Think Progress

San Diego woman fired

By Judd Legum on Mar 9th, 2006 at 4:59 pm

San Diego woman fired

for having an Air America bumpersticker. The North County Times reports “after seeing the sticker, the employer commented that the woman could be a member of al-Qaida.”



70 Responses to “San Diego woman fired”

  1. Spudge_Boy says:

    Thought police are coming for you.


  2. dattexas says:

    She should be glad she doesn’t have to work for an asshole, idiot employer anyway!


  3. Shawn says:

    Unbelievable! (Please correct the spelling of San Diego, thank you.)


  4. cats are flyfishn says:

    Ok… guess the employer is a member of the Facist party and he should be tried and shot for treason to the Constitution of the United States. Facist don’t believe in Democracy.


  5. SuperEdo says:

    I would LOVE to be fired for this. Imagine the payout from the lawsuit.


  6. Clif says:

    Compassionate conservatives, believe in the constitution, and do not disgrace the memory of those who gave their lives in defense of freedom……too bad they are really neither but more like the fascists who attack if you do not goose step in line into the church.


  7. kindness says:

    No shit. She should walk away making bank.

    Let’s hope the companies Insurance Carrier doesn’t have to pay this claim. That way the firm would have to bankroll the whole thing. Maybe the manager can find a job while waiting in the unemployment line.


  8. Heynow says:

    What a gift from heaven. How stupid!!! Can’t wait to see that idiot who fired her explain thier reasoning. Should be extremely interessting.


  9. Bill O'luffah says:

    There will be no pay out. I don’t believe it’s illegal to be fired for political affiliation.


  10. Subway Serenade says:

    NOT FAIR!

    Not all enemies of BushCo are part of Al Qaida. Those enemies of my enemy are not my friends.

    Goper’s Lament


  11. Hardy Haberman says:

    And so too did many Jews loose their jobs in Germany. Not for bumper stickers, but little yellow stars.

    America is begining to look more andmore like a true facist state.


  12. Wayne says:

    #9
    In california it is against state law.

    You did read the article, did you not?


  13. Bill O'luffah says:

    Apparently, people are always SHOCKED when their lawyer tells them that there is no recourse for being fired for their political views.


  14. DeLabarre says:

    #9 — Doesn’t that mean it’s okay to fire people for being ignorant ultraconservative dittoheads, too?


  15. Optimist says:

    Welcome to nazi germany. For those of you who have not studied the history, do you want to know what happens next?


  16. Liberals are Lying Bigots says:

    Justice is served. Ship her off to the kiln next.


  17. Marie says:

    There is an increasing number of rightwing paranoid nuts who see terrorists everywhere. The absolute idiocy of firing someone for political views – actually, only a liberal radio station ad – in a democracy is indicative of the intellect of the employer.
    We should be aware, though, that the overreaching authority of this administration does cause fear and paranoia within the populace who will take outrageous action.
    There is an Air America bumper sticker on my husband’s car.
    My bumper stickers are a little more political.


  18. SuperEdo says:

    Some seem to have not noticed #9’s name.


  19. RunningDogLackey says:

    What do you want. These days, anything with the name “America” in it is suspect, worldwide.


  20. Spudge_Boy says:

    Bill O’luffah,

    Did you bother reading the article or do you like spouting nosense without justification.

    The California labor code prohibits employers from controlling or directing the political activities of employees.

    Your employer can fire you if you are making political statements at work, or in e-mail, etc.

    But t5hey cannot fire you for a bumper sticker any more than they can fire you for a Harvest Crusade bumper sticker. It is dicrimnation. Plain and simple.


  21. the fly-man says:

    Want to eliminate the threat of radical eldery units, you know the type that scream welfare abuse when they hear the word entilement but don’t you dare touch their social security, Constitutional amendment: Change National Election day to the first SATURDAY in Nov. Retired people, armed with the internet have all the time in the world to organize and actually vote. San Diego is what it is, just like any other future burial ground for retirees, a hub of voter enrichment. Vote on Saturdays and more people will vote, either way it’s healthy.


  22. Lydia says:

    All I can say is Sue, Sue Sue!


