Let's pick a weak 'red' company and 'strangle' it first.

[NuttyFluffers]

it's all good to boycott everything red, and i'm totally with you. but we need to take down these guys one at a time to show we mean business. otherwise they can share money between each other and try to keep the pain down. a dead company cannot fight back.

so, which ultra conservative corporation is dangerously close to chapter 11? we survey its stats, check its potential to easily topple, and then make a concerted attack to strangle it into oblivion. boycotts with vindictive focus.

not all at once my friends, one by one, and the bricks that comprise the wall will come tumbling down.

now research time, which WEAK 'red' company?

[LightTheMatch]

1. Interesting.

I think that's a good idea. Anyone have a list?

[Bluebear]

2. Tres interessant.

[JSJ]

3. i like this idea- let's fuck over diebold!

[NuttyFluffers]

4. too well associated with political backroom deals

not associated with the retail market as strongly.

no, would love to but this is an 'advanced level' target.

i'm thinking US Airways? close to bankrupcy, but i don't know their politics. we are going to have to be very busy readers of the business section now.

[JSJ]

16. understood! - company has to transact with the public

[JSJ]

29. some words of caution- bringing one company down...

...will only strengthen it's competitors- competitors that may or may not be red.

[NuttyFluffers]

32. excellent observation -- you are conscripted advisor now

i expect detailed analysis of what you think would be an excellent target.

soon i'll offer mine.

then we'll have thorough analysis and find how to strike true.

ps: look into the idea of favoring USPS and destroying UPS and FedEx in the process. they are big 'red' contributors and i've always liked USPS. might be a great fall back idea to keep in the back of our minds.

[JSJ]

34. i will be thinking long and hard on it, over the week-end

One thing comes to mind, now- to target our efforts between regional, local, and national. Some of us would love to see a local company take a hard hit, while regional and national concerns will require regional and national interest.

[NuttyFluffers]

38. i seem to have conscripted a gem...

regional, national, and local thinking... stunned. brilliant. yes, this can have legs, now comes the effort of research.

vengeance is dish best served cold. i am so furious icicles are developing.

[JSJ]

39. kick

[gottaB]

36. don't mess with the Teamsters

Or any company with organized labor without checking with the unions.

Check which companies are hostile to labor and hostile to Democrats top-to-bottom.

[JSJ]

37. yeah, but with union representation at about 19%...

...unions shouldn't come into play, anyhow.

[Heath.Hunnicutt]

5. This is smart.

You are thinking! I like this idea!

[missouri dem]

6. I would like to attack walmart.

Not a weak company at all but a symbol of many of the things that are wrong with the corporate system. If we could damage walmart and make them change policies then other companies would fall in line.

[NuttyFluffers]

11. too big. just stop and reassess.

you can not shop wal-mart 'on the side' just like the rest of us, but it's like taking on the strongest foe in a rogue's gallery. it's the weaker one's that are then freed up to take pot shots at us when we are distracted trying to pin down the behemoth.

no.

a big bully standing alone is still a bully standing alone. our goal is to make wal-mart finally 'stand alone' and finally feel fear.

[Cinletharwi]

7. The Campaign to Starve the Beast:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2600099

[Sliverofhope]

8. I agree. It's easier tactically to gang up on one company at a time

And once it's dead, it's dead, it not coming back.

[Tweed]

9. www.opensecrets.com: Top Contributors in Tranportation area

Here's a list of Transportation

The first number is Democrats, the bottom is Republicans

1
United Parcel Service
$2,060,397
28%
72%

2
National Auto Dealers Assn
$2,056,100
28%
72%

3
FedEx Corp
$1,309,651
34%
66%

4
Boeing Co
$1,102,822
47%
53%

5
Union Pacific Corp
$1,100,072
22%
78%

6
General Motors
$736,915
39%
60%

7
Automotive Free International Trade PAC
$687,000
13%
86%

8
Ford Motor Co
$665,984
29%
71%

9
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp
$645,673
28%
72%

10
DaimlerChrysler
$562,076
38%
62%

11
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
$559,025
14%
86%

12
AMR Corp
$495,064
36%
64%

13
Norfolk Southern
$475,679
25%
75%

14
American Trucking Assns
$443,781
15%
85%

15
Aircraft Owners & Pilots Assn
$433,850
37%
63%

16
CSX Corp
$379,660
28%
72%

17
Textron Inc
$360,400
35%
65%

18
Delta Airlines
$260,068
36%
64%

19
Northwest Airlines
$253,007
43%
56%

20
Carnival Corp
$247,700
46%
54%

[NuttyFluffers]

17. fantastic info... which of these is the weakest?

we need to look at business portfolios now.

i'm getting an interesting idea of using strictly USPS. it'd cut out both UPS and FedEx, being 1 and 3 on the list of contributors and swinging heavily to 'red.'

but if there's an easier target in this gallery i'll take it. time for more research.

is there a way to search the bankrupcy rolls for recently on-the-ropes companies?

