posted April 18, 2007 12:27 PM         

Not controversial in the least, though.

If your opinion wasn't fairly common,
he would not have been fired in the first place.
He was fired precisely because your opinion is prevalent (and prevailing).

Defending Imus is controversial.

posted April 18, 2007 12:34 PM         

Sharpton and Jackson are nothing more than racist political opportunists who saw a chance to enhance their own standing and jumped on it.

The networks...radio and TV were pressured by these two racists to ax Imus. These two also hunted up a list of Imus sponsors and threatened them too. That's when it was all over of Imus.

There are people all over the airwaves making outlandish remarks, some of a racist nature...take Rosie O'Donnell for instance. Should they all be pulled from the public airwaves or is action only necessary when it's your hot button that gets pressed?

I share almost no common ground with Don Imus but it's clear all the thunder and lightning is coming from the left....his very own are attacking him now. Now isn't it an axiom of the left that they will defend your right to free speech with their very lives? Oh wait, that's the "liberal" line but those attacking Imus are not "liberals" by any stretch of the imagination.

The FCC has just ruled that Imus and/or the networks cannot be fined because offensive speech is not actionable under FCC rules laid down by Congress.

Imus did say something actionable under Civil Law however..slander/defamation. He called these women Ho's. The only perfect defense against a suit for slander/defamation of character is that what was said is true. That's where this should have gone..to the courts.

In any event, I refuse to be lectured about racism by the racist and ethically challenged Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

posted April 18, 2007 12:57 PM         

The Washington Post last week also revealed the incident where one of the staff/sidekicks (McGuirk I assume it does not sound like Charles) was referring to the Williams sisters Venus and Serena being considered for Playboy and he commented to the effect Playboy? More like National Geographic!. Also the fact that IMUS called Gwen Ifel one of this country's best and most esteemed long time veteran reporters "the CBS cleaning woman" is well documented and was covered in the Times last week. So no, unfortunately it is not the rare ranting of a near 70 year old reformed cocaine addict and alcoholic.

Last week, When Cal Ripken who I have adored since going to games with my dad in the 70s was the first to come out and say he would cancel his upcoming interview on the show, I have been really looking into Imus's history. I think Michael Wilbon (a well know columnist here with the Wash Post) did a terrific piece which I will try to put up before I run out.

Oh and before I forget, who here said to me "oh blame whitey". Yes right Johnny. You made me laugh very hard. You sound like Michelle Malkin. I am not sure who said that rascist remark to you or around you but I actually was blaming Don Imus for Don Imus's behavior. I don't use the term whitey and find it offensive. And my point about children is exactly that. Imus clearly adores Wyatt; Judging from how often he brings him up in conversation, he obviously thinks the child is some kind of chess wizard, brilliant cowboy roping phenome. Good for him, and I am certain that Essence Carson and her black and WHITE teammates' parents adore their children as well, especially now with their accomplishments and grace so evident.

Here is the Wilbon piece:

Out of Imus's Bigotry, a Zero Tolerance for Hate

By Michael Wilbon
Wednesday, April 11, 2007; E01

If calling the Rutgers women's basketball players "nappy-headed hos" was the first deplorable and offensive utterance out of shock jock Don Imus's mouth, there probably wouldn't be a national firestorm over his reprehensible characterization. If this was some rare event, then there wouldn't be organizations lining up to demand he be fired. If this was the first time, or second, or 10th, probably Imus wouldn't have been suspended for two weeks from his syndicated radio show, which is simulcast on MSNBC.

But there's nothing rare about Imus's vile attacks. This is what he does as a matter of course. Imus and his studio cohorts have painted black people as convicts and muggers and worst of all, apes. Not only do they find it funny, they expect everybody else will as well.

Sid Rosenberg, whom Imus once fired, then rehired, said one morning in 2001 that Serena and Venus Williams would be better off posing in National Geographic than Playboy. He knew he was saying Serena and Venus are closer to wild animals than women.

