I saw the December 7th original broadcast of Comedy Central’s cartoon series, “South Park.� That particular episode was about a statue of Mother Mary (located in the mythical town of South Park, Colorado) that began to bleed. The problem was that the statue was bleeding out of its ass. I have felt dismayed, though I suppose that with the state of the USA being what it is I should have seen it coming, to learn that since the time of the original broadcast of that episode it has turned into something of a scandal.

If there are any of you who are not familiar with the “South Park� series, let me briefly fill you in. It is a half-hour long cartoon which has been broadcast on the Comedy Central channel for about 8 years. It chronicles the lives and times of four 8 year olds and their relatively insane, and foul-mouthed, exploits. The show pokes fun at everything from politics to celebrities in an uninhibited manner. And, in my opinion, “South Park� has kept up a surprisingly good standard. Most of the shows that I have seen have been unfailingly funny. Sometimes, they have been downright hilarious. They have almost always been provocative.

So, that December 7th episode about the statue of the Virgin Mary that bleeds out of its ass fit right in with the customary and controversial standards of “South Park.� In the episode, the town of South Park is soon filled with the crowds who have come to witness what might, in fact, be a miracle! What other explanation could there be for a statue of the Virgin Mother that bleeds of its ass?? One segment of that episode showed TV reporters interviewing members of the crowd who had come to see the statue. When asked why they thought the statue was not just bleeding but, more specifically, bleeding out of its ass, many of the “faithful� were rendered speechless.

Eventually the Pope descends upon the small town of South Park to inspect the “miracle� for himself. He later issues a decree that the bleeding statue is NOT, after all, a miracle. Rather, the statue is simply menstruating. And what’s so special about that? Women do that all of the time.

You can think what you want about the humor of the show's creators/writers, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and you can think what you want about my own sense of humor: the truth is that I thought that episode was funny. More importantly, in our supposedly free country, the writers of that show are free to write what they want, they Comedy Central channel is free to broadcast it and I’m free to make up my own mind about it!

Well, that’s the way it should be. That’s the way it is – ideally. But is that, in fact, what is actually happening?

I’m afraid that it may not be so………..!

Certain Catholic organizations registered complaints with Viacom (the seemingly omnipresent Corporation that owns Comedy Central) that they should pull the offending episode of “South Park� out of circulation. Now, here’s the problem…………Viacom caved in!!!!!!!! One of the members of the board of directors of Viacom, a Catholic of course, stated that he shared the disgust of other Catholics and that he was offended by that episode of “South Park.�

Comedy Central has now pulled that episode of “South Park� from circulation. It was scheduled to be shown as a repeat but was withdrawn instead! Whether or not that episode ever even makes it onto the DVD series of “South Park� episodes, or whether it disappears entirely, remains to be seen.

What I want to know is this: WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO FREE SPEECH IN THIS COUNTRY???????

The Catholics are free to dislike and dis-agree with “South Park;� but since when do they have the right to control what others can produce and what I can watch???????

What the hell is going on in this country??????

I have another question, perhaps an even more important question: WHAT THE HELL IS VIACOM?????

I believe that it is Viacom that owns Clear Channel, the radio broadcaster that has a near monopoly on the number of radio stations that it owns nation wide. Clear Channel owned most of the stations that were previously broadcasting the Howard Stern show. So the type of censorship that eventually drove Howard Stern away from “terrestrial radio� (and onto satellite radio) can, once again, be traced back to VIACOM!

Since when can a corporation determine so much of the ideas and opinions that get freely expressed in this country!!

How and why is this allowed to happen and why isn’t there more outrage about it!!

I don’t agree with Catholic dogma but I’m not about to make any attempt to curtail the right of anyone in this country to espouse it!

And I would like the same courtesy to be shown to my views as well!!!!!

Well I would like to hear back from everybody about this: how is it that we are losing so much of our free speech in this country and how do you all feel about it??????