But a lot of my tax dollars go to “real Virginia”. What’s up with that? Seems kinda communist, ya know. Spreading the wealth around and all.

But, seriously, why does the McCain campaign insist on dividing us so?

Hours before John McCain took the stage in the northern Virginia suburb of Woodbridge – his second visit to the battleground state in less than a week – campaign surrogate Nancy Pfotenhauer told an interviewer that voters in that part of the state did not represent the ‘real’ Virginia.

“I certainly agree that northern Virginia has gone more Democratic. And as a proud resident of Oakton, Virginia I can tell you that the Democrats have just come in from the District of Columbia and moved into northern Virginia. And that’s really what you see there. But the rest of the state, ‘real’ Virginia if you will, I think will be very responsive to Senator McCain’s message.”

Asked if she wanted to clarify her comments, Pfotenhauer stood by her remarks. “I did say outside of Northern…I did say ‘real’ Virginia, because northern Virginia is where I’ve always been, but real Virginia I take to be this part of the state that is more Southern in nature, if you will. Northern Virginia is really metro DC, as you’re aware, Kevin.”

Yeah, whatev.

Well, we are a red state:

Joe McCain, speaking at an event in support of his brother, called two Democratic-leaning areas in Northern Virginia “communist country,” according to a report on The Washington Post’s Web site.

“I’ve lived here for at least 10 years and before that about every third duty I was in either Arlington or Alexandria, up in communist country,” Joe McCain, a Navy veteran, said at an event in Loudoun County, Va.

Yeah, Arlington is totally communist. I mean, the Pentagon City Fashion Centre, that gigantic mall that I live across from, totally makes me think of Soviet-era GUM whenever I walk through it. The Pentagon? Yeah, that’s full of a bunch of communists, too. Our airport? Named after that great communist, Ronald Reagan. That high-rise Crystal City condominium that John McCain lives in? Surely it’s state owned, right?

No Democratic presidential candidate has won Virginia since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, and Republican Party leaders say the selection of Ms. Palin has improved Mr. McCain’s chances of carrying the state. Even so, advances by Democrats over the last few years, including the elections of two successive governors and a United States senator, and demographic shifts favoring Democrats have led both parties to agree that the state is up for grabs in November.

California, 1998. Age 16: “I can’t believe those suckers passed me.”

Washington, D.C., 2006. Age 24: “I can’t believe they mercilessly shredded my California driver’s license right in front of me. I hate this city.”

Virginia, 2008: Age 26: “Oh thank god I’m no longer a D.C. resident. I hope they let me personally shred my D.C. license.”

Yes, I finally got my Virginia driver’s license this weekend. It kinda looks like some kid designed it in Photoshop and then printed it out on his HP Deskjet printer, but whatev. Also, I’m now registered to vote in Virginia as well, thus ending my participation in California’s elections. So sad.

Drove down to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center today. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum doesn’t have enough room at its location on the National Mall, so they built the Udvar-Hazy annex near Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia to display more of their collection. It opened in December 2003, but I hadn’t made it out there until today. Visiting the Udvar-Hazy Center is a must do if you have any interest in aviation, as the collection of aircraft assembled in this giant hangar is truly impressive.

SR-71 down below

Boeing 707 and the Concorde

Recognizer that B-29? It’s the Enola Gay, the bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945.

Space Shuttle Enterprise – NASA’s first shuttle, built for atmospheric test flights. It was originally supposed to be named “Constitution”, but a bunch of Star Trek fans waged a letter writing campaign and NASA caved-in to nerd pressure, thereby naming the shuttle “Enterprise” (sorry, I can’t stand Star Trek).

Concorde supersonic airliner. DC to London in 3.5 hours.

This is what computers used to look like…and you couldn’t even play games on them.

SR-71 Blackbird

Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, the plane Steve Fossett used for his record breaking solo nonstop flight ’round the world.

North Vietnamese propaganda rocket

MiG-15 used in the Korean War.

MiG-21

A-6 Intruder. This was one of my favorite planes as a kid, probably because of the movie.

This would probably be the first thing I would purchase after spending time in a Soviet prison, too.

Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka (Cherry Blossom), rocket powered kamikaze aircraft.

Rest of the photos are here.