>Isn't Don Imus a comedian? Aren't comedians "artists"? Surely Richard Price and Lenny Bruce were artists? Ok, maybe Imus isn't as talented, his "nappy haired ho" didn't tickle the funny bone.

No. He's a broadcaster. Big difference. Artists don't shill for Ameritrade and Ditech.com

>Imus is a PERFORMER. When he made his tasteless joke, it wasn't like he was some KKK guy going up to one of the basketball players and spewing racist S- at them.

What's the difference? The guy had a looong history of racist and derogatory remarks towards blacks. This was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

>He was on the radio, "performing", and thought it would be funny for an old white guy to use "rapper" lingo. It wasn't. But thats what it was-- a bad joke.

So what? Everybody knows that one bad joke can ruin a "performer's" career - look at what happened to Mort Sahl. Why should Imus be immune?

>Isn't it hypocritical to give the rappers "poetic license" and not give it to Imus. He too is an artist/performer- although perhaps not a good one. ( a lot of rappers are bad too...).

No. How many times does it have to be explained that rappers do not speak for the entire black community, and that none of the girls on the Rutgers lady cagers are, in fact, rappers.

This is an absurd red herring and a racist argument that assumes that "rappers" speak for all black folks.

>Asim gives the rappers free reign because as "artist", they somehow illuminate the truth about us and our society. I think Imus did too. He did it so well he lost his job.

Keep believing that. Meanwhile Imus lost his job and Russel Simmons and other hip-hop moguls are calling on rappers to clean up their acts or get left behind too.

Rappers do not speak for all black folks.

Neither do fat chix and uggos.

What's wrong with this picture?

"'This is an absurd red herring and a racist argument that assumes that "rappers" speak for all black folks.'

That argument was made by black leadership in the 80s-90s detailing how rap was the 'CNN of the ghetto,' - in fact, we're told, repeatedly, that rap conveys the experiences of the urban black male."

Let's unpack your stupidity.

1.) It wasn't "black leadership" calling rap "the CNN of the Ghetto," it was Chuck D of Public Enemy who said that (while, you know, PROMOTING his RECORDS). Much of "black leadership" in the '80s and early '90s was split on hip-hop culture and what it represented - reflecting the wider generational split between the civil rights generation and the hip hop generation.

2.) Once again, the "experiences of the urban black male" are STILL not all black folks.

It's not my fault if you can't tell black folks apart, you silly racist.

All the smart people I know who would fucking LOVE 30 Rock keep telling me that they're addicted to Grey's Anatomy.

Grey's fucking Anatomy?

I want to take those people behind the middle school and beat the crap out of them.

If she's truly a monster, eventually she will cross the line and possibly even brag about it to you.

When that happens, document it, seek verification and, if you can verify any abuses - report her to her superiors and the press immediately.

She may be your sister, but monster cops are a danger to all of us.

PS: She is a civilian, too. Cops are, technically speaking, civilians.

How can you say with a straight face that it's not the fault of Americans that Baghdad is "such a shithole"?

First we created Saddam Hussein and backed his murderous rise to power and aided and abetted his catastrophic war against Iran - and looked the other way for DECADES while he systematically abused his own citizens.

Then, we picked the absolute worst time possible to depose him, and do a disasterously incompetent job of keeping the peace afterwards.

Sorry, dude, but Colin Powell was right: we broke it, we bought it.

Deal with it.

Don't be a dope.

Bush won't be remembered as anything other than complete failure and the worst President in American history so far.

Prophet? Don't make me laugh.

Her whole "I'm lib, but outrageous because I bash Dems just like Republicans do" is old and tired and belongs to a paradigm that's long past it's sell date (kinda like Paglia herself...).

Get some fresh blood please.

He's nothing more than a pretentious, bargain-basement Pynchon - but without the wit or panache that keeps most of Pynchon's books from being total snoozefests. But I guess that DeLillo is what a certain subset of middlebrow boomers read to make themselves think they're still "edgy." What a douche.

Be careful, LW: I had a friend who took a DNA test and found out he had a Chinese ancestor, and now he lives in a pagoda and spends all his days doing Tai Chi, smoking opium and raising silkworrms.

Seriously, though, this has to bbe the stupidest letter I ever read. You and your entire family sound like horrible people. Please kill yourselves.

There's a difference between voting for a Jewish candidate and voting for a commited Zionist candidate like Lieberman. Our foreign policy has been tied to Zionism for far too long in the Middle East and we need to act in our own interest first - not just Israel's. Let the Israelis pay for their own wars for once. I would rather we spent our tax dollars here at home on healthcare and education than on subsidizing the Israeli war machine.

Once we Dems take back the House, we can use the now-corrupt and politicized DOJ to completely outlaw and dismantle the GOP. Thanks for the shortsightedness, Republicans - we're going to use it to destroy you, your families and everything you hold dear.

And you won't be able to say a goddamn thing about it.

ROFL!