  23. EconAtheist says:

    Show us your papers, citizen.


  24. Liberals are Lying Bigots says:

    Amazes me how liberals compare everything to Nazi Germany. To stay consistent with your sophomoric paranoia, should we ship you off the camps? OR do you want to admit now that you are just paranoid morons?


  25. Marie says:

    Unfortunately, there ARE many comparisons to be made between Nazi Germany under Hitler and the USA under Bush&Co


  26. RunningDogLackey says:

    #24 Seriously, read #25.

    If you can’t see the parallels, there’s no helping you.


  27. JIMBO says:

    I hope the good lady gets hired at Air America and sues her ex-employer for everything.


  28. Liberals are Lying Bigots says:

    #25 – actually, there are more comparisons between Nazis and people like yourself than there are to Bush.

    I am sure you support partial birth abortion. Hitler would be proud.


  29. Optimist says:

    #28,
    As I can see that you have no knowledge of history, might I suggest that before you speak any further about the nazi comparisons that you first get educated on what the nazi’s ideals were and how they manipulated the german citizenry into supporting their evil deeds. You’ll feel much better about being knowledgable about the debate and it will help to eliminate further assinine comments like those that you are making now.

    Also, don’t worry, most people stop wetting their beds before they turn 10 but some do not. So, you are not alone in your affliction but you can receive professional help. Good luck to you.


  30. ChuckLA says:

    She should be fired. Free speach is the fertile ground of terrorism.


  31. wisedup says:

    oooo the trolls are so ready to have our free speech,and expression yanked. Sue the company big time, and MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF THEM!


  32. daDonk says:

    #28 Hitler used religion as much as anything else to
    control the German people. He would have claimed abhorance to abortion – all while gleefully gassing tens of thousands of children. The comparison between the Hitler regime and the Bush regime is one of degrees. If you loved your country more than your fVcked up party you would understand.
    Quit following the fascist.


  33. RunningDogLackey says:

    #29 Wow. Urging people to become more familiar with the historical truth of the Nazis’ rise to power is a poor tactic, if you’re trying to dissuade them from making parallels with today’s US.

    You might want to rethink that, unless you have access to some altogether “new” history of the Nazis.


  34. WaltTheMan says:

    Bush believes that the soul leaves the body after birth. He garnered that from personal experience. This is the reason that he believes life in the womb is more precious than that out of the womb.


  35. Zookeeper says:

    #28 – Seriously concerned about the education system in the US. Can you give us some of those comparisons of Hitler and liberals, please?


  36. kindness says:

    Hitler rallied the German people about an incursion into their territory so as to be able to attack Poland, thus beginning WWII (Poland had never attacked. It was a conciously used lie by Hitler)
    Bush lied about nuclear weapons, bio/chemical weapons, Saddam/Al Quaeda links in order to rally the people to attack Iraq (it was all a conciously used lie)

    Hitler cobbled together business leaders to pave the way for a corporate/state fusion – fascism (although Mussolini started it).
    Bush secretly & openly brought together corporations with the government to create larger profits for the oligarch class (darth cheney’s energy company meetings).

    Hitler overthrough the republic of Germany stating that only he could be trusted to defend Germans. Those that didn’t agree were branded traitors, some of whom did in the Concentration camps.
    Bush ignored the Bill of Rights and laws protecting the citizens of the US from tyranny and dictatorship claiming to be protecting the citizens from some traitors.

    Hitler jailed opponents without charges, trials, judges or lawyers for the defense. He admited evidence that defendants weren’t allowed to see or know about.
    Bush jailed an American citizen for 4 years without charges, trial, judges or lawyers for his defense.

    Hitler thougth torture was a good means to get information.
    Bush thinks that torture is a good means to get information.

    Bush’s grandfather sold the Nazi regime lots of industrial equipment both before and after it was illegal to trade with Nazi Germany. Hitler didn’t, Guess bush is one up on Hitler.

    Who is the biggest fascist?

    We got other examples. You wanna hear them all?


  37. Zookeeper says:

    Excellent, kindness! #28 will certainly thank you and bow to your superior knowledge. And if you believe that, I’ll send you my personal check in the amount of one million dollars!


