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Listening to McCain’s speech tonight, I thought back to when I was a big McCain supporter during the 2000 primary season, when John McCain was running against governor Bush.

Eight years ago, McCain’s policies and his independent nature inspired me to donate to his campaign. Its was my first political donation. Sadly, John McCain lost the primary, thanks to Karl Rove’s dirty politics, and the country has been going downhill since the day Bush took office.

As I listened to his speech, I’m struck by the contrasts of McCain in 2000 vs. McCain in 2008.

John McCain 2000

• Generally told it to you straight, spoke freely with the press, and avoided being handled by spin doctors.
• Refused to campaign based on his Vietnam experience, barely mentioned it, and discouraged discussion of it during interviews.
• Despised the hatred and intolerance pushed by the religious right.
• Fought for getting big money out of politics
• Despised soft money and lobbyists
• A True friend of the environment, pushed for global warming efforts and was against expanded drilling.
• While not a pacifist, he was generally anti-war, and discouraged nation building.

John McCain 2008

• Completely filtered and scripted, taking a page from the Rove playbook.
• Milks his Vietnam experience in an intolerable fashion, pushing his bio, ala John Kerry.
• Courts the religious right fanatics with his VP pick, panders to people like Falwell.
• Gladly influenced by big donors and corporations.
• Has a campaign run by lobbyists
• Pushes oil drilling, and barely mentions a peep about environmental issues.
• Pushes war and fear, and continues to defend his foolish pro Iraq war position.

The John McCain running for president today is a shell of the man who ran in 2000. Its quite sad, because if McCain became president in 2000, the United States would have been much better off. Sadly, the 2008 McCain is a continuation of the Bush administration.

Here is a in-cockpit video of a takeoff at Chester County, and a landing at Cape May.

Today, Google announced that they are releasing their own web browser. Chrome, a lightweight browser for Windows that has no particular usefulness, other than to take market share away from Firefox.

The bottom line of Google Chrome’s creation? The bottom line. Google was worried that Firefox was making too much money, and Mozilla was getting too independent. Mozilla had to be stopped — and the true Firefox believers at Google had to be cajoled into doing Larry and Sergey’s dirty work.

There is no innovation in Chrome. Chrome is to Firefox as IE was to Netscape. Its all about corporate control. Just like Microsoft used their desktop monopoly to propel their browser, Google will abuse its search monopoly to push Chrome.

I don’t think they will have much success, since it actually requires people to psychically install another browser and reject Firefox and IE. Microsoft’s bundling was much more egregious since it came on the computer by default.

I flew out to KWWD yesterday to enjoy a surprisingly good $7 breakfast for two people at the airport. It only cost $300 round trip for the journey. Here are some great aerial shots taken by my father.

So now that I finished up my quest for the private pilot’s license, the next step is to get my instrument rating. The instrument rating allows pilots to legally fly in all kinds of weather conditions, but more importantly, pilots with instrument certification tend to be much safer pilots.

After spending nearly three years training for my private at a local outfit, I concluded that there is simply no way I can train locally on the weekends for IFR training. My best bet for success is to use an accelerated course, consisting of 10+ days of intense training.

The perquisites for attending such training are:

• Completed FAA Written IFR Exam
• 45 hours cross country PIC

The written IFR exam is much harder than the written private exam. So it will take a few months of intensive studying/DVD training for me to get to the point where I could do well on the IFR written. The total cost may be $500.

The 45 hours cross country PIC is definitely an expensive requirement for a new private pilot. I may need about 35 additional hours. In a Cessna 172 that’s about $5000. In a 152 its only $3100. It might make sense to spend a few hundred getting checked out in a Cessna 152 to build a bunch of cross country time and save a bit of money..

The programs for IFR typically run around $6000-8000, so assuming $7000 is a safe bet, then its time to figure out accommodations and expenses. Flying to a warm destination like Arizona, spending 11 nights in a hotel, and you need to eat too. I’m guessing $200/day for hotel/food, and maybe $1000 for travel expenses.

Adding it all up:

• $500 written prep/test
• $5000 35 hours Cross Country PIC time
• $7000 11 Day IFR program
• $2200 Hotel/Food
• $1000 airfare/car rental
• $400 IFR checkride

Total: $16,100

Now I might be able to get that down to $14,000 by flying a 152, getting a good deal on a motel, and eating crappy food every night, but its still a lot of money.

No wonder why there are so many broke pilots out there. On the bright side, an IFR certification is something that lasts a lifetime, and it significantly reduces the risks associated with a low time pilot. After all, over 80% of general aviation accidents are due to pilot error.

I would rather be a safe broke pilot, than a dead dumb pilot.

I’m so tired of hearing about Clinton fundraisers and supporters who feel disenfranchised by Barack Obama’s amazing victory in the Democratic race.

Barack Obama won the primary against all odds, and now its time to get over it. I’m sick of hearing interviews of middle aged women complaining that it was “their time” and “Hillary should be VP.”

Voting for Hillary because she a woman is just as stupid as voting for McCain because he is white.

Hillary Clinton didn’t lose because of her gender, she lost because she was outmatched by Barack Obama in every conceivable metric. Hillary Clinton had every advantage, and she lost anyway.

Even if she got the nomination, she would have lost to McCain. Republicans would coming out of the woodwork to vote against a Clinton.