Abraham Lincoln Was But An Afterthought to the Organizers of the Gettysburg Battlefield Dedication November 19, 2010

Not Many Photos Exist From Gettysburg

Close up of above photo with only known image of Lincoln at Gettysburg

On This Date in History: I have a few words concerning the events of November 19. 1863 but anything that I could say would pale in comparison to the speech reprinted below. It is the the Gettysburg Address and it was delivered 146 years ago today. The president was not invited until about two weeks prior to the ceremony. He was not the main speaker. Edward Everett, a noted statesman from Boston and Harvard President, was given two months notice to work on his speech, which took about two hours to deliver. Mr. Lincoln’s speech was but 270 words. It has been accepted that Lincoln wrote the address on a scrap of paper while on the train to Pennsylvania because it was reported that way in a novel. However, historian Stephen B. Oates points out in his biography, With Malice Toward None, A Life of Abraham Lincoln that the train was too crowded and noisy for him to work on it. Instead, Oates says that he wrote part of it on White House stationery before he left and finished the rest on the morning of the event in Gettysburg.

Verbiage in Invitation to Lincoln Very Interesting

It has been reported that the president was sick. While I find nothing to confirm that he was ill during the proceedings, I suspect that people have made the assumption, perhaps accurate, because after he returned to the White House, he was diagnosed with varioloid, which has been described as a mild for of smallpox. I’m not sure about that one because it seems to me that a “mild form of smallpox” is akin to being “a little pregnant.” Also, it is widely reported that his speech was panned in newspapers across the land. The Chicago Times and paper from Harrisburg, PA certainly show that there were some. However, not all papers were non-plussed by his remarks. In fact, the Chicago Tribune was sharply in contrast to its rival and even Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune recognized the greatness of the speech. I believe I recall a quote from Edward Everett who remarked afterward, “Mr President, you were able to say in a few minutes what I could not in two hours.” This is probably not a direct quote but something reasonably close.

Words of Nov 19, 1863 Long Remembered

Harrisburg Patriot and Union: “We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the Nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of.”

Chicago Times: “The cheeks of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dishwatery utterances.”

Chicago Tribune: “The dedicatory remarks by President Lincoln will live among the annals of man.”

Horace Greeley: “I doubt that our national literature contains a finer gem than that little speech at the Gettysburg celebration, November 19, 1863… after the close of Mr. Everett’s classic but frigid oration.”

Leaving Gettysburg For the Cemetery

I think what may be lost regarding the speech is what it shows. It is an early indication of where Mr. Lincoln was heading in terms of after the war. Even on a battlefield well north of Washington, Lincoln was confident of victory. What often gets overlooked is that on the same day, US Grant had forced the capitulation of Vicksburg which essentially gave the Union full control of the Mississippi River and effective cut the Confederacy in two. The victory at Vicksburg arguably sealed the deal for the outcome of the war. Mr. Lincoln was aware of that that and if you read carefully, you can see the hints of what his notions were regarding his intentions. He does not give a rah-rah victory speech with talk of retribution. He does not discriminate between the allegiances of the soldiers and speaks of the “unfinished business” and a “new birth of freedom.” Clearly he is talking about concluding the war but he is also referencing a nation of freedom for all. This speech is not just one of honor but also one of reconciliation. It has always eluded me of how differently our nation’s history might have been had the 16th president been allowed to conclude the “unfinished business.” How would he have handled Reconstruction and the reconciliation of the former enemies. John Wilkes Booth lives in infamy as the man who deprived the nation of “what might have been.” There are 5 known drafts of the Gettysburg Address. Each seems to have some variance. Here is a version of the Gettysburg Address:

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Unfortunately, it seems that the youth of America seems to be as uninspired by Mr. Lincoln as did the organizers of the dedication at Gettysburg or some scribes who critiqued the President’s message.  Recently, I was at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC and I spotted several student groups.  It appeared as if the students thought that they were at some social gathering. Most were not paying attention to the tour guides, instead generally talking and cutting up while playing what my old football coaches used to call “grabass.”  There was no sense of reflection or respect for the memorial or the man to whom it was built.  It was only older visitors who took the time to read the words of the Gettysburg Address and the text of the President’s second inaugural speech which are etched forever in the marble.  Maybe I’m getting old, but that ain’t right.

Weather Bottom Line:  After a rather dreary and damp day, look for early fog to give way to loads of sunshine that will persist through the weekend..save for periods of darkness.  Conditions will be quite pleasant so get out and enjoy the great weekend weather.

