Lorrie Heasley, of Woodland, Wash., was asked to leave her flight from Los Angeles to Portland, Ore., Tuesday for wearing a T-shirt with pictures of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a phrase similar to the popular film title “Meet the Fockers.”

A spokesman for Southwest Airlines said that the airline used “common sense” when they escorted Heasley from the plane in Reno, Nevada, during a stopover between Los Angeles and Portland, Ore. The airline felt that the T-shirt was offensive, the spokeswoman said, adding that the incident is about “decency.”

But Heasley was outraged;

I have cousins in Iraq and other relatives going to war. Here we are trying to free another country and I have to get off an airplane in midflight over a T-shirt. That’s not freedom.

A Southwest spokeswoman claimed that the airline’s contract with the Federal Aviation Administration contains rules that say the airline will deny boarding to any customer whose conduct is offensive, abusive, disorderly or violent or for clothing that is “lewd, obscene, or patently offensive.” However, FAA spokesman Donn Walker said that no federal rules exist on the subject.

Heasley is threatening to sue Southwest to reimburse her and her husband for the last leg of their trip and pay for her gasoline, a $68 rental car from Avis and a $70 hotel bill.