Please don't tell me it's not fair to hold Imus accountable for that remark and others like it because it didn't come out of his mouth. Imus hires the people who utter this filth and, in fact, wants them to go as far as possible because he believes it insulates him to a certain degree from the harshest criticism.

This is what Imus has done for years and years, and Viacom and NBC Universal pay him a king's ransom to do it. Imus has been questioned about his tactics over the years, and he says repeatedly and dismissively, "Get over it." He certainly isn't the only morning shock jock doing this, but he's the one whose behind is being scorched now and justifiably so.

Imus is the one who said in 1995 of Gwen Ifill, an accomplished, award-winning black journalist of incredible dignity and grace: "Isn't the [New York] Times wonderful. . . . It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House."

It's Imus who called William C. Rhoden, the veteran Times sports columnist, "a quota hire." Of course, the work, accomplishments or stature of their targets do not matter to Imus and his stooges. He makes fun of former attorney general Janet Reno's Parkinson's disease.

So "nappy-headed hos" wasn't some weak moment of great exception on the Imus show. In 1997, during a "60 Minutes" profile, Mike Wallace confronted Imus and a former producer who quoted Imus as saying he'd hired a staffer to "do nigger jokes." When I mentioned that earlier this week on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, Imus responded on his show that it simply did not happen -- though I see it in a 2000 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review and had a producer access it through a transcript (also the audio version) on National Public Radio.

Wallace: "You've told Tom Anderson, the producer, in your car coming home that Bernard McGuirk is there to do nigger jokes.'"

Imus: "Well, I've . . . I never use that word."

Wallace: "Tom?"

Tom Anderson: "I'm right here."

Imus: "Did I use that word?

Anderson: "I recall you using that word."

Imus: "Oh, okay, well then I used that word, but I mean . . . of course that was an off-the-record conversation . . ."

Wallace: "The hell it was."

So, you'll excuse me if I dismiss Imus's apology as bogus. He's apologized in the past, told veteran black journalist Clarence Page on the air he would "promise to cease all simian references to black . . . black athletes." That was before Imus went back to the ape references, probably within a week.

Understandably, this has led to a whole lot of folks calling for Imus's head. Personally, I'd rather see Imus have to confront anger, scorn and ridicule every single day. I'd rather see him have to deal with the accusation of being a bigot. I'd rather the criticism come at Imus from every angle, indefinitely, rather than have him slink away to private life.

You'll have to excuse me for not believing a man can utter this brand of filth month after month, then proclaim testily he's not a bigot. Firing, in some ways, would let him off the hook too easily. I'll defend Imus's right to free speech, while pointing out that those of us who find him and his goons contemptible have the exact same right to free speech. I'd rather see Imus squirm in the face of withering criticism than be fired and turn up six months later as some kind of martyr.

I'd rather see him snubbed by Cal Ripken, who refused to go on the air with Imus after his remarks about the Rutgers women. Ripken was supposed to appear on the Imus show yesterday to promote his new book.

Already a little squeamish about appearing on the show, Ripken's decision to tell Imus no became an easy one after the latest spewing. "It was set up by the publisher, but I said no because I don't want anybody to perceive that I condone those comments because I don't," Ripken said in a telephone conversation yesterday. "And if you go on that show, that's exactly what the perception would be."

Ripken said he does not want to be seen as someone wielding a moral compass. But I wonder now how many of these prominent journalists and politicians who use the platform Imus provides (and therefore give him cover) will have as much conviction as Ripken displayed.

Imus, not surprisingly, is trying to frame the discussion in a way that paints him as a good guy who did a stupid thing, which might be okay if he wasn't such a serial offender. Yes, Imus routinely has riveting political discussions, as recently as last fall when he engaged Harold Ford, then running for the U.S. Senate, in conversations about running for office as a young black man in the South, in this case Tennessee. When Imus says he's not unfamiliar with black people, he's telling the truth. He's not some idiot segregationist who seals himself off from black people, which is what makes these episodes even more disgusting.

