Why Wall Street execs want to silence their shareholders
Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved a new “say on pay” policy that allows shareholders to vote on the pay package for a company’s top executives.
You wouldn’t think that would be a particularly controversial measure. For one thing, the vote isn’t even binding; it is advisory only. And shouldn’t shareholders — the people who actually own a company — be allowed to at least voice an opinion about how their own top employees are paid? Surely that is consistent with free-enterprise market principles, right?
Republicans, however, have fought the measure tooth and nail. It was approved by the SEC by a party-line 3-2 vote, with Republican appointees to the panel trying vainly to delay, weaken or kill it. They also fought it in Congress, voting against “say on pay” in party-line votes in 2009, back when Democrats still had enough votes to pass it.
As the Chicago Tribune reported back then:
“Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), in a comment echoed by fellow Republicans, assailed the (say-on-pay) measure as “unprecedented government intervention in the free enterprise system.”
“This bill is an invitation for political meddling at its worst in the private confines of companies that are trying to work hard to create jobs,” complained Rep. Peter J. Roskam (R-Ill.)
I find those complaints hard to fathom. It is government interference to give the owners of a company a voice — a non-binding voice! — in what its executives are paid?
This week, we got a chance to see the rule in action, and also to see why Republicans continue to fight it so hard. Shareholders at Citigroup, one of the 10 largest banks in the world, voted 55-45 percent on Tuesday to object to the pay packages granted to CEO Vikram Pandit, as well as to bonus and compensation packages for other top executives. By one count, Pandit collected as much as $49 million in pay, stock options, retention bonuses and other compensation last year, even though the company’s performance has lagged.
The Citigroup investor rebellion came after the nation’s largest corporate-governance experts, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis & Co., both recommended against approval of the pay package on grounds that it was too generous and wasn’t linked to company performance.
Glass Lewis, for example, gave the company’s executive pay plan an “F”, explaining:
“Having repaid its TARP funds in 2010, the Company was not subject to restrictions governing the structure of compensation paid to its highest-paid executives during 2011. In turn, the Company has implemented incentive plans rampant with significant issues that, in our opinion, warrant shareholder attention. It is clear to us that the Company has squandered the opportunity to form well-designed, objective incentive plans at the lifting of TARP restrictions, opting instead for often discretionary awards that may qualify as a misuse of company capital.”
In other words, the executives were paying themselves more than they were worth and more than they had earned. (When Pandit became CEO in December 2007, Citigroup was selling at a little over $300 a share. Yesterday it closed at $35.08 a share.)
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens now. According to ISS, only 2 percent of executive pay packages were rejected by shareholders last year, so the action by Citigroup investors is pretty noteworthy, suggesting it’s an egregious case. On the other hand, because the Tuesday vote was non-binding, Pandit and Citigroup’s board of directors are under no legal obligation to honor it.
In addition, pay packages for other major Wall Street firms are also coming up for shareholder review, and those companies are also probably nervous about a shareholder revolt.
All of this strikes me as a very good thing. This is not government interference in free markets; this is stockholders regaining just the slightest bit of control over their own property. And it is almost inexplicable to me that Republicans view it as a bad thing.
I say “almost inexplicable,” because blind loyalty to the top 0.001 percent is the only explanation I can offer. If you have a better one, please, let’s hear it.
– Jay Bookman
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946 comments Add your comment
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
3:21 pm
“Surely you are not suggesting that my personal bias against Romney is showing up in my reporting of the incident are you. Gads what a thought”
Well, I have a pretty strong bias against him too…but unlike the “To posit such nonsense strains credulity sir” – I don’t have any trouble looking at the incident with UNBIASED eyes.
Thulsa Doom
April 19th, 2012
3:22 pm
Joe mama,
Then go back and read my previous posts. I’ve demonstrated several and just did a few more for ya. Or is saying Obama is “sorta like a God” not good enough fer ya??? And read the pew research center link that I posted earlier on the obama/mccain election. That one article speaks volumes.
