Home Depot wants you to shut up

[babylonsister]

http://www.americablog.com/2007/07/home-depot-wants-you-to-shut-up.html

Home Depot wants you to shut up
by John Aravosis (DC) · 7/28/2007


Oh, you're gonna love this. Home Depot is now telling its customers that if you have the audacity to complain about BillOReilly.com's death threats against Hillary Clinton and suggestions of a terrorist attack against the US Capitol then YOU are the problem.

Here is the letter Home Depot is sending its customers:

Our advertising campaigns have one simple objective to communicate with audiences in the most effective way possible. The Company is receptive to many forms and styles of media as we seek a balanced representation of programming to reach our customer base. Unfortunately campaigns like this one cause us to take time away from our sustainability goals and address a variance of political views.


Get it? If you complain about Home Depot sponsoring Bill O'Reilly's hate, then YOU are hurting the environment because you're wasting their precious time.

Somebody in corporate communications is going to get fired.

[LisaM]

1. I thought you were talking about how they stifle news on their accidents

Apparently they are the most dangerous store in America, but repress media coverage on the same.

[NotGivingUp]

48. I'd like to hear more about that. Do you have any links?

[LisaM]

55. Yes, this is the particular article I was referring to

Though I'm sure there are more. I won't shop there.


http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2003/02/24/story4.html

[NotGivingUp]

58. Unfrickingbelievable! I am not going to shop there anymore either.

There were links to other articles at the end of that article. Here's one and there's 4 more links listed below that link. Thanks for the information.

Accidents claim lives of Home Depot shoppers
Atlanta Business Chronicle - February 21, 2003
by Jim Lovel
Staff Writer

Mary Margaret Penturff and her daughter stopped by their local Home Depot in Santa Monica, Calif., on a Sunday afternoon in November 1999 to buy lattice for the patio of the new apartment they were sharing. Moments later, a 75-pound box of wood fell from a shelf 20 feet above the 79-year-old Penturff, leaving her bleeding on the floor with a fatal head wound.

Six months later, on a Sunday of a Memorial Day weekend, the Horner family went to church and a Disney movie before visiting their local Home Depot store in Twin Falls, Idaho, to shop for some things they needed for their new home. Five minutes later, more than 2,000 pounds of kitchen countertops fell about 10 feet from a forklift that was moving them, crushing their 3-year-old daughter, Janessa. She died four hours later at a local hospital.

Two months after that, Jerry Mead, 41, and his brother were shopping in a Home Depot store in Danbury, Conn., when they were hit by 2,000 pounds of falling landscaping timbers. Jerry Mead was killed and his brother was seriously injured.

Atlanta-based The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD), the world's largest home improvement retailer and the second-largest retailer in the United States based on net sales, has expanded from 761 stores at the beginning of 1999 to more than 1,500 today.

Steve Rasak, the Los Angeles attorney that represented Penturff's survivors, says the warehouse concept that has fueled Home Depot's growth also makes the stores among the most dangerous.

Danger in the aisles

Accidents claim lives of Home Depot shoppers
Accident grounded astronaut
Home Depot on store accidents: No comment
Home Depot's OSHA violations soared in 2002

[meegbear]

2. Could you edit for clarity ...

it looks like the "Get it?" paragraph is part of the letter when it is not.

[babylonsister]

10. Done and thanks. nt

[Lex]

3. I haven't shopped there in years. They suck.

Lowe's sucks less.

Local hardware and plant shop around the corner sucks even less than both of them.

[Donnachaidh]

4. Then perhaps we should have a separate HD campaign - to step up the pressure?

What a bunch of arrogant putzes!

Let's really make them squirm by doubling or tripling the pressure.

[Jensen]

5. I treat Home Depot the same way I treat Wal-Mart

I do not buy there!

[Lex]

7. Same here. I have for several years.

nt

[Jensen]

24. Me too, I do not buy from vendors who do not treat their employee Good!

nt

[BlooInBloo]

6. There's our news-bot! More up-to-date: Lowes dropped BillO

[Lex]

8. Excellent!

I knew Lowe's sucked less than Home Depot.

[tularetom]

9. You know what? Fuck Home Depot

They used to have a lot of retired contractors working there who were knowledgeable about materials etc. and eager to help with whatever project you were contemplating. The contractors are gone now, replaced by pimply faced teenagers who could give a rats ass about customer service. I went there last week to buy some double faced carpet tape and I had to ask five different dorks before I gave up and finally found it myself. I am also a shareholder and last week I got an offer from them to buy back my shares. So something's going on there that doesn't bode well for HD.