Presidential Election Leads to Fallen Candidate’s Death in “Insanity” November 29, 2009

Tragic Rapid Demise of Presidential Candidate

 

Greeley portrayed reaching across graves of Andersonville

On This Date in History:  In the presidential election of 1872,  New York Tribune founder and editor Horace Greeley faced off against incumbent, Ulysses S. Grant.  Greeley never saw a social reform that he didn’t like and he actually was nominated by a group known as the Liberal Republicans who split from the main party that nominated President Grant.  In somewhat of a surprise, the Democrats nominated Greeley, who once said that “All Democrats may not be rascals, but all rascals are Democrats.”  But Greeley was in favor of amnesty for all ex-Confederates and for withdrawl of all federal troops from the southern states.  And at that point, the Democrats were in a favor of anyone who held such views. 

Greeley Kneeling to the Democrat Devil

But, Greeley was hammered as a candidate.  Editors and cartoonists lampooned his rumpled clothes, chin whiskers and baby face.  They piled on him for his support of prohibition, vegetarianism and visions of communes.  Greeley openly wondered if he was running for the penitentiary or the presidency.  On top of his sensitivity to savage public criticism and ridicule, he was dealing with an ailing wife.  In September 1872 he remained in New York at his wife bedside and slept little until her death on October 30, 1872 which was the week before the election.

Greeley and his running mate depicted as Doomed

Grant won 30 out of 36 states.  Grant received 286 electoral votes and Greeley just 66.  Officially though, Greeley only received 3 electoral votes.  That is because on this date in 1872, Horace Greeley died which was prior to the official voting by the electoral college.  Following Greeley’s death, 63 of the electors scattered their votes among four other candidates.  Perhaps this is symbolic of the tragic end to Horace Greeley. Following the devastating loss of his wife, the public flogging by his detractors during the campaign and his overwhelming defeat at the polls, Greeley was a broken man; and things got worse.  He tried to resume control of the Tribune but was pushed aside by acting editor Whitelaw Reid.  Instead of welcoming Greeley back, Reid put a box on the front page of the paper that mocked Republican office seekers who had sought Greeley’s assistance.  When Greeley offered a response, Reid refused to publish it in the paper.  And get this…Whitelaw Reid not only had been invited to join the Tribune by Greeley, but he also had been Greeley’s campaign manager!   Just three weeks after the election that may have elevated him to the top office in the land, Horace Greeley died; his mind so broken that his condition was described as “insane.”

Today, we say that politics is “rough and tumble” but I don’t think we’ve seen anything like the 1872 election which one might say, cost Horace Greeley his life.

Sunday Evening

Weather Bottom Line:   Well, phooey on me.  Not only did we warm up after a chilly start on Saturday, we got to the low 60′s which I had said would be tough to do.  Oh well, better to miss when its a few degrees warmer than the opposite. Otherwise, everything else is on track and its not all that good.  I was correct in saying that Saturday would be the warmest we would see for many days.  Sunday with clouds increasing and thickening, we will not be as warm as Saturday but I do think we stay dry during the day.  Sunday night, a cold front comes through and we get rain and showers will carry over into Monday.   Look for sharply colder condition on Monday with highs only in the low 40′s…maybe mid 40′s for southern parts of the viewing area. 

Freezing line at all levels at Gulf Coast by Friday morning

Tuesday we get a reprieve though temperatures will be seasonally cool.  A cut off low has been lurking in the Southwest US and a strong front with a deep trof will pick that up and on Wednesday, it moves across Texas, picks up Gulf moisture and moves quickly into the Southeast US.  Our rain chances will consequently go up with cloudy conditions and the front that picks up that cut off low will be making its way through the area.  Look for your local forecast to once again mention snow.  While this time around it may be a bit more possible than last week, it is still largely irrelevant.  Temperatures will be cold but above freezing. Ground temperatures certainly won’t be cold enough for any accumulation.  In my mind, its simply a conversation piece at best.  But, the latter part of the week probably won’t see temperatures much above 40 with some maybe not getting above 40 until Saturday and even then it won’t be much above 40.

Gettysburg Address Example of How Less is More and Lasts Longer November 19, 2009

Not Many Photos Exist From Gettysburg

Close up of above photo with only known image of Lincoln at Gettysburg

On This Date in History: I have a few words concerning the events of November 19. 1863 but anything that I could say would pale in comparison to the speech reprinted below. It is the the Gettysburg Address and it was delivered 145 years ago today. The president was not invited until about two weeks prior to the ceremony. He was not the main speaker. Edward Everett, a noted statesman from Boston and Harvard President, was given two months notice to work on his speech, which took about two hours to deliver. Mr. Lincoln’s speech was but 270 words. It has been accepted that Lincoln wrote the address on a scrap of paper while on the train to Pennsylvania because it was reported that way in a novel. However, historian Stephen B. Oates points out in his biography, With Malice Toward None, A Life of Abraham Lincoln that the train was too crowded and noisy for him to work on it. Instead, Oates says that he wrote part of it on White House stationery before he left and finished the rest on the morning of the event in Gettysburg.

