New Chairman of General Motors?
Where’s My Orange Juice? I’m calling the Cops!! We recently had a story of a Texas woman who called 911 because the fast foot joint she went to didn’t have enough shrimp on her order as she thought that she deserved. (story I want my shrimp) Now, we have an Oregon man who ordered a meal at a drive through line at McDonalds. (Orange Juice Story with Video) He was supposed to have a box of orange juice and the clerk neglected to include it. If something like that happens to me, I drive back and go back to the store to retrieve the missing item. Not this guy. He called 911 arguing somehow that this is a case of freedom of speech. Are we becoming a society of whiners that if we don’t get our way, instead of finding a resolution on our own that we need to call government authorities to save us?
Maybe Harpo Is The New Chief
GM filing for Bankruptcy: On May 15, 2009 the New York Post reported that the original proposal from GM to reorganize was for the labor unions to get 39% of the new company, the Federal Government to get about 50% control and existing shareholders would get the rest. If you were one of the bondholders, those who took the risk to finance the $27 billion in debt, you would get way less than the 10% stake in the company that you hoped for. More recently, the reports have the new deal sporting an 18% stake by the labor unions and the US and Canadian governments gaining a 70% stake in the company with Uncle Sam receiving the lion’s share. Again, bond holders would get pennies on the dollar. Today, it was announced that GM would become the largest company in history to file for bankruptcy. It will be interesting to see what the final outcome will be. But one thing appears certain and that is that the workers and union will own the vast majority of the new GM. President Obama says he’s not into socialism and that he has no interest in the government running the auto companies.
Chico at GM Helm?
He’s fired the head of General Motors, as would be the right of the person or entity in charge and now the government will take a huge stake in the company, labor will own the next largest stake and those who used their private money to invest will get nearly nothing. Perhaps the long term plan is operating on the assumption that, over time, the stock price will rise and Uncle Sam will then divest itself of GM at a tidy profit. FDR did something similar to this and the goverment did in fact eventually make a profit. But, no one has publically stated this is the plan. I suspect that is the objective but it should not come at the expense of private investors. And besides, do you really think the Taxpayers will get a return of the profits? Not directly, of course, but the government will retain the return on the investment. A potential consequence of this and the actions of the government taking control of the banks is that other nations look to the US as the proverbial “beacon on the hill.” In recent years, other governments have decided it was best to back off of government control of businesses but, now that they see the US government changing relationship with capitalism and free markets, they perhaps will or are reconsidering their move toward freedom and back toward their old ways. So, we’ll have the government and the workers owning GM.
UAW Black Lake Golf Course Clubhouse
The Wall Street Journal on May 21 reported that the UAW has $1.2 billion in assets. At the end of 2007, $871 million was in the strike fund. But, it also included a $3 million townhouse in Washington, DC and a $33 million golf course and resort on a lake. Now they will be able to add about a 1/5 interest in an auto manufacturer that gets propped up by the American taxpayer. Workers unite and fight those fat cats who live in million dollar homes and belong to country clubs! If ideals were followed, then the adage of President Lincoln would apply which is that “a house divided against itelf cannot stand.” Nevertheless, ideals and reality sometimes seem to be at odds.
On This Date In History: Asa Mercer was already the president of Washington Territory’s first university by the time he was in his mid twenties. The Pacific Northwest had great natural resources attracting miners and lumbermen from around the nation. But…there was a scarcity of women. Mercer decided to fix that by placing an ad in a Seattle newspaper promising to find a wife for every man who paid $300 toward bringing a woman from the East. A New York magazine hailed Mercer as a modern day Moses. Skeptics suggested that the women would have nothing to do and their trade would be something less than honorable. Mercer assured that the ladies would be employed as schoolmistresses and nothing more. Those same skeptics wondered how they could all be school teachers if there were no children to teach.
Joan Blondell Well Before Her Role On Brides
Nevetheless, Mercer sailed a ship from Seattle and found he had some 300 adventurous ladies willing to take the trip. However, by the time he was to set sail from New England, in January 1866, the number of volunteers had fallen to 100. I guess they had second thoughts. Those on board became even more fickle when they began romancing with the ships’s crew. When they stopped in Chile, many became enamoured with the military officer’s stationed at Lota, Chile. Apparently, one of Mercer’s ladies rode a spirited pony to the delight of onlookers such that 17 proposed marriage. So, now Mercer had to deal with women who didn’t want to leave the crew and others who didn’t want to leave their Chilean suitors. So, he set sail at night and secretly stole away…to keep his cargo from getting stolen away. When they got to San Francisco, he lost 11 who got off and never returned.
