Imus and Free Speech

I've just heard someone try to make the Imus issue a free speech debate. This is not a free speech issue.

US Constitution - Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Imus was not fired by the government.To my knowledge, there was no complaint that the FCC responded to that caused Imus' dismissal. If there were complaints, I didn't hear one word mentioned about it during the media feeding frenzy on Imus' comments regarding the Rutgers Women's Basketball team.

Imus was fired by the private corporation he worked for; that corporation has the right to tell him what he can and cannot say. Sponsors have the right to pull their advertising if they feel they may be harmed by what an on air personality says on his program which they support with their advertising dollars.

The free speech that was apparent on this issue were the protests and calls for Imus' firing. The air waves are public and the public responded. Was it sensationalized? Yes. Was it blown out of proportion? Perhaps. Is there a double standard? Definitely, but that doesn't make the comments made by Imus any less hateful, any less racial, any less sexually degrading to the people on the receiving end. Others have been fired for racially motivated comments, and for this there cannot be a double standard. Firing Imus, whose program was in the top 10 in the country as far as revenue was concerned, showed us that CBS had the guts to do the right thing, in my opinion, regardless of how it was going to affect them financially. Imus was bringing in $15 million annually.

If this is truly where we are headed as a community (and I think it's a good thing) then there has to be continued scrutiny on the truly hateful on air personalities that make a living spewing their hate-filled rhetoric. This cannot end with Imus. Let's keep an eye on the Rush Limbaughs, the Mike Savages, the Glenn Becks, and the Melanie Morgans of the airwaves.

Let the Smearing Begin

It's incredible, isn't it? The candidates are barely out of the gate, some of them haven't even announced they are running yet, and already the rumors are flying. I'm not even going to dignify calling them rumors, they are smears. Dirty, disgusting lies aimed to cast doubt toward anyone credible. Do you think these lies would start if the candidates had little to no chance of succeeding? If so, then where are the Dennis Kucinich smear campaigns? No offense to Dennis, I like him, but we all know he has very little chance of making it in his presidential bid.

Here's Barack Obama, defending where he went to school when he was six year old... SIX!... and no, he's not Muslim and no, he didn't go to a madrassa. Unbelieveable!
And where did we first hear the smear? From a right wing web based magazine Insight. And how did it initially spread? The female Rush Limbaugh, Melanie Morgan on KSFO in San Francisco. And who picked up the story? John Gibson on FOX NEWS, another right wing freak.

But let's not stop there. Why not kill two birds with one stone? Not only can they spread the smear that Obama is Muslim and was taught at a madrassa, but they can also say that the Hillary Clinton Campaign is where they got the info from. These people have no morals, they are no worse than the scum on the bottom of my shoes.
Oh, Melanie Morgan then says she got the story wrong, it wasn't the Clinton Camp that started the smear, it was the JOHN EDWARDS Camp. TRIFECTA! Boy, these people are rotten to the core.
From the minute this story came out, it was debunked; ABC and CNN even sent producers and crews out to INDONESIA to check out the school, and found what they'd find in a "normal" school: kids learning math, science and English. Spongebob on the walls.

Has no one learned from the John Kerry swiftboating smear? Does no one remember that John McCain's own party smeared him in calling his adopted Bangladeshi daughter his own "illegitimate black child" when he was running against George the Liar in the Republican Primaries? Doesn't that disgust you? Don't you remember decorated war veteran Max Cleland, who lost three limbs in Vietnam, being linked to Saddam Hussein and Osama bin laden in TV smear ads by Saxby Chambliss? Isn't that vile to you?

Wake up sheeple! This kind of crap CAN'T work anymore. We must not allow ourselves to fall into the pit with these snakes.

By the way, fair warning to all: usually, I try not to use foul language on this site (although I have a sailor's mouth), but I find I've been censoring myself more and more these days. Well, NO MORE! If I think it, I'm going to post it, so I apologize in advance for offending anyone with future racy language. And boy, is it going to be racy! I'm going to call these people what they are and I'm not holding back. So hold on to your keyboards, its going to be a foul mouthed ride!