Re: Airport safety-xrays

[PBarring@KDHE.STATE.KS.US]

Golly gee, maybe we could institute strip searches and body cavity exams as

well!



OK Folks, this is just too much.  I am sorry Paul to pick on your post for

me to flame over, but I can't stand it any more.  These knee jerk reactions

are going to put this country into traction.  The last time I checked, the

Constitution of this country GUARANTEED freedom from unreasonable search

and seizure.  At what point will we be satisfied?  At what point will we

start to say, "Hey!  That is MY property you are taking."?  Ceramic knives?

PLASTIC KNIVES!?  How about poly-carbonate guns that use air for

propellant?  What about playing cards?  Pens?  Pencils?  Eyeglasses?  Ask

any Army Ranger, SEAL or Marine Scout and they will tell you that almost

anything can be used as a deadly weapon.  Just how much of our freedom are

we willing to give up in order to FEEL safe?  Are the business travelers

willing to give up their cell phones and laptops?  Because you will.  How

about cameras?  Unless you can demonstrate that the camera really is a

camera or open it for inspection, they will go too.  Writing instruments?

Nope, they're sharp.  Knives and forks in first class or on dinner flights?

Nope, soup of the day.  Do we all really want all of our possessions pawed

over by overworked and underpaid security guards?  How about automatic

weapon toting pseudo soldiers roaming the airports and guarding the gates

and parking lots?  Sound radical?  Sound hysterical?  You bet!  Because

that is what is overtaking the country right now.  Hysteria.  The gun

toting guards are already a reality in many other countries.  Terrorists

still manage to travel freely.  Why?  Because they know how to blend in and

not draw attention.  Any determined terrorist or madman WILL get aboard a

plane.  They WILL find a weapon, whether they bring it or find it.  And,

they WILL threaten the passengers and crew, if that is their goal.  All the

precautions in the world won't stop them.  Well, maybe if we strap everyone

down for the flight and shoot anyone who tries to move.  What we, as a

country need to realize, and FAST, is that unless we WANT to give up a

significant amount of freedom, we will have to except a certain amount of

risk.  We cannot be safe all the time.



Last night President Bush announced the establishment of a new cabinet

position.  Office of Home Security.  Doesn't anyone remember the Red Scare?

Doesn't anyone remember McCarthyism?



If we allow what happened to the US on September 11, 2001 to remove any our

freedoms. Then we will have lost the entire conflict. The terrorists will

HAVE accomplished their mission.  Any battles, wars or legal pronouncements

from this point on are meaningless.  The war on terror will already be over

and we will have given the terrorists everything they wanted.  Sure, we

need to be more vigilant.  Yes, we needed to have our complacency shaken.

And strange as it may sound, yes, this tragedy HAS brought the country

together, for now.  But if we allow fear to guide our path from now on;

this country, and all she stands for WILL fall.  We will have allowed fear

to conquer us and America as well.



Please think about this in the days and months to come.  Winston Churchill

said it best in the darkest hours of the Battle of Britain; "We nothing to

fear, but fear itself".  The best thing we as Americans can do is continue

as before.  Travel, continue business as usual.  Be a little more wary, and

keep our eyes open, but don't let fear rule us.  Don't let fear rule our

representatives in congress and in the Administration.



Thank you all in Radsafe for putting up with my rant, but don't just read

it and delete it.  THINK about what I have said.



Peace to us all



Phil



"The opinions in this post are mine and mine alone, unless you agree with

them and then they can be yours as well.  My employer has no say in my

opinions, yet."









Dear radsafe:



As many of you know already, there are x-ray machines

used at some US prisons which are used to whole body

x-ray persons entered the prisons.  These machines can

detect ceramic/plastic knives and plastic explosive

packages on the surface of bodies or even embedded

inside the human body.  Perhaps these devices should

be used at boarding areas at airports.



Do anyone know what the shallow/deep dose equivalents

would be for a whole body x-ray scan which this type

of system?



Would an electron beam tommography unit work in this

type of application?  What would the dose equivalent

be using this?



Thanks,



Paul Shafer









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