Where's the Outrage?

More from the late, great Freddie Hubbard.

Tags: Music by ecthompson md
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The Rachel Maddow Show names the nominees for the Most Memorable Previously Unknown Performer in a Supporting Role:

• Gayle Quinnell – “He’s an Arab!”
• Harriet Christian – “The Democrats are throwing the election away!”
• Ashley Todd – The infamous backwards B (very sad story… )
• Samuel Wurzelbacker (a.k.a. “Joe the Plumber”)
• Muntadhar Al-Zeidi – Shoe Thrower Extraordinaire

So, who’s your choice?

Tags: Media by ecthompson md
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I was going to title this post “Snakes on a Plane,” but no one saw that movie so I decided against that.

You know this story. Two families are getting on a plane and discussing where the safest place to sit might be. They are overheard and reported to authorities. They are Muslim. They are summarily taken off the plane and interviewed by the FBI The FBI deems them safe, but AirTran will not let them back on the airplane. As a matter of fact, AirTran refuses to let them take any plane, anywhere.

So, we have the rights of an airline pitted against the rights of these American citizens.

From CNN: AirTran Airways apologized Friday to members of a Muslim family for kicking them off a plane and refusing to rebook them despite requests from FBI agents who had cleared them of wrongdoing.

The families of Atif Irfan, a tax attorney, and his brother Kashif Irfan, an anesthesiologist, were removed from a flight in Washington before takeoff Thursday after a passenger reported hearing Atif Irfan’s wife say something suspicious.

The FBI interviewed the family and cleared them of wrongdoing.

“We regret that the issue escalated to the heightened security level it did,” AirTran said in a statement Friday afternoon. “But we trust everyone understands that the security and the safety of our passengers is paramount.” Read the full statement (more from CNN).

Tags: Civil Rights by ecthompson md
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From TP:

President Bush issued a statement yesterday in which he heralded New Year’s day as “an opportunity to remember the events of the past and look forward with hope to the year ahead.” But as Bush looks forward to leaving office, the nation is stuck with the results of many of the Bush administration’s failed policies.

To mark the passing of Bush’s last full year in office, ThinkProgress rounded up statistics on some of the most significant effects of Bush rule in 2008:

– Number Of U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq: 322.
– Number Of U.S. Troops Killed in Afghanistan: 151.
– Number Of Jobs Lost: 1.9 million.
– Number Of Banks Federal Government Now Owns Stock In: 206.
– Number Of Uninsured Americans: 47.5 million.

– Change In Housing Prices: declined 18 percent.
– Change In Health Insurance Premiums: increased 5 percent.
– Change In Number Of Delinquent Mortgages: increased 75 percent.
– Change In Use Of Food Stamps: increased 17 percent.
– Change In Dow Jones Industrial Average: declined 35 percent.
– Change In Bush Approval Rating: declined 9 percent to 29 percent.

Paul Krugman noted recently that the Bush administration’s failings have often been obscured in the short-run because the White House was particularly effective at inventing an alternate reality that it then “impressed on the public.” In 2008, however, despite its repeated attempts to wish it away, the reality of its domestic policy failures caught up with Bush administration and the nation.

Tags: Bush Administration by ecthompson md
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