such as half a tank of gasoline. (Half, because it's the fumes that are explosive, the liquid is merely flammable.)

It's for charity, I'd have taken the $10.

Were any of the TSA criminals charged with a federal felony for violation of civil rights under color of law? Why not?

And you're wrong.

I have yet to see a claim that the cancer machines are safe from any sane person who did not have a financial interest in them.

Tangentially to the topic:

I will withhold my opinions on Chiropractors (D.C.) for the moment, but as a Physician (M.D.) and knowing other Physicians (M.D.) who are Radiologists it is hard to tell what danger or lack there of these machines pose to the public.

The Chief of Radiology at the Hospital where I work and with whom I have talked to a few times about the Body Scanners has said the only info he can point to is 1 article printed in the Journal of the American College of Radiology which said that based on the DATA (provided to them, not DATA that they collected themselves) on the Backscatter Technology (which I understand is no longer in use), it would take 1,000 scans before a human received the same dose of radiation as 1 chest x-ray.

With regards to the Millimeter Wave Technology, it is similar to the type of wave that the cell phone puts out and according to what I have personally read the answer is mixed and as best I can tell none of it one way or the other is conclusive.

As an Emergency Medicine Physician, rarely (and to date never) would patient ask my opinion on the safety of the Airport Scanners (they would be more apt to ask their personal Physician), but to be honest, I am not exactly sure what I would tell a patient. I would probably say something like, I have no conclusive knowledge to make a qualified opinion, but that I would imagine that a few times a year is probably alright though I would not make it a daily occurrence and definitely not a multiple time a day occurrence.

On-topic:

I have given a lot of thought to this topic over the last few days and I have decided it is a job like anything else, it is the person who takes the job that makes it just another job or take it to the place of Pseudo-Officer, etc.

People would act the same way whether they worked at TSA or practiced Medicine or any other job where they would come in contact with other people.

Case in point, I called to make an appointment with my Dermatologist to have a rash looked at and while I know the guy and could have called him directly, I try not to pull rank at every turn and called up the office like any other patient. I spoke to his receptionist who is mean and could compete with the meanest power hungry TSA Employees around. She barks at the patients and sees her job as a buffer between the patients and the Physician as well as his protector all wrapped up in one. She demands to know what is wrong with the patient and doesn't take nicely to being told I would rather tell the Doctor personally.

She sees herself as the gatekeeper to the appointments and treats the patients with contempt, plus, she has an heir of authority to her that sounds like you better respect me or no appointment for you.

My point, she is merely a secretary in a Doctor's Office and she powers trips like so many other people, some of them TSA. I do feel that the job of TSA probably attracts a larger proportion of people who enjoy having some authority/power (even if it is very little and on the scale of things and very unimportant)

The funny part is that the Dermatologist is a really nice guy and would never treat a patient like that and the patients put up with her because he is so nice and so good. I put up with it because I respect him as a Physician and because he is a nice guy. In a similar vein I put up with TSA because I want to travel and I need to deal with them to be able to fly (whether I should have to deal with them or not is a different topic all together)

Simply put, I see no problem with a light hearted TSA Employee, heck I would wager if the entire Agency was more light hearted (whether we agreed with TSA or not), it (the TSA as well as its processes and procedures) would be a lot easier to stomach and maybe they would be less disliked as an Agency.

Guys, the thread is about light hearted TSA people. Not flyertalk members b.tching.

The TSA screeners including what appeared to be a TSM (was wearing a suit) stood by while Ms. Armato was held in a cage at the checkpoint for over an hour.

Her civil rights were violated, she was illegally detained, and I am pretty sure that a good lawyer could find several other legal violations were committed by TSA .

Yet as far as I know no TSA employees were ever held accountable for their actions.

Why is that?

I snipped all but the above to keep things brief.

Question, would you as a MD ever advise a person to accept x-ray exposure unless there was a qualified medical reason? That is what TSA was doing with Backscatter Strip Search Machines. Thankfully they are no longer being used.

Radiogirl has posted numerous times on the MMW scanners. She strongly suggests that the MMW are harmless if I fully understand her writings.

Your comment on front staff people in some practices is interesting.

I find that how I am treated by the doctors gatekeepers has a major impact on if I will continue to use that practice. In fact I did drop a doctor for exactly that reason. I really liked him and felt that he was very competent.

Doctors and all professionals need to be aware of what is happening out front in their offices. The actions of their employees can have a major impact on how patients and customers feel.

The government wound up paying her $75,000. Were the clerks even fired? And think about it. The TSA assigned someone to shadow Ms. Armato at the checkpoint. WHY was that necessary? After the first incident, why were the offending clerks not out the door so fast their heads spun? WHY does the TSA have passenger support people to show up and make sure screening gets done right? Why isn't the screening process done right all the time, with the consequence of failure being that the offending clerk gets fired?

In the Armato case the TSA staff at the checkpoint should have been prosecuted.

In the case of Phil Mocek the TSA staff who perjured themselves to the police and in court should have been prosecuted.

And more recently, and I forget the airport, but a TSA supervisor perjured himself and again, as far as I know, is still on the job.

So is the Ex-PedoPriest in Philly unless he has left TSA.

All of these are cases of TSA not taking action against employees who have violated the law.

And TSA wonders why they get so little respect.

The screening process isn't done right because TSA refuses to properly manage its employees. So the core fault sits in the office of the TSA Administrator.

Thread closed temporarily for moderator review.

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essxjay
TS/S moderator

Folks,

We've edited or deleted a number of posts and reopened the thread.

Please keep your remarks to the topic at hand rather than personalizing the discussion with non-contributive, snarky or disruptive commentary. As someone posted upthread this is about TSA agents attempting to lighten the misery of screening just a little bit, not your fellow FTers.

Also per FT's published community rules (Help menu >> Rules), altering or deliberately misquoting others, aka "FIFY" posts, is never acceptable.

For convenience here are the applicable sections of the rules:

Thanks for your consideration.

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essxjay
TS/S moderator

Total dose is irrelevant. Getting into a 104 degree hot tub I have more "total dose" of heat entering my skin than pouring a cup on boiling water on myself. Yet the former is pleasantly relaxing and the latter can require hospitalization for third-degree burns. A chest x-ray delivers radiation fairly uniformly throughout a large volume of the body. The nudiscopes deliver it all to the skin, a much lesser volume. The effects of radiation are not linear.

That was my question in the case with the transgender screening. Seems to me if a passenger support agent has to be present, that's an admission that screenings don't always go "by the book."

...and the eyes...