CNN is reporting that top donors, strategists, and Democratic party leaders are describing the Kerry campaign as “adrift” and urging a staff shakeup before Labor Day.

If not, said one party strategist, “it could be too late.” Sources say major changes could come at the campaign’s highest level.

The concern, according to these sources, is that Kerry has failed to effectively respond to attacks from Republicans and criticism of his military service in Vietnam, particular ads from a group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

These ’sources’ are deluding themselves. The problem isn’t the Swift Boat group, it’s that the campaign’s keystone has turned out to be made of tissue paper.
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I was impressed with President Bush’s acceptance speech this evening.

I’d never describe the guy as a master Toastmaster (probably because that sounds really gay), but his delivery has improved tremendously since the 2000 campaign. I didn’t even notice that the he spoke for more than an hour. President Bush is still no Bill Clinton when it comes to speechifying, but that’s fine. There is such a thing as too polished. Too slick. In an odd way, what was once Bush’s primary failing as a politician — his speaking skills — have evolved into an asset.
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I was saddened to hear yesterday that President Clinton will be undergoing heart bypass surgery. It’s amazing that Ford and Carter are still going strong while the relatively young Clinton is suffering from advanced heart disease. President Ford is nearly 92 years old, whereas Clinton just turned 58!

Someone should do a study comparing time in office and post-White House lifespan. It seems the longer one serves as president, the shorter their lifespan after they retire. Ford only had a portion of one term, so perhaps that’s the secret of his success. If stress kills, this theory would make sense. Hell, all you have to do is compare photos of them on inauguration day and when leaving office to see what that job does to a person.
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Like the man said in Ecclesiastes, there is a time for everthing under the sun. Including putting politics aside. I sent this message to President Clinton today:

Dear Mr. President,

I was saddened to hear about your upcoming heart bypass surgery and wanted to wish you well as you face this medical challenge.

I’m not a Democrat and I never voted for you, but just as we were all Republicans on the day Reagan was shot, we’ll all be Democrats on the day you have your surgery.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Ron Rapp
Irvine, CA

You can send the 42nd President a message here.

Ah, Sunday. And what a lovely day it was, flying the Stearman round and round the pattern, landing on the grass, two-pointing it on the pavement, and generally spending a September afternoon the way God intended: in a sixty year old, tube-and-fabric, radial engine, open cockpit biplane.

From turning the prop through a dozen times by hand to hearing that throaty radial engine kick over, the whole experience just exudes 1930’s Americana. It doesn’t hurt that Corona Airport is the only place I know of in Southern California where you can land on grass. Corona is also home many museum-worthy airplanes. Stearmans, Wacos, Nanchangs, a Jungmeister, a WWI era Nieuport 17, even a DC-3 named Rose. Homebuilt planes, helicopters, gyroplanes… it goes on and on. One of my first days out at Corona, I was greeted by a Ford Trimotor sitting on the south grass.

Whenever I mention the Stearman, invariably someone will ask about a white scarf. You know, the romance of flying? Alas, I always answer in the negative. There was no scarf — so sue me. It’s an urban myth anyway, you know. Letting any fabric attached to your neck whip around in a 100 mph breeze is asking for trouble (don’t ask how I know that). Besides, while there’s a lot of romance involved in flying a classic biplane, it’s not exactly a carefree existance when you’re sharing the same radio frequency with four nearby airports.

“Stearman 696 left downwi..sc%*#erokee two miles west desce%(!~*=%@… eft turnout, Catalina… #er&%okee’s on final f@#$%essna in sight…” Did you get all that? Is the carb heat on? Where was that Glasair on final? Watch your speed. Where’s that Baron that just called on the 45?

It was great up in the sky, but once the fun was over… well, I think a politician must have been stumping somewhere nearby, because there was more hot air in the Santa Ana Canyon today than can possibly be expressed with mere words. It wouldn’t have been so bad if there’d been a breeze, but apparently the hurricane(s) in Florida are sucking up all the wind. The mercury read 109 degrees inside the hangar, and that was with the 40 foot wide door completely open. For the love of Pete, the dog days are supposed to be in August.

After lunch I was wandering past the fuel pit when I passed a group of salty folks who hang out near there and watch the planes come and go. An old lady pointed to a C180 touching down on runway 25 and said, “See, he pulls back on the stick right there! That’s not a short-field landing.” To which a fellow replied, “Making the first turnoff is a short-field to me.” Her retort: “That’s because you’re a pussy.”

