Howtown explains 'How half the US lost part of their minds'

I slept in today and have an appointment this afternoon, so I'm postponing the entry about the nominees for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards I've already created a preview image for. In its place, I'm sharing Howtown explaining How half the US lost part of their minds.

Leaded gasoline, paint, and pipes left a toxic fingerprint in the baby teeth of half of all Americans — and those tiny clues reveal how silent doses of lead rewired IQ scores, crime rates, and mental health for decades. In this Howtown episode we laser-scan my own baby teeth with “tooth detective” Manish Arora, revisit Herbert Needleman’s 1970s Boston study, and track economist Jessica Reyes’s state-by-state link between tetraethyl lead’s phase-out and the 1990s crime drop. New data from New Zealand’s Dunedin Study (analyzed by Aaron Reuben) show how early exposure still shapes Gen X brains, personalities, and social mobility, framing one of the largest environmental injustices in U.S. history.

I suspected this video would be about lead and I was right; it's too early for it to be about the pandemic, although COVID-19 causes brain damage. My wife and I are lucky to have suffered nothing more severe than "modestly lower energy levels and some slight brain fog" that cleared up after a little over a year.

The story Adam Cole and Joss Fong told complements the one related in SciShow explains the connection between the age of the Earth and unleaded gasoline plus more about lead with more of an emphasis on how lead affected and still affects public health, long after the U.S. and other countries stopped using leaded gasoline and lead paint. I had no idea how persistent the effects of lead exposure were and still are, including loss of IQ points through adulthood. I also learned how and why lead is so dangerous; it imitates calcium because its ions have the same charge (valence) and nearly the same size, so it gets incorporated in bones and teeth and interferes with nerve function. As I'm fond of writing, it's a good day when I learn something new and I learned a lot of new information from this video.

Speaking of learning new things, I'm trying to figure out when I might show this to my students. Since my students and I live in Michigan, home of the Flint Water Crisis, which Cole and Fong mention, I could show it when I lecture about water pollution. The video concentrates on leaded gasoline, which is an air pollution problem, so it would make more sense to show it then, especially since I talk about the health effects of air pollution. Besides, that part of the story focuses on the role Charles F. Kettering, who worked for General Motors, played in developing leaded gasoline. That's also a Michigan story. Either way, if I show this video, it will become another example of blogging as professional development.

That's a wrap for today's evergreen environmental topic. Stay tuned to see if I resume my Emmy Awards coverage tomorrow, or postpone it again.

UAW strike enters second month, a driving update

I foreshadowed today's post at the end of Seth Meyers takes a closer look at Trump's gag order and Jim Jordan running for Speaker.

I haven't mentioned the UAW strike since Meyers' and Colbert's guests on strikes and labor issues. I plan on posting a driving update tomorrow, so it will be the perfect opportunity to do so. After all, both are about cars.

I begin with WDIV/Click On Detroit reporting UAW strike against Detroit 3 could have potential long-term consequences.

Ford chairman Bill Ford sent a warning to the United Auto Workers Monday and its President Shawn Fain. He said unless the company and the union get together on a contract, the industry could suffer and its future put in doubt.

Ford is preaching (domestic) industry solidarity, Fain is preaching class solidarity. Those could potentially be working in parallel, but right now they are at right angles to each other.

WDIV reported on decisions GM and Stellantis, formerly Chrysler, made in UAW strike: Week 5 sees both friction and hopefulness, Big Three layoffs.

The UAW has yet to reach a deal with any of Detroit’s Big Three automakers, though contract talks that started in July have continued since the historic strike was initiated one month ago.

I tell my students how computerized cars are every semester and the auto companies going to the Computer Electronics Show (CES) serves as an example of that. That Stellantis is not going next year is a sign of how severe the effects of the strike have become. Speaking of which, Fox 2 Detroit mentioned that the auto industry has already lost $8 billion from the strike in As UAW strike marches on, smaller auto suppliers may be left behind.

Marick Masters, a Wayne State University business professor, says the small suppliers make the plastic and metal parts that go into the cars we love. And right now, they risk running out of money.

A partial but escalating strike has cost the big three U.S. automakers $8 billion in just one month, while two complete strikes cost the entertainment industry nearly $6 billion over five-and-one-half months. The comparison shows that manufacturing is more important to the economy, even though entertainment is more fun to write about.

That's the current snapshot of the big picture involving cars. Follow over the jump for my personal driving update.