Verbiage in Invitation to Lincoln Very Interesting

It has been reported that the president was sick. While I find nothing to confirm that he was ill during the proceedings, I suspect that people have made the assumption, perhaps accurate, because after he returned to the White House, he was diagnosed with varioloid, which has been described as a mild for of smallpox. I’m not sure about that one because it seems to me that a “mild form of smallpox” is akin to being “a little pregnant.” Also, it is widely reported that his speech was panned in newspapers across the land. The Chicago Times and paper from Harrisburg, PA certainly show that there were some. However, not all papers were non-plussed by his remarks. In fact, the Chicago Tribune was sharply in contrast to its rival and even Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune recognized the greatness of the speech. I believe I recall a quote from Edward Everett who remarked afterward, “Mr President, you were able to say in a few minutes what I could not in two hours.” This is probably not a direct quote but something reasonably close.

Words of Nov 19, 1863 Long Remembered

Harrisburg Patriot and Union: “We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the Nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of.”

Chicago Times: “The cheeks of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dishwatery utterances.”

Chicago Tribune: “The dedicatory remarks by President Lincoln will live among the annals of man.”

Horace Greeley: “I doubt that our national literature contains a finer gem than that little speech at the Gettysburg celebration, November 19, 1863… after the close of Mr. Everett’s classic but frigid oration.”

Leaving Gettysburg For the Cemetery

I think what may be lost regarding the speech is what it shows. It is an early indication of where Mr. Lincoln was heading in terms of after the war. Even on a battlefield well north of Washington, Lincoln was confident of victory. What often gets overlooked is that on the same day, US Grant had forced the capitulation of Vicksburg which essentially gave the Union full control of the Mississippi River and effective cut the Confederacy in two. The victory at Vicksburg arguably sealed the deal for the outcome of the war. Mr. Lincoln was aware of that that and if you read carefully, you can see the hints of what his notions were regarding his intentions. He does not give a rah-rah victory speech with talk of retribution. He does not discriminate between the allegiances of the soldiers and speaks of the “unfinished business” and a “new birth of freedom.”  Clearly he is talking about concluding the war but he is also referencing a nation of freedom for all. This speech is not just one of honor but also one of reconciliation.  It has always eluded me of how differently our nation’s history might have been had the 16th president been allowed to conclude the “unfinished business.”  How would he have handled Reconstruction and the reconciliation of the former enemies.  John Wilkes Booth lives in infamy as the man who deprived the nation of “what might have been.”  There are 5 known drafts of the Gettysburg Address. Each seems to have some variance.  Here is a version of the Gettysburg Address:

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Weather Bottom Line:  The bottom line is that the crappy weather is coming to an end.  That dry slot I had mentioned for Wednesday ended up being pretty decent because we ended up with some nice afternoon sunshine but the gloom returns all day today. Friday through Sunday though, as the pesky cut off low finally gets booted, look for a lot of sunshine seasonally cool conditions with lows in the upper 30′s and low 40′s and highs in the 50′s.

Woman Jailed For Voting; Trains Finally Run on Time November 18, 2009

The Criminal Susan B Anthony!

On This Date in History: The presidential election of 1872 was rather odd and somewhat brutal. It was between President Ulysses S. Grant and New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley. The first term of Grant had been clouded by some questionable moves and charges of corruption. When Grant was renominated, the Liberal Republicans split off and nominated Horace Greeley, who never saw a social reform he didn’t like. As an editor, he was brilliant. As a candidate, he was sorely lacking. The Democrats surprisingly nominated Greeley, who had once said, “all Democrats may not be rascals but all of the rascals are Democrats.” I guess the Democrats figured that they could get the split Republican vote as well as Southern Democrats who would vote for anyone who was for amnesty of Confederates and the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.

Susan B. Anthony

While Grant spent his summer at the seashore, the newspapers went wild with negative press on their former rival, Greeley. They made sport of his favoring prohibition, vegetarianism and living on communes. The Phrenological Journal even measured his cranium and came out with a detailed analysis of why he was unfit for office. Greeley grew despondent and was sent into a deeper depression as he sat at his wife’s bedside where she died on October 30, 1872. A week later he got swamped at the polls winning 6 states to Grant’s 30.

