President Obama is in town today to speak at the University of Michigan's commencement ceremony. (Something that was hard not to notice, as I live a block and a half from the stadium, and the commotion upset Coco.)

I don't know what it means to true believers in the new One World Religion of Environmentalism, but I thought I should report that it is raining, and there have been thunderstorms this morning. Coco absolutely refuses to go outside.

A local news report bearing the headline -- "Storms dampen graduation: 'Numerous thunderstorms' coming through Ann Arbor as Obama commencement dawns" -- was nice enough to feature this picture (which allowed me to stay inside for the time being):

According to the report, the students are getting drenched, and the Weather Service was unavailable for comment:

The National Weather Service issued a hazardous weather outlook early this morning for Ann Arbor, warning that "numerous thunderstorms" are headed toward the region.

Officials issued a statement at 4:24 a.m. indicating that the storms could produce pea-sized hail with brief heavy rainfall and wind gusts up to 40 mph. But the statement also said the storms were "not expected to be severe." The National Weather Service was not immediately available for comment this morning.

A light rain started at Elbel Field by 6:10 a.m., where about 200 U-M grads have lined up so far, and a university official used a speaker system to advise people to take shelter under a breakfast tent.

"What you don't want to do is stand near a pole because this storm does have lightning. So stay away from poles," the official told students - though the storm front should only last 30 to 60 minutes.

By 6:30 a.m., it was pouring, and everyone at Elbel Field was gathered under the shelter.

Umbrellas are not allowed in the stadium during commencement.

I wonder if they'd let me in if I called mine a parasol.

Anyway, I don't know how to interpret the auspices. Considering that angry Latinos were walking all the way from Detroit to demonstrate, perhaps the god Tlaloc decided to weigh in. OTOH, there are a lot of people of Scandinavian descent in this area (including yours truly), and perhaps their collective irritation started Thor rumbling.

Anyway, the weather is notoriously fickle, and it the storm could lighten up or get worse. If the sun breaks out, I'm sure someone will think that's an omen of some sort, as weather has, you know, become a major religious issue.

Regardless of what the gods have in store for the lightbringer, I have to feel a bit sorry for the poor students:

Umbrellas ought to be a human right.

MORE: I went to the stadium and watched the president's speech, which is on CSPAN. He defended the role government, and issued a call for civility.

I thoroughly disagree with his view of the role of government, but I thought he made some good points about civility. The Latinos outside were making a lot of noise, while the Tea Partiers were quiet, and it was obvious who could benefit the most from his lecture.

AND MORE: For the past half hour someone has been flying over my house with a plane tugging what is either an anti-abortion protest sign or else a spoof of some sort.

Here's the plane:

And here's the sign it was tugging (I couldn't get them both in the same picture):

I'm still thinking about what it might mean.

(I've probably been struggling with the meanings of things for too long.)