While watching clips of the Tennessee-Rutgers women's basketball game with his guest, Don Imus remarked:  "That's some rough girls from Rutgers, man they got tattoos and - some hardcore hos (laughing) - that's some nappy headed hos there - man, (laughing) I'm going to tell you.  And the girls from Tennessee - they all look cute you know, so...  Kind of like a....  I don't know, that Spike Lee thing - Jigaboos vs the Wannabes - that movie that he had?..." 

Imus signed his own death warrant when use lingo common in the black community and among rap artists.  He may have had second thoughts after he said it, as can happen in live broadcasts, but his remarks were not said in malice or out of racism, they were said in humor.  As insensitive as it was, Imus meant no offense against the black team members or anyone else.  He simply used a term that has become all too common among young blacks today.

Frankly, I don't know what all this outrage and media coverage is about, it wasn't that big a deal. Not a big deal to anyone, anyway, who isn't overly sensitive and looking for something, anything, someone might say to turn into a racial issue. This is the kind of thing that previously would have gotten a brief mention on a slow news day. Enter Racists Reverends Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton.

Where were they when Hillary Clinton used Black lingo in a recent campaign speech in the South: "I DON'T FEEL NO WAYS TIRED. I COME TOO FARRRR FRUM WHERE I STARTED FRUM. NOBODY TOLD ME THAT THE ROAD WOULD BE EASY." It's ok for Hillary to emulate black slang, but not Imus? Why no word from Sharpton and Jackson against the language used in Black culture and rap? After all, that's where Imus' words came from.

The only black people I've heard speak out about it are Bill Cosby and Rev. Jessie Lee Peterson. Both have been vilified and condemned by Jackson and Sharpton as not being real blacks. As self appointed "speech police", they have now added the word "ho" to their list of forbiden speech, but only when used by white people.  Sharpton says he will try to do something about it in the Black community now, but only after being confronted with it by other talk show hosts.  He should have discouraged it 10 years ago instead of ignoring it.

Imus blew it by not fighting back and defending himself.  Instead, he went on a campaign of apologies, emboldened his critics, and making a bad situation even worse.  All he did was use some of the Black's own lingo which went almost unnoticed until Jackson and Sharpton began seeing $$$ in it. When Jackson and Sharpton began their attacks, he should have apologized once, then stated; "Now get over it! I do not do a politically correct show. If you don't like it then don't listen". A strong defense against those two, like Trump vs O'Donnel, could have boosted his career but instead he caved in like a wimp and lost his job as a result.

In an article in the New York Times, David Carr characterized the Imus remark as a "vicious racial insult that delighted him visibly as it rolled off his tongue". How would Carr know that?  "visibly"? The camera wasn't even on Imus during the comment. In fact, it was on a video of the game he was talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF9BjB7Bzr0 There was no racial malice in Imus' voice. He was simply laughing and cutting up with his guest for the sake of entertainment and laughs. It was an off the cuff remark that shouldn't have been made, it was one of those mistakes that sometimes happen.  But much worse things have been said on the air in malice and with little or no media objection.

Cindy Sheehan and left wing politicians can get on camera and microphone and call the President of the United States a "f...ing liar", a "murderer", a "terrorist", and an "idiot", and the drive-by media applauds it. But just let a radio talker call a women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" and it's all over for him.  It makes you wonder if Jackson and Sharpton even knew who Imus was or that he was a Democrat.

Why did this slip of the tongue even get noticed? Because Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton have been feeling neglected lately and saw an opportunity to get noticed and make some money. They created the outburst when one of their "dependents" sent Jackson a whining email about the incident, or so he says.

For the first time in history and without prior notice, the word "Ho" suddenly became a racial epithet worthy of costing a broadcaster his job. How could Imus have known his words had been banned without notice by Jackson and Sharpton, and would be taken out of context and exploited?  Why has our society permitted this expression of disrespect for women to go unchallenged in the rap industry and it's usage to become so common among our young? 