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
3:24 pm
“Doggone-can you not understand the poor dog was traumatized by the entire episode? A 12 hour car ride in freezing weather only to be hosed down by your owner? It is truly sickening”
Having had dogs for 30 years, including show and performance dogs, as well as “just plain pets” – yes, I can see that it MIGHT happen. What I can’t see is that “testimony” of someone determined to put it is as bad a light as possible is evidence that it WAS that bad.
JamVet
April 19th, 2012
3:26 pm
In other words, the executives were paying themselves more than they were worth and more than they had earned.
You still don’t get it, do you Jay?
Republican rubes LOVE getting stepped on.
They can’t get enough.
The sheep are making no more money – in real terms – than they did in the 1970s and they LOVE it!
Supply side capitalism, doncha know?
Thulsa Doom
April 19th, 2012
3:26 pm
“I don’t have any trouble looking at the incident with UNBIASED eyes”
Yes. Of course. Doggone is completely UNBIASED and without any prejudices. Uh huh.
td
April 19th, 2012
3:26 pm
Jay,
I am sure you will probably not care but I will tell you that this hard core conservative agrees with you on this article. If these executives do not want their compensation packages challenged then stay a private company. Stockholders should have a right to address what it wants to pay its CEO.
I would go for a deal that says if I (the investor) is making money then you the CEO should be rewarded handsomely but if I am losing money then you the CEO should be paying money back to the corporation.
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
3:28 pm
“Yes. Of course. Doggone is completely UNBIASED and without any prejudices. Uh huh”
YOU make it a general statement….*I* limited to one PARTICULAR incident.
Becky
April 19th, 2012
3:29 pm
Doggone-Apparently it was that bad to the dog as it kept running away. I don’t buy your wandering dog story either if you have had show and performance dogs I would hope they would be in contained environment and not running loose off leash.
This story is not going away as much as Romney and his supporters wish it would.
JamVet
April 19th, 2012
3:31 pm
I say “almost inexplicable,” because blind loyalty to the top 0.001 percent is the only explanation I can offer. If you have a better one, please, let’s hear it.
Nope.
That is it.
Unfounded, unwarranted, counter-productive, self-flagellating blind loyalty to the very men who are stepping on them.
These fake conservatives have been programmed to do one thing – hate everything liberal. Even when it makes perfect sense, they will fight it because that is paramount.
They stand totally ALONE against every subset of every democracy in the entire world.
And they are fiercely proud of their collective stupidity…
carlosgvv
April 19th, 2012
3:32 pm
I’ve always believed you can tell a lot about a man by seeing how he treats his pets. Many women will tell you their fathers always told them “never trust a man who doesn’t like dogs”. Putting your family dog in a crate and tying the crate to the car roof for a long car trip indicates a deep and cold lact of feeling for anyone other than yourself. Eight years of pain, blood and death from a heartless George W. Bush was more than enough of that kind of mentality.
Peadawg
April 19th, 2012
3:32 pm
What helps you deflect from the real issues at hand, Becky.
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
3:34 pm
“Doggone-Apparently it was that bad to the dog as it kept running away.”
And you are prepared to prove that the problem did not exist until AFTER that car ride…right?
” I don’t buy your wandering dog story either if you have had show and performance dogs I would hope they would be in contained environment and not running loose off leash”
Hon, that’s why I now have 6 foot fences instead of 4 foot. That particular “wanderer” was a talented fence jumper. Cost me a FORTUNE to replace my fences to keep him in. Then he turned to digging out and it cost me another small fortune to fix it so he couldn’t do that either.
BADA BING
April 19th, 2012
3:35 pm
The Pres can’t eat a Greyhound because Michelle won’t let him have fast food.
Peadawg
April 19th, 2012
3:35 pm
ditto my 3:32 to carlos as well
Oscar
April 19th, 2012
3:35 pm
Twelve hours on the top of a car going eighty on an interstate highway. does not sound good.
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
3:35 pm
“Putting your family dog in a crate and tying the crate to the car roof for a long car trip indicates a deep and cold lact of feeling for anyone other than yourself”
No, actually it doesn’t. It depends on how it was done and how used to being in a crate while traveling the dog is. If effect…whether you like it or not…it’s no different from putting the dog in a crate in the back of an uncovered pick-up truck.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
April 19th, 2012
3:37 pm
Well, I would never put old Ace on the top of my truck. He rides in the front seat with me. Heck, I think so much of him I’d let him drive if it wasn’t for the cops.
