Any one else feeling a little sorry for Donny Deutsch lately? I mean, this guy just can’t catch a break. Truth be told, the cards were stacked against the ad mogul from day one. According to Wikipedia, Deutsch was born November 22, 1957, six years to the day before JFK was assassinated. Try having your birthday co-opted by a national day of mourning right after you leave kindergarten and see how lucky you feel.

I used to like watching Deutsch’s The Big Idea program on CNBC. That was back in the good old days—two years ago—when America still watched non-political television once in a while. After The Big Idea was canceled in December 2008, our Man of Marketing resurfaced on the money network’s midday show, Power Lunch. That is, until one day in February 2009 when he and Charlie “Blood on the Street” Gasparino mixed it up pretty good. Guess who got “powered” off the show. (In an interesting twist, about two months ago Gasparino fled to Fox, where he now dishes the Street with his paisano, Neal Cavuto.)

The cable-TV Furies, however, hadn’t quite finished with Donny Deutsch. In July of last year, while he co-anchored an MSNBC daytime slot, the station decided to ambush Deutsch by showing an embarrassing photo of him in his salad days wearing a Speedo.  The painfully awkward on-air exchange between Deutsch and his female co-host gives a whole new meaning to the slogan “THE Place for Politics.” (more…)

We sent a clear message to the West regarding the red lines that should not be crossed.

That was the arrogant declaration of victory from the Organization of the Islamic Conference nearly two years ago, regarding the shrewdly orchestrated Muslim mayhem around the world protesting such infidel abominations as the Danish Muhammad cartoons and Geert Wilders’ short film Fitna.

“Red lines” indeed – a phrase chillingly reminiscent of Samuel Huntington’s famous observation that “Islam has bloody borders.” Except that the red lines the OIC is referring to aren’t geographical – they are the ever-tightening limits that Muslim fundamentalists are imposing to choke off our freedoms.

The influential OIC is the world’s largest Muslim assembly, consisting of 57 member states (you know, the same number of U.S. states candidate Obama campaigned in). Its primary aim is “conducting a large-scale worldwide effort to confront Islamophobia.” (As I’ve written here before, Islamophobia is a mythical beast that the OIC and collusive groups like CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, use to intimidate us into craven appeasement.) Their goal is to abridge our free speech by making criticism of Islam an international crime; their strategy works because the West has been so emasculated by multiculturalism that we’d rather embrace cultural suicide than offend the tender sensibilities of such violent barbarians as the Danish cartoon rioters. (more…)

That would be Ross Douthat of the New York Times, the center-right Op-Ed columnist who looks like Attila the Hun next to his allegedly conservative stablemate, the pathetic accommodationist, David Brooks. Writing about the most recent episode of South Park, which sought to elide post-9/11 proscriptions against joking about Islam by not depicting Mohammed, he writes:

These gimmicks then prompted a writer for the New York-based Web site revolutionmuslim.com to predict that Parker and Stone would end up like Theo van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker murdered in 2004 for his scathing critiques of Islam. The writer, an American convert to Islam named Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee, didn’t technically threaten to kill them himself. His post, and the accompanying photo of van Gogh’s corpse, was just “a warning … of what will likely happen to them.”

This passive-aggressive death threat provoked a swift response from Comedy Central. In last week’s follow-up episode, the prophet’s non-appearance appearances were censored, and every single reference to Muhammad was bleeped out. The historical record was quickly scrubbed as well: The original “Super Best Friends” episode is no longer available on the Internet.

Sgt. York

Well, that’s America in 2010 — almost a full decade after we were attacked, we cower in fear of the people who attacked us; Sgt. York and Audie Murphy would be so proud.  Why, it would be as if, after the attack on Pearl Habor in 1941, the country suddenly banned all depictions of the Japanese Emperor Hirohito, ceded Hawaii to the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, and went on a prolonged sushi orgy. (more…)

Thought experiment here, does anyone think this is offensive?

