NO
DRAMA OBAMA
Pat
Davies:
“Thank you for getting me to read the
Michigan commencement speech – the Presdient is so rational. It
calmed me down after the weekend opinion columns.”
NO
PAGAN KAGAN
Click at least a couple of them to get a sense of this?
Myth: Kagan's policies on military recruiters make her
"an anti-military zealot" and an extremist on social issues
Myth: Kagan is "radical"
Myth: Kagan's thesis shows she's a socialist
Myth: "Kagan Standard" means Kagan must answer
questions about issues that will come before the Supreme Court
Myth: Kagan's Goldman Sachs role taints her nomination
Myth: Conservative opposition is based on the substance
of Kagan's nomination
Myth: Obama used "empathy" standard rather than
fealty to law in choosing Kagan
Myth: Kagan is unqualified because she hasn't been a
judge
Myth: Kagan has said judicial experience is an
"apparent necessity"
Myth: Kagan's record shows that she will rubber-stamp
war-on-terror policies
Myth: Republicans would be justified in opposing Kagan
because she lacks a judicial paper trail
Myth: Kagan's 23-year-old statements about the
Establishment Clause suggest she's hostile to religion
Myth: Kagan's recusal obligations would be
"extraordinary"
Myth: Kagan "can become" too "emotionally
involved on issues she deeply cares about"
Myth: Kagan not "fair-minded, impartial" and
doesn't have "proper temperament to be a judge"
☞
With any luck, we will have the benefit of her service for the next 35 or 40
years, so it’s worth taking a few minutes to get up to speed on this
remarkable woman – former clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall, former Dean
of Harvard Law School, current U.S. Solicitor General.
NO SLUG WHEELTUG
Is
it possible the various components are falling into place? This from an
established motor maker:
WARD LEONARD
ELECTRIC TO BUILD MOTORS FOR WHEELTUG, AIRCRAFT DRIVE SYSTEM
North Plains, Oregon, 10 May 2010 -- WheelTug Limited
announced today that it has signed an agreement with Ward Leonard Electric
Company, Inc., to develop and build the motors and associated mechanical
components for its on-ground electric drive system for aircraft. For more
than 100 years, Ward Leonard has been
a leader in electric power innovation, and now designs and builds
high-performance, high-reliability motors and control systems for demanding
applications such as military, naval, oil exploration, and nuclear power.
The WheelTug(R) electric drive system is based on twin
electric motors installed in the nose gear wheels of an aircraft, providing
full mobility while on the ground, without the use of the aircraft's jet
engines or external tugs for both pushback and taxi operations. WheelTug
enables aircraft to be electrically driven from the terminal gate to the
takeoff runway, and upon landing from runway exit to the gate. The resulting
improvements in efficiency, flexibility, fuel savings, and reduced engine
foreign object damage (FOD) yield projected savings of more than $500,000 per
aircraft per year, plus reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions.
Ward Leonard, based in Thomaston, Connecticut, will
develop, build, and assemble the Chorus(R) motor, bearings, gearing, and other
components housed within the hub of each nose gear wheel. The design that Ward
Leonard will be implementing was announced
last week.
The risk-sharing agreement, the financial terms of which
were not disclosed, gives Ward Leonard exclusive rights to build these
components for the Boeing 737NG, the initial WheelTug model. Ward Leonard also
has an option to acquire Wheeltug shares.
Jon R. Carter, Chairman and CEO of Ward Leonard, said,
"We are extremely pleased to be working with the WheelTug team to bring
their innovative system to market. Ward Leonard’s long experience with
high reliability motors for use in severe applications will be a strong
complement to WheelTug’s development team in developing and achieving
FAA certification for the drive system. I have great confidence that we
will be successful together."
Isaiah W. Cox, President and CEO of WheelTug, said,
"Ward Leonard represents the perfect partner for the WheelTug motor
module; they bring decades of relevant experience, along with state-of-the-art
skills and tools for developing and delivering the most technologically
advanced and rugged motors. We are delighted with this partnership."
WheelTug is in talks with both airframe manufacturers and
airlines regarding development of WheelTug models for additional commercial
aircraft types, as well as for military aircraft. The company's other
risk-sharing partners currently include Co-Operative Industries for the wire
harness, Luxell Technology for the cockpit interface, and ICE Corporation for
the system controller.
Ward Leonard was founded in 1896 by H. Ward Leonard, an
electrical engineer and inventor who in the 1890s managed Thomas Edison's
operations in setting up electric railways and power-generation stations. . . .
☞
By now, after some dilution, Borealis owns 78% or so of Chorus Motors, which
owns 85% or so of WheelTug.
As
always, this is a speculation to be undertaken only with money one can truly
afford to lose. And, as always, BOREF stock is ridiculously illiquid
(if you can buy it at all) . . . so be certain to use
“limit” orders that you leave in “good til canceled.”*
That
said, if WheelTug’s heavily patented system does save more than $500,000
a year per 737-like commercial airliner, it could eventually become standard
equipment on 10,000 jets, which could make for a lot of sales and ongoing
maintenance contracts. If they threw off $25,000 in net profit to WheelTug
annually (just to pull numbers wildly out of the air), that would be $250
million a year; so the company might eventually be worth $2 billion (eight
times earnings); so Borealis’s 78% of 85% of it might then be worth $1.3
billion, versus the $15 million at which the company is valued today (5 million
shares at $3 each). So an 80-fold gain from here.
I
can’t stress enough how preposterously unlikely this is. But it’s not completely
impossible . . . and it tosses in nothing for the chance this motor technology
could prove useful in things besides commercial jets. (Cars, perhaps?) Or
that the company’s allegedly gargantuan mineral holdings might one day
prove valuable. Or that some of the company’s other patents and
subsidiaries could pan out.
Long,
long, long shots. But a lottery ticket I enjoy holding.
*If
two of you rushed in to buy 500 shares with no limit, you might bump the
stock to $4. An order for 5,000 shares could send it to the moon.