...or does political correctness mean always having to say you're sorry?

Things that happened while you were watching your 401(K) sink slowly in the west:

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AirTran Airlines has apologized to nine Muslim passengers who were unceremoniously removed from a flight out of Reagan National Airport. It seems that one of the Muslims was overheard by another passenger discussing the safest seat on a plane should there be an "accident". Possibly not the best conversation for two Middle Eastern types but, hey, the World Trade Center was seven years ago and people of Arab extraction forget who they are and where they are. The air marshalls on the flight removed not just the two people having the conversation but an entire party of nine. Fortunately Mohammad Ali wasn't on the flight or he might have gotten the heave- ho also.

This is a sad situation. Americans pride themselves on fairness. We tend to be welcoming, even curious about people and cultures different from ours. We understand that we are a country of immigrants and that, for as much as we fight it, diversity is part of who we are...just ask Barak Hussein Obama.

That said, we were attacked in 2001 by eighteen men who shared a discernible ethnic origin and religion.They all looked similar. Our enemies in Iraq and any potential terrorist from Saudi Arabia or Yemen will most likely be dark-complected, black haired, and bearded. Middle Eastern peoples evoke in us more fear than hate. To see them on a plane calls to mind the horror of September 11 and even the visage of Osama bin Ladin. Once the doors close on an airplane your safety is in the hands of everyone on the flight. Potential threats become magnified. Almost all of us have been on flights with "scary-looking" Middle Eastern types and we all secretly wished that someone would encourage them to take another plane. To think otherwise would be unnatural.

Allow me to add my apology to the apology of AirTrans. I'm sorry about this situation. I'm sorry that a group of harmless travelers has been singled out for harassment and humiliation. I'm sorry that one off-handed comment, made by an otherwise innocent woman could cause such a fear-filled and outsized reaction. I'm sorry that just being identified as a Muslim or Arab can subject a person to scrutiny and persecution. But most of all, I'm sorry because it's going to happen again and again and there's no cure for it. We need to protect ourselves and, while it's unfortunate that profiling is necessary, it is all we have. People expect air safety and if a person poses a threat, however remote, there must be a response. Nobody likes it but there it is. Until science and engineering can reliably purge air travel of every potential threat, Middle Eastern people can expect the harassment to continue. Sorry.

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The Republican National Committee, fresh from the most humiliating defeat since, well 2006, is in search of a new chairman. Recent history would suggest that this job would be only slightly more popular than hunting for land mines with a cricket bat. There are, however, several candidates vying for the job. One such leader-to-be is Chip Saltsman of Tennessee. Also in contention are J. Kenneth Blackwell of Ohio and and Michael Steele of Maryland. Both Blackwell and Steele are African-American. Coincidentally, they correspond to the exact number of votes that John McCain received in the black community.

Most Republicans understand that, among their myriad problems, is the perception that the GOP is just a giant country club with a big "whites only" sign on the front door. The only minorities of any kind welcome at Republican headquarters better be swinging a mop.

Not so, says Mr. Saltsmen and to drive home the point, he has provided several party members a CD including a song called, "Barak, the Magic Negro". Funny, eh? Played to the tune of "Puff The Magic Dragon" the song (which isn't particularly funny) is intended to... well, frankly I don't know what the point is, aside from making Chip Saltsman look like a bigot and a fool.

Setting aside the bad taste for a minute, did Mr. Saltsman miss the meeting where the party discussed Republican isolation? Did he skip the class on class? Today's Republican party isn't your father's party it's your grandfather's party. There were fewer black faces at the RNC in Minneapolis in Sept. than there are members of the Mills Brothers. The only young people supporting the GOP these days are cultural warriors who are mostly opposed to stuff: stem cell research, abortion, sex; nothing a few days in Vegas wouldn't cure. The faces of the Republican party in 2008 are Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich and Dick Chenney...sort of the No-Pep Boys.

The Republicans are on the wrong side of virtually every issue. They deny global warming, ridicule green technology, encourage domestic drilling and scoff at any form of environmental or animal protection. When your best hope for the future is Sarah Palin, you have no future. When you are so bereft of talent that you need help from Alaska, you got trouble right here in River City.

Anyway, as a member of the other team, I applaud Mr. Saltsman's approach to campaigning for the chairmanship. We can't have too many racially insensitive songs in circulation. As a follow-up the GOP could distribute "The Films of Stepin Fetchit" or "Amos n' Andy, Klan Favorites". As an encore, Mr. Saltsman can appear at the next GOP Convention in blackface.