by Cody Lyon

Changing hearts and minds is sometimes best left to moments like this horrible tragedy in the Hudson when a young and gifted soul felt he had to leave this earth.  The brutal evidence of society's intolerance often shows up in the most hurtful events. This appears to be one of them.

Earlier this week, I posted about David Kuo's new book Tempting Faith.  People have been wondering out loud after the book's release this week if the Religious Right would freak out and live up to the titles given them by some in the Bush Administration ("whackos," "nuts," etc.)  Well, whether they've read the book or not, check this out...

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming with this important message...

We need to talk:

Specifically, we need to talk about the new CBS program called Survivor:Cook Island, sporting one of the most ethnically diverse casts ever assembled.  Ironically, this is the 13th season of Survivor... and that is not going to be a lucky number for things like ethnic stereotyping.

Jeff Probst popped in on The Early Show Wednesday morning, confirming the reports that the 20 castaways for Survivor: Cook Islands will be grouped by race, with competitors divided into four tribes consisting of whites, blacks, Asians and Hispanics.

I think we should thank Mel Gibson for offering us this opportunity to discuss bigotry in America. Unfortunately, discussions of bigotry rarely erupt here on a national level unless some atrocious event has kindled our wavering national attention.

Truly, bigotry, and race relations in particular, has been a topic largely lost on our government in recent years unless forced upon them by such unfortunate circumstances as those involving the abolishment of Affirmative Action or the outrageous abandonment of New Orleans post-Katrina.

Sadly, such a dialogue may yet be a difficult proposition given that those in charge are bigots -- that's right, BIGOTS! -- and that includes our down-home, folksy dork-in-chief, George W. Bush.

Hear me out and then decide for yourself.

Yesterday morning, it was raining, and on the way to class I picked up a guy who was walking to work (I live in the country, so 'walking to work' can be a several hour event). He was a black dude, and the thing that stood out was how for the first five minutes he was in my car, he started with this unfortunate shuck-and-jive thing that so many older black males unfortunately seem to think white people expect. Truth be told, some of my less enlightened European brethren probably do expect it - mores the pity. He kept calling me sir, when if you went by age, it was obvious that he was the only sir in the car.

Via AMERICAblog comes new info on Ford's decision to cater to the extreme right-wing American Family Association: The deal Ford Motor struck with the AFA was brokered by two former Bushites, Ziad Ojakli and David Leitch, who are now Ford executives.

This is what the two goosesteppers had to say in a letter to Ford's GLBT employee's group regarding the company's capitulation to the American Taliban crowd: "We reserve the right to advertise our brands and products wherever we think it makes business sense."

No one is disputing that, guys. We're just letting you know that your decision didn't make business sense, and should be reversed.

Today's actions, per AMERICAblog:
Jaguar is a Ford subsidiary, so call/e-mail the following execs to express your displeasure.

Joe Greenwell, CEO, 949-341-6100
Tom Scarpello, VP Mktg, 949-341-6100
Mark Kaline, Global Media Mgr, mkaline@ford.com, 313-594-3913

The American Family Association, a group of right-wing extremists, threatened the Ford Motor Company with a boycott if the company didn't pull its ad dollars from gay-friendly media. Ford caved, and now AMERICAblog's John Aravosis has organized a campaign to take Ford to task for its capitulation to intolerance.

First, call the following Ford execs and ask them if they'd pull ad dollars from African-American and Jewish media to appease the Ku Klux Klan:

Rosemary Mariniello, Jaguar Land Rover North America, (201) 818-8010
Jim Cain, Ford Division, (313) 248-6288
Sara Tatchio, Lincoln and Mercury, (313) 594-3744
Roger Ormisher, Volvo Cars of North America, Inc., (800) 970-0888
George Pipas, Ford Motor Company, (313) 323-9216
Dan Bedore, Ford Division, (313) 323-7045

Next, use this form or e-mail the following executives with the same question (but don't be surprised if the mail bounces back; Ford seems to be reacting to the campaign already): slyons@ford.com, msmith26@ford.com, tcavanaugh@ford.com. Here's the e-mail I sent: