How's this for a Friday news dump?
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
Oh... didn't see that coming :)
But hey, don't worry. This isn't a real threat. How do we know? Because the TSA says so:
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.
We're talking about an agency that got booted from AMTRAK stations because of their stupidity. Between their basic incompetence and their overt disdain for the rule of law, you have to wonder... what exactly would it look like if the terrorists had won?
Don't pay any attention to me, I'm an idiot for doubting some anonymous TSA mouthpiece because now we should believe everything is Totally Safe. Nothing to see here. Trust us. We may suck at arithmetic, but our Radiation Health Safety is just peachy keen!
I can understand being off by an order of magnitude if you were, say, a defense contractor or a bank, but this is pushing it. Good thing the TSA isn't unionized. So what if these failed mall cops get in one day what they thought they were getting in two weeks of exposure? They volunteered to be on the front lines of the war against terrorism. It's a war. You have to accept casualties.
All I can say is if I worked for TSA as a screener, I would go out and buy my own dosimeter. Of course that would cost me $174 bucks a pop for the dosimeter, plus $306.50 for the recharger, but at least I could check it myself without sending it out to a lab. No worries, mate. Now everyone else, just act casual and bend over.