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Forget Fear of Flying, Fear Airport Screening
There was terror in the skies this week over Texas, caused not by a terrorist but by a pilot—a Flight Standards captain, no less. JetBlue Airways Capt. Clay Osbon, flying Flight 191 from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Las Vegas, began moving up and down the aisle after the jet was airborne, ranting, according to several passengers, about Iraq, Israel, al-Qaida and bombs, calling on passengers to recite the Lord’s Prayer, saying that they were “all going down.” An off-duty pilot in the cabin went to the cockpit to help the co-pilot with the emergency landing, while passengers and crew subdued Osbon. Osbon, who’d been with JetBlue almost since its founding, was taken to the hospital, suspended with pay, then criminally charged with interfering with a flight crew.
That’s enough to inspire a fear of flying in anyone. But just getting to your airplane these days may present a greater risk to your health than the actual flight.
New airport security screening technology, primarily backscatter X-ray devices, have come under increased scrutiny, as their effectiveness is questioned amid concerns that the radiation exposure may cause cancer. Adding to health concerns are both the graphic nature of the images captured, essentially nude photos of every person passing through the machine, and the aggressive—and for some, humiliating—nature of the alternative to the scans, the “enhanced pat-down” by a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins introduced a bill that would require independent laboratory testing of the X-ray backscatter machines, exactly what a group of University of California, San Francisco scientists called on the Obama administration to do in April 2010. Responding to the TSA claim (provided by the manufacturer, Rapiscan) that the radiation dose is less than “the dose one receives from eating one banana,” professor John Sedat and others wrote: “While the dose would be safe if it were distributed throughout the volume of the entire body, the dose to the skin may be dangerously high. ... There is good reason to believe that these scanners will increase the risk of cancer to children and other vulnerable populations [including pregnant women].” When this risk is multiplied over 700 million annual travelers, Michael Love, Ph.D., the manager of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine X-ray facility, told Discover magazine, “someone is going to get skin cancer.” The European Union has banned the machines.
While flying the past few weekends, I refused to go through the scanners, which is every passenger’s right, although the option is almost never indicated anywhere (the Collins bill also requires clear signage). I was made to wait while TSA employees were clearly available to conduct what is euphemistically called an “enhanced pat-down.” The agent’s aggressive questioning of my decision to “opt out” was matched only by her aggressive pat-down when I would not give in. Arriving back in New York, a friend who had just flown in from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport recounted how the TSA agent had her hands down the front of my friend’s pants and said, “Feels like you’ve lost some weight”!
Who gains? The two manufacturers of the full-body scanners have powerful friends. As reported in The Hill and The Washington Post, L-3 Communications, maker of the millimeter wave scanner, hired lobbyist Linda Daschle, wife of former Sen. Tom Daschle. Rapiscan, the maker of the X-ray backscatter machine, reportedly paid $1 million to the Chertoff Group, run by former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff, while Chertoff appeared in the media touting the value of the machines. Each machine costs the taxpayer about $150,000, but that is only the purchase; installation, then staffing, costs much more.
TSA agents themselves may face the greatest risks. A recent TSA inspector general’s report acknowledged that “wing shields be installed to further reduce radiation exposure levels for backscatter operators.” It also noted that TSA employees reported insufficient time for training on the machines. Michael Grabell, a reporter with ProPublica who has written extensively on full-body scanners, told me: “Radiation technicians have told some of the TSA screeners that ‘If I were on these machines, I’d be wearing a radiation badge.’ But the TSA has refused to let them.”
All these concerns have led the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center to sue the TSA and DHS, seeking a halt to the use of the scanners, at least until independent testing of the risks is performed, and the results made public.
Until we know that these full-body scanners are safe, I’m opting out.
Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
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47 Comments so far
Show AllQuit flying. Take the train. I understand your schedule requires you to be somewhere at a certain time, but a little rearranging of your schedule would help.
American's freely gave up their 4th Amendment Right to the bully TSA after the FF event.
Every little scare caused more freedoms to be given up.
soon tho, there will be scanners in more locations.
It is always, who gains? and follow the money.
You are so right on.... if people would stop accepting the radiation or the grope as the only two options, this will continue. Deny them your revenue.
I have. I no longer fly.