Oblama
April 19th, 2012
3:37 pm
Gone today – here tomorrow
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
3:37 pm
“Twelve hours on the top of a car going eighty on an interstate highway. does not sound good”
No, if you’re not familiar with dogs that travel in crates…it doesn’t. That doesn’t neccessarily mean it IS bad. I’ve been threatened with having the SPCA called on me for having my dogs in crates at all.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
April 19th, 2012
3:38 pm
What helps you deflect from the real issues at hand, Becky.
Moral character is the main issue we use when judging and deciding our elected leaders. Obviously, Becky finds this instance to be illustrative of Romney’s moral character.
Peadawg
April 19th, 2012
3:39 pm
Becky and carlos give Obama a pass for eating dog.
Disgusting. Absolutely pathetic.
Thulsa Doom
April 19th, 2012
3:39 pm
“can you not understand the poor dog was traumatized by the entire episode?”
Becky,
Are you a retriever mind reader? How do you know that the dog was traumatized? Did it ever occur to you that maybe he just had diarrhea and had to go? That would seem more plausible seeing as how it was a stream of poop and not a couple of poop logs. Didn’t think bout that did ya?
” A 12 hour car ride in freezing weather only to be hosed down by your owner? It is truly sickening.”
Since you were there maybe you can tell us if it was a summer vacation or if the Romneys set off for Ontario in the dead of winter. And perhaps you can tell us exactly what the temperature was that day? Or are you just ASSuming things?
Hosing the dog off? Perhaps he woulda been better off in his own feces in your little mind.
Finn McCool (Class Warfare === Stopping Rich People from TAKING MORE of OUR MONEY)
April 19th, 2012
3:40 pm
excellent article describing the difference between public debt (government) and private debt (individuals and families):
Think of federal budget deficits themselves as barometers of economic activity: when economic activity declines, tax revenues plunge and social welfare expenditures rise as more people are thrown out of work. As a consequence, in bad economic times, there are higher deficits; conversely, when prosperity returns, deficits decrease.
http://www.salon.com/2012/04/19/deficit_dogma_debunked/
Peadawg
April 19th, 2012
3:40 pm
“Moral character is the main issue we use when judging and deciding our elected leaders.”
In that case both Obama and Romney are scumbags. Eating dog vs. putting your dog on the top of the roof…hhhmmmmm……
Normal, Plain and Simple
April 19th, 2012
3:44 pm
Pea,
What is the big deal about eating dog? I ate dog in Viet Nam and while the first time was accidental, I learned that when in Rome…you know the rest. If he had a dog feast at the rose garden, then be appalled, but otherwise…come on…geez.
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
3:44 pm
“In that case both Obama and Romney are scumbags. Eating dog vs. putting your dog on the top of the roof…hhhmmmmm”
There’s nothing immoral about either one…except to those who are determined to see immorality where it doesn’t exist.
Peadawg
April 19th, 2012
3:45 pm
“What is the big deal about eating dog?” – I don’t eat family members, sorry.
Thulsa Doom
April 19th, 2012
3:45 pm
I’ll bet there are people who never secured their dogs who had accidents and then watched in horror as their dogs went flying either through the windshield or through the air if they were standing up in the back of a pickup truck. The more moral thing to do would be to put them in a safe, tied down crate.
Anyone care to debate if its safer to be completely unsecured or if its safer to be tied down in a crate to where a dog isn’t going to go flying through the windshield or 100 feet in the air if they are in the bed of a truck.
I’m real curious to see someone try and say the dog woulda been safer not being in his crate.
They BOTH suck
April 19th, 2012
3:45 pm
Who let the dogs out?
Damn it is a slow news day
moonbat betty
April 19th, 2012
3:45 pm
RC Convert,
I hope your dog wears a seatbelt. If you were to get into an accident with Fido in the front seat, he would most likely be injured or killed.
Back in the early 80’s and earlier, most people didn’t wear seat belts (including kids) either.
Dogs ride in the back of pickup trucks all the time (not saying that I would do that to my dog)
Times have changed…
Surely Obama smoked on airline flights where children were confined to breathe his smoke?
