It is time for a showdown - which group is more important for corporate America.

.

Jem: But I would like to see you talk me into it.


**********

April 12, 2007

SouthAmerica: Don Imus is not a perfect human being and sometimes he can make a mistake as he did the other day when he did offend the Black girls from Rutgers.

Don Imus is a radio celebrity who is on almost on a daily basis for a few hours each day – and I can understand that sometime he will say something that will offend some group or someone.

He has apologized profusely for his slip of the tongue, and I am sure that it will happen again in the future.

I find Fox News cable TV offensive on their views and opinions. Anne Coulter is 100 times more offensive than Don Imus.

Should we all boycott all the products of the companies that advertise on Fox News?

Fox News has been the mouthpiece of the US government for a war that has destroyed thousands and thousands of lives of Americans and also of Iraqis.

That is really offensive to me – so far 3,500 Americans were killed in Iraq and almost 30,000 were wounded. Here is a real reason for American companies to stop advertising on Fox News the pro-war propaganda channel.

But I believe in free speech and even tough I don’t agree with anything I see broadcasted on Fox News I still think they have the right to “Free Speech” – even when I find it offensive to me.

There are more important issues in the United States for American corporations to take a stand – but the Don Imus affair is not one of them.

The companies that jumped ship and are pulling out their advertising dollars to force Don Imus dismissal from his show – these corporations deserve to be boycotted by the American people.

Besides all the charity work that Don Imus is involved in - that should be the real benchmark to measure his character and worth as a human being – and not some silly statement he made when talking about a meaningless basketball game.

Don Imus brings great guests to his program on a regular basis – and one of these special guests is Jonathan Alter the editor of Newsweek magazine.

Someone very close to me was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma exactly 3 years ago when Jonathan Alter was mentioning to Don Imus on his show that he had been diagnosed with that disease at that time and both of them were diagnosed as Stage-4 which means that basically they were terminally ill.

Jonathan Alter came back to the Don Imus show and up-dated what had been happening to him and last week he wrote the cover article on Newsweek magazine were he talks not only about his battle against terminal cancer but also about the cancer that has been returned to Elizabeth Edwards, and to Tony Snow.

By the way, the mainstream media has been reporting that Fred Thompson a potential Republican candidate for the 2008 presidential race has been battling cancer – Lymphoma – for the last 2 years.

When you compare the good and the bad related to Don Imus – the positive and the good outweigh the bad by a ton.

Al Sharpton has been always an opportunist and his thing is to create controversy to be able to survive.

But right now Al Sharpton is doing more harm to racial relations in the United States than anything else.

If these black kids from Rutgers can't take today even an insult from a radio celebrity – I wonder how these black girls will be able to survive the rest of their lives – and I have news for them as they grow older things are not going to be any better.

At the end of the day after all the chips are down – Don Imus don’t deserve to lose his job and the support of all the corporations that advertise on his radio and television show.

I hope all these corporations will reconsider their decisions and will support Don Imus once again.



**********


Here is another example of the outstanding work that Don Imus has been doing related to his charity efforts:

To recognize the extraordinary charity work that Don Imus has done also on behalf of Hachensack University Medical Center – that hospital located in New Jersey honored him as follows:

The Tomorrows Children's Institute
DON IMUS - WFAN Pediatric Center for Tomorrows Children
The Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital
Hackensack University Medical Center
30 Prospect Avenue
Hackensack, NJ 07601

The Tomorrow Children’s Institute for Cancer and Blood Disorders.
http://www.tcikids.com/


Note: Today, Hachensack University Medical Center is ranked on the top of the list of the best hospitals in the United States.


.
 
Quote from wave:

So why hasn't anyone with direct or indirect relations to anyone on that list been fired or boycotted or shutdown. I think that list should be sent to Al Sharpton and Don Imus.
More...

From Yahoo News:

Bryan Monroe, president of the National Association of Black Journalists and vice president and editor director of Ebony and Jet magazines, met with Moonves on Wednesday. It seemed clear Moonves and his aides were struggling with a difficult decision, he said. He urged them to take advantage of an opportunity to take a stand against the coarsening of culture.

"Something happened in the last week around America," Monroe said. "It's not just what the radio host did. America said enough is enough. America said we don't want this kind of conversation, we don't want this kind of vitriol, especially with teenagers."

Ahh can someone please tell Byran Monroe to address the names on this list as well then. Seems lots of hip-hop teenagers love this stuff and promote it and I ain't seen nonone making a fuss.

http://home.att.net/~phosphor/introtogrammys.html
 
Quote from pattersb:

Imus is now a martyr for the cause , the Death of political correctness, for that, he will one day be heralded in great halls built by the warriors who defeated the thought-police and liberated men to say whatever they damn well cared to, despite who it offended.
More...

Agreed,

Imus will become an unspoken subconscious martyr and Sharpton has just made the election of a Republican to the white house in 08 a little more certain.
 
