By now, you have no doubt heard that Los Angeles Clippers Basketball Team Owner, Donald Sterling, has been fined and banned for life by the National Basketball Association, due to racist comments he made in a private telephone conversation, which was recorded by his mistress, and then given to TMZ.

In this private conversation he told the girl, who is young enough to be the 81 year old Sterling’s granddaughter, that he did not want her to bring any minorities to the game. Sterling’s mistress is half-black and half-Mexican.

While the 2.5 million dollars he was fined, alone, seems to be a pretty severe punishment, the new NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, had to go ahead and hedge his bet and ban Sterling for life to prove that he will be a tough commissioner and that he is on the side of the players. Because, boys and girls, in today’s NBA, the players are running the league.

Don’t believe me? Consider this…

Do you remember several years ago, when members of the Indiana Pacers ran up into the bleachers, to catch Ron Artest,who was going after a guy in the crowd who was yelling at him?

Ron Artest, now known as Meta Worldpeace, is still playing basketball in the NBA.

Heck…I will go you one better.

Remember when Latrell Sprewell choked out his coach, PJ Carlesimo, in practice? Sprewell went on to continue his career after that.

So, now are we going to tap the phones of every single NBA player, coach, and official, to make sure that nobody says something bad about somebody?

Under Obama, this nation has become a bunch of “Pajama Boys”.

Now, I’m not arguing that what Sterling said was not reprehensible.

It was.

However, in retrospect, was it any worse than what former NBA player Larry “Grandma” Johnson said? The former New York Knickerbocker said that the black members of the NBA should form their own league.

I suppose, so they don’t have to deal with all of us crackas.

Come on, people. Racism is racism. Bigotry is bigotry

Back in the 1970s, Liberal TV Producer Norman Lear created the classic series, “All in the Family”, which revolved around bigoted Archie Bunker, a working class stiff up in New York City. Perfectly portrayed by the great American actor Carroll O’Connor, the program followed the day-to-day life of Archie, as he dealt with his wife Edith, whom he affectionately called Dingbat, his daughter Gloria, and his son-in- law Mike, whom he called Meathead.

Lear produced the series in order to show America how stupid bigotry was. What he didn’t count on, was the fact that Americans saw a bit of themselves in the character of Archie Bunker. And, instead of Americans laughing at him about his character flaws, we laughed with him.

The character of Archie Bunker, while flawed with prejudices, turned out to have a heart of gold.

And, America fell in love with him.

Of course, back then, our skin was thicker. We handled our own problems.  

For example, there was a bully who sat behind me in 7th Grade. He was twice as big as I was, and took great glee in making fun of me and trying to intimidate me. One day, I had had enough. I reached under my desk, took hold of my 2s  (tom) drumsticks and smacked him right between his beady little eyes. We were both sent to the Assistant Principal’s Office, where I explained my actions to Mr. Norville, pur Assistant Principal. After laughing in covert approval, he told me to get back to class.

Back then, we didn’t need any government programs to tell us “how to handle bullies”. Our parents raised us to take care of them ourselves.

But, I digress…

We are all prejudiced to a certain extent. Prejudice does not have to be about race. It can be about personality, body type, political affiliation, or geographical location.

The NBA has set a dangerous precedent here.

While Donald Sterling is lower than the belly of a snake and exhibits all the class of Rosie O’Donnell at an all-you-can-eat buffet, to ban someone for life over a private conversation, threatens Freedom of Speech and the expectation of privacy which we, as Americans, hold dear.

Is this a continuation of the atmosphere that President Barack Hussein Obama has created from his use of the NSA, IRS, and unmanned drones to intrude into the private lives of Americans?

The last nation to spy on their citizens in such a manner was the Soviet Union.

Again, I’m not saying that Sterling does not deserve punishment.

However, even an immoral libertine like Sterling, has Freedom of Speech and an expectation of privacy under our Constitution.

For the NBA to ban the immoral Sterling over a private phone conversation taped by his immoral, gold-digging mistress, pulls them down into the same mud hole as the two of them.

It is an unseemly situation all the way around.

One which could set the stage for a Liberty- threatening one.

Until He Comes,

KJ