Okay, I don't really want one, but it's pretty cool.

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Next up is something I really do want. Are you listening, Santa?

Ohhh, look at this baby. It's the Sirius Stiletto 100, and it's flat out awesome. It's like an iPod for satellite radio. You can record programs, take it with you anywhere, and if you're in an area where satellite reception isn't possible, you can listen over a Wi-Fi network.

The downside - it's pricey, so I'm hoping to get some Best Buy gift cards from Santa so I can go get one ~ our tight budget doesn't allow for this purchase right now. We've had an expensive year, and this is, without a doubt, not a priority, just a hot item on my "want" list.

I've blogged about Sirius before (and another column coming up very shortly on Howard Stern and free speech), but I'll say it once more - Sirius is amazing, and it's clearly going to be the satellite radio company a few years down the road. Sirius is trending up, while XM is going the other way. In a perfect world, the two would merge and I could get all the programming I want, but I'm very, very happy to have Sirius now.

Vandra got me Sirius last year, and I use it every day. It was a surprise, and it's one of my favorite gifts ever. Even if/when I do get the Stiletto, I will still use the unit she got me in my car and office, so the Stiletto will just make Sirius available in places I normally can't take it, like jogging, exercising, etc.