Honestly,I think all the boycott crap of companies needs to end..

Look,I'm on the side of Dems but SOAB we can't continue to boycott every company who sends Bush and the RNC money. I don't care how much money Republicans get from UPS,they will always have to pay union wages.

We want AA radio to expand and we would like to have some form of Democrat TV. Well...it all takes advertising dollars. Keep it up with the boycotts and it'll come back and bite us in the ass when WE need their advertising $$$.

Instead of all the boycott threads we should have a list of each and every sponsor on Air America and it should be placed on DU where its easily accessible. Maybe even a sponsor of the month?? We really need to show our appreciation to those companies who have taken a chance and spend advertising money on AA.

David

of all unnecessary CRAP that is foisted upon us . Especially this holiday season of mourning.

If we equate the ability to buy the occaisonal bottle of designer perfume/jeans/bag/whatever with prosperity, we are less likely to complain about how messed up this society really is. We need to continue the boycott against those corporations that are sponsoring RW agenda and/or off-shoring. In addition, each KE voter in the nation needs to cut our annual spending by at least 10% (25% would be even better.) It might be painful for all but at least the CEO's might begin to share in that pain.
Drive less/buy less.

I'm buying bare necessities only. And for those I will go to the least possible damaging source. Small, local, progressive businesses or individuals only.

Pretty much all I'm buying is BASIC food, and toilet paper.

You'd be amazed what you can cut back on. I even make my own soap - once a year I spend a couple of hours and make all I need. Now that I will also do that for my laundry soap, I may spend an hour or two more.

STARVE THE BEAST.

make your own soap?

critical choices as to who they will do buisness WITH? I for one am NOT interested in going to radical rabid rw doctors for example..especially if they know where MY head is at. Nor do I wish to give my business to a lawyer or dentist or dry cleaner or hair dresser or any number of businesses like this that are RABID RW or fundie. I wouldn't trust my welfare or the service they give. Already been burned by one or two. NO MORE.

I DO agree with your idea about SUPPORTING places like AA radio or a liberal television station and their advertisers. Some of us who talked about boycotts ALSO mentioned a national progressives white pages so that we CAN give their advertisers and they themselves our dollars and support. My opinon.

Personally,I'll drive 1/2 mile past the Walmart and go to our new Super Target. Two reasons,first my daughter works there and second they pay $2.00 per hour more just in starting wages.

So I guess in my own way I am boycotting Walmart, but I think the wholesale trashing of major companies like UPS and FedEx on DU won't serve us well in the future.

David

I wil NEVERNEVERNEVERNEVER do business with a fundie or RW. First, I won't give them my hard earned money. Second, almost every one, EVERY ONE, that I have done business with (because I found out only later that they were xtians) has cheated me, or failed in some way to uphold fair business practices. I guess that since there's no commandment "Thou shalt not cheat thy customer" they are free to do anything.
So no, OneTwentyoFive don't you DARE to tell me how wrong I am to boycott xtian gutterthugs.

He was going to do some work on my house and I told him I wasn't going to sign the contract. He asked why and I told him flat out it was because he supported *. We had a lenghy conversation, due to the fact mainly that he wasn't going to give up his "sale". Anyway, he went on and on about how this country was founded on violence and we need to kill all the Iraqis because of 9/11 (!!!) and we had a RIGHT to their oil!!!!!!! It almost floored me speechless! He was quite serious. He kept saying to me that I needed to support business by givin him the contract! Amazing arrogance. I tried to explain to him that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 but it was no use. And get this: he's going to call me back to try to persuade me again to sign the contract! ARGH!

Frankly, I decided I'll just keep my money and not have the work done on the house now. I'm NOT putting money into this economy. I believe we are in much deeper danger than is apparent.

I plan to do similar things: I'll ask, and if you supported Bush you're not
getting any of my money.

That's why they call it the Free Market! We've got alternatives.

support friendly business, not do business with rabid RW. I went to a dentist, fundie so baptist, who when I told him during the exam conversation that my son had been killed, said, "Get over it." He said proudly that he had told others, even in his church, who had lost loved ones the same thing. Real conservative compassion. I don't understand how not using RW business can hurt anyone.

MBNA, huge contributor. If you have credit cards through them don't use them. Don't cancel them, just don't use them...

they have never made a dime off me and never will

Screw that. Boycotting is one of the FEW ways we can have impact. Just look what happened to Sinclair. Do you honestly think anyone at UPS gives a red rat's ass about YOU or this nation? As long as they GET THEIRS it's all good.

Sorry, friend. I don't give a red rat's ass if every corporation supporting Repukes goes in the toilet. New companies will emerge then, with ideals more closely related to a great America, rather than a great elite class.

THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!Why do you feel any pity for them?

We have to fight and the only way many of us have is to use the economy to do it!

And we MUST stop our young people from joining the military! Once they join the military they are pawns in the system. I hate to say this, but the current military, under our current fascist state, is no longer our friend.

I have learned a lot of things about a lot of companies here. True I can't boycott everyone of them, but I, at least, have the information so that when I do have a choice, I can chose the one that supports the ideals that I support. Perhaps, we can start a permanent page somewhere with a listing of all the companies in one place. And also a listing of Dem friendly companies.

We should support weight loss scams that prey on people's ignorance and fear of being fat? (Cortislim)

Hey, everybody, I really think it's time we stopped using the top blade on pairs of scissors when we cut things. It doesn't matter nearly as much as the bottom blade.

... on bottles of French wine. I intend to stay drunk for the next four years and plan to send money to Shrub's nemesis at the same time.

" I don't care how much money Republicans get from UPS,they will always have to pay union wages. "

Your right,lets boycott a business like UPS that pay workers $20.00-30.00 per hour just because we're big tough Democrats. Cutting off nose to spite face never has made sense and it doesn't make sense here.