If you believe the bosses at Viacom and NBC Universal have any guts, and I'm not sure I do, then you might believe the suspension represents a warning of zero tolerance from here on in and that Imus is one more incident from being dumped. And while I'm not agitating for Imus to be fired, I'd certainly raise a toast if it happens. Until then, what Imus has prompted is a necessary national conversation. The meeting with the Rutgers women is necessary -- so is the vigil to stand over him and remind him that even if he doesn't get it, many of us do.

More on Don Imus ...

Imus called women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos"
In the April 4 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, host Don Imus referred to the Rutgers University women's basketball team, which is comprised of eight African-American and two white players, as "nappy-headed hos" immediately after the show's executive producer, Bernard McGuirk, called the team "hard-core hos." Later, former Imus sports announcer Sid Rosenberg, who was filling in for sportscaster Chris Carlin, said: "The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the [National Basketball Association's] Toronto Raptors."

On Imus, McGuirk said that "b---itch" Clinton will "have cornrows and gold teeth"
On the March 6 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, executive producer Bernard McGuirk said that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) was "trying to sound black in front of a black audience" when she gave a speech on March 4 in Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" civil rights march. McGuirk added that Clinton "will have cornrows and gold teeth before this fight with [Sen. Barack] Obama [D-IL] is over." Earlier in the program, in reference to Clinton's speech, McGuirk had said, "B--itch is gonna be wearing cornrows." McGuirk also said that Clinton will be "giving Crips signs during speeches." The Crips are a Los Angeles-based street gang.

Imus: "[I]t was Bernard who said, 'Besa mi culo' ... not me"
On the February 8 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, during a discussion with Newsweek magazine chief political correspondent Howard Fineman, host Don Imus falsely claimed that "it was [executive producer] Bernard [McGuirk] who said, 'Besa mi culo ... Gordo, [to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson] not me." The phrase loosely translates to "kiss my ass, fat one," in Spanish. As Media Matters for America noted at the time, however, Imus echoed McGuirk -- labeled by Media Matters as "unidentified" -- saying "besa mi culo" at least twice himself on the February 1 edition of Imus. Richardson's mother is Mexican.

Imus touted Giuliani as willing to "drop [a nuclear weapon] on Mecca"
On the February 6 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, host Don Imus claimed that "if we're gonna be fighting these terrorists through the lives of [8-year-old son] Wyatt Imus' children," then "it might be good to start with somebody who is willing to take three big ones and drop one on Mecca, one on Jeddah, and one on Saudi -- one on Riyadh," all cities in Saudi Arabia. Imus made the point in response to co-host Charles McCord, who claimed that Imus had "Leon Klinghoffered John McCain ... in favor of Rudolph Giuliani" during a private conversation they had the previous evening. Imus has previously claimed that he will vote for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in 2008.

Imus producer referred to Obama's "Jew-hating name"
On the February 2 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, the show's executive producer, Bernard McGuirk, claimed that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has "a Jew-hating name." The remark followed a flurry of other negative comments from host Don Imus, McGuirk, and co-host Charles McCord about the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, calling Obama a "creep," "a wind-watching wimp," and "a flip-flopping weasel."

MSNBC's Imus referred to "Jewish management" of CBS Radio as "money-grubbing ******** "
As the Forward newspaper reported in a December 8 online article, Don Imus referred to the "Jewish management" of CBS Radio as "money-grubbing ******** " on the November 30 broadcast of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning. Imus was discussing a past conflict with his bosses about hosting the musical group the Blind Boys of Alabama. Executive producer Bernard McGuirk asked, "Even if you wear a beanie, how can you not love the Blind Boys?" Imus continued, "I said, 'They're handicapped, they're black, and they're blind. How do we lose here?' And then a light bulb just went off over [the managers'] scummy little heads." CBS Radio owns WFAN, the New York station that is the flagship for Imus' radio show.

posted April 18, 2007 01:24 PM         

Some people want to continue to make it into a black/white issue which it is NOT. It is an idiot saying idiotic things issue. Now I don't agree with Imus, but things are said everyday by people everywhere that are idiotic. That, in general, is life.

