(Via Instapundit.)

Newsweek obviously believes desecration is in the eye of the beholder. (Or, they just want to stick it in our eye.)

Amazingly, Newsweek editors responsible for an edition that ran in February in Japan, depicts a soiled American flag with its staff broken, stuffed in a garbage can.

You would think Newsweek would be more culturally sensitive. After all, some Americans view the U.S. Flag as sacred as others view, oh I don't know, say a Koran.

Of course, Newsweek probably understands that, whereas insulting a sacred object in Muslim countries can get you arrested, whipped, stoned, mutilated, raped or executed, doing the same to a sacred object in America is just being journalistically adversarial. No riotous mobs will storm your offices, set fire to your presses, stone or necklace your writers.

And of course, if by your brazen disregard for the consequences of editorial decision-making gets some innocent civilians or American soldiers killed, well, at least it didn't happen here. Oh, and it just demonstrates the damage that the Bush Administration has done to America's prestige in the world. Couldn't have anything to do with the U.S. Media throwing U.S. Flags in garbage cans. No. Of course not.