The Return of the I-MAN!

Censorship, RFD?

In other words, nothing changed, becaue maybe black folk are off limits, but there are a lot of stupid white people to help the I-man fill 4 hours.

BTW: Memo to the alleged Rutgers Women's Basketball team: I just put down a lot of money on you guys, and you better NOT drop an NCAA WOmen's championship game by 15 points this year.....because Don Imus may have signed that paper teling him behave, but I sure in the hell didn't!

Pussy Whipped.

A Chastened Imus Returns to Radio

By JACQUES STEINBERG

Nearly eight months after he was fired for making a racially and sexually disparaging remark about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, Don Imus went back on the radio at 6 a.m. today and vowed he would not say anything like that again.

He also introduced two new cast members — a black woman, Karith Foster, and a black man, Tony Powell, both of them comedians (can you say the word "token?"-dp) — and said they would join him in conducting “an ongoing discussion about race relations in this country.”

“I will never say anything in my lifetime that will make any of these young women at Rutgers regret or feel foolish that they accepted my apology and forgave me,” Mr. Imus told an audience that was listening in person at Town Hall in midtown Manhattan, and at home and in their cars on WABC-AM, his new radio home. “And no one else will say anything on my program that will make anyone think I did not deserve a second chance.”

Still, in many ways, it felt as if the clock had been turned back before last April, when Mr. Imus said what he said and was fired by CBS Radio and MSNBC, which had simulcast his program on cable television.

“Dick Cheney is still a war criminal,” Mr. Imus, 67, told the audience, in an effort to reassure them that he did not intend to completely alter his style, or curb his tongue. “Hillary Clinton is still Satan. And I’m going on the radio.”

On stage at Town Hall this morning, he was flanked on his right by his longtime news reader and sidekick, Charles McCord. Seated to his left, with a microphone conspicuously in front of him, was Bernard McGuirk, the producer whose initial reference on April 4 to the Rutgers team as “some hard-core hos” had prompted Mr. Imus to pile on by calling them “nappy-headed hos.”

The roster of announced guests was familiar to any regular Imus listener. They included Senator John McCain of Arizona, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, and Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, who is seeking the Democratic nomination; the author Doris Kearns Goodwin, and the political strategists James Carville and Mary Matalin.

And some long-time advertisers, too, came back, including the Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey; NetJets, the corporate aircraft leasing company; the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut, and Bigelow teas. The house band was led by Levon Helm, who had played for Mr. Imus on April 12, which had wound up being his last day.

Mr. Imus wore a tan cowboy hat, a gold-colored vest under a tan barn jacket and worn boots. In his initial remarks, Mr. Imus spoke to the audience from a lone microphone positioned at center stage. At some points, he was defiant, acknowledging that the Rutgers team, which met with him the night of his firing, had found it easier to forgive him than had some of his detractors.

“We signed for five years,” he said of his contracts with Citadel Radio, the parent of WABC, as well as with RFD-TV, which will simulcast his program. “That’s how long it’s going to take to get even with everybody.”

And yet, for all his bravado, Mr. Imus acknowledged that he had been chastened and, at times, humiliated these last few months, and that he ultimately deserved his punishment.

“I think things worked out the way they should have worked out,” he said. “We now have the opportunity to have a better program, to obviously diversify the cast.”

He added, though: “The program is not going to change.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/business/media/03cnd-imus.html?em&ex=1196830800&en=d80a3768b78369e3&ei=5087%0A

12/03/07!

from http://www.wabcradio.com/:

Citadel Broadcasting Corporation and 77WABC Radio today announced the hiring of Don Imus as the station’s new morning host beginning Monday, December 3rd. Imus is bringing his team back to the radio on 77 WABC including newsman Charles McCord. The show will air 6am to 10am on 77WABC and will be syndicated nationally by the ABC Radio Network.

“We are ecstatic to bring Don Imus back to morning radio,” said 77WABC President & General Manager Steve Borneman. “Don’s unique brand of humor, knowledge of the issues and ability to attract big-name guests is unparalleled. He is rested, fired up and ready to do great radio on the nations most listened to News/Talk radio station, 77WABC.”

