Corporations can't put you in jail. That's it.

But what they can do in this dog-eat-dog, capitalist society of our's is rob you of your ability to make a living. As the previous poster pointed out, you are ignoring the reality of the socio-economic system in which we live.

From this day forward Don Imus will be positively radioactive to EVERY SINGLE BROADCASTER in America. NO ONE is going to want to touch him with a ten foot pole, lest they be accused of "supporting" Imus's "comments" and thus have their sponsors disappear. I don't think Imus will ever work in broadcasting again, and broadcasting is just about the only thing he knows how to do.

So his career is over. If he were thirty years younger I might conceed that he can rebuild. But not at his age (the man is 65, after all). The punishment, my dear lady, does not fit the crime.

It'll be interesting to see what happens the next time Chris Rock calls a white person a "cracker" on the Letterman show.

I couldn't disgree more.

Imus will land somewhere.

He will be touched by many poles of many lengths IF a significant slice of America wants to hear him.

"Corporations" can't ruin a person's life, and they won't even try if that person is a cash cow.

I'm quite in touch with the socio-economic system in which we live, and what I'm saying over & over is that for better or worse it runs on the financial tyrrany of the majority.

If Imus is peddling a viable product, he'll be employed.

If he's a dinosaur whose audience can live without him, then his career DESERVES to be over just as much or as little as the nice ladies who patched calls through on the telephone.

That's how the free market works.

If corporate media weilds too much trouble and we don't trust it, then we simply have to get our information elsewhere.

That is still possible, as it always has been.

It's just less convenient.

And again, if America wants to hear Imus, someone will broadcast Imus.

Rupert Murdoch gave us The Simpsons, for god's sake.

Have no fear that ideology will ever trump money in the eyes of corporate America.

What???

I think you might want to re-type that. That said, I agree Imus will probably find a job on pay radio.

Has anyone noticed how, more and more, we have to pay for uncensored content? (e.g. HBO, Howard Stern, etc.)

Corporations can't ruin your life without your consent.

If the devil asks you to dance and you agree, you can't turn around and bitch when your hands get burned.

And since when was it our "right" to have CONVENIENT ACCESS to free uncensored content?

Before the invention of the radio, was America a fascist state?

We pay for electricity and cigarettes and broccoli....complaining that you'll have to pay for Imus is like complaining that you have to pay extra for the moon-roof in your BMW.

If you want to, you can still go down to your local coffee shop and enjoy all the free uncensored content you like.

You just have no Constitutional insurance that you can enjoy Imus while tuned in to the airwaves CBS pays to use & maintain.

Bye Bye Don, I am somewhat shocked that both MSNBC and CBC cut him lose primarily because either station chose to do anything at all about this abhorent behavior. Judging by all the Media coverage,(mostly by white males who seem to be the most shocked) I would have thought the Pope had been assasinated. It says something about these particular white male broadcasters that they are so surprised that the Imus comment could possibly be found so offensive as to be grounds for firing. This is why the story has 'legs' I watched Joe Scarbourough when Joan was a guest recently and noticed he wouldn't even let her talk about it. He saw this as much more of a race issue than as a mysogny issue. Very telling in my opinion.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Rutgers women's basketball program and its coach, C. Vivian Stringer, should seek out the PBS documentary, This is a Game, Ladies. One of the more inspiring stories I've seen.

http://www.pbs.org/thisisagame/

For more on Stringer:

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/stringer329

So Rob if your daughter happened to be playing basketball down at Rutgers and good old Don broadcast all over the US "you know that Rob guy? Well his daughter is a whore." Then your daughter called you and said daddy why did he say that terrible untrue thing about me? You'd just tell her to buck up cause Don was just having fun and didn't mean it except as a joke.

This was a broadcast where specific people, not public figures, were possibly libeled by Mr. Imus. I'm sure his bosses are figuring that their legal costs are probably going to be quite high.

I never complained because I might have to pay for Imus; I don't care about Imus. I complain because censorship appears to be the given - with uncensored content only available in the Premium Package.

By the way, attacking First Amendment defenders by associating them with the underlying speech/speaker is a cheap tactic.

If I oppose anti-flag-burning legislation, I suppose that means I hate our troops. Rush Limbaugh and FOX News would be proud.

I'm outta here. Peace.

Within the black community, there is a continuous examination of rap - books, documentaries, etc - and how the intervention of major media conglomerates turned a movement of protest and politics into something they could better sell to young white kids, something all gangsta and pimp. Those same conglomerates are raking it in from the "work" of the schlock jocks - and I don't see the same level of debate within their audiences. Those feeling victorious because Imus is (probably temporarily) fired may be missing the point. Sponsors got nervous, that's all. There's now what? four media conglomerates left controlling book publishing and the visual/audio media? MSNBC didn't "see the light" - they saw the changing bottom line.