Does one ever get used to hearing grandma speak that way?

Back at the hangar, it was four o’clock so the lot of us made like a tree and melted. It took nearly 20 minutes for the air conditioner to cool down the car on the way home. That’s just Wrong. It’s one thing to get out of a biplane covered in perspiration. It’s Manly. You were busy with Pilot in Command Duties(tm). But nobody wants to drive and sweat at the same time. It’s so déclassé.

Eventually I arrived home to discover that the air conditioner was not working. Probably because I don’t have air conditioning. The good news is that it was only 102 in Irvine. But so what? No dry heat sauna can ruin my day. I took that Stearman and had my way with her! You can’t buy that kind of fun, even in Vegas (don’t ask how I know that).

Ah, Sunday…

Many in this presidential campaign have taken to using the word “extremist” to describe anyone with an opposing political view. In print, on the web, in casual conversation, the word pops up all the time. It’s getting old. Fast.

For example:

• Pro life? Then Kerry’s an extremist who’s killed millions of people.
• Didn’t vote for Bush? The he’s an extremist who seized the White House in a coup and single-handedly destroyed democracy.

Please. If anything’s extreme here, it’s this sort of elevated rhetoric. Perhaps the problem here isn’t Bush or Kerry. If either of the above sound like something you’ve said lately, then maybe the problem is you. Throwing the word around like it was a McDonald’s drive-thru order only devalues it until nothing is conveyed except a mealy-mouthed political disagreement. It convinces no one. Does nothing to foster thoughful discussion. It says “this is the way it is”. It’s the political version of “Welcome to the O.C., bitch.”

Hell, I once had a guy call me an extremist. He said I was (and this is a direct quote) “worse than the terrorists”. This was only weeks after 9/11. My crime? I supposedly cut him off in the traffic pattern when I was flying my plane. That’s one pilot talking to another pilot. To this day, I still wonder what the hell was wrong with that guy.

“Extremist” should be reserved for things that are truly extreme. Like this group of lovely people in London who are throwing a convention to celebrating the 9/11 attacks:

Bakri called 9-11 “a cry of Jihad against unbelief and oppression” and said the aim of remembering it is to “revive the commandment of Jihad among the youth of the [Muslim] nation.”

Bakri said the convention also will feature a lecture about the Islamic religious roots of “slaughtering the infidels,” referring in part to the beheading of foreigners in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

It will include films by al-Qaida, the Tawhid and Jihad organization and the Brigades of the Two Holy Places in the Arabian Peninsula.

Also, the conference will feature a film on the most recent operations in Chechnya, he said. He added that one of the speeches, by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida’s military commander in Iraq, will be translated.

Another lecture, he said, will be dedicated to the memory of three al-Qaida commanders: Abd Al-’Aziz Al-Muqren, killed in June 2004 by Saudi security forces; his predecessor Yousef Al-Ayyiri, killed in June 2003 in a clash with Saudi security forces; and Abu Hafs Al-Masri, a top al-Qaida military officer, killed in the U.S. attack on Kandahar in late 2001.

According to Bakri, the anticipated criticism of Al-Muhajiroun for the organization’s insistence on memorializing 9-11 will be “a simple sacrifice in comparison with what we must actually do — that is, support the Jihad led by bin Laden.”

If that doesn’t fit your definition of “extreme”, did I mention that children are fair game for terrorist attacks? (via Wizbang)

An extremist Islamic cleric based in Britain said yesterday that he would support hostage-taking at British schools if carried out by terrorists with a just cause.

Omar Bakri Mohammed, the spiritual leader of the extremist sect al-Muhajiroun, said that holding women and children hostage would be a reasonable course of action for a Muslim who has suffered under British rule.

All this so they can take control of England and turn it into a Taliban paradise.

Como se dice, “Why are these people not in jail?” It would be nice to think that if al-Muhajiroun were in the United States, they’d be put behind bars for treason. According to Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution, “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.” Oran’s Dictionary of the Law (1983) defines treason as: “…[a]…citizen’s actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the [parent nation].” I’m all for free speech, but when you’re publicly advocating collaboration with those we’ve declared war on, it’s time to turn around and see where that line is.

Next time we’re tempted to describe an American politican or judge as an extremist, it might be worthwhile to consider what’s really extreme in this world.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) is a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where he sits on the Aviation and Highways Subcommittees. How ironic it is, then, that he knows absolutely nothing about general aviation except that it’s imperative it be eliminated immediately.

