The Washington Post pulled the October 3rd Non Sequitur cartoon from its paper. Because it referenced Muhammad. And the Washington Post's job is to censor its content in accordance with the demands of a small band of violent religious lunatics.

YOU COWARDS. WHY DID YOU EVEN GO INTO JOURNALISM AT ALL? WaPo Style editor Ned Martel tells the paper's ombudsman he pulled the cartoon because "it seemed a deliberate provocation without a clear message." BECAUSE MUSLIMS ARE WILD ANIMALS WHO WILL MURDER AND KILL EVERYONE AT THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION. The cartoonist himself is pissed. Ironically, this cartoon could also be read as a statement of support for Molly Norris, the Seattle cartoonist who's been forced into hiding after threats over her jokey "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" idea. OF COURSE IT CAN'T BE 'READ AS A STATEMENT OF SUPPORT' WHEN THEY PULL IT OUT OF THE PAPER, OUT OF BLIND FEAR.

With this cowardly move that flies in the face of the paper's own historic reputation for fearless reporting in the face of powerful lunatics of all political stripes, the Washington Post joins Yale University Press and the vast majority of other newspapers in the U.S. in the "Shameful Cowardly Censorship of Stupid Cartoons that Contradicts Our Own Reason for Existence" hall of fame. Way to cave in to religious extremists without them even having to ask, WaPo.

[The WaPo did mistakenly leave the cartoon on its website, though]