There was a time not long ago when it was easy to believe that Google was a different kind of company — one that considered the public good as well as the bottom line in making decisions. My, how a week changes things.

Protesting Google in Mountain View, CA.

This morning, we launched a petition calling President Obama to reinstate Shirley Sherrod at the USDA, and to stop caving to right-wing smear campaigns.

More than 20,000 ColorOfChange.org members have signed it in just a few hours. You can join us by clicking here.

It’s recently been reported that the White House and Tom Vilsack are reviewing the situation and reconsidering the decision to fire Sherrod. If enough of us speak out, we may be able to convince the Obama administration to correct this injustice.

UPDATE:

Robert Gibbs has apologized to Sherrod on behalf of the Obama administration, and it sounds like they may offer to reinstate her. This is great news, and we hope the administration follows through and puts Sherrod back in her position at the USDA. We encourage you to keep signing our petition until it becomes clear that Shirley Sherrod has been offered her job back.

The hateful acts that occurred at the tea party rally in Washington this weekend were not isolated incidents — they are part of a growing pattern of violent rhetoric, racially charged imagery, and paranoid conspiracy theories emerging from the Republican party’s grassroots supporters.

Republicans officials have contributed to this atmosphere with fear-mongering and coded racism, and they have actively courted this element of their party. It’s time that Republican leadership is forced to address what it’s helped to create.

Please join us in confronting Republican leaders and demanding that they take responsibility for tamping down the bigotry and hate among their supporters, and that they disavow the fear-mongering that leads to it. And please ask your friends and family to do the same — unless we take a strong stand against this kind of hate, it will continue. We need as many people as possible — of every race — demanding that it stop.

A few weeks ago, Rupert Murdoch said that Glenn Beck was right when he called Obama a racist, and since then he has been dodging questions about what exactly he meant. Through one of his staff, Murdoch issued a brief statement saying that he doesn’t believe Obama is a racist, but not explaining what he meant when he said he agreed with Beck. I wrote Murdoch an open letter asking for an explanation, and more than 135,000 people have signed petitions to Murdoch with the same message: Murdoch should either say clearly that he meant what he said and that he stands by Beck; or he should acknowledge there’s a problem with what Beck said and take responsibility for stopping the continued race-baiting at News Corp and Fox. But Murdoch has refused to respond.

Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch spoke at the Federal Trade Commission as part of a conference on the future of journalism. ColorOfChange organizers and others in the audience confronted Murdoch about his comments and asked for an explanation, but as you can see, Murdoch made a quick, silent exit:

Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch told Sky News that Glenn Beck was right when he called Obama a “racist” with a “deep seated hatred for white people”:

We’re responding by sending Murdoch this open letter:

Today we’re announcing that ten more companies have made sure their ads won’t run on Glenn Beck’s program:

Adding to an increasing list of companies distancing themselves from Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck, ten new companies whose ads were recently seen during Beck’s program–Applebee’s, Bank of America, Bell & Howell, DirecTv, General Mills, Kraft, Regions Financial Corporation, SAM (Store and Move), Travelers Insurance and Vonage–have pledged to take steps to ensure that their ads don’t run on Beck’s show. Forty-six companies have now committed not to support Beck’s show since ColorOfChange.org launched its campaign three weeks ago after the Fox News Channel host called President Obama a “racist” who “has a deep-seated hatred for white people” during an appearance on Fox & Friends.

Our campaign calling on Glenn Beck’s advertisers to stop supporting his show continues to pick up steam. Today we’re announcing that sixteen more companies have pledged not to run their ads on Beck’s show:

The new companies distancing themselves from Beck include Airware Inc. (makers of Brez anti-snoring aids), Ancestry.com, AT&T, Blaine Labs Inc., Campbell Soup Company, Clorox, Ditech, The Elations Company, Experian (creator of FreeCreditReport.com), Farmers Insurance Group, Johnson & Johnson (makers of Tylenol), Lowe’s, NutriSystem, Sprint, The UPS Store and Verizon Wireless.

Big news today. We’ve confirmed that eight more major advertisers have pulled their support from Glenn Beck’s show — Wal-Mart, Best Buy, CVS, Travelocity, Allergan (maker of Restasis), Ally Bank, Broadview Security, and Re-Bath.

Overall, twenty advertisers have now ended their support of Beck. We’re going to keep the pressure on Beck’s remaining advertisers this week, and we’ll let you know how you can help.

Details, including statements from these companies and links to media coverage, after the jump …

More great news today in our campaign calling on Glenn Beck’s advertisers to pull their support from his show. With more than 125,000 people now having signed our petition to Beck’s advertisers, four more major companies have pulled their ads.

From the press release we’re sending out right now:

ColorOfChange.org this week received confirmation from four more companies — ConAgra (maker of Healthy Choice products), Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, and RadioShack — pledging to pull their ads from Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck show. These new defections come on the heels of reports that Men’s Wearhouse, State Farm and Sargento also pulled their ads in recent days. They join LexisNexis-owned Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble, Progressive Insurance, SC Johnson and GEICO, who all pulled their ads from Glenn Beck after the news host called President Obama a “racist” who “has a deep-seated hatred for white people,” on “Fox and Friends.”