Yon Files 2 - From Kabul To The Poppy Fields

Some of the fields below obviously are poppy, but other areas are difficult to make out. Although only one species of poppy has narcotic properties, the number of variations remains uncatalogued. Photo Credit: Michael Yon

Michael Yon travels to the region where the number one cash crop in Afghanistan is grown. It is not so much that al-Qaida and the Taliban are the management problem here ... it is the speed at which these poppies can be grown and processed into heroin.

Excerpts from Michael Yon -

Friday, April 14th, 2006
Kabul to Lashkargar

When we landed in Kabul, Steve put the driver in the back and drove us through the crowded streets. There was a thirty minute ride ahead of us, alternating between racing and jamming in traffic. As we drove away from the airport, there were fewer Coalition soldiers about, and on the hills surrounding the town a dense warren of mud and stone houses that could have been erected thousands of years ago, although many insist that Kabul was once a little paradise.
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There’s lots of money in the addiction-business, and opium injects more liquidity into Afghanistan than all those 85 other products combined. Afghanistan is the Opium Poppy King, producing nearly all of the world’s supply. Continuing the trend of the past several years, the 2006 crop is believed to be the largest in the history of the world. This, I am told, is closely related to the coincident rising tide of violence in this country.

Over our two days in Kabul, I got more background information from locals and from Brits, one of whom had spent more than two decades in Afghanistan and surrounds. Both nights we drove downtown to meet people for dinner. The restaurant menus were in English, the prices in dollars. The first night I had fresh tuna that was flown in from Dubai. Later that night Steve cleverly managed to back his Land Cruiser into a parked SUV. The Afghan driver, who had been sleeping, came to high alert and jumped out the door, but the telephone number exchange was civil and matter of fact.
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Soon the Beechcraft had lifted us back into the dusty sky for the final leg to Lashkargar, the capital of Helmand Province, the navel of earth’s heroin production. Whereas the poppy in Uruzgan Province was not blooming and therefore difficult to spot from the air, much of the poppy in Helmand was flowering, and easy to see from the sky. The vast amounts of poppies under cultivation were astonishing, and had I not made photographic proof, I might be reluctant to say just how much is here.
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Steve tells me that Afghan farmers cultivate eleven variations of the opium species of poppy, and often one farmer will grow several types at once. Some plants need less water or are more cold resistant, and others are bred for late or early harvest, and still others are characterized by bigger yields or better disease resistance. Many of the poppy farms we would see on the ground had sections with white flowers, another with pink and a third with red.
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Needed: People for the Un-insulting Treatment of People

Photo Credit: KSBY, NBC Channel 6

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) do not have a clue when it comes to drawing analogies that strike a chord with other people with whom they would like sway to their cause.

Earlier this week in an open demonstration on the UC Santa Barbara campus, PETA erected a large billboard that created quite a stir. The billboard had images and a message comparing the lynching of two black men to the killing of animals for food. When a PETA spokeswoman offered her defense of the exhibition, emotions boiled over, especially among African-American students.

Not long after the controversial exhibit was put up, something blew it over. It's unclear whether it was a gust of wind or something else. The PETA protesters quickly decided that it was time to pack it up. UCSB police were on hand during the shouting match, but both sides were peaceful.
(Report from KSBY Channel 6 titled - "PETA banner sparks students' ire", Wednesday, April 12, 2006, By: Matt Cota)
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This is not the first time PETA has put their foot in it. This organization compares the treatment of chickens for food to the Holocaust. These tactics employed by PETA are prime examples of when over-reaching as an art form becomes detrimental to ones cause. Do ya' think?

Chicken Serving Choices Cause Labeling Confusion

When buying chicken at the supermarket, it is a good policy to know if the chicken you are buying needs to be cooked before it is served ... or not.

