The Billionaire Koch Brothers have been the major funding source for the Teabaggers, for the Republican anti-union efforts in Wisconsin, Ohio, etc. They have been a major opponent of the Occupy Wall Street movement. They have given millions of dollars to right wing politicians. They are, in short, destroying the American Dream in every way they can. They are all about corrupt crony capitalism and are against true democracy. They want tax breaks for Billionaires but cuts to Medicare and Social Security while also gutting unions for working and middle class Americans.

I don't want any penny of my money going to the Billionaire Koch Brothers. So I have been boycotting any and all of their products (mainly Georgia Pacific paper goods, see below).

There is also an Occupy The Koch Brothers movement, connected with Occupy Wall Street and trying to take the working and middle class message right to the Billionaire Koch Brothers. From Daily Kos:  read more »

It has mostly escaped notice in the political class - if not for want of trying - but there is, indeed, a rather vociferous movement to end the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. Though it has been hampered by rather ineffective organizing, the occasional association with Palestinian terrorism and, indeed, good, old-fashioned anti-Semitism of the kind you may have thought perished in the ruins of Auschwitz, it exists, and now, it is heading for the borough of Brooklyn.

Indeed, it is already here.

Specifically, some members of the Park Slope Food Co-op - full disclosure: I am not a member thereof - want the collective store to de-shelve products from Israel, pointing to that country's often objectionable treatment of Palestinians in Israel proper and the occupied West Bank as cause.

If you think that smells more than slightly like Deutsche, kauft nicht beim Juden, you'd be correct. Like every nation state under the sun, including our own, Israel and its government do things we may find troubling. To give just one example, China is, step by little step, obliterating the existence of Tibet as a distinct entity within the People's Republic.

Yet oddly enough, I'm unaware of any attempts to take Chinese products off any shelves.

The quintessence of anti-Semitism as it relates to the state of Israel is to single it out for treatment not afforded any other state. I have a very hard time believing that the Co-Op would consider being a party to this.

Democracy for NYC and the NY State Teachers' Union are calling on people to support striking Stella D'oro workers by boycotting Stella d'Oro products. I have from time to time bought and enjoyed Stella D'oro products...but I will honor this boycott. From a DFNYC email:

Stella D'oro Workers Ask for Boycott

Since August 11, 140 workers at the Stella D'oro Bakery in the Bronx have been on strike. The company replaced them with non-union labor, so the original union workers have filed an Unfair Labor Practice complaint at the Labor Relations Board and been upheld in a preliminary ruling. The NY State Teachers' Union has joined them on the picket line and contributed to their stike fund. They are gathering support from other unions as well

Action: The workers are asking supporters to boycott Stella D'oro products AND to ask stores in their communities to stop carrying those products.
More info is available on the DFNYC website, at: http://dfnyc.org/content/view/2405/16/

To contact Stella D'oro:
Phone: (718) 601-9200
Address: Stella D'oro Company
184 West 237th Street
Bronx, NY 10463
Website:  read more »

NOTE: Diary updated to better separate the idea of boycotting and dialogue. Large companies tied indirectly to the Mormon Church, which I focused on before, are primarily intended for targets for a DIALOGUE regarding these homophobic propositions. Contact them about where they stand. Ask if they are willing to publicly condemn these propositions (the way Apple Computer so boldly did). But my advice is to boycott only if they are in general extremist.

NOTE 2: The reason why a dialogue should be set up with Mormon companies that DIDN'T outwardly support Prop. 8 is because there are Mormons who OPPOSED it as well and they should be allies. Please see this Daily Kos diary. A Mormon's for tolerance movement could help head off more of these homophobic extremist propositions.

I have added another list which focuses on actual endorses of proposition 8 in California. Most are local California businesses, of course, but some are not. THOSE are the proper target for BOTH dialogue and boycott.

In this election of great progress, several states enacted regressive bans on marriage equality, setting back civil rights. Among the leaders of this year's movement to discriminate against gays was the Mormon Church. Once again right wing religious fanatics want to force THEIR religion on American society. This is one more example of the American Taliban trying to marginalize anyone they see as different.

For those who doubt the extremist aspects of the Mormon Church (though of course not all Mormons), read Jon Krakauer's book, Under the Banner of Heaven.  read more »