By contrast, Lowe's gives far better service in a much brighter and cleaner environment. And I like their response to the Bill Orally issue much better.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

18. Around Chicago, every one of these big box home stores started out great.

Builders Square was a big improvement over Home Somethingorother then they went downhill and we were glad to see Home Depot come in. Home Depot went downhill and we looked forward to Lowes coming in. Lowes will cut service sooner or later and fall apart just like all the others.

(Oh, and Menards was never worth much.)

[leveymg]

11. Home Depot is a major GOP contributor

http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/contrib.asp?Cmte=RPC&Cycle=2004
REPUBLICAN PARTY
(2004 election cycle)

Top Contributors

Contributor


Total

Lewis for Congress Cmte


$1,260,000

Goldman Sachs


$1,056,601

Friends of Roy Blunt


$1,010,000

Hastert for Congress Cmte


$820,907

Missourians for Kit Bond


$751,000

US Dept of State


$615,192

Friends of Clay Shaw


$600,000

Federated Investors Inc


$599,696

American Financial Group


$578,677

Grassley Cmte


$560,000

Morgan Stanley


$551,953

Lockheed Martin


$545,197

Friedman, Billings & Ramsey


$506,598

Dreier for Congress Cmte


$505,000

JP Morgan Chase & Co


$489,689

Pryce for Congress


$482,500

Christopher Cox for Congress


$476,000

Home Depot


$469,574

UBS Americas


$457,767

Sallie Mae


$457,537


Total contributions:


$398,720,684


Amount coded:


$314,603,512


( 78.9%)


Amount uncoded:


$84,117,172


( 21.1%)



METHODOLOGY: The numbers on this page are based on contributions from PACs, Levin money donors, and individuals giving $200 or more, as reported to the Federal Election Commission.

NOTE: All the numbers on this page are for the 2004 election cycle and based on Federal Election Commission data released on Monday, May 16, 2005. Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.

[warren pease]

22. Friends of Clay Shaw?

Wasn't he the New Orleans rich guy Garrison brought to trial on charges of participating in a conspiracy to kill JFK?

Weird.


wp

[Dinger]

43. tony stweart, yuk (nt)

[AntiFascist]

46. Where does Orchard Supply stand?

they also seem like a much better store than Home Depot.

[liberal N proud]

12. Where ever there is a Home Depot, there is a Lowe's or some other store

selling the same things in a reasonable distance if not right down the street.

[AllegroRondo]

13. and Lowe's has a better selection too

on nearly every type of item.

[natrat]

14. just sent them nasty email--now i just have to stay out of the stores

[shenmue]

15. Huh? They want to have a 'campaign,' and then they don't?

:shrug:

How dare you make us waste our time? We must go back to our overpriced, unsafe shelves of crap! You are taking away our time from our goal of destroying the industry!

[mattomjoe]

16. That letter doesn't surprise me

Home Depot doesn't give a shit about you when you walk in the store (does anyone even work there?), why would they give a shit now?

[lies and propaganda]

17. Unbelievable... here are the emails:

(taken from AmericaBlog for optimal pissing off of HD)

As for Home Depot, let them really have it. They blame YOU for even having the nerve to contact them.

Ron Jarvis, Vice President of Environmental Innovation
[e-mail]

Frank Blake, Chief Executive Officer
[e-mail]

Carol Tome, Chief Financial Officer
[e-mail]

[judaspriestess]

25. thanks for the emails

I am going to send them an email later this evening. My fiance just got a homedepot credit card. I told him don't activate it. I'm going to cut it up and send it back to them and let them know why.

[babylonsister]

27. Great! Thank you! nt

[blondeatlast]

19. Oh. Fuck. Them. All. To. Hell.

Lowe's is closer and they know me anyway.

:mad:

[blondeatlast]

20. This needs a few more recs... nt

[Az]

21. If they want you to shut up then obviously the thing to do is not shut up

I mean honestly.

[porphyrian]

23. And I want Home Depot to suck less, but that's apparently asking too much.

If I want to be directed to the wrong isle for common items, I can go to Lowe's. Home Depot's as good at it, but with a lamer selection available. Fuck Home Depot.

[Catherine Vincent]

26. I'm so glad I'm closing my account.

For good.

[sinkingfeeling]

28. That's why our Lowe's has about 50 times the business as the HD across the street.

[eppur_se_muova]

29. In other words, WE'VE GOT OUR FINGERS IN OUR EARS AND WE CAN"T HEAR YOU LALALALALALALALALALALALALALA

edit/spelling

[salinen]

30. The death threat style

it's the most balanced style of all.