On the third anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, Rep. Weiner made an attack of his own by introducing H.R. 5035. Richard Daley would be proud.

This bill (H.R. 5035) would require the Department of Homeland Security to create a method of screening all passengers and property on each flight of all passenger aircraft in the U.S., including general aviation aircraft of all types. It would also prohibit any non-airline aircraft from flying within 1,500 feet of any structure or building, and prohibit non-airline aircraft from flying over any U.S. city with a population of 1 million or more. It would further require that pilots of all aircraft in U.S. airspace remain in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration, presumably by radio, regardless of altitude or location.

This comes from a guy who’s on the aviation subcommittee. Unbelievable. You can almost hear the insincere, catch-all bleat about “homeland security” spouting from this talking head at a news conference. Concerned look on his face. “Just doing it for the children”. A paragon of purity and virtue, protecting us from the careless yahoos and dangerous Americans who would actually have the presumption to fly their own aircraft.

(Note to self: I wonder what my blood pressure is right now…)

I hate to bring common sense into this, but one wonders how Rep. Weiner proposes to handle the increased load on air traffic controllers. Right now, 95% of flights are VFR and flown without any control from anyone except the pilot. Now if you’re not involved in general aviation, this might sound like some kind of security problem. “You mean all these pilots are flying around without anyone knowing where they’re going?”

Yes, Virginia, that’s exactly what I mean.

Before you get too riled up about it, consider that an ordinary car weighs more, carries more, goes as fast, and has more kinetic energy (in other words, destructive power) than a GA airplane. Remember, we’re not talking about airliners here. These aircraft weigh less than 3,000 lbs and carry about 50 gallons of fuel. A car is more stealthy and far easier to obtain and operate. So why on earth are you allowed to drive your car without letting the government know where you’re going?

Shouldn’t every passenger in your car receive a thorough background check by the government first?

Shouldn’t your possessions and person be searched every time you want to drive your car?

Shouldn’t you be required to remain in constant contact with the federal government while you operate your car?

A car is a greater threat than any general aviation aircraft could ever be. Have you any idea how many crimes (violent and otherwise) are committed using automobiles every year? How many people are killed in and by cars?

Getting the picture?

Even if strangling GA this way was a good idea, an overburdened air traffic system would never be able to cope with an instantaneous 2000% increase. Surely Rep. Weiner has an answer for this. After all, he’s on the aviation subcommittee.

On the other hand, maybe the evidence suggests that Weiner knows absolutely nothing about aviation. Prohibiting airplanes from flying over “any city with more than one million people” is exactly the same as prohibiting automobiles from driving in any city with more than one million people. Only a sophmoric simpleton would suggest such a thing.

Weiner’s bill seeks to “prohibit aircraft from flying within 1500 feet of any structure or building”. The Federal Aviation Regulations already contain provisions for minimum safe altitudes over populated and unpopulated areas (14 CFR 91.119). Read the regulation for yourself. Rep. Weiner wants to eliminate the “except when necessary for takeoff or landing” part.

The real question here is why Rep. Weiner is proposing this bill in the first place. An election year ploy? Perhaps. But considering his response when the Concorde made it’s last flight (”goodbye and good riddance!”), his self-proclaimed crusade to “rid the skies of noise”, and his misplaced attacks on GA, it seems more likely that he’s a dangerous NIMBY crackpot. Whoever is responsible for appointing this guy to the aviation subcommittee should have to answer for it.

In addition to being a Democratic whip in the House, Weiner’s web site exalts his status as a “leading spokesman for Democrats across the nation” as well as “one of the 50 most influential Jewish Americans”. Speaking as Jewish person myself, everything about this guy makes me sick.

You can bet a lot of letters are going to fly over this bill. And I’m going to be the one writing quite a few of them.

Dan Rather and CBS News have jumped the shark.

Or should I say, started to jump it and then thought it would be better to land directly in the shark’s mouth.

As if it’s not bad enough that they put this story on the air when it was clearly forged, Rather just made an appearance on CNN where he expressed total confidence in the documents and said he has personal knowledge that they are valid.

In addition, Powerline has a statement from CBS News stating that there will be no internal investigation. They may as well start kicking bloggers and asking them “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?”, because the longer they postpost the inevitable retraction, the more they look and sound like William Tager.