Imus has been a morning radio icon for over 30 years in New York City. Throughout that span, Don developed a reputation as a hard-hitting interviewer, able to ask tough questions and still have his guests come back for more. An extensive roster of celebrities, politicians and media stars have appeared on his program during that time, establishing Imus in the Morning as the nation’s radio show of record.

During that same time, WABC grew into the most listened to News/Talk radio station in the nation. From its studios, 77WABC launched the national careers of the biggest talk show hosts on the radio: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Matt Drudge. “Having Don Imus join the WABC galaxy of stars is certainly an amazing addition to our station and for our company but most importantly, the real winners are morning radio listeners everywhere,” said Borneman.

12.1.07: IMUS RETURNS!!!!!! (report)

Report: Imus To Return December 1
October 8, 2007

Last week, it was reported that Don Imus was close to finalizing a deal with Citadel to return to the radio. Now sources tell the Washington Post that Imus' comeback has a start date of December 1. The Post reports that a new contract between Imus and Citadel Broadcasting will likely be finalized by the end of the week. Sources also told the paper that, as predicted, Imus would be taking over mornings at WABC/New York, with his show back in syndication once again.

There are also suggestions that Imus would bring his show back to TV as well, and he has floated the idea that the show could be a fit on the new Fox Business Network, though no official negotiations have begun.
While nothing has been said on the record yet, Citadel CEO Farid Suleman did tell the New York Times over the weekend that "[Imus] did something wrong. He didn’t break the law. He’s more than paid the price for what he did. I think he should be evaluated by what he does going forward." Suleman did not, however, confirm or deny that Citadel was in negotiations with Imus.

Advertising Age has asked some top advertisers if they would return to running spots during Imus' show, if he comes back. While General Motors had suspended its advertising on his show when the controversy began in the spring, a spokeswoman for GM told Ad Age the company wouldn't buy ad time until it knew what his new program would be about. Natalie Swed Stone, OMD's head of radio buying, added that she "couldn't see why" advertisers wouldn't want to return to running ads with Imus once again

BREAKING: IMUS NEAR CITADEL/ABC DEAL???

Imus fans: Your wait is almost over!

Citadel Broadcasting is close to finalizing a contract with Don Imus that would bring the controversial radio host back to the airwaves, a person familiar with the discussions said Tuesday.It was not immediately clear from where Imus would be heard, but Citadel owns WABC in New York, making its morning slot a logical destination. It also owns WPLJ-FM.

Currently the ABC spot is occupied by Ron Kuby and Curtis Sliwa.Citadel and its chief executive, Farid Suleman, have been rumored to be interested in Imus for months, and WABC long has been considered a logical platform for him to launch a comeback.He would bring along his longtime newsman, Charles McCord, who last appeared on WFAN Aug. 31.

Less clear is what role, if any, a more controversial member of Imus' old crew, Bernard McGuirk, would play. One possibility is a nonspeaking role as a producer/writer.

Imus was fired by CBS Radio and removed from WFAN April 12, eight days after making comments that many regarded as sexist and/or racist directed at the Rutgers women's basketball team . His show also had been simulcast on MSNBC.

Best of Imus!

From Donald Inks great Archive. Features the reporting of the deaths of Johnny Cash,John Ritter and Larry Hovis from Hogan's Heroes in 2003. Jack Nicholson is featured in the last cut. And Sid tells America about his first time? Disk 1 cuts 19, 20, 21. But not in order. Edited for continuity.

Imus foul unworthy of slander lawsuit

By Jay Ambrose
Saturday, August 18, 2007

Kia Vaughn says Don Imus ruined her reputation when he called members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hos,” but it’s something else entirely that stands to hurt her name: a lawsuit she’s filed seeking money from the shock jock.

The suit on behalf of this star center of the team says “defamatory, sexually denigrating and slanderous statements and comments against the women athletes . . . were heard, believed and understood by millions of listeners . . . as factual pronouncements concerning the character, chastity and reputation of the plaintiff.”

Her lawyer, Richard Ancowitz, has been quoted as saying Vaughn “would do anything” to “restore” her “good name.”

How much is being sought in monetary damages? We don’t know, but Imus is worth multimillions, and he is not the only one being named in the suit. There’s also the producer of Imus’ old show, Bernard McGuirk, along with CBS Corp., Viacom Inc., MSNBC, CBS Radio, NBC Universal and Westwood One Radio. We could be talking about a high stack of dollars, although some of them, the lawyer has said, would be used for the study of bigotry, misogyny, that sort of thing.