[progressoid]

31. yet another reason to avoid home depot.

[brettdale]

32. Send Home Depot a Letter asking

"Why do they support sexual harrasment?"

[TroglodyteScholar]

33. As if I hadn't already been disappointed enough times by piss-poor service...

...now I'm done with Home Depot. No angry diatribe or pointless letters to be dismissed by their PR peons. Just a promise not to flush any more of my hard-earned money down their despicable organization.

Thanks for making it an easy decision, guys. Not to mention Lowe's did the right thing just last week.

[MisterHowdy]

34. Home Depot wants your money.

If you've ever worked for a Home Depot
you'll know, they're all about the cash.
Of course most retail stores are, but none
are as transparent as the big orange.

I worked for a home depot before.
I spent three days "In training"
But it wasn't training at all.
It was all about Home Depots history.
How much cash they grab/year.
How many billions they make annually and
how your annual raise is only 3%
No actual department training was given.

People celebrated Home Depots arrival in my small city.
Fools.

[druidity33]

45. I'd take 3%... nt

[redacted]

35. Go to Lowe's instead

In our town they're down the block from each other.

[K8-EEE]

36. We have a new-ish one here....it''s DEF getting my biz!

Lowes is going to see a lot bigger chunk of the So CA home improvement biz, I assure you!

[spooky3]

37. Damn, the nearest Lowe's is 40 minutes from me.

our area of town definitely needs them to open a store here.

[Tom Joad]

38. Remember Tom Ridge, the Duct Tape guy at homeland security. Home Depot hired him...

From Homeland (In)security to Home Depot.

For Selling *lots* of Duct tape, this man gets a cushy job

ATLANTA (Feb. 25) - Tom Ridge, the former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and former governor of Pennsylvania, was named to The Home Depot's board of directors, the home improvement retailer announced on Thursday.

"Tom Ridge served his country with great distinction, and we are honored to have him join our board, where we expect that his unique global experience and perspective will make a profound contribution to our company and our shareholders," said Bob Nardelli, chairman, president and CEO.

As Homeland Security chief, Ridge pushed a a short-lived 2003 campaign urging Americans to have duct tape and plastic sheeting handy to protect themselves from a possible chemical and/or biological attack. The campaign was widely criticized as ineffective and unnecessary, but it prompted many people to buy the materials. Some retailers reported running out of the supplies.

Both Home Depot and rival Lowe's Cos. were among the stores that benefited from the "duct tape" campaign.

Business news site MarketWatch reported that Home Depot even set up special Homeland Security displays that pushed sales of the sticky substance and plastic along with batteries and bottled water.

[onethatcares]

39. sustainability goals, do they include

firing long time employees, hiring total idiots that don't know a 2x4 from a jockstrap, changing schedules and in short messing with the help to attain a better profit ratio?

[tinrobot]

40. I switched to Lowes years ago...

They have better quality stuff, plus Home Depot gives way too much money to Republicans.

[BlackVelvet04]

41. We bought a lot of paint from Home Depot

a couple of months ago. I had at least 4 gallons that the color wasn't mixed properly.

I like Lowe's much better. They have a better selection and usually better prices.

[hvn_nbr_2]

42. Does Home Depot advertise on Air America?

If not, then their statement "we seek a balanced representation of programming to reach our customer base" is bullshit and they should be called on it.

[KurtNYC]

44. Earth to Home Depot: Billdo doesn't believe in sustainability

and let me send you a box of Kleenex... how heartbreaking that you hate democracy and yet you have to address a variance of political views. Life just aint fair!

[133724]

47. The BORG...

I sometimes post on a usnet site (rec.woodworking ) The nominclature for HD is Big Orange Retail Giant or The BORG for short.....

[viat0r]

49. Looks like ill be using local hardware stores

Theres a local place here they DELIVER the hardware to your house for the smae price and in some instances for less than home depot.
F them im not spending a dime there anymore!

[B Calm]

50. Fuck Home Depot! I'll never ever go there again! From now on

I'll be spending my money at Lowe's and Menard's!

