What Caught My Eye Today

Elections - US voters have a lot of decisions to make in next week's elections. Some 160 questions have been placed on statewide ballots, including 42 "citizen initiatives," and voters will face scores more from their municipal or county governments. Here is a sampling of some of the initiatives that will be appearing on ballots next Tuesday. I'm limited to voting only on the California measures, but that doesn't stop me from having an opinion on the rest of them. The oil industry funded a 3.6 million dollar initiative to suspend California's greenhouse gas emission limits until after the state's unemployment rate drops to 5.5 percent or lower and stays there for a full year. That's a no vote from me. 5.5% unemployment? Yeah, like that's ever going to happen. Retailer Costco and two liquor wholesalers spent 3.1 million dollars on measures which would allow private retailers to sell liquor and shut down state-run state liquor stores in Washington state. Cheaper booze? In this economy, hell yes. The American Beverage Industry broke a new record for ballot initiative funding with a nearly 17 million dollar effort to eliminate a tax on bottled water, soda and candy in Washington state. I'm leaning no on this one. The Humane Society is behind a measure to tighten regulation of dog breeders and make "puppy mill cruelty" a crime in Missouri. My dogs are my kids; I'm a yes...twice. Billionaire George Soros donated a million dollars to an effort to fully legalize -- and tax -- marijuana in California. I'm on the fence, but leaning toward yes. Voters in Arizona, Colorado and Oklahoma are considering measures to block the implementation of the Obama administration's sweeping health care reform. And while they are at it, maybe the should repeal some other blatantly socialist programs that have existed for years, you know, like Social Security and Medicare. There is just one "culture war" initiative on the ballot this year: a move to amend Colorado's constitution to define the term "person" so that legal rights begin "from the moment of fertilization" and abortion becomes murder. Given the sensitivity of this issue, and that fact that I respect people's rights to have opinions different than mine, I am keeping my big mouth shut on this one (though those of you who know me, probably have a pretty good idea of how I would vote on this).

Sesame Street - I saw a headline today suggesting that Bert from Sesame Street may be close to coming out of the closet (seriously, this qualifies as news?). Imagine my surprise, when I discover this is just one of several urban legends surrounding the beloved children's television series. Here are just a few.

• In 1990, puppeteer Jim Henson's death spurred rumors that Ernie would be "killed off" in the show. Rumor said that he would be either killed by a vehicle, AIDS, or cancer. A spokesperson for the series was quoted as saying "Ernie is not dying of AIDS; Ernie is not dying of leukemia. Ernie is a puppet.
  It's sort of difficult to believe that a spokesperson was needed to remind the public of that little fact.
• In 2002, Sesame Workshop announced that a character with HIV would be introduced to Takalani Sesame, the South African version of the show. The character, Kami, contracted HIV from a blood transfusion as an infant. Many groups wrongly presumed that the American version would be getting a "gay Muppet".
  Nope, no homophobia there.
• In 2005, rumor began to spread that Cookie Monster would be replaced with Veggie Monster. As a result of a more health-focused message, the producers of Sesame Street began to incorporate fruit and vegetables into Cookie Monster's diet besides just cookies. Sesame Street assured its viewers that although Cookie Monster consumes cookies, he also eats fruit and vegetables but will always retain the long-loved name of Cookie Monster.
  You don't mess with a national treasure like the Cookie Monster. No sir, you do not.

Airlines - Well now, this is interesting. It appears that there is a survey that measures the meanest airlines. The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) Report measures 18 U.S. air carriers based on surveys of airline industry experts, with positive and negative values assigned to different elements in airline quality. Several common complaint areas were factored in, including on-time arrival, mishandled baggage, delays and involuntary denied boardings. This should be good.

• #5 - US Airways: While it improved 5% percent in passenger satisfaction, US Airways is cited as having the rudest flight attendants and serving the worst food.
  In fairness, to US Airways, it's not like passengers are forced to eat this stuff. We absolutely have the right to keep our credit cards in our pockets and just starve to death.
• #4 - American Airlines: American has had frequent incidents of mishandled baggage with an average of 4.07 reports per 1,000 passengers, the worst rating among the major airlines in the study. American ranks among the worst for having the rudest flight attendants and the worst food.
  Tisk-tisk. They get you to your destination, don't they?
• #3 - Alaska Airlines: Alaska Airlines has a high number of mishandled baggage reports (3.98 incidents per 1,000 passengers) but did manage 88% percent of its flights having on-time arrivals.
  Maybe that high on-time percentage has something to do with the fact that half our bags don't make it onto the friggin' plane.
• #2 - United Airlines: United joins American Airlines and US Airways as one of the three worst airlines for meals and rude flight attendants. In addition, the Air Travel Consumer Reports places this airline second in consumer complaints), averaging 1.82 per 100,000 embarkations.
  If I'm not mistaken, United and US Air are in the middle of a merger. Lucky us.
• #1 - Delta Airlines: Delta has had the largest drop in passenger satisfaction, was number one in delays for major airlines (78 percent of flights arriving on time), first in consumer complaints (averaging 2.23 per 100,000 embarkations), and has some of the highest baggage fees in the industry.
  Give these guys credit. They don't limit themselves to being crappy at just one thing.

Now, if you weren't depressed enough about the state of air travel, consider this. These five airlines account for nearly 50% of all U.S. domestic travel. Happy flying.