News to Start Your Weekend 4.20.07

Posted by Nick Marsico on 04.20.2007

It's a long one this week, but if you don't care about the Imus and V-Tech stuff, punch out after my Austin Aries rant.

I'm going to stick to the wrestling for the beginning of this column. I'll get into some other current events later on when I move into the mail I've received since last week, but for now, wrestling. Earlier this week I was randomly perusing YouTube and came across a bunch of promos for the CM Punk/Ken Doane/Brent Albright feud from 2005 in OVW, and it's some really great stuff. This all took place during the Heyman era of the Ohio Valley, and you can very much tell. The storylines are very Heyman-esque, and the production values (outside of the camera quality itself, which is already low) are very similar to a lot of the stuff you'd see in ECW, especially around 1996-98. I actually have 3 tapes that span from the tail end of Cornette's booking (his last two shows) and about 2 and a half months worth of the Heyman product. I've only watched about a month's worth thus far, though. I think I've seen 3 shows that Punk was on, so I've gotta get back to that collection and check some of those out. It's a shame ROH doesn't carry OVW tapes any more

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Deep South is no longer a WWE developmental territory, and thus will no longer exist as an active promotion. WWE dropped them due to a poor report from Bruce Pritchard after a recent visit, and probably a bunch of other reasons on top of that, none that I really care enough to speculate about. Jody Hamilton, the guy who has been running things in Deep South is going to be retiring from the wrestling business as soon as the split from WWE is finalized. Honestly, I don't really see this whole thing as a big deal. Any talent that WWE really thinks much of is already in OVW, and anybody they want to keep on board will be moved there. They'll eventually bring Booker T or Steve Keirn's promotion on as a new developmental camp, and that will be that. Deep South only existed because it was a WWE developmental area anyway. It's not like HWA in Ohio that already was a promotion and still is a running promotion to this day. In the end, this is no big deal, but it's a story, so here we are.

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- The dot com has a new ‘Alumni' section with Trish, Lita and Rocky featured at the moment. In other profile news, they have one up for the new IC Champion as well. I'm glad they're going with the angle that he was already in training to be a wrestler, because it would be pretty ridiculous for him to become a serious character without having had a background in wrestling. Good on them for that at least.

- The next Saturday Night's Main Event will air on June 2, the night before the One Night Stand PPV. It's going to be taped on the Tuesday prior on the same night as SmackDown, and that week's ECW will be taped a night early with RAW on Monday the 27th.

- The plane WWE was going to fly on at some point last week had some major problems, blowing out an engine. If they would have happened in the air rather than on the runway, chances are the main event for the next PPV would be Little Guido vs. Jimmy Wang Yang. Hey, I'm all for it.

- Hogan isn't getting divorced. Who the fuck cares either way?

- Speaking of him, the show, that is taking place next weekend, has only sold 1,500 tickets thus far. Some huge fan base you've got there, Terry.

- Mick Foley is in the process of getting a reality show on A&E. He says it's more about him and the stuff he is doing with charities and whatnot and won't be about wrestling (at least not much) and won't involve his family. This might turn out to be the only good reality show ever.

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Austin Aries has been suspended for 90 days from TNA. Apparently some comments he made at a recent ROH show as well as his blunt nature and perceived ‘bad attitude' due to being brutally honest backstage has put him in a bad spot with management and has earned him the suspension. But Kevin Nash, a guy who has blatantly avoided multiple high profile jobs is still getting paid ridiculous amounts of money to make jokes. What a bunch of bullshit. I like Nash, but he isn't doing a god damn thing for TNA attendance, ratings or buyrate wise. Aries, on the other hand, is a great wrestler and personality with a great upside and lots of potential, but he can't talk without getting in trouble. Maybe if TNA didn't do so much stupid shit, your good talent who has been booked phenomenally elsewhere wouldn't have so many problems with the way you do things.

But yeah, a guy who could potentially be a huge star deserves to get taken off TV for 3 months for some words that a handful of people backstage got to hear. Maybe a few thousand people (ROH fans) who don't give a fuck about TNA anyway have heard some stuff he said too, but that doesn't mean shit. A guy who backed out of losing a match against a ‘little guy' and who backed out of a heavily promoted title match for the biggest show of the year can do whatever he wants, though, and get paid lots of money to do nothing. TNA sure is a damn smart company, boy, I tell ya.

