TSA to retest airport body scanners for radiation

Devices showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected

Wikimedia Commons

Alison Young and Blake Morrison
USA TODAY

The Transportation Security Administration announced Friday that it would retest every full-body X-ray scanner that emits ionizing radiation — 247 machines at 38 airports — after maintenance records on some of the devices showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected.

The TSA says that the records reflect math mistakes and that all the machines are safe. Indeed, even the highest readings listed on some of the records — the numbers that the TSA says were mistakes — appear to be many times less than what the agency says a person absorbs through one day of natural background radiation.

Even so, the TSA has ordered the new tests out of "an abundance of caution to reassure the public," spokesman Nicholas Kimball says. The tests will be finished by the end of the month, and the results will be released "as they are completed," the agency said on its website.

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Homegrown terrorism: the threat of Homeland Security and spy agencies

Dees Illustration

Marti Oakley, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

We should have stormed the streets when TSA was set loose in our airports to assault travelers, but we didn’t. Instead, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of us mewled that TSA was “only trying to keep us safe”.  These assaults have nothing to do with our safety; we are being systematically trained to comply, to submit.  Now, because so many of us did comply, TSA is setting up shop in our train stations and courthouses among other public places and is expanding their assaults on US citizens.

The government has now openly declared war on its own citizens.  Think I’m wrong?

While the globalists at the federal level pretend to be in conflict about spending and the uber scary national debt and deficit spending, the global elite that control the government had no problem borrowing millions upon million of dollars to purchase 500 roving surveillance vans. The Z Backscatter vans range in cost from $729,000 to $825,000  that will invade your person, x-ray you, facially imprint you and scan and record your iris.  You can be walking down a street, attending a sports event, or just sitting in a park or your own home and you can be scanned.  Have you figured out who the government is hunting yet?  Who they are after?  I would advise not leaving your home without very dark and large sunglasses and a big hat to pull down over your face.

And the cost of these 500 police state vans?

• 500 @ 729,000 each = 364,500,000.  That’s on the low side.
• 500 @ 825,000 each= 412,500,00 million on the high side.
• 5 employees per van at an average government wage of 45,000 per year = 112,500,000

The startup costs for unlawfully invading your privacy and person and conducting a warrantless search?  If all the vans were purchased for 729,000 each and you add in just the average labor costs=477,000,000

At 825,000 each plus labor== 525,500,000.


So congress is suggesting that food stamps to the poor be cut along with education, heating assistance and Social Security…….but they can afford these vans?

These costs do not include operating expenses, insurance on the vans and employees or unexpected cost overruns, expenses and other hidden costs associated with violating your constitutional rights.  These costs are just the estimates for this year.  These vans are just one source of the homegrown terrorism activities in our country.

How many of you have seen the ads for the national guard, showing young men in a room surrounded by huge screens sitting at a console that looks like a huge gameboard?  The script on the ad says something to the effect of  “GI Joe is operating a drone for surveillance 651 miles away.  But he drives only 2.1 miles to get to his home.” ( I’m paraphrasing there, of course.)  Then shows the young GI pulling up in the driveway of a very nice looking home and heading for the door.  Did any of you stop to think where the drones were being used?  Who GI Joe was spying on?  I bet a fair number of you immediately thought GI Joe was spying on some terrorist camp in Afghanistan or Iraq, didn’t you?  It couldn’t possibly be that he was spying on Americans…..could it?

The cost of one drone? 30,000 each and the government and many cities are ordering huge numbers of them for use in America.  Wonder who they are spying on?

We have been carefully trained to believe that some boogey man working as a terrorist from some far away place is out to get us.  9/11 cemented this fear in most people’s minds even though the whole government conspiracy theory has been so thoroughly debunked, and no reasonable person could conclude that some madman in a cave with a laptop orchestrated that event.  For you who still cling to the conspiracy theory that Osama Bin Laden, a known CIA asset, was responsible for that attack, never fear.  At any given moment Bin Laden will be resurrected and will convey a threat from his grave and will send a video to Homeland Security to disperse to every news station in the country.  I personally think it is wonderful that Bin Laden’s warm and fuzzy feelings towards what is now known as Homeland Security have extended beyond his death. Even death does not keep Bin Laden from sending greetings whenever Homeland Security is about to expand its police state.  Who knew they were so close?  By the way, the FBI has still never charged Bin Laden with 9/11.  I wonder why?