It is due to this problem, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has recommended to food producers a new labeling standard. The new label standard requires producers to clearly label products as: "Uncooked: For Safety, Must be Cooked to an Internal Temperature of 165 degrees F as Measured by Use of a Thermometer". Further, the new labeling needs to be submitted for approval by May 1st or suffer recalls.

Excerpts from Food Navigator via FMI dailyLead-

Revised labelling required for poultry products
By Ahmed ElAmin

4/11/2006 - By next month food companies will be required to have more explicit instructions that uncooked, breaded or boneless poultry products need to be cooked.

The new requirement was sparked by a recent food recall due to consumer confusion over whether such products needed to be cooked. The product led to a number of people falling sick from Salmonella enteritidis.
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The labelling re-application requirement applies to frozen poultry products that may also be stuffed or filled, charmarked, or artificially colored. Such products are similar frozen stuffed chicken entrees from that the FSIS recalled on March 10.
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The FSIS will also approve the accompanying cooking instructions to insure consumers understand them. The instructions may not meet regulatory standards if consumers are directed to use a cooking method that is not practical or not likely to achieve the necessary level of food safety, the FSIS stated.

Microwaving or using a toaster oven to cook frozen product may not achieve the recommended internal temperature.
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Serenade Foods Division, a Milford, Ind., firm, voluntarily recalled 75,800 pounds of frozen stuffed chicken entrees in March. The raw chicken entrees, because of their frozen state, labeling, and cooked appearance, may have caused consumers to believe these raw products are pre-cooked, the recall notice stated.

The products were contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis that causes human illness. Illnesses have been linked directly to these products through case history of the patients and through microbiological testing of both the products and affected consumers.
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This notice would be really funny if food poisoning wasn't so painful and life threatening.

Veterans For Freedom - The Anti-Murtha

Image Credit: vetsforfreedom.org

Here is a web communications portal put together by veterans of our efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. These people have a different point of view as to why our tax money and precious living capitol is being spent in these and other countries after 9/11.

Excerpts from Vets For Freedom Mission Statement:

The primary mission of Vets for Freedom will be to support our troops and insert our collective insights and experiences into this national debate. What makes this organization unique is that it is a nonpartisan group made up of veterans of all ranks and all walks of life who have firsthand experience of the horrors of war. We will seek to ensure that political discussions over the Iraq War are honest and forthright by telling the story from the firsthand perspectives of veterans.
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The Global War on Terror is being fought on two fronts. Our troops are performing magnificently in Iraq fighting a tough and dirty enemy. We are winning in Iraq through a combined military, political, diplomatic and economic effort. However, we are losing the war for the will of the American public to see this conflict through because of the distorted means by which it is too often portrayed.

Inaccurate or politically inflamed media reports and policymaker statements based on rumor, speculation and even nonexistent events place an almost singular focus on negative aspects of the conflict versus any attention to many successes that take place almost daily. Those of us from the frontline have a much different view, but for reasons beyond our understanding, our perspective has been largely ignored. Vets for Freedom seeks to change this environment, providing viewpoints both positive and negative on what will be needed to achieve victory.
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To be successful, veterans and their supporters must now fight the second front of this war. We must win the American people to win in Iraq.

Semper Fi!
Wade Zirkle
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Wade Zirkle, Executive Director of Veterans For Freedom, has written an Op-Ed column for the Washington Post where he articulates a point of view about John Murtha and the effects his actions in Congress have had on our troops in the mission.

Excerpts from the Washington Post -

Troops in Support Of the War
By Wade Zirkle - Thursday, April 13, 2006; Page A21

Earlier this year there was a town hall meeting on the Iraq war, sponsored by Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), with the participation of such antiwar organizations as CodePink and MoveOn.org. The event also featured Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a former Marine who had become an outspoken critic of the war. To this Iraq war veteran, it was a good example of something that's become all too common: People from politics, the media and elsewhere purporting to represent "our" views. With all due respect, most often they don't.
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In view of his distinguished military career, John Murtha has been the subject of much attention from the media and is a sought-after spokesman for opponents of the Iraq war. He has earned the right to speak. But his comments supposedly expressing the negative views of those who have and are now serving in the Middle East run counter to what I and others know and hear from our own colleagues -- from junior officers to the enlisted backbone of our fighting force.

