Memnison Journal

Going off to the Dayton trip tomorrow (Monday) morning, coming back by dinnertime Thursday.  Apparently, there’s going to be a ton of snow (6-8 inches) hit Dayton tomorrow, and I’m really not thrilled about having to do a long drive through snow…will check this carefully in the morning.  Expect some reports on the road from [...]

Website for the remains of the old GM that they’re liquidating.   Wanna buy a golf course or a Superfund site? At the first day of hearings on GM’s proposed asset sale restructuring chief Albert Koch estimated on June 30 that the company’s environmental liabilities for all sites are $530 million. Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson [...]

Like nobody had ever heard of Russians using hookers to lure Western diplomats into compromising positions.    Sheesh. The more I hear about the whole Senator Ensign story, the more I think that sex aside, the man should resign his office because he’s a crook and an idiot.    Getting your bazillionaire parents to pay off your [...]

The rise and fall of Fordlandia, Henry Ford’s rubber plantation in Brazil in the 1920s and 1930s. “Bring Your Gun To Church Day” in Louisville.  Check your ammo at the door. Cornish Pasty flavored potato chips, which has to be one of the least expected ones I every could think of.   And a domestic quarrel [...]

No, it’s not because of the demand, it’s because hedge funds and market speculators who drove it to $4-5 a gallon gas are going back into the market because they think that commodity is going to make money again.

Senate hearings today on GM and Chrysler dealerships being closed; sounds like there’s going to be a how dare you cut our constituents’ dealerships fuss. Such as: Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who met with the GM and Chrysler executives on Tuesday, said Congress would not try to “go through the administration to get them to [...]

Some read-this items on the GM bankruptcy: Cissna Park, Illinois struggles with the loss of a huge chunk of its tax base, as a local GM dealership is closed. A LA Times article on why GM went down for the count. Michael Moore, a GM kid like me, on where we go from here and [...]

Here’s a map from AP of the major stimulus projects on a county-by-county basis.   Zoomable flash.   In my case, the big project in my area is the resurfacing and repair of a major nearby road that we use on a daily basis that is pothole city (which is unfortunately a widespread problem in the Chicago [...]

Got the reservations in for Duckon yesterday, and working with the con to make sure that the twins can bop back and forth between the rooms at night.  Trust me, this is important for them and for our sanity. Susan decided to not go off with her mom to Sioux Falls for the Memorial Day [...]

The Dayton, Ohio area authority in charge of public transport is having a banner year in ridership terms; my old hometown is being pounded with the collapse of Big Auto, principally GM.  However, sales tax revenues funding the authority have dried up, and they are cutting service and raising fares…but they’re making sure that the [...]

I will freely admit that I’m astonished at the about-face in the attitudes of the US public about gay marriage.   A couple of years ago, we had several states stomping on the idea via pumped-up public referenda; now we have far greater acceptance of the idea and state after state legalizing it. The greed of [...]

Getting ready for the trip out tomorrow morning; I’m tired and it’s only 7:45 pm – and I still have a lot to do. Susan and I were taking care of things that Had To Be Done before we could go, rather than the actual packing. This included planting the asparagus, which we hope makes [...]

The tax refunds came back in, and back out again; Susan’s SUV needs immediate work on brakes and tierods (chaching), Mere and her cousin need to be signed up for some Summer stuff Right Now (chaching) and I’m getting the document scanner that I need, which is on sale at Egghead with free shipping (chaching). [...]

I was asked about this earlier today at a family gathering; my understanding is that Chrysler’s only option is to go to Fiat for life support and that the government will assist *somewhat* in that arrangement, and that GM is going to go into some kid of para-bankruptcy, where it will be split into NEW [...]

I wonder how many of the people who are going on about “teabag” protests understand the common slang usage of the term? Retail vacancies at malls and shopping areas are soaring. Men aren’t buying new underwear, which was one of Alan Greenspan’s classic uh-oh-the-sky-is-falling barometers of how well business is doing. My question on Coleman-as-sore-loser-and-endlessly-litigating-this [...]