UAW goes on strike against Detroit's Big Three automakers

I wrote "the threat of an auto workers strike is a local story with national implications" on Labor Day. That strike has begun, as WDIV reported UAW launches historic strike against Detroit's Big Three automakers.

For the first time in history, the United Auto Workers union has called for a simultaneous strike at each of Detroit’s Big Three automakers after the groups failed to come to an agreement before this year’s contract deadline.

Two things impressed me, the resolve of the strikers and the big show the automakers made that they have been negotiating and making what they see as good offers. The first compares well with SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes; the writers and actors have shown great resolve on the picket lines. The second is a welcome contrast to the studios, who have made only token efforts to offer acceptable contracts. The automakers want to keep making cars and trucks while keeping their workforce satisfied. The studios seem to want to starve the writers and actors into submission. You can tell which industry's management I like better.

CNBC Television compared the UAW strike to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in UAW members go on strike at three key auto plants after deal deadline passes.

CNBC's Phil LeBeau joins 'Squawk Box' with the latest news.

Phil LeBeau noted the strikers' resolve as well along with the popular support for the strike. Both of those bode well for the UAW. They also discussed the transition to EVs, which is going more slowly than hoped, and how the strike is likely to impede that technological change even more. I'm not happy about that, as I'm in favor of EVs. However, sustainability is a balancing act, which is why I wrote "May people not suffer so that the planet and profit thrive" on Labor Day. Here's to maintaining that balance.

There will be no negotiations until Monday, so I plan on returning to the strike next week. Until then, stay tuned for more posts about News and Documentary Emmy Awards over the weekend.

The state of UAW negotiations for Labor Day 2023

Happy Labor Day! Today's big labor news isn't about either the SAG-AFTRA or WGA strikes. Instead, it's about the possibility of a UAW strike. This is a blog based in metro Detroit, the Motor City, and the threat of an auto workers strike is a local story with national implications.

I begin with Fox 2 Detroit reporting UAW rejects offer by Ford, files unfair labor charges against GM, Stellantis on Friday.

The United Auto Workers are holding firm with existing Big 3 deals set to expire in two weeks. The UAW also filed unfair labor practice charges against General Motors and Stellantis.

Five billion in losses from a ten-day strike? Yikes! That rivals what the actors and writers striking most of the summer did to the southern California economy.

Fox 2 Detroit did a good job of presenting the union viewpoint with some balance from management. The next day, WTOL 11 uploaded The clock is ticking for UAW negotiations with Big Three, which offered different labor perspectives and added more from management.

The United Auto Workers' contract with the Big Three is set to expire Sept. 14.

I shouldn't be surprised that these negotiations are a reaction to the concessions made during GM's bankruptcy, which also affected Chrysler, now Stellantis. All those profits since then have made the UAW want to take those concessions back.

Both Fox 2 and WTOL 11 brought up the transition to electric vehicles as an issue in the contract talks. Yahoo Finance explored that in United Auto Workers negotiations: Why the shift to EVs is such a big deal to workers.

United Auto Workers' members have authorized a strike in case negotiations with the Big Three U.S. automakers (GM, F, STLA) fail. Autolist Editor-in-Chief David Undercoffler spoke with Yahoo Finance Live anchor Akiko Fujita about the significant pay differences between a union and non-union job in a comparable role. "EVs are much simpler to manufacture by several orders of magnitude," Undercoffler says, adding that the UAW is likely looking to the future in a bid to help protect their members' jobs. Also, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris joined the conversation saying the "critical issue" in the transition to EV manufacturing will be wages, with workers wanting to ensure they will still get the "same, quality wages in an electric vehicle battery plant that they were earning when they were helping to build internal combustion engine vehicles."

Anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time knows I'm in favor of electric vehicles. I drive a Prius, for starters. While I enjoyed hearing that assembling electric vehicles is simpler than putting together internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles — there are fewer moving parts in electric power plants and transmissions — I hadn't considered that would mean less labor in building cars and light trucks. On the one hand, it's always a good day when I learn something new, especially a point in favor of something I support already. On the other, it serves as an example of two of Commoner's Laws, everything is connected to everything else and there is no free lunch. May people not suffer so that the planet and profit thrive.

I plan on updating the strikes in Hollywood tomorrow, so stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy the holiday while remembering the reason it exists.