Fact is, most people in the white community don't have a clue that nappy is a racist statement. Seriously. If you have curly hair it can get nappy--just like if you eat too much chocolate you can get zits. It happens.

What people on the white side are saying, however, is that there is so much hypocrisy surrounding this issue and so many people ready to lynch the white guy over this that it, in fact, begins to anger people.

posted April 18, 2007 02:44 PM         

"Jiggaboo" was said because the guy who said it knew it would cause some black person somewhere to get up in arms about it, and it worked. Blacks fell right into his trap.

Problem is, just like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson don't represent all of the black community, Don Imus doesn't represent all white men. However, because we still--in 2007--are making such a big deal about these stupid, meaningless words race continues to be divided and for what? What is really the issue here? Some idiot making iditotic statements...who cares?

Jiggaboo is like Polack is like Wop is like Towelhead is like ***** is like blond bimbo is like everyother name people call eachother. As words, none of these make a difference, in fact, taken objectively they are hilarious and silly. It's how the individual takes them that determines their effect. Stop letting it bother you. It's really not hard to do...

posted April 18, 2007 03:15 PM         

Remember Spike Lee's, School Daze?

That's where Imus got that from!

The Jigaboos against the Wannabees. Light and dark.

I watched Oprah yesterday and was greatly disappointed with the stance of those in the hip hop community because they represent a mindset. A masculine mindset within the black community. Not taking the blame for Imus even being able to use those words, as the inflection in his voice, tells you were he acquired it. And then try to divert the blame back to slavery.

But I like that the young ladies from Spellman who were present. And they got on them all together. They were like, okay, yeah, we know about slavery, but admit that today, you are propogating those opinion of us.... And the guys hated it but they had to admit it. But then, they watered down by more excuses. Poverty, jails, artistery. Black men having to express themselves. Black men being down because of the white man. ALL THAT STUFF. And one of them had the nerve to play victim. It was laughable. But the girls from Spellman, represented until the END. And I loved that. It gave me hope.

And what was interesting was the hip hoppers even tried to downplay their position by saying, "you sistah's are respected because you are in college, but for those who ain't..." Something like that. And the best way to annihilate us to keep us divided and off the same page.

I mean this is a loaded issue here....
But it has nothing to do with Don Imus. I mean, follow the inflection in his voice and you'll find the perpatrators.

posted April 18, 2007 03:17 PM         

"Those girls from Tennesse are pretty its like the Jigga boos against the wanna be's"

posted April 18, 2007 03:19 PM         

Truth is, we all know it goes both ways.

Imus is obviously an idiot. Given his history, those in the know shouldn't be surprised.

Lilygirl, you are absolutely right when you say this is a green issue. Imus got fired because advertising was pulled. That's the media for you, for better or worse.

I think HSC brings up some very valid questions... questions I've asked myself. The race card is simply the easiest way out.

There are whites who hate blacks and blacks who hate whites. It's a fact of life. I don't believe for one second that we should be "colorblind." This is an ignorant concept. We are all different, and some of these differences can be generally categorized by race.

The truth is, stereotypes exist for reasons. Like many have said, it's all about context. Should we be limited by these sweeping statements? No way. But they're there. If we stop to think about it, we can all relate to some stereotype regarding our race, gender, age, or whatever. This is what makes "racial" humor what it is.

I'm white and I've laughed at black jokes. I also laugh at white jokes. I laugh at jokes about men, and jokes about women, jokes about blondes, and jokes about brunettes.

The point is that the Imus situation is more than a racism issue. It's an issue that raises a lot of questions (as Steve has pointed out.)

What we have to watch out for is, in defending our own kind against racism, sexism, or any other kind of ism, we don't do so in an offensive way, otherwise we're only perpetuating the problem.

Specifically I mean the point about slavery and black oppression: for the record, I don't know anyone who has been sold into slavery, nor have I ever owned a slave. I didn't pack Africans into slave ships, and, for the record, I don't have any plans to do any of these things.

It seems to me that there is some unspoken rule that says that this point of view is politically incorrect. That somehow since these atrocities were inflicted by white people that I am somehow responsible today.

