The company said approximately 1450 employees will lose their jobs.

• Brunswick will discontinue boat production in our Arlington, Washington; Pipestone, Minnesota; Roseburg, Oregon, and Navassa, North Carolina plants. The ramp-down process is effective immediately. The process is expected to be completed by the end of the year in Arlington, Navassa and Roseburg, with the Pipestone shutdown expected to be complete by March 31, 2009. While the closing of four plants had been previously announced in June as part of our objective of shrinking our manufacturing footprint, the affected plants had not been named until today. Many of the models produced at these plants will continue to be manufactured in remaining manufacturing facilities as sales and integration schedules are developed.

• The Arlington Product Development and Engineering facility will begin to wind down operations immediately, with an expected closing date of March 31, 2009. These efforts will be integrated with the similar Sea Ray activities at a Brunswick Engineering Center in Merritt Island, Florida.

• Sea Ray will suspend production at the Knoxville, Riverview, and Tellico facilities effective October 24 for 10 weeks, with production scheduled to resume Monday, January 5, 2009.

• Finally, the Brunswick Engineering Center in Merritt Island will also furlough a majority of its employees starting the week of December 1. Those employees are scheduled to return Monday, January 5.

“We are living and working in the most turbulent economic times in recent history,” said Dustan E. McCoy, Brunswick chairman and CEO, in a statement. “From the start of the year, we’ve experienced a 3,500-point drop in the Dow, mortgage and housing crises, record prices for oil, and now shrinking credit availability for companies and individuals. The poor economy and the accompanying weak consumer sentiment have pressured marine markets, eroding the demand for boats and engines these past few months at a swifter pace than originally anticipated.”

I know this dangerous bread list has circulated around the web for years, but it is till one of my all-time favorites:

1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.
2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.
3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations

4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.
5. Bread is made from a substance called “dough.” It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average North American eats more bread than that in one month!
6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and osteoporosis.

7. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.
8. Bread is often a “gateway” food item, leading the user to “harder” items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.
9. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.

10. Newborn babies can choke on bread.
11. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 240 degrees Celsius! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.
12. Most bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.

 In light of these frightening statistics, we propose the following bread restrictions:
1. No sale of bread to minors
2. A nationwide “Just Say No To Toast” campaign, complete celebrity TV spots and bumper stickers.
3. A 300 percent federal tax on all bread to pay for all the societal ills we might associate with bread.
4. No animal or human images, nor any primary colors (which may appeal to children) may be used to promote bread usage.
5. The establishment of “Bread-free” zones around schools.

Snopes

The earliest reference yet known to this theme is a piece called The Dread Tomato Addiction by Mark Clinton. This was originally published in the February 1958 edition of Astounding. It is also in 101 Science Fiction Stories, edited by Martin H. Greenberg, et al., it was published in 1986. It can be found on page 135. Thanks to Douglas Aden for this reference.

The big chill this winter will be opening your natural gas bill – a bill 21 percent higher than last year!

Worse, the 2008-09 Michigan winter is expected to be colder in the Lower Peninsula than normal. The Old Farmer’s Almanac made the prediction and claim they are correct 80 percent of the time.

In the past ten years, natural gas prices in Michigan have rocketed 500 percent, from $2 per million British thermal units to more than $13.

The Michigan Public Service Commission says the average residential heating bill will be $193 a month. (That’s from November through March.) Eight in ten Michigan homes use natural gas.

Demand for natural gas in Michigan keeps increasing – over 8 percent from 2007. Supplies are tight because of increasing world demand and increasing demand from electrical companies using gas for power plants.

And, of course, there could be some profit taking as well.

Could high natural gas prices open the door for nuclear power? The problems with nuclear energy have never been technological but political. Detroit Edison is building another plant and other electrical companies have applied to build 32 reactors.

Of course, the cheapest way to stay warm this winter is using the Old Almanac’s way – with one log of wood – toss it out a second story window, run down and get it, go back up the stairs, repeat.

After doing this for a while, you’ll get warm.

Expect Israel to launch a military strike on Iran in the coming months, or as conspiracy theorists project, before the presidential elections November 4.  An attack within weeks of the elections would cast a cloud of anxiety over the American public and propel Republican John McCain to victory.