WXYZ, WDIV, and WPTV report on the chip shortage and its effects on autos and appliances

I told my readers to "Stay tuned" because "I might look at this issue from the perspective of local news media next." Since I describe my blog as being "about sustainability with a science fiction slant and a Detroit perspective" at its Facebook page and Detroit is the Motor City, I'm embedding reporting from Detroit television stations first, beginning with WXYZ's Auto dealers call chip shortage 'a hell of a follow up' to pandemic; issue spans across industries.

The global chip shortage will cost billions. Everybody from the shop floor assembly line to the showroom floor is adjusting.

As I wrote yesterday, "This entire story serves as another example of everything is connected to everything else and there is no free lunch; mess with some part of a system and the effects will move through all the connections at rates and sizes ranging from ripples to cascades." WXYZ's report added to the connections, including the Texas polar vortex blackout and local plant closures elsewhere contributing to the shortage of chips, local auto plant closures, and vehicles waiting for chips in parking lots. That the chip shortage is also affecting appliances concerns me, as my wife and I need a new dishwasher. We might have to wait just like Robert Kroeger, who WDIV interviewed in Computer chip shortage creating long wait times for pickup truck buyers.


A six month wait and counting? Yikes! That Kroeger bought his truck at Bob Maxey Ford in Howell makes this even more real for me, as I used to teach in Howell and have driven past the dealership. I wish him luck getting his truck. He'll need that and a lot of patience.

Follow over the jump for two videos from WPTV in Palm Beach, Florida about this story.

Bright Sun Films and Business Insider on the General Motors bankruptcy, a story I tell my students

I wrote about one of the examples I use to illustrate a point to my students yesterday in I recommended 'Spaceship Earth,' a documentary about Biosphere 2, to my students. Today, I'm writing about another, General Motors. Watch Bankrupt - General Motors, which includes the points I make about what was once the largest company and the largest private employer in the U.S. as well as the largest auto company on the planet.

After over a hundred years in business, General Motors was the worlds largest corporation producing some of the most iconic cars in history. However in the early 2000's, the company made some bad decisions and quickly brought the worlds most powerful company into turmoil, on the brink of shutting down, and eventually.. bankruptcy.

As my readers might gather, I use pre-bankruptcy GM as an example of how not to conduct business sustainably. First, I tell students about how I figured out that GM was headed for bankruptcy in 2006 based on its pension obligations and the business model it used to sustain them, selling trucks, SUVs, and luxury cars, which were profitable but very fuel-inefficient. The price of oil was already rising then and when it got high enough, it would make sales of those product lines collapse, tanking GM's revenue and sending it into bankruptcy. As the video shows, that happened, although Jake Williams concentrated on the effects of the Great Recession more than the energy costs that, along with the collapse of housing and finance, helped cause it. Jake at least pointed out that abandoning the EV-1 turned out to be a mistake, with GM losing its lead in a technology that other auto makers made profitable.

Second, even during good times, GM was not caring about how its business decisions affected its employees and the communities in which they lived. That's ignoring the people part of the triple bottom line, people, planet, profit, and creating inequitable outcomes, the opposite of what the image below shows as the result of balancing people and profit. That led to all the problems the city of Flint had even before the Flint Water Crisis.

As the diagram also shows, the anticipated results of balancing planet and profit are viable outcomes. GM did not do that with its product line, concentrating on profit to serve its retirees, sacrificing planet for people. That led to a nonviable outcome, the company going bankrupt.

Jake did not include the environmental and energy cost of my lectures in his history, but Business Insider did in its history of one of the brands that supported GM before the bankruptcy but which the company discontinued afterwards, The Rise And Fall Of Hummer.

In the 1990s, the militaristic off-road machine known as the Hummer was a major part of American pop culture. But in fewer than 20 years, Hummer went from being one of General Motors' most recognizable brands to a relic of the past. We explored what led to its rise and fall.

The Hummer was a poster child of gas guzzling SUVs and was the one I would call a "suburban assault vehicle" because of its military origins. However, as Business Insider suggested, it could stage a comeback, particularly if GM revives it as an electric vehicle.

Finally, one of the reasons why I was able to predict the crash in GM's sales more than a decade ago was because I'd seen it before during the 1970s and 1980s, when gas prices rose and American auto sales, particularly of larger vehicles, collapsed. Business Insider told that story as part of The Rise And Fall Of Cadillac.

