I don't live in New York and I don't have any kind of satellite radio, but from everything I've heard, Don Imus is not funny or entertaining.  Based on his surliness, I tend to think I wouldn't like him personally either.  But God help me, I love free speech!

Now I really can't find any fault in the handling of the Imus affair.  Don Imus said something offensive, and the free market handled it.  I also love the free market!  You might want to punch Jackson and Sharpton in the neck for incendiary behavior, but others have handily addressed that issue and I don't care to restate the obvious.

I just want to draw a clear demarkation on the issue of free speech.  I defend Imus's right to make ignorant and racist comments, though I won't give him a pass on the professional consequences.  So what if they fire the guy?  That is how our capitalist economy works, my friends!

But be warned - cross the line of legally curtailing free speech, and we are going to have a problem.  I can't think of an issue that is more sacred to me than my right to say the wrong thing.  Why is it sacred?  Because the minute you make it a crime to speak out against injustice, you can no longer ensure justice.  You can no longer protest a rogue government.  You can no longer defend your right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This is my warning: let the free market handle this one.  Imus is a jerk and he will get what is coming to him without any litigation.  But let's not bring the law into play because you might be the next jerk on the gallows.