It could appear Israel is acting alone without blessing from the Bush Administration. But if a strike ensures a Republican victory, you can bet the White House will be taciturn approvers.

Even the buildup of a potential strike will cast an anxious cloud over the electorate. That in itself could help McCain and the Republicans keep charge for another four years.

Air strikes against Iran will occur. It’s not if but who, what and when.

Most of Europe, including Russia, Saudia Arabia, and France, have been predicting a U.S. and Israeli retaliation against Iran for pursuing nuclear weapons.

Israel gave serious thought to attacking Iran this spring but according to European sources President Bush nixed the plan. But even if Israel launched an attack without White House approval, its planes could not reach Iran’s targets without U.S. knowledge.

Other theorists feel Israel will wait until after the election. A Barack Obama victory would rule out military action because of Obama’s approach to foreign policy. Obama has said he will open discussions without preconditions with Iran.

But this is highly doubtful.

Another theory, is the U.S. will strike if Obama wins. Bush will make the decision in the ten weeks while he’s still in power after the election.

Somewhat likely.

The final theory, McCain feels striking Iran is a lesser evil than an Iran with nuclear weapons. If Israel and the White House feel an attack could jettison McCain to victory, expect an “October Surprise”.

You have the winner!

A common consensus for most Americans is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp has a portion of your money – up to a $100,000 – safely secured. But this safety net has already slipped below the minimum target level set by Congress.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and the Bush Administration are terrified the public will panic when they discover the FDIC is insolvent.

The FDIC will have to hammer on the Treasury’s door to weather this crisis. One reason President Bush is pleading with the House Republicans to pass the $700 billion bailout is because the FDIC is nearing collapse and panic will begin.

You can bet with Washington Mutual bankrupt – the biggest bank failure in U.S. history – and Wachovia now teetering, the FDIC becomes a beggar.

That’s just the start of this misery. Because the FDIC will borrow from the Treasury.  The broke Treasury will demand more from you the taxpayer.

Folks, the United States Government is bankrupt. The bailout is a band-aid on a shotgun wound.

Our national debt is $9.7 trillion. Now, add unfunded Medicaid, Social Security, Medicare and other future obligations, the total debt bloats to $59 trillion – that’s $515,348 per household!

The Treasury can print money but the dollar is already worthless. Wait until the masses panic. You and your kids and their kids and their kids are screwed.

It’s four times cheaper - average gallon of gas in Detroit  on Sept 15  was $4.19.

A home on 8111 Traverse Street on Detroit’s East Side listed for $1 or just four quarters. It still took 19 days for a buyer to make an offer. The average home price in the Motor City is $19,313 – a 55% drop from last year.

The average home price for the same period (YTD) last year was $43,625. Prices have fallen 80% from the peak of $97,850 in 2003!

The real estate market in Detroit is in shambles. Over half the population has left Detroit in the past 30 years escaping crime, poor city services, and the wounded auto industry. Now, with tougher mortgage standards, homes sellers are desperate.

Some auctioneer’s remind prospective buyers that the incredibly low prices does indeed include land.

Unfortunately, many of the homes selling for less than the purchase price of a new car, will take a Cadillac worth of cash to repair. Scrappers have gutted many of the homes of it’s internals like copper plumbing and siding. Many buyers also face back property taxes and water bills.

Detroit has many less than desirable areas. Because of crime, auto insurance rates in Detroit are among the highest in the country.

The home listed for $1 on Traverse Street sold for $65,000 in November 2006 and according to neighbors was considered the nicest home on the street. But the home was foreclosed last summer and then scrappers pillaged the empty home of its siding, fence, copper, furnace, light fixtures, and even the kitchen sink.

Because average home prices are so low, sales through July are up nearly 45% compared to last year. It’s a wonder what a little fresh paint, curtains, and cable t.v. can do to make a house livable.

Detroit Free Press

If only we could decide this presidential election by the simple game of basketball or a shooting game of H-O-R-S-E. Heck, we’ll even call it M-O-O-S-E.

Presidential nominee Barack Obama told George Stephanopoulos on Sunday that he’d like to go one-on-one with Vice President pick Sarah Palin. (One-on-one on the basketball court, that is.)