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And now for some emails. I'll go with the light stuff first, starting with Chris Jacobs, who points out why The Axe wanted "Rap is Crap" to play at the HoF ceremony:

Larry Henning im sure wanted to play the old WCW theme since Curt sang it, and just wanted to show the "Perfect" factor off more, since it was actually kinda good. I mean it was a funny good, but still Curt can sing pretty well.

I didn't think of that. Makes sense. Good observation, sir.

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Before getting into the real heavy lifting, I have some comments from Matthew Roberts:

I had some comments on your latest column that I wanted to share with you.

1. Dom Imus is a major douche bag and he deserved to be fired. Imus has been nothing, but a cheap Howard Stern imitator for the past 20 years (prior to that all he did was play records and pretend a monster was going to eat a local high school every day). If Imus was a legitimate racist I would support his right to free speech (though I disagree with that speech) and to keep his job, but what he said was just a cheap publicity gimmick that back fired on him (with his vanishing ratings he should have just kept his mouth shut). Imus is like Hogan (except that Hogan once meant something to his industry, unlike Imus) in that Imus is a delusional has been trying to get people to pay attention to him and Imus is a scam (all that charity stuff is a fraud so Imus can use kids like slave labor on his ranch).

2. The attendance for Wrestlemania 23 was 80,103 people for a live gate of 5.38 million dollars period. These are the numbers reported by McMahon (who as a publicly traded company can go to jail for lying about figures to investors), Ford Field, and every mainstream news organization (what reason would Ford Field and mainstream news outlets have to lie to help McMahon). Any other numbers are nonsense floated by the usual anti McMahon suspects and the TNA goofs who believe a paid attendance of 1,000 is a miracle. I will not even dignify that silly nonsense about Wrestlemania 3 not having 93,000 people (in a sold out building that was bigger than Ford Field) except to point out that those rumors were started in 1997 by a couple of people Vince McMahon fired who ended up in WCW.

3. I agree with you that it is hilarious that Hogan actually thinks his fan base is bigger than McMahon's fan base. What is less hilarious (though I chuckled at it when I read it) is the Big Slow complaining about his "slave name." I find it despicable that that fat, no talent, slug Paul Wight who made millions by doing nothing more than raising his hand in the air and going "argggggggggh" could compare himself to people who endured the horror of slavery. Big Slow and Hogan are lucky Sharpton and the other leftist black crusaders were busy taking Imus out or else their crappy little Memphis show would have been shut down (as it is, they can get all their geezers together and entertain 70 or 80 people with it).

4. Dana White is working everyone about Kurt Angle. White knows he wants to bring in Angle to fight him (like the recently aired Ortiz / White fight) if nothing else. As Imus was a cheap, second rate, rip off of Howard Stern, White is a cheap, second rate, rip off of Vince McMahon who is trying to make himself the top star of the UFC (since, unlike McMahon, White pays his employees nothing). At any rate, I bet Angle is going to cripple himself sooner or later messing around with TNA or UFC (Angle deserves it for not taking McMahon's help and spitting in McMahon's face).

5. I hope Lawler keeps his word and quits, so his washed up ass can be kicked off television for good and we can get good commentary on Raw (bring back Paul Heyman to commentary). I doubt Lawler will quit because he needs his job and he knows he was lucky to get it back the last time. Vince McMahon is right to pull all his talent out of Memphis as they tried to screw him over and he does not need them at all. McMahon needs to protect his business and teach these goofs who want to mess with him a lesson.

As far as your Imus thoughts, whatever. On the attendance figures… where do you think these actual figures came from? Somebody didn't just make them up and report them. Vince can announce whatever numbers he wants on his television program because it's just a fictional TV show that exaggerates everything. It's a show where a guy can get punched in the face 5 times and not fall down or even show a sign of it through bleeding or bruising. Vince reports the real numbers to the people he legally has to and then puts out the overblown numbers to his audience. Don't you think it would actually be a good thing for his stockholders if people thought the company was doing even better than it is, too? Yeah.

16 people have heard what Show said about his ‘slave name'. It ain't a big deal. You also look like a Howard Stern fan. His show sure is blowing up the entertainment scene, eh? Big things from old Howie these days. He really is the king of all media! Oh, wait…

Not all of the talent Vince pulled off the show was trying to screw him. Hogan is the one with the problem, not Lawler, and certainly not a guy like Shelton fucking Benjamin.