The answer is found in the 1st Amendment and in music industry moguls who throw decency and morality aside to make a buck.  Responsibility also lies with the parents who didn't do a better job of raising their children with decent moral values.  To the young, it just sounds "cool" to call your girl "ho" the way the rappers do.  But let a radio talk show host do it, who isn't black, and he's labeled "racist" and fired from his job.

The fact of the matter is that it is because of Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton and their ilk, that racism has grown in America. These two have been causing it and promoting it for the past 40 years. Whites are sick and tired of being called "racists" and the resentment it causes is turning more and more whites against the black community in general. At the same time, it has been turning more and more blacks against the white community who tend to believe the crap from Jackson and Sharpton.

Jackson keeps it alive because without it, he has no cause to champion and no supporters to give him money. His income would rely solely on his extortion from businesses he threatens to smear with charges of racism if they don't open their wallets to his Rainbow Push Organization. He tried it with Nascar a few years ago - they told him to take a hike.  More should do the same and so should have Imus while waving a copy of the Constitution opened to the 1st Amendment.

If Jackson and Sharpton really wanted to curb racism in America, the best thing they could do would be to shut up and get real jobs. Racism among whites is not the problem that they pretend it to be, but it's their specialty. Racist hypocrites like these two are the last people who should be pointing racial fingers at other people.

Oh, sorry, I forgot. It's acceptable for blacks to be racist, but not whites.

Imus tried to apologize and ask for forgiveness on Sharpton's radio show. Neither Sharpton nor Jackson would accept his apology. Instead, they insisted that he be fired from his job and they were determined to see that it happened. And they call themselves "Christian Ministers"?

It's unfortunate that our liberal media thinks all this useless nonsense is worthy of reporting on and turning into a major political issue. Now Barack Obama has injected himself into the fray, calling for Imus' firing, and the media is trying to get other political candidates involved as well. Unless the rest of them are as foolish as Obama, they will keep out of it.

To the liberal media, Imus committed the greatest mortal sin of all. He violated "political correctness", a sin no good Democrat would commit publicly. (Notice I said "publicly".)  Funny that they never noticed it before, not until Jackson and Sharpton got involved.

I don't know Don Imus or what he thinks. I have never listened to his show and only recognize his name from a billboard I used to see on my way to work. I don't know anything about his politics except that I hear he voted for Kerry. My issue with this is that Don Imus, along with everyone else, is entitled to his 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech and that right should not be denied him or anyone else.  But if Imus should be fired for using the word "ho" in reference to black women, then so should all the rappers and music producers who have made it popular.   

As long as he has not violated FCC regulations regarding profanity on the air waves, he has the constitutional right to say whatever he wants whether you or I agree with him or not. Our constitutional right to speak freely and voice our views, although often abused by the left, is non the less probably the most important liberty we have in this country.

That is why the 1st Amendment prohibits the federal government from passing any law that would abridge that right. The Federal Government can't do it but apparently Jackson, Sharpton, and the drive-by media can. By creating such a stink, they poisoned the waters against Imus and caused his sponsors to withdraw. Corporate NBC and CBS then, in fear of loosing advertising capital and falling from grace with the media, decided Imus had to go.  If record store owners would stop carrying recordings by foul mouthed rappers, then the profit would be sucked out of their product and the music industry would stop producing this garbage that is having such a negative effect on our country and society. 

Embolden by taking down Don Imus, Jackson and Sharpton intend to go after all radio talk show hosts (read 'Conservative') by carefully reviewing their archives in hopes of finding anything they can use against them. First on the list will be Rush Limbaugh, then Sean Hannity.   This has to be viewed in the context of the "Fairness and Accountability in Broadcasting Act" that the Left is trying to push through Congress which would require broadcasters to provide equal time for opposing views.

I'm afraid all of our individual freedom of speech is in grave danger now, who will be next? No one knows where the line is anymore or when they may step over it. The black bigots and the Liberals keep moving the line.  The next thing you know they'll be adding "ho, ho, ho" as another reason to get rid of Santa Claus.

G. Robert Dieckmann is an electrician in Los Angeles, CA and editor/webmaster of GreatAmericanJournal.com