This silent guilt trip is why the race card is so easy to play and so difficult to trump. THIS is offensive to ME. What would happen if I wanted to go on national television to say so? Would it be well-received?

I don't deny that racial relations are still in a state of transition and far from perfect. But let's not forget that MANY of us, black, white, or whatever, have moved beyond these issues. I believe that most of the attention that goes toward spotlighting acts of racism work against the ideal of unity, tearing down bridges even as they are built.

I said that we shouldn't aim for "colorblindness." I rather like the different colors we all bring to our nation and our world. Wouldn't blindness be a shame?

posted April 18, 2007 03:33 PM         

He as in Don Imus..

The thing is we can go on and on about this and some will feel this way and some will feel that way some think they are right and some think they are right. We all have our opinons and comments on how we percieved what he said and that is totally alright with me. Bc I have mine's as well and its how I feel and nothing can change that. I don't want to debate with ppl about this whats said is said and whats done is done. And if something else comes about we will all have our opinions and so forth about that issue and that is alright by me you won't hear me telling you how to feel and what to think..

posted April 18, 2007 03:51 PM         

I honestly just wanted to know how it, personally, effects your life?

posted April 18, 2007 05:17 PM         

Now again, I wouldn't have cared for Imus to be fired because I frankly, I never heard of the guy until last week and I would've been fine if he had just met the girls from Ruckers to see what they're really about and then gotten the two week suspension to reflect and maybe repent.

Some people thinks it stupid that people are angry over Don Imus' comments. But you know what, I think its stupid that people are all up in arms acting like it was the government who pulled Imus off the air when it was really two Corporations and then go on and argue about free speech and what have you. Here's a newsflash for those who want to argue about free speech: Corporations are not democracies. They're the ones who pick you up and pay you to do whatever; therefore, they can make the decision not to do so anymore if deem it fit (although I think they only did it because of money and saving their own a$$es).

posted April 18, 2007 07:49 PM         

What I know as a mixed woman, as a fat woman, as a woman, is that the large percentage of this world is hypocritical and full of **** .

I used to ride the school bus, being the only light skinned person. I was always referred to as "that white girl." I have a name. Those same black children were the ones that would open the windows and heckle a nearby school bus, simply because it was full of Jews.

In the black community, some black people are too light skinned to be considered black. Some black people are considered too "crispy" to be beautiful.

And looking the way I look has really bugged some Puerto Ricans I've met, because they feel my appearance is deceptive.

White people... Well, white people taught me very well that I'm a fat, ugly, disgusting "mutt" that doesn't deserve a moment of tranquil peace.

We have to teach our children love. Self love, and then love for the rest of the world. Discrimination is conditioned and reinforced through cultural petting.

I feel that Don Imus was wrong, Al Sharpton is wrong, Jessie Jackson is wrong, and the rap industry is wrong. Heck, even the fashion industry for trying to destroy women.

But, there's also freedom of speech. As much as I hate it, I feel that firing a person for making such a remark is overdoing it. Suspension was good enough.

I don't see change in values anytime soon. But...as I've told my religious community, rather than thinking of ways to tear others down, we should build up the community. Create more shows that show different races in a positive light to counter the negative. Put classes in school teaching self worth and more fund raising. Make YouTube videos expressing positive values so that they may touch others.

Don Imus was wrong but he just did what was expected out of him. To shock people. When i hear his voice, I don't hear any hatred for people. And as I told my therapist the other day, just like I no longer see a problem with being fat, I don't see what is wrong with "nappy hair." Sometimes hair is nappy and natural. That's beautiful.

posted April 18, 2007 08:07 PM         

To whomever was saying where is the source??, please note that thanks to modern internet all of this stuff is available through Google ... just type away and hit enter. Also YouTube has all the actual videos on file... with Don from the "infraction" to his on air appearance with Sharpton.

From the April 4 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning:

IMUS: So, I watched the basketball game last night between -- a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women's final.