On This Date in 1866, Asa Mercer arrived in Seattle with what was left of his precious cargo. Many of the subscribers who had paid $300 were chagrined when they found out that their payment didn’t guarantee a woman. One man was quite upset when the specific woman whom he had asked for showed up and turned out to be a different woman by the same name. Undeterred, the man said, “All I want is a wife, and if you are willin’ I would as soon take you as the other woman.” Such romantic overtones went unheeded as the woman replied simply, “I do not wish to marry, sir.”
It wasn’t a total disaster for the operation or for Asa Mercer. Annie Stephens from Baltimore was one of the first to be married. Her husband? Asa Mercer.
Brown (top left) and Leonard (top right) Star Trek Veterans; Blondell (top center) Former Hollywood Siren
This little tale was no doubt the inspiration for the late 1960′s TV show, Here Come the Brides. The photo above is of the Bolt brothers, Jeremy, Joshua and Jason as well as Candy, a girl with whom Jeremy was smitten. Jeremy was played by Bobby Sherman, who was a teen idol. His acting career went no where and after watching the tv show, you might find out why. He tried his hand at singing and that too went nowhere. Joshua was played by David Soul who later was one of the rogue young cops in Magnum Force. I think Clint helped him exit the movie violently. Later he gained fame for his role in Starsky and Hutch. He capitalized on that fame by singing a stupid song that was in the top 40. Jason Bolt was played by Robert Brown who was an accomplished stage actor. He is known perhaps more by his role in a Star Trek episode in which he played a guy named Lazarus. I think that was the last we saw of him. Maybe he got the Star Trek gig by way of Mark Lenard, who plays Sarek in the 23rd century but was Aaron Stemple in Seattle in the 19th Century. I have no idea who Candy was nor what happened to her.
I want to know what happened to Captain Clancy. It seems to me that aside from Lenard and Soul, Here Come the Brides was the graveyard for actors though it was a pretty accurate show because, like the Asa Mercer story, it didn’t seem there were too many marriages.
(Snow White thinks I am too hard on Bobby Sherman in this…I told you he was a teen idol)
SPC Convective Outlook For May 30, 2009
SPC: 15% probability of Severe Weather Saturday
Weather Bottom Line: There has been talk out there from some place of some terrible weather on Saturday. Don’t fall for it. It’s possible that we could get some interesting storms but there is no support at all from the data to suggest any major tornado outbreak or anything like that. To our Northwest, there will be a dynamical set up that should induce stronger t’storms. There is even an indication from the GFS that a small shortwave comes down our way from that region late in the day on Saturday. Because of this feature, the GFS is doing what it always seems to do and that provide a forecast of the vertical indicies to be pretty healthy, but not really the SWEAT index too much or others that would suggest tornadic activity. What it does show would be the potential for hail. I think its the greatest threat should this materialize. That would also have a fair amount of lightning and even maybe some strong wind gusts. It only throws out a half inch of rain. The NAM is putting out over 1.6 inches of rain and even carries light rain through Saturday night and early Sunday. The truth will probably be in between with maybe some t’storms in the afternoon though not overly troublesome but also, not with as much rain. Nevertheless, the threat of severe weather is sufficient enough in the eyes of the SPC to put out a slight risk for our area. I find most curious the mention of potential isolated supercells and a tornado threat.
Otherwise, the pleasant Friday temperatures will generally hold through the weekend and then we get hot and humid for early next week with highs pushing toward 90 and the moisture getting somewhat uncomfortable and overnight lows not so low.
DAY 2 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1222 PM CDT FRI MAY 29 2009
VALID 301200Z – 311200Z
…THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS KY…MIDDLE TN…SW OH…SRN
IND…IL…NRN MO AND FAR NE KS…
…LOWER OH VALLEY/MID TO UPPER MS VALLEY…
AN UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH OVER THE CNTRL APPALACHIAN MTNS WILL REMAIN IN
PLACE TONIGHT AND SATURDAY AS A 60 TO 75 KT MID-LEVEL JET MOVES SEWD
INTO THE BASE OF THE TROUGH. AT THE SFC…A FRONTAL BOUNDARY SHOULD
BE LOCATED FROM NRN MO ESEWD ACROSS SRN IL INTO CNTRL KY SATURDAY.
