Every time there is a call to boycott the anti-labor Chicago Tribune, I consider subscribing so that I can then unsubscribe to support the boycott.
The truth is that I haven’t really read the Trib for years, although I’ll link to their stories now and then.
Same for the Sun-Times.
I do know people who still subscribe to the Sun-Times so that they can do the Sudoku puzzle.
I’m a Sunday NY Times Magazine crossword guy myself.
There’s a boycott of companies that fund ALEC.
ALEC is the American Legislative Exchange Council.
This evil group brings together giant corporations and mostly Republican state legislators to craft most of the anti-union, anti-public education, stand-and-kill Trayvon Martin kinds of legislation that have made the rounds.
They hold seminars and luncheons. They reprint some shitty bill that gets enacted somewhere. Then wing-nut legislators in other states who can’t actually write in complete sentences themselves simply submit the Xerox of the bill in their own state legislature.
One dumb ass forgot to take the ALEC logo off the bill before it was submitted.
That is the kind of intellect you find in most state legislatures.
Reuters is reporting that Coke and Pepsi have reacted to boycott pressures and have quit supporting ALEC.
I don’t drink Coke or Pepsi anyway. I’m trying to stay away from sweetened drinks and carbonated beverages since I’m concerned about my weight and the carbonation has unpleasant side effects. Mainly unpleasant for those around me.
Now word comes that Kraft foods is also quitting ALEC.
That’s good.
But I can’t boycott them either since we don’t buy a lot of processed foods. We follow the advice to stay away from the inside aisles of supermarkets. We stay on the perimeter where the fresh vegetables, meat, fish and bread are.
One big supporter of ALEC is Pfizer. I was a big Pfizer consumer because I take Lipitor. But now Lipitor is available as a generic. I can boycott them and do. Their profits have dropped 50% since Lipitor went generic.
Even though their profits have tanked because of the availability of the generic, I think we should claim it as part of the success of the ALEC boycott.
The list of the corporations who continue to fund ALEC are found here.
It’s not that I think that Pepsi, Coke and Kraft won’t continue to spend their money on bad politics elsewhere.
We’ll just go at ’em one day at a time.
Fred Klonsky 
Interesting to note: I’m a small investor and have holdings in some of these ALEC supporiting companies like GE and Johnson and Johnson that I’m not about to sell. I would rather see pressure brought to bear as it was on Pepsi and Coke, and keep the other companies in th spotlight until they disaffililate themselves. People are not going to stop buying these products and purchasing is good for the health of the companies, BUT in my opinion they will break with ALEC sooner rather than later in order for people not to sell stock or boycott their products. It’s much easier fo me not to buy Koch products than to avoid all of these others, but bad publicity iitself s good for the cause.
Please define: What is ALEC? I happen to like Coke, by the way. Also, I can write.
That you can write I have no doubt. Reading on the other hand? ALEC is defined in the post with a link to their site. Grumpy today?