From MSNBC written by Harriet Baskas –

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union that represents TSA workers, is urging the TSA to do more to protect its employees from abuse from airline passengers angry over the new security methods. The union reports that some members “have reported instances in which passengers have become angry, belligerent and even physical with TSOs (transportation security officers). In Indianapolis, for example, a TSO was punched by a passenger who didn’t like the new screening process,” the union said in a Nov. 17 statement posted on its website.

Let me get this straight, you subject passengers to x-rays, look at them nude, sometimes strip search them and often grope their buttocks and genitals, and you’re surprised they get mad?

Let’s read some more –

Union President John Gage called on TSA to provide an educational pamphlet to each passenger describing both their rights and the details of the new procedures, which include full-body scans and enhanced pat-downs.

“This absence of information has resulted in a backlash against the character and professionalism of TSOs,” said Gage in a statement. “TSA must act now — before the Thanksgiving rush — to ensure that TSOs are not being left to fend for themselves.”

You guys just don’t get it. What is causing you trouble is that the passengers understand all too well what is happening. Where did you get the idea that giving people a pamphlet would make them feel all better about being groped?

“Our concern is that the public not confuse the people implementing the policies with the people who developed the policies,” said Sharon Pinnock, the union’s director of membership and organization.

You’re doing the groping. You are not some passive government official sending a tax bill. You are depriving passengers of their dignity. Does the idea, the concept, that your higher ups told you to do this and that you think that you are not responsible give you comfort? You are responsible for your own actions. You are not justified by someone giving you orders. Not ever.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday the government will take into account the public’s concerns and complaints as it evaluates airport security measures. He says TSA procedures will continue to evolve.

This sentence is fun to explain. This is what it means, “A bunch of you are mad, so I am speaking a totally, utterly, meaningless sentence, so that you being obviously stupid since you don’t agree with our policies, will go away and trouble us no more. This is particularly important because if you disrupt traffic on Thanksgiving, you might call attention to your claims and force us to make changes. If we can only stall you by talking about “evolving procedures,” your moment of opportunity will pass and you will return to politically hopeless activity like writing letters to your congressmen.”

From further down in the article –

Aviation and security blogger Steven Frischling said he has received comments from TSA front-line screeners complaining of verbal abuse.

Another said: “Being a TSO means often being verbally abused. You let the comments roll off and check the next person; however, when a woman refuses the scanner then comes to me and tells me that she feels like I am molesting her; that is beyond verbal abuse.”

Molester, pervert, disgusting, an embarrassment, creep. I bet those words hurt. They’re accurate. You are performing unethical acts. Searching a prisoner at a medium security facility is understandable. These are felons who have forfeited their rights. You are searching innocent Americans as if they were vile and without humanity.

“Instead of making this Wednesday National Opt-Out Day in which a bunch of self-appointed guardians of liberty slow down the line for everyone by asking for pat-downs,” said Baker, “maybe what we need is a day when everyone who goes through the line says, ‘Thanks for what you do.’ ”

Every American citizen has a responsibility to defend our rights and liberty, and if you think I am going to thank a mindless drone who demeans and dehumanizes my fellow Americans, you’re going to wait a long time.

“Self appointed guardian of liberty.” That’s all you’ve got. That’s it! You’re so wrong that insults are all that remain. Are you so afraid that you cannot deal with criticism or is it the idea that your embrace of fear has left you without the ability to have an actual discussion about what is reasonable?

At every step of the way the government has said it will not change policy and that those who criticize it are ill informed and a tiny minority. Now, we have arrived at insults. In a few days, people like me will be accused of endangering and, if there is an incident, of murdering my fellow citizens.

This is all you’ve got. You can’t defend your actions based on the facts or our laws, so you appeal to insults and fears. That’s all you’ve got.

James Pilant