GFS/NAM/NAMKF AND SREF MODEL FORECASTS ARE IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT
LATE SATURDAY MORNING WITH A CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS LOCATED ACROSS
IL…SRN IND AND WRN KY IN THE RIGHT REAR QUADRANT OF THE MID-LEVEL
JET. CONVECTION WITH THIS FEATURE OR NEW STORMS THAT DEVELOP SOUTH
OF THE CLUSTER SHOULD MOVE SEWD ALONG THE BOUNDARY ACROSS CNTRL KY
DURING THE AFTERNOON. A CONSENSUS OF FORECAST SOUNDINGS IN CNTRL KY
AT 21Z SATURDAY SHOW MODERATE INSTABILITY WITH 40 TO 50 KT OF
VERTICAL SHEAR SUGGESTING THE ENVIRONMENT WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR A
SEVERE THREAT WITH THE CONVECTIVE CLUSTER. AT THIS TIME…CONVECTIVE
MODE REMAINS QUESTIONABLE. IF ISOLATED SUPERCELLS CAN
ORGANIZE…THEN LARGE HAIL AND A FEW TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE. IF
LINE-SEGMENTS ARE FAVORED…THEN THE PREDOMINANT THREAT COULD BE
WIND DAMAGE. ANOTHER UNCERTAINTY IS THE TIMING OF THE CONVECTIVE
SYSTEM. IF THE TIMING IS LATER IN THE AFTERNOON WHEN INSTABILITY IS
MAXIMIZED…THEN THE SEVERE THREAT COULD BE MORE SUBSTANTIAL.
FURTHER WEST ACROSS NRN MO…MODEL FORECASTS DEVELOPS STRONG
INSTABILITY WITH MLCAPE VALUES RANGING FROM 2000 TO 3000 J/KG.
ALTHOUGH FORCING WILL BE WEAKER ALONG THE BOUNDARY IN NRN
MO…LOW-LEVEL CONVERGENCE AND SFC HEATING COULD HELP INITIATE A FEW
STORMS. THE STRONG INSTABILITY COUPLED WITH 30 TO 40 KT OF VERTICAL
SHEAR EVIDENT ON FORECAST SOUNDINGS SHOULD BE ADEQUATE FOR AN
ISOLATED SEVERE THREAT SATURDAY AFTERNOON.
…LOWER MICHIGAN…
AN UPPER-LEVEL LOW IS FORECAST TO MOVE SEWD ACROSS ONTARIO SATURDAY
AS A 70 TO 85 KT MID-LEVEL JET SOUTHWEST OF THE LOW MOVES INTO THE
WRN GREAT LAKES. AHEAD OF THIS FEATURE…A COLD FRONT WILL ADVANCE
SEWD ACROSS LOWER MICHIGAN DURING THE DAY WITH THE MODELS DEVELOPING
THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE BOUNDARY. ALTHOUGH INSTABILITY SHOULD BE
RELATIVELY WEAK ACROSS LOWER MI SATURDAY AFTERNOON…FORECAST
SOUNDINGS SHOW ABOUT 50 KT OF VERTICAL SHEAR. THIS ALONG WITH COLD
AIR ALOFT /500 MB TEMPS AROUND -20 C/ SHOULD BE SUPPORTIVE OF HAIL
WITH THE STRONGER UPDRAFTS.
…SRN FL PENINSULA…
A COLD FRONT IS FORECAST TO MOVE SWD ACROSS THE FL PENINSULA
SATURDAY. THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DEVELOP ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE
BOUNDARY DURING THE AFTERNOON MAINLY FROM LAKE OKEECHOBEE TO THE
SOUTH. WITH SFC DEWPOINTS IN THE LOWER TO MID 70S F…MODERATE TO
STRONG INSTABILITY SHOULD BE PRESENT. IN ADDITION…FORECAST
SOUNDINGS AT 21Z SATURDAY IN SRN FL SHOW ABOUT 30 KT OF VERTICAL
SHEAR. THIS COMBINED WITH 20 TO 25 KT OF WLY FLOW AT 850 MB COULD BE
ENOUGH FOR MARGINALLY SEVERE WIND GUSTS WITH THE STRONGER UPDRAFTS.
…NRN CA/SRN ORE/NW NV…
AN UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE WILL CONTINUE TO BE IN PLACE ACROSS THE NWRN
STATES. THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST TO DEVELOP ON THE WRN SIDE OF THE
RIDGE IN THE SIERRAS AND IN THE CASCADES OF CNTRL ORE BY AFTERNOON
AS SFC TEMPS WARM. IN SPITE OF THE WEAK MID-LEVEL FLOW /20 KTS OR
LESS/…MODERATE INSTABILITY AND STEEP LAPSE RATES SHOULD BE ENOUGH
FOR A MARGINAL SEVERE THREAT NEAR PEAK HEATING.
..BROYLES.. 05/29/2009