Quote from wave:

I think it's time we demanded this crap be taken off the radio and tv and stop awarding them grammys! Pass it on.

http://home.att.net/~phosphor/introtogrammys.html
More...

I wanted to read it, but Big Brother is at work in the private sector too:

Your organization's Internet use policy restricts access to this web page at this time.

Reason:
The Websense category "Racism and Hate" is filtered.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
URL:
http://home.att.net/~phosphor/introtogrammys.html
 
While you chest pounding flag wavers spout propaganda, your elected corporate criminals are bleeding your dry


2007-03-19 11:38 ET - News Release


Company Website: HOUSTON -- (Business Wire)

Halliburton’s (NYSE:HAL) Energy Services Group (ESG) is opening a new manufacturing center in Monterrey, Mexico, to meet its customers’ increasing demands for energy services products. The grand opening of the facility is expected to take place in May 2007. When operations at the center reach full capacity, the 9,290-square-meter facility will initially create 50 new direct jobs and additional associated supplier jobs.

“Halliburton chose the state of Nuevo Leon for its economic leadership,” said Tony Wham, vice president of Manufacturing, Halliburton. “We have been operating in Mexico for more than 60 years, and Monterrey is a leading industrial area with an experienced workforce, excellent infrastructure and mature supply base. Expanding our operations here demonstrates our desire to continue our longstanding relationship with Mexico.”
 
Don't leave out all the jobs in auto manufacturing you Canadians are stealing.


Quote from TorontoTrader2:

While you chest pounding flag wavers spout propaganda, your elected corporate criminals are bleeding your dry


2007-03-19 11:38 ET - News Release


Company Website: HOUSTON -- (Business Wire)

Halliburton’s (NYSE:HAL) Energy Services Group (ESG) is opening a new manufacturing center in Monterrey, Mexico, to meet its customers’ increasing demands for energy services products. The grand opening of the facility is expected to take place in May 2007. When operations at the center reach full capacity, the 9,290-square-meter facility will initially create 50 new direct jobs and additional associated supplier jobs.

“Halliburton chose the state of Nuevo Leon for its economic leadership,” said Tony Wham, vice president of Manufacturing, Halliburton. “We have been operating in Mexico for more than 60 years, and Monterrey is a leading industrial area with an experienced workforce, excellent infrastructure and mature supply base. Expanding our operations here demonstrates our desire to continue our longstanding relationship with Mexico.”
More...
 
.

April 12, 2007

SouthAmerica: The only consolation is that now that Don Imus has been fired Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and many others can’t be far behind. The other good thing that will come out of this mess is that any type of rap music probably will be outlawed.

Black comedians such as Chris Rock will be banished from TV-land, and any other type of mass communication. He is actually funny, but the black population will not allow anymore his type of humor. I hope these girls from the Rutgers basketball team have never seen Chris Rock’s act on HBO, because his comedy act would cause irreparable damage to the self-esteem of these girls, and they would be psychologically damaged for the rest of their lives.

When I surf the various channels on my cable system I see on various channels video music depicting black females on very demeaning ways. I guess my entire cable system will be sanitized in the near future.

I guess a big part of Black culture will be eliminated from our cable systems after they sanitize the entire system as a result of the Don Imus affair.

The only program that I watch on CBS is “60 Minutes”, but I don’t really have to watch that program anymore.

I did watch a few programs on MSNBC such as Imus in the morning, Chris Mathews Show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann – but from now on MSNBC will be on my list of don’t watch that channel.

Regarding the other television sponsors that abandoned Don Imus:


1) GM, the world's biggest carmaker
The last time I had a GM product was in 1972 – today I have a real car – A Volvo.

But I understand GM’s is slowly going out of business and they must be trying to market their products probably to the only group of the US population that still are buying their crappy products.


2) Sprint, the third- biggest mobile-phone company
I never used their services.


3) Staples Inc.
I will go to their stores only if I don’t have another alternative.


4) Procter & Gamble Co.
I need to check their products since I am not sure what products they have on their product line.


5) TD Ameritrade
This company has become immediately my ex-broker.


6) Bigelow Tea
I will continue using their product since I drink tea all the time.
By the way, Bigelow Tea is the only sponsor that had the guts to stay and support Don Imus.

Bigelow Tea must have “smart executives” working for that company.



********


“Don Imus loses job in stunning fall”
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer
AP – Associated Press - April 12, 2007


NEW YORK - Don Imus' racist remarks got him fired by CBS on Thursday, the finale to a stunning fall for one of the nation's most prominent broadcasters.

Imus was initially suspended for two weeks after he called the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on the air last week. But outrage kept growing and advertisers kept bolting from his CBS radio show and its MSNBC simulcast, which was canceled Wednesday.

"There has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society," CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said in announcing the decision. "That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision."

Imus had a long history of inflammatory remarks. But something struck a raw nerve when he targeted the Rutgers team — which includes a class valedictorian, a future lawyer and a musical prodigy — after they lost in the NCAA championship game.