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Some of the mail I got from people regarding the Don Imus issue was positive, and people seem to understand it the way I do and happen to agree with me. A bunch of people on message boards have fully agreed, and a couple have disagreed. I also got a couple pieces of mail from people who wanted to be left anonymous, so I won't even bother printing those. Starting with the positive feedback is Jordan Priebe:

I don't mind at all that you took three paragraphs to speak out on what many people feel is the truth. That's the problem in America today, a white person can't say one mildly stupid off-color comment while black people can spout all the racial epithets they want then hide behind Sharpton and Jackson. If the Rutgers womens team can forgive Imus's statement then why should everybody else hold it against him. Billy Packer used the term "fag" but CBS didn't fire him. I'm tired of all the politically correct bullshit that plagues us now. So it's not even a double standard for balck, it's a double standard by CBS too.

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It continues with Raymond Wong:

Thank you for your Imus input. Feels like racist blacks are running the country these days. Notice how the media (only ESPN as I know of) didn't mention Charles Barkley, known for his "whitey" rants, comments on the situation. Barkley said Imus shouldn't be fired because everyone said stupid things from time to time. So far only ESPN aired his comments. I wouldn't be surprise if there's a surge of hate crimes against blacks these days. Shoot what I read in the paper here it was blacks getting convicted of hate crimes here and its not just white, its includes hispanics, asians, and other races.

I wouldn't go so far with the hate crimes talk, although I will point out that I do find it quite dismaying that whenever a white person physically attacks or tries to attack a black person it's a ‘hate crime', but when black people do it to whitey, it's just another crime. I don't think I have to go any further than just saying ‘Fat Nick' for proof of that. What a bullshit situation that is.

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Of course not everybody sees this the way it should be seen, and some people are absolutely insane. I responded to this one personally but didn't get a response. This person is a fan of my column, which I appreciate, but, well, I'll leave the comments of Marcus Harden alone here and let you decide how ridiculous they are:

I'm a reader of your column and enjoy it. This is my first time responding to something because I completly think you're off base with the IMUS situation. First and foremost, I agree, it was a throw-a-way, off color comment that was not meant for the public airways. He has a responsibility to filter himself and no what is appropriate and inappropriate, he crossed that boundry.

Secondly, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson CANNOT be racist, racism is the position of power, the only people in this country that can be racist are White people. They can be, and everyone is, prejudice...But, the most important thing is, the issue isn't about them, it's about knowing that with GREAT power comes GREAT responsibility, IMUS had a responsiblity and power, and in a bad moment of judgement misused both.

Do I think he's all evil, no. Should he have been fired, not my decision. But as we learned as kids, saying "I'm sorry" doesn't always make things better. His comments actually do go to a deeper sub-culture of society and does for some ignorant people, perpetuate a stereotype about black women, these women are in college, doing positive and STILL get degregated, and saying, "I was just joking" sometimes isn't good enough.

IMUS will be alright, he's a millionaire and will bounce back, someone should be concerned about that young black girl who heard the comment and asked, "why'd he call those ladies, nappy headed hoes", as her self image is further tarnished by a country that has always been able to treat non-whites as second class citizens, and then think saying "sorry" is good enough.

Lastly, it's not okay for a double standard, there is no nationally syndicated black radio host, that has influence over major politicians, major networking and advertising, and the ears of millions of people, IMUS doesn't have a black peer, that's not a double standard, that's still in-equality at it's finest.

Ask yourself this...If Jesse Jackson got on TV and said the same thing's Mel Gibson said about JEWISH people, would the reaction be the same? That is your double standard.

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Chris Rollz (if that is his real name) has his own long winded response:

Nick... I don't know where to begin.

I've read a lot, a lot of things regarding the Imus situation in the past few weeks, but after reading your short take I feel like there's a lot of people missing the point, including you.

This isn't a one-time incident. It's almost like people forget, or actually don't know about, Don Imus' career of saying things that he shouldn't say. I grew up in New York, and I used to listen to Imus almost every morning while I got ready for school... not because I wanted to listen to Mr. Imus, but because I've always had a habit of falling asleep with sports-talk radio on... and in NY, THE sports talk radio station is 660 WFAN... the same
channel Imus happens to be on.

So I'd wake up, and the radio would still be going, and as I got older I got more and more interested in the program, because Imus had a ton of political guests on, he raised money for kids, he had his Imus ranch in New Mexico... but every once in a while, he'd say something that rubbed me the wrong way.
He'd make fun of latinos, or black people, or asians, or the irish, or italians... or he'd bash women and degrade them as inferior... and every time it happened, it turned me off more and more to the point that I found somewhere else to get my news, sports updates and political satire in the morning.