For half a century, Cadillac was America's top-selling luxury car brand. However, recent decades have seen it struggle to stay afloat in the US.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

That's it for today's edition of stories I tell my students. Stay tuned for the series nominees for the 26th annual Critics Choice Awards in tomorrow's Sunday entertainment feature as I promised in the footnote to 'Watchmen' leads diversity in 2019-2020 Emmy winners for MLK Day.

Vox explains how American CEOs got rich by buying back their companies' stock

I could not decide what to write about today until I listened to the October Democratic debate on the way home from work and heard Joe Biden mention corporations using their profits to buy back stocks instead of investing in their workers by raising wages and benefits.  I thought "Vox has a video about that."  So here is How American CEOs got so rich, which explains the history of stock buybacks and the role they play in increasing CEO compensation at the expense of workers.

For a long time, it was off-limits for a corporation to buy back its own stock. Not anymore.
...
American companies today spend billions on stock buybacks. So what does that mean for the US economy? And how did it help make American CEOs so unbelievably rich?

What struck me was the connection between CEO compensation and investor dividends to the closing of GM plants.  Plant closings are one of the issues in the ongoing UAW strike against GM.  So is getting rid of two-tiered wage scales and putting every worker on the same scale, which will increase wages overall, even if it might not benefit those on the top tier much if at all.  Is GM willing to reduce its shareholder and executive compensation so it can pay workers?  I'm guessing it's resisting that idea, which is why the strike is in its fifth week.  At least there are signs GM and the UAW are getting close to an agreement.  I hope that's so.

'The Daily Show with Trevor Noah' examines GM's proposed plant closings and layoffs

I'm not done for the month with Trevor Noah reacting to Trump having things not go his way.  Watch Trump’s Broken Promise to General Motors.

It turns out America’s top used car salesman sold General Motors workers a lemon. GM cuts 15,000 jobs amid slumping sales even after Trump’s insistence that the corporation was making a comeback.

The one car I will miss will be the Volt, which can carry a gun rack, even before 60 Volts drove down Woodward in the 2011 Dream Cruise.  Still, that was seven years ago and the Bolt is replacing the Volt, so I suppose it's time for the Volt to retire.  I'm still a bit sad.

As for who to blame, the Detroit Free Press interviewed a University of Michigan economist, who said not to blame Trump.  This includes the tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, which probably are not helping.  Speaking of tariffs, what is one of Trump's reactions?  Propose more tariffs, this time on imported cars.  I suppose if all one has is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail, and Trump loves to hammer.

November 2017 driving update for Pearl plus Tesla Truck and Chevy Bolt news

As for the next driving anniversary, that would be November 9th.  I'm fairly confident that Pearl will pass 37,000 miles weeks later than that, as I drove a lot last October and November for the election.  There is no election this year, so no driving around dropping off lawn signs.  That means I should be driving closer to 6.500 miles per year than 7,000 miles per year at the next driving update and it won't be because I was sick -- I hope.

That's how I ended September 2017 Driving update: Pearl on September 27.  I was at least partly right, as Pearl turned over 37,000 miles on Wednesday, November 15.  That's later than November 9, but only by a week.  Time for me to run the numbers to see how far off the rest of the predictions I came.

First, September 26, when Pearl turned over 36,000 miles, to November 15 is 50 days.  That means I drove an average of exactly 20 miles per day and 610 miles per month.  That's more than the 16.39 miles per day and exactly 500 miles per standard month I drove from July 27 to September 26 this year.  That's expected, as I had more meetings to drive to and a second work location that is farther from my home.*  What I was hoping was that I'd drive less both than the comparable period last year and year-over-year.  At first glance, it looks like I did achieve the first, as I wrote "it took me 41 days for me to drive Pearl 1,000 miles and my wife 44 days to drive Dez the same distance. That means I drove 24.39 miles/day and 743.90 miles/standard month while my wife traveled 22.73 miles/day and 693.18 miles/standard month over the past seven weeks."  However, I miscalculated last year, as September 21 to November 9 is really 49 days, so I actually drove Pearl 20.41 miles per day and 622.45 miles per standard month.  Even so, I still drove less this year than during the comparable period last year, although not by much.**

As for driving less than 7,000 miles per year, I managed that, but not by as little as I had hoped.  It took 371 days to drive 7,000 miles from November 9, 2016 to November 15, 2017 for an average of 18.87 miles per day and a total of 6886.8 miles per year.  Sorry, that wasn't closer to 6,500 than to 7,000.  However, at least I wasn't sick.