ROSENBERG: Yeah, Tennessee won last night -- seventh championship for [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by 13 points.

IMUS: That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and --

McGUIRK: Some hard-core hoes.

IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hoes there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -- I don't know.

McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.

IMUS: Yeah.

McGUIRK: The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabes -- that movie that he had.

IMUS: Yeah, it was a tough --

McCORD: Do The Right Thing.

McGUIRK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

IMUS: I don't know if I'd have wanted to beat Rutgers or not, but they did, right?

ROSENBERG: It was a tough watch. The more I look at Rutgers; they look exactly like the Toronto Raptors.

IMUS: Well, I guess, yeah.

RUFFINO: Only tougher.

McGUIRK: The [Memphis] Grizzlies would be more appropriate.

Also let me comment on the whole "who cares?" tact (and by the way I did not read MamaMia as "angry" I read her as offering her opinion like everyone else on the matter. Nor do I think she needs to justify having one). I care because I have young children living in my house.

I think what he did was so despicable and denigrating. It is the same reason why rap music and videos are not allowed in this household.

I will also echo what I continue to put in people's faces on this matter. It was not simply the content it was to whom it was spewed. Every single person in here with a daughter or niece needs to honestly ask, would I want that to be my daughter? Because, No it was not a public person, a politician or "left wing" movie star he was demeaning, it was a bunch of
young people doing what they are asked of and demanded of each day. Work hard, comport yourself with a degree of decorum and excel.

I think when a society pooh poohs, laughs too hard at and ignores cruelty to others, it is ultimately detrimental. In some ways we have become such an incredibly desensitized coarse community. Race is just one of the many avenues that some utilize to trumpet that coarseness.

posted April 18, 2007 09:53 PM         

quote:

---

DON IMUS: They're (the Palestinians) eating dirt and that fat pig wife of his is living in Paris.

COLLEAGUE: They're all brainwashed, though. That's what it is. And they're stupid, to begin with, but they're brainwashed now. Stinking animals. They ought to drop the bomb right there, kill `em all right now…

IMUS: Well, the problem is we have (reporter) Andrea (Mitchell) there; we don't want anything to happen to her.

COLLEAGUE: Oh, she's got to get out. Andrea, get out and then drop the bomb and kill everybody…

COLLEAGUE: Look at this. Animals. Animals!

---

posted April 18, 2007 10:13 PM         

Why did this happen when it happened ?(and this was not his first hardcore racist or misogynistic comment) I think what happened here is he broke the camel's back. And I think IMUS now being simulcast has broadned his swath of cloth well beyond a little tititalated following with increased programming bringing in hard heavy hitting political leaders, authors and others. In essence, Imus got away with it with multiple groups multiple times and then he did what he did on a very slow news day (I used to work at NBC WBZ boston so I don't discount the logisitics)--HE lit a bonfire under what is perceived by virtually everyone (except the most cynical or drunken among us) as an innocent group of young people who had just excelled at something. Then rather then shut his trap and that of his cronies he went on and on with it.

I was somewhat amused by his wife's comment on Larry King the other night---she asked that people stop sending hate mail and threats to the basketball's team members and coach and if they wanted to send hate male send it to her husband....

Here is a litany apparently spread over the course of some years: (note these asre Don's comments not Bernie's...transcripts spilling out all over the place....)

"William Cohen, the Mandingo deal." (Former Defense Secretary Cohen's wife is African-American.) Somethig which Tom Brokaw apparently called him on.....

"Wasn't in a woodpile, was he?" (Responding to news that former black militant H. Rap Brown, subsequently known as Abdullah Al-Amin, was found hiding in a shed in Alabama after exchanging gunfire with police. Imus is here alluding to the expression "nigger in the woodpile.")

"Knuckle-dragging moron." (Description of basketball player Patrick Ewing.)

"We all have 12-inch penises." (After being asked what he has in common with Nat Turner, Malcolm X, Minister Louis Farrakhan, Latrell Sprewell from the New York Knicks, and Al Sharpton.)

"Chest-thumping pimps." (Description of the New York Knicks.)

