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As soon as the Senate returns from its break, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reader will schedule a formal roll call vote on the nomination of Errol Southers to be Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration. Southers is former assistant chief of the Los Angeles Airport Police, and a former FBI agent. His confirmation hearings concluded this month, and his confirmation is considered highly likely.

Why is Reid holding this vote? It's an unusual move. It's because Sen. Jim DeMint put a hold on the nomination because he is concerned about unionization at the TSA. During his confirmation hearings, Southers wouldn't say whether he would support or oppose unionization efforts until he was "confirmed, in place and hearing from stakeholders about the issue."

That's not good enough for DeMint, whose spokesman Wesley Denton says: "This is an important debate because many Americans don't want someone running the TSA who stands ready to give union bosses the power to veto or delay future security measures at our airports."

DeMint through his spokesman makes it sound as though Southers has already made up his mind to support unionization, which is not what Southers said. However, the real meat here is in the phrase "union bosses," a classic derogatory term for union leaders. Further, the suggestion is that these "bosses" would veto or delay future security measures at our airports. Why exactly would they do that? Because they're unamerican, likely scary socialists and possibly craven communists? Why else would they deliberately endanger their own country?

DeMint now blames Reid for not allowing a debate on the nomination before adjourning, and still won't lift his hold.

Why do TSA workers want to unionize? Arbitrary work rules, a high rate of workplace injuries, high turnover rates, unfair promotion and scheduling policies, low morale and inadequate pay, for starters. I don't know about you, but I want the 40,000 people at the x-ray machines and everywhere else to be at least minimally content in their jobs.

It's interesting that Immigration and Custom Service employees and Federal Border Guards are unionized, but in 2003 President Bush decided it would threaten national security to allow the TSA to unionize. Don't the Federal Border Guards have something to do with national security?

DeMint is holding up Errol Southers because he can, also because he wants to defeat President Obama any time he can (remember Waterloo), and because he hates unions. The fact that the nation's national security got caught in the middle was apparently of little concern to him. Perhaps he didn't expect an attack on Christmas Day. Not many people did.