Just as I did for twice before for these updates, I have news from Tesla about the latest in electric vehicles plus a bonus report about the Chevy Bolt.  Follow over the jump for those.

Driving update for June 2017: Pearl plus Tesla worth more than GM or Ford

Pearl rolled over 34,000 miles on Friday, June 2, 50 days after it passed 33,000 miles in April, so it's time for another driving update.  I drove Pearl 20.00 miles per day and 601.00 miles per standard month since April.  That's more than the 17.86 miles per day and 544.64 miles per standard month I drove her between February and April.  However, it is only slightly more than the 19.61 miles per day and 598.0 miles/month it traveled during April through June 2016.  I was hoping for fewer miles because of a week off and not having make up for Dez not being in the shop, but apparently I managed to drive slightly more just the same.  However, I'll have to wait until Dez passes 55,000 miles to see what the total driving impact for the family really is.  That should happen late this month or very early next month.

I missed making a year-over-year comparison during the past two updates.  It turned out that Pearl reached multiples of 1,000 miles on February 17 during both 2016 (25.000 miles) and 2017 (32,000 miles) and on April 13 both years as well (26,000 and 33,000 miles, respectively).  In addition, the car passed milestones on June 3 last year (27,000) and June 2 (34,000) this year.  That means I have been driving 7,000 miles per year very consistently since February 2016.  That's an average of 19.18 miles per day and 583.33 miles per (actual not standard) month.  That's almost double the 4,000 miles per year I drove Yuki before I traded her in and then moved.  It's amazing what moving out of a walkable neighborhood does for one's driving!

Normally, I'd conclude a driving update with either a look at how my driving fits in with the driving patterns of the rest of the U.S. or a price update on oil and gas.  I'm going to include the first when I post Dez's driving update so that I can compare the household's driving and not just mine.  As for the second, I found something more interesting that fits with Pearl being a hybrid electric car, CNBC's report that Tesla Market Cap Tops GM & Ford.

CNBC's Phil LeBeau reports the latest from General Motors and Tesla's annual shareholder meeting.

Score another one for Elon Musk!

Chevrolet Bolt wins Green Car of the Year

I wrote a lot about the Chevrolet Volt during the first three years of this blog, including defending it against Newt Gingrich.  Now it's time to write about its little sister, the Bolt, which was just named Green Car of the Year.  Take it away, Detroit Free Press!

LOS ANGELES — General Motors'   long-range 2017 Chevrolet Bolt electric car was named Green Car of the Year Thursday at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The Bolt's 238-mile range on a fully charged battery approaches that of a Tesla. Yet the Bolt, in many cases, is about half the price. It will be priced at $37,495 and is due to go on sale by the end of the year. After tax incentives, Bolt prices will start just under $30,000 out the door.

“There’s been a lot of talk about building an affordable electric car with a 200-mile range that brings electric vehicles to the mainstream, but only one manufacturer has done that, and it’s us,” Chevrolet marketing manager Steve Majoros said.

It's the fourth triumph of the week for the audacious Chevy, which aims to steal the mantle of electric vehicle leadership from Tesla. The Bolt won Motor Trend magazine's car of the year award Monday, was named a finalist for North American Car of the Year Tuesday and made Car and Driver magazine's coveted 10 Best list Wednesday.

Agence France Presse shows the car and the reaction of the GM executives to winning the award in Chevrolet Bolt EV wins 'Green Car of the Year' award.

The Chevrolet Bolt EV wins the 2016 Green Car of the Year award in Los Angeles, beating out the BMW 330e iPerformance, the Chrysler Pacifica, the Kia Optima and the Toyota Prius Prime.

Congratulations!

CNNMoney has more about the car itself in Taking the Chevy Bolt out for a spin.

Chevrolet's newest all-electric vehicle is estimated to have a larger range than the similarly-priced Tesla. But will the cars be a hit with consumers?

The answer to the question is "I hope so."  In the meantime, I wish GM and the Bolt design team good luck with the judges for North American Car of the Year.

NYTimes and Reuters on NAIAS

WXYZ has posted several videos a day since the two I included in Preparations for NAIAS 2014 have begun and I found the NAIAS Detroit channel, so if I wanted to post entries using nothing but local officially sourced videos, I could.  However, I like to get an outside perspective and I got two yesterday from major news outlets, the New York Times and Reuters.  First, the N.Y. Times, which concentrated on the changes to the U.S. auto industry using the auto show as a backdrop and excuse in Big Changes for the Big 3 - Detroit Auto Show 2014.

