Thank you VERY much Rachel and Vanessa for sharing the list of whiskeys. I was honored you used my e-mail on the Ask Dr. Maddow segment. I was really NOT expecting it..... and I have something important to say.

I was disappointed by how you handled the DHL story. You constantly referred to DHL as a "foreign" company, as if that on its own accord were a bad thing. You accentuated this more than necessary. Then you said that the execs of DHL were sitting in Germany and they didn't care about the people of Elkhart.... as if being German and being in Germany were bad.

Ironically, this followed the big oil story where you said that US oil companies were not loyal to Americans, but to profit. Let me remind you, that German courier companies are loyal to the same god. Yet you phrased the story as if they were inherently eeeeviiiillll for being non-US-based. (pinky on corner of mouth)

I've been a foreigner my entire life.( Even in my "own" country I feel like an immigrant because I was not raised there.) As a result, I am VERY sensitive to language that fuels xenophobia, like yours was on Wednesday. As a person holding a microphone, please note that your words are extremely important on how people perceive the world.

This is particularly relevant when you take into account the history of Detroit and the brutal assassination of Vincent Chin, an Asian American originally from China.

In the 80s Japanese cars were selling better than American cars, and as a result Detroit had layoffs. One of the people laid off, Ronald Ebens, was angry and blamed the Japanese for the loss of his job. Ebens beat Chin to death with a baseball because he was the first Asian that crossed his path.

Here is the link to the Wikipedia entry on the murder of Vincent Chin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Chin

This is why it is imperative to keep in mind that people are people regardless of their country of origin. Likewise companies are companies regardless of where they are based. We cannot allow to allow geographical, religious, politics, racial, gender, sexuality, identity, disability, and similar differences to divide us. Let our actions and our characters speak for ourselves, not our human diversity.

I am a great fan, and I love what you do (I am typing this as you host Thursday's RFTWH), and this is why I am letting you know that I think that this time around you goofed on something that is important to me.

Thank you for reading.