Dan's right…

…about Charles this time. I generally don't see this stuff, but I appreciate Mr. Savage's pointer. Sometimes you can be right, even if you, well, are 'right.'

The mob is trying to dictate to Western newspapers, indeed Western governments, what is a legitimate subject for discussion and caricature. The cartoons do not begin to approach the artistic level of Salman Rushdie’s prose, but that’s not the point. The point is who decides what can be said and what can be drawn within the precincts of what we quaintly think of as the free world.

The mob has turned this into a test case for freedom of speech in the West. The German, French and Italian newspapers that republished these cartoons did so not to inform but to defy — to declare that they will not be intimidated by the mob.

What is at issue is fear. The unspoken reason many newspapers do not want to republish is not sensitivity but simple fear.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono poses the central dilemma well…

"[Publication of the caricatures] sends a conflicting message to the Muslim community: that in a democracy it is permissible to offend Islam. This message damages efforts to prove that democracy and Islam go together."

Well, Mr. President, there's your problem. Freedom of expression is a fundamental element of democracy. To the degree it's limited, democracy retreats. In a democracy, it is permissable to offend Islam. Until Islam can deal with that, perhaps democracy and Islam aren't such a good match. And, frankly, I like our way best.