[Tweed]

19. Don't fly Delta

[cire4]

10. We collectively strangled the hell out of Sinclair.....

....this WORKS...Let's do it.

[SoCalDem]

18. Sorry, but not really.

95% of the stock is owned by the 2 brothers, and they run the company as a propaganda/money-funneling organization anyway.

and they DID air a version of the slimy "movie" anyway..and some the day before the election..

The news of the boycot may have cause the stock (5% of total) to fall a bit, but there were greedy ones who just snapped up the bargains..

[KharmaTrain]

12. How About Studying The Politics Of The Area

Ya think we might stand better chances if there were more Democrats running and elected in these areas? Just a thought.

[Tweed]

15. We can do both

[KharmaTrain]

30. Let's Try Just One...

We're at ground zero here. We have virtually no party at this moment. If there's going to be any hope it starts at the grassroots and it's gotta start soon. Simple, modest and realistic.

Boycots are wonderful. I still refuse to drink Pepsi because Richard Nixon was on the board of directors, I absolutely refuse to go into a Wal-Mart, I'll drive the extra 15 miles to a Lowes rather than a Home Despot and I have no intentions to vacation in ANY red state. But that's me...and it's not gonna do a bit of good at least for my own satisfaction.

When people bring up this topic, I always ask for them to name an American boycott in the last 30 years that's been effective. I'm still waiting...

[NuttyFluffers]

33. Farmworkers Union?

made Safeway poop their pants for a while, didn't it ;)

[pk_du]

13. I'm in - fuck em.

[Tweed]

14. www.opensecrets.org: Food and Beverage, we get KILLED here

Company Name Total Dems Reps

Aramark Corp $14,000 $0 $14,000
Brinker International $74,500 $12,500 $62,000
Bumble Bee Seafoods $2,000 $0 $2,000
Burger King $12,000 $4,000 $8,000
Carlson Restaurants Worldwide $14,000 $2,000 $12,000
Coca-Cola Bottling Co United $7,000 $5,000 $2,000
Coca-Cola Co $145,500 $62,500 $83,000
Coca-Cola Enterprises $179,660 $57,500 $122,160
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store $45,500 $4,000 $41,500
Darden Restaurants $138,084 $14,204 $123,880
Domino's Pizza $23,500 $0 $23,500
Eat 'n Park Restaurants $1,900 $0 $1,900
Hershey Foods $19,500 $1,000 $18,500
Intl Foodservice Distributors Assn $48,409 $5,000 $43,409
McDonald's Corp $24,500 $1,500 $23,000
National Confectioners Assn $12,000 $1,000 $11,000
National Restaurant Assn $896,795 $92,798 $803,997
National Soft Drink Assn $96,929 $31,500 $65,429
Nestle Waters North America Nestle USA ($400) $0 ($400)
Omega Protein Corp $5,500 $0 $5,500
Outback Steakhouse $346,500 $10,000 $336,500
Pacific Seafood Processors $9,600 $2,850 $6,750
Pepsi-Cola Bottlers Assn $16,000 $11,000 $5,000
Peter Pan Seafoods $3,500 $250 $3,250
Pizza Hut Franchisees Assn $120,500 $6,000 $114,500
Ruby Tuesday $11,000 $0 $11,000
Sodexho Marriot Services $27,750 $22,250 $5,500
TACO PAC $32,500 $3,500 $29,000
Tasty Baking Co $250 $250 $0
Waffle House Inc $4,000 $0 $4,000
Wendy's International $184,000 $18,500 $165,500
White Castle System $500 $0 $500
YUM! Brands $107,157 $24,000 $83,157

These PACs are really small though. At least some of them are.