Imus has, for the better part of 20 years offended almost everyone under the sun, and has been protested and boycotted time and time again for racially sensitive and gender sensitive comments.

I'm not saying Imus is an out and out racist, or an out and out male chauvinist... but slipping up on an off-color joke once or twice is forgivable. That to me is the situation that you're describing... taking up for Imus as if this was the first or second time he's slipped up behind the mic and said something insensitive. Slipping up and saying something off-color once or twice is completely within the realm of 'oops, my bad'.
But when someone has a history of saying off color and insensitive comments, it's really easy to believe that somewhere in his heart of hearts, part of him really does think along those lines, and as a national news personality, it's completely unacceptable to allow those feelings to color your broadcast.

The second part of this is his target. He went after a group of female basketball players, who have nothing to do with the format of his program. Keep in mind, his show is a political show, a news program, that has political satire skits thrown in. The fact of the matter is, he could have used a ton of other word choices and still made the same joke, without using the backhanded insult. His original joke was that the women's team was made up of a bunch of tough women, most of whom could kick his ass. That's funny, and empowering towards the team at the same time, but he couldn't help himself from taking a backhanded cheap shot with 'nappy headed hos'... I fail to see the humor in that. To call someone nappy-headed... it's low, it's base, and it's uncalled for. It's simply not true to call any of the women on the team that. And as for hos... what does that word have to do with any basketball player? The term ho is as a derogatory a word to call a woman. Even in the context of a joke, or even in the context of a rap lyric, it's a horrendous thing to call someone. When a rapper calls a woman a ho, it's not to say all women are hos... they are referring to a specific type of woman, one who fucks for money, or will do anything to be close to a star, or anything to gain fame for herself.

It's not that he made an off-color joke, and then immediately apologized... he made a terrible, terrible statement that had no business on national TV, and then didn't apologize until he had to. Had he immediately caught himself and apologized, this wouldn't be anywhere near the big deal that it is. But he didn't, he went right on with business as usual with no conscious thought as to what he had said. We've all said things trying to be funny, and realized when they came out not only was it not funny, but it was really off-color... and most of us immediately catch ourselves and apologize. Imus didn't, and for years and years he's done the same thing over and over again... and this incident was the straw that broke the camel's back. His comments were all at once racially insensitive, sexist, demeaning to women and crossed over from the news community to the sports
community... and the NCAA, which has been struggling to get woman's basketball over in the face of sexism as a legit sport in the eyes of the sporting public.

Imus wasn't fired for what he said last week, but for everything he has said that was offensive, racist, and sexist over the course of his career, his employment at CBS, and his contract at MSNBC.

Behind the scenes at MSNBC, his colleagues have voiced their opinions to management that Imus was a ticking time bomb. On the Dan Patrick Show... Keith Olbermann stated that he and several other MSNBC personalities (including on-air talent, correspondents, and behind the scenes officials) have repeatedly gone to management and said that Imus was dangerous, and would wind up hurting the company in the long run.

The reason this became so big, is because it didn't just happen on his local radio show, which is syndicated to multiple affiliates across the country. That audience is a fraction of what he reached with these recent comments, which were broadcast world-wide on MSNBC, which over the past few years has been simulcasting Imus on their national cable network. He exposed himself to the world as a bigoted person, one who would take a cheap shot at someone who has no defense, no forum to come out and defend themselves.

This brings me to your points on Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton...

I agree and disagree with you... One, I am not a fan of Al Sharpton. He loves attention, he contributes almost nothing to society, other than to draw attention to himself and the causes that can make him look good in the eyes of his community. He tries to make himself the voice of all black people, when instead he is really self serving, and comes off as really misinformed and abrasive.

Jesse Jackson on the other hand, has done a lot for society as a whole, and really puts his money where his mouth is. Unfortunately, those on the outside looking in only see him when he's on TV, advocating for a civil rights cause that happens to be in the headlines at that time, clouding his public image. I can understand why you feel like you do about him, when the only exposure he really gets is 45 second interviews on CNN talking about
race in some form or another. But believe me, Jackson has done more than his fair share for this country, and for the people of this county... not just black people. Jackson advocates for children of all races, those who are stuck in poverty, those who are oppressed in any way, people of other countries who have no outlet for their struggles...