Palin was no cheerleader. She played point guard for Wasila High School and was captain of the 1982 state championship team. Nicknamed “Sarah Barracuda” for her tenacious full-court defense and gritty play.

“All I ever needed to know I learned on the basketball court,” Palin, a Title 1X proponent and beneficiary said during her run for governor.

Obama also played on a state championship team for Punahou High in Hawaii. By most accounts, he wasn’t the team’s best player but one of the hardest working.  Sitting on the bench, he used to chatter in his coaches ear for more minutes.

Over the years, however, Obama has kept up with the game playing pick-up basketball. He’s described from teammates as fast and skinny, all elbows, with good wind. The lefty still has a smooth jumper. Another bonus, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, the NBA’s all-time leading scoring has endorsed Obama.

He joked about Palin, the experienced hunter, on Sunday’s ABC “This Week”.

“She looks like she’s got some game,” he said, “she played in high school,”

He added: “You know she’s a sharpshooter, and I know that – I probably wouldn’t do target practice with her. I think she’s a better shot than me. But on the basketball court, I think I’d stand up pretty well.”

Admittedly, Obama hasn’t shot a Moose like Palin – but I bet he can out-shoot her at M-O-O-S-E.

There is no love for the lowly wild pig in Michigan. The population is exploding while wildlife and farming organizations have declared war on the invasive pigs.

They can run in packs of 20, sometimes up to 50, and have uprooted 28 acres of corn in a single night at a Saginaw County farm. Described as vacuum cleaners or four legged rototillers, the swine create more crop damage than any other wild animal.

In southeastern Michigan, they’ve menanced joggers and in New Jersey, golfers have used their clubs to protect themselves.

The problem started when the pigs escaped from hunting preserves around the state. They have no natural predators and they breed like rabbits – up to three litters of 12 piglet a year. Michigan residents have posted signs “Wanted Dead (Not Alive).

Wildlife managers are concerned with the spread of disease. They estimate several hundred pigs are foraging in the wild.

More info: Detroit Free Press

Only William Clay Ford Sr., the owner of the Lions, is more despised in the Detroit area than Matt Millen.  Ford has done a lot for the community but fans would love to see him sell the team. ESPN columnist Bill Simmons echoed the sentiment that Detroiters have screamed for years – Get rid of Millen.

And if they lose to Green Bay this weekend – it’s gonna get ugly. Thanks to a furniture store promotion the Lions barely sold out Ford Field this week. The fans are already boycotting the season after the opening season loss to lowly Atlanta.

Here’s Simmons’ column and a comment:

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: With any job, you’re going to have your ups and downs. At some point, you have to decide whether the downs outweigh the ups to the point that it’s not worth it for you to have that job anymore. You could call it a satisfaction/misery ratio. If that ratio swings past 20/80, it’s time to go. Well, if you’re Matt Millen and everyone in Detroit thinks you’re incompetent, openly despises you and spends every waking moment pining for your departure, at some point wouldn’t that reality outweigh Millen’s salary as well as any fun he could ever have running a football team? He’s probably afraid to pick up a newspaper or turn on the radio. He probably spends every dinner wondering if the cook hawked a loogie in his entree. He probably walks through the stadium on Sundays with his head down. And on top of that, his team is awful. You could say his satisfaction/misery ratio is at 5/95 right now. So why wouldn’t he quit and go back to TV? What’s he waiting for?

More Mexican drug networks are growing pot within federal and state lands. Why? Because it’s harder to smuggle drugs past the border. Most of the growers are illegals with false papers. The problem is worse on the West Coast but enforcement has pushed them into Utah and Illinois.

Not only do they grow pot but they litter and poach:

Ranger Alexandra Picavet says Mexican cartels are responsible for many sites in those parks. They leave behind car batteries and propane tanks and poach deer and birds, she says.

Not only do they grow pot, litter and poach but they scare people:

Visitors to wilderness areas are at risk, says Shasta County, Calif., Sheriff Tom Bosenko. “We have found marijuana within a half-mile of public beaches and very short distances from campgrounds and highways,” he says. “It’s a shame.”

USA Today