Call Child Protection Services!!
Seamus
April 19th, 2012
3:46 pm
“That would seem more plausible seeing as how it was a stream of poop and not a couple of poop logs.”
Actually, I stole some turkey off the counter. Was good, too. I think the term is projectile… I actually had a good laugh watching the old f@rt hosing down the car and kennel.
Adam
April 19th, 2012
3:46 pm
Peadawg: So Obama eats dog? I wonder what is keeping him from eating Bo. I mean, if he just can’t help himself, or something, as “giving Obama a pass on eating dog” suggests….
moonbat betty
April 19th, 2012
3:47 pm
And Romney did construct a wind break for the crate so the dog would not be exposed to the wind.
Peadawg
April 19th, 2012
3:47 pm
“Who let the dogs out?”
When the party was nice, the party was jumpin’ (Hey, Yippie, Yi, Yo)
USMC
April 19th, 2012
3:47 pm
“Why Wall Street execs want to silence their shareholders”–Jay
More Party Talking Points from Obama’s WAR ON SUCCESS!
Peadawg
April 19th, 2012
3:48 pm
“Peadawg: So Obama eats dog?” – You must have missed the story about Obama eating dogs when he was younger.
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
3:49 pm
“I don’t eat family members, sorry.”
Maybe not, but under the right circumstances that family member WOULD eat you. It actually happened to a woman who had the same breed that I have…who died in her house and was not found until almost 2 weeks later.
Seamus
April 19th, 2012
3:49 pm
“I wonder what is keeping him from eating Bo.”
Bo is missing his right rear leg. Bo is a good dog, and even Obama won’t eat a good dog all at once.
Peadawg
April 19th, 2012
3:49 pm
Dude, USMC, ‘war on women’, ‘war on success’, etc. are soooo yesterday.
Let’s talk about the ‘war on dogs’…you know…something that reeeeaaaally matters!!!
Adam
April 19th, 2012
3:49 pm
Peadawg: No, I didn’t. The point of me saying “So Obama eats dog?” is to put it in a PRESENT context. And seeing as you didn’t notice, I can assume you think he still does this, or at least have no problem leaving the implication out there.
moonbat betty
April 19th, 2012
3:49 pm
Well at least Romney didn’t do like Griswald in Vacation and forget to untie the dog’s leash from the bumper.
Stephen
April 19th, 2012
3:50 pm
The true vulture capitalists are the CEOs like Pandit. They are where the Republicans get all their money when running for office. George H. W. Bush was in the pocket of the billionaires and his son merely referred tot them as “my supporters.” Pleasing the .001 group is a get way to get cash to run for office; it comes in large chunks.
So, we have a vicious circle: The wealthy .001 give to their friends in Congress and Congress clears the way for the .001 group to get richer and richer. Plutocracy is too kind a word to use to refer to the wealth .001 group.
Thulsa Doom
April 19th, 2012
3:50 pm
Ya’ll need to go argue with my vet who told me that a lot of dogs like their crate and view their crate as a sort of security zone where they are at ease because they feel protected from the world. Dog psychology and human psychology would be 2 different things.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
April 19th, 2012
3:51 pm
Eating dog vs. putting your dog on the top of the roof…hhhmmmmm……
I wouldn’t classify anyone that eats dog meat as a “scumbag.” It’s not something that I would eat, but I’m not so provincial to believe that my dietary habits are moral. It’s how we treat our pets — those creatures that rely on our good judgment — that makes one a “scumbag” in my book. Why couldn’t the Romneys kennel their pet, or leave him with a trusted family member or neighbor? That would’ve been a kinder alternative to caging him to the top of a moving vehicle.
Normal, Plain and Simple
April 19th, 2012
3:51 pm
http://lolcats.icanhascheezburger.com/2012/04/19/funny-cat-pictures-classic-lolcat-34/
Thulsa Doom
April 19th, 2012
3:52 pm
I feel it only appropriate to bring him out given the topic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATPi3VQsEv0
Normal, Plain and Simple
April 19th, 2012
3:54 pm
President Obama eating dog when he was young is just another manufactured reason to foster hatred for the man. Pitiful Republican diversion.
