wayweird

 What are secured creditors? Are they as evil as Darth Vader…or Lord Sidious even?

What are unsecured creditors?  Are they like jackals or bottom feeders?

How do they relate to each other?

How do they relate to the Chrysler and General Motors debacle?

For the answers to these questions and a number of valuable insights click here. Neal gives a very interesting explanation on the basics of the Chrysler bankruptcy.

May 4 (Bloomberg) — General Motors Corp. may be more likely to end up in bankruptcy based on the Obama administration’s willingness to place Chrysler LLC into court protection to safeguard union health-care benefits.

So Obama has played the role of special pleader for the UAW, and decided to stick it to the investors. And who are the investors? Well, WE are the investors - anyone with a pension plan, anyone with a 401K, anyone in the stock market, anyone who owns bonds. We ARE the investors in these companies. Every public company has little people investing in them.

And yet Obama says to hell with you and me. He’s going to bat for the UAW, and he’s going to stomp on GM as well.

With GM and its biggest bondholders at odds over resolving $27 billion in unsecured claims by a June 1 deadline, the Chrysler model indicates that President Barack Obama may resort to bankruptcy to end any impasse over that debt, said Martin Fridson, chief executive officer of New York-based credit investment firm Fridson Investment Advisors.

Chrysler filed for protection April 30 after the U.S. was unable to persuade secured lenders to swap $6.9 billion in claims for $2.25 billion in cash. A union retiree health-care trust was offered a 55 percent stake in Chrysler.

So the retiree program which is unsecured, (in bankruptcy legalese that means it’s low down on the chain in terms of being a creditor) was likely to get much less than that. However, Obama in his infinite wisdom puts them near the top of the chain and then takes the secure creditor, who is secured as a matter of federal law, and kicks him down the chain.

Why?

Because he’s trying to benefit his favorite constituency while punishing someone he doesn’t give a damn about - which is you and me or anyone else who invests in the stock market or who has a pension plan.

“This confirms the fear, which right along has been that the Obama administration is more sensitive or beholden to the unions than the bondholders,” Fridson said. “It makes it clear that GM bondholders aren’t likely to be able to work out anything outside of bankruptcy.”

GM bondholders proposed April 30 they get a 58 percent ownership stake in the Detroit-based automaker in exchange for their $27 billion in unsecured claims. Bondholders are objecting to GM’s proposal they get a 10 percent share of GM equity while a union health fund would get $10 billion in cash and as much as a 39 percent stake for $20 billion in unsecured claims.

While we are not yet in a dictatorship we a have a man in the White House who is the closest thing this nation has ever had. He bears more resemblance to a mafia don than he does to a U.S. President. We have a man who is advancing the cause of tyranny at break-neck speed. We have a man who is willing to use his muscle to do whatever he wants to do - including undermining and smearing his opponents whilst getting elected to office as a senator or running for president with this felonious group ACORN.

He’ll do whatever he wants to do while he smiles and shakes hands and waves and pretends that he is the coolest dude that ever was or ever will be.

And we’ll all suffer for it.

 When Matt Lauer asked the White House Senior Advisor what she thought of those who say that President Obama’s first 100 days has been filled with way too much spending and big government, Valerie Jarrett responded:

“Well that’s very interesting coming from Newt Gingrich. If you look back over the last eight years President Obama inherited the largest federal deficit in our nation’s history.”

Come on. Give me a break. When her boss was Senator Obama he voted for the largest federal deficit in our nation’s history, and he with his fellow Democrats wanted a bigger federal deficit just like the one they have recently enacted and President Obama has insisted upon.

Jarrett continued:

“So I would say quite the opposite. What he’s trying to do is pump money back in the economy that’s going to jump start our economy.”

Oh! So you’re saying that he has a good excuse for his deficit spending, unlike the Bush administration which did not.

Valerie Jarrett is an idiot. Who else but an idiot would complain about a deficit that her boss had inherited after he had voted for it in the senate? Who else but an idiot would complain about a deficit that her boss wants to enlarge? He has now increased the deficit he inherited by a factor of four.

But according to Jarrett, Obama’s deficit is OK because he’s pumping money into the economy - unlike the Bush deficit spenders who were obviously stuffing it into their mattresses.

Jarrett complains, “If you look at the last eight years with the lack of regulations, basically the private sector ran amok because we didn’t provide the kinds of checks and balances that we needed…”

What lack of regulations? Where was there a lack of regulation? Is she talking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

That was not a lack of regulation. That was a matter of the goons in her party insisting that bad loans be given to people who couldn’t afford homes.

What does she mean the private sector ran amok?

We’re just out here trying to survive. We’re just trying to earn a living and take care of our families. How are we out of control?

