Dale Franks notes a particular irony in the decision of MSNBC and CBS to fire Don Imus effective immediately rather than allowing him to broadcast the remainder of the week as originally planned:

This week—starting today, in fact—is the 18th annual Imus radiothon to raise money for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and to help support the Imus Ranch, which offers children, 10% of whom are African-American, with cancer and blood-borne diseases a few weeks every year of vacation and treatment, free of charge.

Yesterday, MSNBC dropped the Imus show, which has run every morning for the 11 years of MSNBCs existence. Today, CBS dropped Imus in the Morning from the radio lineup, effective immediately. Naturally, this means that Mr. Imus will not be able to raise money during the radiothon, which will lead to a precipitous drop in donations. So, in effect, NBC and CBS decided that it would be better for children to die than for Don Imus to broadcast for another day or two. Think about that, too. Getting rid of Don Imus and escaping the controversy is so important to NBC and CBS that they are willing to kill children to do it.

Huh. Maybe there’s something to that “corporations are evil” business after all.

I must admit, it’s rather bizarre. Radley Balko may be right the Imus’ charitable ranch was somewhat “indulgent” and that it “probably has the highest dollars-to-kids-actually-benefiting ratio of any project of its kind.” Still, it’s a noble effort and, as Andrew Sullivan observes, “It does not excuse Imus’ bigotry, but it’s worth noting nonetheless. It’s more than I’ve ever done for sick kids. And probably more than you have either.”