For just a moment in these unhinged times in which we live, let’s get rational enough to say what should be obvious to any and every adult who has paid the slightest bit of attention to the Imus saga, namely that there was no way in the world he meant his remark about that team to be taken literally. It was intended as a joke. To be sure, it was a tasteless, stupid, insulting joke, but exactly the sort of way-out, scandalous joke on which Imus has built a long career.

No one with a lick of sense could conceivably have thought Imus was suggesting anything factual about members of that team, and it is utterly absurd to think their reputations were diminished. Imus himself apologized and guess what the players did? They accepted the apology.

Vaughn’s good name was not put in jeopardy by Imus, and if she wants this whole thing to go away, the last thing she should do is file a suit that earns fresh headlines and makes people wonder whether this is yet one more instance of someone using the courts for undeserved enrichment. Those who advised this course of action have done her a disfavor while simultaneously abetting the further diminishment of respect for law.

Imus, who has just settled his own lawsuit against CBS, could be headed back to his own radio show again and may be tempted to settle with Vaughn just to get it over with. But if he does, do all the others he has joked about over the years then line up to get their share?

I am not here to defend Imus. My concern is with a society that is forever damaging itself through the abuse of a magnificent mechanism, the law, which is meant to set things right.



Jay Ambrose was Washington director of editorial policy for Scripps Howard newspapers.

SETTLEMENT???

NY POST: TALK SHOW SETTLEMENT
SOURCES SAY IMUS, CBS ARE CLOSE TO CONTRACT BUYOUT

July 27, 2007 -- Don Imus is about to get paid.

The disowned shock jock is close to a settlement that would have former employer CBS buy out his contract as a way to avoid costly and ugly litigation, according to multiple sources close to the situation.

These sources said the two sides have agreed in principle to a buyout and are currently exploring the price tag for such a deal - Imus had $40 million left on his contract when he was booted from CBS, but his lawsuit against the company seeks $120 million in damages.
Despite the racist comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team that prompted Imus' removal from the airwaves, sources said the settlement speaks to the strength of the radio raconteur's case against CBS.

"I'd rather be Imus in that lawsuit than CBS," said one radio executive.

But while the negotiations over a settlement are all but finalized, these sources said CBS is dragging its feet on making the deal official until it can sign Boomer Esiason to a contract to take over Imus' old morning slot on WFAN.

Imus, however, is known to be hankering to get back on the airwaves, and sources said his camp has reached out to privately owned Buckley Broadcasting Read WOR), publicly-traded Citadel Communications(Read ABC RADIO) and Clear Channel Communications (read Premiere/EIB) about the possibility of a return.

Though CBS boss Les Moonves has repeatedly stated that Imus won't be returning to the company, one source said that door hasn't been shut entirely. While a settlement is most likely, CBS is trying to have it both ways with the source saying the company is "looking to retain an option to do something with Imus over the next few months so they can match any other offers he might get."

The prospect of an Imus comeback received a major boost last week when Al Sharpton, who led the campaign against Imus in the aftermath of his comments, said he wouldn't object to his return to radio(considering the fact that before all no one knew Rev NHMediaH HAD a radio show!).

A spokesman for CBS declined to comment for this story. Calls to Martin Garbus, the attorney representing Imus in his lawsuit, were not returned.

Part of the reason for CBS and Garbus' shyness, according to sources, is that neither side wants news of the settlement to get out in fear of blunting leverage in other negotiations. On the CBS side, word of a deal with Imus that removes the possibility of a return would give Esiason leverage in his contract talks with the company.

After all, WFAN has essentially been without a morning show for nearly five months and one source said the station is desperate to get someone in there permanently to reestablish its presence.

From Imus' perspective, word of a settlement would remove what little leverage he might have in job negotiations with other broadcasters.

Drudge: Imus Back In January????

IMUS PLOTS JANUARY COMEBACK

Sun Jul 08 2007 20:13:37 ET
Controversial radio host Don Imus is considering a return to the airwaves -- as early as this coming January, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.Legal issues pending with CBS must first be resolved before any dramatic return to the airwaves.'We're going to see Don back in front of a microphone for the '08 election," said a top source close to Imus.The source would not reveal were Imus would make his comeback. A pre-4th of July report by the NEW YORK POST fueled speculation of an Imus return.