  38. RunningDogLackey says:

    #36 kindness:

    Thank you.

    And don’t forget the Patriot Act and the establishment of a Federal Police Force.

    Oh, and the substitution of mysticism for science. That’s one George REALLY owes Hitler.


  39. wisedup says:

    these trolls are upset because thoes 8 years in the 3rd grade were so hard. History didn’t start until the 4th grade in their schools.


  40. Clif says:

    Wisedup that wuz 8 yeers of home scoolung if yuud pleeze


  41. wisedup says:

    Clif and Kindness…may a brinks truck drop large bag at your houses….yeah.


  42. Ho Chi Minh says:

    For the eunich trolls who decry the Bush/Hitler comparisons, refer to ‘The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich’ by William L. Shirer. What happened in Germany in the 1930s and what is going on today in the US is not only parallel, but disturbing. And remember Eisenhower’s warning of the ‘military-industrial’ complex, and be afraid, be very afraid. An American Aushwitz may not be far behind.


  43. Jesus Christ God of WAR says:

    ReichWingNuts must be in heaven. Isn’t this EXACTLY the kind of state and national behaviour they’ve been pushing for since Newt G. brought them back to power in 1994.

    For the 70% of the rest of us, this sux.


  44. Spudge_Boy says:

    Liberals are Lying Bigots says:

    Amazes me how liberals compare everything to Nazi Germany. To stay consistent with your sophomoric paranoia, should we ship you off the camps?

    Anybody catch this one in post #16

    Justice is served. Ship her off to the kiln next.

    Uh yeah, we are the ones with the problem.

    On the Nazi issue. Let us always remember one of the people who help bring Hitler to power.

    Prescott Bush. George W. Bush Gandpa.

    null

    Sen. Prescott Bush, R-Conn, attemps to ‘disassociate himself’ from Missouri Sen. Stuart Symington during a hearing on Capital Hill in this Aug. 17, 1962 file photo. Government documents show that Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush, was one of seven directors of Union Banking Corp., seized by the federal government because of its ties to a German industrialist who helped bankroll Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, government documents show. (AP Photo, File)


  45. Marie says:

    Wow, #24 #28 LLB,
    I bet you never suspected the number of comparisons that would be noted here within just a few minutes — and there you are, trotting like a one-trick pony, with your irrelevant accusations about something else you obviously know nothing about. People who post here really do know a little history, something that is hard to find at conservative sites where the propaganda points are issued every morning.
    I keep a (college) text history book right next to my dictionary; it’s amazing how much knowledge one can pick up even by accident. Try it. You might like it.


  46. Jesus Christ God of WAR says:

    Until my last posting marked “spam” gets unlocked, WingNuts should take a look at this:

    After the seizures in late 1942 of five U.S. enterprises he managed on behalf of Nazi industrialist Fritz Thyssen, Prescott Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush, failed to divest himself of more than a dozen “enemy national” relationships that continued until as late as 1951…

    Furthermore, the records show that Bush and his colleagues routinely attempted to conceal their activities from government investigators.

    Bush’s partners in the secret web of Thyssen-controlled ventures included former New York Governor W. Averell Harriman and his younger brother, E. Roland Harriman. Their quarter-century of Nazi financial transactions, from 1924-1951, were conducted by the New York private banking firm, Brown Brothers Harriman…

    [from: http://www.unknownnews.net/bush1941.html ]


  47. Jesus Christ God of WAR says:

    More reading assignments (and probably the very best on the topic of Bush family ties to Hilter to be found) here.


  48. Sister Boogie Woman says:

    #36, and Hitler went after the gays and demonized them. Sound familiar? Bush = Hitler = end of the United States if we don’t wake up out of the coma.


  49. wisedup says:

    #44 SpudgeBoy, you sure know how to shut a trolls mouth. Great post!…


  50. Alvis says:

    Putting politics aside, I don’t know what to make of the woman’s story about why she was fired. As often as not, it seems that victims in such cases turn out to have a history of events like slipping in store aisles and filing lawsuits against one company or another. I hope this story is legit.


