The Goat Pen

There must be some grievance or special interest behind this because there is no grounds based on the facts of this merger. Most cities I have to fly to like Chicago, New York, and DC the plane ticket is less than one night at the hotel.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... s-airways/

CVG prices are crazy expensive. Most people there fly out of Dayton, Lexington, Indy or CBus for half the price. CVG I believe is the 2nd most expensive airport to fly out of.

Jungle Rat wrote:CVG prices are crazy expensive. Most people there fly out of Dayton, Lexington, Indy or CBus for half the price. CVG I believe is the 2nd most expensive airport to fly out of.

ticket prices at CVG is the primary reason we don't hold any large meetings in Cinci, but that used to be because Delta held the Airport hostage threatening to pull 1200+ jobs if they ever let Southwest or JetBlue in.

Now Delta has cut back so much, especially with losing ComAir I think CVG is telling them to go fuck themselves.

Yep. They are trying real hard to get other airlines in here. The Southwest daily to Denver is a nice start.

sardis wrote:There must be some grievance or special interest behind this because there is no grounds based on the facts of this merger. Most cities I have to fly to like Chicago, New York, and DC the plane ticket is less than one night at the hotel.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... s-airways/

I thought the article laid out the facts for the grounds of the govt's argument pretty well. Maybe you don't agree with their anti-trust concerns, but I see clearly what their thought was.

sardis wrote:There must be some grievance or special interest behind this because there is no grounds based on the facts of this merger. Most cities I have to fly to like Chicago, New York, and DC the plane ticket is less than one night at the hotel.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... s-airways/

Fascinating that it's both the feds and states doing this. That will make it a much stronger case.

The facts are mostly generic and don't make the case to this specific merger:

“The department sued to block this merger because it would eliminate competition between US Airways and American" - That's an argument on every merger.

"put consumers at risk of higher prices and reduced service,” - That is happening anyway. Doesn't argue that this merger will make it worse.

"The merger would create the largest airline in the world and result in four airlines controlling more than 80 percent of the United States commercial air travel market." - How does going from 5 airlines controlling 80% to 4 controlling 80% change the pricing landscape in general?

"The department’s complaint states that executives of both airlines have repeatedly said that they do not need the merger to succeed." - Ok, so every merger has to be a desperate situation to qualify?

I think we finally get to the real reason: "The merger would also entrench the merged airline as the dominant carrier at Washington Reagan National Airport, with control of 69 percent of the take-off and landing slots" - There are already a bunch of cities where it is worse under the current situation yet no worry there.

Didn't mean to double post...

eCat wrote:I saw first hand what that did to my old man. Dude carried a bottle of "nerve medicine" with him wherever he went. The moment stress entered his life, he pulled that bottle out and took a swig. What was in it I don't know - but he usually mellowed afterwards. Fucker did some shit that haunted him from WWII

My paternal grandfather died in 1958 [dad was six] from an aneurysm. Apparently, I look, talk and act like the guy [insert jokes here, smart ass]. So, I always bug the family members that remember him with questions. They said he was a different man when he came back from the war. One of my uncles [again, kiss my ass] actually ran into him during the middle of the Battle of the Bulge. Both were infantry but in different units. The uncle is still living and is sharp as a tact. He said that the man he saw that day in Belgium was a completely different person. Everyone said that he would go into deep, dark periods of depression and anger after the war. He didn't handle stress well and would fly off of the handle.

The uncle who saw him in Belgium speculates that my grandfather was not only in heavy combat, but that he probably saw a concentration camp.

My mom had an uncle that spent the last six months of the war in a German POW camp. He was in a bomber that was shot down over Germany. He was a heavy drinker the rest of his life, which isn't that odd in her family, but he could be a mean drunk. Also, he didn't take kindly to Hogan's Heroes. That shit pissed him off.

So, yeah, I can't even begin to fathom the shit people like that endured, and if they have their hang ups as a result, so be it. I am sure they have valid reasons to want to kill the enemy.

my great grandfather died of an aneurysm because of his temper. He asked some friends to help him move a stove and they didn't show up, he got pissed, moved the stove and burst some shit in his head, died within the hour. He was an interesting character. Never had a regular job in his entire life. He played fiddle and mandolin and would go around to contests and try to win them, and at fairs and such, he'd set up a popcorn machine and play music, sell popcorn and accept tips. He'd try his hand at farming and the like but mostly all the picture I've seen are the women doing the work and him "overseeing" the operation.


11 Things Men Don't Know How to Do Anymore (besides move a stove)

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2013/11-thing ... HSyq674.01

I need to work on #6 and #7 (never heard of Nabokov). And I don't go to the gym at all but I do walk 3 miles everyday.

Hated the Great Gatsby. Also don't know Nobokov

my grandfather was in the bulge with the 80th infantry

got hit by a mortar that oblierated the guy next to him saving my grandpas life after the bulge in belgium

my granadpas face was destroyed and they left him on the battlefield for 3 days in feb 45 when we were crossing the rhine. finally when he didnt die they evaced him and he was the first bone graft procedure taking part of his pelvis and fashioning a jawbone. 15 months in the hospital and amazisngly from the time i was born until the day he died I couldnt tell he had major facial reconstruction.

he was never moody and just got quiet when he talked in later years about the bulge and the months after he got hit.

lost him in 2009. he taught me a lot--just a genuine good guy

My father was raised in poverty by his grandfather after his mother died at the age of 18 after 2 marriages and 3 sons (her 1st husband died in High School, stabbed on the school grounds). His father (the second husband) left town, joined the merchant marines, later got married and had two daughters.

When my father was 16, his father, my grandfather, met with dad and dad's younger brother in a hotel (his MIL wouldn't let him come to the house). Said he was going to put his two boys on his insurance, etc.

One month later, 1944, they were announcing the people from Houston who had been killed over the speaker in the High School (Wheatley for the Houstonians) when my father heard his name (he's a junior).

I found out 5 years ago. Apparently, his ship was torpedoed. He got out along with others to a lifeboat. But the Japanese submarine rose to the surface and fired into the lifeboat and my GF was never seen again. I found it because it's documented as a Japanese War crime.

torpedoed a lifeboat

that's some shit now

My dad was Army. Bay of Pigs & Vietnam. My Grandpa never served though. He was one of the 2nd generation of people who built New York Life Insurance & they sent him to Cincy to start up that branch. He worked there till the day he dropped dead at 82.

eCat wrote:torpedoed a lifeboat

that's some shit now

deck guns

I bet he has some great Bay of Pigs stories

I've read probably 80% of Nabokov's output, including his lectures, autobiography and letters, The Old Man and the Sea and maybe a couple of short stories by Hemingway, and nothing by Fitzgerald. I suspect I will attempt the Nabokov that I haven't gotten to yet, I'm sure I'll re-read The Old Man and the Sea another 15 - 20 times, and will not read anything else by Hemingway or Fitzgerald...

" Apparently, his ship was torpedoed. He got out along with others to a lifeboat. But the Japanese submarine rose to the surface and fired into the lifeboat and my GF was never seen again."

That's what I was saying the other day to eCat about being able to overcome one's misgivings about dropping a bomb on Japan...

I love that scene in Legends of the Fall when Brad Pitt goes crazy and start scalping those Germans