It seems I’m one of the few people in the northern hemisphere that doesn’t play poker on a regular basis. It’s more for a lack of time than invitations or interest.

Some folks get pretty serious about the game. Dan has his own Yahoo group for poker nights, and even went so far as to build a table — the famous Green Monster — for the events. Now all he’s missing is Dave Foley to color commentate the thing from his living room.

My desaparecido streak ended last night with a couple of entertaining games at Rich’s place. First, we feasted on microwave snack food that had been picked over by the dogs while watching the Patriots squeek out a win against the Colts. Then I went out in a blaze of glory (or, as I described it last night, a blaze of incompetence) at the poker table.

I had such high hopes, too. Things were going well. I was biding my time, eventually landing a straight directly off the flop. I went all-in only to learn The Hard Way(tm) that it wasn’t a straight at all, but rather a random collection of meaningless cards since you can’t wrap a straight around the ace. It’s either high or low, but it can’t be in the middle of a straight.

Oops.

On the positive side, the hand would have garnered major style points in Uno. Unfortunately, we were playing Texas Hold ‘Em.

It’s funny to step back and realize how intense things get over a five dollar game. But it’s not really about the five dollars, it’s about having to leave the table or just sit there as a spectator after you’re out. As long as you’ve got a couple of chips left, you’re still part of the game, making decisions and affecting the outcome.

This was the first Texas Hold ‘Em experience for me. Even without the smoky environment, green felt table, and watered down drinks, it was fun.

I’m clearing a few old items off the shelves now that Tweety’s gone. Anyone need a service manual for the 69-76 Skylane series?

I’m asking $35 plus $6.50 for shipping.

I looked up what I paid Cessna for it in 2001, and it shocked me. It was $104.37 — quite a bit for a bundle of paper, eh? Welcome to the world of aircraft ownership. Anyway, if you need this book, you’ll get it at a nice discount from what Cessna would charge you. And it includes a binder.

See the Ebay auction here or contact me via email.

I hope Ken Lay, Dennis Kozlowski, Bernie Ebbers, and others of their ilk are reading this.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China executed four people, including employees of two of its Big Four state-owned banks, for fraud totaling $15 million, the state Xinhua news agency said Tuesday. The executions occurred in the midst a high-profile government campaign against financial crime. They followed a string of arrests in white-collar crime as China prepares to sell shares publicly in its big banks.

The story goes on to detail the method of execution: a gunshot to the back of the head. Now, if this is the punishment for $15 million in fraud, what kind of penalty would Kenneth Lay — who saw more than $1 billion worth of securities and wire fraud on his watch — be facing in China? It would clearly have to be a fate worse than death. Something really inhumane, like forcing him to watch Judge Judy or Homeboys from Outer Space for all eternity.

A CEO gets tens of millions of dollars each year to helm a company and claims all the glory when times are good. When the firm goes belly up, however, they are the first to claim they had no idea what was going on and bear no responsibility. Well, I know we don’t want to be more like China. But there are times when it’s awfully tempting. For example, when you think about the millions in taxpayer funds that are being spent to put these guys on trial.

So here’s a modest proposal: let’s take a page out of their playbook. Since our CEOs tend to favor outsourcing if it saves money, let’s outsource our high-dollar white collar criminal justice proceedings to China. Something tells me it might be more effective than Sarbanes-Oxley at curbing those annoying cases of multi-billion dollar fraud.

CNN/Money has published a list of the nation’s top housing markets for the second quarter of 2004. The list is… interesting.

For one thing, they’re apparently referring to Orange County as “Anaheim-Santa Ana”. An odd choice to say the least. I’ve got nothing against either town, but it’s beyond the pale to suggest that Anaheim or Santa Ana is representative of an area with the highest median home prices in the country.

Orange County’s real estate values are skewed northward because of places like Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, and Irvine where even miniscule condominiums sell for more than $650,000. Anaheim and Santa Ana are the cheapest places to buy a home in Orange County. They push the median down, not up. Whoever put together this list for CNN/Money doesn’t know know the area very well.

It looks especially odd when you see the Santa Ana median above San Francisco. Not to mention outpacing Honolulu’s price 50%, Boston by 90%, and metropolitan New York by more than 80%.