[cosmicdot]

51. Home Depot's Board of Directors and their associations

past and present ~~


DAVID H. BATCHELDER, 57, Director since 2007 (has 30,951,761 shares)

•
Principal of Relational Investors LLC, an investment advisory firm, since 1996
•
Member of the Board of Washington Group International, Inc. (markets served: Defense

+ Threat Reduction
+ Homeland Security
+ Defense Infrastructure http://www.wgint.com/ (URS is linked ~ Dianne Feinstein's hubby's Iraq contracted firm)


FRANCIS S. BLAKE, 57, Director since 2006

•
Chairman of The Home Depot, Inc. since January 2007 and Vice Chairman from October 2006 to January 2007
•
Chief Executive Officer of The Home Depot, Inc. since January 2007
•
Executive Vice President–Business Development and Corporate Operations of The Home Depot, Inc. from March 2002 to January 2007
•
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy from May 2001 to March 2002
•
Senior Vice President of General Electric Company, a diversified industrial corporation, from June 2000 to May 2001
•
Vice President of GE Power Systems, a supplier of power generation and energy-delivery technology, from February 1996 to June 2000
•
Member of the Board of The Southern Company http://www.southerncompany.com/

GREGORY D. BRENNEMAN, 45, Director since 2000

•
President and Chief Executive Officer of Quiznos, a national quick-service restaurant, since January 2007
•
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TurnWorks, Inc., a private equity firm, since October 2002
•
Chairman of Burger King Corporation from February 2005 to April 2006 and Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Burger King from August 2004 to April 2006
•
President and Chief Executive Officer of PwC Consulting, the global business and consulting unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers, from June 2002 to October 2002
•
President of Continental Airlines, Inc., an international commercial airline company, from 1996 to 2001 and member of the Board and Chief Operating Officer of Continental Airlines from 1995 to 2001
•
Member of the Board of Automatic Data Processing, Inc.

JOHN L. CLENDENIN, 72, Director since 1996

•
Retired as Chairman in 1997 and as President and Chief Executive Officer in 1996 of BellSouth Corporation, a communications company
•
Director Emeritus of BellSouth Corporation since 1997
•
Member of the Board of:

-
Acuity Brands, Inc.
-
Equifax Inc.
-
The Kroger Co.
-
Powerwave Technologies, Inc.

CLAUDIO X. GONZÁLEZ, 72, Director since 2001

•
Chairman of Kimberly-Clark de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., a consumer products company, since 1973
•
Member of the Board of:

-
General Electric Company
-
Kellogg Company
-
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
-
Investment Co. of America

MILLEDGE A. HART, III, 73, Director since 1978

•
Member of the Board since 1985 and Chairman since 1997 of DocuCorp International, Inc.
•
Chairman of the Board of:

-
Hart Group, Inc., a private management service and investment company, since 1988
-
Rmax Operating, LLC, an insulation manufacturing company, since 1977

BONNIE G. HILL, 65, Director since 1999

•
President of B. Hill Enterprises, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in corporate governance and board organizational and public policy issues, since 2001
•
Co-founder of Icon Blue, Inc., a brand marketing company, and Chief Operating Officer since 1998
•
President and Chief Executive Officer of The Times Mirror Foundation, a charitable foundation affiliated with Tribune Company, from 1997 to 2001
•
Senior Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs of the Los Angeles Times, a daily newspaper and subsidiary of Tribune Company, from 1998 to 2001
•
Member of the Board of:

-
AK Steel Holding Corporation
-
California Water Service Group
-
Hershey Foods Corporation
-
YUM! Brands, Inc.

9

LABAN P. JACKSON, JR., 64, Director since 2004

•
Chairman of Clear Creek Properties, Inc., a real estate development company in Lexington, Kentucky, since January 1989
•
Member of the Board of:

-
JP Morgan Chase & Co.
-
SIRVA, Inc.

HELEN JOHNSON-LEIPOLD, 50, Director since 2006

•
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Johnson Outdoors, Inc., a manufacturer and marketer of outdoor recreational equipment, since March 1999
•
Chairman of Johnson Financial Group, a global financial services company, since July 2004
•
Member of the Board of JohnsonDiversey, Inc.

LAWRENCE R. JOHNSTON, 58, Director since 2004

•
Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Albertson's, Inc., a food and drug retailer, from April 2001 to June 2006
•
President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Appliances, a maker of major household appliances, from November 1999 to April 2001

KENNETH G. LANGONE, 71, Director since 1978 (16,525,429 shares of Home Depot)

•
Co-founder of The Home Depot, Inc.
•
Lead Director of The Home Depot, Inc. since 1998
•
Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Invemed Associates, Inc., an investment banking and brokerage firm, since 1974
•
Member of the Board of:

-
ChoicePoint Inc. - remember Florida 2000?
-
YUM! Brands, Inc.
-
Unifi, Inc.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/354950/000104746907002827/a2176842zdef14a.htm

SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL REGARDING EMPLOYMENT DIVERSITY REPORT DISCLOSURE

WHAT IS THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE COMPANY?