Sue Carried her Fight to our Friend Grover

If this weren’t enough, suffragette Susan B. Anthony carried through on her scheme to force the issue of women’s voting. On November 1, 1872 Anthony and a group of other women went to register to vote. They were rebuffed but Anthony threatened to sue and quoted the 14th Amendment and New York law that was silent on the subject of sex. The men who were responsible for registration allowed them to register out of fear and also because they figured that if anything went wrong, it would fall on the heads of the ladies. They were right. Anthony and a few other women voted on November 5, 1872 but later a Democrat poll watcher complained that Anthony had cast an illegal ballot. Susan B. Anthony was arrested on this date in 1872 for voting.    The trial of Susan B Anthony began on June 17, 1873 and ultimately, she was found guilty and fined $100 plus court costs but she openly defied the judge saying that she would never pay up.   She was right…she never paid.   The 19th Amendment was passed four years after Anthony’s death.   Here is a complete detail of the events surrounding the arrest of Susan B. Anthony.

 

No Way to Run A Railroad

World Time Zone Map...Invented by American Corporate Capitalists?

It’s About Time: It used to be that each town in the nation could set its own time. In New York it was noon while in Philadelphia it was 11:55 AM. Towns would go by “God’s Time” or “Sun Time”. I have no idea what the former was but the latter was probably derived by local noon i.e. when the sun was at its highest, which seems difficult since that would be different every day. Wisconsin had 38 different local times. That was no way to run a railroad. The railroads were the first mode of transportation that went rapidly over long distances. Scheduling depended on time, not just for passengers but also for the safety of the system. There were numerous train collisions because of confusion of time. So, in on this date in 1883, the railroads had the entire nation synchronize the time by using time zones, theoretically 24 that would circle the earth based on the prime meridian at Greenwich, England. Of course, some towns in true American style resisted. Bath, Maine rang its town square bell 20 minutes before noon every day and Augusta, Georgia insisted on pushing its clock ahead at noon to maintain sun time. But, corporate America eventually won out with the passage of the Standard Time Act in 1918. So, all of you who think that corporate America produces nothing but evil, take a look at your watch.

7PM Wed...system still lurking

Weather Bottom Line:  From MIC John Gordon at the Louisville National Weather Service…this is GIS DAY! They’re breaking out the party hats at the local weather office.  And let me tell you.  When you get a bunch of meteorologists together, they know how to party.  But, its been tough for them to come up with good party favors ever since the slide rule went out of favor.

As for the weather story, it remains the same.  We have the occluded front and the dying cut off low meandering slowly to the north and so the showers will stick around for the next day or so.  I would say “off and on” but the definition of showers is rain that is intermittent.  So, if you hear someone on TV say “off and on showers” or “intermittent showers” they are being redundant.   The thing is, they probably don’t even know that they are being redundant.  But, then again, I got nailed a few times for a grammatical faux paux so perhaps I should keep my rocks in the bag as I live in a glass house.  Anyway, call it cloudy and damp through Wednesday with perhap a few lingering light showers for the first part of Thursday.  Bottom line is the weekend looks good.  Pretty fair amount of sunshine but temperatures will be more seasonal than we’ve seen with highs in the 50′s and lows in the 30′s and 40′s.

Just a side note:  if the GFS is correct, then next Tuesday we may have something interesting to talk about with a strong front.  But, its a week away.  Let’s get through these crappy days and then enjoy the weekend before we worry about that.

How a Master Politician Leads from the White House August 20, 2009

Master Politician in the White House

Greeley: Bad Timing-Nice Chin Whiskers?

On this date in History:  This little tale has to do with politicians doing their job well and in this case, by perhaps the greatest politician in US history.  The Civil War had been blowing and going since the first shots were fired at Fort Sumnter in April 1861.  From the outset, there were a number of abolitionists in the North who wanted President Lincoln to openly claim that the war was about slavery.  In a practical sense, it was, but the president did not want to publically say so and instead said the aim of the war was to maintain the Union.  But, that wasn’t enough for New York Tribune publisher Horace Greeley.

