Boeing
As anyone who spends more than an afternoon in Wichita can tell you, the aeronautics industry is the fuel of this town. All prosperity comes from and through Hawker-Beecher, Cessna, and Boeing. All three are headquartered and/or have major plants here giving Wichita the nickname "the Air Capitol" of the world.
It's true enough. Famous people come here all the time shopping for their private jets like you would go to a super automall to shop for your next car. my boss even met Harrison Ford that way.
So the decision of the US Air Force to ask for bids to replace their half-century old refueling tankers was a big story here. Boeing put in a bid, as did Northrop, a consortium of companies including the Franco-German EADS (European Aeronautic Defence & Space Company). Wichitans (that's what we call ourselves... no, seriously) were assuming that Boeing would get the contract, as the old refueling planes, the KC-135, are Boeing planes, and Boeing is an American company. So they're a shoe-in, right?
It's true enough. Famous people come here all the time shopping for their private jets like you would go to a super automall to shop for your next car. my boss even met Harrison Ford that way.
So the decision of the US Air Force to ask for bids to replace their half-century old refueling tankers was a big story here. Boeing put in a bid, as did Northrop, a consortium of companies including the Franco-German EADS (European Aeronautic Defence & Space Company). Wichitans (that's what we call ourselves... no, seriously) were assuming that Boeing would get the contract, as the old refueling planes, the KC-135, are Boeing planes, and Boeing is an American company. So they're a shoe-in, right?
WRONG.
Northrop put in a better bid. Wichita was disappointed, but what can you do? Well, according to Boeing and all the uber-conservative talk show hosts, you take the Air Force to Pentagon Court (otherwise known as, dispute the contract -- on what grounds i don't know -- before the Government Accountability Office).
Now i ask you... how exactly do these people not see their hypocrisy? You cannot run around the world bulldozing capitalism onto everyone else and then whine when capitalism doesn't work out for you. So some Europeans will get our money and our jobs. They freaking competed for them. Not only did they compete for them, they outcompeted the Americans. Isn't that "what America stands for"??
You want to force companies, or government agencies, or private individuals to do what the government thinks is best for everyone? Fine, go for it. In fact, you'll have my vote. It's called socialism. Welcome to the enlightened, gentlemen. But who exactly are these pigheaded conservative idiots who think they can tax the hell out of the poor of America while they run around with five boats and a few BMWs, and then complain about the results of free markets?
Please, please... give me five minutes alone with Rush Limbaugh. Five. That's all i need.
#!@*
Now i ask you... how exactly do these people not see their hypocrisy? You cannot run around the world bulldozing capitalism onto everyone else and then whine when capitalism doesn't work out for you. So some Europeans will get our money and our jobs. They freaking competed for them. Not only did they compete for them, they outcompeted the Americans. Isn't that "what America stands for"??
You want to force companies, or government agencies, or private individuals to do what the government thinks is best for everyone? Fine, go for it. In fact, you'll have my vote. It's called socialism. Welcome to the enlightened, gentlemen. But who exactly are these pigheaded conservative idiots who think they can tax the hell out of the poor of America while they run around with five boats and a few BMWs, and then complain about the results of free markets?
Please, please... give me five minutes alone with Rush Limbaugh. Five. That's all i need.
#!@*
posted by ellie at 10:08
5 Comments:
maybe we can also rename the new tankers "freedom tankers"? ;)
I can't even listen to Rush, he drives me crazy. I do listen to Hannity from 5 - 6 though here, and I only usually have to turn the radio off twice. LOL.
It was a big story here too that Boeing lost the bid. But you are right, it is a free market society and you get to choose who you want to do business with. Don't be a sore loser. :-)
....Damn, you guys are really weird.
WICHITA, Kan. - Authorities are considering charges in the bizarre case of a woman who sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years — so long that her body was stuck to the seat by the time the boyfriend finally called police.
Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said it appeared the 35-year-old Ness City woman's skin had grown around the seat. She initially refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.
"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."
Whipple said investigators planned to present their report Wednesday to the county attorney, who will determine whether any charges should be filed against the woman's 36-year-old boyfriend.
"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."
He told investigators he brought his girlfriend food and water, and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.
"And her reply would be, `Maybe tomorrow,'" Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."
The boyfriend called police on Feb. 27 to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend," Whipple said, adding that he never explained why it took him two years to call.
Police found the clothed woman sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh. She was "somewhat disoriented," and her legs looked like they had atrophied, Whipple said.
"She said that she didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave," he said.
She was reported in fair condition at a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City. Whipple said she has refused to cooperate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators.
Authorities said they did not know if she was mentally or physically disabled.
Police have declined to release the couple's names, but the house where authorities say the incident happened is listed in public records as the residence of Kory McFarren. No one answered his home phone number.
The case has been the buzz of Ness City, said James Ellis, a neighbor.
"I don't think anybody can make any sense out of it," he said.
Ellis said he had known the woman since she was a child but that he had not seen her for at least six years.
He said she had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up. At one time the woman worked for a long-term care facility, he said, but he did not know what kind of work she did there.
"It really doesn't surprise me," Ellis said. "What surprises me is somebody wasn't called in a bit earlier."
Can I watch you alone with Rush? It might be ALMOST as fun as watching you with the BJU people on campus that night.
I'm with you - no changing the rules just to make us get our way... bad plan... even if it is American :)
Nope, no kids yet. Just talking about future kids. And that story about the woman on the toilet is INCREDIBLY weird.
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