Priorities Askew

Which story should receive more coverage: 1) Israel conducting negotiations with terrorist groups to secure the release of Gilad Shalit and which would also mean the release of hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails including notorious terrorists and murderers like Marwan Barghouti; or 2) Don Imus and his inane clown rantings on the Rutgers Lady's Basketball Team.

Well, considering that the top story on most of the online news outlets is the Imus kerfuffle, it is clearly Imus and his rantings are seen as more important than the life and death struggle of Israel, Gilad Shalit, and the considerable ethical and moral quandries in a prisoner swap.

Think about this: Israel is on the verge of even considering a prisoner swap where hundreds of Palestinians are released to secure the return of a single Israeli soldier. Those Palestinians released could include those with Israeli blood on their hands, and there's no reason to believe that those Palestinians wouldn't simply return to their former ways - going after Israelis at the earliest possible opportunity.

Such a release would result in undermining Israeli national security (and indeed much of the West) for years to come. That the feckless Olmert government is even entertaining the Hamas inspired prisoner lists is telling. There's no reason to negotiate with these terrorists and there's no amount of goodwill short of Israel pulling down its flags and quitting the country that would be acceptable to Hamas. These same groups are continuing their attacks on Israel and it is lucky that a major terrorist attack didn't occur during the past week.

Israeli officials are looking at prisoner lists that include murderers and those involved in terrorist attacks on Israel and think they can whittle down the list to a number and selection that will be acceptable to the Palestinians, let alone Israelis who should be outraged that the Israeli government would cave on a matter of such national import.

Any kind of agreement that Israel works out with the Palestinian terror groups Hamas and Fatah will result in a major coup for the Palestinians - and undermine Israel's national security. It will mean that kidnapping Israelis will result in further concessions.

Where will that line be drawn? For the Olmert government, it would appear that there simply is no line that can't be crossed.

Instead, we're treated to the non-stop coverage of Imus and his distasteful comments that landed him a 2-week suspension that will begin next week because he's set to host WFAN's annual 2-day charity event beginning Thursday. He's going to meet with the players, has already been chastized by the coach, and has already met with the dispicable Al Sharpton whose own gory history of distasteful comments should have been more than sufficient to require clothespins for everyone watching that encounter and demand for fealty/apology on behalf of the team.

I find that the priorities of those in the media are so far out of whack that they don't recognize truly important news stories for what are marginal pieces that will affect only a tiny segment of the population; after all Imus has a very limited audience, even counting the marginal coverage he gets on the MSNBC simulcast. That few in the media are willing to delve deeper into Sharpton's background to show his nature as a race-baiter and racist is appalling. The same people who demand that white folks apologize for saying inappropriate comments haven't been above using their own hateful language and have never apologized for them either. Instead, they're now perceived as kingmakers and politicians must consider their support in running for major elections.

I've given up watching or listening to Imus for years now. He isn't funny and that was his schtick for a long time. He made the Broadcasting Hall of Fame on his record, but that record is long past. He's made his apologies and his employer has made him sit in the corner for two weeks. Fine by me.

It is interesting, however, to consider that the issue of race relations now turns on the utterances of an over-the-hill shock jock and his kowtowing to self-annointed protectors of civil rights who themselves care little about racial equality and see incidents such as this as little more than props to stay in the media spotlight rather than on the actual advances made since the founding of the civil rights movement. There's a story in there, and that is where the story truly lies.