Boeing (787) was Always Leaving....

This was posted in the Seattle PI by an unregistered user> I thought it was excellent in a turn-the-tables sort of way so I wanted to save it for others to read:

Posted by unregistered user at 10/29/09 6:08 p.m.

Boeing was always leaving. There was nothing that could be done by anyone other than Boeing to affect this decision and this is just the start. In less than twenty years, when the "legacy" aircraft are no longer being manufactured in favor of newer fuel efficient versions, Boeing will be completely gone from this area. Boeing is a "modern" corporation that has no loyalty other than to shareholders. Period.

So, the question is, what does the Puget Sound region do? Is an aerospace manufacturing industry something we want in this area? If so, then there should be immediate steps taken for the future of the people in the area:

1) Immediately drop all Boeing tax breaks in the state of Washington. Use the surplus funds this generates exclusively for education at all levels. An educated workforce is essential to the future and especially in aerospace jobs. Boeing is not living up to their agreement to build the 787 in Washington so they can pay us what every other business in the state has to pay.

2) Starting now, the leaders of this state should be talking with anyone in aerospace - and that means everyone. The region has lots to offer. For Europeans, our union "troubles" are nothing. The IAM is minor league compared with the their unions. We can offer an educated work force (if suggestion #1 is implemented), facilities capable of manufacturing and assembling large items, and a whole support infrastructure.

3) As Boeing closes plants, exercise eminent domain and seize them for fair cost as pieces of vital infrastructure. Pay them what the buildings are worth. Boeing will try to sell the property and tear down the buildings having agreements in place to do this years before it actually happens. Once those buildings are gone, so is the aerospace industry in this area because there just isn't affordable land available to build new ones close to the population centers.

The people of this state can not be afraid to play hardball with Boeing. If the USD is still weak at that time, I wonder if Airbus would be interested in acquiring existing facilities in an area with a trained aerospace work force? There would probably be others from Canada, Brazil, etc. that would be interested, as well, especially if someone is trying to break into the market for large
So much to do in so little time. The only thing that is certain is that Boeing is gone. The ball is in our court.


http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/archives/183633.asp

“Boeing to workers: “Talks were in good faith; union’s offer fell short”.

Guns, Guns and more Guns, and the NRA of course...

The gun-kook NRA folks really crack me up. They are so far out in la-la land about the reality of keeping and owning guns and the crime rate, and the need to own guns they make me laugh. They always talk about overthrowing the government. I have started asking them that if the police showed up on their doorstep un-announced and demanded all the guns in the house, with the caveat that if any non-registered guns were found upon later search, they would immediately go to prison would they still hold out? Of course not.

Obama is the best thing to happen to the NRA and Glenn Beck. The gun kooks are stockpiling guns and ammo at such record rates for the upcoming “war” they want so badly, the ammo makers can’t keep up with demand. The truth is that if you own guns your chances of being involved in gun violence go way up. The next truth is that people who move away from the big city because of crime have a much bigger chance being killed or maimed in a car wreck than being a crime statistic in the big bad city.

The gun kooks always talk with glowing eyes about getting up in the middle of the night and “shooting a burglar” as if that is a secret wish, a fantasy to fulfill. I wonder if they had a 16 year old neighbor on their living room carpet bleeding to death if they would really feel all that triumphant? This is what really happens:

A kid at work gets shot IN THE SHOWER by his girlfriend. He had thought he heard a burglar the night before and got up and loaded a gun to check it out. He had left it on the nightstand and now his girlfriend was trying to un-load it the next night. She pulled the slide back and BANG~ the bullet took off the end of her finger, went through a wall, and hit him in the arm breaking his arm. It could just have easily killed him, as it was he missed a month of work and she is still in trouble with the cops.

A local man shoots himself in the foot. http://www.mynorthwest.com/?sid=223212&nid=11 This happened “accidentally” while he was unloading the gun. He might be charged with reckless endangerment because the bullet went into the apartment below in the bedroom. People in the comments section have stated he was stupid to be pointing his gun down, but where should he point it? As we see in the story above bullets go through walls fairly easily. There might exist in a crowded apartment people above him, below him and on all sides.

Here is a case where a man hears a noise at night when he is in bed and immediately he gets a gun, and shoots his fiancée who got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. He saw a figure standing in the hallway, so before determining the identity of the figure he shot first. Who knows he may have been drunk, that is not illegal is it? http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/12/national/main5378015.shtml

But what if there is a actual burglar and he is in fact stealing some small thing covered by homeowners insurance and you do in fact stop him, by shooting him? http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=217024&page=1 Here is a typical example of what happens, two people’s lives are ruined to “protect” a car stereo! Smart thinkin’ fer sure.