Bus driver appeals firing for "flipping off" President Bush

[TexasLawyer]

Apparently, Bush himself was the only witness to the "flipping."

Thursday, November 2, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Issaquah bus driver appeals firing for "flipping off" President Bush
By Manuel Valdes

Seattle Times Eastside bureau

An Issaquah school bus driver fired for allegedly "flipping off" President Bush during a visit to Seattle in June is appealing her termination.

According to Issaquah School District officials, the incident happened when a district school bus stopped for the president's motorcade while returning from a field trip in Seattle. As the president waved to the school children from his limousine, the bus driver made an obscene gesture, said Sara Niegowski, a spokeswoman for the district.


Bush was in Seattle attending a fundraiser for Congressman Dave Reichert, who was riding in the same limousine. Reichert campaign officials confirm that Bush told Reichert about the gesture and that the congressman later called Issaquah's superintendent to let her know about the incident. But the district had been informed by other staff the same day it happened, Niegowski said. It investigated and found evidence pointing to "unprofessional conduct" from the driver, she said.

<snip>

The fired bus driver filed a union grievance last month for wrongful termination. She has declined to be identified or interviewed.



http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/eastsidenews/2003336906_busdriver02e.html

[babylonsister]

1. He's a tattletale to boot? What a frickin' baby! And he's okay

with ruining a person's livelihood?

[Tellurian]

5. What? Freedom of 'flippin the finga'

aka, the American High Sign...warrants losing your job?

[Mike Daniels]

8. She was driving a school bus at the time so she was actually representing an employer

If she went around yelling "f*ck you" at random pedestrians while driving the bus would you be O.K. with it?

[Virginia Dare]

18. It was a wonderful lesson in First Amendment Rights..

for the kids...;-)

I get your point. :hi:

[jobycom]

30. But she wasn't yelling it at random pedestrians, and there is a difference.

Political speech is protected, whereas verbal aggression at someone isn't. The law protects flag burning, profane language, and obscene gestures when done as part of a political statement, whereas it would not protect the same actions done with the intention of inciting violence or intimidating someone.

Not saying she should or shouldn't be fired--haven't made up my mind yet. Just that it is a completely different animal.

[FormerDem06]

37. So is political speech on the job also protected....

Could I run around my office screaming that all progressives are baby-killers and country haters (to take a page from the republican playbook)?

Is that protected or is that behavior unbecoming of the employer that I represent? I don't think she should be fired either, I just wish she would have exercised more judgement. Depending on the age of the kids she was in charge of, she may have just shown some second grader their first obscene gesture, which as a parent I would be livid about as well (that's my job damnit!!)

[Tellurian]

36. They mouthe the words anyway...

The only reason she was fired was because it was Bush...and she got caught!

Why? Did you think this was her virgin voyage?

[susanna]

58. Self-deleted.

for a variety of reasons...

[gfnrob]

2. So, the shrub

can flip the bird, but we can't??? Must be national security issue.:puke: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

[TexasLawyer]

7. The little people don't get to flip

They just have to shut up and pay for the war.

[mondo joe]

26. Actually, the "little people" certainly do. But if in doing so they

violate the terms of their employment, they've got a problem.

[SoCalDem]

33. Yep.. that's just the way it is.. People can do all sorts of things

as a PRIVATE citizen, BUT if you do something rude and you are "on the clock", your boss DOES have a say in it, because you reflect the company/office/organization when you are at work.

[mondo joe]

34. It's funny how when fundys and right wingers violate professional

standards in the name of "freedom of religion" we're pretty uniformly down on them.

But when leftys do the same, so many DUers go into double-standard mode.

:-(

[Minnesota_Lib]

61. The Txradioguy incident comes to mind. We were outrage that he was...

...posting hundreds of hate filled messages on the web per day and harrassing liberals' employers via e-mail from his employer's (the U.S. Army) PC while on the job.

Yet many of those that were outraged by that nut's behavior now say it is alright for a leftie to make obsence gestures in front of children while on the job because it is protected political speech.

Sorry to those that disagree, but this bus driver crossed the line just as Txradioguy did.

[Tellurian]

41. Kewel graphics!!!!!

aaaaaand Sooooooooooo TRUE!

(I may borrow..<g>)

[SoCalDem]

46. help yourself

I am happy to share.. especially when it's one I made myself :loveya:

[Tellurian]

49. Brilliant! SoCalDem..& thanx, I did...:) nm

[SoCalDem]

50. Here's a few more I made

[Tellurian]

52. Bookmarked, SoCalDem..

The porcelain princess is a screamer!

