This pisses me off!!!!

Reuters
Occidental CEO got more than $400 million in 2006
Saturday April 7, 5:37 pm ET


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s chairman and chief executive took in more than $400 million in compensation last year, the company said in a filing, one of the biggest single-year payouts in U.S. corporate history.
ADVERTISEMENT


The largest part of Ray Irani's 2006 payout was $270.2 million from the exercise of options awarded from 1997 to 2006, representing more than 7.1 million shares, according to the company's annual proxy statement, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in March.

Irani also received $93.3 million in stock and dividends from a deferred stock program when the company closed the plan in October due to increases in liability and expenses for the program, the company said.

Irani's salary in 2006 was $1.3 million and his cash bonus was $1.4 million, according to the filing. But stock and option awards and other benefits lifted his 2006 compensation to $55.6 million, the proxy said.

In the proxy, the company said that from December 1990 -- when Irani succeeded Armand Hammer as chief executive -- through 2005, the company's stock rose to about $40 a share from $9 and its total shareholder return was 699 percent.

"When you look at this, this is solid pay for performance," said Richard Kline, an Occidental spokesman. "It serves the best interest of the corporation and the best interest of the shareholder."

Occidental shares closed on Thursday at $49.95 on the New York Stock Exchange.

According to the Wall Street Journal, only a few CEOs have ever made more money in one year. In 2001, Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison received $706 million from exercising stock options and in 1998, former Walt Disney Co. CEO Michael Eisner received $570 million, according to the newspaper.


AND I'M PAYING OVER $3.00 A GALLON FOR GAS!!!!!

Touching Story

Here's a truly heartwarming story about the bond formed between a little
5 year old girl and some construction workers that makes you believe
that we CAN make a difference when we give a child the gift of our
time...

A young family moved into a house, next door to a vacant lot. One day a
construction crew turned up to start building a house on the empty lot.

The young family's 5-year-old daughter naturally took an interest in all
the activity going on next door and spent much of each day observing the
workers.

Eventually the construction crew, all of them gems-in-the- rough, more
or less adopted her as a kind of project mascot. They chatted with her,
let her sit with them while they had coffee and lunch breaks, and gave
her little jobs to do here and there to make her feel important.

At the end of the first week they even presented her with a pay envel ope
containing a couple of dollars.

The little girl took this home to her mother who said all the
appropriate words of admiration and suggested that they take the two
dollar "pay" she had received to the bank the next day to start a
savings account.

When they got to the bank, the teller was equally impressed and asked
the little girl how she had come by her very own money at such a young
age.

The little girl proudly replied, "I worked last week with the crew
building the house next door to us."

My goodness gracious," said the teller, "and will you be working on the
house again this week, too?"

The little girl replied, "I will if those assholes at Home Depot ever
deliver the fucking sheet rock..."

Kind of brings a tear to the eye

Remember when tagging was a bad thing?

Well, I can't put this off any longer. Teresa is going to quit speaking to me if I don't respond to her tagging me so here it goes...8 things......

1. I graduated high school at 16 (I started school at four years old and then skipped kindergarten)

2. I have two children, a daughter that will be 18 at the end of this month and a son who will be 7 in November

3. I worked as a production engineer for Regal Boats (Orlando, FL) building boats as small as 18 feet to as large as 44 feet, and having a price tag in excess of $400,000

4. I have witnessed life entering this world as well as leaving it. Although death is depressing, it is just as much a part of life as birth; we strive to keep it dignified.

5. I love to cook (even though I am not very good at it).

6. Zinfandel Wine is my favorite - Tobin James is the best!!

7. I am horribly impatient at times, especially in traffic.

8. I regret that it took me almost 20 years of searching after high school before I found what I wanted to do with my life. I'm now in nursing school, and by the time I graduate next year I'll be 40 years old.

Now it's my turn...

Anne
Ayse
Cynthia
Dana
Dave
Jeremiah
Lillage
And last but certainly not least...
Vernon