"A cleaning lady." (Reference to journalist Gwen Ifill, possibly out of pique that she wouldn't appear on his show. "I certainly don't know any black journalists who will," she wrote in the April 10 New York Times. The Chicago Tribune's Clarence Page used to appear, but after he made Imus pledge not to make offensive comments in the future, he was never asked back.)

On Jews:

"I remember when I first had [the Blind Boys of Alabama] on a few years ago, how the Jewish management at whatever, whoever we work for, CBS, or whatever it is, were bitching at me about it. […] I tried to put it in terms that these money-grubbing ******** could understand."

"Boner-nosed … beanie-wearing Jewboy." (Description of Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post, a frequent guest.)

On Native Americans:

"The guy from F-Troop, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell." (This is a reference to the zany Indian characters on the 1960s TV sitcom F-Troop. They had names like "Roaring Chicken," "Crazy Cat," and "Chief Wild Eagle.")

On Japanese:

"Old Kabuki's in a coma and the market's going up. […] How old is the boy? The battery's running down on that boy." (Reference to Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who died the following week.)

On gays:

"I didn't know that Allan Bloom was coming in from the back end." (The homosexuality of the author of The Closing of the American Mind became widely known when Saul Bellow published Ravelstein, a novel whose protagonist was based on Bloom, who by then was deceased.)

"The enormously attractive [NBC political correspondent] Chip Reid, I can say without being accused of being some limp-wristed 'mo."

On the handicapped:

"Janet Reno's having a press conference. Ms. Reno, of course, has Parkinson's disease, has a noticeable tremor. […] I don't know how she gets that lipstick on (laughter) looking like a rodeo clown."

posted April 18, 2007 10:42 PM         

quote:

---

Mama, it's okay if you don't want to let this go and you want to continue being angry over this. That is your right.

---

I think she might have only gotten angry for you're telling her how to feel.
And now you're telling how she is feeling (angry and unable to let go).

As for the mindset of why should you care? Does it effect your life?

Maybe someone has been fat all their life and heard a million cruel remarks about it.
Then they hear someone who has been given reign of national airwaves (therefore a position of responsibility for the things they say--too much to ask?--it's part of their job wouldn't you think?)
yet again make another cruel fat statement.

Maybe they're fed up with it at that point
and it brings on feelings of entire disillusionment with the goodness of the world.

Now change "fat" to "black" and "racist" and maybe rethink your question while putting yourself in Mama Mia and Dulce's place....also the Rutgers women's basketball team.

How does this effect lives?
No one can say.
Maybe not enough to destroy it, but just enough to hurt a bit.
Isn't that enough to care about?

Personally I think since Howard Stern was so successful in his career,
it pretty much set a present standard where nothing is too much. There is no standard, so it's actually just a bit surprising that anyone cares at all.

Controversial?
What haven't we seen??

It's all become rather predictible from both sides of issues like these.
That's the whole point.
There is an apathy which is so used to shock value, that it doesn't understand the significance of human feelings.
There is an apathy with which our media culture degrades people who in any way
do not fit into the box of what it deems as an ideal.
There is an apathy which just accepts it all as normal.
There is an apathy which allows corporations to rule morality.
There's an apathy, which is so tired of the race card being played, when it isn't even the issue. That when it actually is the issue, it's all so blurred people can't tell the difference.

We're tired of it all.
If defending Imus were to be controversial it might be more interesting. But he has his many supporters. The guy's been around forever.
The public exposure will probably boost his career elsewhere.
That wouldn't surprise me at all.
He'll probably be hosting Saturday Night Live soon.

posted April 19, 2007 01:27 AM         

as for lailei and mama, no hard feelings, but Mama said this--

quote:

---

I care thats who cares and I have that right to care if I want to. And I don't need anyone telling me what to let and not let bother me..And I would feel the same way if the shoe was on the other foot..Thats it thats all..

---

I just wanted you to know that I was not being confrontational about what Mama said at all. My first comment, "Don't let it bother you" was just the kind of advice I would give a friend. You know? Don't let it bother you. I most certainly wasn't telling Mama what to do...