[Divernan]

44. And that's why Cheney should have been censored for cursing a Senator

on the floor of the U.S. Senate. I don't recall whether he said F--- You, or F--- Off.

[SoCalDem]

47. I believe he said "Go F... yourself"..

he's a vile creature:puke:

[sabra]

3. but it's OK for Bush to give us the finger?

[Hugin]

4. "But, I was only scratching my eye..."

There's always a defense for the Bus Driver.

[primavera]

66. It was really half of a peace sign...

With us being at war, the full peace sign wouldn't have been appropriate.

[Virginia Dare]

6. Next time his motorcade drives by, I'll have to flip him off...

:hide:

[Mike Daniels]

11. and I imagine that as long as you aren't driving a company vehicle

you won't have to worry about being fired.

Why do people miss the obvious in this case? If she's driving a school bus then she is techically on the clock.

Do you think any employer would accept this conduct from an employee?

[Virginia Dare]

16. You're right...

just like I objected when Cheney told a United States Senator to fuck himself on the Senate floor. I found that unacceptable, he should have been fired.

[fasttense]

51. Since when is the work place a communist dictatorship????

If we had true democracy, the employer would have to accept it. Just because he employs you doesn't give him the right to control your political speech. People accept all sorts of crap from their employers just because they employ them. Just because an employer hires you doesn't make him your god, your president or your king.

[mondo joe]

68. Most cracked idea yet.

There's nothing about democracy that let'syou do anything you like on the job and the employer has to accept it.

[Riddler]

63. I'm self-employed, so I pray for the chance to flip this POS off!

[zonkers]

9. God help us. WTF is the leader of our country doing tattling on a bus driver. What a waste

of time. Is that where his mind is? What a tard.

[SammyWinstonJack]

69. Low self esteem.

[jdadd]

10. Check this out....

"This incident has to do with the responsibility of an employee who is supervising students to act professionally and serve as a role model for appropriate behavior,"

Looks like a good roll model to me....I gave HW Bush the finger while on vacation in France in 89.....:pals:

[gratuitous]

12. Bushie no like criticism

But we knew that. The driver, however, has an appeal process and union protection. I feel confident that she will have an opportunity to tell her side of the story with adequate representation of her and her union's interests.

Will she have an opportunity to confront her accuser?

[trogdor]

13. As long as he's not giving him the Double Deuce

That might be dangerous if the bus is moving.
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail24.html

[StrongbadTehAwesome]

67. ooh...that would be a pretty good though,

if you were at a stoplight...

[Demeter]

14. A Congenital Liar and Pompous Ass Is Believed?

While a woman who actually performs useful work to the benefit of society is punished on his say so?

[catmandu57]

15. When we still lived under a Constitution

I think this would have been protected speech, but yeah eyes and noses have to be scratched occasionally.

[boilinmad]

17. I guess....

....she could use the old "Bush Flipping Off The Press Defense ', which roughly translates as " I was only giving the THUMBS UP". What an asshole.

[Felix Mala]

19. Bush didn't count on the union when he ordered "Off with her head."

Why doesn't stuff like this make it to the nightly blab shows? I hope Shrubya enjoys that gesture. I plan to stand on his motorcade route giving that salute whenever he visits here.

[freeplessinseattle]

20. hey, maybe it was meant for Sheriff Hairspray

why did * assume it was meant for him, he's not the only repug we despise. geez, you'd think he'd be used to getting the bird by now, by people only following the spiritual wisdom of "do unto others as they would do unto you".

[Gregorian]

21. Poor George Bush.

Bush's bus. He is such a small man.


You know, this whole bus thing is such a metaphor for where drunken master has taken us. I have always seen this as a drunken, hijacked, bus accident that never seems to end.


There's hope!

[Ian David]

22. You know the part that's inexcusable?

The driver certainly knew this would get her fired.

Yet she still didn't go all the way, and encourage all the children on the bus to join her in giving Bush the finger.

I mean, COME ON!

Where was her imagination?

Imagine an entire bus full of kids giving Der Chimpenfuhrer the finger!

Shame on that driver!

What a squandered opportunity.

(sigh).

[0007]

25. LOL! That would have been a gas..

[Anakin Skywalker]

54. Hah Hah Hah! Now THAT Would've Been Hee-Haw Funny!

Yes. Squandered opportunity indeed.

[BigDDem]

23. Thank you,

that bus drivers speaks for alot of us.

