Open Thread

Trisexuality = auto- plus bi-.

I didn’t know there was a third sex, rob.

I haven’t forgotten your “shrimp” comment. You will pay for that.

Seeing helpless birds coated in oil is very upsetting.

Food for thought……

Obama Scolding BP on Dividend Favors Fishermen Over Retirees
June 10 (Bloomberg) — Miriam Sullivan may lose about $10,000 a year of her retirement income if BP Plc suspends its dividend because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
“It’s a nice amount of money to have coming in,” said Sullivan, the 74-year-old wife of a retired schoolteacher in Haddonfield, New Jersey, and one of the 39 percent of BP shareholders who live in the U.S. “They’re penalizing people that are innocent by cutting the dividend at this point, when they don’t even need to. It seems very political.”
President Barack Obama said last week he won’t let BP “nickel and dime” Gulf residents while the biggest U.S. oil producer pays investors, and a group of lawmakers yesterday called on BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward to stop dividends until the bills for the cleanup and liabilities are paid. The dispute highlights the pressure on Hayward to satisfy the competing demands of shareholders, who got $10 billion in payouts last year, and the local victims of the spill.
“It’s a horrible thing that happened, but how do you decide a fisherman has priority over a grandmother who needs a pension to sustain herself?” said Christine Tiscareno, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s in London. “The company’s not running away from any of its obligations, and if it were up to Tony, they would pay the dividend.”
In the U.S., pension funds holding BP shares include the California Public Employees Retirement System, New Jersey Division of Investment and the Texas Teachers Retirement System, Bloomberg data show. U.S. institutions own 25 percent of BP shares, while individual investors in the country hold 14 percent, according to the company’s website.

We’re over here in Manhattan in the real world, Arkady.