Developing...

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash2ii.htm

HuffPo: Where Did the Reverends Go When We Needed Them?

I was enthralled by the media's fascination with Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson during the Don Imus Racial "incident" concerning the Rutgers woman's basketball players.

It is not the time to revisit the issue, but rather to note the turmoil that the event created in the "news of the day."

Although this indirectly concerns Ann Coulter (the journalistic equivalent of Paris Hilton) who has established a career of unchallenged vitriol, it is more directly about MSNBC, NBC News, and Chris Mathews.

It is difficult for me to understand the reasons that this purportedly high integrity news organization would book Coulter for a full hour on Hardball, but alas this would delve into their journalistic prerogatives.

MSNBC allowed Ms. Coulter to appear for the hour after she lovingly suggested that she wished that John Edwards had been killed by terrorists.

During the program with Mathews, Elizabeth Edwards telephoned the show to ask Ann Coulter to "stop the personal attacks,"

"It debases political dialogue...It drives people away from the process. We can't have a debate about issues if you're using this kind of language."

Coulter responded with a laugh and charged that Edwards was calling on her to stop speaking altogether. She questioned why Elizabeth Edwards was making a phone call on behalf of her husband, and she criticized John Edwards for "stealing doctors' money" during his successful career as a trial lawyer. "I don't think I need to be told to stop writing by Elizabeth Edwards, thank you," Coulter said.

I would have hoped that even though he had organized the event that Mathews would have asked Coulter to leave. But alas, what do I know about journalism, free speech, and integrity having worked a Motion Picture studios all these years.

My purpose here is not to comment on the horrid words of Coulter, but rather to comment on MSNBC, Mathews and staff, and most of all, that paragon of virtue Steve Capus, the President of NBC News.
Here are some of the Carpus comments following "the Imus debacle."

NBC News President Steve Capus said in an internal e-mail Wednesday. "I've had countless conversations, e-mail exchanges and phone calls with people throughout this company. I've heard you loud and clear. Therefore, we are announcing tonight that MSNBC will no longer simulcast the Imus radio program. My primary concern has been and always will be the integrity of this division. We are the guardians of the good name of NBC News -- each and every one of us. There has been a trust placed in us. We must honor and respect this trust. That, in short, is why we have taken this action."

I expect that I am a raging Liberal who has defended Imus AND his stupid racist remarks, but how can you compare what Imus did in the context of his show with the crazy stuff said by Coulter and TOLERATED by Mathews, MSNBC, and NBC News?

There once was a time long ago that NBC News had a good name and did good things for America. That time went away a long time ago.

Bring back "the Reverends."

Norman Horowitz
A broad-based senior executive with almost 50 years of diverse media experience, he has been actively involved in all aspects of the telecommunications industry from the early days of worldwide television through the development of cable, satellite, internet, as well as other forms of digital delivery, (wireless, game platforms etc).

The Latest Real Imus News

With a lot of stuff coming from the imaginings of people still smarting from the Imus exodus, I thought would be appropos to give you some REAL news about MSNBC and CBS post Imus.



Its a mixed bag, to be sure...



Hello, Morning Joe?

(Multichannel News) _ MSNBC is eyeing former Florida Rep. Joe Scarborough as a possible replacement for its Imus in the Morning program, which it dropped last month.
While network executives emphasize that they have not made a final decision on a replacement for Don Imus ' whose simulcasted show was dropped from both MSNBC and CBS Radio after he directed a racial insult at the Rutgers University women's basketball team ' they say Scarborough has impressed them on trial runs in the morning slot.
Scarborough currently hosts a one-hour newscast called Scarborough Country on MSNBC Monday through Thursday. He filled in the week of May 14 in the morning slot, with a show called Morning Joe that featured lengthy live interviews with notables such as Walter Isaacson, author of a best-seller on Albert Einstein, and banter with a collection of sidekicks with diverse professional backgrounds.

http://radio.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=145036



Across the Media Universe: MSNBC-a-Palooza Edition

Posted by Matthew Felling

From the Department of Nowhere to Go But Up: Ever since they made the decision to feed the rats-on-crack audience of political junkies, MSNBC has seen their fortunes rise – Olbermann’s viewership is up 72 percent over last May and Joe Scarborough’s ratings have improved 50 percent. Former MSNBC host Alan Keyes must be beside himself.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/05/31/publiceye/entry2871940.shtml

So apperently the only boycott...if there is one....is between 6-9am ET. The rest of what passes for programming on MSNNNNNNNNBC seems to be soing fine.

