I have to agree with Bill Maher when he asks why this country has suddenly become Utah. There's a big scandal at the Boeing company and it has nothing to do with the mishandling of the defense aircraft the company is responsible for. There's no (reported) mishandling of the books. There's no faulty contracts with defective equipment that is risking the lives of the soldiers we have over there (unless you consider the President as being defective).

No it's none of those things..

It's the fact that Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher got his whistle blown by 25-year Boeing accounts receivable veteran Debra Peabody.

*gasp*

Say it ain't so, a high-powered executive having an extra-marital affair? What will we tell the children about that evil Harry Stonecipher character.

In a recent article entitled "The End of the Office Affair" [The Economist] it states the following:

Lewis Platt, Boeing's chairman, said that Mr Stonecipher broke a company rule that says: “Employees will not engage in conduct or activity that may raise questions as to the company's honesty, impartiality, reputation or otherwise cause embarrassment to the company.” Having an affair with a fellow employee is not, of itself, against company rules; causing embarrassment to Boeing is. It seems that the board judged that the contents of the lovers' e-mails would have been bad for Boeing had they been made public. Gone are the days when a board considered such matters none of its business, as Citibank's did in 1991 when its boss, John Reed, became the talk of Wall Street for having an affair with a stewardess on Citi's corporate jet.

Now I'm not going to say that extra-marital affairs are good, they aren't. My own fear of commitment is probably the main fact that keeps me single right now. However, I would like to go back to the times when private matters were kept private. If Harry Stonecipher is having problems at home and he's decided to make cookies with Debra Peabody, that's between Stonecipher and Peabody, not Geraldo and Larry King.

So now Stonecipher has to go in front of the public and explain his private affairs. Isn't there SOMETHING that doesn't seem right about this? He made a mistake, he fucked up, he doesn't own me anymore of an explanation than that. He owes his wife a heart-to-heart and it probably still won't help. [FW Star-Telegram]

We need to stop expecting people of power not to have some flaws. Is Stonecipher a good manager? Check. Does he oversee the production of war machines properly? Check. Is he a good husband? Not Exactly.

Well in the words of Meatloaf. 2 out of three ain't bad.