Apparently the globalists fear of the American people is reaching epic proportions.  We have Fusions Centers, data mining, dna collection, iris scanning, facial imprinting, drones, spy vans, snitches and individual dossiers on every person being assembled with any and all information that can be collected about you whether true or not.  They don’t’ care.  Its true if they say it is and every bit of it is to be used to assemble a criminal case against you should they decide to do so. In a police state we are all felons, as any activity we engage in, can be criminalized at the convenience of the government at any time. And, if they had no intentions of using data they collect about you against you, they wouldn’t be so actively engaged in collecting it.

As if the co-opting of Wal-Mart in the snitch and report campaign wasn’t enough, The Stool Pigeon Protection Act was just introduced by Pete King (R) NY, along with several other neo-con crazies.
:To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to provide immunity for reports of suspected terrorist activity or suspicious behavior and response.:

What this means to those out there with no sense of loyalty or morality is that you can snitch and report without repercussion.  Heck, the worst that can happen to you is the government will publish your name if the pressure on them becomes too great.

Amazing how this piece of police state garbage shows up when 22 million people are out of work and many on the verge of losing their homes.  Thousands of families are living in shelters and we are hemorrhaging jobs to third world countries.  This Stool Pigeon Protection Act, will pay you 1,000 for snitching, reporting, or fabricating a story about one of your neighbors, family members or even someone you never even met.  Doesn’t matter.  It’s the act of training you to snitch and report that is important.

We do have an epidemic of homegrown terrorists and terrorism.  We do have radical groups operating in this country and we need to be wary of them.  Homeland Security represents a clear and present danger to the continuance of the sovereign but united (50) states and the citizens of those states.  Anyone who slaps on a government badge and accepts a paycheck with full knowledge that their job will involve violating your rights and the Constitution of the people of the United States, should be considered a domestic terrorist.  Any agency who is unlawfully and actively spying on, data mining, intimidating or violating your Constitutional rights should be considered a radical extremist group and domestic terrorists.

Claiming that you work for the government is no excuse.  Just following orders is no excuse.  You know what you are doing and you know that it is wrong on many levels.  So while I agree with the idea that there are radical extremist groups and homegrown terrorism, I would argue what that actually entails and where it actually is coming from.

Personally I believe every time we encounter a TSA agent, a roving surveillance van or drone, or just see anything that looks to be coming from government, we should all call in on the tip line and report it, demand our $1000 snitch payment and then go shopping.

______________________________________________
Cost of Drones                                                                    
http://news.cnet.com/Drone-aircraft-may-prowl-U.S.-skies/2100-11746_3-6055658.html
Stool Pigeon Protection Act http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/stool-pigeon-protection-act/
Cost of Surveillance X-ray scan vans http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/10/19/x-ray-vans-security-measure-invasion-privacy/

Marti Oakley is a political activist and former op-ed columnist for the St Cloud Times in Minnesota. She was a member of the Times Writer’s Group until she resigned in September of 07. She is neither Democrat nor Republican, since neither party is representative of the American people. She says what she thinks, means what she says, and is known for being outspoken. She is hopeful that the American public will wake up to what is happening to our beloved country . . . little of it is left.  Her website is The PPJ Gazette   

Recently by Marti Oakley: 
Social Security is not an "entitlement" program  

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Drudge Fought The TSA… And Drudge Won

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones
Infowars.com
Monday, November 29, 2010

Despite the establishment media presiding over another mass hoax in claiming that Americans were completely happy with invasive airport security measures, contrary to polls showing a majority in opposition, and that the national opt out day was a failure, the fact that the TSA was forced to change its policy by mothballing naked body scanners and curtailing aggressive pat downs clearly goes to show that the man who almost single-handedly drove the issue, Matt Drudge, fought the TSA and he won.

The big networks and the so-called progressive borg hive, who instantly tried to spin the lack of delays at airports over Thanksgiving as proof that the opt-out protest had failed, conveniently failed to mention the fact that major airports across the country had deliberately mothballed their naked body scanners in a crass PR ploy aimed at deflating the momentum behind the demonstration.

Early reports began to pour in from Twitter users who said that body scanner machines were roped off and out of use in airports such as LAX, Seattle, San Jose and Columbus, Ohio. They also said that pat downs had reverted back to the standard procedure and were not the new grope downs that the TSA had announced a couple of weeks before.

The New Jersey Star-Ledger subsequently reported that, “The majority of Newark’s full-body scanners were idle throughout much of the day, depriving most passengers of the chance to opt out of the controversial screening procedure even if they had wanted to.”

At the nation’s busiest airport, Atlanta-Hartsfield, there was,”limited, if any, use of the controversial full-body scanners,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Later reports confirmed that, the TSA had “backed down and resorted to using the old screening procedures — metal detectors and less-intrusive pat-downs.”