  51. ElectricBassPlayer says:

    I live in Duncan Hunter’s district in south San Diego county and have had both a “BUSH LIAR” and Air America bumper sticker on my truck for about 2 years now. It’s a pretty conservative district (obviously) but I have to admit there have been no problems at all, except for the occasional glare. . .


  52. Clif says:

    ElectricBassPlayer is that a glare or merely envy that the people who you obviously do not support are a bunch of Mafia wanna-be’s who are fleecing the country for everything they can steal by corrupt means, but the envious still suffer from the after effects of drinking the Kool-aid


  53. Chris Moore says:

    This from the Advantage Sales and Marketing Web Site, where it’s one of the five main links to the home page, under

    LIVING OUR VALUES

    #4 Diversity: Promote diversity of thought and approach while embracing team work and organizational unity.
    #5 Integrity: Establish and achieve the highest levels of integrity in all business and personal interactions.

    So, was firing the women the Diversity or the Integrity part?


  54. ElectricBassPlayer says:

    #52, that’s kind of a good point. The only reason the average person would support policies that are clearly bad for them (weakening social security, anti-union agenda, tax cuts that overwhelmingly favor the rich, benefit cuts for the poor, laws that make it harder to sue big business, etc.) is because they figure that somehow, someday, they will be rich themselves, and then those policies will benefit them.

    But people who think like that are clearly idiots. They turn on FOX news and drink in the cathode ray Kool-Ade, truly unaware that the very people they subconsciously desire to be are doing everything they can make sure they never succeed. After all, it takes millions of hapless taxpayers to support one billionaire’s tax cuts.


  55. FOX SECURITY says:

    BREAK IT UP, BREAK IT UP.

    DON’T MAKE US HAVE TO VISIT ALL OF YOUR HOUSES.


  56. Pro-free narket says:

    ElectricbassPlayer,

    If you had a pro-Bush sticker on your car, it would probably get vandalized, because lefties have no respect for speech they disagree with or for private property.

    Just look at the outright contempt displayed by most of the commenters here for the employer’s rights.


  57. WaltTheMan says:

    #56 – Pro-free narket,
    I am 65. I have many anti-Bush stickers on my car. About two months ago, I stopped at a surf shop down here in FL and a bug-eyed red-neck came at me with the intent to kill.
    I warded off his first punch and delivered a knee to the right place. He was about 35 and was still writhing on the ground when I came back out. Thank God for the one-on-one training. I think that he got a vasectomy – gratis. I was only after a paddle board for my granddaughter.


  58. WaltTheMan says:

    My knee still hurts a bit.


  59. ElectricBassPlayer says:

    #56 “ElectricbassPlayer,

    If you had a pro-Bush sticker on your car, it would probably get vandalized, because lefties have no respect for speech they disagree with or for private property.

    Just look at the outright contempt displayed by most of the commenters here for the employer’s rights.”

    Wrong wrong wrong. This is San Diego county, and everywhere you look, there are W stickers, and Bush/Cheney’04. Although I have to admit I’m seeing a lot less of them than I used to. Don’t forget I live in the district that re-relected an admitted criminal, Duncan Hunter, after he got caught in the House banking scandal and went on local TV and cried, asking for another chance from the voters. Just think of him as our own version of re-elecrting Marian Barry.

    As for “employer’s rights,” well, you;’d be shitting bricks if the employee got fired for having a Rush Limbaugh bumper sticker. Imagine the screams of indignant, sanctimonious outrage from the so-called “right.”

    But I guess that’s different, isn’t it? When a conservative talk-show host gets nailed for abusing narcotics on a trafficking scale, hires a famous criminal defense trial lawyer, and is defended by the ACLU, that’s forgivable; heck, it’s even shameful for anyone to criticize him for his poor affliction. Poor baby! But when the black consitituents of Washington DC re-elect their cocaine-smoking mayor, it’s forehead-smackingly incomprehensible.

    Get back on your tricycle and pedal home, troll. You’re a hypocrite with a 25-watt bulb for a brain. I’m amazed you can figure out how to use a computer.


