[ RadSafe ] RadSafe Digest, Vol 367, Issue 1

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

Come ON back at you, Gary!  Things like this happen all the time.  How
many years did people know that the mortgage system was broken, with
loan officers authorizing loans beyond what the property was worth or
the people could pay?  (My wife and I saw it back in the early 90s, and
we weren't by any means the first).  When did the regulators step in and
stop this common knowledge corruption?  NEVER!  

 

The first time I visited family in Chicago after I started driving, one
of my uncles told me that if I ever got stopped by the police I should
fold up a $10 bill (this was a while ago) and put it behind my driver's
license, and that would turn a much larger ticket into a warning.  I
never had cause to use that advice, but given everything else about
Chicago in the elder Mayor Daley's reign, I don't doubt it was good.  

 

I agree with you that corruption in car inspection is greater than in
X-ray inspection, both because I believe there is a higher level of
professionalism in both x-ray inspectors and those they inspect, and
because there is a lot more money in car inspections.  I am also pretty
confident that, as long as a corrupt inspection service wasn't too
blatant the authorities would have other priorities (it is WAY more
interesting to do undercover work to hunt for prostitution at strip
clubs than car inspectors who allow their own sloppiness to help people
pass the inspection).  

 

Another example of something that is illegal, but happens all the time,
and is common knowledge: scalping tickets.  If you REALLY wanted to get
into a sold out event, and were willing to pay what it took, do you
think it would be too hard get tickets?  The same is true with
marijuana.  Yeah, there are occasional busts, but they usually don't
make much news, and they don't stop the activity.  

 

I had more, but I suspect this is a topic that we will simply have to
agree to disagree.