Just after the statement from CBS Radio thudded into my inbox on Thursday that they were firing Don Imus, I was hit by the rush of adrenaline (as this was huge news for my industry), and then I was overcome by a wash of questions and emotions.  Here’s just a sampling.

1. Who the hell appointed Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson the arbiters of morality in this country?  These guys seem to have a permanent Get Out of Jail Free card and get to say just about anything they want without repercussion.  Imus was right — when will Sharpton apologize to the Duke lacrosse players?  He publicly called them out and accused them of rape, yet hasn’t said a word now that a court of law has declared them innocent.

2. If Imus is tossed out, then we need to level the playing field.  The same standards need to be applied across the board.  Ann Coulter calls John Edwards a faggot?  She needs to be banned from TV or radio.  Glenn Beck calls Hillary Clinton “a stereotypical bitch” and Cindy Sheehan “a pretty big prostitute” and says he’s “thinking of killing Michael Moore”?  He needs to publicly apologized and suspended.  Neal Boortz calls Islam a “violent, violent religion” and calls Muhammad “a dirty rag-picker”?  He needs to publicly apologize and be fired.  Bill O’Reilly says Shawn Hornbeck, the kid who was kidnapped and held hostage for years and possibly sexually molested, didn’t want to leave because he was “having more fun” than being at home?  He needs to be banished from radio and TV.  Michael Medved says Islam has “a special violence problem” and says there’s “disgusting behavior throughout the Muslim world”?  He needs to lose his radio show.  (And I find it ironic that Condoleeza Rice went on his show to say Imus’ comments were “disgusting.")

3. Honestly, do you think those Rutgers players were listening to Imus?  CBS Radio, in its statement firing Imus, said, “In our meetings with concerned groups, 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.” I want to know — what’s doing more damage to the African-American community, the fact that Don Imus made one remark once, or the language being used in rap these days, which is being blasted all over the airwaves on a constant basis?  Check out some of the lyrics to the song that’s currently No. 1 on the Urban chart, R. Kelly’s “I’m a Flirt” (I’ll refrain from making too much of a point that R. Kelly is a known pedophile):  “I’ma b pimpin/I don’t be slippin’/When it come down to these hoez/I don’t love em/We don’t cuff em/Man, that’s just the way it goes/I pull up in the Phantom/All the ladies think handsome/Jewelry shining, I stay stuntin/That’s why these niggas can’t stand em/I’ma chick mag-a-net/And anything fine, I’m bag-gin it.”

...Yeah, because that definitely doesn’t have an effect on the kids.