Meanwhile....


MSNBC Hosting Focus Groups to Settle on Imus Substitute

WFAN Radio seems to be experimenting with who will fill Dan Imus's radio slot, with a variety of different combinations taking the air in the mornings, writes Radio Ink.
Meanwhile, MSNBC is reportedly running an online focus group to discover who will take Imus's place, according to The New York Post. Imus In the Morning was aired on WFAN and simulcast on MSNBC, before host Dan Imus was fired for a racially charged remark.
MSNBC has been saying for weeks that it is "nowhere close" to finding a replacement for Imus.
http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2007/06/01/msnbc-hosting-focus-groups-to-settle-on-imus-substitute/

Well, as a matter of fact, the "boycott," if there ever was one, may be over.....

Scarborough's The Favorite: MSNBC, WFAN May Be Near "Morning Joe" Deal

MSNBC's favorite to replace Imus in the Morning is Joe Scarborough. And WFAN is taking a liking to him too, TVNewser hears.

Scarborough was at WFAN's headquarters in Queens yesterday and today, hosting Morning Joe on TV and radio. The cable net and the radio station may be nearing an agreement to give Scarborough a permanent morning show seat.MSNBC is feeling good about Morning Joe. On Wednesday, he tied American Morning in the demo between 6 and 9am. He actually beat CNN during the 8am hour and had the second highest rated hour on MSNBC all day. "There's some pretty good momentum behind him," an insider says.He'll be back in the morning on MSNBC next Wednesday through Friday. The rotation of anchors may be over soon...
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/msnbc/scarboroughs_the_favorite_msnbc_wfan_may_be_near_morning_joe_deal_60146.asp

May I make a small observation? MSNBC hiring Scarborough to do morning'd may not be a bad idea for them, but WFAN is a SPORTS STATION!!!!! This IDOTS at CBS don't get that. The ONLY reason they had Imus was because Imus was part of the deal when they got 660khz in NYC. If I were running things I would scratch politics, hire Mike and the Mad Dog for mornings, and just go all sports!

Its amazing that my head does not explode sometimes!

Another one gone....

NEW YORK — Rosie O'Donnell has fought her last fight at "The View."

ABC said Friday she asked for, and received, an early exit from her contract at the daytime chatfest following her angry confrontation with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Wednesday. She was due to leave in mid-June.

It ended a colorful eight-month tenure for O'Donnell that lifted the show's ratings but no doubt caused heartburn for show creator Barbara Walters. O'Donnell feuded with Donald Trump and frequently had snippy exchanges with the more conservative Hasselbeck.

O'Donnell said last month she would be leaving because she could not agree to a new contract with ABC executives.

"Rosie contributed to one of our most exciting and successful years at `The View,'" Walters said. "I am most appreciative. Our close and affectionate relationship will not change."

In a statement, O'Donnell said that "it's been an amazing year and I love all three women."

No one was feeling the love on Wednesday, when the argument with Hasselbeck began over O'Donnell's statement last week about the war: "655,000 Iraqi civilians have died. Who are the terrorists?"

Talk show critics accused O'Donnell of calling U.S. troops terrorists. She called Hasselbeck "cowardly" for not saying anything in response to the critics.

"Do not call me a coward, because No. 1, I sit here every single day, open my heart and tell people what I believe," Hasselbeck retorted, and their riveting exchange continued despite failed attempts by their co-hosts to cut to a commercial.

According to a New York Post report, O'Donnell's chief writer, Janette Barber, was allegedly led out of the building on Wednesday after she was caught drawing mustaches on photographs of Hasselbeck in "The View" studios. ABC executives didn't return repeated calls for questions on the incident Friday.

On Thursday O'Donnell had asked for a day off to celebrate her partner's birthday. "The View" aired a taped show on Friday.

