Call Iraqi television reporter Muntadar al-Zaidi a trend setter. Just days after the disgruntled reporter made international headlines after throwing his shoes at President Bush at a press conference in Iraq, another shoe attack nearly unraveled at a MTA board meeting in Midtown Wednesday.
This time around it involved Metropolitan Transit Authority CEO Elliot Saunders and subway rider Stephen Millies. At the meeting, where the MTA approved a 2009 budget that ultimately would raise bus and subway fares in New York, Millies lashed out at the board saying the budget should be tossed in the garbage can.
After calling the MTA "a collection agency for the biggest banks and insurance companies," the fervent subway rider surveyed the crowded room and asked "And more thing, where is Elliot Saunders?" Millies then reached for his shoe attempting to throw it.