Southwest investigated for "unauthorized parts"

If I was a frequent flier on Southwest, I'd probably want to hear a lot more about this. Cost cutting is generally fine but when the FAA is investigating like this, it doesn't sound good. Too many things can go wrong with airplanes and anything that might be related to safety - near term or long term - is not what anyone wants to hear.

U.S. Federal air-safety regulators are investigating how unauthorized parts were installed on at least 42 Southwest Airlines jets, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the details.

The regulators are examining why the carrier's maintenance-control procedures failed to flag the problem, the people told the paper.

An FAA inspector discovered last Friday that certain hinge fittings weren't approved for use on Southwest's fleet of Boeing 737 jets, the paper quoted people familiar with the matter as saying.

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Rush Limbaugh proves again that he has no class

Rush Limbaugh didn't miss an opportunity to take a cheap -- and misguided -- shot at Senator Kennedy and health care today:

Ted Kennedy died at home surrounded by his family. The well-deserved dignity with which he died should be a model for all of us -- and it's a model the Senator would probably wish for all of us. And, that wish would be well-served if more Americans could have discussions on this subject. That's not about "death books" or "death panels" as Rush and Sarah Palin would like Americans to believe. It's about honesty and dignity. Read More......

Sen. Mike Enzi is just getting Baucus and other Dems. to compromise with themselves.

I swear, when Republicans are together behind closed doors, they must laugh their asses off at how easy it is to roll the Democrats, especially in the Senate. There are only 40 Republican Senators now, down from 55 just three years ago. But, they still run the show.

A couple weeks ago, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), one of that painful "gang of six" (which is really being led by Chuck Grassley, not Max Baucus) already said he'd only accept a deal on health insurance reform if Reid, Pelosi and Obama agreed to his terms. But, it's worse, actually. He doesn't even want a deal. He's just playing everyone.

Via Ryan Grim at Huffington Post:

Mike Enzi, one of three Republicans ostensibly negotiating health care reform as part of the Senate's "Gang of Six," told a Wyoming town hall crowd that he had no plans to compromise with Democrats and was merely trying to extract concessions.

"It's not where I get them to compromise, it's what I get them to leave out," Enzi said Monday, according to the Billings Gazette.

Enzi found himself under attack at the town hall simply for sitting in the same room as the three Finance Committee Democrats. Republicans in the crowd called for him to exit the talks. He assured conservatives that his presence was delaying health care reform.

"If I hadn't been involved in this process as long as I have and to the depth as I have, you would already have national health care," he said.

"Someone has to be at the table asking questions," Enzi said. "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu."

I'd say Enzi isn't negotiating in good faith and playing Baucus and Obama for fools. And, he's being upfront about it. I guess that means Enzi is being "bipartisan."

This news from Enzi, which is no surprise, makes Hunter's post, No More Faith: The Senate Topples Into Incompetence, even more compelling. Here's an excerpt, but the whole post is well worth a read:

It is not even about the so-called "public option", at this point. It is not, narrowly, even about the so-called "private mandate" itself. It is about how the Senate can take absolutely any national crisis and turn it into a corporate giveaway. None of these people deserve to be trusted any farther than they can jump to snatch a dollar from your hand; the whole institution seems bent on proving itself irrelevant at best, and devoutly crooked at worst.

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New home sales up, again

The dollar amount dropped slightly but hey, four months of increases sounds decent. One economist is predicting a "tsunami of home foreclosures" in the near future but for today, let's be happy with stringing together a few months of positive numbers.

Sales of new homes surged 9.6 percent in July, another sign the housing market is climbing back from the historic bottom it reached early this year. Driven by falling prices, the fourth-straight monthly increase was greater than expected.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000 from an upwardly revised June rate of 395,000. Sales are now up more than 30 percent from the bottom in January, but are still off nearly 70 percent from the frenzied peak four years ago.

The median sales price of $210,100, however, was down slightly from $210,400 in June and was off 11.5 percent from year-ago levels. Prices are still up from March's low of $205,100.

Last month's sales pace was the strongest since September and exceeded the forecasts of economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who expected a pace of 390,000 units.

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Microsoft erases the black guy

Notice any difference in these two pics from Microsoft's USA and Poland Web sites?

USA:



Poland:

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Cynthia Tucker's health care gets rationed

And they say America doesn't have rationing. Really?:

I called Dr. Amy’s office and was given an immediate appointment. But I was also told she is “out-of-network” for Aetna.

Called Aetna. They explained I would pay several hundred dollars a year extra for the privilege of taking my baby girl to Dr. Amy.

So, I called another pediatrician who is “in-network.” She said she could see my baby at the end of October.

I have a choice to make: Pay through the nose for a highly recommended doctor who can see my baby immediately. Or, go to the doctor my insurance will pay for, which would mean my child would run months behind on her vaccination schedule.

The Republicans are telling us stories of supposed Canadians who are told to wait, so instead they come to the states and pay for more expensive care now (even though we doubt this is very true). But the same story already happens now in the states - people with damn good jobs, and damn good health care, being to pay more or wait. Read More......

Kennedy updates

AP has a chronology of Kennedy's life.

Kennedy to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

More on succession.

Cillizza on what Kennedy meant.

The NYT has a nice roundup of various statements about Kennedy today.

EJ Dionne on Kennedy.