The commentary attached to the CNN/Money list is somewhat deceiving. The article’s bolded header states, “If you thought the housing boom had to slow down, think again.” Sorry to burst your bubble, but the housing market has slowed down. CNN/Money reported that very fact a couple of weeks ago, noting that “real-estate tracker DataQuick said home sales in Orange County, Calif., the No. 2 U.S. market, slumped 17 percent from a year ago”. So sales numbers are way down but median prices are way up? I don’t think so.

Keep an eye out for the third quarter numbers. They’ll tell a different story, especially if the Fed hikes interest rates.

So I’m preparing for an intensive two week CFI (flight instructor) training program in Las Vegas this December.

Ooooh, Las Vegas! you’re thinking. Time for some gambling, a bit of sun out by the pool, maybe catch a show.

Not quite. It’s more like fourteen straight days of round-the-clock flight training, three checkrides with the FAA, then high-tail it back to Los Angeles for Christmas. The only exception might be if Lesley decides to drive out for a visit.

Not that I’m complaining. On the contrary, I can’t wait to get in the cockpit and knock these ratings out. When I’m done, I’ll have a CFI-A, CFI-I and MEI (I’ve already got the AGI and IGI ratings).

What’s bumming me out is the cost. It doesn’t sound so bad when you see the program listed at $4,995. But this is turning out to be like purchasing a car. You gotta have the rust-proofing, sir. Don’t forget those must-have options. Or the finance charges. Delivery fees. Dealer markup. Tax, license and registration. Pretty soon that $10,000 Kia is taking a $15,000 chunk out of your wallet.

I made the mistake of adding up what the CFI program will cost, and speaking of cars, it’s about the same price as that Kia:

$80.00 - CFI-A written exam fee
$80.00 - CFI-I written exam fee
$80.00 - FOI written exam fee
$80.00 - AGI written exam fee
$80.00 - IGI written exam fee
$50.00 - Books
$4995.00 - CFI/CFII/MEI training program
$1000.00 - Multi-time upcharge
$1050.00 - FAA checkride fees
$100.00 - Transportation
$1400.00 - Lodging
$300.00 - Food
-------------------
$9295.00 Total

Education is expensive, and I’d be the last one to suggest skimping when you’re talking about flight training. But $10k is approximately what one makes — gross — during an entire year as a full-time instructor.

Well, at least the long-term job prospects for pilots are bright. Not.

When a few colored lines on a weather chart from a location two thousand miles away freaks you out, it’s a sure bet that something nasty is happening.

Is this graph off the chart (no pun intended) or what? Notice how the atmospheric pressure drops like a rock as the wind speed picks up. Makes me wonder if Daniel Bernoulli didn’t discover his famous Principle regarding the inverse relationship between fluid velocity and pressure while hunkered down in the middle of a category five maelstrom.

If I ever saw an altimeter setting that low, I’d suspect a) equipment failure, b) it’s April 1st, c) poor eyesight on my part, or d) the end of the world.

Alex, I’ll take earthquakes thank you very much.

The Thunderbird crash entry gets about ten times as many hits as any other page on this site, so I figured these other aviation “incident” videos might be of interest. They’ve been gathered from various sites around the internet over the years.

This entry started off as a way to share an amazing slow motion video clip of a helicopter main rotor blade in flight, but I’ll save that one for another day.

If the gear is going to fail on a 737, this is one of the worst ways for it to happen — one main landing gear is up, the other is down. But the pilot does a great job of keeping the aircraft on the runway. There is something to be said for fixed gear… (61 second mpeg, 1.9 mb)

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I had no idea that eBay was a topic on the presidential campaign trail.

Earlier this month, Vice President Dick Cheney was stumping in Cincinnati when he brought up eBay as an example of why economic data isn’t fully factoring in a robust recovery. “That’s a source that didn’t even exist 10 years ago,” he said, pointing out that the data munchers aren’t accounting for the fact that “400,000 people make some money trading on eBay.”

Sensing that it was something worth pouncing on, the person angling to replace Cheney as the country’s VP took aim. “He said people are selling a lot of stuff on eBay,” John Edwards said. “When we count the bake sales and lemonade stands, we’ll have a roaring economy.”

Nice sound bite, Senator. I can almost hear James Carville in the background, madly scribbling away on little yellow post-its and shoving them to the guy running the teleprompter.

Unfortunately, it’s a very inaccurate sound bite (again, Carville comes to mind). Bake sales and lemonade stands are run by PTA members and children. eBay, on the other hand, has moved $30 billion in merchandise over the past twelve months. It boasts more than 114 million registered users, 48 million of whom have been active in the past year. The Motley Fool also reports that sole proprietors and small companies have opened up more than 121,000 domestic eBay stores.

