The latest on our favorite morning-drive talk-show host: Don Imus is scheduled to appear on Al Sharpton's national radio show this afternoon. The show airs locally on WOLB-AM 1010 in Baltimore and WOL-AM 1450 in Washington, from 1-4. Appearing with them is National Association of Black Journalists president Bryan Monroe; on Friday, NABJ issued a statement saying Imus's apology was unacceptable and that he should still be fired.

To recap: on his show Wednesday, Imus called the players on Rutgers' women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos.''

This, by the way, follows Michael Richards appearing on Jesse Jackson's talk show post-comedy-club tirade, and Grey's Anatomy's Isaiah Washington going to a rehab center for his repeated use of derogatory language. New rule of thumb: if you're getting invited onto the radio show of a nationally-known civil rights advocate/lightning rod, then you've screwed up pretty massively. This replaces the previous rule, being greeted at your door by Mike Wallace and the 60 Minutes crew. Now, if Imus then has to go to slur rehab, that takes it to a completely different level.

Imus apologized again this morning, expanding his thoughts to more than the 30 seconds or so he spent on it Friday morning. What's interesting here is not so much what he said this time - "Here’s what I’ve learned: that you can’t make fun of everybody, because some people don’t deserve it ... And because the climate on this program has been what it’s been for 30 years doesn’t mean it’s going to be what it’s been for the next five years or whatever'' - but that he was on the air at all. He was on his flagship radio station, WFAN in New York, and on MSNBC, neither of which even saw fit to do as much as put his show on hiatus, even with pay, for a day or so while this was hashed out. Never mind firing, never mind suspension, but run a rerun or a ''best-of'' show or, maybe, put some news content on your all-news cable network, and some sports on your all-sports radio station, for four hours on one broadcast day and let things cool down. Apparently not.

It also turns out that Imus has black friends and has helped black kids at his ranch for sick children. Seems that in both cases, their hair was straight enough and their sexual histories above reproach. You can never be too sure around him, it now appears.

This also was the first time the owners of the radio station had anything to say about it - a spokesperson for CBS radio was quoted, possibly over the weekend or just today, the stories have not made it clear, calling the comments "disappointing'' and "completely inappropriate.'' Slightly less inappropriate: hearing from the station owners five days after the comments were made.

Updates later. Time to head to Camden Yards for the Orioles home opener, where's I'm guessing Roch will keep you informed throughout the day.