[NuttyFluffers]

21. k, bankrupcy roll-call.

you guys are awesome at research -- so fast. now before we get flooded with info, let's change tactic.

let's scour the companies that are in the 'life-support' column. know a way to find info on companies currently sitting on chapter 11?

[5thGenDemocrat]

22. Let me put it this way

I ain't giving up White Castle over $500.
I say we whack the airlines around some more. Remember that the first thing Dopey and the Rethugs did after 9-11 was to hand the airlines millions of taxpayer dollars. Flying sucks like a Hoover any more, anyhow.
John
I'd say go with Delta (based in Atlanta), though any good Michiganian would tell you no airline blows like Northworst which, at least, is blue-state based (Minnesota).

[Tweed]

25. Yeah, the food post was a dumb idea: Don't bother messing with them

[NuttyFluffers]

27. well, i now nominate you to do research on Delta

can you find their status? how weak they are? are they in chapter 11? where are their main profit gaining regions in their flight network? what are their peak periods of sales?

this is the beginning and your help in this matter would be invaluable.

[Bake]

20. Not a weakling, by any stretch, but how 'bout Wal-Mart?

If 50 million people stopped patronizing Wal-Mart, it would sure as shit hit 'em in the bottom line.

Never happen though.

Bake

[NuttyFluffers]

23. no one is stopping your 'extracurricular activities'

by all means ignore wal-mart.

but now is the time to take out these bastards 1 by 1.

[Tweed]

24. www.opensecrets.org: Agribusiness Top Contributors

Dems are list on top, Republicans after

1
Altria Group
$986,747
41%
59%

2
Reynolds American
$821,350
9%
91%

3
American Crystal Sugar
$692,446
60%
40%

4
Dairy Farmers of America
$623,200
44%
56%

5
Flo-Sun Inc
$476,300
59%
41%

6
Farm Credit Council
$438,278
34%
66%

7
International Paper
$417,657
8%
92%

8
UST Inc
$382,987
18%
82%

9
American Sugar Cane League
$371,250
52%
48%

10
Connell Co
$343,000
98%
2%

11
American Veterinary Medical Assn
$328,250
42%
57%

12
Georgia-Pacific Corp
$323,224
28%
72%

13
Pilgrim's Pride
$300,826
3%
97%

14
Food Marketing Institute
$287,914
13%
87%

15
National Cattlemen's Beef Assn
$280,427
13%
87%

16
Dean Foods
$275,000
31%
69%

17
PepsiCo Inc
$262,199
34%
65%

18
National Cotton Council
$240,350
38%
62%

19
Tyson Foods
$228,717
35%
65%

20
Weyerhaeuser Co
$222,860
24%
76%

[Tweed]

26. www.opensecrets.org: Communication and Electronics

Dems percent on top, Repulicans percent on bottom


1
Microsoft Corp
$2,597,532
61%
39%

2
Time Warner
$2,379,276
76%
24%

3
SBC Communications
$2,261,621
33%
66%

4
Verizon Communications
$1,432,496
40%
60%

5
BellSouth Corp
$1,260,099
42%
58%

6
Viacom Inc
$1,124,998
78%
22%

7
Comcast Corp
$920,396
49%
51%

8
Walt Disney Co
$855,135
71%
29%

9
News Corp
$812,866
62%
38%

10
Cisco Systems
$794,449
54%
46%

11
National Cable & Telecommunications Assn
$793,994
49%
51%

12
Clear Channel Communications
$670,605
30%
70%

13
Qwest Communications
$638,127
36%
64%

14
AT&T
$610,969
48%
52%

15
IBM Corp
$547,077
70%
29%

16
National Assn of Broadcasters
$497,623
39%
61%

17
Sprint Corp
$489,025
37%
63%

18
Cablevision Systems
$469,100
67%
33%

19
MCI Group
$465,056
54%
46%

20
General Electric
$452,768
73%
27%

[NuttyFluffers]

28. ok, we have a website source for targets, but...

now we need different data.

we need to filter down... i'm checking gov't sites for companies deeply in the red. perhaps you can work on this too? :D

[NuttyFluffers]

31. some interesting sites

a start, perhaps a big name might be in here.

http://www.creditguru.com/usBank0501_0531.htm

another that might have potential...

http://www.bankruptcydata.com/

... and now my head is killing me and i have to take a test tomorrow...

marked on favorites myself, will be doing research. i ask you to do the same, please.

[JSJ]

35. kick