Cowardly Central

In one, yellow-bellied action, Comedy Central has forfeited all claims to the cutting edge.

The network's decision was made over concerns for public safety, the person said. Comedy Central said in a statement issued yesterday: 'In light of recent world events, we feel we made the right decision.' "

"Recent world events" is the phrase tiptoeing television executives use when referring to the insane embassy burnings, deadly riots, and murder-minded Muslim fanatics who wielded machetes and placards threatening to "BEHEAD ALL THOSE WHO INSULT ISLAM" over a bunch of cartoons in Denmark mildly critical of Islamofascism.

Parker and Stone vividly underscored Comedy Central's selective standards of religious sensitivity by featuring offensive images on Wednesday's show that the network did not choose to censor even during Easter Week - images of Jesus Christ defecating on President Bush and the American flag. The real-life analogy is The New York Times, which has blithely run photos of the Virgin Mary coated in animal dung while refusing to run the Mohammed cartoons out of respect for Islam and a need to "refrain from gratuitous assaults on religious symbols."

Christians, you see, don't have politically correct protected status. That privilege is bestowed only on riotous Muslims and celebrity Scientologists (Comedy Central recently pulled a "South Park" episode satirizing the latter). In fact, the day after the Mohammed "South Park" blackout, MTV (owned by Comedy Central's parent company, Viacom) announced plans to air a pope-bashing cartoon in Germany depicting the pontiff as a pogo-stick-riding loon.

As you would expect, Michelle Malkin is all over this with loads of great spoofs on her website.