There will be a tea party at Lake Elizabeth starting at 3 p.m. July 4. This is the kind of tea party held by people who don’t like taxes and really don’t like the president.

Like all good parties this one will start with the pledge of allegiance followed by the national anthem. There will also be free tea. But don’t expect any fancy brands.

They wanted to donate a tree to Fremont, but that didn’t work out. Click here for their side of that story.

Fremont Bank got $35 million from the Fed last week. It’s part of a plan to help banks lend more and doesn’t necessarily mean that Fremont Bank is in trouble.

More info here and here.

From our very own Walter Stanley III:

Dear Chairman Ron Nehring, Vice Chairman Tom Del Becarro, and Bay Area Regional Vice Chair Morgan Kelly,

I wanted to bring to your attention something that has occurred in the last couple of days regarding an infringement on the free speech rights of the Alameda County Republican Party. As Acting Chairman of the ACRP, I called a Special Meeting to be held on July 6, 2009 in order to hold an election for the chairmanship. The ACRP has been without an elected chairman for over three months now since Karen Wind’s resignation back in March.

I scheduled the Special Meeting at the Alameda County Library in Fremont. Today, I was notified by the Director of the Alameda County Library, Jean Hofacket (510-745-1501), that our meeting was canceled Read the rest of this entry »

From the Japan Times.

You someone would ask the question.

Click here.

Word to the wise: Don’t try to make a left turn from Liberty Street onto Stevenson Boulevard. The sensor must be broken, because the only way to get a green left-turn arrow is to have a pedestrian click for the turn signal at the crosswalk.

I got stuck there on Monday and again today. It’s amazing how long you have to wait for a pedestrian in Fremont.

From the NY Times.

The Merc/Argus

And, strangely enough, from the Tehran Times.

This is way too premature, but I got a call today from someone who wants to reopen Big Daddy’s Burgers in the now shuttered Joe’s Corner. He said Big Daddy’s was a big deal 15+ years ago.

I’d never heard of it.

The new Warren Avenue/I-880 interchange opens Wednesday night. It’s the end of a $130 million project that included the new HOV lanes on I-880 and several other projects.

UPDATE UPDATE: I went down to NUMMI and stood at the edge of the property with several tv guys trying to flag down workers for a comment. Had I known this morning that I’d be trying to get blue collar guys to talk to me, I probably wouldn’t have worn my bell bottom pants.

Not much to report. One worker said GM rapes people and that he had confidence in Toyota. Another said he was scared, and a third just put is faith in G-d.  Most just sped past us in their cars. I was surprised how many NUMMI employees wear “NUMMI” related t-shirts to work. I only wear my Argus shirt to the gym or painting parties.

UPDATE: A more thorough story from the LA Times.

From Associated Press.

GM ending Nummi joint venture with Toyota

NEW YORK (AP) — General Motors Corp. says it is ending its joint venture with Toyota at a Fremont, Calif., manufacturing plant after the two automakers failed to reach an agreement on a new product there.

New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., or Nummi, produces the Pontiac Vibe for GM and the Corolla and Tacoma for Toyota. But GM is phasing out Pontiac and had been in discussions with Toyota about the plant’s future.

GM says it was unable to reach an agreement with Toyota on a new product for the plant and says its stake in Nummi will become part of the “Old GM” that will be sold off during its bankruptcy process.

A bankruptcy court is scheduled to rule Tuesday on GM’s proposed sale to a new company majority-owned by the U.S. government.