Infowars reporters Rob Dew and Aaron Dykes also flew back from Denver International Airport on national opt-out day and confirmed that body scanners were completely out of use. This was the same airport in which Infowars staffer Michelle was groped by TSA goons who also attempted to fondle her children, in a story that helped kick off the rebellion against invasive airport security.

In addition, many people took part in the protest by avoiding airports altogether. Traffic was jammed on the highways, with the Massachusetts Turnpike playing host to a 30-mile hold-up.  According to AAA, more drivers were on the road than ever before during a Thanksgiving holiday.

The establishment media echo chamber attempted to pull a hoax by claiming that the vast majority of Americans were completely happy with having their genitals groped by federal goons and naked pictures taken of their children. In reality, after Drudge relentlessly drove the issue, polls of Americans that were previously in support of body scanners had reversed dramatically and the ACLU received an avalanche of new complaints.

The nationwide scanner shut down proved two things.

1) Big Sis’s security talk is nothing more than hot air. If the scanners were so imperative to keep us safe from terrorists then why did the TSA turn them off in a vain effort to score political points?

2) Drudge won. The DHS and TSA were forced to change their policies on both naked body scanners and invasive pat downs – both of which were curtailed over Thanksgiving. Whether such a change stays in place remains to be seen – the war will undoubtedly rage on, but there can be little doubt that Drudge won the battle.

As Politico’s Ben Smith highlighted, “There’s no doubt about who won on this issue: Matt Drudge chose it and drove it, illustrating both his continued power and his great sense of the public mood, and it now seems a matter of time until he gets results.”

Indeed, the whole issue underscores once again why the establishment media is so petrified of Drudge’s power to direct the nationwide rebellion against big government. One man with a website was able to take on the might of the multi-billion dollar corporate media industry and the federal government for whom they act as apologists, and in doing so stir the next great wave of resistance against tyranny.

The establishment continually berates Drudge and attempts to assert that he has lost the power to influence the national discourse, even as the Drudge Report continues to smash its traffic record year after year.

As Matt Lewis writes, Drudge has helped to spark a new movement, confounding establishment media pundits who have repeatedly belittled his influence.

Not long ago, of course, there was great debate as to whether or not Drudge even still had it. As Barack Obama was besting John McCain in 2008, many observers wondered whether or not The Drudge Report — which a decade earlier had pushed the Monica Lewinsky scandal into the headlines — had lost a step.

At the Washington Post, Howard Kurtz debated whether or not Drudge still had the clout to drive media coverage. And TPM’s Greg Sargent also argued that Drudge’s influence was over-stated. He was not alone.

Of course, as the TSA rebellion illustrates, Drudge remains incredibly powerful and uniquely important.

The wider issue now becomes not just what Big Sis is subjecting Americans to at airports, but how this same invasive and unconstitutional technology is now being increasingly used on the streets.

As Homeland Security extends its tentacles more and more into our private lives, the rebellion against Big Sis will only accelerate, and Drudge as ever will be at the forefront of that charge, much to the chagrin and embarrassment of the castrated, corrupted, distrusted, and increasingly irrelevant establishment media.

—

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show.

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TSA security officers flunk physics

Mike Adams
NaturalNews
November 14, 2010

Since publishing my story about the TSA’s naked body scanners and the “opt out” procedure, I’ve received a steady stream of reports from people who are traveling, all of whom are now choosing to opt out of the scanners. The reports coming in demonstrate an amazing ignorance among TSA security screeners about how the naked body scanners actually work.

Maybe TSA officers simply buy those X-Ray vision glasses advertised in the back of comic books and use those to gawk at passengers.

One report from a very credible source (a famous health author whom I know quite well) reveals that TSA officers told her thenaked body scanners don’t even emit X-rays. “It’s a myth,” the officer said. “There are no X-rays from those machines.”

Really? Then how do they work? Are they MAGIC? Do TSA officers cast a magic Spell of X-Ray Vision on the air travelpassengers like some sort of Dungeons & Dragons adventure?

(Or maybe the TSA officers simply buy those X-Ray vision glasses advertised in the back of comic books and use those to gawk at passengers.)

That the TSA’s own employees don’t even know these machines emit radiation is a real whopper. But of course it only makes sense: They’ve probably been told this by the TSAbecause no person in their right mind would actually work 8 hours a day standing next to a machine that emits radiation every few seconds (no matter how seemingly small the dosage).

Even dentists and chiropractors who use low-dose radiation to take images of your bones still flee the room or hide behind heavy metal shields before zapping you (as they should). Being exposed to ionizing radiation on a regular basis is inarguably a health hazard.