Shit, this man brought back the hostages from Iran when no one else could.

The reason Jackson, Sharpton and others jump to the defense of black people is because for centuries in this country, no one would. It's not about being against white people as a whole. It's about aiding those who have no power, no capital, no influence against a system that continually runs those people over. You're right about Sharpton and the causes he's jumped behind... but Jackson got involved in the Duke Lacrosse case because of the circumstances surrounding it...

It's not about race. That's where a lot of people miss the boat. It's about power. Those Duke Lacrosse kids were from very well-off backgrounds, and were able to hire high-powered attorneys and spin the situation any way they wanted to. They were able to work the system, use it and the media to get their message out in a way that the alleged victim wasn't able to. She was a poor college student living paycheck to paycheck, going to school at a community college. Now, while the evidence eventually turned out to be
faulty, and the Duke players were eventually cleared... it wasn't Jesse Jackson who proclaimed their guilt. Jesse Jackson advocated for the accused rights, brought attention to the case, and ensured that the high powered legal team wasn't able to buy a verdict, or sweep it under the rug.

It was the MEDIA who colored these kids as guilty, and allowed the case to be blown out of proportion. It was the MEDIA who kept bringing up the race question, and repeatedly asked it. Jesse Jackson never brought up the fact that this was racially motivated... what he did was respond to the question of a racially charged element of the case. What he was simply doing, was making sure that the SYSTEM wasn't allowed to run over the girl... whether the players were guilty or innocent. When the case first broke, on one side was 3 very rich trust fund kids on a lacrosse team with a history of piss poor behavior and bad leadership which allowed their kids to go out into the community and act in a questionable manner. Add to that the general attitude of the Duke campus, in which there is a feeling of entitlement and a sense of being better than the surrounding community... at least in the eyes of the community. On the other side, here is a single woman, going to community college, and a stripper. And that is the brass tacks... it's not race, although the media paints it as such. This woman had 3 strikes against her going in, all three of which speak to her lack of power...

#1. She's a woman.
#2. She's a minority.
#3. She's a stripper.

Any one of these statements puts her in a sub-class of society in North Carolina, let alone all three. Now, Al Sharpton may have gotten involved for all the wrong reasons, but Jesse Jackson was there to ensure that this woman got the attention and equal opportunity that those players got. Now, in retrospect, the fact that she turned out to be a flake colors people's view... but at the time he was there for the right reason. He had no idea of knowing that things would turn out the way they did, but presented with the fact at the time, as they were, there's no reason for him not to be there.

To say that Jesse Jackson is attacking white people, and is bigoted and racist... you are at the very least misinformed. It's that type of attitude and statement that leads to men like Jackson still needing to be active in the community.

Bottom line... did Don Imus deserve to be fired over his comments last week? No. He deserved to be fired over his comments that he has made over the past 20 years... the way he was fired is questionable, but in the end the right thing happened. Imus has a future in satellite radio if he wants it... where he can say anything he wants. But on the airwaves, where you have a responsibility to sponsors, and the networks that carry you... this type of talk unacceptable.

For your comments on the Duke case... no matter what your argument, that doesn't change the fact that the woman was not raped. She fabricated a story and it's been proven because there was absolutely no evidence whatsoever to back up her story. And that's not the case of the Duke kids and their lawyers, it's just the facts. As far as her having being a woman against her... in a rape accusation, that's one thing a woman has going for her. Being a woman, just claiming that somebody raped you automatically makes you look like the victim, because you're just a poor, defenseless woman. That's how it is with rape in this country. Women have A LOT of power in that regard. Hell, I even know from personal experience, as one of my friends was accused of rape once, and even though he didn't do a god damn thing, just the fucking bitch claiming he did something launched an investigation and had people looking down on this guy, and his name is still tarnished even though he was proven innocent.

So yeah, add one more thing to your list on that girl:

#1. She's a woman.
#2. She's a minority.
#3. She's a stripper.
#4. She's a liar.

Oh, and Jackson said he was going to give the girl a scholarship no matter what, since he was so sure that she was being truthful. Now that she's been exposed as the liar she is, will the charitable guy still be giving her the money that he promised? We'll see.

