Along with blue jeans and Bruce Springsteen, a new American commodity is being controversially exported to the Motherland. South Park, which sparked controversy and loud public cries for its removal from American television in 1997, is finally making its way over to Russia, where some fundamentalist religious groups are hating it. Along with Family Guy, Brendon Small's Metalocalypse, and 12 other raunchy cartoons, public prosecutors are seeking to ban what America long-ago gave up trying to regulate. Wonder why?

"(The cartoons are) promot[ing] violence and cruelty, pornography, anti-social behavior, abound with scenes of mayhem, the infliction of physical and ethical suffering, and are aimed at invoking fear, panic and terror in children. . . Practically all the cartoons exploit the topic of suicide, and characters demonstrate readiness to risk their lives for the sake of deriving extreme sensations.”

As Russia tries to accomplish what America gave up caring about 10 years ago, you might wonder if the lack of press regarding the fundies' role in the prosecutors' decision will come to light. Or if Russia will acquiesce to the market's demand for foul-mouthed children and create an Adult Swim line-up of their own. Anyway, just get Putin to guest star.