The Company's commitment to equal opportunity has been recognized by many diversity-oriented organizations, and the Company does not believe adoption of this proposal would enhance its unwavering commitment to equal opportunity in any meaningful way. The Company therefore recommends that you vote against adoption of this proposal.

SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL REGARDING POLITICAL NONPARTISANSHIP

(ITEM 10 ON THE PROXY CARD)

Mrs. Evelyn Y. Davis, located at Watergate Office Building, Suite 215, 2600 Virginia Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037, is the beneficial owner of 200 shares of the Company's common stock and has submitted the following resolution:

RESOLVED: "That the stockholders of Home Depot assembled in Annual Meeting in person and by proxy, hereby recommend that the Corporation affirm its political non-partisanship. To this end the following practices are to be avoided:

"(a)
The handing of contribution cards of a single political party to an employee by a supervisor.

RESPONSE TO PROPOSAL REGARDING POLITICAL NONPARTISANSHIP

WHAT IS THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE COMPANY?

The Company has adopted a policy which substantially implements this proposal and believes its adopion would not enhance the Company's commitment to political nonpartisanship. The Company therefore recommends that you vote against the adoption of this shareholder proposal.


read more of the proposals submitted at the last shareholders' meeting at link above


the ruling (Board of Director) class and its affect on our democracy

[farmboxer]

52. I will never walk into any of their stores! They can keep their Right

Wing bastards for themselves! Dems money they do not want!

[Decruiter]

53. It appears to me that maybe Home Depot may have possibly screwed the pooch, this time.

Bless their dear hearts. We avoid Home Depot like the plague, along with all their other big box brothers and sisters.

The more they scream must mean to some degree they are feeling some unpleasant effect of our protest or are trying to stop any. Right?

[HootieMcBoob]

54. Lowe's will be getting my business from now on n/t

[Tigress DEM]

56. Earth would be MUCH more sustainable w/o O'Reilly's HOT AIR

?? Campaigns like this one ?? If they support O'Reilly and FAUX aren't they ALREADY taking a political viewpoint?

OH yeah. I get it. APPEARENCE of impropriety is the ACTUAL PROBLEM.

SO it isn't that they believe that a variance of political views correctly exists in a free country, but that they wish to refrain from commentary. It is the VARIANCE itself that is the problem. They can handle the FAUX viewpoint because it DOESN'T VARY from the talking points.

Unfortunately campaigns like this one cause us to take time away from our sustainability goals and address a variance of political views.

[Tigress DEM]

57. OMG! WHEN did BuyBlue.org go under??!!

I WAS going to look up how much money Home Despot gave to rethugs and I found BuyBlue gone. OUCH.

http://www.buyblue.org

<snip>
Thanks for your support!
The BuyBlue team would like to thank you for all of your support over the past 2 years, unfortunately we are shutting our virtual doors.

We hope that we've been able to educate consumers and inspire people to take action and vote with their wallets. Maybe another group will take up this charge in the future, but for now we can no longer do so.

Just because we won't be online any more does not mean that the information we provided cannot be found any longer. You'll want to keep the following information sources in mind. Also, BuyBlue Colorado, an independent organization, will continue to remain operational.


Federal Election Commission: FEC.gov. The FEC was the primary source for all of our information. Federal election law requires that any donation over $250 be recorded and be publicly available at this web site. Therefore if you search for specific individuals or for specific employers you can always find where large political donations are going.

Open Secrets: Opensecrets.org. Open Secrets presents a large variety of data. They use the FEC as their primary source and we found them particularly useful to study and record donations from political action committees (PACs) which many corporations operate with the explicit purpose of influencing legislation and public policy.

The Blue Fund: The Blue Fund. The Blue Fund is the only mutual fund out there which in addition to creating a portfolio of companies based on traditional social responsibility indicators also uses a methodology similar to ours to rate companies on their political giving practices. Necessarily they have to maintain a list of blue companies in their portfolio which can be found here.

Public Integrity: Public Integrity. Public Integrity is a good place to investigate lobbying dollars spent by various companies. Open Secrets also has some of this data.

Finally, we are donating our data and custom developed Drupal modules to Advomatic. Visit this page to stay up to date and contribute your ideas.