Murtha undoubtedly knows full well that the greatest single thing that drags on morale in war is the loss of a buddy. But second to that is politicians questioning, in amplified tones, the validity of that loss to our families, colleagues, the nation and the world.

While we don't question his motives, we do question his assumptions. When he called for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, there was a sense of respectful disagreement among most military personnel. But when he subsequently stated that he would not join today's military, he made clear to the majority of us that he is out of touch with the troops. Quite frankly, it was received as a slap in the face.
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The morale of the trigger-pulling class of today's fighting force is strong. Unfortunately, we have not had a microphone or media audience willing to report our comments. Despite this frustration, our military continues to proudly dedicate itself to the mission at hand: a free, democratic and stable Iraq and a more secure America. All citizens have a right to express their views on this important national challenge, and all should be heard. Veterans ask no more, and they deserve no less.
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MAXINE urges all, who have the will, to donate to Veterans For Freedom if this portal and position is something that appeals to you.

The MSM should put on a spokesperson from this organization every time they show statements from Code Pink, Cindy Sheehan, John Murtha, MoveOn.org, Dick Durban, and etc., in an effort to achieve some balance in their war position presentations they broadcast.
(ht: Hugh Hewitt)

Arizona Steps On Board The E85 Train

Arizona State Capitol - Photo Credit: Pat & Debbi Furrie

Kansas, Iowa, and now Arizona.

The biggest problem with E85 is distribution complicated by current emissions regulations. Every dollar that adds to the Arab oil infrastructure is another dollar that could flow to terrorists. War-footing is the issue and E85 is one of the quickest answers as to how the average American can participate in the war-on-terror.

Excerpts from The Arizona Daily Star -

Ethanol fuel blend gets boost from state
By Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services
Tucson, Arizona Published: 04.12.2006

PHOENIX — A new state law should clear the way for more widespread use of a new fuel blend composed largely of ethanol.

But the law, signed Tuesday by Gov. Janet Napolitano, assumes any service station will sell it. And it also assumes Arizonans actually buy cars and trucks that can use it.

That second point is critical: Motorists who think they're doing good for the environment by filling up on the fuel — made up of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline — could end up voiding their warranties and potentially ruining their engines.

State law does allow the sale of the blend, known as E85, in most of the state. The big exception is in the Phoenix area, where air pollution problems require the sale of specially blended fuels.
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So who will sell it?

"That's the $100,000 question," Shuler said. He said Pinal Energy hopes to persuade a service station near the new plant to offer it, with an eye on creating more demand.

There are only four places in the state where motorists can get E85 — three in Tucson and one in Sierra Vista.
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For example, Chevrolet manufactures Impala and Monte Carlo models with a 3.5-liter engine that can be fueled with E85. But not all of those vehicles with that engine will handle the fuel.

DaimlerChrysler announced earlier this month that some flex-fuel vehicles previously available only to fleet buyers will now be offered to the general public.
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Travel To Afghanistan Q2-2006 - The Story Begins

Afghanistan from the sky - Photo Credit: Michael Yon

Michael Yon, one of the most widely recognized military type bloggers, is on a writing mission to Afghanistan and Iraq. This link is of his first dispatch from the field upon his entry to Afghanistan.

Maxine plans to post a link whenever Michael has a post in continuation of his story.

Excerpts from Michael Yon -

Wednesday, April 12th, 2006
Curious Circumstance
Mysterious Land
By Michael Yon

I met up with an old friend in Dubai. Steve Shaulis and I served together in the Army, and we attended the Defense Language Institute together. After we both left the Army, we headed in very different directions. Steve began doing business in places like Romania, Uzbekistan, Thailand, and Singapore, and I started a business in Poland. Still, over the past twenty years we’ve managed to stay in contact, encountering each other now and then on three continents and in perhaps a dozen countries.

