okay: my point was that defining was is "offensive" is like defending what is "patriotic". Some of it is obvious, and should not be discussed by anyone in good faith. But after that you enter a grey area where some people are going to have a more restrictive (or extensive, depending on your point of view) definition - and that becomes an ideological struggle.

I am saying that some Muslims are using their "ofenseability" (and the fact that it is something they have the sole right to define) to extract from us behavior which deviates significantly from what our values would suggest.

Bush is  stifling free speech in the name of patriotism by branding people that criticise him as traitors and objective allies to enemies. These Muslims are doing the same - stifling free speech in the name of their religious practise by branding people that criticise them as intolerant and insulting.

Maybe you think that the criticism is unwarranted, in poor taste, or maybe you even disagree with it, but do you deny the right for it to be made?

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes