To the St. Louis journalists

I lover this letter from Roland Walkenhorst to his local TV stations (KMOV, KSDK and KTVI). He says: "Following is the text of the email I sent to the three major St. Louis TV news departments. I suppose I should have kept it shorter, but I am furious about this and usually for me, furious = long!"

Why aren’t you investigating the disgusting violations of human rights and decency that are occurring daily at Lambert-St. Louis Airport? I am referring to the Transportation Security Administration’s full-body scanners that were rolled out last month.

Next time my 16-year-old daughter wants to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Orlando, these are my choices:

1.      Allow her to be herded through the Chertoff porn-scanner, with her naked image  transmitted to TSA goons hiding in a remote room

2.      Subject her to a humiliating public molestation

3.      Tell her she has to stay home

Which do you recommend?

If I choose Option 1, unseen strangers will be leering at detailed pictures of her – pictures that, if even possessed by any of us not wearing a government-issued blue costume, would land us in prison for many years.

With Option 2, the groping they would inflict (after hollering, “We have an opt-out! We have an opt-out!” to attract as much attention as possible) certainly would bring her to tears. Policy no longer restricts these bossy tax-feeders to using the backs of their hands. Look it up. They feel every inch of the victim’s body (“I love my job!” one is said to have quipped).

What do you suppose the punishment would be for a coach who molested a child that way? Twenty years? Life? And although the procedure is supposed to be performed by an agent of the same sex as the passenger, there have been disturbing reports of violations.

But why should I be surprised that the government doesn’t follow its own rules? When did we repeal the Fourth Amendment? What crime is my daughter suspected of? Where is the search warrant? Signed by what judge?

I never thought I would see the day when American men stand silently by, allowing mouth-breathing thugs to ogle naked pictures of their wives and daughters just so they can get on an airplane. What’s next, cavity searches? How about they just chop us into pieces and send them in buckets to the lab to check for explosives and fingernail clippers? Gotta keep us safe, right?
As a former journalist it saddens me that the compliant state-worshippers who populate today’s newsrooms hardly raise an eyebrow at scenes that should shock any decent person. I don’t recall any mention of this on St. Louis newscasts aside from a couple of fluff pieces when the machines were introduced at Lambert. Searching the web sites of KMOV, KSDK and KTVI turned up nothing of substance produced locally. Do folks think these are just fancy metal detectors? You certainly haven’t done much to educate them.

And check out this report by your peers. I don’t know which is more disgusting: the treatment of the child or the way the reporter – her own father – laughs it off. If this video does not make you sick, then heaven help you.

Where is journalistic courage these days? As I write this, the only air-travel-related story Brian Williams is reporting on NBC Nightly News is a cell phone video of an in-flight passenger pillow fight. Pardon me if I don’t get all giggly over its cuteness.

You might consider this a non-story simply because most passengers obediently file through like sheep. Shame on you. As journalists, you have an obligation to sound the alarm when the state subjects peaceful men, women and children to such unfathomable humiliation. This is nothing short of sexual assault and child pornography, and you are playing along.

Get a spine and raise a ruckus, for crying out loud. Report this every night – in graphic detail – until the TSA perverts are run out of town.