Steve first began his forays into Afghanistan in 1997, years before the latest phase of the war. Back then, he was doing business during the reign of the Taliban. Sometimes I’d visit Steve when he was home in Florida, where we’d don our scuba gear at night and walk out his back door to hunt for lobsters in the ocean. While we were finning underwater in the darkness cutting swaths with our lights to lobster hideouts, faxes from Afghanistan would be piling up in his office.

Although television was eventually banned there, many of the Taliban were fanatical about pro wrestling. Steve looks like a wrestler, and he’d sometimes wear wrestling T-shirts which often prompted the Taliban guards to ask for updates on their favorites. The Undertaker was particularly popular there. “They might be fanatics,” he told me, “but they are simple folk.”
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Enemy operations in Afghanistan are financed largely with drug money. Poppy eradication in Thailand had been a great success, and though the Taliban are widely credited in the press for having stamped out poppies in Afghanistan, their eradication program had only succeeded for a year. After the invasion, the Afghan farmers again planted opium poppies, so in 2002-03, poppy propagation in Afghanistan was on the up tick. Then, in 2004 the crop was bigger still, exceeded only by the crop in 2005. A State Department official recently told me that the 2006 harvest will be the biggest in world history—and nearly all of the opium from those flowers will be exported.
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The Coalition forces are in Afghanistan for the long haul; permanent bases are under construction. Steve is currently fulfilling $15 million in base construction contracts in dangerous parts of the country. These contracts are mostly for the United Kingdom, the United States, and the United Nations.
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Some troops have begun calling the battle for Afghanistan “the Forgotten War.” They are largely correct. When it comes to national and media attention, Iraq is not much better, but since there are roughly six or seven times more troops in Iraq, it might seem that our soldiers there would get more recognition. An Army officer told me recently that per capita casualties for Afghanistan and Iraq are nearly the same. Although six times as much coverage would be about right, mathematically, most soldiers I encountered who were serving in Iraq told me they had never seen a journalist there.
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Before coming to Afghanistan, I emailed to Nick Meo, a British journalist whom I had come to know in Asia a couple of years before. Nick is now in Iraq, but he had spent much recent time in Afghanistan. I asked Nick for suggestions about traveling in Kandahar, Helmand, and Urozgan provinces.

He answered quickly:

Yes. My suggestion is don’t go. They are too dangerous to travel in by yourself if you don’t know your way around. If you’re going with Steve then you should be okay, but they are all very dangerous places now and security has deteriorated massively in the last year. You might just about get away with driving or flying to Kandahar, and making some trips outside the city—maybe to Lashkargar. But you will not make it back alive from north Helmand or Uruzgan.

I did not take his advice, but as of this writing I am still alive. The journey has begun.
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I urge all to read all. Following Michael Yon will be a little like following the stories from the front during World War II.

Mr. Yon does not pull punches and he also does not have a liberal bias or agenda. He is an experienced journalist who chooses to work independently.

It's Money, NOT Heat That Fuels Warming Debate

Photo Credit: Time.com

The argument is clear, it's not the forces of religion that corrupt science and the work of scientists ... it is the bureaucratic, and fourth estate - left.

Scientists are motivated to feed the alarmist groundswell through the process of grants and media adulation. The religious forces in this country actually embrace the unemotional and apolitical application of science - a method that allows us to better understand the miracles of the Earth around us.

