Sour Grapes Rossi

Let me start off by saying that I'm neither Democrat nor Republican and that I vote for the candidate I think will best represent my interests. Sometimes I lean left, sometimes right. I say this because it's good to know that I'm not some frothing mouthed pine cone eater from Seattle.

That said, the Republican's contest for the Washington governorship is just sour grapes. When GWB won Ohio and the Dems were threatening lawsuits, the Republicans were howling with outrage that they were trying to win through the courts what they could not through the electorate. And they were right, as much as I hate GWB he won fair and square, or at least as firm and square as we can have an election in this country.

But when the same thing happens to the Republications, why they're up in arms! Even when there were two recounts and every county had certified their results. No, this is just not good enough, is it? Personally, it looks to me like sour grapes.

If the Democrats had lost by 10 votes and whined, the Repulicans would have been up in arms if the Dems tried to do what the Reps are doing. They would foam at the mouth about how the "illegal" and "immoral" tactics are trying to rob Rossi of the election. But lo, when the shoes on other foot it doesn't smell so nice.

The truth is for Washington that the votors win either way. Both Rossi and Gregoire are solid people of good character who would do well for the state. I don't think one would do a much better job, IMHO. And each has their downside, too.

With Gregiore in, we (Washingtonians) may get punished for having a governor that is of a different party than the president. It's no secret that the Bush administration left California out to dry during the energy crises as punishment to Gray Davis - something they would never have done to Arnold. Will we get equally punished by Bush?

But Rossi has his own downside. He'll be under a lot of pressure to enforce his party's policies. Not that may seem like the normal thing to do for people who don't live here, but Washington is a very independent state and regardless of political party our politicians tend to think for themselves and don't have a problem with going against the party line. And we like it that way, with the possible exception of the California transplants who constantly try to make Washington like the place they left (um, if the place you left was so great why did you move? Maybe you can go back? We like our state the way it is, thank you very much).

So to me what I see is that the Republicans have been having a lot of stuff to their way lately, and like the kid who was bullied becoming the bully, they are all too eager to ensure that they get everything they want to make up for not having for so long. But all they're doing is making themselves look bad. It's sad really.

So my hope for the new year is that Rossi & his Republican friends lose their taste for sour grapes and...grow up! Admit you got beat. If you don't like it, funnel that energy into winning the next one. This is good advice, and it's the same advice I give my Democrat friends when they complain about Bush. And if it's good for them, it's good for you too.

Boeing gets smacked by Airbus

Starting yesterday Airbus can now sell the A350, a competitor to the Boeing 7E7. I was really, really excited about the 7E7 when it came out. Mostly because I just don't feel Boeing is being aggressive enough in their commercial airplane business. The management is short-term profit focused and relies too much on their military sales that the commercial side has gone to pot.

Boeing used to be the dominant name in commercial aerospace, having over 2/3 of the market share. Boeing had great airplanes too - airplanes like the 707, 747, and 777 that defined their segment. But with Phil Condit, the company rapidly went downhill. They became too conservative in creating new products, prefering to make only derivities instead of creating anything new at all for 10 years. How many companies can do this and thrive?

So finally they got off their bums and came up with the 7E7. This will be a beautiful plane and I think could have also defined it's segment; one of those great planes that people could look back on and say, wow, that was a era-defining plane. But sorry to say, it's too little too late. I believe enough airlines will order the A350 instead of the 7E7 to ensure that the 7E7 will never be the home run that Boeing hopes it will be. And in truth the A350 doesn't have to make Airbus any money at all, it's sole purpose for being is to deny profits for Boeing.

Airbus is now the dominat player. Airbus is far more aggressive and let me just say, flat out smarter in creating new designs that customers want and getting them sold. I'd really love to see Boeing rise to glory once again, but the truth is that their management is just plain stupid. They were not able to adapt as rapidly as they needed to changing market conditions, they were not able to create new and innovative products in a timely manner, nor where they were willing to take the big risks that you need to be sucessful in this business, and most important they were just not aggressive in selling the things. The recent firing of their sales boss is tardy - don't you think they'd have replaced him after the initial losing streak? How did he keep his job as long as he did? This is not his fault, it's his managers fault.

Boeing makes great planes. I know many people who work there and they are great employees who are skilled and love what they do. When Boeing loses the commercial airplane business, it's the management that really needs to take the blame.

And it didn't have to be this way. It's sad that America is once again losing a very valuable set of job skills to companies overseas, it's sad that America is losing the capability to build commerical aircraft. And mostly it's sad because the guys who are making the most money out of the company are the ones who will lose the least when the business goes bad.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Today Sandy and Kevin got fired on The Apprentice. Now I know everyone wanted to see Jen M. get fired because she "flies under the radar" and sits back and lets others take bullets, and that she is a bit of an ice queen, but the truth of the matter is that Sandy really didn't have enough big company experience to run one of Trump's companies, and Kevin...well, he's a nice guy and all but I just didn't think he had the mental horsepower of Jen or Kelly.

So...Jen may not be very likable, but that doesn't mean she's ineffective.