So she basically told me--don't tell me what to do and that she has a right to let it bother her. She sounded angry about the issue, so I was just following up with..okay, that's cool.

I'm not going to be dragged into someone's anger. I don't want to be angry.

There is an assumption that white people cannot "see" the larger issue. That somehow, if you are white you are just not "getting it." Hence the Fat comparisons, etc. I appreciate that. But we do "get it" and we are trying to help.

The way I see it is this, if you let the bully effect your mood just because he looks at you the wrong way or calls you that "special" name that he just KNOWS is going to get to you, then the bully is going to keep doing it. The first time you laugh at the bully and say, "Yeah, whatever, dude" the bully will look at you strange and try and find other ways to get to you. If you laugh at the bully every time and eventually ignore the bully, he's going to find someone else to bully.

Don Imus was a bully. There are alot of bullies in this world. My son goes to school with bullies. There are bullies at the workplace, on the street, in the shop, whereever. Every one of us have had the bully direct his attention to us. We all know the way it works, its one of our common grounds.

Anyhoo, I was just trying to help. I apologize if it looked like I was telling someone what to do.

posted April 19, 2007 04:27 AM         

Music and Obscenity: The 2 Live Crew Go to Court

The obscenity case of the 2 Live Crew’s album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" is one of the most interesting court cases on popular music. The case is complicated because of the facts that were involved, the court ruling that was reached on the album’s obscenity, the reversal of the ruling by the Court of Appeals, and the enormous amount of legal debate it has led to. I will present the history of the case, the ruling of the first trial, and the ruling of the appeal (see Beatty 1991; Butler 1991:368-376; Campbell 1991:177-215; Friedland 1991; Furer 1991:465-469; Gordon 1991:506-517; King 1991:120-140; Morant 1992:16-20; O’Gallagher and Gaertner 1991:105-110; Olson 1991:515-529; Rogow 1991:243-250; Skywalker v. Navarro 1990a).

The record company Skywalker Records released the 2 Live Crew album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" ("Nasty") in 1989 and simultaneously released a "sanitized" version of the recording called "As Clean As They Wanna Be" (same music, different lyrics). By 1990, sales of the "Nasty" album amounted to about 1.7 million copies, while the Clean album had sold some 250,000 copies. In mid-February of 1990, the Sheriff’s office of Broward County, Florida, began an investigation into the "Nasty" recording as a response to complaints by South Florida residents. Broward County Deputy Sheriff Mark Wichner was assigned to the case. On February 26, 1990, he traveled to Sound Warehouse, a record store in Broward County, and bought a cassette version of the "Nasty" recording. He listened to the album, had six of its songs transcribed, and prepared an affidavit stating these facts. On February 28, 1990, Deputy Wichner sent the affidavit, the transcripts, and a copy of the "Nasty" tape to Judge Mel Grossman of the Broward County Circuit Court, requesting that the judge find probable cause that "Nasty" was legally obscene.

On March 9, Judge Grossman issued an order, stating that he had found probable cause to believe the recording was obscene. The Broward County Sheriff’s office received and copied the order, and distributed it to all record stores that might be selling the album throughout the county. The Sheriff’s office had decided to warn the stores as a matter of courtesy (Skywalker v. Navarro 1990a). Then, Deputy Wichner again visited the store where he had purchased the "Nasty" cassette as well as two other stores. He gave a copy of the order to the managers of the stores, and told them that they should refrain from selling the "Nasty" recording and that selling the album could result in arrest under Florida state obscenity laws. Some 15 to 20 record stores were personally visited by agents and deputies from the Sheriff’s office. Within days, all record stores in the county ceased selling the "Nasty" album. On March 16, 1990, Skywalker Records filed against suit Broward County Sheriff Nicholas Navarro, who himself, on March 27, filed suit to seek legal determination whether "Nasty" was obscene (no trial date was set).

(In the end, most of the obscenity issues were overturned due to much judicial debate.)