Excerpts from WSJ's Opinion Journal -

Climate of Fear
Global-warming alarmists intimidate dissenting scientists into silence.
BY RICHARD LINDZEN - Wednesday, April 12, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

There have been repeated claims that this past year's hurricane activity was another sign of human-induced climate change. Everything from the heat wave in Paris to heavy snows in Buffalo has been blamed on people burning gasoline to fuel their cars, and coal and natural gas to heat, cool and electrify their homes. Yet how can a barely discernible, one-degree increase in the recorded global mean temperature since the late 19th century possibly gain public acceptance as the source of recent weather catastrophes? And how can it translate into unlikely claims about future catastrophes?

The answer has much to do with misunderstanding the science of climate, plus a willingness to debase climate science into a triangle of alarmism. Ambiguous scientific statements about climate are hyped by those with a vested interest in alarm, thus raising the political stakes for policy makers who provide funds for more science research to feed more alarm to increase the political stakes.
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But there is a more sinister side to this feeding frenzy. Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their grant funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves libeled as industry stooges, scientific hacks or worse. Consequently, lies about climate change gain credence even when they fly in the face of the science that supposedly is their basis.
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So how is it that we don't have more scientists speaking up about this junk science? It's my belief that many scientists have been cowed not merely by money but by fear. An example: Earlier this year, Texas Rep. Joe Barton issued letters to paleoclimatologist Michael Mann and some of his co-authors seeking the details behind a taxpayer-funded analysis that claimed the 1990s were likely the warmest decade and 1998 the warmest year in the last millennium. Mr. Barton's concern was based on the fact that the IPCC had singled out Mr. Mann's work as a means to encourage policy makers to take action. And they did so before his work could be replicated and tested--a task made difficult because Mr. Mann, a key IPCC author, had refused to release the details for analysis. The scientific community's defense of Mr. Mann was, nonetheless, immediate and harsh. The president of the National Academy of Sciences--as well as the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union--formally protested, saying that Rep. Barton's singling out of a scientist's work smacked of intimidation.

All of which starkly contrasts to the silence of the scientific community when anti-alarmists were in the crosshairs of then-Sen. Al Gore. In 1992, he ran two congressional hearings during which he tried to bully dissenting scientists, including myself, into changing our views and supporting his climate alarmism. Nor did the scientific community complain when Mr. Gore, as vice president, tried to enlist Ted Koppel in a witch hunt to discredit anti-alarmist scientists--a request that Mr. Koppel deemed publicly inappropriate. And they were mum when subsequent articles and books by Ross Gelbspan libelously labeled scientists who differed with Mr. Gore as stooges of the fossil-fuel industry.
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Alarm rather than genuine scientific curiosity, it appears, is essential to maintaining funding. And only the most senior scientists today can stand up against this alarmist gale, and defy the iron triangle of climate scientists, advocates and policymakers.

M. Lindzen is Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT.
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Roosevelt (Teddy Bear) And Immigration

Protesters march in downtown St. Louis in support of immigration reform Sunday, April 9, 2006. More that five thousand took part in the rally which included St. Louis political leaders and others. (AP Photo/James A. Finley)

At roughly 300 million and illegal immigrant population estimated at 12 to 15 million, the numbers suggest that the American citizen is America, not the illegal immigrant.

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907 -

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin.

But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all.

We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Get in line and become an American (respect our laws and sovereignty) or go home.

We Owe Ya' IOWA - Leading A War Footing Strategy

Photo Credit: flickr.com

Iowa's state senate does Kansas one better.

Yesterday, Iowa voted to place a strategy to embrace the availability of E85 Ethanol fuel mix (85% Ethanol, 15% petroleum fuel) at the forefront of its fuel consumption agenda. Through aggressive incentives given from the state tax code, Iowa expects to have 25% of all fuel sold be from "renewable" resources by 2020. The incentives are targeted toward the development of the distribution infrastructure designed for E85 and Bio-diesel.

Kansas, last month, put in place incentives that address the consumer side of the debate and by giving additional incentives on the distribution side, hopes to have 33 stations that are E85 capable by the end of the year (up from only 10).