On her Web site, O'Donnell posted a scrapbooklike video on Friday with pictures and news clippings of her tenure at "The View." Cyndi Lauper's "Sisters of Babylon" played in the background.

A day earlier, she posted messages on her Web site indicating she might not be back.

"When painting there is a point u must step away from the canvas as the work is done," she wrote. "Any more would take away."

This means that Rosie joins Don Imus, and a long list of other very vocal opponents of the unHoly War in the Middle East and the horrific treatment of our veterans. On television, only MSNBC's Keith Olbermann remains.

As I have said since I started the Imus Update, this is not simply about Imus being gone. It is about a systematic silencing of voices contrary to the PNAC Cabal that runs the White House and control George Bush.

If we lose sight of that one fact, we may gain a sympbolic victory in the short run, but lose the great battle....the battle for what is left of this country

The Friday I-Post 5/18/07

Report: Don Imus Angling to Get Back on the Airwaves

According to the New York Post, sources say Don Imus' lawyer, Martin Garbus, is using the yet-to-be filed breach of contract suit as leverage for reinstatement with CBS Radio. But apparently, CBS is not budging and already has a countersuit waiting in the wings if Imus moves ahead with his rumored $120 million suit.

If filed, the suit is expected to claim that the network expected him to be controversial and irreverent under the terms of his contract -- and since Imus's show was on a 5-second delay the network could have censored him if they wanted. The Imus legal team also believes that it can take advantage of a clause in Imus' contract stipulating that he must be warned before being fired for making offensive remarks.

According to Post sources close to CBS's legal division, the countersuit notes that there are at least four provisions in his contract that would allow CBS to terminate him without notice. The countersuit also notes that there are indemnity provisions that make him liable for damages to the company if its program, station or business is harmed by his actions. (05-18-07)

http://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/$rol.exe/headline_id=n16575

Ex-Imus Sidekick to Audition in Boston
The Associated PressFriday, May 18, 2007; 3:23 PM

BOSTON -- A radio station plans to audition Don Imus' ex-sidekick to co-host a fallen politician's morning talk show, which is suffering from sagging ratings.
Bernard McGuirk will audition live on WRKO-AM's "Finneran's Forum" next Wednesday through Friday, station officials said. He is the "Imus in the Morning" producer and on-air jester who took part in the exchange of racist banter that led to his and Imus' dismissal last month.
He will be teaming up with former state House Speaker Tom Finneran, who was the most powerful lawmaker in Massachusetts until he resigned from the Legislature in 2004 amid a federal investigation.

Finneran began his news and politics talk show in February, a few weeks after he pleaded guilty to obstructing justice for lying about his role in a redistricting plan that diluted the clout of minority voters. He was fined and put on 18 months' probation.
Finneran said he was looking forward to working with McGuirk.

"I'm determined to make sure the show is entertaining, and Bernard's record is pretty clear.

He's a talented guy," Finneran said.

Offensive language will be off limits, Finneran said.

In the April 4 on-air exchange, McGuirk first called the Rutgers University women's basketball team "hard-core hos." In response, Imus called the women "nappy-headed hos." Both were eventually fired from the nationally syndicated show, which combined political discussion and comic banter and was also televised on MSNBC.

Jason Wolfe, WRKO's vice president of AM programming and operations, called McGuirk "entertaining, very witty. That, in combination with the intelligence-slash-wit of Finneran, could be interesting."

"The past's the past. It's over. It does not take away from the fact that he's extremely talented," Wolfe said Friday. "He's going to be presenting himself in a very different way than he was on the other show, because on the other show his role was different."
McGuirk could not be reached for comment; no phone listing for him could be found in the New York area.

WRKO, owned by Entercom Communications Corp., has dropped to ninth overall in the critical drive-time ratings for the January-March time slot this year, down from seventh last year, according to Arbitron. In November, host John DePetro and his engineer were fired after DePetro referred to a former Green/Rainbow gubernatorial candidate as "a fat lesbian."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051800670.html?hpid=entnews

Don Imus is vulgar. So what?
Mr. Eyebrows is fired for an outburst you can hear at Bud's Lounge any night of the week, yet the man who has done lasting damage to this country is still in office.
By Garrison Keillor

May. 16, 2007 Gorgeous green spring came suddenly to Minnesota this year after weeks of tedious budding and blooming, a great burgeoning of foliage, and Bleak Street became the Via Paradiso, and we pale stoics took out pen and paper and wrote, "O love love love you are the best who ever was" or words to that effect, and we sat outdoors in the evening and thought of various reforms we mean to institute. More joyfulness, kindness to strangers, a general quickening of spirit, etc.