Greeley had started the Tribune in 1841 as a platform for his reformist ideas.  He advocated westward expansion, temperance,  support for the labor movement and opposition to land monopoly and capital punishment.  If you think about it, in some form or another, all of these “reforms” became part of the national landscape, though capital punishment has returned over the last 30 years to become more common again with some restraint.  Greeley actually got elected to Congress for a short time and one of his ideas eventually became the Homestead Act in 1862.  But, it was in that year that Greeley was really chomping at the bit for the president to take action.  On this date in 1862, Greeley wrote a sharp editorial in his newspaper that called on the president to declare free all slaves in the border states of Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Delware.  Lincoln had resisted such calls in the past because he wanted to make sure those 4 slave states that featured the “peculiar institution” remained with the Union.  He needed them as they all were in strategic locations.  Missouri was needed to control the Mississippi.  Kentucky was needed to control the Ohio.  If Delaware and Maryland turned, then Washington DC would be surrounded. 

Lincoln's Response to Greeley

Now, Congress had passed the Confiscation Act of 1861 and of 1862.  This allowed the Union Army to seize Confederate property as part of the war effort.  This included slaves.  But Union commanders were reluctant to do so and Lincoln did nothing to encourage them to do so.  Now remember, the “liberal” or reform party of the time was the Republican Party and Greeley had been an organizer from the outset.  He could not understand how a Union victory could come about without destroying slavery and said, “the Union Cause has suffered from a mistaken deference to Rebel slavery.”  Lincoln responded immediately in a letter to the New York Times, referencing Greeley’s article written on the 19th, but published on the 20th.  If it had been the 20th century, Abe would have no doubt hit the tube.  Even then, Lincoln knew the adage that an attack unanswered is an attack capable of persuading.

Final Version of Emancipation Proclamation

Now, it was true that Lincoln had never publically indicated any preference for Greeley’s views.  But, he had abhored slavery since he was a young man and publically stated his opposition to the practice on numerous occasions.  Nevertheless, he knew it was delecate matter and so he waited.  Greeley could have saved his ink because just a month after Greeley’s thunderous editorial, because a month before, Abraham Lincoln had read a preliminary version of the Emancipation Proclamation to Secretary of State William H. Seward and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles.  After a few changes, Lincoln then waited for a Union victory.  It wasn’t a  great victory but the Battle of Antiem was good enough.  Following that dubious victory, Lincoln presented his preliminary version of the proclamation that announced that all slaves held in rebellious states to be forever free.  Now, that probably didn’t suit Greeley because it left the men, women and children in servitude in the 4 northern states.  But, Lincoln knew that as a practical matter, the eradication of slavery as a war measure in the Confederacy necessarily meant that, after the war, slavery would end elsewhere.  He had always argued that he did not have the Consitutional authority to get rid of slavery in the states.  But, as Commander in Chief, he could.  So, at the right time, he took what he could get when the public would support him as a way to win the war.  The final version of the Emancipation Proclamation took effect January 1, 1863.   Afterward, there was no way after a bloody Civil War and all but four states free that those 4 states could remain as a slave culture.  Greeley, while noble in cause, had no ability in the art of politics and is probably why President Lincoln goes down in history as one of America’s greatest statesman while Greeley’s time in Congress didn’t last long and is little remembered.

Keep this in mind whenyou hear of politicians taking what they can get today with an eye for the future when they think that they can get the whole pie. Also, be wary of those who try to compare themselves to the master politician from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln.

SPC Severe Weather Outlook Thu 8am to Fri 8am

SPC Tornado Probability Thu 8am to Fri 8am

Weather Bottom Line:  We had some shower activity in the morning hours and conventional wisdom would suggest that this will suppress rain chances until the atmosphere has a chance to become more unstable.  Afternoon heating should do the trick.   The 6Z model runs have come more into agreement and follow pretty much what I had suggested previously which was we’d end up somewhere in between the rather menacing outlook by previous GFS runs and the pedestrian solution by the earlier NAM.  It looks like prime time for the risk of strong  t’storms will be in the early evening…say 5pm to 8pm.  The severe parameters have come down on the GFS and gone up on the NAM with the NAM actually having a SWEAT index higher than the GFS, but its not totally clear because the GFS does not have a specific set of data for the 6pm time..it doesn’t come out hourly so it’s possible that indeed the SWEAT index of the GFS is as high or higher than the NAM but you can’t tell because its in between the reporting times.  Anyway, look for t’storms this

Severe Wind Probability Thu 8am to Fri 8am

afternoon, some could be strong. The biggest threat of stronger winds and potential tornadic activity is northeast of Louisville toward the Great Lakes in assocation with the parent low.  I think this scenario bodes well for the east coast and the track of Hurricane Bill.  The front is not quite as pokey as previous suggestions and therefore should make it the coast in time to keep Bill away.  The models also more or less agree on an inch or so of rain but the GFS seems more interested in having some over-running rain into Friday morning and that makes some sense.  I would  think rain totals of something over an inch would probably be realistic.  Afterward, this strong trof will still lower temperatures through the weekend below seasonal averages with highs around 80 with some folks not getting out of the 70′s on Saturday and maybe Sunday.

