Well, The family and I are finally set up in Scottsdale Arizona. Arizona is pretty cool. For instance, not 2 miles away, is a beautiful indoor range that is decorated in such a manner as to put top flight golf clubs to shame. And they rent machine guns. Heh.

I am also starting to feel a little better about the President. I think he did a great job againt....errrr on Larry King Live last night. He was well spoken, relaxed, and confident. Very direct and on the money. It was also plain that Laura could barely stand to be in the same room as Mr. King, which only makes me like her more.

Last thing, as far as the Bar results go, not until November.

In any event, I hope to be posting more regularly. I am starting my career as a lawyer on Monday, so we will have to see.

Ordered The Siege from Netflix and watched it last night. Very strange watching this 1998 film today. Seeing the World Trade Center looming in the background over Brooklyn.

Despite the Hollywood stuff about who the bad guys really are, it is kind of spooky seeing how things might have been post-9/11, and important to see that it wasn't. But I have to think that today, Denzell Washington isn't the good guy.

Weird. Watch it.

Glenn Reynolds has been the indispensible blogger on the Kerry in Cambodia thing. This story will break one way or another - Kerry either told the truth about Cambodia or he didn't. If it turns out he was telling the truth, it will be a deathblow to the Bush campaign, as it will appear that Bush supporters - and there is no doubt that the Swift Boat Veterans are - are willing to lie to smear an honorable record. And if he wasn't telling the truth, then it will be a deathblow to his campaign, because he has been lying about it for 30 years and he has been trying to smear the Swift Boat Veterans for calling him on it.

But I think Reynolds is wrong on this point: "And Tom Maguire wants the military records released. It seems to me that the Kerry people could clear this up pretty quickly, if they did that." While I do think he should release his records since he demanded that President Bush do the same, I don't think it will clear anything up. Your records don't necessarily say everywhere you went while in the service, especially in combat. My personnel records don't say anything about me going to the Ivory Coast or Egypt or Yugoslavia, but I did., and that was in peacetime. And I especially don't think that the Navy would put a record of an illegal excursion into Cambodia in writing. In a broader sense, it is plausible that he was in Cambodia - I know hinky stuff happens and doesn't get recorded. I suppose this opens up a third outcome for this - Kerry could come out and say that he was there, and demand that his accusers prove the negative that he wasn't - but he would have to be darn sure that he was there. If he does that, I think the story withers on the vine without a deathblow to either side.

It has been surprising to me that Senator Kerry made Vietnam the centerpiece of his campaign. It was over 30 years ago, and he made his fame as an anti-war activist. I suppose that the reason for this was to contrast his Vietnam era service with President Bush's as a proxy for the war on terror. A decorated combat veteran vice an Air Guardsman who had a spotty record of attendance - the records would then transfer to this war in a favorable way for Kerry.

But the American electorate have proven time and again that they don't really care about military service in their elected officials. For example, President Bush, a decorated torpedo bomber pilot in WWII was defeated by Bill Clinton, who famously had avoided service without even bothering with serving in the National Guard. President Clinton then went on to defeat Bob Dole, a decorated combat veteran of WWII. George W. Bush defeated John McCain, a decorated Vietnam POW, and then went on to defeat (don't start!) Al Gore, who did serve in Vietnam.

The made up controversy over George W. Bush's Guard service is spent, and has been over and done for a while. So again, surprising that Kerry would try to make that the centerpiece.

But he has, and it has an effect on the election - good, bad, and ugly.

The Good

John Kerry has rehabilitated Vietnam. The official stance of the Democrat Party now is support of Vietnam Veterans. Kerry spoke more - much more - of his 4 months of service in Vietnam than of his years as an anti-war activist. Either he believes that the service is more admirable than the opposition, or he recognizes that the public values the service more than the opposition. Either way, it is a significant change for the Democrat Party from even earlier this year. In his acceptance speech, Kerry said this: "I defended this country as a young man..." He described his service in Vietnam as defending the country. That's a good thing.

The Bad

Kerry has made Vietnam not only his centerpiece, but his defensive shield. It is kind of a joke that he is constantly invoking Vietnam as his answer for every issue, but the joke came from the truth. By couching an issue in Vietnam, he places it off limits. Noone can question Vietnam, or anyone who served there. John McCain has joined him in this position.

The Ugly

And so we come to the Swift Boat Veterans. The situation is ugly. I don't think there is any profit in going back to 35 year old medals awarded and saying "he shouldn't have gotten them." President Bush received an honorable discharge from the Air National Guard, that should settle the issue. The Navy awarded the medals to Kerry, that should settle the issue.

The Swift Boat Veterans are suddenly exempt from the no Vietnam veteran can be questioned zone of protection. A bit of ugliness will no doubt visit upon them soon.

But what could be really ugly is that the main point right now is not that John Kerry did not do some heroic things - it is quite clear that he did, Jim Rassman is not mistaken about that. The main point right now is something that Kerry has claimed numerous times, and that is having been in Cambodia in his Swift boat Christmas of 1968. The Swift Boat Veterans say this is untrue. The results of this conflict will be ugly, indeed.

Gotta go to Seattle tomorrow. I have Starbucks here and Cobain blew his head off, so what's out there of interest?

UPDATE: Hey, thanks for the recommendations in the comments! I went to the Boeing Museum of Flight today on the way in from the airport. How bout good places to eat?