Take away the hijab and the beard and the "not-American-ness" and there's very likely no incident here.
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That's kinda going out on a limb, don't you think?

Amy-Not to make lite of this, but these things happen when we get all afraid of people like our guvment likes to have us. Does not help that you have hate radio and other talking heads and yakkers demonizing and making the easily cowed even more so.

That's kinda going out on a limb, don't you think?
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Not at all. You REALLY think if a white person made those comments it would have been an issue at all? If people were booted from planes every time they discussed that, EVERY SINGLE FLIGHT would have someone kicked off. It's absolutely ridiculous. Even more ridiculous that AirTrain didn't compensate these people in any way, except for a refund. No help getting a different flight or anything. That's a nice juicy lawsuit right there.

Oh, the problem is that they're not white, wealthy and politically influential, otherwise people like Klein would be writing heartfelt appeals to spare them from such ignominy.
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Saw the commercial for the Homeland show. Heartfelt, celebratory rah-rah music in the background while the voice over talked about the men and women of Homeland Security protecting America and freedom and our loved ones and blah, blah, blah. I puked right there and then. Americans are so delusional.

Holy Crapola! CNN is reporting that Larry Kudlow said something in the WSJ! This changes everything!

I hope it features one Homeland Security Agent who "goes by the book" and has only one more year to retire and one who "lives on the edge" and is trying to get back together with his ex who left him because he was too dark. That's what I hope.

Sounds like ABC is a bunch of traitors who want to jeopardize our Vaterland, er, I mean, Homeland Security by revealing the methods by which we fight terrorism. Since so many innocent people are on the Do Not Fly list, will there be recurring characters? There could be a running gag about a goofy, sheepish traveling salesman named Ahmed who has smelly feet.

Pourme: I like the way you think. Let's write a treatment together. Have your people call my people.

The Irfans and Mr. Aziz are to be commended for the dignity and equanimity with which they handled the situation. Same for the FBI.
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I hope they sue Air Trans' collective ass into the poor house.

@hickoryduck: Ummm...I believe that Cliff was being sarcastic...or ironic...or sarcastically ironic. At any rate, Amy qualified her outrage with a good ol' "very likely", in the event that a caucasian *ever* gets tossed off of a flight for speculating about which seat in an airplane is the safest.
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@pourme & h*l*angel: Go for it! You both are on a roll! Us Swampfolks would be happy to provide uncredited fodder for the series.
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Coffee: I especially like the "lives on the edge" angle. I got to witness a TSA agent toss out an old lady's 12-oz Pepsi just before Christmas. Dang. At that moment, I felt soooo much safer knowing that she would not be burping next to me....Just think if the "on the edge" agent would *gasp* allow her to keep the bottle! Ciaos!
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@Amy: In all seriousness: is this the sort of story you will simple comment on? Or, is this an issue (having a religious angle) that you will pursue to a greater extent?

simple==simply

@kbangin - Will do!

Can I assume the ABC show is part of the Pentagon's domestic propaganda effort?

Kbang: @pourme & h*l*angel: Go for it! You both are on a roll! Ditto.
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Another possibility, "Homeland Security - Bush" is ripe of for a Police Academy type treatment. Recurring character could be "Robert Johnson", the name recurring anyway, with a different one every week. And of course HLA's "Ahmed who has smelly feet."
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More seriously, seems to me I heard the Obama team wants to change the DHS name to something less Nazi Germany-ish.
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Finally, Amy, thank you for this post. I would ditto kbang a second time (that sounds pretty bad, doesn't it) - this is a story worth pursuing.

Ummm...I believe that Cliff was being sarcastic...or ironic...or sarcastically ironic.
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Let's say sarcastic, because I have no idea what irony means any more.
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Yes, the only way this incident and Sullivan's "very likely" comment would NOT be completely ridiculous is if the guys had said "What's the safest place to sit on the plane WHEN WE EXPLODE IT TO DEATH" while cackling and rubbing their hands together.