But wait, there’s more.

Let’s not forget to sing the praises of eBay’s PayPal, either. The financial-transaction specialist claims 50.4 million accounts, and this past quarter it helped speed up $4.4 billion in payments. Closing on deals and transferring funds faster and safer mean that the proceeds are being made available sooner. Do you think that kind of monetary turnover is helping the economy? You bet.

Yet one of eBay’s greatest contributions to this country is that it is such an efficient high-margin machine that it will pay out more than $300 million in income taxes this year.

If that’s Sen. Edwards’ equivalent of a bake sale, perhaps he should take a hint from Dan Rather and use the internet instead of just mocking it.

Andrew Sullivan received an email that has a familiar ring to it.

I am a 33 year old wife and a mom of a 15 month old boy living in a wealthy liberal enclave of Los Angeles called Hancock Park where people go to the farmers market on Sunday, discuss the “plight of the poor” as their nannies stroll their young ones in Bugaboo Frog ($800) strollers on the magnolia tree shaded sidewalks on Fridays, and bash Bush, well, everyday.

This is a very common scene in the wealthier parts of Orange County, a famous ‘Republican stronghold’. Personally, I think this description is a huge misnomer. I’ve been here since 1989, and while everyone loves to talk about how conservative Orange County is, the reality is quite different. And why shouldn’t it be? The moneymakers in Hollywood are largely Democrats. Billionaires like George Soros are definitely supporting the Kerry-Edwards team. Senator Kerry would like you to believe that he’s being propelled by the support of his middle- and lower-class base, but it ain’t necessarily so.

Last Saturday, Lesley and I were returning from an enjoyable ‘two martini lunch’ at the Salt Creek Grill and decided to drive through the inland portions of Laguna Beach. We wound our way past hundreds of homes, but not a single one was worth less than a million dollars. Most are probably in the $5 million range. We’re talking rich with a capital ‘R’. There were Kerry-Edwards signs on many of the lawns, but I didn’t see a single Bush-Cheney.

Lesley thought it was probably due to the fact that Laguna Beach is an art colony, but I’m not sure that’s the answer. Laguna Beach is home to several famous art festivals and galleries, and its heritage is certainly that of an artists colony. But the folks with $5 million homes and matching Mercedes 500 series convertibles aren’t artists, they’re corporate types and business owners with high paying jobs. I don’t mean to dog on Laguna Beach. It’s one of my favorite places. But the disparity in political advertising was curious.

Laguna Beach is even home to a sizeable Kerry campaign operation right on Pacific Coast Highway near the famous Pottery Shack (which recently went out of business, unfortunately). Here in Irvine, where the median home price is nearly a million bucks, I see the same pattern: lots of Kerry-Edwards bumper stickers, not a single one for the Bush campaign. The only place Bush paraphernalia has been in evidence is in the older sections of north Orange County. Fullerton. Santa Ana. Garden Grove. But these are much less affluent areas.

Could the answer be something as simple as a climate of fear among conservatives? I don’t think so. The most famous blogger from Orange County is Kevin Drum, a staunch Democrat. We’ve elected several Democrats to Congress, including two Senators. Village Voice Media felt strongly enough about O.C. that they publish a newspaper here. Not a very good one, mind you. But it’s the thought that counts. I would even go so far as to say that most of my friends are registered Democrats.

If you want numbers, UC Irvine 2000 Annual Study found that Orange County is much less conservative than is generally believed:

Often stereotyped as a bastion of conservatism, Orange County does not fit the profile when it comes to social issues, according to UC Irvine’s 2000 Orange County Annual Survey. Though most county residents describe themselves as moderate (31 percent) to conservative (43 percent) politically, many hold liberal views on social issues.

The study found that residents of O.C. favored abortion access, gun control, gays serving openly in military, strict environmental laws, and held some non-conservative views on the issue of income taxes.

So what’s going on here? Just a holdover from the time when ‘wealthy’ was associated with ‘conservative’? If that’s the case, Kerry must be the bizzaro candidate because he would hold the distinction of being the wealthiest occupant of the White House in American history. No one else even comes close. The Los Angeles Times reports that the Kerry household has a net worth of $1 billion.

If you live in O.C., I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on how conservative the county is.