A spokeswoman for the team said it did not have an immediate comment on Imus' firing. But Imus was scheduled to meet with the team Thursday evening, according to the Rev. DeForest Soaries, the pastor of coach Vivian Stringer, who had been helping negotiate terms of the meeting.

The cantankerous Imus, once named one of the 25 Most Influential People in America by Time magazine and a member of the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame, issued repeated apologies as protests intensified. But it wasn't enough as everyone from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to Oprah Winfrey joined the criticism.

The Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson met with Moonves on Thursday to demand Imus' removal, promising a rally outside CBS headquarters Saturday and an effort to persuade more advertisers to defect.

Jackson called the firing "a victory for public decency. No one should use the public airwaves to transmit racial or sexual degradation."

Said Sharpton: "He says he wants to be forgiven. I hope he continues in that process. But we cannot afford a precedent established that the airways can commercialize and mainstream sexism and racism."

Losing Imus will be a financial hit to CBS Radio, which also suffered when Howard Stern departed for satellite radio. The program earns about $15 million in annual revenue for CBS, which owns Imus' home radio station WFAN-AM and manages Westwood One, the company that syndicates the show nationally.

The news came down in the middle of Imus' Radiothon, which has raised more than $40 million since 1990. The Radiothon had raised more than $1.3 million Thursday before Imus learned that he lost his job.

"This may be our last Radiothon, so we need to raise about $100 million," Imus cracked at the start of the event.

Volunteers were getting about 200 more pledges per hour than they did last year, with most callers expressing support for Imus, said phone bank supervisor Tony Gonzalez. The event benefited Tomorrows Children's Fund, the CJ Foundation for SIDS and the Imus Ranch.

Imus, whose suspension was supposed to start next week, was in the awkward situation of broadcasting Thursday's radio program from the MSNBC studios in New Jersey, even though NBC News said the night before that MSNBC would no longer simulcast his program on television.

He didn't attack MSNBC for its decision — "I understand the pressure they were under," he said — but complained the network was doing some unethical things during the broadcast. He didn't elaborate.

Sponsors that pulled out of Imus' show included American Express Co., Sprint Nextel Corp., Staples Inc., Procter & Gamble Co. and General Motors Corp. Imus made a point Thursday to thank one sponsor, Bigelow Tea, for sticking by him.

The list of his potential guests began to shrink, too.

Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham said the magazine's staffers would no longer appear on Imus' show. Meacham, Jonathan Alter, Evan Thomas, Howard Fineman and Michael Isikoff from Newsweek have been frequent guests.

Imus has complained bitterly about a lack of support from one black politician, Harold Ford Jr., even though he strongly backed Ford's campaign for Senate in Tennessee last year. Ford, now head of the Democratic Leadership Council, said Thursday he'll leave it to others to decide Imus' future.

"I don't want to be viewed as piling on right now because Don Imus is a good friend and a decent man," Ford said. "However, he did a reprehensible thing."

Imus' troubles have also affected his wife, author Deirdre Imus, whose household cleaning guide, "Green This!" came out this week. Her promotional tour has been called off "because of the enormous pressure that Deirdre and her family are under," said Simon & Schuster publicist Victoria Meyer.

People are buying it, though: An original printing of 45,000 was increased to 55,000.

Imus still has a lot of support among radio managers across the country, many of whom grew up listening to him, said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade publication Inside Radio.

Yet he's clearly became a political liability for CBS. (General Electric Co. owns NBC Universal, of which MSNBC is a part.) NBC News said anger about Imus among some of its employees had as much to do with ending the MSNBC simulcast as the advertiser defection.

Bryan Monroe, president of the National Association of Black Journalists and vice president and editor director of Ebony and Jet magazines, met with Moonves on Wednesday. It seemed clear Moonves and his aides were struggling with a difficult decision, he said. He urged them to take advantage of an opportunity to take a stand against the coarsening of culture.

"Something happened in the last week around America," Monroe said. "It's not just what the radio host did. America said enough is enough. America said we don't want this kind of conversation, we don't want this kind of vitriol, especially with teenagers."

Rutgers' team, meanwhile, appeared Thursday on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" with their coach, C. Vivian Stringer.

At the end of their appearance, Winfrey said: "I want to borrow a line from Maya Angelou, who is a personal mentor of mine and I know you all also feel the same way about her. And she has said this many times, and I say this to you, on behalf of myself and every woman that I know, you make me proud to spell my name W-O-M-A-N."

___

Associated Press correspondents Karen Matthews, Warren Levinson, Seth Sutel, Tara Burghart, Colleen Long and Hillel Italie contributed to this report.


.
 
Who knows, maybe the sponsors jumped ship first chance they got because the advertising wasn't that effective to begin with. Prolly has a "morals clause" to get out of the contract. The advertisers are siding with the righteuos but may have an ulterior benefit.

Who knows, maybe Imus wanted out but might have been more costly for him to quit. Not unheard of. Maybe he owns somes SIRI.

:confused:
 
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