Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Memetrics
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojkt
These gals prefer to actually occupy the boardrooms of Wall Street.
In 1980, Sister Nora and her community formed a corporate responsibility committee to combat what they saw as troubling developments at the businesses in which they invested their retirement fund. A year later, in coordination with groups like the Philadelphia Area Coalition for Responsible Investment, they mounted their offensive. They boycotted Big Oil, took aim at Nestlé over labor policies, and urged Big Tobacco to change its ways.
Eventually, they developed a strategy combining moral philosophy and public shaming. Once they took aim at a company, they bought the minimum number of shares that would allow them to submit resolutions at that company’s annual shareholder meeting. (Securities laws require shareholders to own at least $2,000 of stock before submitting resolutions.) That gave them a nuclear option, in the event the company’s executives refused to meet with them.
Unsurprisingly, most companies decided they would rather let the nuns in the door than confront religious dissenters in public.
“You’re not going to get any sympathy for cutting off a nun at your annual meeting,” says Robert McCormick, chief policy officer of Glass, Lewis & Company, a firm that specializes in shareholder proxy votes. With their moral authority, he said, the Sisters of St. Francis “can really bring attention to issues.”
Sister Nora and her cohorts have gained access to some of the most illustrious boardrooms in America. Robert J. Stevens, the chief executive of Lockheed Martin, has lent her an ear, as has Carl-Henric Svanberg, the chairman of BP. Jack Welch, the former chief executive of General Electric, was so impressed by their campaign against G.E.’s involvement in nuclear weapons development that he took a helicopter to their convent to meet with the nuns. He landed the helicopter in a field across the street.
Filed under: Wall Street | Tagged: Sister Nora, Sisters of St. Francis |
All Things in Moderation 
Very funny cartoons.
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Good morning all.These cartoons are funny; I had not seen the first one. Thanks!But I am most intrigued by the story about the Sisters. Good link, lms. This is how corporate "reform" has to happen. Lots of us complain about lack of social responsibility by corporations, especially since the 2008 meltdown. But I have long believed public corps are not going to factor social responsibility into profit decisions unless directed to do so by their shareholders. Perhaps more importantly, I wonder to what extent they could do so legally without exposure to shareholder lawsuits. Any of our attorneys have thoughts on that?
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Hi guysyjkt, I enjoyed your pics from Occupy last night as well. We have one in Riverside but I haven't been by yet, maybe next weekend. My oldest was downtown last night and said it's a pretty small group but they have similar infrastructure, if that's the correct word.okie, I thought that was an interesting piece also. I love it when people figure out a new way to be heard. I can just imagine a few of these nuns sitting around a boardroom table. And St. Francis is one of my favorites from Religious Studies many many years ago.
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Gonna be a busy day. Taking a test sample of the mega-Baptist church down the street (we haven't been regular church goers in a while; I've been to this one, but not to a Sunday service). Wife and oldest are begging off (neither feels well), and I'd do the same but the youngest is excited . . . so it's a daddy-daughter event. "These gals prefer to actually occupy the boardrooms of Wall Street."And that's how you actually make a difference. Versus throwing yourself an earnest, but still self-congratulatory party.See you folks tonight, maybe!
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BTW, quick praise to yellowjkt for his Boots-on-the-Ground OWS report. That's was awesome!
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lms (and others), I forgot to point this out on the food thread last night. See the vegetarian recipes at EatingWell. This is the site from which I got the soup recipe I posted.eatingwell.com is one of my go-to recipe sites. They do healthier versions of lots of old favorites. Some of their recipes don't work out so well for me, but most do. Check it out!
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Thanks for the link, okie–I've got that site bookmarked now. I'm going to start trying the Meatless Monday thing (on whatever night of the week it happens to work out) as for many years we ate meat only 3 – 4 times a week. This book (which I may have linked to before, but I use it all the time) was my go-to book for figuring out how to plan complete vegetarian meals. . . as a Midwestern farm girl I didn't have a clue when I first started cooking that way!Have fun at church, Kevin! While I'm not a fan of mega-churches, some of my most enduring memories from childhood are from what seemed at the time to be small, inconsequential daddy-daughter outings. Today is going to stick with your daughter, so enjoy it to the hilt!