If that offended you please cease reading now and write me hate mail before you go to class at Bob Jones University, or file child-abuse charges against Jesus.  Humor is a way to cope with the problems of the world.  Only fundamentalists who take themselves way too seriously cannot understand this simple human concept. Fact is, most Christians are not offended this easily, nor would we threaten with death this guy:

Or even this guy: (more…)

Having made a handsome living offending Scientologists, Catholics, Evangelicals and just about every ethnic group in the human family, Matt Stone and Trey Parker are writers who make people squirm, laugh and think. Now they’ve gone and outraged yet another religion.

Nearly every interest group, public official and celebrity caught up in the day’s news has been used in South Park’s story line to make viewers laugh.  The show is smart and thought-provoking, the jokes are crude and vulgar, and no one is immune from criticism.

I like South Park because it makes me laugh when I want to just laugh. It also makes me think when I want to just laugh. But truth be told, I, too, have been offended while watching (and laughing) at the show’s depiction of Christians, conservatives or gays in any given episode.

When South Park took on Christianity and mocked Jesus Christ, I found myself a bit uncomfortable and somewhat offended, yet I was still humored.  I’ve even been so outraged by a stereotypical character or plotline that I’ve been moved to openly discuss it, analyze it with friends and bring it up in a later discussion.  That is what makes it unique. Stone’s and Parker’s appeal is their ability to offend everyone.  You know what you are getting when you watch South Park, so if you are upset by vulgar humor, it’s best not to watch it.

(more…)

That sound you’re not hearing is the media, holed up in their towers along Sixth Avenue and across the street from the old Show World Center porn palace on Eighth Avenue, noisily rising to the defense of Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the South Park creators who recently upset the tender Muslim sensibilities of this guy:

That would be Zachary Chesser, or as he currently styles himself, Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee.  This 20-year-old from Fairfax, Va., trolling away on his blog, was able to get Comedy Central to censor one of the most popular and lucrative shows in its lineup merely by suggesting that Stone and Parker might meet the same fate that befell Theo Van Gogh when he “outraged” Muslim sensibilities.

Most of the stories so far have been along the lines of this one from the Los Angeles Times, which examines the “dilemma” media companies face in dealing with controversial subject matter: (more…)

KATIE COURIC:  Is it even possible to report the “South Park” incident without offending Muslims?

BRIAN WILLIAMS:  Sure.  Just remain neutral.  Say, “In other news, Comedy Central censored this week’s “South Park” episode to avoid offending Muslims.  Next on our broadcast, etc.”

DIANE SAWYER:  But there’s no context.

WILLIAMS: When have we ever worried about context?  Context is Fox’s thing.

COURIC: Parker and Stone asked for trouble.  Religion’s a hot button issue; you’ve got to tread carefully.  What’s your lead tonight, Brian?

WILLIAMS:  A former priest who claims he facilitated an affair between the Pope and an American cardinal during the last papal election.  Both refused requests for interviews to present their side of the story. (more…)

In light of the news about Comedy Central’s astounding cowardice in the face of some veiled threats from Troglogyte Central, my thoughts turned to this movie, and not just because I wrote the sequel:

Forget the famous love story this time, and see Casablanca for what it also is: a great World War II movie, in which the alienated ex-pat Rick Blaine finally realizes that his policy of sticking his neck out for no man is just not going to fly; when the rusty scimitars come out, you don’t have to stick your neck out to get your head sawed off.

Remember, these threats allegedly came from an American named Zachary Chesser, who styles himself Abu Talhah al Amrikee — his adopted name, “al Amrikee,” means “the American” — who is living in this country.

Mark Styen gets it.  He spoke about what a crucial moment the Comedy Central espisode was this afternoon while guest-hosting the Rush Limbaugh show, and writes about it here: (more…)

In the past year, we’ve had plenty of opportunities (and reasons) to criticize Jon Stewart’s routine attacks on conservatives, talk radio, Fox News and other opponents of reflexive liberalism.

But not today.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
South Park Death Threats
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Put in the difficult position to address his network’s controversial decision to censor a “South Park” episode that mocked Islamic extremists, he deftly put the network’s decision in context, back-handedly criticized it but summed it up with an adroit, “But hey, they write the checks.” (more…)