Ethanol E85 cars use less petroleum fuel and emit less hydrocarbon emissions (when running on E85) than cars using Hybrid technology claim officials at General Motors. GM is the leading producer of flexible fuel automobiles able to use standard gasoline and E85 when available.

Excerpts from The Gazette -

Senate raises renewable fuel bar
Published: 04/11/2006 12:46 PM
Updated: 04/11/2006 3:12 PM
By: Rod Boshart - The Gazette

DES MOINES, IA - The Iowa Senate voted 49-1 today to set a more-aggressive renewable fuel standard and provide incentives for stations to sell more ethanol-based fuel without mandating its use or boosting the state's gas tax on regular unleaded gasoline.

"It's a pretty good compromise," said Senate Co-President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, who favored mandating ethanol-blended fuel use for all vehicles in Iowa. He said he would have preferred a mandate, but believed the aggressive timeline would hasten more ethanol use.

"This is the most aggressive renewable fuels program in the country," said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.
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Senators also beefed up state money to assist service stations in upgrading infrastructure for delivering 85 percent blended ethanol and biodiesel products to consumers. The Senate nearly doubles the available funding to $16 million - providing $4 million annually for four years.
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The revised version of House File 2754 sets a 10 percent standard beginning in 2010 and would increase it by 1 percent annually until 2014, when the requirement would jump by 2 percent each year to achieve the 25 percent threshold by 2020.
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Political Movements In Iraqi Government Formation Seen

This from The Fourth Rail -

Declining Jaafari
By Bill Roggio

Sistani, Talabani and Sunni parties call for an end to the political deadlock for the selection of the Iraqi Prime Minister

Pressure on Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to withdraw his nomination as the United Iraqi Alliance candidate as the next prime minister increases, this time from some very influential quarters. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most respected and influential Shiite religious leader in Iraq, has reluctantly entered the fray. This indicates the gravity of the situation, as Sistani does not wish to become the arbiter of Iraqi politics.
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Further calls for Jaafari's resignation come from outside the UIA. President Jalal Talabani, the leader of the Kurdish alliance, has "informed a committee from the Alliance that the Kurdish bloc's decision to reject Jaafari was final," and, according to Reuters, "I think the majority of other groups, or all the other groups, are rejecting Dr Jaafari as prime minister."
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Previously, the calls for Jaafari's resignation came from different factions within the UIA, including SCIRI's AbdulMahdi and Jalal al-Deen al-Saghir, Mohammed Ismail Khazali of the Fadhila party, and independent UIA member Kasim Daoud. Now that Sistani has openly withdrawn support, Jaafari's time is short. Jaafari's Dawa party must decide if it will support him to the bitter end, in defiance of Sistani's council and the united factions outside the UIA. Will Jaafari and Sadr stand against Iraq?

Sadr must decide if it will bring the Mahdi Army to the streets of Baghdad, Najaf and Karbala and force a showdown with the U.S. Army and Marines, and the Iraqi security forces. Iranian plans to gain influence via Jaafari and Sadr are close to being in shambles. The real questions are will Iran risk an open confrontation with the Coalition and Iraqi government by backing an open insurrection by supporting Sadr's Mahdi Army and elements of the Badr Brigades said to be under their control, and will they risk losing their most influential and powerful pieces on the Iraqi chess board?
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Click 'Read All' link to read 'comments' to the above item as well. This is quite enlightening.

When Buying, It's Your "State" Of Mind That Matters

My Brand, My Cause - For some Americans, how you vote is a big influence on what you buy ... and where - Image Credit: Business Week

Many companies factor in the capitol consequence of corporate activism. Marketing and public relations departments throughout the business world are beginning to realize that customers are allowing their political views color or shape their purchasing patterns.

Red state, blue state, it is all a state of mind when a customer makes the choice to shop at your store or buy your products. People, more often than not, are voting with their pocket books in real time.