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On a somber note, I got some bad news yesterday. Some of you knew that I had e-mailed 12BB and mentioned my friend Carlee, who flew to MD Anderson this last week for her 3.5 year check-up after stem cell therapy for breast cancer. Carlee's initial scans all looked good, but a suspicious lump was found during her mammogram, and a needle aspirate biopsy confirmed that her original cancer has returned, so now she's in consultation with her doctors there to determine the best next step(s). They're probably going to include a total mastectomy, radiation, and chemo. . . but MD is the best of the best for breast cancer, so we don't really know yet what they'll come up with.For those of you who pray, please remember my friend Carlee in yours today. For those of you who don't, please send positive thoughts her way. Thanks much to you all!
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Thanks for the links you two. I'm always looking for new vegetarian ideas. My husband always asks about 3:00 every afternoon, "What's for dinner?" I usually just say the same thing as last night with just a slight variation. On weekends I generally spend a little more time in the kitchen. I'm happy with a little stir fried brown rice or soba with a variation of vegetables and a salad most nights, but he likes it better when I get creative, lol.Kevin, in case you haven't noticed I was a real daddy's girls. My dad and I used to walk the dog every night after dinner and just talk about stuff so those nights and baseball/football games are some of my fondest childhood memories. My parents didn't do church very often, they used to drop my sister and I off though and they'd go have breakfast somewhere and then sneak in about the time the service was over so they could say hi to all their "church" friends.
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That's too bad about your friend Michi, definite best wishes and prayers her way. I talked to 12Bar yesterday and she's still waiting to start treatment, hopefully this week she said. She said she might drop by here sometime soon as well and thanked everyone for the good thoughts and prayers.
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Michi, sorry to hear about your friend. Definitely prayers and good thoughts and candles from OK.lms, I do hope 12BB drops by here. I know virtually nothing about the possible side effects of her treatment, so I wonder if she will feel up to it once she begins the treatment. Is she in good spirits? I would love to know a bit about what's going through her head right now; without that info, I'm a little uneasy about what to say in emails to her. I would like to email her fairly often if it doesn't bug her too much — just to let her know how many friends are thinking about and praying for her.
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okie, I just e-mailed her myself to let her know I'm thinking of her. My gut feeling is to go for it and just say what you said in the last phrase.
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lol on Meatless Mondays, michi. I feel your pain. I try to eat meatless 1-2 days a week but grew up in a family where it was not considered a meal unless there was LOTS of meat and, of course, don't ever forget the gravy (my favorite beverage). Appreciate the book link, but had to laugh at that too. I wonder why the huge price difference between hardback and paperback, with paperback being significantly more expensive? New paperback at $46.68 and new hardback at $7.94 (similar difference for used). I suspect I will order it in the near future.
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And now to the "daddy's girl" discussion. Kevin, I think the girls here are right; these are the excursions that make memories even though they may seem insignificant to you. Make the most of it!!!In my family, I was my father's obvious favorite. Don't know if that was because I was the youngest or because I was the only one who got his good ole Irish coloring. I've mentioned before that he had a severe stroke when I was very young. By virtue of his "disability," he was entitled to attend the local farm club baseball team's home games along with one "attendant" free of charge. The seats were box seats immediately behind the home team dugout. I was his "attendant," which he did not need. We never missed a game together (until I got old enough to be interested in boys and hit a stage where you just could not be seen with your old fogey parents). My father died in 1982, and those baseball memories are very special to me.
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Michi, have you had any contact with Mr. McTroll? It's not too late for him to make his Veterans Day post. I hope all is well with him.
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e-mailed him, okie, and haven't heard back yet. I'm hoping he's just busy, too!I hadn't noticed the price differential in the book until you pointed it out–I've got the hardback and I know that it went out of print for a while (in hardback). Maybe they've started printing them again (in which case I think Karen Lee owes me a commission; I've pushed this book all over the place!). I've got about 10 linear feet of cookbooks, and this is one that I go to over and over. I'm pretty sure I've tried every recipe in it at least once, and there are only one or two I never revisited. I do tend to up the spice levels, so I imagine you'll want to do the same.
