Airlines taking our tax dollars for new security

To the editor:

Congratulations, America. We now get to give our tax dollars to people who insult us when we pay for their services. We will not pay for thugs rifling through our luggage and stealing our valuables. Who can forget the caring way the baggage handlers off-loaded our suitcases? Then there was that "How dare you ask me a question" look you received from the boarding personnel. The biggest insult was the so-called security force that gave the impression it was God's gift to federalized security. All of this was at the St. Louis airport.

We will not pay for security doors that should have been installed long ago. And we will train pilots to use weapons they should have had long ago.

So what is the real reason Congress has seen fit to give our tax dollars to the airline industry? It's simple. The airplanes have to be flight-ready because the airliners are the troop carriers of this century. It is for this same reason the train system is subsidized.

Have you planted your Victory Garden yet?

RICHARD KLINE

Gipsy, Mo.