I once knew a man, a true iconoclast, who drank bourbon for breakfast and chain-smoked Pall Malls and held severe views about women, the church, American lit and society in general, a sort of post-beatnik, and every spring he vowed to reform and clean up his house, which had holes in the ceiling where he had poked his broom handle at the squirrels who ran around in the attic. It dawned on him what a mess he'd made of his life, but he fought off reform with Jim Beam, and the last time I saw him, he had just purchased a pistol, and I said goodbye. I had no interest at all in being shot by a drunk.

I thought of him when Don Eyebrows got fired by CBS and MSNBC in that outbreak of righteousness during which people lined up to be reprehended by what the man had said on his radio show, even if they hadn't heard him say it, though it seemed to be the sort of stuff CBS and MSNBC had paid him so handsomely to say.

The bad boys of radio, he and Howard and Johnny J and the Big Honk, are not shocking to anyone who has spent a few hours in a bar where people drink liquor and speak English. They're loud and vulgar, and so what? There's an audience for that. Plenty of young men feel so squashed by life, they are thrilled to hear other men rasping and hollering about wimmen and the gummint and the danged liberals, and what harm does it do me if the Honk does his act for the poor schlumps stuck in rush hour? No harm at all. The Honk is exercising freedom, bless his heart, just like the snake handler at the carnival or the man who eats flies. If you don't like it, don't look.

When you think of how Mr. Eyebrows had to sit in sackcloth and ashes and apologize, all for an outburst you can hear in a back booth at Bud's Lounge, and then you think of the lasting damage the Current Occupant has done to this country, a man who lends new richness to the word "malfeasance" and who is deaf on top of it and relaxed and pleasant in the face of fresh revelations, you see what a crazy country this is, but then we knew that a long time ago.
The French have a new president, the British will soon have a new P.M., and we envy them as we endure the endless wait for this small dim man to go back to Texas and resume his life. His party is coming to see that it must figure out how to tell the truth about him if it is to compete in 2008, but so far nobody has stepped forward and wound up to throw the pie. Their clock is stuck in the fall of 2001. They are sleepwalking toward the precipice.

Meanwhile, it is spring, glorious spring. An 80-year-old woman I know, who never had literary aspirations that I was aware of, has written a beautiful memoir. The son of a violist who plays in an orchestra with my wife has gone off to serve in Iraq, a boy brought up in a liberal household dead set against toy guns and violent TV shows. A tall sweetheart of a man who has done exceedingly well in the digital biz has sent an upbeat letter saying he has liver cancer and asking for prayers. My little sandy-haired gap-toothed daughter shoots baskets in the driveway, and when she hits a swisher she pumps her fist ("Yes!"). My mother has turned 92, still in her own home.

Everyday reality of life in America and neither the Big Honk nor the Current Occupant seem clued in to it. They both serve the same dwindling clientele of angry privileged white people; meantime the trees are in bloom and the beloved country looks at the calendar and waits for leadership that is worthy of it.

(Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" can be heard Saturday nights on public radio stations across the country.)
© 2007 by Garrison Keillor. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/05/16/keillor/print.html

Counterpunch: The Real Imus Lesson

(Slowly but surely, some people are getting it. Here is a piece from Counterpunch)

By DIANE WACHTELL
One lesson we should not take away from the Imus
debacle is how great it was that CBS pulled the plug on Imus once General
Motors, American Express, Sprint Nextel, GlaxoSmithKline, TD Ameritrade, and
Ditech.com threatened to yank their corporate sponsorships. Although the
corporate cards may have been played in the public's favor in this case, the
recent dance of the corporate initials, in which GM pulls the strings and CBS
jumps, is nothing to celebrate.

