Jan. 1 brings new Virginia laws on payday lending, puppies

Good riddance to bad rubbage is all I have to say about the payday lenders leaving town! They are the worst kind of politcs. They were probably all founded by liberal guilt then when the money started flying in they got caught up in the Republican attitude of making money off keeping the poor Poor.

I really believe some of these people think they are helping low income or struggling people. I also believe that just as many know how destructive and oppressive the industry is. They may get people through the tough today but it also ensures that tomorrow will be even tougher to get through. Thus ensuring that the people will need to come back and back and back!

And to the guy who suggested eating the puppies, I see nothing wrong with this. BUT many many many people would object to this simply because they are cute. Too bad we can't be reational about this subject. By the way I don't think I could eat a dog. but can not see why others would think it should be illegal! an animal is an animal is an animal. cow or dog no difference!

Bobert, you're throwing around a paternalistic attitude and a lot of stereotypes about payday lending customers, but the facts don't support your assertions.

Research shows more than half of payday advance customers earn $25,000 to $50,000 annually, 58 percent have attended college, and 1 in 5 have a bachelor's degree.

Payday loans are a competitive consumer option. Consider the fees: $100 payday advance= $15; overdraft protection= $29; late fee on credit card bill= $37; $100 off-shore internet payday loan= $25; bounced check and NSF/Merchant fee= $56.

Adults should be given all of the information they need and then allowed to make the decision about what financial products work best for their families and their individual situations.

This law is stupid and does nothing to change the way breeders work. They are there to make money at the expense of these poor animals and no law is going to change that. If they have more than one dog to breed at a time it is a puppy mill as far as I am concerned. There are so many dogs at the shelters and rescues that need adopting that it is a crime to allow these people to go on breeding more animals which untimately be turned over and killed at these shelters. Thousands of dogs and cats are killed regularly at the pound and most of them come from people who bought from breeders. When are we going to stop this mass extermination of our pets? Shame on us.

I would imagine they chose 30 as a number that was artificially high to avoid upsetting the "backyard breeders" who consider themselves a different class than the large scale puppy mills who can overwhelm support networks when their abuses are discovered. Local emergency services, while always underfunded, should be able to handle a catastrophic influx of 30-50 rescues, but not multiple hundred.

Truth be told, many backyard breeders would just ignore the regulation if it were more restrictive anyway. As for hunters, I just drove back on 58 and saw 3 or 4 dogs wandering along roadside and another 3 already run over. They already know its strictly a business with easily replaceable parts (i.e. dogs).

For anyone who has never seen a Puppy Mill, I can certainly understand how trivial this seems. You realize that your tax dollars will ultimately pay for breeders whose operation is out of hand or that can't handle proper disposal of waste? Picture a breeder with over 900 dogs that violates the EPA laws regarding waste and contaminates the Chesapeake Bay. Think about how much of your tax dollars go towards animal control and disposal of the excess animals that are unadopted each year. Google Parkersburg Puppy Mill and see how that breeder affected the community. I was there. Trust me, there is much more to it that no one having anything better to do. In the end, whether you like it or not, we are all affected by this. Check your city's budget for animal control along with finding out from your local shelter about mills or use the good ol internet. Tennessee, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Montreal are a few impacted by puppy mills in 2008. Let us not let it happen in VA.

Actually, 30 is a reasonable number. A person could easily have 29 female dogs that are used exclusively for hunting. (Most hunters have 15 - 20, a mixture of males and females.)

I personally don't use dogs to hunt (I'm a bow hunter) but it's nice to see they made sure the hunters aren't suffering a new method of harrassement by the local authorities.

biscuits...I mean money

It's probably something the PETA people thought of when they were smoking their herbs...

It doesn't make much sense to me either...

I'm sure they don't see themselves this way but preying on desperation and panic is. Like the neighborhood stores of many years ago, proprietors charged the highest prices because customers didn't have access or sense enough to avoid these " shearing-of-the-sheep " places where their low means got instant gratification but continued poverty. Looking around we see these " instant money " businesses clustered near communities of low-wage-earners, military proximity's and trailer villages. Given the failing financial scene look for more of these " shearing-parlors " to take root in far flung communities, themselves being forced closer to the tipping point.

Dog for dinner??

Buy my new cookbook, $9.95, 101 ways to wok your dog.

Amen, Fulcrum3. The day this law was passed someone ( in the General Assembly ) was asleep at the wheel... what a joke!!!!

"30 adult female dogs in a year to apply for a business license, cooperate with animal control inspections".. I must be missing something. So if a person has 20 or even 10 female dogs, kept in pens for breeding purposes, they aren't breeders? They don't require a license? Do you think they're raising them to eat? This appears to be another one of those long thought about issues that absolutely baffled our legislators.