They are not inherently bad. It's just a bad idea to have a header graphic take up half of the screen, pushing most of the content below the fold...

Oh, lord. Go do layout for a newspaper. There IS NO FOLD... http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/blasting-the-myth-of

Yes, there is. The fold is exactly where my browser viewport ends.

Worse yet, google says that most people don't look beyond the third result. So the mental fold is even higher than that.