Bravo everyone! For all of my scorn at this weak kneed pandering to political correctness I can't think of a single thing to add to this discussion except to say let's take the fight to New South's comment section and let THEM know how we all feel.
http://www.newsouthbooks.com/pages/2011/01/04/a-word-about-the-newsouth-edition-of-mark-twains-tom-sawyer-and-huckleberry-finn/comment-page-1/#comment-74673