Imus to go where Angels can no longer tread

So, the exile is over and J. Donald Imus is coming back to the airwaves, in Gotham City no less.

Imus in the morning will kick off on Dec. 3 on WABC radio, 770 on the AM dial. Charles McCord will be right there with him, serving up news Sniglets for Imus to comment about. The announcement said members of his little group of yes men would be there with him, but didn't specifically mention Barnyard McJerk, who started the whole mess in the first place.

As you no doubt remember, Imus was canned last April after issuing a sexist and racist rant about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. This blog is probably the only place on the planet that did not parrot Imus' words, I'm proud to say.

WABC was at the top, along with WINS, in bringing rock 'n' roll to New York, competing for the New Haven audience with WDRC in Hartford.

Before and during the 1960s, Musicradio featured such shining disk jockey lights as Alan Freed, Scott Muni and possibly the biggest of them all, Bruce (Cousin Brucie) Morrow.

It turned to all talk in the 1980s, giving birth to such shining intellects as Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham. The station, along with the ABC Radio Network, was sold to Citadel Broadcasting this summer by Walt Disney.

The morning drive time, where Imus will be heard, had been covered by Ron Kuby, the civil rights lawyer who made his bones carrying the brief case for famed attorney William Kunstler, and would-be peacemaker Curtis Sliwa. Sliwa and his Guardian Angels have been in New Haven since summer, working with Eliezer Greer and the armed bike patrol in Edgewood.

Sliwa may be hanging around New Haven more, starting tomorrow (Nov. 2, 2007), because he and Kuby were told not to show up work starting tomorrow after covering the drive time for nearly eight years.

"I've had a fantastic, great run," Kuby said. "Our show has enjoyed the best audience _ intelligent, compassionate, decent and kind. The new owners don't want that kind of show."

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Charles McClelland, the athletic director for Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas, hasn't had a winning football season since the Yankees won the World Series, or even before. The school's Panthers had lost something like 80 games in a row.

Today, on National Public Radio, McClelland blamed integration.

When asked what happened to his team, which until a few years ago had been quite good, he said that when integration occurred in colleges, the most talented players had other options than the traditionally all-black schools such as his, and took those options. That left his school to recruit those who were left, and the talent pool dried up.

I wonder what would have happened if Imus had said that.

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The queen, for reasons passing understanding, has honored CNN's Christiane Amanpour with the Commander in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

The queen said the award, given something like 20 times a year to fairly large numbers of people, was given in recognition of Amanpour practice of journalism.

I hope not.

CNN tonight is going to show again Amanpour's "God's Warriors" series in which she castigates Jews and Christians for fighting for their rights in the Middle East and gives a free pass and asks puffball questions to Moslems. This travesty was shown once and protests were heard from around the world. I guess that makes no difference to CNN, which is showing the mess again.

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New Haven's mayor, who welcomes, or more accurately invites, illegal immigrants into town with the promise of a city-issued identity card, now says the city should have no way of knowing if a job applicant has a felony criminal record. Please see

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/10/mayor_would_era.php#006823more

According to the New Haven Independent, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. wants there to be a way for felons who have paid their debt to society to re-enter the mainstream so they don't have to do whatever crime got them jailed in the first place in order to make a living.

I think the sentiment is wonderful, just like the resident cards. You know, it's funny that the mayor's press releases don't mention the cards after August, as in a string of banks that have jumped up to offer accounts to the illegals (not). So far, one bank has allowed the card, along with a passport, to be used for identification in opening accounts.

I think the felons program will also be good-intentioned but isn't going to work out. You take a doper who was tossed into the klink for stealing from his boss. So, the city hires him or her and puts him or her in a job that requires handling money, maybe like collecting fees as Lighthouse Point Park.

It's a hot day and a little smack or a little crack would make the time go by a little easier. So a few bucks sticks to the fingers.

It's a different story if the city decides to hire a person with a record because somebody thinks this guy or woman is a good risk. That's fine, up to a point. But not to know that a person is a child molester or a dope dealer or a crook? DeStafano said the felon should be given a chance to explain in an interview about his or her particular crime. Perhaps, on the other side of the personnel form, in the middle of the other side, quotated, will be the following words: HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF? (with apologies to Arlo)

Well, how's that going to happen if nobody knows the applicant is a felon?

Sorry. No sale here.

Until next time...