Fearless on my breath...

via Pandagon:

Ford has decided that it would rather lose gay and gay-friendly business than face the wrath of the extreme fringe element of the Right Wing by agreeing to the demands of the American Family Association. Initially, it was over the decision not to advertise in gay publications, but now we have learned that it's over way more than just a few ads -- Ford has agreed to no longer sponsor any gay events (via AmericaBlog):

This is from WardsAuto.com, the publication that broke the Ford story last week, and it's owned by Primedia, it's a real industry publication:

Ford Motor Co.'s decision to cease advertising in gay publications for its Jaguar and Land Rover luxury brands is part of a truce between the auto maker and the American Family Assn. (AFA) to avert a threatened boycott by the right-wing Christian conservative group, Ward‚s learns....

As part of the latest agreement hammered out Nov. 29, sources confirm Volvo Cars will continue to advertise in the publications but will use generic ads not tailored to the gay community.

In addition, Ford has agreed not to sponsor any future gay and lesbian events but will continue to maintain its employee policies, such as same-sex partner benefits.

(Note: This is a subscription only publication.)

Gee, isn't that swell. Ford agreed not to viciously revoke its benefits for all of its employees. Gosh, I'm so proud of them. Not to mention, if Ford is stating that it's not revoking its benefits, then it sounds like the religious right wanted them to. Yet Ford told us that the issue was only about a few ads.

I think the best part of the story, though, is when a Ford employee then trolled Americablog spouting pro-company propaganda without realizing that tracing an IP address isn't exactly rocket science. Well I guess we can chalk this up to another win for the American Taliban.

Speaking of which, the radical fundies show their true colors on the Intelligent Design debate:

LAWRENCE - A professor whose planned course on creationism and intelligent design was canceled after he sent e-mails deriding Christian conservatives was hospitalized Monday after what appeared to be a roadside beating.

University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki said that the two men who beat him made references to the class that was to be offered for the first time this spring.

Originally called "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies," the course was canceled last week at Mirecki's request.

Ah, but it's the Christians who are the persecuted ones. But while we're on the topic, this seems like a kind of holier-than-thou-a-thon between William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, and of all people, President Bush, over the president's choice in...Christmas cards:

"This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

[...]

At the Catholic League, Donohue had just announced a boycott of the Lands' End catalogue when he received his White House holiday card. True, he said, the Bushes included a verse from Psalm 28, but Psalms are in the Old Testament and do not mention Jesus' birth.

"They'd better address this, because they're no better than the retailers who have lost the will to say 'Merry Christmas,' " he said.

Donohue said that Wal-Mart, facing a threatened boycott, added a Christmas page to its Web site and fired a customer relations employee who wrote a letter linking Christmas to "Siberian shamanism." He was not mollified by a letter from Lands' End saying it "adopted the 'holiday' terminology as a way to comply with one of the basic freedoms granted to all Americans: freedom of religion."

"Ninety-six percent of Americans celebrate Christmas," Donohue said. "Spare me the diversity lecture."

So, to paraphrase, unless someone's Christmas cards actually contain images of the baby Jesus and New Testament verses, they're giving into the secularist commie fascists? Right, got it.