DAY 1 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK  
 

Severe Hail Probability Thu 8am to Fri 8am

  NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
   0717 AM CDT THU AUG 20 2009
  
   VALID 201300Z – 211200Z
  
   …THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS RED RIVER/LOWER MS RIVER VALLEY
   INTO THE NORTHEAST…
  
   …SYNOPSIS…
   ANOTHER DIFFICULT SEVERE TSTM FORECAST TODAY AS LARGE AREA OF VERY
   MOIST AIR REMAINS ESTABLISHED FROM THE SRN PLAINS/DEEP SOUTH INTO
   THE NORTHEAST…WHICH WILL BE OVERSPREAD BY SEASONABLY STRONG
   MID/UPPER LEVEL CYCLONIC FLOW.  A SERIES OF WEAK IMPULSES AND
   ASSOCIATED SURFACE WIND SHIFTS/FRONTS WILL LIKEWISE ROTATE ACROSS
   MUCH OF THE CENTRAL/NERN U.S. AND CONCENTRATE AREAS OF STRONG/SEVERE
   THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE PERIOD.
  
   …MID SOUTH/OH RIVER VALLEY INTO THE ERN LAKES/MID ATLANTIC…
   APPEARS IMPULSE SUPPORTING BROKEN LINE OF TSTMS MOVING ACROSS IND
   EARLY THIS MORNING WILL CONTINUE ENEWD THROUGH THE DAY…WITH
   PRECEEDING AIRMASS BECOMING MARGINALLY TO MODERATELY UNSTABLE BY THE
    EARLY AFTERNOON.  WITH MODEST SWLY FLOW ALOFT STRENGTHENING THROUGH
   THE DAY…DEEP LAYER SHEAR SHOULD BECOME MORE THAN ADEQUATE FOR
   SMALL LINES/CLUSTERS OF STORMS CONTINUING INTO THE EARLY TO MID
   EVENING.  PRIMARY NEGATIVE ACROSS THIS REGION IS FORECAST WEAK LAPSE
   RATES WHICH WILL LIMIT AVAILABLE INSTABILITY.  HOWEVER…FORECAST
   SOUNDINGS SUGGEST PARAMETERS WILL BE SUFFICIENT FOR ISOLATED WIND
   DAMAGE AND HAVE ADJUSTED PROBABILITIES/SLGT RISK EWD ACCORDINGLY
   NEWD TOWARDS SURFACE WARM FRONT LIFTING NWD ACROSS NY THIS
   AFTERNOON.
  
   FARTHER SW…SVR RISK REMAINS MORE CONDITIONAL ON RECOVERY OF
   AIRMASS AHEAD OF SSEWD MOVING SURFACE COLD FRONT/OUTFLOW INTO THE
   MID-SOUTH/MID MS RIVER VALLEY. GFS IS THE MOST AGGRESSIVE IN
   REDEVELOPMENT…WHILE NAM/HIGH-RES WRF SUGGEST LESS COVERAGE OF TSTM
   ACTIVITY LATER TODAY.  SHEAR OVER THIS REGION WILL REMAIN SUFFICIENT
   FOR ORGANIZATION OF STRONG STORMS…AND WILL THEREFORE MAINTAIN SLGT
   RISK AS ANY ENSUING DEVELOPMENT WOULD SUSTAIN A RISK OF WIND
   DAMAGE/ISOLATED LARGE HAIL INTO THE EVENING.
  
   …SRN PLAINS/LOWER MS RIVER…
   EXTENSIVE AREA OF TSTMS HAS PERSISTED MAINLY NORTH OF A SURGING
   SURFACE OUTFLOW EARLY THIS MORNING MOVING ACROSS THE MID-SOUTH INTO
   CENTRAL OK.  APPEARS AN ISOLATED THREAT OF LARGE HAIL AND STRONG
   WINDS REMAINS POSSIBLE WITH THE MORE ROBUST ACTIVITY THROUGH THE
   MORNING OVER OK INTO CENTRAL AR.  WHAT DEVELOPS LATER TODAY…AND
   WHERE…REMAINS A QUESTION ATTM.  THE FARTHER SOUTH THE SURFACE
   OUTFLOW/EFFECTIVE FRONT SETTLES…THE WEAKER THE LARGE SCALE WLY
   FLOW WILL BE.  ALTHOUGH A MODERATE TO STRONGLY UNSTABLE AIRMASS
   SHOULD EVOLVE WITHIN THE WARM SECTOR FROM THE TN VALLEY INTO
   TX…WEAK SHEAR AND ONLY MODEST LAPSE RATES SHOULD TEMPER OVERALL
   ORGANIZED SEVERE THREAT.  REGARDLESS…THREAT OF ISOLATED LARGE
   HAIL/DAMAGING WINDS FROM WEAKLY ORGANIZED CLUSTERS/LINES MAY WARRANT
   MAINTAINING CATEGORICAL SLGT RISK ACROSS MUCH OF THIS REGION.
  