Brosephus™
April 19th, 2012
3:54 pm
Reading this blog sometimes remind me of this photo…
http://edge.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/251172/80602679.png
*Language alert in the caption….
—————————–
“What is the big deal about eating dog?” – I don’t eat family members, sorry.
I would gather that if you were in a country that served dog meat, you wouldn’t be served YOUR pet. Don’t go to India and expect to eat any beef either. They don’t eat their family members.
Oscar
April 19th, 2012
3:54 pm
http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/tags/Mitt+romney/default.aspx
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Mitt Romney’s Cruel VacationWritten by PETA
Posted 06-28-2007, 12:07 PM
94 Comments
Slate/Creative Commons
Did you happen to see this Boston Globe story about Mitt Romney? The reporter opened the piece with a Romney family story about Mitt strapping the family’s Irish Setter, Seamus, to the roof of his station wagon for a twelve hour drive from Boston to Ontario. When the terrified dog lost control of his bowels and his waste covered the roof and back window of the car, Romney apparently calmly pulled over and simply sprayed the car—and the dog—down with a hose and hopped back on the highway.
Unfortunately, there is no punch line; I am not kidding. The reporter thought this was a fine example of Romney’s “emotion-free crisis management” style, but who knows. Here’s what PETA’s president, Ingrid Newkirk said to an enquiring press:
“First, as a charity we can’t and don’t endorse or oppose any candidate for public office, but I can say (and not just as a person who grew up with an Irish Setter!) that any individual who does something like that may have what scientists term the absence of the mirror neuron, i.e., a pin-pointable absence in the brain of the characteristic which allows the individual to feel basic compassion. The implications are frightening. Anyone who suspects that they are not able to feel empathy for others needs to be aware of the existence of this condition. What is also worrying is that Mr. Romney seems to hold the very old fashioned idea that he needs to actively show he is heartless, hence the hunting claims he has made. Not subsistence hunting, but pride in killing defenseless animals for sport, for fun, for show. In the case of the dog on the roof of the car, if this is true, quite remarkably it obviously wasn’t for show as only his own children were watching, a lesson in cruelty that was also wrong for them to witness. There was also the obviousness of the situation. Thinking of the wind, the weather, the speed, the vulnerability, the isolation on the roof, it is commonsense that any dog who’s under extreme stress might show that stress by losing control of his bowels: that alone should have been sufficient indication that the dog was, basically, being tortured. If you wouldn’t strap your child to the roof of your car, you have no business doing that to the family dog! I don’t know who would find that acceptable. Mr. Romney needs to tell the world he realizes this was not humane. People do stupid things and one day realize it, so better late than never.”Thanks to Ana Marie Cox, founder of Wonkette, now Time.com’s Washington Editor, for noticing the story on Boston.com and jumping on it.
Adam
April 19th, 2012
3:55 pm
Anyway, the dog thing is ridiculous, on both sides, in my opinion. Even as a dog lover, I don’t see the point, politically, of focusing on either story. It doesn’t really motivate a whole lot of people against or for a candidate.
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
3:56 pm
“That would’ve been a kinder alternative to caging him to the top of a moving vehicle.”
Again, not neccessarily. I had a friend years ago who could not leave her dog with anyone else, or he would not eat. She found that out when she boarded him and he almost died of starvation. She had to cut her vacation short to go and get him.
There is nothing INHERENTLY wrong with putting a crated dog on the top of a car…IF it’s done correctly, and IF the dog is used to traveling in a crate. I could do it to mine and they wouldn’t care, as long as they got to go along.
BADA BING
April 19th, 2012
3:56 pm
The Pres’s favorite dish is an obese Daschund. Cause it’s low fat.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
April 19th, 2012
3:57 pm
Don’t go to India and expect to eat any beef either. They don’t eat their family members.
People in this country keep pigs as pets.
That ain’t gonna stop me from eating ribs.
Just sayin’.
JamVet
April 19th, 2012
3:58 pm
Stephen, look no farther than that second 3:47.
The 99% have not even moved beyond 1973 wages, yet the Repulibots think they are successful and things are just hunky dory in America.
And most of them can’t even afford their health insurance.
