Phil Bronstein and the Chronicle step up

Good for Phil Bronstein for writing this morning about Comedy Central's shameful censorship of South Park after being threatened by Islamic fascists:

The prophet Muhammad in a bear costume. There, I said it publicly. I'm joining in foul-mouthed solidarity with South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who portrayed the prophet that way on their cable show recently. On its Web site, the New York-based Islamic group Revolution Muslim flung immodestly veiled death threats at them, comparing Parker and Stone to Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh; the director was shot and decapitated in 2004 for what was considered by his murderer to be an unflattering movie portrayal of the prophet. Now I'll just wait for my fatwa. I wonder if it comes by mail and whether I'll have to sign for it.

Except for District 5 Diary, Bronstein is the only local writer to deal with the latest threat to free speech. He probably just beat colleague Debra Saunders to the punch, since in the past she's been the sole local defender of free speech against the Islamic fanatics. Don't hold your breath waiting for anything critical of the Islamists in the "progressive" Bay Guardian, Fog City, or BeyondChron. The latter rightly knocks the national day of prayer but hasn't criticized the Islamic bullyboys.

Bronstein and the Chronicle would have been more impressive if they had printed the Danish cartoons four years ago, though, unlike other local media entities, at least they ran an editorial, albeit a wishy-washy one, against that successful intimidation of the media.

See the cartoons here.