Dubya asked about Age 60 Legislation

[jke406]

Is this for real? What was the source?

who cares?

 

[gearjockey]

From the Arkansas Democrat:

Love the sweetheart quoted toward the bottom with the Delta husband.

Continental Airlines pilot Robert Barnett of Siloam Springs will be in the cockpit when six relatives fly to Rome on Nov. 8 to celebrate his 20-year career.
It’s sort of a last hurrah for Barnett, who will guide his last commercial flight before turning 60 on Nov. 14. Even though he’s healthy and he wants to keep working at Continental, the “Age 60 Rule” kicks in, forcing mandatory retirement for pilots.
“Congress just tosses them into the wind because they can,” said Jonathan Barnett of Siloam Springs, Robert Barnett’s brother. “It’s not right what they are doing.”
Legislation under consideration would change the retirement age to 65, and the Barnetts have tried to convince legislators like U. S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Ark., that the higher retirement age is better. Boozman agrees.
“We hate to see American pilots have to go halfway across the world to find work, and there are only so many people capable of flying these things,” said Ryan James, a Boozman spokesman. “There’s no reason to chop it off at 60.”
Many American pilots retire and then go to work in other countries where the retirement age is 65.
With all that circling in Jonathan Barnett’s head, The Guru can’t blame the chairman of the Arkansas Highway Commission for not asking about roads when President Bush visited Rogers on Oct. 15.
Barnett asked about House Bill 1125 and Senate Bill 65, both having to do with the pilot retirement age.
“I don’t want to interrupt you,” Bush said, “but I have no earthly idea what those numbers mean.”
“It has to do with pilots losing their jobs at turning age 60,” Barnett told Bush.
“The what ?” Bush asked.
Barnett then told the president about his brother. Bush mumbo-jumboed his way toward a non-answer answer, then moved along to the next question at the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Rogers.
But The Guru grants the president a pardon for not knowing about the legislation, given the other things that might have been on his mind — the economy, the war in Iraq, the fine lunch he ate at Bentonville’s Whole Hog Cafe.
Pilots believe this is important legislation even if there’s a wide belief in Washington that the retirement age legislation isn’t going to get far in Congress unless it’s attached to some bill that’s viewed as more important.
Pilot Leah Morgenthau, a 33-year-old Fayetteville native who flies for Express Jet, is the perfect person to ask about this retirement stuff even if she’s a tad young. Her husband is a Delta Air Lines pilot. Her sister flies for Chautauqua Airlines, a regional carrier. Her brother-in-law takes United Parcel Service planes into the air. They are all in their 30 s.
“Pretty much all of us think age 65 should be implemented,” said Morgenthau, who lives in Louisville, Ky.
But many young pilots can’t wait for the oldest pilots at the legacy carriers like Delta and Continental to retire so they can move up in seniority or move from a regional carrier to work for the big boys.
“It’s completely selfish,” Morgenthau said. “I haven’t met one person who thinks a person between age 60 and 65 is incapable of flying.” Robert J. Smith’s column about people on the move in Northwest Arkansas appears each Monday. He can be reached at rsmith@arkansasonline. com.

 

[capt. megadeth]

The only reason these people want 65 to go through is because some lost pensions and/or have 5 ex wives and too many toys. GMAFB! If you had a few million to retire on, you wouldn't want to keep working. THOSE are the people who are selfish! This age 65 thing will benefit the 55+ crowd and screw the rest of us.

That chick needs her a$$ kicked!

 

[tubelcane]

I smell a CATFIGHT!!!!!!!

 

[1800 RVR]

I smell a CATFIGHT!!!!!!!

Da, Da, da, da, CATFIGHT! (in my best Kramer voice)