Insane…
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
3:59 pm
“Romney apparently calmly pulled over and simply sprayed the car—and the dog—down with a hose and hopped back on the highway”
And I’ve had to do exactly the same thing, the only difference is MY dog was IN the car and I had to hose him, the crate AND the inside of the car (well, in this case the van)
stands for decibels
April 19th, 2012
4:00 pm
Obama and Romney are scumbags. Eating dog
erm, you realize this is something that he was fed, as a boy, while in Indonesia, yes? Couldn’t have been any older than 10? How much of a choice do you think he had in the matter?
/drive-by
Joe Hussein Mama
April 19th, 2012
4:00 pm
Doom — “And then CBS called the election in florida in favor of Gore, driving away several thousand Republican voters in the central panhandle on the way home from work who didn’t bother going to vote since the election had already been called. How and why they called such a close election to Gore is nothing short of shameful.”
Try living in Hawaii. They don’t go on DST, so they’re six hours ahead of the East Coast in the summer, and five hours ahead in the fall in winter. When the polls close in Hawaii, it’s already midnight or later on the East Coast, and several states have already been called.
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
4:01 pm
“The Pres’s favorite dish is an obese Daschund. Cause it’s low fat”
Ummm…not only is that not funny, it’s not even logical. “Obese” means HIGH in fat.
Oblama
April 19th, 2012
4:01 pm
K- Not true. As a subscriber to the AJC I have an investment in the AJC and should have a say so on who they hire and how much they are paid. Just attempting to “reason” like the Oblama socialists on the lunatic fringe. Perhaps the corporations should go where they are better appreciated since the current President is demonizing them. I am sure Latin America and Asia would welcome them with open arms. Share holders already have a say so. They can sell their stock.
Joe Hussein Mama
April 19th, 2012
4:02 pm
Doom — “Then go back and read my previous posts. I’ve demonstrated several and just did a few more for ya. Or is saying Obama is “sorta like a God” not good enough fer ya???”
You don’t honestly think that that sort of expression slipped into *news* reportage, do you?
I’m starting to wonder if you’re deliberately blurring the distinction between news reportage and editorial comments.
Brosephus™
April 19th, 2012
4:02 pm
That ain’t gonna stop me from eating ribs.
Damn right!!
or Chick Fil A either because of pet chickens.
godless heathen©
April 19th, 2012
4:02 pm
PETA’s comment is brought into the discussion. This the PETA that thinks fishing is animal cruelty?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
April 19th, 2012
4:03 pm
There is nothing INHERENTLY wrong with putting a crated dog on the top of a car…IF it’s done correctly, and IF the dog is used to traveling in a crate.
And I would think it’s up to the individual animal. The animal may be distressed even if it’s done correctly. I think there is enough evidence in this case to suspect that traveling on top of the car distressed this animal.
Please note that I used the word “suspect.” I have no proof whatsoever of conclusive evidence.
Hilary Rosen
April 19th, 2012
4:03 pm
Can we get serious here? I need to vent. I met Sandra Fluke, was going to give her my birth control pills. After all, my girlfriend can’t knock me up, and no man has passed thru here in a long time. Well, that cheap b*tch, complaining about a $9 prescription, has a new Bimmer and a new smart phone. Can you imagine the nerve? I didn’t even give her the shampoo. God knows she needs it.
Scooter
April 19th, 2012
4:04 pm
Isn’t that sweet of the Democrats to give shareholders a non-binding, advisory say, LOL? Just more feel good political pandering that has no affect other than fomenting resentment and animosity amongst Americans.
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
4:04 pm
“That ain’t gonna stop me from eating ribs”
Amen to that! I couldn’t have a pig as a pet, they ALL look like pork chops on the hoof to me.
td
April 19th, 2012
4:04 pm
Dogs suck and cats rule. BTW: Where are all you pet lovers on flying your animals across the country in a non- climate controlled compartments on airplanes?
Brosephus™
April 19th, 2012
4:04 pm
This the PETA that thinks fishing is animal cruelty?
Not my PETA – People Eating Tasty Animals.
