Buy Blue

[Petra]

http://www.buyblue.org/bluexmas.html

Our goal here is to provide you information on who gave what to what political party this last election cycle. There are many factors which will eventually pertain to the "Blue-approved" label, however with buying season upon us, we quickly wanted to give people SOMETHING to go off of. Political donations and their effects are but one of many factors we will look at when a company is taken into consideration. We understand that there are Blue-contributors which have less than savory business practices, and we will be focusing on "the big picture" in the coming weeks.



Sometimes there is just no choice as to who to can buy from and we wholeheartedly encourage buying from local and independent businesses wherever and whenever possible. The long term goal is to help reduce corporate money from politics; this is not a geographical boycott.

[Goliath]

Sounds like a wonderful idea!

I just wish that more than one or two places on that "blue" list could be found anywhere around here. :(

[ApostateAbe]

This would be a great idea if people could to motivated to shop according to their politics instead of their frugality and specific tastes. I highly doubt it will make even the slightest dent, but go ahead and prove me wrong. You notice that people bitch about outsourcing yet they still buy products made overseas.

[ApostateAbe]

Sounds like a wonderful idea!

I just wish that more than one or two places on that "blue" list could be found anywhere around here. :(I'll bet there are a few Starbucks and Shell stations out where you live. That's right, all diehard liberals should be getting their coffee from Starbucks.

[Petra]

Roman wasn't built in a day.

[ApostateAbe]

Roman wasn't built in a day.Rome was built after many years of hard labor and brilliant ideas. Maybe you think this is a brilliant idea, but my experience has been that boycotts are counterproductive--the equivalent of demo balling the Coliseum.

[godfry n. glad]

This would be a great idea if people could to motivated to shop according to their politics instead of their frugality and specific tastes. I highly doubt it will make even the slightest dent, but go ahead and prove me wrong. You notice that people bitch about outsourcing yet they still buy products made overseas.

Y'know, Abe... I agree.

Ain't fukken likely, though. You're right, it will, in my ever so humble estimation, have minimal effect.

But it's still fun to do it and tell people all about it. Just to be a snot.

godfry

"I do, don't you?"

[godfry n. glad]

So...How many here have active boycott lists?

I do, don't you?

Most of mine are pretty local. Theater chains. Coffee chains. Specific store or restaurants, usually on direct experience. Oh, yeah, I boycott Walmart because I don't fukken like it. (If I believed in that kind of silly nonsense, I'd say that Walmart was the devil's tool.)

I haven't kept up with who's who on the boycott and why to boycott routine for a few years. Anybody willing to update me on the metablue/red dramas? How about animal testing; what's happening there? Am I still able to buy Body Shop stuff? I gave up tuna because of mercury level and to save the porpoises.

I'm sure I'm passe by now...I can eat grapes, right?

godfry

[flufeemunk]

From here (http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=2063):

So, on Xmas day, after you've unwrapped some of our recommended gifts, or more standard fare like that new DVD player from General Electric (the 8th largest DoD contractor which brought "good things to life" for the military last year to the tune of $2.8 billion), a new Xbox videogame system (from DoD contractor Microsoft), a high-tech Roomba Discovery SE robot vacuum cleaner (from iRobot which sells "pack-bots" to the military and has partnered with DARPA to make swarming mini-robots), a new cell phone from Motorola (which raked in more than 283 million Pentagon dollars last year), or any gift sealed with Scotch tape (made by 3M which has been working on weapons systems like the Army's OH-58 Kiowa helicopter), and after you've polished off that Butterball turkey or Cook's brand Ham (both from DoD contractor ConAgra Foods) and those Pillsbury Xmas cookies (from DoD contractor General Mills), you can sit back and relax with the knowledge that the military-corporate complex is having another happy holiday -- or you and your friends can gather around a roaring fire (or the glow of the new plasma TV) and sing this little ditty to the tune of "Let It Snow":


Oh, the war in Iraq is frightful,
But for Lockheed and pals it's delightful,
Since the Pentagon continues to pay,
Let 'em stay, let 'em stay, let 'em stay.


Insurgents show no signs of stopping,
Americans can't stop AK's from popping,
Since it keeps Boeing's prices high,
occupy, occupy, occupy.


When there's a bombing or firefight,
It means moo-lah galore for GE,
And ev'ry IED laid at night,
means they're buyin' a brand new Humvee


As long as some Black Hawks keep crashin',
The Complex can really cash in,
More war equals much more dough,
Let's not go, never go, let's not go.

[Socratoad]

I have been quietly boycotting for years. The list is just too long to list, and cuz I don't want to tell others what to do. Just some basic research will give anyone the information necessary to decide which corporations to avoid.

I boycott, not because I believe my small contribution is about to make some significant difference. I do it because its the right thing to do, and therefore I can look at myself in the mirror without a sense of lingering shame..

I started boycotting away back in the era of Caesar Chavez. Do any of you remember the grape boycotts?