Sometimes you just have to fly, for instance to get to another continent. So Amy's criticism is relevant. The Security Theatrics are not only expensive, stupid, ineffective, intrusive and inconvenient, they are a hazard to health. For domestic travel, it would help if the train were not so expensive. I take the Bolt bus, because it is union.
"Take the train" is a great idea IF you can find one going to where you intend.
The Boston/NYC/Washington corridor is excellent but not much else except the West Coast and thanks to our Congress, which has been starving AMTRAK for years. Oh yes, one other good run is Chicago to NYC or Boston (change in Albany). The North Shore Limited has a very good real restaurant with table cloths and waiters. Otherwise there is only the Cafe with its microwave hamburgers and such - but you can buy a beer.
Incidentally, the long arm of the TSA can be found on trains too. The train was delayed for some 20+ minutes in Rochester or Syracuse while two burly men with side arms strolled the cars looking for "suspicious" people.
I'm taking Amtrak at this very moment and am on a return leg of a trip from the Northwest to DC. It stopped in my small Washington town. It is more civilized and less scrutinized. We need to stop using the airlines and insist on improved passenger rail. Stop complaining and do something.
I'm taking Amtrak at this very moment and am on a return leg of a trip from the Northwest to DC. It stopped in my small Washington town. It is more civilized and less scrutinized. We need to stop using the airlines and insist on improved passenger rail. Stop complaining and do something.
As stated on another thread - there really is no "safe" established dosage for non-ionizing (or ionizing) radiation - there is no way to get the effective electron voltage down to the same level or less, than the operating electron voltage of the cell, with its incredible DNA inside it. Our corporeal form is an electro-chemical factory. I'm an EE, and have worked around both types of radiation for many years. I used to fly almost every day - that was before the security vaudeville clown-show started. I last flew a year or so ago, for my dad's funeral. I opted out of increasing my already straining life-long body burden (I get antsy with dental X-rays!), and went for the grope. I figured if they want a thrill, I'll givem' a thrill so I wore a leather skirt and ummm nothing else - quite the interesting non-verbal response from the little goon - she couldn't say a darned thing. It was an interesting study in human response. I will next fly when my mom passes. I won't fly for work, or any other reason. I am denying the airlines my revenue till the groping goons with their back scatter radiators have departed - if that doesn't happen, I have flown my last non-emergency flight. A pox on them.
Non-ionizing radiation has always existed - ordinary light below the UV wavelength, and any kind of lower frequency electromagnetic wave commonly called radio waves which permeate the universe (cosmic background microwave radiaton) to that generated by stars, lightning or geologic phenomena.
Ionizing radiaition includes UV from the sun and natural x-ray, gamma, alpha and beta radiation for all sorts of natural sources.
So, certainly, there is a "safe" level of ionizing and non-ionizing radiaton, or we wouldn't be here.
The queston is whether the man made doses rise enough above the varaible natural background to casue harm - after solving the problem of what threshold to use to define "harm" - which is based on so many factors - I subject myself to all kind of hazards (brisk electric motor scooter rides, hang gliding, drinking beer, or eating a brat or kielbasa several times a year) becasue I enjoy them. But subjecting myself to additional doses of ionizing radiation for, not only no good reason, but also pursuant to violating my privacy is aboslutely NOT tolerable.
I just turned down applying for a job I probably would have otherwise liked more than my curent one becasue of the travel requirements.
Concur. I should have included the statement: "Above background levels" But its all cumulative across a life time - an ever increasing body-burden.
Thank you for your confirmation of the risks of "low-level" radiation.
As I said previously, I no longer fly myself, because I am unwilling
to put up with the abuse.
The trickle-down (trickle? Surely I mean flood!) effect of 9/11 for the security-industrial complex will continue to be felt till the end of the US, or when Americans grow some huevos and give up fear.
I learned a valuable lesson from my dogs years ago; live in the moment.
South Park has a very funny episode about the TSA, or in their world, the Toilet Safety Administration. One woman gets stuck in the toilet because her husband left the seat up, leading to an over the top government response.
If you fly, always reject the scanner. If enough activists demand the pat-down, it could clog the system...Took them 20 min to explain and pat me last time. Plus, I think my TSA guy felt a little odd reaching down an old guy's pants....