   …UPPER MS RIVER VALLEY AND VICINITY…
   DESPITE BROAD AREA OF WNWLY WINDS THROUGH THE TROPOSPHERE AND
   RESULTANT WEAK LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE…MODELS GENERATE MARGINAL
   SBCAPE AND SHALLOW MOIST CONVECTION UNDER MID LEVEL POCKET THIS
   AFTERNOON.  APPEARS LOW PROBABILITIES OF HAIL/WIND NEAR SEVERE
   LEVELS IS WARRANTED WITH THE STRONGER CORES THIS AFTERNOON.
  
   ..EVANS/JEWELL.. 08/20/2009

The Gettysburg Address; Cold to Hang On All Week November 19, 2008

Words of Nov 19, 1863 Long Remembered

As expected, Tuesday morning was cold and Wednesday morning will prove to be equally as cold if not colder. We’re not done with the cold weather. We warm to the upper 40′s Wednesday before another push of cold air spills in. Freezing conditions again Friday and Saturday morning, maybe even colder than Wednesday morning. Saturday doesn’t look like its really going to warm up much but Sunday looks like the day we finally get to 50, which is still several degrees below seasonal averages. Mid 50′s on Monday prior to another front. In general, the longer term forecast looks like some moderating, but not warm, conditions.

Not Many Photos Exist From Gettysburg

Close up of above photo with only known image of Lincoln at Gettysburg

On This Date in History: I have a few words concerning the events of November 19. 1863 but anything that I could say would pale in comparison to the speech reprinted below. It is the the Gettysburg Address and it was delivered 145 years ago today. The president was not invited until about two weeks prior to the ceremony. He was not the main speaker. Edward Everett, a noted statesman from Boston, was given two months notice to work on his speech, which took about two hours to deliver. Mr. Lincoln’s speech was but 270 words. It has been accepted that Lincoln wrote the address on a scrap of paper while on the train to Pennsylvania because it was reported that way in a novel. However, historian Stephen B. Oates points out in his biography, With Malice Toward None, A Life of Abraham Lincoln that the train was too crowded and noisy for him to work on it. Instead, Oates says that he wrote part of it on White House stationery before he left and finished the rest on the morning of the event in Gettysburg.

It has been reported that the president was sick. While I find nothing to confirm that he was ill during the proceedings, I suspect that people have made the assumption, perhaps accurate, because after he returned to the White House, he was diagnosed with varioloid, which has been described as a mild for of smallpox. I’m not sure about that one because it seems to me that a “mild form of smallpox” is akin to being “a little pregnant.” Also, it is widely reported that his speech was panned in newspapers across the land. The Chicago Times and paper from Harrisburg, PA certainly show that there were some. However, not all papers were non-plussed by his remarks. In fact, the Chicago Tribune was sharply in contrast to its rival and even Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune recognized the greatness of the speech. I believe I recall a quote from Edward Everett who remarked afterward, “Mr President, you were able to say in a few minutes what I could not in two hours.” This is probably not a direct quote but something reasonably close.

Harrisburg Patriot and Union: “We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the Nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of.”

Chicago Times: “The cheeks of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dishwatery utterances.”

Chicago Tribune: “The dedicatory remarks by President Lincoln will live among the annals of man.”

Horace Greeley: “I doubt that our national literature contains a finer gem than that little speech at the Gettysburg celebration, November 19, 1863… after the close of Mr. Everett’s classic but frigid oration.”