For each rare instance when media conglomerates swat down a bigot,
there are dozens and dozens of examples when a different kind of censorship
occurs. At The New Press, an independent not-for-profit book publisher, we were
contacted a few years back by a whistleblower at a cigarette manufacturer about
a box of internal memos indicating that cigarette manufacturers had long been
aware of the detrimental health implications of smoking. We were ultimately
unable to publish these "cigarette papers," because we were advised that the
litigation sure to ensue from the cigarette companies would probably have
exceeded the maximum payout of our libel policy.

Just last month, a college in the Northeast notified The New Press that
our book Literature
from the "Axis of Evil" had been selected by a committee of professors and
deans as a required book for all 750 incoming members of its Freshmen class next
year, as part of a Freedom of Expression initiative. We ordered a new printing,
only to learn two weeks later that the college president had vetoed the
committee's choice. He apparently was worried that the title of the book, which
is an anthology of literature from Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, might put off
potential funders of the university.

And next month we'll be publishing a book that examines a race-based
miscarriage of justice in Columbus, Georgia. The book, which impugns the
reputations of some stalwarts of the Columbus legal and social establishment,
was scheduled to be launched at a reception at a major Columbus cultural
institution. Then, some stalwarts of the Columbus legal and social establishment
threatened to pull funding from the local cultural institution, and the event
was abruptly cancelled.

The point is that the First Amendment too often exists at the pleasure
of monied and politically powerful interests, from corporations to university
fundraisers. (In fact, other efforts to enjoin New Press books from publication
have come from sources as disparate as the US Treasury Department, the US
Supreme Court, and Alan Dershowitz.)

To celebrate the demise of Don Imus is to endorse a selective approach
to free speech in which the advertisers become "the deciders" and get to run the
editorial department. Modern forms of censorship are insidious and often obscure
to the public, a public who naively rejoice when "the marketplace" rejects an
Imus. We may be pleased not to have Imus in the morning, but what happens to
that report on GlaxoSmithKline's payments to doctors in the afternoon?

Diane Wachtell is the Executive Director of The New Press,
a public interest, not-for-profit book publisher based in New York
City.

AP: Romney rejects ‘bigoted’ comment from Sharpton

Republican presidential hopeful former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a caucus coffee, Wednesday, in Clear Lake.

CLEAR LAKE — Presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Wednesday denounced the Rev. Al Sharpton’s reference to his Mormon faith as ‘‘a bigoted comment’’ that doesn’t mesh with what he hears on the campaign trail as he seeks the Republican nomination. ‘‘It shows that bigotry still exists in some corners,’’ said Romney, meeting with reporters after a campaign event. ‘‘I thought it was a most unfortunate comment to make.’’ Romney’s campaign staff is sensitive to any references to his religion, and he was quick to react to Sharpton’s comments, made Monday during a debate in New York.

In the debate with atheist author Christopher Hitchens, Sharpton said, ‘‘As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don’t worry about that; that’s a temporary situation.’’ Sharpton has denied any religious bigotry, but Romney said he found the comment offensive. ‘‘Reverend Sharpton’s comment was terribly misguided,’’ said Romney. Asked if he considered the civil rights leader a bigot, Romney demurred. ‘‘I don’t know Reverend Sharpton,’’ Romney said. ‘‘I doubt he is personally such a thing, but the comment was a comment which could be described as a bigoted comment.’’ Romney added that he was willing to believe Sharpton didn’t mean to be offensive. ‘‘Perhaps he didn’t mean it that way, but the way it came out was inappropriate and wrong,’’ said Romney.

(Don sez: now WHO's the bigot........bigot?)

As he campaigns for the GOP nomination, Romney said he hears little criticism about his religious faith. ‘‘Overwhelmingly, the people I talk to believe that we elect a person to lead the nation not based on what church they go to, but based on their values and their vision,’’ said Romney. ‘‘I receive very little comment of the nature coming from Reverend Sharpton.’’

God Bless You DL Hughley!

A little explanation....and I do not know how long this will last. Our very first post was a classic bit of stuff by DL Hughley. That included a riff on the I-Man.

Then DL had to go there.

And NBC got nervous.

Here is the OFFICIAL NBC release......it IS pretty funny she-ott....but you WILL notice a slight edit.....

Well, here is the part they cut out!!!

If anyone can fit into those Stetsons, its DL!