[Tigress DEM]

59. In 2004 Home Depot was #16 of 50 TOP Corporate PACs

http://www.fec.gov/press/press2005/20050412pac/top50corpcash2004.pdf
<snip>

16 HOME DEPOT INC. BETTER GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE, THE $541,820

SO does anyone know what Home Depot's contributions to better government entailed?

http://pac.leadershipinstitute.org/detailPAC.cfm?id=C00284885

The way I read this they declared themselves NON-Party and had 69% going to rethugs and 30% going to DEMS but where is the other 11%? Skimmed? Administrative costs?

To buy cute little pac pins for the executive elite to NOT wear??!!

http://ao.nictusa.com/ao/no/030014.html

<snip>
You note that while every Home Depot employee is issued an
orange shop apron, only store employees are required to wear them
on a daily basis. Home Depot PAC estimates that less than 6% of
the PAC apron pins will be distributed to store employees. You
state that Home Depot's corporate managers, who make up the
"overwhelming majority" of the Home Depot PAC's restricted class,
are not required to wear their shop aprons on a daily basis but
many do wear them four times a year for ceremonial purposes at
quarterly corporate meetings. Therefore, although the subset of
the restricted class who will actually wear the PAC apron pin on
their shop aprons is unknown, Home Depot PAC estimates that more
than 94% of the PAC apron pins will be worn for no more than the
four annual ceremonial occasions. Furthermore, given Home
Depot's long tradition of issuing apron pins and their customary
display, you state that it is "extremely unlikely" that the pins
will be worn in any manner other than on the shop apron. You
assert that, given the limited distribution of the pins to
members of the restricted class, and the fact that most members
of the restricted class only wear their shop aprons at four
corporate events per year, it is unlikely that the Home Depot PAC
pin will be seen by a significant number of individuals who are
outside the Home Depot PAC's restricted class.

[Tigress DEM]

60. Home Depot Ethics & guv'ment relations

http://ir.homedepot.com/governance/ethics.cfm

<snip>
Our Values are our beliefs, principles and standards that do not change over time. Values are the resources we draw on when asked to make decisions. They form the groundwork for our ethical behavior. All that we do at The Home Depot must be consistent with the values of the Company. We believe in:
Doing the Right Thing,
having Respect for all People,
building Strong Relationships,
Taking Care of Our People,
Giving Back,
providing Excellent Customer Service,
an Encouraging Entrepreneurial Spirit
and providing strong Shareholder Returns.


<snip>
Political Activity and Government Relations
The Home Depot has interests at stake at the federal, state, local, and international levels. We may choose to express our opinion on local and national issues that affect our business, but we will not abuse our corporate standing to influence political issues. In political matters, we will be mindful of our legal and ethical obligations and will obey all relevant laws and regulations.

The Home Depot supports and encourages the right of all Associates to participate in the political process on an individual basis but does not permit the use of corporate resources or Company time for personal political activities.

The Home Depot sponsors a political action committee ("PAC") called The Home Depot Better Government Committee, which provides information and opinions on public issues affecting the retail industry. While the PAC does solicit donations, participation by Associates is strictly voluntary and confidential.

[Tigress DEM]

61. Home Depot & the environment... from the horse's mouth

It reads good on paper, but the link to the organizations they sponsor is not working for me.

http://corporate.homedepot.com/wps/portal/Environment

<snip>
At your Home Depot, you can count on us to be actively involved in pursuing environmental excellence through our stores and our vendors. We're dedicated to making communities a better place for generations to come. From our progressive consumer education programs, to our commitment to carry certified "green" products, we're dedicated to making a positive environmental impact every day.

Environmental Principles
Read the environmental principles The Home Depot follows to promote resource conservation, responsible packaging, and more.

Environmental Milestones
See the incredible progress we've made since we first announced our commitment to the environment after Earth Day, nearly a decade ago.

Doing Your Part
Learn how you can make simple improvements around the house that have a positive effect on the environment, your health, and your wallet.

Customer Education Programs
Learn how you can make informed environmental choices through The Home Depot's numerous consumer education programs.

Recycling
Recycling is a lifetime commitment that requires effort every day of every year. We'll continue to recycle and support companies that use recycled content. We hope you do, too.

Corporate Contributions
Learn how The Home Depot offers financial support to non-profit organizations around the globe, and how you can apply for a grant.

[Tigress DEM]

62. However, the other way to read it is... "We'll take ANYONE's Money.."

IE: We advertise on FAUX since a fool and their money are soon parted and FAUX provides us with more fools than any other source.