They reach down your pants?
What responsible reporter would advocate fear in the body politic? A careerist twit, that's who. Screw Amy Goodman and her cult of followers. This article needs a re-write to include this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9tAQZInm5Q
Fascists thrive on fear and hate being laughed at. If 10,000 people a day packed foil-wrapped cucumbers in their works, airport security would seize up and this nonsense would be held up to the ridicule it deserves. (Extra points for dressing like Derek.)
Textbook Collective Action Dilemma. Go ahead and see what happens with your tin-foil wrapped cucumber. It was funny on Spinal Tap, but that was a comedy movie. Unless huge numbers rebel, they will single you out to be made an example of, thus as with all resistance of the many against the tyranny of the few, collective action dilemma must be overcome. What is your suggestion?
The question is how did you get from 10,000 to "your"?
There is no dilemma, except in how to turn the left away from careerist defeatism. There are already inroads, and thank you for your infectious enthusiasm.
Funny I don't see 10k people doing that.
Left? What left? John Nichols, KvdH, Robert Reich pass as the Left in this country. The traditional Left has been destroyed. What passes for the faux left are neo-liberal apologists for the status quo. We need to re-build from the ground up.
As material conditions worsen for 10s of millions more, they will likely be spurred into action.
When we get 20 million people in the streets, we can then say the Collective Action Dilemma has been breached. This is textbook stuff I don't make it up.Right now most folks are in denial or are stricken with collectiveStockholm Syndrome.
If I appear pessimistic, perhaps you can provide some positive developments of late. I can't find any round here. The 99.9% of us are getting our asses kicked (many don't even know it)
Someone punch the RANDROID ALERT klaxon. This thread is being trolled.
It's like Blade Runner, except the Voight-Kampff is much simpler: when trolls talk about "we" in a political context, their eyes spin around and they start asking about incept dates. This one was too easy; Occupy gatherings in 1,500 cities and towns and a whipcrack recall effort in Wisconsin, yet there's a Collective Action Dilemma (sic) and no "positive developments"?
Begone! I cast you back to the Cato Institute ghetto!
The cucumber doesn't need to be foil-wrapped. A whole cucumber, or a whole carrot, will be pulled from a carryon bag to be inspected. I offer to share my snacks with them. A whole-veggie rebellion?
Cucumbers. Funny. Can you say "Welcome to the no-fly zone"?
Having just been raped twice by the TSA, I've been thinking of a solution: All passengers should carry guns openly. Can you imagine a terrst pulling a gun and immediately hearing 100 or so clicks and seeing that many gun barrels pointing at him?
Your faith that everyone having guns would equate to everyone being able to shoot responsibly and accurately, hitting only bad guys and gals, way exceeds mine. My father, who died last year three weeks shy of his 90th birthday, was a retired law enforcement guy (a "Federal Agent") who got one of Arizona's first concealed carry permits. He also organized, in cooperation with the sheriff of the county they lived in, a team of volunteer senior citizen uniformed patrol officers.
They had to qualify with their weapons before they were allowed to carry them. The training was to keep them from "reaching for it" and to always call the sheriff's office for back up if they were in a dicey situation. Dad was so propagandized by Arizona Republicanism that he wouldn't even drive us to the Phoenix Airport and drop us off unless he was packing. But he believed that guns were a "when all else fails" tool of last resort. The "no duty to retreat" rule, in play with his senior citizen volunteer cops, did not give license to go after some "asshole who always gets away with it" just because he (or she) looked suspicious and like he (or she) was someplace he (or she) didn't belong.
Dad spent three decades in law enforcement -- 20 years as a Federal Agent and 10 years as the chief coordinator of the Volunteers in Protection volunteer cop program. He trained frequently with Arizona sheriffs, learning how to shoot in varied situations such as specific training in how to return fire from inside a vehicle.
He never acted like a gun totin' bad ass. When he was carrying, you'd never know it from his demeanor. And, during all his time in law enforcement, he was never fired upon and never discharged his weapon in the line of duty. He also never felt as if he'd missed out on anything by not having had the chance to do so.
Thanks. It goes to show that proper weapons training is as necessary for every gun owner as is learning to drive a big dangerous machine.
