Rex Kickass

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 22, 2009 -> 01:05 PM) Well of course you will have cases like that. But most of the time, it won't be right on the cusp like that. And further, because of the incredible length of some of these delays, and the unwillingness of the airlines to make changes, you really have no choice but to draw a line in the sand. If you don't, things will keep getting worse. This is like the airbag argument to me. When they first came into wide use, people pointed out that some people would actually be hurt or killed by them. Well yes, they will. You'll kill 100 people in a year, and save 1,000. Which is better? But the problem is that these delays only happen in IRROPS situations. At JFK, there are frequently anywhere between 50 and 100 planes waiting to take off during peak hours of operations. That's nearly an hour of taxi time - which is something that will only get worse when they shut one of the runways down for rehab next year. A summer storm moving through, keeping you on the ground for two hours, coupled with being 45th to takeoff guarantees you a return to the gate under this rule. If one person elects to get off the flight, you add another 30-60 minutes to the delay because they have to root around the plane for the luggage. When they are ready to start again, they go back to the line. If there was a ground stop in JFK, 45th in line could quickly become 145th in line. At which point it becomes clear that duty hours are going to exceed maximum threshhold and the flight goes back to the gate again, and the flight cancelled because of staffing issues. Irregular Operations are irregular for a reason. If people were randomly kept on the tarmac for three hours in optimal circumstances, we would have a serious problem that this rule might address. But we don't have that problem now. We only have that problem when there are huge issues virtually shutting down an airport. And since 2007 and the JetBlue disaster, airlines are already much quicker to cancel the flights than have their passengers wait for hours. This is a feel good regulation that will create more delays and more preemptive cancellation than anything else.

The very next paragraph says that this can be appealed by a three-fifths vote. So, if I'm understanding the subsection correctly, the Senate can not veto a decision by the board. That is, unless there are 60 votes to consider it.

I've always thought continuing is what makes America great. I mean if we don't continue here, where will we continue in the future? And now the top five reasons we should continue

I wonder if he's going to return the $14,000 he's collected from Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi for reelection.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 22, 2009 -> 10:05 AM) You can still cycle planes in and out of gates. And if the airlines have to do that often enough (which costs them money), they will adjust. Its a pain for the airlines, but in this case, I don't feel badly for them at all. They put themselves in this position. The Cranky Flier has a great post today about how horrible these mandates are. http://crankyflier.com/2009/12/22/dot-mand...d-im-not-happy/

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Dec 22, 2009 -> 09:31 AM) I agree, if they did proper gate allocations there is no reason for every gate to be full at the same time...EVER. There is no excuse for this and the only reason they do it now is because they can get away with it. And yes, yes, yes...I'd much rather spend extra time IN the airport than sitting on an uncomfortable plane. Unless youre in an IRROPS situation where you have planes coming in, but a ground stop preventing planes to leave.

O RLY?

I should also mention Alaska in Winter - "Holiday". I put that in this morning and I forgot how wonderful it is.

Actually, its really only gonna turn IRROPS messes like the blizzard we saw this past weekend into bigger s***shows than we've seen before. It's going to be hard to get these people off the tarmac in a groundstop with every gate full, plus it basically means that if you hit three hours on tarmac and you get your clearance 20 minutes later, you'll have to reboard - and get back into line... usually at the back of the line. If people don't make it to reboard, if they've checked luggage This is a great way to turn a three hour delay into a six hour delay to be honest.

Comity.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Dec 21, 2009 -> 02:12 PM) Miley Cyrus - Party in the U.S.A Slayer - World Painted Blood That just reads like the most amazing mash up ever.

Alaina Reed Hall Star of Sesame Street and 227 dead of breast cancer. http://www.popeater.com/2009/12/21/alaina-...227-dies-at-63/

According to a number of Senators who have spoken publicly about their vote for supporting it, its a key talking point. I expect that when this gets through committee, the bill will be a bit stronger, the Stupak language will be dropped and the Nelson language may be dropped as well, because voting it out of conference is a lot less public than the votes we've seen so far.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 21, 2009 -> 03:31 AM) No way...I've been a Phoenix fan for about 10 years now and absolutely love their music. Each album has presented a different sort of feel to it, but I have liked them all. I've loved everything they've put out, especially since Alphabetical. I hope they don't really break up. It just seems like this album managed to put together the most successful elements of the first three and really make something great happen.