Ezra Klein on Kennedy and health care.

More on the funeral arrangements. Read More......

Townsend Admits CIA Documents Don’t Back Up Cheney’s Claims About Torture

Greg Sargent first reported the story. ThinkProgress and Spencer Ackerman have it, too. Read More......

Broke because she got cancer

And she had insurance. From CNN:

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Nice TIME magazine photo essay on Kennedy

Some really interesting photos I'd never seen. (And a typo, it's not Schumer, it's Hatch.) Read More......

Kennedy's succession

A necessary topic. Five months before a special election. And get ready for another Norm Coleman debacle - the Republicans simply won't let us seat a replacement, you can count on it. Read More......

The cause endures

Via FDL:
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Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The death of liberal icon Ted Kennedy is the news today. The cable stations are providing wall-to-wall coverage. There's so much material, so many stories, so many clips...such a legacy.

The President is making a statement at 8:30 a.m.

From Senator Kennedy's website:


Let's get started... Read More......

Obama on Kennedy's death

Statement from President Obama:

Michelle and I were heartbroken to learn this morning of the death of our dear friend, Senator Ted Kennedy.

For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts.

I valued his wise counsel in the Senate, where, regardless of the swirl of events, he always had time for a new colleague. I cherished his confidence and momentous support in my race for the Presidency. And even as he waged a valiant struggle with a mortal illness, I've profited as President from his encouragement and wisdom.

An important chapter in our history has come to an end. Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States Senator of our time.

And the Kennedy family has lost their patriarch, a tower of strength and support through good times and bad.

Our hearts and prayers go out to them today--to his wonderful wife, Vicki, his children Ted Jr., Patrick and Kara, his grandchildren and his extended family. Read More......

Middle East breakthrough coming?

Very big news and a major accomplishment for Obama if this succeeds. Israeli settlements have long been a sticking point and perhaps the issue may finally be resolved. The Guardian:

Barack Obama is close to brokering an Israeli-Palestinian deal that will allow him to announce a resumption of the long-stalled Middle East peace talks before the end of next month, according to US, Israeli, Palestinian and European officials.

Key to bringing Israel on board is a promise by the US to adopt a much tougher line with Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons programme. The US, along with Britain and France, is planning to push the United Nations security council to expand sanctions to include Iran's oil and gas industry, a move that could cripple its economy.

In return, the Israeli government will be expected to agree to a partial freeze on the construction of settlements in the Middle East. In the words of one official close to the negotiations: "The message is: Iran is an existential threat to Israel; settlements are not."

Details of the breakthrough deal will be hammered out tomorrow in London, where the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, is due to hold talks with the US special envoy, George Mitchell. Netanyahu met Gordon Brown today in Downing Street, where the two discussed both settlements and the Iranian nuclear programme.

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Royal Bank of Scotland chops retirement plans for workers

If only the rich could become richer. The recent explosion in bankers pay has obviously not been enough to RBS is set to create a Third World-like system of haves and have nots. During a recession it's much easier to get away with this because people are happy to have employment but creating such vast differences where the traders continue to make superstar cash (regardless of overall performance) and the rest of the team sees cuts is not sensible.

RBS's announcement that it is capping its final salary pension scheme sparked a furious response from the trade union Unite, which said the move added "insult to injury" in the wake of the bumper pension package paid out to Sir Fred Goodwin, the bank's disgraced former chief executive.

The plan involves capping future increases in pensionable salary at 2 per cent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Employees also have the option to switch to a defined contribution scheme, which will see RBS pay 15 per cent of annual salary.

The move is expected to save £1m in annual costs and cut future liabilities by £500m. The deficit of the scheme currently stands at £800m. Neil Roden, the head of human resources at RBS, said: "The rising cost of pension provision is an issue for RBS and for all companies at this time."

A third of the group's employees – about 60,000 – will be affected by the change to the scheme, which was closed to new members in 2006. The group is consulting staff over the proposals and hopes to switch staff over before the end of November.

Wow, a whole £1 million per year. For the rest of us yes, it's a lot but this is a few years of retirement payouts to shamed CEO Fred "the Shred" Goodwin. It's also less than they are paying quite a few traders, as in the same traders who trashed the bank. Read More......

Senator Ted Kennedy has died

We'll have more on this later today, but the Kennedy family has just announced the death of Senator Ted Kennedy late yesterday from brain cancer. He was 77.

It's hard to overstate the impact the man has had on American politics for the past 50 years.

Here's the statement from the family:

“Edward M. Kennedy – the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply – died late Tuesday night at home in HyannisPort. We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever.

We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all. He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it. He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it’s hard to imagine any of them without him.”

UPDATE: A year ago that Senator Kennedy made an unexpected appearance at the Democratic National Convention in Denver: Read More......

Home prices increase for second straight month

That is definitely good news. String together a few more and we will be in decent shape.

Prices of U.S. single-family homes rose for the second consecutive month in June, adding to evidence that the three-year housing slump is easing, Standard & Poor's reported on Tuesday.

The S&P;/Case-Shiller composite indexes of 10 and 20 metropolitan areas both rose 1.4 percent in June from May, almost three times the 0.5 percent increases of the month before. May's increases were the first in nearly three years.

The 10- and 20-city indexes have dropped 54.3 percent and 45.3 percent from their 2006 peaks, respectively.

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