But to Valerie Jarrett the government is hunky-dory. The government is not too big. It’s not too wasteful. It doesn’t tax too much. It doesn’t spend too much. The politicians haven’t run amok. The bureaucracy hasn’t run amok even though it reaches right into our bathrooms and tells us how much water we can flush down the toilet. Hell no, there’s not enough regulation.

We in the private sector are the ones who are out of line. I reckon we had better straighten up and start goose-stepping the right way.

“Captain Silver why don’t you arm your cargo ship and repel those bloody pirates when they try to board and capture your vessel,” I asked as the seagulls circled overhead.

“Yar mate, the owners of the shipping companies would rather pay ransom than risk crew members being killed. It’s all a matter of liability costs don’t ye know…besides we’re sailors, not marines. Not many of our hands are ready to die to protect a rich ship owner’s profit.”

“Well then,” I pressed him, “Why not hire mercenaries or trained security forces and carry them along to do the dirty work?”

“Ar, you’re a sharp one young Jim Hawkins, but did ye ever stop to consider that arming ships will increase insurance costs, since insurance would be forced to cover a wider range of liability and death situations?”

Long John paused and spat a large wad of phlegm over the railing and into quiet sea below.

“Har! Learned to do that from Leonardo DiCaprio hisself, I did!  Like I was saying, insurance costs would go through the overhead…that’s roof to you lubbers. Did I ever tell you about the time crazy, old Ben Gunn blew the brains right out of a poor fisherman’s head just cause he made Ben nervous? Poor bastard was innocently approaching our merchant ship merely wanting to sell his catch.  The shipping company’s insurance rates sky-rocketed - all on account of that small misadventure.”

“But,” I insisted, “Trained security forces would be better disciplined than Ben Gunn.”

“Ye may be right young Jim, but ye may be mistak’n. Bored men on long voyages are strange creatures. Many ship owners are less worried about piracy than they are of armed men killing each other in personal disputes. Besides, the cost of carrying armed private security forces would probably exceed the cost of a potential ransom.”

“But, Captain Silver, wouldn’t your sailors rather take their chances with fellow employees rather than mean and bloodthirsty pirates? And with the increasing number attacks aren’t the owners suffering increasing financial distress?”

“Ar, Jim! Ye might have a point. But, so far the pirates haven’t hurt anyone, and until they do the ship’s crew will be more likely to surrender than fight. And until the cost of accommodating pirates exceeds the cost of fight’n them, owners aren’t likely arm up.”

For as long as they could remember, they stood 400 strong. Then the white man came looking for gold and their numbers dwindled. Their hunting grounds shrunk, and food became scarce. They had a choice: poach from the nearby farms and ranches or starve.

When they chose raiding and poaching, they also chose to brave the wrath of those from whom they stole. The results of that wrath were deadly. The white settlers hunted them relentlessly - killing 74 of them in 1865. The next year 40 fell at Three Knolls and 33 at Dry Camp. After the Kingsley Cave/Morgan Camp massacre in 1871 there were only six left.

By 1911 there was only one.

On this day in 1916, Ishi the last of the Yahi tribe died from tuberculosis.

If we were ancient Romans we’d now be enduring the toughest day of an two week long religious festival. March 24^th was the “Day of Blood” during the Feast of Cybele. This celebration was held to ensure agricultural fertility for the next year. The festival commemorates the death and resurrection of Cybele’s son and lover Attis.  He died when he castrated himself by allowing a pig to bite off his genitals.

The Day of Blood was the high point of the festival. Cybele’s priests would publicly draw massive amounts of blood from their arms and offer it to the goddess. At this point the worshippers had reached such frenzy that some would castrate and flagellate themselves in the streets, in imitation of Attis.  Others would cut off various parts of their body and run through the city throwing fingers, penises, genitals, hands, and sometimes even arms in houses at random.

The Taurobolium often occurred on this day as well. This was a ritual where worshippers (usually males) who were looking to have their sins washed away and be “born again” were bathed in the blood of a castrated bull.

Talk about holiday stress.

I always thought this kind of stuff was purely fantasy, but there have actually been cage fights in a Dallas high school.  Documents obtained by The Dallas Morning News show that troubled students at South Oak Cliff High School were sent to duke it out - with bare fists and no head protection - in a steel utility cage in an athletic locker room.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/031909dnmetcagefight.3dfc1c3.html

Could it be that the principal’s favorite movie character was Mad Max? Did he fancy himself a movie director? I can see it all now:

The school athletes are assembled around the cage and a member of the faculty announces:

“WELCOME TO ANOTHER EDITION OF THUNDERDOME!!”

Two students enter. One student leaves!

“Here are Scotland’s terms:

Lower your flags and march straight back to England - stopping at every home you pass by to beg forgiveness for a hundred years of theft, rape and murder.

Do that and your men shall live. Do it not, and every one of you will die today.