BADA BING
April 19th, 2012
4:06 pm
Doggone…low is the key word here….as to the ground
Joe Hussein Mama
April 19th, 2012
4:06 pm
Oblama — “As a subscriber to the AJC I have an investment in the AJC and should have a say so on who they hire and how much they are paid.”
No. You’re just a customer. If you want to be more than that, then buy some shares of Cox Communications.
You purchase a product with your subscription, which you then receive in your driveway every (most?) morning. You’re not an investor.
Brosephus™
April 19th, 2012
4:06 pm
td
My pets are swiming in their aquarium. They don’t go anywhere until they do the backstroke.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
April 19th, 2012
4:06 pm
As a subscriber to the AJC I have an investment in the AJC…
Once again — “customer” does not equal “investor.”
Please invest in a dictionary, otherwise you would look like an uninformed tool.
td
April 19th, 2012
4:07 pm
JamVet
April 19th, 2012
3:58 pm
Stephen, look no farther than that second 3:47.
The 99% have not even moved beyond 1973 wages
And you are getting these numbers from where? Please do not tell us it was the same two French socialist economist that Jay referenced in his article a few days ago.
Joe Hussein Mama
April 19th, 2012
4:08 pm
Doggone — “Amen to that! I couldn’t have a pig as a pet, they ALL look like pork chops on the hoof to me.”
Did you ever see the British TV comedy The Young Ones? One of the characters had a pet pig named “Bacon Sandwich.”
G Mare 71( got the living' the red state BLUES!)
April 19th, 2012
4:09 pm
Too tasteless, “Hilary;” go away.
BADA BING
April 19th, 2012
4:09 pm
Obama
Batters
And
Marinates
Animals
td
April 19th, 2012
4:09 pm
Brosephus™
April 19th, 2012
4:06 pm
td
My pets are swiming in their aquarium. They don’t go anywhere until they do the backstroke.
LOL. My cat goes everywhere with us on vacation. He thought he was in heaven last year on the beach. I think he thought he was in the worlds largest litter box.
Adam
April 19th, 2012
4:10 pm
“You feed a pig an apple, it makes bacon. That’s magic, or the best recycling program EVER”
Brosephus™
April 19th, 2012
4:10 pm
In regards to animals, there are not very many that are safe back at home. Bambi’s mom has to watch her back, and so does Thumper. Being cute don’t save that hide.
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
4:11 pm
JHM – no never did see that…but I’d like to have a dollar for every pet pig in the world named “pork chop”!
Oblama
April 19th, 2012
4:12 pm
Congress determines their own pay and votes themselves an annual raise despite the fact they are running a deficit year after year. If they worked for a corporation they would surely be overpaid – based on their performance. In fact if they worked for a corporation they would likely be fired for ineptness, fraud, and bringing the company near bankruptcy (the U.S.A.). They may even be in prison for insider trading, receiving bribes , etc., etc. etc. But since they are Congress and their Boss agrees with their agenda they receive little to no unbiased oversight. It is time for Congress to live like the rest of us Jay. Their power to give themselves raises should be taken from them. An independent source outside of the Fed government should have investigative oversight over the Fed’s activities and report annually to the citizens of the U.S.A. in a “stock holders” meeting. Don’t you agree?
moonbat betty
April 19th, 2012
4:12 pm
RIP Levon Helm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VShpcqd3zE
carlosgvv
April 19th, 2012
4:13 pm
I wonder if Romney’s obvious lack of compassion for his dog was caused by his Mormon upbringing? Is he thoroughly filled with that Christian myth which says people are “a little lower than the angels” and animals are just “beasts of the field”? And/or is he simply unable to feel empathy for others? We definitely don’t need a combination religious nut/sociopath in the White House.
Joe Hussein Mama
April 19th, 2012
4:14 pm
Doggone — “JHM – no never did see that…”
The same character tried to claim his pet was actually a *ferret.*
“but I’d like to have a dollar for every pet pig in the world named “pork chop”!”
Many moons ago, I used to post on Yahoo Stocks! as Porkchopicus of Borg.
Brosephus™
April 19th, 2012
4:14 pm
“You feed a pig an apple, it makes bacon. That’s magic, or the best recycling program EVER”
Between that one and the pork chops on the hoof, my stomach’s cramping from laughing so hard…..