Er... discharging a gun at cruising altitude can bring the plane down...
one bullet going through the right part of the pressurized fuselage could blow half the fuselage away.
Guns and pressurised-cabin planes don't mix. That is why in the old days, the strategy was to go completely along with hijacker until the plane was landed.
Good point. Wait until the plane lands, then shoot him
I had to surpress a sarcastic fascist salute at the airport. I felt like giving the salute with a hearty "Sieg Heil" (watched too many Hogan's Heroes as a small child). However I thought better of it, since I did not want to be blacklisted, pulled off the flight, slapped with a huge fine, arrested on trumped-up charges and bankrupted with legal bills.
If you don't think the USA is a neo-fascist authoritarian state, just board a plane at your local airport. Of course, for the wealthy classes, you can buy a fast-track security clearance where you can by-pass the radiation and humiliation.
Funny when you fly in other countries, no radiation treatment or humiliation is required. Only in "the land of the free" (Newspeak)
Its all about fear mongering; the fascist amerikan empire rules by fear !
Yes, resistance must come at all levels, at all times. The pat down is nasty, but at least it won't cause cancer.
" The degree to which you resist, is the degree to which you are free. " Utah Phillips
Yes, I think the tactics of humiliation and intimidation that the TSA wields (along with other agencies of repression) have nothing to do with security, but scaring folks into submission. They want to demonstrate that we now have no rights, no freedoms and must simply do as we are told and not question it.
Right. I saved this great post from a CDer and would like to repost it:
"In case you haven't noticed, most of our horrors are first tested by trial balloons. When people get used to them, the ante and the pressure is raised just a little.
As an example, look at airport "security." If you wanted to fly to see your grandparents on their anniversary back in the '90s and had your toiletry kit and nail file confiscated, you were strip searched and raped by a blue glove before you could fly, or perhaps told after all that that you were on a "no-fly list," this country would have come apart.
However, first you were apologetically asked to have your baggage x-rayed, and you had to put your pocket contents on a tray and step through a metal detector.
That was a nuisance, but you put up with it. Then they upped the ante a little bit and it became harder and more inconvenient to bring your carry-on.
Then, you had to be subject to a random search, then forced to disrobe, then submit to rape with a blue glove to be allowed to fly. Each time, the people got used to it, accepted it as something necessary. Then came the full body scans and x-rays. If you refused the scan, you got the search and glove treatment and perhaps got thrown out of the airport and missed your flight.
They keep raising the ante, not only at the airport, but in our lives. More surveillance, more harassment, more restrictions, AND WE KEEP PUTTING UP WITH IT!!!
Now, we are looking at a state which tells us it has the right to kill us at will, to pick us up, throw us into a KBR concentration camp without trial and keep us for life! Are the ovens that far away?
And We the Sheeple keep on pretending that, if we put in the right Dumbocrat or Repugnant into office, everything will be OK.
THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN! And I don't know if it can be fixed, but I fear that millions will die before it is. Millions are already dying, both here and abroad. Homeless, hungry, sick, and badgered from pillar to post by the minions of the 0.1% that have it all and even begrudge us crusts and a glass of water without paying for it. And now they can "Legally" lock us up or kill us at will!
I'm glad I'm in my seventies. I have seen this nation as a Constitutional Republic, I have seen this nation when the people had their dignity, and pride in their Constitution. It has never been perfect, but that Constitution put it well ahead of whatever was in second place.
Now, I live in a country ravaged by greed and hatred, where the average young person has no idea what the Constitution is, or what it stands for; they have NO IDEA OF WHAT THEY HAVE LOST! Where the law is a joke and the prisons are filled. Where the citizens have been turned into subjects of a cruel and vindictive empire.
Sorry for the rant, but dammit, America, PAY ATTENTION to what is happening to you!!!!"
Thank you for saying this so succinctly, I'm not too far behind you age wise and glad for it. I am glad my dad did not live to see this, and that my mom will join him shortly. The US is very ill and likely terminally so. I never thought I would see this disgrace.
The 4th amendment is crying out for dismantling the Department of Homeland Security. I'll vote for the candidate who will at least SPEAK to that. (Talk about an issue to separate ideologies from constitutional principle!)
I believe there is such a candidate - his name is Ron Paul.