On Imus, I wholeheartedly agree that this isn't a race issue. It's much bigger than that. On the level of Al Sharpton, it is a race issue, but he's just the douchebag catalyst that got this issue snowballed. It's about being able to say what you want. Imus didn't break any FCC rules. Over the years he's made a whole lot of JOKES about different races and about women and whatnot... because he's not exactly what you said. The satire is a much bigger part of the show than you're willing to admit, and this comment especially was SO not a big deal. What's so bad about saying 'nappy-headed'? Oh no, don't make fun of somebody's hair! That might ruin somebody's life! Holy shit, it's hair for the love of God. The whole comment itself was a throwaway line. He didn't 'go after' anybody. They took a moment to mention the Women's National Championship game and made an observation that the girls were tough and mean-looking. Then there was a short back and forth that led to Imus saying "that's some nappy-headed hos", and then shortly after they moved on. If Imus was 'attacking' them, then he wouldn't have spent three seconds saying those words before moving on. He would have focused on it and he would have attacked them. They didn't spend 20 minutes trying to figure out worse and worse things to say about the girls, they said something quick and in passing and then moved on. It was a goofy little joke that the media and other people who just want to take a stand on something safe (like Al Roker, Tim Russert, and anybody else) decided to completely overblow.

What Keith Olbermann did was such a pussy move (and yeah, sorry if I'm not being nice and formal with my response, because this is outraging to me) and if he really was against Imus, he wouldn't have gone behind his back and run like a little bitch to management. He would have said it on the air and taken a stand on that instead of waiting until the whole issue blew up. Olbermann is generally disliked by most people who aren't douchebags like himself because he's a self-righteous ass.

So you're wrong. The only reason that the sponsors and the networks stopped supporting Imus was because of pressure from a bunch of assholes who are against freedom of speech. If Imus REALLY should have been fired, as you're saying, for everything he has said over the years (ever single word he said, by the way, was completely and one-hundred percent legal), then he would have been. The sponsors didn't have a problem with all of what he said over the years and neither did the networks. It took something like this to get him kicked off the air, and inconsistent and insincere people like yourself and those I have mentioned here didn't start speaking out about it until it was convenient. It's really quite shortsighted of you to say that all of a sudden all of the things he has said over the years are what should have gotten him fired. Straw that broke the camel's back my ass. That type of talk has been acceptable for a long time, sir. Why do I say that? Because for a long time, Don Imus has had a job even though he happened to talk 'that type of talk'.

You make no sense, sorry. You're just another one of the many people who decided to pile on after Imus was picked out and made an easy target. In the end, I guess this comes down to the fact that words are so, so bad. They're just terrible. I mean a 66 year old curmudgeonly white man saying a few words really is going to set back the hands of time, right? Some words he has said over the years really have been so thoroughly detrimental to the world and some feelings he may have hurt really are a big enough deal to get him fired. Please stop being fucking ridiculous.

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Now unlike NBC, who says they heavily debated whether or not they should show the tapes of that douchebag weirdo idiot who killed 32 innocent people when all they really were doing was making copies of everything so they could benefit with ratings and money before they did the right thing and contacted the authorities, I actually have been debating whether or not I should have even bothered with the Imus stuff this week in the light of recent events. And yes, I feel in the long run it is important for these responses from myself and the people who disagree with me to get out there. Some really awful shit happened this week, and I truly fear that something bad is going to happen again some time soon. I'm not going to blame NBC and the media in full for the copycats that will come of this, or for the fact that this kid himself was a copycat of the kids from Columbine, but the media does hold plenty of blame for making those kids out as rock stars and for making this kid out to be a bigger-than-life personality as well. All they're doing is glorifying what happened, and people involved in the tragedy have spoken out about how shitty of NBC it was to air all of this stuff.

My problem isn't even with them airing it. It's not a good thing for it to be aired due to the reasons I mentioned with copycats and glorifying the situation, but I thoroughly abhor the fact that they're acting as though it was a tough decision as to whether they should run it or not. It wasn't. It just fucking wasn't. They did it for ratings and everybody knows it. Once again, there's nothing wrong with it – but there is something wrong when, instead of just admitting it, they try to act like they're sensitive to the issue and that they have any purpose other than ratings and money. It disgusts me, and I'm not the kind of guy who gets passionately angry at much of anything. Especially with the Imus situation and how they handled that, talking about how NBC wanted to uphold being a responsible and admirable news organization, yet they fire a guy for a few meaningless words and then go on to blatantly lie about their reasoning for showing a tape of a fucking retarded, fucked up, unworthy of the press murderer. It's unbelievable.

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Anyway, I'm done. No plugs this week, but you can find everything that's good if you want to. Trust me. It's not hard.