Don Imus - Fired!

The long painful ordeal that Don Imus went through after calling the Rutgers Basketball team "nappy-headed hos" is over. His endless apologies and meetings with people like Al Sharpton and the basketball team members themselves, in the end did him no good. On Wednesday NBC declared that it would no longer carry his show on its simulcast with CBS. The very next day CBS followed suit and cancelled the show.

The beginning of the end started when major advertisers pulled their ads from his show in protest. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson both called for his firing, saying that the two week suspension that was suppose to start on April 16th was not enough. The Rutgers Basketball team called a press conference and blasted Don Imus for his sexist and racist remarks. All this plus the public outcry against him caused CBS to finally cut him loose.

"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."

"He has flourished in a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people," Moonves said. "In taking him off the air, I believe we take an important and necessary step not just in solving a unique problem, but in changing that culture, which extends far beyond the walls of our company."

The Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson met with Moonves on Thursday to demand Imus' removal.

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."

Menstrual Cycles under Scrutiny

Here's one that goes just a little too far. In India women working as civil servants with the government have to fill out a new appraisal form which requires them to reveal details of their menstrual cycles and they also have to say when they last sought maternity leave.

The questions at the root of the controversy are on page 58 of the new appraisal forms for the current year issued by the federal Ministry for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

Women officers must write down their "detailed menstrual history and history of LMP [last menstrual period] including date of last confinement [maternity leave]," the form says.

"I am completely shocked!" said Sharwari Gokhale, environment secretary in western Maharashtra state. "I have absolutely no words to describe how I feel and I have no intention of telling them anything about my personal life.

Maharashtra's joint secretary for general administration, Seema Vyas, agreed that the new questions were uncalled for. "Menstrual cycles are a natural phenomenon, they are not an aberration. One does not object to questions related to fitness levels - they are important as they can affect work. "But there is no need for these details as this does not have any bearing on our work," she told the BBC.

Satyanand Mishra head of the Civil Service Personnel Department said in an interview with The Hindustan Times newspaper:

"We sought the ministry's help to draw up a health-history format. I assume this will help evaluate the officer's fitness," he told the paper.

Don Imus to Meet Rutgers Team

Don Imus has repeatedly said he would like to meet with the Rutgers Women's Basketball team to apologise for calling them “nappy-headed hos”. It now looks like that will happen some time soon.

“We all agreed the meeting with Mr. Imus will help,” Essence Carson, the team’s captain, said. “We do hope to get something accomplished during this meeting.”

Whether or not his apology will be accepted is still in doubt.

At a press conference the coach of the Rutgers team, C. Vivian Stringer, gave an impassioned speech about the effects the Don Imus incident has had on them.

We have all been physically, mentally and emotionally spent, so hurt by the remarks that were uttered by Mr. Imus.......We had to experience racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable and abominable and unconscionable and it hurts me......I would ask you whether you're a businessman, whether you're a camera person, whether you're a government official whatever, who amongst you could have heard the comments and not be personally offended. It's not about the Rutgers Basketball team, it's about women, are women hos? Think about that, would you have wanted your daughter to be called that? It's not about they as Black people or as nappy headed it's about us as a people black, white, purple or green.......If we can tolerate as a society what has just taken place, the remarks that have been directed toward young women, I don't know how anyone could have heard this and have not been personally hurt and offended....these young ladies have done nothing wrong.

Rutgers Basketball Team Conference Part 1

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Rutgers Basketball Team Conference Part 2

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The Don Imus show will be suspended for two weeks beginning April 16. Imus called the punishment appropriate but stressed, "I am not a racist."

"What I did was make a stupid, idiotic mistake in a comedy context," Imus said on his show Tuesday morning, the final week before his suspension starts.

Imus Suspended for Two Weeks

The Don Imus radio show will be suspended for two weeks starting April 16. This was the announcement from CBS which issued the following statement:

"Due to the events of the past week, CBS Radio will suspend Don Imus and the broadcast of his show for a period of two weeks, effective Monday, April 16."

The show is broadcast by CBS Radio and simulcast on MSNBC. A spokeswoman for NBC Universal, Allison Gollust, said in a statement that the company's decision to suspend Mr. Imus's show "comes after careful consideration in the days since his racist, abhorrent comments were made."

"Don Imus has expressed profound regret and embarrassment and has made a commitment to listen to all of those who have raised legitimate expressions of outrage," Ms. Gollust said in the statement. "In addition, his dedication — in his words — to change the discourse on his program moving forward, has confirmed for us that this action is appropriate. Our future relationship with Imus is contingent on his ability to live up to his word."

Don Imus has taken every opportunity to apologise for his remarks where he referred to the Rutger's Women's Basketball team as a bunch of "Nappy-Headed Hos" and offered to meet with the team to apologise to them in person.

Shortly before his suspension was announced Imus appeared on Al Sharpton's radio show (click here to see the video) to again apologise. Al Sharpton and many others including Jesse Jackson have called for his firing. His appearance on the show did not change Al Sharpton's mind.

Rev. Sharpton said: "I'm not going to call you a bigot. I'm going to say what you said was racist. I'm going to say what you said was abominable. I'm going to say you should be fired for saying it."

The sequence that led to his racist remarks and his apology was broadcast on MSNBC.
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Strange on the Net

The Internet is a wonderful place to find anything and I do mean everything. Here are some things that might amuse you, shock you or just plain entertain you.

Did you know that Karl Rove is planning a second career as a rap artist? He even has his new name picked out.....MC Rove! He made his debut at the Correspondents Dinner recently. See the video below:

Presenting MC Rove

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Have you heard that Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones once smoked cocaine laced with his dead Dad's ashes. After making this claim Richards later said he was only joking. Conan O'Brien, trying to get at the truth, did the following interview with Keith Richards:

Conan and Keith

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Now lets hear from a Real Animal:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUfYGQ9mrrQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwhat-the-news.com%2Fgpage49.html]

And last but not least some Toilet Humor

So China has gone and added another aspect to the toilet experience. So watch out for the next time someone asks if you have to go number 1 or 2, cause they could reply number three:

The Enema.

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