Thulsa Doom
April 19th, 2012
4:15 pm
Ya’ll can have your pigs. But if you eff with my jackass and my 2 goats that amble up to my back fence for some apples and carrots then I’m on your ass. Same with my shi-Tzu. But now if you steal and make a small sausage out of my girlfriend’s annoying little chihuahua then I’ll have to send you a thank you card- and a check. And the excedrin that I will no longer need.
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
4:16 pm
Bro – “and so does Thumper”
Did you know that rabbits are one of the few animals that will not protect their young? A doe rabbit will abandon her young to save herself.
td
April 19th, 2012
4:20 pm
Doggone/GA,
They know it only takes about 8 more weeks to pop out another 8 to 10.
Reminds me of some other category but I will not say it or the blog may explode.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
April 19th, 2012
4:21 pm
And the excedrin that I will no longer need.
Some unsolicited advice — Excedrin is a combination of acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine. People who drink alcohol should never take acetaminophen due to the risk of liver damage.
Butch Cassidy
April 19th, 2012
4:22 pm
Oblama – “Not true. As a subscriber to the AJC I have an investment in the AJC and should have a say so on who they hire and how much they are paid. ”
Yeah, that’s just stupid. Ever wonder why you don’t get a shareholders report when you buy a 7 layer burrito at Taco Bell? Or, do you feel that every purchase you make should come with a proxy voter form?
Oblama
April 19th, 2012
4:25 pm
Even CEO’s don’t have the power to give themselves annual raises – but Congress does. Time for oversight of Congress from an outside the Fed , independent source.
carlosgvv
April 19th, 2012
4:25 pm
Doggone/GA
Dogs are pack animals. They belong with you and your family. It you take it upon yourself to own a dog, you are responsible for treating it properly. That means you let the dog stay in the house most of the time , not in a dog house in the back yard, and you do NOT crate the dog and tie dog and crate on top of a car.
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
4:25 pm
“People who drink alcohol should never take acetaminophen due to the risk of liver damage”
Not a problem for me…I can’t take anything with aspirin in it anyway
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
4:26 pm
“They know it only takes about 8 more weeks to pop out another 8 to 10″
Yeah, well…there’s a LOT of truth to “breeding like rabbits”!
carlosgvv
April 19th, 2012
4:27 pm
Peadog – 3:35
My 3:32 post was an indication of how Romney’s treatment of his dog reflects a serious character defect that we don’t need in the White House. Are you so dense you couldn’t see that?
Oblama
April 19th, 2012
4:29 pm
B.C. – What a great idea from the left. We should receive an annual report from every service and product we pay for. Then there would be as much expense and red tape as with the inept Fed government. THANKS!
Paul
April 19th, 2012
4:30 pm
Okay, I gotta admit – as tiring and as questionable as I find the general (not individualized) outrage over the dog in a crate story, I laughed out loud reading those exchanges. Especially visualizing the bloggers while posting.
Doggone/GA
“And riding in a crate is much safer, overall, than letting a dog ride loose in the car.”
That is the most salient point I’ve yet heard. Why didn’t talking heads note that? Answer: because it doesn’t advance their political agenda. In fact, it discredits them and would not only dial the hysteria back, it should defuse it.
Bada Bing – looking forward to a pleasant summer. Nothing to do with climate change. White House announced there wouldn’t be any dog days of summer -
td
April 19th, 2012
4:31 pm
carlosgvv
April 19th, 2012
4:27 pm
And Obama’s smoking shows a serious character flaw in him. Both men, like all men, are not perfect.
Butch Cassidy
April 19th, 2012
4:32 pm
Oblama – “What a great idea from the left. We should receive an annual report from every service and product we pay for.”
Wasn’t an idea, and I’m not on the “Left” of anything. I believe it was you who though that because you subscribe to the AJC, that you should have a say in how much people make.I guess you missed the class on identifying the differences betwen PUBLICLY traded companies and PRIVATELY held ones.
Doggone/GA
April 19th, 2012
4:33 pm
“Dogs are pack animals”
Dogs are also highly adaptable and resilient animals who can become accustomed to a wide variety of living situations. YOUR ideas of what are correct are not the be-all and end-all of living with dogs.