Leaving Gettysburg For the Cemetery

I think what may be lost regarding the speech is what it shows. It is an early indication of where Mr. Lincoln was heading in terms of after the war. Even on a battlefield well north of Washington, Lincoln was confident of victory. What often gets overlooked is that on the same day, US Grant had forced the capitulation of Vicksburg which essentially gave the Union full control of the Mississippi River and effective cut the Confederacy in two. The victory at Vicksburg arguably sealed the deal for the outcome of the war. Mr. Lincoln was aware of that that and if you read carefully, you can see the hints of what his notions were regarding his intentions. He does not give a rah-rah victory speech with talk of retribution. He does not discriminate between the allegiances of the soldiers and speaks of the “unfinished business” and a “new birth of freedom.” Clearly he is talking about concluding the war but he is also referencing a nation of freedom for all. This speech is not just one of honor but also one of reconciliation. It has always eluded me of how differently our nation’s history might have been had the 16th president been allowed to conclude the “unfinished business.” How would he have handled Reconstruction and the reconciliation of the former enemies. John Wilkes Booth lives in infamy as the man who deprived the nation of “what might have been” There are 5 known drafts of the Gettysburg Address. Each seems to have some variance. Here is a version of the Gettysburg Address:

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Woman Arrested For Voting! Train Wrecks Averted! Put Away the Bermuda Shorts! November 18, 2008

00Z Tue 36 hr SFC (12Z Wed)

The cold streak continues and will do so throughout the week. In spite of clouds and wind, Tuesday morning’s temperatures of the mid to upper 20′s indicate how cold the air is and, in spite of some afternoon sunshine, the afternoon highs in the upper 30′s confirm that conclusion. An even colder Wednesday start will lead to a chilly but somewhat milder afternoon. Then, another front comes through early Thursday with another shot of colder air to follow. The second half of the weekend should provide a warm up but I suspect even then, the temperatures will still be below seasonal averages. Good thing that LG&E cut their rates from the summer, which they did…no matter what our local paper reported.

On This Date in History: The presidential election of 1872 was rather odd and somewhat brutal. It was between President Ulysses S. Grant and New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley. The first term of Grant had been clouded by some questionable moves and charges of corruption. When Grant was renominated, the Liberal Republicans split off and nominated Horace Greeley, who never saw a social reform he didn’t like. As an editor, he was brilliant. As a candidate, he was sorely lacking. The Democrats surprisingly nominated Greeley, who had once said, “all Democrats may not be rascals but all of the rascals are Democrats.” I guess the Democrats figured that they could get the split Republican vote as well as Southern Democrats who would vote for anyone who was for amnesty of Confederates and the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.

While Grant spent his summer at the seashore, the newspapers went wild with negative press on their former rival, Greeley. The made sport of his favoring prohibition, vegetarianism and living on communes. The Phrenological Journal even measured his cranium and came out with a detailed analysis of why he was unfit for office. Greeley grew despondent and was sent into a deeper depression as he sat at his wife’s bedside where she died on October 30, 1872. A week later he got swamped at the polls winning 6 states to Grant’s 30.

If this weren’t enough, suffragette Susan B. Anthony carried through on her scheme to force the issue of

Sue Carried her Fight to our Friend Grover

women’s voting. On November 1, 1872 Anthony and a group of other women went to register to vote. They were rebuffed but Anthony threatened to sue and quoted the 14th Amendment and New York law that was silent on the subject of sex. The men who were responsible for registration allowed them to register out of fear and also because they figured that if anything went wrong, it would fall on the heads of the ladies. They were right. Anthony and a few others voted on November 5 but later a Democrat poll watcher complained that Anthony had cast an illegal ballot. She was arrested on this date in 1872 for voting. She was found guilty and fined $100 plus court costs but she openly defied the judge saying that she would never pay up. She was right…she never paid. The 19th Amendment was passed four years after Anthony’s death. Here is a complete detail of the events surrounding the arrest of Susan B. Anthony.

No Way to Run A Railroad

It’s About Time: It used to be that each town in the nation could set its own time. In New York it was noon while in Philadelphia it was 11:55 AM. Towns would go by “God’s Time” or “Sun Time”. I have no idea what the former was but the latter was probably derived by local noon i.e. when the sun was at its highest, which seems difficult since that would be different every day. Wisconsin had 38 different local times. That was no way to run a railroad. The railroads were the first mode of transportation that went rapidly over long distances. Scheduling depended on time, not just for passengers but also for the safety of the system. There were numerous train collisions because of confusion of time. So, in on this date in 1883, the railroads had the entire nation synchronize the time by using time zones, theoretically 24 that would circle the earth based on the prime meridian at Greenwich, England. Of course, some towns in true American style resisted. Bath, Maine rang its town square bell 20 minutes before noon every day and Augusta, Georgia insisted on pushing its clock ahead at noon to maintain sun time. But, corporate America eventually won out with the passage of the Standard Time Act in 1918. So, all of you who think that corporate America produces nothing but evil, take a look at your watch.