SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER - WHEN IT AIN'T PC, OR CW: JASON WHITLOCK IS AWESOME

Hat tip: Crazy Politico

Popinjay recently brought up Jason Whitlock's column. Jason Whitlock may not be a conservative but he tells it like it is and that scores big points in my book. His column on Don Imus has swept the internet this week like wildfire. I, and many others have linked to it.

The above video is of him on Tucker Carlson's show speaking out about it, and he shares - in no uncertain terms - what he thinks of Sharpton and Jackson. I for one could be heard cheering as I watched it. It is about time someone says it like it is and Whitlock does just that.

He was also on CNN with Al Sharpton, Go here to see it. He makes the exact point that I have been making: that injustice is wrong wherever you find it, whether its against rich, white boys (the Duke LaCrosse players) or the Rutgers' Basketball team.

He also appeared on The Today Show. On Monday he is supposed to be on Oprah.

For once, let me go on the record saying I'm proud that Jason Whitlock writes for my local paper, The KC Star. Mark it down, because its a rare day for this conservative to be happy about anything that is written by a liberal in The KC Star.

ESPN RADIO HOST TAKES A HUGE RISK WITH WHITLOCK

In response to the whole Don Imus affair, Kansas City Star sports columnist Jason Whitlock had this to say in his recent column: (Hat tip: dcthornton)

Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

The bigots win again.

While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

Strong stuff. And as you might have guessed, Jason Whitlock is black, but there's more to the story. Whitlock used to be a commentator on ESPN, appearing on The Sports Reporters and PTI. However, he was fired from the network for insulting sportwriters Mike Lupica and Scoop Jackson. Despite being essentially banned from the ESPN networks, ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd (who I've admired for a long time) took a big career risk today by preempting his usual "spanning the globe" segment and having Jason Whitlock on the show to discuss the Don Imus situation.

No transcript is available, but Whitlock unloaded on Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and chastised people in the black community who allow themselves to be affected by people like Don Imus who should have no effect on their lives whatsoever. It was great radio and it was stuff that needed to be said to a mass audience. Here's hoping Colin Cowherd doesn't get into too much trouble with the ESPN brass.

DON IMUS AND THE JUSTICE BROTHERS

You would think that Jesse "Hymie Town" Jackson and Al "Tawana Brawley" Sharpton aka "The Justice brothers" (as Rush has nicknamed them) wouldn't be so quick to destroy a person's reputation when you look at the fact that they both have their own similar baggage. Yet, even though their careers didn't get derailed for their screw-ups they insist on trying to sabotage others for nothing more than to get their faces in front of the cameras.

Once again what Imus said was offensive and completely out of line but this media circus overreaction created by Sharpton and Jackson is absurd. I also find it extremely laughable that Snoop "Drug and gun possession" Dogg and others are saying its okay for them to use these words and worse on a consistent basis because of the context. Hello?? Either the word is wrong to use or its not. I think it is wrong no matter what the context. I actually consider what the rappers do as worse because their songs that use these words are carefully planned out and premeditated. Imus got busted for saying something without thinking it through. Either way its unacceptable but don't tell me that its okay to degrade women as long as you are using it in the "right context". Dogg and the other rappers' arguments seem completely hypocritical to me.

Even though Jackson and Sharpton have succeeded in silencing Imus they have vowed not to stop there. They want to move on and see what other kind of speech can be silenced. Imus may be a liberal casualty but you can bet that they want some conservative casualties as well. Rush brought up today that conservatives never want to silence anyone, objectionable as they may be. It is liberals that scream for all contrary talk to be silenced. Sharpton's witch hunt has only begun, one can only hope that most intelligent people won't give in.

Ann Coulter has written an excellent piece on the whole controversy. Here are some excerpts, the last paragraph made me laugh out loud:

English speakers in America need a rule book to tell us what people can say what words when, and under which set of circumstances. The rule book will be longer than the Patriot Act and will require weekly updates as new words and circumstances are added. Perhaps a Nasdaq-style ticker would be more efficient.

Depending on which TV show you tune into, what Imus said was wrong because: 1) His show goes out on FCC-regulated airwaves; 2) he regularly interviews people like Sens. John Kerry, John McCain and Joe Biden; 3) he spoke at the White House Correspondents' Dinner a few years ago; or 4) he's not black.

Imus should apologize to the Rutgers women – and those women alone – send them flowers, and stop kissing Al Sharpton's ring.

This wasn't an insult to all mankind, and certainly not an insult to Al Sharpton. Now, if Imus had called the basketball players "fat, race-baiting black men with clownish hairstyles," well, then perhaps Sharpton would be owed an apology.