[FSogol]

24. In Virginia you can get a moving violation for flipping the bird. n/t

[Whoa_Nelly]

27. So, if this goes to trial, will Bush be called in as the only witness?

...just wonderin' :shrug:

[Solly Mack]

28. Seems a natural reaction to Bush in my opinion

Seriously, I'd plead that I couldn't help myself. That it was an involuntary reflex.

[badgerpup]

29. This is so bullshit...

If the finger had been flipped at a real person...anyone else...
it wouldn't have even gotten as far as non-issue.
:grr:
Wonder how Bush would react if somebody looked cross-eyed and stuck their tongue out at him?
No razzberry...that could be construed as spitting and assault with bodily fluids :eyes: :banghead:
but just a classic, eight-year-old's "NYAAAH!"?

[Divernan]

45. Ahhhhh - memories of Jenna sticking her fat wet tongue on the window.

of a govt. vehicle.

[humbled_opinion]

31. I guess Brush is the flipper in chief now... n/t

[electropop]

32. If flipping off is a firing offense, Bush should have been fired repeatedly.

Of course, I can think of at least 3,000 other reasons he should be fired.

[Egnever]

35. Wow guess I am lucky I havent seen the FBI yet

I did the same exact thing a year or so ago when the chimps motorcade had me stuck in traffic for an hour. Guess i need to be more careful with my finger next time.

[Odin2005]

38. More proof that the Bush-Bots are fascists.

[KamaAina]

39. Breaking: Driver to be replaced by Toonces the Driving Cat

Uh-oh, here we go again...

[civildisoBDence]

40. I'd wait all day in the rain just for the pleasure of flipping DUHbya the bird

But I wouldn't do it while representing my employer (a college).

Newsprism

[HuffleClaw]

42. pretty much what we've come to expect from bush

and i also recall a pic of HIM flipping the bird from a campaign bus. what a childish response from the chimp.

[boddhi]

43. what a waste of resources....

Maybe she deserves to be fired because she 'represented' the school or maybe she shouldn't because she was expressing her first amendment rights - I think that's completely unimportant here.

What is absurd here is that a congressman contacted a school superintendent who had to figure out which driver it was and then file the paperwork to fire her. How much did all this cost? Like our representatives and our school administrations have nothing better to do with their time and money?

[olshak]

48. Personally,

I would have gotten out of the bus and given him the old Carlos Mencia "deed dee dee!"

[DuaneBidoux]

53. I teach elementary kids. You want me saying Fuck this and fuck that

around your kids? I would expect to lose my job if I flipped ANYBODY off while I worked at school around kids.

BUT, the really pitiful thing about the whole story is that W was the one that did the tattling. That's pathetic.

[dxdem]

55. I don't feel sorry for her.

She was on the job. Who would EVER guess that one would be fired for acting "obscenely" while on the job. Wah wah.

[MissMillie]

60. thank you

She's being paid to drive a bus full of children. She shouldn't be flipping ANYBODY off.

[Minnesota_Lib]

62. Agreed

[geniph]

56. Reichert is such a disgusting toady

While I agree the driver showed extremely poor judgement in doing that while representing her employer, the children did not see the gesture. I believe the appropriate response from a more adult President and a Congressman who didn't have his tongue sixteen inches up said President's butt would have been to ignore it. Since Officer Barbrady - oops, I mean Sheriff Hairspray - oops, sorry again, Congressman Reichert - saw fit to curry favor by tattling to the district and demanding her firing, the district should have put a reprimand for unprofessional conduct in her file. I do not believe this merited a termination.

But the really telling part of the whole thing, to me, is that Sheriff Hairspray thought tattling on her and demanding she be fired cause she hurt the Chimperor's feelings was appropriate. Who is he, fucking Mussolini now? Disparaging Our Great Leader is now a criminal act?

This is the kind of thing we used to scorn the Soviets for!

...and fucking Officer Barbrady Hairspray Reichert is MY Congressperson. But not for long!

:kick:

[Omaha Steve]

57. IF you can't take the heat, get out of the office

I'm sure freedom of speech will be grounds for a reversal of this travesty.

[DiverDave]

59. IF the kids didn't see it

whats the fucking problem?
Yes, if she stood in front of the kids and did it, I'd have a problem with it.

But, from the report, the action seemed to be shielded from the kids.

Free speech, baby, it's a bitch, no?

[superconnected]

64. The cool thing is W saw it :)

Welcome to Issaquah shrub.

[Jack Rabbit]

65. Flipping off Bush is an act of patriotism

There is nothing more wrong with it than flying an American flag on the Fourth of July.

[Tight_rope]

70. Now that is a damn good defense motive to win this case!

:toast: :thumbsup: :headbang: :applause: :patriot: