Hello again. It’s just me, your friendly neighborhood housekeeper, sweeping six weeks worth of cobwebs from the House of Rapp. Six weeks. I guess I really can walk away from the keyboard, eh?

I’m not addicted.

Really.

I suppose I should have written something when I returned from vacation. It was lovely, by the way. There are about 100 photos from the trip over here. I’d love to write more about it–maybe I’ll backdate some entries from the trip journal Lesley and I kept.
(continue reading…)

What a day.

Dan and I made a great formation flight to Crystal Airport to look at an RV6 that’s for sale. The owner was extremely nice and we spent a couple of pleasant hours talking airplanes. Eventually we said our goodbyes and Dan launched (literally) out of there in his new RV7.

This is where things get interesting. I departed northbound toward Lake Isabella to pick up some folks for AngelFlight and ended up dodging thunderstorms north of Tehachapi. Upon arriving at the Kernville Airport, I find out that a) I’m the last AF pilot to arrive, and b) they were one aircraft short, so unless I can take an extra person, they’d be stranded there. Plus there’s a lot of extra luggage.
(continue reading…)

Well, SpaceShipOne lived up to its name and today became the first private spacecraft to leave Earth’s atmosphere and venture into the void of space.

As if there was any doubt.

Has Burt Rutan ever designed an aircraft that didn’t work? If so, I can’t think of it off the top of my head. From general aviation aircraft to business turboprops to spaceships, he whips up a clean sheet design to accomplish a mission and always comes away smelling like a rose.
(continue reading…)

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not Christmas. I’m talking about June. It’s Lesley’s birthday–time to celebrate!

And we did. But it started out on somewhat of a bad note. We’d previously planned to spend the whole day at Disneyland, but I later realized that the Opera Pacific “Opera Under the Stars” concert was that evening at the Pacific Amphitheatre. I couldn’t figure out how I had mixed up the dates. I’m not the best at keeping my schedule straight, but that’s why I have a PDA.
(continue reading…)

I’ve never been a big fan of Mozart operas.

Now before you recoil in horror, I’ll freely admit that people far more erudite than I find his work to be the most well-crafted in the entire operatic repertoire. But to me, the stories and music of that period just don’t measure up to the more fully developed (though less structured) work of cats like Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, Offenbach, Bizet, etc.

But perhaps Mozart can be compelling if you twist it hard enough:

BERLIN, Germany (AP) — A Mozart opera modernized to feature prostitutes, full-frontal nudity, drugs and sadistic violence has created a storm in Berlin. The premiere of The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Komische Oper last week was met with shouts of “Scandal!” and “That’s not Mozart!,” and threats by opera house sponsor DaimlerChrysler that it would pull its $24,000 annual funding.

Did anyone else notice the irony of the company name? Komische Oper = “Comic Opera”

Perhaps the real story here is actually the director, to whom I give major style points for at least being consistent:

Two years ago, Bieito’s production of Verdi’s A Masked Ball at the English National Opera was panned by British critics for its nudity, simulated gang rape and cross-dressing. Tenor Julian Gavin withdrew from the lead role before rehearsals started because of the staging.

Bieito’s 2001 production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the ENO was booed on opening night. In that staging, Don Giovanni had sex in the back of a car and behind a bar, and instead of being dragged down to hell in the closing scene, he was stabbed to death by the characters whose lives he defiled.

That sounds about right.

It must feel great spending ten thousand dollars to attend a fundraiser only to be told that you aren’t paying enough.

Hillary Clinton told several hundred supporters — some of whom had ponied up as much as $10,000 to attend — to expect to lose some of the tax cuts passed by President Bush if Democrats win the White House and control of Congress.

I’ll give her credit for being honest and direct, two rare things for a high-profile politician. If only that were reason enough to vote for someone.

“Many of you are well enough off that … the tax cuts may have helped you,” Sen. Clinton said. “We’re saying that for America to get back on track, we’re probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.”

The common good. That sounds familiar… now where have I heard that before? Oh, right–the Kremlin. “From each according to his gifts, to each according to his need”. Too bad she didn’t explain how raising taxes on job creators and redistributing wealth to those who don’t have jobs at all (or at the very least are not contributing to the tax base) is going to ‘get America back on track’, whatever that means.

If the ‘track’ she’s referring to is job creation, why not make it possible for more jobs to be created? Or am I being too radical here? If she wants to get the budget back on track, perhaps she could vie for the spending cuts that are so desperately needed instead of asking for our collective wallets. Spending cuts are something she will never agree to, though. The reason? Look at this chart on Federal spending from the House Policy Committee:

Social spending comprises nearly 3/5ths of the budget. There’s no way to make significant spending cuts without looking at where the majority of the money goes. For a die-hard like Senator Clinton, that means there is but one way to close the gap: raise taxes.

I don’t know how you reason with a person like that. But since politics is art of compromise, if I were in the Senate I’d make her a deal: for each dollar that’s cut from the budget, you can reduce the tax cuts by a dollar until it’s balanced. After that, any tax incrases are matched by a dollar-for-dollar decrease in Congressional salaries and office budgets.

If you want us to open our wallets any wider, Senator, you’d better be ready to open yours.