Also, it's a known fact that terrorists discuss what they're going to do while sitting in the plane before it takes off.

from the source article

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Ellen Howe, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, said the pilot acted appropriately.
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"For us, it just highlights that security is everybody's responsibility," Howe said. "Someone heard something that was inappropriate, and then the airline decided to act on it. We certainly support [the pilot's] his call to do that."

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Just like any other Bushie this woman still doesn't see that anything innappropriate was done. I am wondering if this could be considered a hate crime since the primary reason these people were harrased was because of their faith. Maybe somebody can check in to that. Some how I would bet that if it does classify you will have a lot fewer people over reacting like this.

@hickoryduck: Ummm...I believe that Cliff was being sarcastic...or ironic...or sarcastically ironic.
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Well you just never know these days. Hmph.

To Amy - good! I look forward to reading it, and thanks for responding.
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To Cliff, who has "no idea what irony means any more."
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Roxanne Kowalski: I was being ironic.
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C.D. Bales: Oh, ho, ho, irony! Oh, no, no, we don't get that here. See, uh, people ski topless here while smoking dope, so irony's not really a, a high priority. We haven't had any irony here since about, uh, '83, when I was the only practitioner of it. And I stopped because I was tired of being stared at.
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To ArtPep, that would indeed be a well known fact, at the Weekly Standard and the Heritage Foundation.
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Speaking of The Heritage Foundation, Steve Benen has a wonderful post up comparing RW and LW internet use:
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I think this can be applied even more broadly to the rest of the infrastructure discussion. The problem isn't the disappearance of conservative parallel institutions, it's that the institutions themselves simply aren't doing impressive work. The left has the Center for American Progress; the right has the Heritage Foundation. One has been doing important research and shaping the policy discourse; the other is called the Heritage Foundation. The left has Media Matters; the right has the Media Research Center. One has had an important impact; the other is run by Brent Bozell.

So irony is the opposite of smoking dope while skiing topless. Got it.

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AS: "Homeland Security" premieres on ABC next week.
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Wake me when season three of Dexter comes out on DVD. Homeland Security is just begging for a Reno 911-style sendup.

I guess some of us are still skittish about Muslims and planes. It does seem a pretty weak reason to boot everyone off and make them miss their flight. I know we Americans were called on to be the eyes and ears to help in the ... I don't know after 9/11, but this is so over-the-top. What would've been a balanced way to handle this incident?

Amy Sullivan:
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Thanks for highlighting what we all know: that the TSA's policies, administration, culture and communications are at best farcical and at worst a bungled Soviet apparatus.
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A question, though: Why was the department not named "Domestic Security" or "Interior Security"?
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Seriously, who came up with "Homeland Security"? Did they know how redolent this phrase is with "The Fatherland"-type implication? What individual coined this term? Any ideas, Amy Sullivan?

I wear niqab and abaya, and I've flown out of DCA on several occasions, and I have to admit that for the most part I've never had any problems. The TSA screeners have been professional (although there's one supervisor who seems to have confidence issues with the screeners and never believes they've checked me properly).

On the plane, I've been eye-tracked down the aisle by the odd strange guy who can't seem to make up his mind just what he's seeing, but they're not FAMS guys.

Other than that, it never really seems a problem. I've had conversations with the people sitting next to me about the most mundane things, religion never even comes up and if people have fears, they keep them to themselves.

The paranoia is really daft. If terrorists are going to make a move on planes again, they're not going to look like terrorists, or even middle-eastern - we can only hope they're ones so incredibly stupid they talk about it as they get on the plane.

(And for the record, no - no-one has told me I "have" to wear niqab, no - no-one "forced" me to wear niqab, and no - I don't think "everyone" should. Oppressed I might go with, though - the lack of legroom on planes should be declared a crime against humanity!)

That last was sarcasm, for the sarcasm-impaired