Meet the Fuckers, Get Thrown Off Flight

A woman flying from Portland was kicked off a Southwest airlines flight because her anti-Bush [expletive included] t-shirt was considered offensive.

"CNN reports that the shirt depicted images of President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with an expletive-ridden variation of the movie title Meet the Fockers.

In other words (in case you can't decipher CNN's demure code), "Meet the Fuckers."

Sure, it's vulgar (and not as funny as a lot of other anti-Bush t-shirts I've seen), but if other passengers didn't like it they could have stopped staring at the woman's chest.

Southwest claimed it was a "safety" issue, presumably because some passengers were upset. The airline should have kicked those pasengers off the flight for causing such an uproar, instead of the woman wearing the t-shirt.

Well, hey, fuck the first amendment! Let's issue chadors to everyone (male and female) at the boarding gate so no one's sensibilities will be offended by t-shirt sloganeering.

Full story below. And some t-shirts.

Keep your political opinions off your clothing if you plan to fly Southwest Airlines. A woman flying to Portland, Ore., from Los Angeles with a layover at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport was kicked off a Southwest flight after fellow passengers complained about the T-shirt she was wearing. CNN reports that the shirt depicted images of President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with an expletive-ridden variation of the movie title "Meet the Fockers."

Lorrie Heasley, 32, of Woodland, Wash., plans to press a civil rights complaint against Southwest, reports The Associated Press. "I have cousins in Iraq and other relatives going to war," Heasley told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "Here we are trying to free another country, and I have to get off an airplane...over a T-shirt. That's not freedom."

Southwest took the unusual action after several passengers complained about the shirt. After the plane landed in Reno, which was a layover for Heasley and her husband, Ron, who were on their way to Portland from Los Angeles, the couple moved to the front of the cabin. Passengers complained about the shirt. Heasley agreed to cover it with a sweatshirt, but while she tried to sleep, the sweatshirt slipped off, exposing the T-shirt. She was then ordered to wear the T-shirt inside-out or leave. Heasley and her husband left and drove a rental car to Los Angeles.

Southwest rules allow the airline to deny boarding to any passenger whose clothing is "lewd, obscene or patently offensive," notes AP. There are no federal rules about such matters. Heasley claims no one said anything about the shirt while she waited at the gate in Los Angeles or while she boarded the aircraft. It wasn't until she got to Reno that the shirt became an issue.

The American Civil Liberties Union told AP that it "might be problematic" that the airline "changed rules in the middle of a flight." Heasley is requesting that Southwest reimburse her and her husband for the second half of the trip and pay the rental car fees, gasoline costs and hotel bills for the road trip to Portland.

Proclaim your political views with the fine assortment of shirts from The Wonkery. (No guarantees that you'll get kicked off a Southwest flight. Your mileage may vary. )