Some may try to say that Disney is a "liberal company" based on donations.

[cascadiance]

I've been handed this page link:

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.asp?ID=D000000128

and them saying that it shows that in the past, especially in election years, Disney has more of a record or donating to Democrats than Republicans.

To respond to this sort of B.S., ask for them for specific actions ABC has taken to promote liberal viewpoints over right wing viewpoints. They'd be hard pressed to find them. Also note that this link here shows that Sinclair and Disney were both responsible for airing those "fake ads" as news earlier on their affiliates news channels too.

http://www.buyblue.org/node/6282

Also note that just because Disney might be donating to Democrats doesn't mean they donate to "liberal" Democrats. A big chunk of change goes to Diane Feinstein, Hillary Clinton, and others that could hardly be called the "liberal arm" of the Democratic Party.

Also note that if you look at the following page that tracks their lobbying activity:

http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/clientsum.asp?txtname=Walt+Disney+Co++++++++++++++++++++++++++&year=2005

and then the affiliate page which breaks down different affiliates of ABC's donations (and to whom):

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/affiliates.asp?ID=D000000128&Type=P&Cycle=A

note that their big lobbying arm, Disney Worldwide Services, donates the second largest amount of the affiliates with 98% ($152,200) going to Republicans and 2% ($3,003) going to Democrats. The third highest on this page, Capital Cities/ABC, donated 60% ($116,164) to Republicans and 40% to Democrats ($78,895). The only entity on this page that donates more than these two is Miramax, which donated 100% to Democrats, and is headed by Harvey Weinstein. You'll recall that Miramax helped Michael Moore produce his F-911 film, no doubt with Weinstein's help, but it was Disney Corp. along with Eisner that played the veto card on pulling back on having Disney distribute the film, forcing Weinstein to have to arrange to create a separate venture outside of Disney to help Moore distribute this film.

In short, I'd acknowledge that Miramax is still a good blue company, as long as Weinstein is at its reins, and therefore, I'm tempted not to boycott their products, but anything else in that company (and you can look down that affiliate page link to guide you) is fair game to boycott I think.

Just don't let wingnuts tell you that Disney is a "liberal media" company. Here's an example of what they will try to throw at you and how you can refute it.

[zbdent]

1. self-delete

Okay, deleting - I was rash ... I forgot about the "Gay Days" which the REPUKES try to shut down ...

Really? They offer benefits to same-sex partners?

My apologies, Cis...

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[LSK]

2. all I need to know is how they handled F9/11

Or should I say didnt touch it with a ten foot pole.

[CBGLuthier]

3. There is no such thing as a liberal corporation

None. I don't care what anyone says about Apple or any other corporation.

Liberal and progessive, at least in this country, are viewed as the antithesis of business.

And the Weinsteins left Miramax a year ago.

[Name removed]

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[NYCGirl]

6. I'm a proud progressive and a capitalist. NT

[CBGLuthier]

7. Yes, but are you a corporation

In particular a large corporation.

I am not saying that corps have to be this way. I just feel that by and large they are all that way. Some may be better than others but they all are concerned more with the bottom line than human rights.

Ask Apple about who makes their stuff in China. And the working conditions of same.

I am not meaning to pick on Apple but they get trotted out a lot by the Mac people as if they gave the damn things away along with free food.

[NYCGirl]

8. No, I'm a former small business owner, but I have no problem with

responsible corporations.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[CBGLuthier]

16. I do indeed buy stuff made in China

I have no problems at all with the working conditions there.

But some would promote Apple as being a kind and gentle company and recent reports about working conditions in China, for Apple, would seem to contradict that image.

I just don't care for this nonsense that some corporations are run humanly. By their very nature that is almost impossible.

[cascadiance]

18. Apple is by no means an innocent party.

I like them better than many others, and still use a Macbook Pro as my main personal machine, but I know of stories behind the scenes of not so nice business practices towards a company I worked for that was a former partner of theirs and where they seemed to operate more like Microsoft in that context than the other way around. And anyone who's seen that biographical TV drama of Gates and Jobs knows about that real nasty interview that Jobs put some former employee of IBM through that really seemed to be out of hand in my book.

That said, I do believe that there are some good CEO's and execs out there with good intentions who at times try to do the right thing. The problem is that the system doesn't reward them doing so, and so you are more counting on their efforts above and beyond the call of duty to do the right thing when it comes to things like minimizing "externalizing costs" on a community, etc. which is looked on by most of us as a bad thing but by the business community as a profitable and good thing.

Watch the extra materials of the DVD of the movie "The Corporation". You'll see some examples of some CEO's with decent ethics who try to produce completely recycleable products through their own personal interests to do so, but you can tell that they aren't being rewarded by the business community to do so. They are only rewarded by their above average consciences when it comes to CEO's.

Costco I think is run by some people that have above average consciences too, when it comes to taking care of their rank and file employees. I'm sure they have some examples of bad products they are buying, etc. too, but by and large, I think they try to do the right thing and still run a profitable business. Certainly a lot better than Sam's Club that's in their space.

[zbdent]

15. Contradicting yourself?

after berating me for forgetting about the "socialist" benefits of same-sex partners?

Hmm ... your bias is starting to come out ... enjoy your stay ...

[cascadiance]

19. I stand corrected on the Weinsteins...

I don't know if these donation records are residual from when they were still managing Miramax, or perhaps it is reflecting a management hierarchy that is still there that they helped hire that still reflects their values. In either case, it looks like they have a lot better set of values than parent Disney does.

[madmusic]

9. Check this out:

Starting here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2080471&mesg_id=2081079

[brook]

12. Having worked for both

Disney and ABC, I can attest that neither are "liberal media" companies. It's all about profits and image. For all the 'family friendliness', Disney's a damned souless place to work. And my boss at ABC had formerly been working with the Nixon CReep Team.

[Name removed]

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[brook]

17. "...high level corporate knowledge?"

Even a janitor susses a company's values.

[zbdent]

20. There are enough times when the janitor has better sense

than the execs ...

You know how the child of the boss makes a small fortune in the family business?

He/she starts with a large fortune ...

[brook]

22. True enough.

Obviously, a mundane worker bee is invisible to most mucky-mucks - hence gets to witness many things of interest.

[Pale Blue Dot]

21. Weinstein is no longer at Miramax.

He as forced out in a contract dispute several months ago. He now has his own company, The Weinstein Group.