After our successful boycott drive that puts them out of business then THOUSANDS of former UPS workers can join the ranks at Walmart for $5.15 per hour. YEAH--we showed UPS didn't we?!?!?

Look....They gave Dems 35% of their 1.8 million contribution,should we also tell them to keep that money? FedEx gives about 30% to Dems out of a $900,000 contribution.

Another 15%-20% or more would be nice but I guess they could have give 100% to Republicans and ZERO to us. If UPS and FedEx decide to advertise on AA should we tell them to stick that up their collective asses too?

Honestly,if you want to boycott,then boycott them all,anything less would be hypocritical. That means you'd be boycotting everything from houses(building and buying),restaurant's,beer,phone service,doctors and dentist's. Have fun...

and I plan to do that. I will not send money to the cable companies, will not go to Home Depot or drink Pepsi or go to the damn Olive Garden. If I found out that any small shop, doc, dentist or any other services that I use supported the repukes I wont go. Sorry, but that's it.

What made me speechless was the that you point out that UPS will always pay a good union wage. OK, maybe you know more about it than me, but it would seem that union busting is one of the reasons they give so much to the repubs. The next time Elaine Chao (not sure of spelling) is on Cspan, you should give a listen. The whole administration is so anti union, labor and just your average working man in is truly frightening.

that's the first thing Mitch Daniels is going to do here in Indiana with the state workers union.

maybe to its drivers it does, but the vast majority of its workforce is loaders/unloaders/sorters who make less than $10/hr for hard physical labor. They're union teamsters, so they get health benefits, etc., but they don't get paid much - AND they're only allowed about 25 hours a week of work. Just because something's "union" doesn't mean it's great.

"maybe to its drivers it does, but the vast majority of its workforce is loaders/unloaders/sorters who make less than $10/hr for hard physical labor. They're union teamsters, so they get health benefits, etc., but they don't get paid much - AND they're only allowed about 25 hours a week of work. Just because something's "union" doesn't mean it's great."

When I was at UPS all of that work was done by College students period,thats all they would hire for that work. Its part time work,which is what a student was looking for.AFAIK they were not in the union but got paid a pretty decent wage for what they did. If college didn't pan out they could get on as a driver and make much,much more. Its been over 20 years since I was at UPS,the temporary help might have changed but I don't think so.

David

and spend it hiring new employees or giving raises.

Corporations need to stick to taking care of their own business, and stop running our government. We need to get the money out of politics.

Giving a contribution to a radio show is much different than giving to a candidate.

While it's true that corporatations are so interconnected it's damned near impossible to find one company which fits my stringent definition of socially responsible, I'll continue to make the most informed purchasing decisions I am able while supporting those business that DO more closely meet my standards.

I also advocate shopping second hand and recycling when possible so as not to add to the glut of consumption we participate in here in the U.S.; in addition to cutting back on those things not necessary for my survival. That does not mean I will enforce a spartan existence on myself. It does however mean I will use whatever "wealth" I am able to create for myself in a conscious and transformative manner. Contributing to my causes, my politics, and those things which I believe improve our planet.

I also am personally familiar with organized religions whose business people apply their business practices as taught by their "religion" in a selective manner, i.e., anyone outside "their" membership is fair game and they will and have, taken advantage of "others" or even screwed others in an almost criminal manner.

At least I'll be able to shave 30% off my grocery and maintenance (cleaning fluids) costs and apply it to my credit cards to get out of that hole (hopefully) before my job gets taken away from me.

Why should I give to a Bush Pioneer, Ranger or Super Ranger my dollars, so that they can give them with a smile to a man who designs policies specifically created to disempower and disenfranchise me?

One of the sweetest sights in this election was watching the tumbling of Sinclair Broadcasting stock.

Boycotts work.

It would be nearly impossible to purchase anything that was not mined, processed or marketed by some corporation that didn't pour big money and campaign hard for Bush and people of his ilk.

Since it's a small cluster of companies, they're easier to identify.

I can live without going to Wal-Mart (there aren't any where I live anyway), I don't need to rent videos from Blockbuster; I don't have to wear Gap clothes, I don't need a Dell computer, I don't have to use AOL as my browser, I don't need premium cable or DirectTV (on basic cable I watch C-Span for political coverage) I don't have to drink Coca-Cola, and I don't need to buy a Hewlett-Packard printer.

And you know what, I don't miss any of it!

It's a start anyway.

and join the people, some of them your fellow dems., that would lose good paying jobs in their sacrifice.

surely you wouldn't mind joining them in the unemployment line, or flipping burgers with those people....

Boycotting is not a strategy. It is a tactical part of changing the behavior of a corporation. Driving a multinational corp out of business is unrealistic, and changing its behavior is unachievable without other tactics.

As someone who grew up in a union family, I have seen boycotts work through concerted efforts, and I have seen them fail through lack of focus. While it is morally satisfying to cut off business with all Republican donors, it may be more effective to target one at a time and make an example that will help change the behavior of others. African Americans have done this with some success.

As you suggest, rewarding companies who support Democratic causes is another excellent tactic, but I'm not sure that all Air America advertisers should be rewarded. Overstock.com advertises heavily on AAR, and their CEO funded and distributed the FarenHYPE 9/11 schlockumentary based on the "research" of Dick Morris. They will never get a dollar from me.

and see how the newscasters and their favorite pundits reported skewed and biased election results on Tuesday and then tell me that we don't need to hold their sponsors responsible for paying for misinformation and for upholding a purely one-sided political viewpoint. I say boycott their asses until we have EQUAL TIME for liberal viewpoints.

www.media.matters.com

If so, their server must be down/ overloaded.

Moving too fast this morning, I guess - so thanks for making it possible for people to read the truth for themselves!