  60. Democrat Soldier says:

    #57 & 58 – Walt, Here in the Austin area, someone wrote an editorial about how his car was keyed a few days after putting a political bumper sticker on his car. He didn’t say what the bumper sticker was, but I think that damaging a vehicle because of the political statements on the bumper stickers is the sign of a non-working mind. (Can you guess which political affiliation is more likely to do this??? ;-)

    I’ve been making the statement at my job (many more self-acclaimed Republicans than not) that it doesn’t really “support the troops” to buy multiple magnetic stickers that were made in China. I’ve only had one person argue with me about that statement:
    Him: “So, how do YOU support the troops?? Huh?!?!?”

    Me: “Making monthly donations to the USO, sending care packages to my friends in Iraq & Afghanistan, helping to buy sufficient protective armor for my friends, sending letters to my congressional representatives asking them to fully fund the VA and to find out why they still aren’t properly funding armor for the soldiers & vehicles, praying for my friends and our troops. Should I continue?”

    He had the decency to apologize for his assumption that me being a Democrat does not immediately mean I hate our troops.

    Not all Republicans are a$$holes, and not all Democrats are paragons of virtue. Too bad the MSM and popular lies broadly paint Democrats/Progressives/Liberals in the worst possible light, while completely ignoring the radical excesses of the “other side”.


  61. Cyra Brown says:

    I am not trying to play “Devil’s Advocate” here, but since the employer is a woman, (that was a surprise) perhaps there was another angle to this. It is possible that she already knew about the bumpersticker, and the lightbulb lit up, and she set up their “meeting” in the parking lot, to keep it away from the other employees as well. Then using a really stupid reason, but one the fear filled folks might support, let her have it. Just another jerk, using “terrorism” for their own reasons.



  62. Martin Ostrye says:

    That’s convicted Republican Duke Cunningham’s district.


  63. kindness says:

    Arghhh. I a href’d incorrectly. The link works. The title is “Will the Real Conservatives Please Stand Up?”

    Sorry bout that.


  64. Democrat Soldier says:

    #62 – Kindness, GREAT article! I will make sure I direct my self-described Republican co-workers to the link before our lunch plans today.

    We always get together on Friday and table about the current issues and state of affairs. It’s really interesting hearing the righties point of view and them compare them with mine. (I’m one of 4 ‘lefties’, and the only ‘leftie’ that is a veteran.)


  65. For Truth says:

    Good thing it was California and not Arizona. In Arizona an employee can be fired at anytime for no reason.


  66. Thought police are coming for you. - Brokekid.net says:

    [...] (via thinkprogress.org) A San Diego woman was fired for having an Air America bumpersticker. The North County Times reports “after seeing the sticker, the employer commented that the woman could be a member of al-Qaida.” [...]


  67. kindness says:

    65 – I grew up in suburban NY w/ a large republican clan. But they were/are so different from what is now portrayed as conservative. They were fiscally prudent (not quite stingy, they believed in SSI, Medicare, ect) so they were fiscal conservatives, but they also thought that the federal government should have a very limited impact on our lives.

    Honestly, I haven’t fallen far from the tree. I have voted for a republican (John Anderson in a primary against Ronnie Raygun) but have mostly been a moderate to liberal Democrat my whole life. Funny how things turn around.

    PS my family doesn’t vote strictly republican anymore. Now more of them consider themselves New England (centrist) Democrats. Of course, Repubs in New England aren’t as foaming at the mouth as they are out here in CA. I just wish they would be willing to vote against the current leadership once in a while.


  68. bushsucks says:

    Mc Carthyism is back!


  69. mighty aphrodite says:

    I ALWAYS knew progs would have a difficult time making their argument if the “full story” was told. Here’s the part of the story that the “editors” at TP omitted. Company called her when she didn’t show up to work and asked where she was. “Plaintiff” said she thought she had been fired – was told bosses were kidding. Naturally, after being gainfully employed at the business for 6 WEEKS, she ran to a lawyer – money grubbing “progressive”. Lesson from this:
    a.) liberals love the half of the story that “proves” the lib agenda
    b.) liberals would benefit greatly from a sense of humour.
    c.) Can you imagine how much fun it would have been to work with this woman? For the fact that she takes herself waaay too seriously, she should have been fired!!!



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