Of course, the mainstream press has done a bang-up job
of seeing to it that most people have no clue about what
he really stands for - just misleading attacks.
OH, NOOOOOOO!! Really??!!? Let me rephrase that, please.....writing to Jill Stein at first opportunity.
Refuse the scanners, yes. Get the pat down.
And while you're at it talk with the TSA agents about 9/11. Make it brief, polite, focus on the science of he WTC destruction, and if possible put an ae911truth evidence card in their hand.
This enhanced security is justified because of the "terrorists" who attacked us on 9/11. So let's talk about that. Set hesitation aside and open honest discussion discussion about 9/11 with everyone - including the TSA agents (it humanizes them).
Once you get started talking about 9/11, it's fascinating to take in the range of responses, each one unique.
And make sure they use plenty of lubricant on the glove.
The TSA agents I have interacted with seemed to be appropriately ashamed of what their being told to do. It's awkward for them when someone opts out of the scanner. It's moment of awkwardness for them, so I prefer to make the most of it - a chance to check in about the justification for the indecency of the procedures.
The company that "created" the screening machine is brought to you by our very own Michael Chertoff, first zar of Homeland Security. Once again it has nothing to do with security and everything to do with money.
Most cancers take decades to develop, so it is safe to say that the long-term effects of the scan are not now known. If someone wishes to study them, I have a tongue-in-cheek suggestion:
Randomly select passengers for the scan (not the current selected population), then follow both groups medically for ten years for evidence of, say, melanoma. The scanned population should also be subdivided into two groups: one with existing (albeit unsuspected) melanoma, and one without. Is the scan carcinogenic? Are the pre-existing melanomas accelerated by the scan?
Of course, Former TSA chief Michael Chertoff and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle will never allow these studies. Heck, they won't even allow film badges on TSA employees, who are most at risk. Best to just do what the Europeans do, and chuck the whole thing.
"Take the train" is a great idea IF you can find one going to where you intend.
The Boston/NYC/Washington corridor is excellent but not much else except the West Coast and thanks to our Congress, which has been starving AMTRAK for years. Oh yes, one other good run is Chicago to NYC or Boston (change in Albany). The North Shore Limited has a very good real restaurant with table cloths and waiters. Otherwise there is only the Cafe with its microwave hamburgers and such - but you can buy a beer.
Incidentally, the long arm of the TSA can be found on trains too. The train was delayed for some 20+ minutes, in the dead of night, at Rochester or Syracuse while two burly men with side arms strolled the cars looking for "suspicious" people.
I was once put on hold for half an hour (call me stubborn) for a routine inquiry regarding Amtrak schedule. As a loyal American, you could just cry when you travel around Europe by train. The train stations are mostly in the heart of town, walking distance to main businesses. In Germany, the train platforms inform you where to stand to board if you want breakfast. When the train pulls up, bingo, there it is. The club seats have electrical outlets for your computer, etc. Why, even the overhead announcements in English as spoken by a 'foreigner' are more clearly enunciated. Little wonder their overall energy consumption is so much lower. You could just cry.
Amy Goodman is a fraud. She exposed herself further with her coverage on Iran, Libya Ivory Coast and Syria. She, like many on the left today are the left arm of the US State Department. They tell simple truths to consolidate bigger lies. people are suckered into their orbits when they make some sense sometimes. Fundamentally they are corrupt. Democracy Now has transmogrified
By the way, the objective of the airport searches and all that is to make the typical American used to subservience and regimentation. After you have been "baptized" through that humiliation aka raped. you have lost your dignity. and would stoop a little lower at the next encounter. Wherever that may be.
There is no grander fight than the fight against imperialism. Imperialism corrupts everything else. It is the supreme crime of all crimes. All other crimes are woefully subordinate.
The power of the corporation, airport search’s, surveillance, police actions, spying etc. are but by products of the imperial beast. For example don’t be surprised to find an American public marinated in induced fear accommodating the use of drones at home. Chicken do come home to roost. You cannot have it both ways Amy and her cohorts. You cannot have imperialism abroad and a republic at home. The Roman empire, British empire and other such predatory states have rich examples to learn from. Amy is but a modern day colonial missionary
Those refusing body scanners at airports and now the allowed strip-searches...a nation filling up with proctologists!