He's baaack

If you're surprised at the coming return of radio shock-jock Don Imus, you haven’t been paying attention.

In this country, you can do some pretty stupid or disgusting things that should be career-enders. But after a few months of penance (real or fake), a carefully worded apology or two and an emotional plea for a fresh start, you’re back in the saddle.

Hey, even sports broadcaster Marv Albert slinked back to the booth after that embarrassing trial involving his former girlfriend. Yuck!

At least O.J. wasn’t able to weasel his way back into respectability. Thank God we still draw the line at murder.

For almost anyone else, though, it ain’t over til it’s over. Terrell Owens single-handedly destroyed the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005 with a world-class temper tantrum. Some naïve folks wondered if he would ever play again.

They were dreaming. As soon as T.O. was available, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones couldn’t wait to sign him.

Like T.O., the I-Man didn’t have to cool his jets for long. “Imus brings, potentially, large national advertisers,” said Tom Taylor of the industry Web site radio-info.com. “And there’s also syndication, not only on radio but television.”

Gosh, Mr. Taylor, do you mean that money is more important than principle in big-time commerce?

It usually is, of course. Imus also fared better than most temporarily disgraced celebs.

He got a multi-million-dollar settlement from CBS for letting him out of his contract. Now he apparently has signed an equally juicy gig with New York-based WABC-AM, owned by Citadel Broadcasting. He may end up making almost as much money in ’07 as he would have anyway.

One more thing about Don Idiot: His comment about the Rutgers women’s basketball team — nappy headed ho’s — was cruel and racist. He deserved a public spanking.

But what about the countless rappers, actors and comedians who use the same terms — or worse — all the time?

They are the people who put these words into the national vocabulary, where guys like Imus pick them up.

If we want to cure the disease — and we should — let’s go to the source.