More TSA lies

Another TSA officer told another contact of mine that the naked body scanner machines are “incapable of storing images.” This, of course, is very different from even the official TSA line which now claims the ability of the machines to store images have been “turned off.” All such machines are delivered by the manufacturer with image storage features built right in, as we previously reported: http://www.naturalnews.com/029378_f…

How are we, the public, to know whether the image storage capabilities have been turned back on again? I bet we’ll find out one day that one of these machines was accidentally left in the “store images” configuration and has been piling up tens of thousands of photos of naked air travelers.

It gets personal

In many cases that have been reported to me, when air travel passengers request to opt out of the naked body scanners, they are humiliated andnearly accused of being insane by TSA officers who keep questioning why they won’t go through the scanner. Some TSA officers even start debating with people as if they are somehow trying to convince them the scanners are perfectly safe.

One TSA agent told a female passenger that the naked body scanner “is perfectly safe even if you’re pregnant” and that it “wouldn’t be harmful to the baby.” Really? How do they know? Sure, they say the radiation levels are so low that you actually get more radiation just from flying at high altitude, but how do they know the radiation from the machine is calibrated correctly? CT scans are commonly found to be way off their configurations, to the point where they actually leave radiation burns and cause people’s hair to fall out (http://www.naturalnews.com/029232_r…).

Are we really to trust that the TSA has configured these machines correctly? It is especially difficult to trust an agency that hires people to run X-ray-emitting scanners who don’t even know their scanners emit X-rays!

How do you explain to a typical TSA agent that the naked body scanner might be dangerous if the guy is so ignorant that he doesn’t even realize the machines emit X-rays?

It’s almost like we need to walk through the airport now with a book called Physics 101. And when we see these TSA agents, we need to sit them down and go through the laws of the universe. Okay, here’s how gravity works, and that’s why you’re sitting down and not floating away into high orbit. And now, here’s electromagnetic wave theory which explains how things like visible light, microwaves, radio waves and X-rays work. And here’s why X-rays penetrate matter better than light waves, and so on.

Of course, they might think you were a terrorist. Try to explain anything intelligent and they’ll think you’re trying to trick them in some clever way. Because, let’s face it, these agents are not the cream of the crop in the IQ department. They don’t know much about X-rays or technology, but they’ve been convinced that making you go through the naked body scanner is somehow, somewhere, making some sort of difference “for the greater good…” although if you ask them how, they wouldn’t be able to explain that, either.

It all reminds me of the use of X-rays by shoe stores in the early 20th century. They used to have X-ray machines where you could try on a shoe then place your foot under the X-ray emitter while seeing the “fit” of your bones through a viewing scope. It was all billed as perfectly safe and healthy. “Advanced,” even!

Of course, a few decades later, some scientists figured out that this was promoting serious cancers in the feet, and these machines were eventually banned — but not without a lot of protests from shoe companies who insisted the machines were totally safe! Yes, this is true history. It’s not a myth. See the photos of the “shoe-fitting fluoroscope” right here:http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/…

The people pushing the most dangerous X-ray machines have always insisted they were safe!

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Airport Body Scanners Under Pressure: Experts Now Warn X-ray Devices "could give you cancer"

dose of radiation may be
"20 times higher than estimated"

Activist Post

As we wrote in our newsletter this week: scanners and backscatter devices are under pressure from all sides.  Despite the best efforts of Michael Chertoff and the TSA, word is out that Backscatter X-ray scanner technology that is being used in airports is exceedingly harmful, along with being an invasion of privacy. 

An increasing number of people are becoming informed and are deciding to opt-out of the radiation and the X-rated detail of you and your family.  Naturally, this has forced the TSA to threaten more invasive physical searches, as they try to coerce people into taking the "easier" option.  This is a sign of desperation, since the success of these machines in airports will determine the future of their presence throughout America. They already are being deployed in street roving vans, and are most likely headed to a mall near you if the public doesn't continue to raise its voice.

This Daily Mail article on the subject is another nail in the coffin for X-ray scanning technology.  Even if you don't care about privacy issues, the fact that experts are now saying that "radiation from the scanners has been underestimated," and that "because the beam concentrates on the skin -- one of the most radiation-sensitive organs of the human body -- that (the) dose may be up to 20 times higher than first estimated," should sound the final alarm.

G. Edward Griffin and Idaho state representative, Phil Hart, have made a strong case that the states have jurisdiction over this Federal program, which has yet to be approved by Congress.

The battle almost has been won before it began; with public support of proposed state legislation, we will see these machines sent to the waste bin where they belong.

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Scanners and Backscatter Machines- the States Have Jurisdiction

YouTube -- MorphCity



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