Have You No Sense of Decency?

"The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama Bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States."

-Michael Scheuer

Isn't that something? Michael Scheuer, along with other neocons and wingnuts care about our country soooo much, they would prefer to have Osama Bin Laden, Mr. Wanted Dead or Alive, the man wanted for the 9/11 attacks, they'd prefer to have him commit another attack, possibly killing thousands of Americans in the process, just to further their warped, twisted agenda.

These are the 'Country First' people. These are the people with 'Support the Troops' magnets on their cars. These are the Birthers, the Palin supporters, the Joe the Plumber fans.These are the people that wanted to bomb Iran before they wanted to save Iran's tainted election in the name of democracy.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think any other, ANY OTHER talk show/news show host would allow a statement like that to go unchallenged, let alone agree with it. When does the hysteria end? When does Glenn Beck realize what's over the top? When does he realize what's over the line and what stops being useful discourse?

I know these are all rhetorical questions, because scumbags like Glenn Beck, and Neil Boortz, and G. Gordon Liddy and Michael Savage don't care about decency. Rats like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity worship the Almighty Dollar and could care less what they read off their faxed talking points. To them, it's like a little kid armed with a magnifying glass and watching the reaction of the anthill population after causing a little havoc. They're above it all. Whether they believe in their own bullshit or not, it doesn't affect them.

When do network executives realize it's NOT okay to yell fire in a crowded movie house?

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.