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Just heard from McWing–he's been really busy with unexpected work stuff but hopes to stop by later.okie–are you a red head like me?? LOL!
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Glad you heard from Mr. McTroll. I'll watch for him later. That unexpected work stuff can be annoying.LOL. I'm a gray head now, but in my younger days my hair was brown with quite a bit of red in it, so more auburnish than redhead. I'm 1/4 Irish, so maybe I only got 1/4 of the red hair? BTW, I had significant gray by the time I was in my mid-20s. More than one hairdresser has told me it was due to the red, which grays faster and earlier than other colors. Something for you to look forward to!
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My Mom was completely gray by the time she was my age, and my Dad went bald when he was in his 20s. . . I think it skips a generation. 🙂 At any rate, when I do go gray it's going to be FABULOUS–all of the women in my family have this beautiful silver gray hair that is head turning. I'm actually kind of looking forward to it. . .
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Church was good ( though at parts the phrase I had for OWS ( self congratulatory party–ie, ain't it great were the good guys while other people are the bad guys–occurred to me). Also, loud, and apparently the Baptists have a more contemporary opinion of what constitutes a traditional service. I think I prefer the presbyterians, but good kids programs and our kids have friends who go, and it's close, so . . .Afterwards, trip to the hardware store where the my youngest showed me the inside of all the stoves and dishwashers and kitchen cabinets (I was there for a winterizing kit for the pool, which we just had replaced–yay, money pits, but the kids love having a pool.
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Presbyterians: I was raised in the Presbyterian tradition, KW. Very intellectual. 🙂 Led to much analysis in my 20s of what I believed/what is true/etc., etc. Baptists (my FiL and ex) are much more free-form. Sounds like you had a great time with your youngest!
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Speaking of food (someone somewhere was), today's Parade cover has a photo of an apple pie that is killing me. The crust is made like a pile of leaves. I want that pie.
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Haaaaahaaaaaa qb, my husband showed me that picture this morning. Looks like a lot of work with all the cut out leaves but yummy. I make about 10 different kinds of apple pies and cobblers so it's right up my alley. I even put apples in my pumpkin pie, my stuffing, and just about anything else I can think of.Too bad I'm making vanilla bean short bread cookies later though to get a head start on my Christmas baking. Our soap's almost done, maybe another hour or two and then voila…….cookie time.
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Whoa, qb–just clicked on the Parade cover and I can see why you want that pie. I'm not much of a baker, so I think you're going to have to hit up lms, MsJS and okie for this one. . .
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Oh, and my hair's blonde, still, if you get my drift. Blonde hair turns a really ugly shade of grey so I'm waiting until I'm at death's door for that, lol.
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Too funny. You should give Mr. LMS a long-distance high five for me.Looks extra tasty doesn't it, michi? I have deviously positioned our copy of Parade on the counter where my wife and more importantly my daughter will see it. Mrs. QB doesn't like to cook much, but my daughter seems to have the bug for baking. My underhanded scheme is to get Daughter QB to see the picture and connive Mrs. QB into baking it with her. Cutting out the leaves would be right up her alley.
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lms: but blondes have more fun, right????? :-)qb: truly devious. You are a master at figuring out how to get the women in your life to do your bidding. . . devious and dangerous. You aren't passing this knowledge on to your son(s), are you??? Let them learn on their own. . .
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Michi, I put up a test post for the scheduling feature. It should be posting in about 5 minutes (at 1:30pm MST).
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qb (and michi), you best look to lms and/or MsJS for that pie. I cook like michi does and no way am I a baker. But I bet my niece has seen it and 10:1 odds we have a pie like that at Thanksgiving. 🙂 She is amazing.
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The test scheduled post worked. Since I do not have the little clock icon either, when in the post I clicked on "post options," which is in bottom left corner for me. It opened two options for setting date and time, respectively, which I set for when I wanted the post to appear. Then clicked publish. It does not publish until the date/time is reached.
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