I’m starting to think an e-mail etiquette booklet should be required reading before anyone receives access to a mail server.

There’s no dearth of annoying customs in cyberspace, but this latest one really takes the cake. It’s almost worse than spam. There, I said it. Worse. Than. Spam. At least I understand spam. Like it? No. But I understand the purpose behind it.

You see, I always considered it intuitive that e-mail is primarily for conveying a message, not transferring a file. But lately I’ve been receiving a fair amount of empty e-mail. Messages with nothing in them.

Except an attachment.

The sender will write the message in Microsoft Word and then attach that to an otherwise blank e-mail. Usually the .doc file is a complex piece of letterhead with a background or company logo at 600 dpi. So basically I’m recieving a 1.5 megabyte file in order for the sender to say “call me”.

As if that’s not bad enough, I’ve had clients create a message in Word, then ouput it as a PDF file and attach that.

It’s only a matter of time before I get a body-less e-mail message with a PGP encrypted zip file containing a PDF of a Word document that, unless it contained next week’s winning lottery numbers, could not possibly be worth the effort it takes just to open it.

I think the booklet idea is a good one. It wouldn’t have to be very long. Just enough to convey the fact that some of us are using dial-up, not a dedicated T3 line. Some don’t have Microsoft Word (hard to believe, I know), probably because the macro features give any 13-year old the ability to completely commandeer your computer. Some are using slow computers with less than two gigabytes of RAM and can’t open PDF files in less than a week. Some are using text-only word processors like Pine. Some are reading your message on a cellphone or PDA that has a small, oddly-sized screen. Some are behind firewalls that block attachments or have account quotas that are eaten up with two megabyte Word documents.

So please, people. We’re trying to have a society here.

I managed to catch the Bush-Kerry debate this evening, and I have to say it felt like Sen. Kerry came out on top.

My expectations for President Bush were high, despite his reputation as a poor public speaker. The thing about Bush is, he’s improved a lot as a speechmaker in the years since the last election, and although the campaign and pundits downplayed expectations, I really thought he would come out swinging on foreign policy since that’s seen as his big advantage, not to mention the area where he’s placed most of his focus during the past four years. Instead, he seemed flustered and stammered for the first hour, whereas Kerry was quite composed, spoke clearly, and was obviously well rehearsed.

Content-wise, the debate was more of a draw. Kerry didn’t blow it, but neither did Bush hit back when the Senator played fast and loose with the truth. For example: early on in the debate, Kerry said the Bush administration had spent $200 billion in Iraq, when in fact nowhere near that much has been spent. Plus, the $200 billion figure is the appropriation number approved by Congress. Of that amount, 40% is earmarked for Afghanistan and 60% for Iraq. Since Kerry does not quibble with the President on Afghanistan, we’re really talking about a much smaller number.

When Kerry rehashed the tired old line about opening fire stations in Iraq while they close in the U.S., I wanted Bush to remind him of the $8 billion earmarked by the administration for first responders. But as with many of Kerry’s attacks, Bush never got around to responding to them.

Kerry was wrong about the subways closing down in New York during the convention — they remained open. A small issue.

He was also wrong about the U.S. going it alone in Iraq. Not such a small issue.

There are about 30 nations involved, compared with something like 34 nations during the first Gulf War. To be sure, the contingent is getting smaller, but that’s to be expected. Major combat is (on paper at least) over with, and control of the country has been handed back to the Iraqi people. As the Iraqis bring more and more of their freshly trained troops online, the allies will draw down their own contingents. But England, Australia, Bulgaria, Poland, New Zealand, Thailand, the Netherlands, Moldova, Singapore, El Salvador, Lithuania, South Korea, Georgia, Italy, Albania, and others still have troops there.

I don’t understand why the President didn’t hit Kerry with these and other facts. Kerry came out with a lot of specific numbers, names, places, and dates. The President seemed to to have a hard time with these things.

The debate felt like a win for Kerry not because the facts were on his side, but because like all debates, the winner is determined more by style and poise than anything else. The televised 1960 Nixon-Kennedy debate is a good example. Were the viewpoints espoused by Kennedy superior to those of Nixon, or did Tricky Dick’s five o’clock shadow and perspiration-soaked upper lip give Kennedy the edge in that very close election?

Swing voters probably got a better impression of Kerry than they did of the President in this debate. For that reason, I’ll put this one in John Kerry’s column.