Let me start by stating that I am not a Don Imus fan. I don’t think he is funny, informed or entertaining. I went through an Imus phase about 3 years ago because of his guest list. He was then replaced by the infinitely more talented Michael Smerconish on WPHT in Philadelphia and I simply forgot about him.

Having said that, this is a dangerous precedent with a slope that can only be described as slippery. Imus’ joke concerning the Rutger’s woman’s basketball team was stupid and reprehensible. He apologized immediately (OK the next working day) and simply wanted to move on. Instead, those twin charlatans, Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton took this as an opportunity to increase their own power through a publicity effort that was nothing short of disgusting. Where are Sharpton and Jackson concerning all of the young African American males who are being murdered on an almost daily basis in the city of Philadelphia? Why are they not protesting the lack of effort from the mayor and police chief of Philadelphia in combating this scourge? Because it won’t line their pockets with money and increase Jackson’s and Sharpton’s power base to take on issues that truly impact the African American community.

We have reached the point in society where you are not even allowed to apologize for a mistake. This, my friends is only the beginning. We are at an extremely important inflection point in society. The powers that be will use this episode to enact the “Fairness Doctrine” which will be used to silence the conservatives first on talk radio and TV (Fox News) where the opinions expressed may be different from the new center of power. Then they will go after the bloggers (including me) who disagree with their version of the world. You believe that a woman who has an abortion is a murderer? In the future, that will be considered hate speech and at best will be censored. At worst, the purveyor of the “hate” speech could be subject to fines and imprisonment. Should your type an opposing view to gay marriage, you will now be officially a hater. This coming from someone who believes that gay people, as a matter of individual liberty, should have the right to marry. It would be a reduction in our rights to censor viewpoints that differ from mine, and would be the opposite of our founding father’s vision for this country.

The left will initially celebrate the reductions in our freedom of speech until they realize that the definition of free speech will be held in the hands of a small cabal whose leftist version of society may be quite different than their own version. Only then it will be too late to do anything about it. We are entering truly dangerous times in this country. Am I being overly dramatic? Maybe. Then again, maybe not. Do we really want to find out if I am right or wrong?