One thing is certain, if Kerry wins the election, there’ll be no shortage of things to talk about with the new First Lady.

Last week we learned that, though she earned more than $5 million last year, she paid an effective tax rate at about 12%, less than the majority of Americans. From the Wall Street Journal: The top 50% of all federal filers contributed 96.1% of all federal income taxes in 2001, and they paid an average income-tax rate of 15.9%. That’s 3.5-percentage points more than Mrs. Kerry paid in 2003.” At the “very least, Mrs. Kerry’s tax returns are a screaming illustration of the need for reform to make the tax code simpler and fairer. But they also show that Senator Kerry’s proposed tax increases are much more about a revenue grab than they are about tax justice.” (See the story.)

Then there was news about her recommendation for treating arthritis: “You get some gin and get some white raisins — and only white raisins — and soak them in the gin for two weeks,” she said. “Then eat nine of the raisins a day.” (And this revelation, by the way, was delivered in the midst of a presentation about Kerry’s health care plan.) Looking at her photo from the speech, I’d say she’d already had her daily quota of white raisins and gin. (See the story.)

Yesterday, in an interview with USA Today, Teresa slammed both Laura Bush and all stay-at-home Moms in one swoop: “Well, you know, I don’t know Laura Bush. But she seems to be calm, and she has a sparkle in her eye, which is good,” Heinz Kerry said. “But I don’t know that she’s ever had a real job – I mean, since she’s been grown up. So her experience and her validation comes from important things, but different things.” Though she later recanted and apologized to Bush, she left hanging the notion that women who stay home to raise their children aren’t doing “real” work. I would submit that these women are doing some of the most important work available. (See the story.)

Last Thursday, I arrived at the office to find a panicked message on voicemail from a client who couldn’t get their email. “I try to connect but I keep getting a message that I can’t connect to the server. Help! If I don’t get my email, I’ll likely die a slow and horrible death!” (Or something to that effect.) I verified with her on the phone that she was, in fact, connected to the Internet, she just couldn’t get to the mail server. Interestingly, she also couldn’t connect to an account on a different mail server. It was exceedingly odd.

So Ben and I headed over there to hunt down the problem. After a extended battle with her laptop, we finally determined that she was being blocked from sending packets out over port 110, the port needed to receive email. Through some amount of serendipity, we finally realized she had a virus, rooted in a file called bawindo.exe. This nasty little number had infected almost 350 files on her computer, was able to copy itself to other computers on the network, and installed a “sniffer” program that monitored keystrokes and sent them remotely to another computer. (You can interpret that last as being the same as someone standing behind her copying every single key she typed. Passwords, account numbers, correspondence was all compromised. Like I said, this is a nasty little guy.)

You might want to perform a search on your harddrive for a file named “bawindo.exe”. If you find it, visit the Symantec site to download a removal tool called Stinger.

From Morning Edition, October 18, 2004 –

An Oregon purchased a new Toshiba flat-screen television with a built-in DVD player. For reasons that mystify the manufacturer, the set was also apparently transmitting signals on the International Distress Frequency. Chris Van Rossman had no idea until rescuers from the U.S. Air Force showed up at his door. They told him to shut of the television or face a $10,000 fine. Toshiba has promised him a new set.

A few months ago, an email arrived with a photo of President Bush consoling a young girl who had lost her mother in the South Tower of the World Trade Centers. The photo was an impromptu snapshot taken by her father at a rally in Ohio in May, 2004. The story, as told in The Washington Dispatch, is a true glimpse at the heart of the president:

“As the president passed the group, Mr. Faulkner got an autograph, and the president continued on until [Faulkner’s friend] Linda Prince spoke up, “This girl lost her mother on 9/11,” Prince told the president. 

Then everything changed.

“The president’s entire expression transformed,” Mr. Faulkner told me on Sunday.  “He turned and came back against the flow and his eyes locked on Ashley’s.  His face showed a man who was no longer the president, he was a father and a husband.”  President Bush made his way back to Ashley and he embraced the 15-yeal old young woman.  “She snuggled in with the president just like she did when she was a little girl with her dad,” Mr. Faulkner said.  “I know it’s hard,” Mr. Faulkner heard the president tell his daughter.  “I’m okay,” Ashley told the president.  The embrace continued.” (Read the complete story.)

Now this moment, which was reluctantly captured by her father, has become the basis for a unique campaign ad to run in at least nine states for the next few weeks. The Progress for America Voter Fund, the 527 that created the ad, has announced they will spend more than $14 million airing it. Taking a turn away from negative attack ads, this tells the tragic story about a young girls loss and the compassion of the President, says the group’s president, Brian McCabe. “Most political messages in October are harsh and negative,” McCabe said. “We’re going in the opposite direction to … highlight what everyone knows and likes about President Bush.”

Other links:

• Read about Ashley’s mother, Wendy Faulkner, and the Memorial Children’s Foundation.
• See the USA Today article about the ad.
• See the “Ashley’s Story” Ad and Website