Excerpts from Business Week, issue release APRIL 17, 2006 -

NEWS: ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY
Companies In The Crossfire
The politically passionate are taking aim at businesses they see as repugnant. Red or blue, they can be a PR nightmare

When Martha E. Ture took a road trip from Indiana to California on I-80, she ate at Subway restaurants rather than Wendy's (WEN ) or McDonald's (MCD ). When she last flew to Las Vegas, she took United Airlines, not American or Continental. When she drinks beer, Ture, who describes herself as a "writer, singer, guitar picker, nature lover, [and] politico," eschews Coors (TAP ) for Sierra Nevada. She stays at Hyatt hotels (never Marriott), and, when she visits a big-box discount store, she always patronizes Costco (COST ), not Wal-Mart (WMT ).

Then there's Jennifer Giroux of Madeira, Ohio. The mother of nine, a registered nurse and Christian-bookstore owner, always gets her pizza at Domino's. She never takes the kids to Ben & Jerry's, opting instead for Cincinnati hometown favorite Graeter's Ice Cream. At the mall, she won't allow the family to walk anywhere near Abercrombie & Fitch, famous for its suggestive advertising. And when she does laundry, and she does a lot, she never buys Procter & Gamble's Tide detergent or Bounce fabric softener.Ture and Giroux don't have much in common. But they do share a trait: Their product choices are driven not by low price or customer service, but by politics.

Like millions of Americans, these two consumers choose -- or avoid -- certain companies because of the political donations of their management or the controversial causes they support.
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Crisis communications strategists say some companies get it right. They cite P&G and Miller Brewing Co. for responding to incipient crises by reaching out to angry consumers and communicating a concise, consistent, nonpolitical response. But others only compound their woes. Ford (F ) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) changed positions in their attempts to appease critics, only to face an even stronger backlash from the other side.
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Boycott efforts sometimes veer into slapstick. In 2004, Teresa Heinz Kerry, widow of Senator H. John Heinz III, made headlines campaigning for her second husband, Democratic Presidential candidate John F. Kerry. Conservative talk-show hosts told red voters to buy new W Ketchup instead of H.J. Heinz' signature product. The upstart's slogan: "You don't support Democrats. Why should your ketchup?" Heinz limited the damage by quickly issuing a statement noting that Mrs. Kerry had nothing to do with the company. One corporate counselor says Heinz let the world know that "Teresa is not on the assembly line stomping tomatoes, and the money is not going to her.

"Three conservatives angry at Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the liberal founders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc. (UL ), launched Star Spangled Ice Cream in 2005. Its flavors include Iraqi Road, I Hate the French Vanilla, and Smaller GovernMINT. "We're trying to appeal to conservatives, red states, and NASCAR dads who like Ben & Jerry's ice cream but can't [swallow] their politics," says Vice-President Richard Lessner. The boutique brand is available online, at retail outlets in the Mid-Atlantic region, and at 10 military bases in Texas. Lessner says its sales continue to build as conservatives talk it up and spoon it down.
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Take Wendy's, for example. Although the hamburger chain's PAC has given 93% of its campaign contributions to Republicans over the past five years, it views itself as a "nonpolitical company" that does not take positions on controversial issues, says spokesman Denny Lynch: "We serve customers on both sides of the aisle." Wendy's backs winners, he says, and today those incumbents are mostly Republican. "We're not a red company," Lynch says. "If Democrats start winning, we'll move our money to Democrats. It's just business."

Other companies say it's better business to steer clear of politics. Costco has won praise from liberals as the un-Wal-Mart, with higher wages and better benefits. But Costco CEO James D. Sinegal has not created a corporate PAC because "we don't believe a public company should take shareholders' money and support political candidates or causes." He and Chairman Jeffrey H. Brotman donate heavily to Democrats, Sinegal says, "but we do it with our own money. I'm a merchant, not a politician." Most American merchants would agree -- if only the activists would leave them to their business.
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