The Detroit auto show is ready to shine a light on developments for American automakers. As General Motors shed government ownership and Ford gambled on a redesign, Chrysler took on an Italian accent.

Reuters took a more conventional look at the show itself in Big, sexy power Detroit Auto show.

American auto companies are choosing brawn over brains at the 25th Detroit Auto Show with a Chevy Corvette and Silverado truck grabbing top honors as U.S. auto sales head into a five-year recovery. Conway G. Gittens reports.

A third major outside news source, CNN Money, is also covering NAIAS, but they're doing reports more like WXYZ's, so I'll use them for a change of pace, much like I used Detroit News during Dream Cruise last year.  WOOD-TV is also covering NAIAS, and I'll include their videos to show their perspective on the event.  Looks like I'm not going to run out of things to blog about any time soon.

Green Cars for Earth Day

WXYZ featured the greenest cars built by U.S. manufacturers, one each from Ford, Chrysler, and G.M., on Earth Day.  The station  began its coverage with the Ford Focus Energi.

We look at the Ford Focus Energi as part of our Green Cars of Detroit series.

The next car featured was the Dodge Dart.

We continue our Green Cars of Detroit series with a look at the Dodge Dart.

WXYZ concluded with the Chevy Cruze Diesel.


For more green cars, surf over to The 10 Best Green Cars, only one of which, the Ford Energi, is among the three shown in the videos above.

As I say over at Kunstler's blog, Happy Motoring--for now--from Detroit!

Thursday at the 2012 Dream Cruise

Mary Conway reports again from Royal Oak on the early cruisers, including one who drove up from Texas.


Conway continues to show her love of cars with this dispatch about Corvette owners.


Good for GM Chairman Ackerman, who will be donating the proceeds of the Corvette he's auctioning off to Habitat for Humanity to help build houses in Detroit, which gives this story an unexpected sustainability angle.

Finally, Conway describes how the Woodward Dream Cruise has become a draw for tourists from all over North America.


Sweet!

Wednesday at the 2012 Dream Cruise

Time for another video report.

First, Mary Conway reports on a New Zealand couple who are making a second trip to the Dream Cruise to buy a classic car, parade it down Woodward, then drive to California and ship it home.


Next, a story of a more recent car, a 1988 Mustang, restored in time to cruise Woodward.


WXYZ doesn't get to have all the fun. Here, Marco Andretti takes a lap up and down Woodward in a Volt with a writer from the Detroit News as a passenger.

Indy Car race car driver Marco Andretti cruises in the Chevy Volt with Detroit News auto critic Doug Guthrie.

That was fun and sustainable, too. Sweet!

Newt Gingrich on Volts and gun racks

First, Newt in Georgia, where he's hating on sustainability by making fun of the Volt.




That wasn't just a one-time remark. Here he is in Oklahoma, repeating the line that "you can't put a gun rack in a Volt" along with his call for $2.50/gallon gas. His supporters think this line is a winner, as his own superPAC put the video on their own YouTube channel.




President Obama has already taken care of debunking Gingrich's call for cheap gas, but what about it being impossible to put a gun rack in a Volt? Yes, you can.




Any questions?

Second day of WXYZ on the Michigan Republican Primary

Here are some videos that didn't make it into The GOP Circus returns to town, one because it was posted to WXYZ's YouTube account after the I posted yesterday's entry, one because it wasn't relevant then, and three simply because I missed them the first time. Here they are.

First, some old news, the state of the race three days ago.






Dead heat in GOP race

That was three days ago. The polling situation changed rapidly enough in two days that WXYZ posted a follow-up clip yesterday.






Rick Santorum has a lead in Michigan over Mitt Romney

Someone actually gave this video a dislike rating, which is rare for WXYZ videos on YouTube. Based on the one comment so far, it probably was a Democrat, although one might have expected that it was a Romney supporter.

Santorum may be the front-runner in the polls, but Romney is still being targeted by Democrats for his positions, as expressed in a TV ad and op-ed piece in the Detroit News about the auto bailout.






Speaking of the auto bailout, here's the most recent piece of news to come out about its aftermath.

General Motors Company announced Thursday a net income for the 2011 calendar-year attributable to common stockholders of $7.6 billion.

That came out two days after Romney doubled down on his opposition to the bailout. As Rick Perry would say, oops.

Finally, Rick Santorum gets his time in the spotlight, just like Romney did.