List your favorite albums and songs from 2009. Royksopp - Junior Yeah, the lyrics are sometimes really stupid, but the music is really just incredible. One of the best electronic records I've heard in a long time. La Roux - s/t Screw Lady Gaga, this band is really the best poppy dance album of the year. And the lead singer looks like a tranny Conan O'Brien who's dead on the inside. That's a total plus! The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control I've always loved this band since they appeared 6 or 7 years ago, and this album is a lot of fun. They've left a lot of the feedback behind and made a much more accessible album this year and they're songs are very after school special. It's like a Garage Band High School Guidance Counselor. Passion Pit - Chunk of Change Because I'm a hipster. Gossip - Music for Men I can't believe I love an album that Rick Rubin produced. But still, its punk meets dance pop + Beth Ditto. Hess Is More - Hits These guys are from Denmark and wacky. I saw their first ever show in the US and they gave me a bell to play, and the asian backup singer wrapped up members of the crowd in packing tape. But the music is really really well put together. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix I think if you took the best part of the first three albums that Phoenix did and put them together, you'd get this album. For what they do, its just about perfect. In fact, they should break up now - before they ruin it with something less good.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 20, 2009 -> 12:09 AM) Hooray for government entitlements. This is essentially the Democrat playbook for the last 80 years. The Democrats just orgasmed today (you saw the snow in Washington) over finally getting control of YOUR body. That's the motherload of all entitlements right there. So by getting private insurers access to a larger market in four years without any public insurance program anywhere, exactly where did the government get control over your body? And when do I get my microchip?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Dec 18, 2009 -> 12:26 PM) Looks like all the climate talk is falling apart as other nations are showing what I thought all along -- they don't give a crap if it's going to cost money. According to BBC reporting, the issue wasn't really about money as much as it was about accountability.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 07:24 PM) Generally, you don't do it to your own caucus. Gees, you go to great lengths to protect your own. There's always some "good" reason for your view. Actually, I love that this was done. I only wish there was more malice behind the actions than what was there. In my mind, there's no protection necessary.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 06:38 PM) Franken just became the Almighty in the Senate (now that Barackus the Great has ascended). Actually, he was just enforcing the rules as previously agreed upon for no extensions of time. Which had been done previously in the day to Senator Cornyn.

It's a good message for the Dems. There is still a lot of good in this bill, if the private insurance mandate is removed. I think the exchanges alone are a huge step forward. I think if they remove the private insurance mandate, they get 60 votes again.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 16, 2009 -> 06:09 PM) The Democrats run the Senate. If they cared about the troops so much, they could have slotted time for that bill, but they want to shift the blame. It won't work. Actually they did. And they withdrew the amendment in mid-read so they could get the appropriation through. The single payer amendment doesn't have close to 50 votes, let alone 60 votes anyway - so the reading of the amendment was pure political theater - and a delaying tactic "by any means necessary." Because it doesn't matter how watered down the bill is, the GOP recognizes that passing the bill turns a burden into a boon for the Democrats next year. Fortunately, for them - and frankly for the country at large, Sanders no longer supports the bill because it forces taxpayers to take a private insurance program that is basically broken. So we're back to 59 votes now. Hopefully enough liberals will fail to support the bill to cloture as it stands so we can get back to a good bill and force it through with reconciliation and get the 57 votes it would receive. With the medicare buy-in, its nearly all applicable to reconciliation now.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 16, 2009 -> 06:21 PM) Politics. If you're trying someone for the 9/11 attacks. Where would they be most likely to be convicted? I'm gonna guess where people were the most directly affected.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 16, 2009 -> 04:52 PM) But that's a ridiculous concern. They're not looking to pull off operations in some po-dunk town in Illinois. Not enough funding to operate it. There was a prison out west (Montana?) that tried to do the same thing--get the Gitmo detainees because it was a big, expensive empty prison. I think it was a combination of overcapacity and underfunding. And it may not have been fully completed. There are some minimum security inmates there IIRC.

Very Good Feingold - WI Tester - MT Good Lugar - IN Boxer - CA Gilibrand - NY Burris - IL (Based on his performance as a lame duck Senator ONLY) Brown - OH Graham - SC Franken - MN (and rising) Sanders - VT Average Menendez - NJ Lautenberg - NJ McCain - AZ Harkin - IA Schumer - NY Dodd - CT Specter - PA (and rising) Rockefeller - WV Kerry - MA Hatch - UT (and falling) Bad Reid - NV Murkowski - AK Kyl - AK Lincoln - AR Carper - DE Byrd - WV Bunning - KY Vitter - LA Nelson - NE Baucus - MT Bayh - IN Horrible Lieberman - CT Chambliss - GA Coburn - OK Thune - SD

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 16, 2009 -> 10:24 AM) I have a question that may or may not be related to this topic: So I'm engaged, soon to be married (next October). I currently have no health insurance, but my future wife does. She asked her employer (a pretty progressive, very large hospital near the loop) if I could be added on her health insurance. They said no, not until they recieved a marriage certificate or license (whichever you get after the ceremony). She pressed the issue, and said that we'd been living together for a number of years. The HR person asked if she was getting married to another woman (apparently my gender was never brought up). My fiance said no. The HR person says, "oh well that's too bad. If you were gay we could sign you up today as a domestic partner, but since you're not, we can't do anything until you're married." Discrimination? And/or just a f***ed up policy? It's probably an insurance company policy. And it is discrimination, discrimination that cuts both ways. Since in most places Same Sex marriages aren't recognized, domestic partnerships are. These have their own set of standards. Usually its sharing a residence for 12 months, but its not a uniform standard. This is part of the problem with a lack of marriage equality. In your specific case, you face a disadvantage because you can't qualify as a domestic partnership because you can get married. But on the other side of the coin, same sex couples who just get "married" (in their own personal sense, since its still illegal in most places) can't get their spouses on their medical insurance for upwards of a year after they've made their lifelong commitment.