Before we let you leave… your commander must cross that field, present himself before this army, put his head between his own legs and kiss his own arse.”

Most movie fans will recognize this challenge issued by Mel Gibson’s version of William Wallace to the English envoy on Stirling Field.

Why do I bring this up on today of all days?

It’s only because on this day in 1328 the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton was signed in Edinburgh by Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, and was later ratified by the English Parliament in Northampton. It brought an end to the First War of Scottish Independence, which had begun with the English invasion of Scotland in 1296.

The First War of Scottish Independence started because there was no clear cut heir to the Scottish throne after King Alexander III fell off his horse and broke his neck in 1286. Edward I of England (Long Shanks - Patrick McGoohan) initially supported the claim of John Balliol, who was crowned King of Scots in 1292, but then he changed his mind and decided he wanted Scotland for himself. After Balliol’s removal and exile, Robert the Bruce broke from the English camp and took up his own rival claim to the crown, by leading a resistance to Edward.

The drama we witness whenever we pop the old Braveheart disc into the DVD player shows us only the early part of that war which cost rivers of blood and mountains of grief. The struggle lasted 32 years and can be broken down into roughly four phases:

1. The initial English invasion and success in 1296.
2. The campaigns led by William Wallace, and various other Scottish Guardians from 1297 until the threat of English penetration into northern Scotland compelled a general Scottish submission in February 1304.
3. Renewed campaigns led by Robert the Bruce between his coronation in 1306 and the Scottish victory at Bannockburn in 1314.
4. The final phase of Scottish diplomatic initiatives and military campaigns in Scotland, Ireland and Northern England from 1314 until the peace treaty in 1328.

Even the last, decisive scene of Mel Gibson’s movie showing the Battle of Bannockburn (which took place eight years after William Wallace’s execution) occurs fourteen years before Scotland was finally able to regain its independence.

So what’s the lesson we want to take away from this episode in history? How about this? Freedom can be lost overnight and once lost it is hard to regain.

Any body out there ever hear of the Long Gray Line? Just how long is it? Where was it drawn?

Never mind. I’ll Google it.

Oh, here it is. It’s the title of a 1955 drama directed by John Ford. The phrase “The Long Gray Line” is used to describe, as a continuum, all graduates and cadets of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

I reckon that’s a pretty long line - starting with the first official graduate of the academy, Joseph Gardner Swift and extending all the way to the lowliest plebe (that’s a freshman for you civilians) surviving there today.

I was just wondering because this is the anniversary of the day President Thomas Jefferson signed a law establishing this superb educational institution and leadership factory. The U.S. Military Academy was born in 1802 on this date.

West Point came into being during a time when higher education was available only to the rich. Those who could afford tuition for college were usually admitted wherever they applied. Things were different at West Point. Admission to the U.S. Military Academy was based on merit - regardless of economic station.

The Long Gray Line has provided the military leadership that has seen us through some hard times. General Ulysses S. Grant fought against tough opposition from fellow graduates such as Generals Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet before he finally defeated the Confederacy and preserved the union in 1865. West Pointers MacArthur and Eisenhower led U.S. forces to victory against Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany eighty years later.

West Point has produced leaders for the corporate world and academia as well, including Jim Kimsey, founder of AOL, Jim Hicks, president of JC Penny, Alden Partridge, founder of Norwich University, and Oliver O. Howard, founder of Howard University.

West Point’s motto stands as solid as its reputation:

 Duty, Honor, Country.

“My friends:

I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking — to talk with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of banking, but more particularly with the overwhelming majority of you who use banks for the making of deposits and the drawing of checks.

I want to tell you what has been done in the last few days, and why it was done, and what the next steps are going to be…”

With these words President Franklin D Roosevelt opened his first fireside chat on 12 March 1933. The fireside chats were a series of thirty evening radio speeches given by Roosevelt 1933 and 1944. Although radio is something that we take so much for granted today, back in ‘33 he was on the cutting edge. Perhaps it might even be said that Roosevelt began a revolution in the democratic process with these broadcasts.

When our country was young, the only people that got to see or hear the nation’s chief executive were the folks from his home county or those lucky enough to be in the town square when he happened to pass through on his way to the capitol.

Even with the advent of the railroad and the telegraph only a relative handful of citizens got a first hand look at the U.S. President during whistle stops. Most had to settle for reading his words in the newspaper and seeing his picture in the same.

FDR was our first president to come directly into the American household via radio. Since that first fireside chat almost every American has had a direct experience with this nation’s leader, through radio, television or the internet.

How has this affected the democratic process? The most obvious answer is now candidates have to be pretty photogenic and charismatic to even be considered for the office. If a guy has a squeaky voice similar to George Patton’s forget about it.

The better a candidate reads a teleprompter, the better that candidate’s chances for election.