7 Action News reporter Julie Banovic speaks one-on-one with Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum.

If you get bored listening to Frothy, concentrate on his nose and notice that, like the person it belongs to, it turns to the right.

Feds find Volt's battery safe

In Good automotive news to begin 2012, I embedded a WXYZ-TV video on YouTube reporting that the issues with the Volt's battery have been resolved and suggesting that the car will be found safe to drive. Last week WXYZ followed up.

The Chevy Volt was on the hot seat during a hearing about the recent fires following crash tests.

The fossil fools behind the GOP are again attacking the green energy agenda of the current administration and making false claims that the Volt is not a market-based solution. As the reporter pointed out, the Volt was approved for production before the bailout and government takeover, which worked out rather well, thank you very much. So much for that claim!

As for the safety concerns, I'll let Wired take over for me.

Feds Say Volt Is Safe, Close Battery Inquiry
By Chuck Squatriglia
January 20, 2012

Federal regulators have closed their investigation into the Chevrolet Volt, saying they are satisfied with the steps General Motors has taken to protect the car’s lithium-ion battery and minimize the risk of a fire in the days and weeks after a severe crash.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posted an explanation and summary of its inquiry on Friday and announced the conclusion of the investigation it launched Nov. 25.

“The agency’s investigation has concluded that no discernible defect trend exists and that the vehicle modifications recently developed by General Motors reduce the potential for battery intrusion resulting from side impacts,” the feds said in a statement.

The statement adds, “Based on the available data, NHTSA does not believe that Chevy Volts or other electric vehicles pose a greater risk of fire than gasoline-powered vehicles.”

A battery is no worse and probably much better than a gas tank for immediate fire risk. Also, electrical fires in cars are nothing new. In fact, I lost a car to electrical issues 28 years ago.*  Therefore, I'm less than impressed with the argument that the Volt is any more dangerous than anything I've been driving for the last 30+ years.  In fact, it's probably safer!**

Woodward Dream Cruise video roundup for August 18, 2011

I present continuing coverage of the Woodward Dream Cruise, featuring more clips from WXYZ-TV's YouTube Channel.

First up the before and after of the Chevrolet Centennial Parade down Woodward on Thursday.




Dream Cruise - Chevy parade

That's the best Volt commericial I've seen yet--and it was a free-publicity testimonial packaged as news! It's also something that makes me feel less guilty about blogging Dream Cruise every day this week, as featuring the Volt makes this a more sustainable event instead of celebration of gas-guzzlers.

Now the after.




Chevy kicks off the Dream Cruise with the Chevrolet Centennial Parade

Sixty Volts--w00t!

The last report of the day detailed the economic impact of the Dream Cruise. Saturday alone is projected to pump $50 million into the local economy. It needs it.




The Dream Cruise brings in people and money from all over the country.

The Volt owner from Arizona is right; this is an immense celebration of the automobile. The participant from California is also right, California, which used to pride itself as a home of cruising (Van Nuys Boulevard used to be a great crusing strip during the 1950s), would never put up with this. While both southern California and Detroit share car culture, I can say that the Dream Cruise is the greatest celebration of car culture I've ever seen. It's the Rose Parade for car enthusiasts, and anyone with a good-looking car can participate.

Speaking of "anyone with a good-looking car," here are some snapshots of people's classic cars from the morning show.




Woodward Dream Cruise Classic Car Garage

And that's tonight's video roundup.

Woodward Dream Cruise update for August 17, 2011

For the 200th post of this blog, I present continuing coverage of the Woodward Dream Cruise, featuring more clips from WXYZ-TV's YouTube Channel.




Mary Conway talks with people already crusing up and down Woodward.

As you can see, people are coming from all over the Midwest both to ride down Woodward and to watch the passing parade. Dream Cruise really is a major cultural and economic event. With the squadron of 50 Chevy Volts, it will also be an environmental one. Now, all three spheres of sustainability will be present.

Also, I was so impressed with Mary Conway's performance that I left the following comment to this video.

I've been watching Mary Conway on WXYZ for 22 years, ever since I moved here from Los Angeles. I have to say that this is the happiest and most sincerely enthusiastic I've ever seen her in all this time. It looks like she's having the time of her life covering this year's Woodward Dream Cruise.

I'm looking forward to seeing if she can keep this up all week.

As for the Corvette in the clip, the Detroit Free Press reported that it had plenty of company today.