The civilization of melted butter?

It's either dimmitude or fight; Calderoli wants to fight:

Italy's Reform Minister Roberto Calderoli has had T-shirts made emblazoned with cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a move that could embarrass Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government.

Calderoli, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, told Ansa news agency on Tuesday that the West had to stand up against Islamist extremists and offered to hand out T-shirts to anyone who wanted them.

I don't especially applaud blasphemous comics, but a few points are in order:
(a) the cartoons are mostly benign representations of Muhammad
(b) those with political content (e.g., the one where the suicide bombers lined up at the gates of heaven are told that they are running out of virgins, so slow down on the suicide bombings) are valid expressions of a political critique
(c) the violent response to the cartoons (four months after they first appeared) is the story, not the cartoons themselves
(d) the fearful ninnies in the western press who don't publish at least some of them are motivated by fear, not priniciple

UPDATE: I like this cartoon from Cox & Forkum:



Anyway, back to Bruce's post about women's hockey: I wasn't critiquing women's hockey per se, just that with so little actual game action being shown, I think it is political correctness that motivates NBC to include among those few events women's hockey. I was at the gym this morning, and a women's hockey game between Italy and (I think) Russia was being shown. I have now seen more women's hockey than downhill skiing, men's hockey (big goose egg on that), luge, bobsled, and anything other than ice dancing (blecch!).

I too am intrigued by watching the women play hockey. I second the comments made by Bruce about "seeing" the game better, as well as being less than enthralled by the goaltending. However, I saw Italy score a power play goal this morning, and it was like watching the diagram the coach drew come to life, with a pretty impressive wrist shot from the high slot by the Italian goal scorer. So it's not that I can't watch and enjoy it, it's just that, somewhat analogous to Title IX defunding of men's college sports, it seems that my ability to watch comes at the expense of not being able to watch something else that I would like to see.

These are the winter Olympics, NBC: Franz Klammer, Jean-Claude Killy, Eddie the Eagle, the Miracle on Ice, Eric Heiden, biathletes, bobsled, luge, etc. Where are the equivalents this year? Or do I have to satisfy myself with figure skaters, ice dancers, and women's sports only?