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TSA Moving X-ray Body Scanners To Smaller Airports

OverTheGeicoE writes "If you're concerned about possible health effects from TSA's X-ray body scanners, you might be pleased to learn that TSA is making changes. TSA is removing X-ray body scanners from major airports including Los Angeles International, Boston's Logan, Chicago's O'Hare, and New York City's JFK. Then again, these changes might not please you at all, because they are not mothballing the offending devices. No, they are instead moving them to smaller airports like the one in Mesa, AZ. Is this progress, or is TSA just moving potentially dangerous scanners from 'Blue' areas to 'Red' ones right before a presidential election?"

36 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Perhaps rednecks by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 3, Funny

    Are vastly underrepresented in the mutant superhero business and the government has finally decided to do something about it.

  2. And... by Revotron · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...politics has what to do with this, now? Just felt like throwing out blind accusations that the TSA is trying to give Republicans cancer?

    1. Re:And... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think the implication is that Obama is moving the scanners to red states in an effort to increase his votes in those states and (possibly) flip one of them to blue. You would do this by impressing red voters with the "security technology" of the TSA and appearing to address the supposed security concerns of red voters. That's just my interpretation of the comment, I'm not saying I agree.

      As far as I know, you'd have to be pretty delusional to think that anyone will be impressed with the scanners... but I guess it's possible.

      I suspect the real reason is that TSA wishes to roll out something newer and more expensive to the country's major airports and needs to create space and need for them (by eliminating the older body scanners).

    2. Re:And... by Sally+Forth · · Score: 2

      Among the people I know, the reds are far more likely to worry about the devices causing cancer than the blues.

    3. Re:And... by Applekid · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Possible implication: Only "blue" people are actually concerned about X-ray radiation harm, so they're moving the X-ray devices to areas less likely to care.

      Or, rather, areas less likely to contain people with a voice. There's a reason why so many unethical human experiments were conducted in the South.

      --
      More Twoson than Cupertino
    4. Re:And... by Sally+Forth · · Score: 2

      Not all people who are concerned with cancer risk are hippies. But yes, there is a strong branch of conservative Republicans who are concerned with things like hormones fed to milking cows, pesticides, 'unnecessary' medical interventions, and various things that may raise cancer risk. They tend to work towards 'sustainable living'. They often have large gardens, raise animals in a mini-farm, and choose to hire a midwife for home births instead of going to the hospital to have a baby... unless the pregnancy is actually high-risk. There are several of them who homeschool primarily because they believe that it is a more natural way of learning... some of them do unschooling, which I am wary of... I think it can sometimes be done correctly, but the parent and the kid have to have the right kind of personality and learning style.

      I'm not quite that far along those lines. But I do use unbleached flour and aluminum-free baking powder in my cooking, buy beef from a local farmer (a quarter cow at a time, about 175-200lbs, hormone-free and half grain-fed, half grass-fed), pick my own produce as possible from local farms (who use *fewer* pesticides - though nothing I buy is *fully* "organic") and used to keep chickens before I got pregnant the third time.

  3. I'm confused... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Funny

    The last sentence suggests that I should come up with a frothing political conspiracy theory; but I don't know which one I'm supposed to latch on to...

    Are the jackbooted Obamunist gestapo making a last-ditch move to irradiate freedom loving Real Americans in order to ensure their demographic victory even in the event of electoral defeat? Or are the jackbooted Rethuglicans of the police state amping up the fear machine in order to increase the effectiveness of traditional 'democrats are weak on terror, especially ones that are secretly kenyan muslims' messages?

    Help me out here, Slashdot!

    1. Re:I'm confused... by killmenow · · Score: 3, Interesting

      After Obama wins the election, the most likely terrorist threat will come from these areas. They're just thinking...Forward.

    2. Re:I'm confused... by Sally+Forth · · Score: 2

      Maybe they think the chicks from red states are hotter.

    3. Re:I'm confused... by dkleinsc · · Score: 5, Funny

      Actually, what's happening is that the Bavarian Illuminati are using their control of Barack Obama, the NRA, the Ice-Capades, Mel Gibson, and the TSA to seize control of the Moral Majority from the opposing Adepts of Hermes.

      Of course, everything I needed to learn about politics, I gleaned from playing Illuminati: New World Order.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    4. Re:I'm confused... by girlintraining · · Score: 2

      Are the jackbooted Obamunist gestapo making a last-ditch move to irradiate freedom loving Real Americans in order to ensure their demographic victory even in the event of electoral defeat? Or are the jackbooted Rethuglicans of the police state amping up the fear machine in order to increase the effectiveness of traditional 'democrats are weak on terror, especially ones that are secretly kenyan muslims' messages?

      It's the work of subversive poor people who have realized the wealthy tend to travel a lot, so they made a device that'll slowly give frequent fliers cancer but not pose any risk to occasional users such as people going to see the family for christmas, etc. They used their fear of the poor uprising to institute draconian security policies that are now slowly irradiating them to an early grave. Unfortunately, after some of the screeners started karking, they realized the plot, and are now moving to put the scanners on streets in vans and semitrucks and such "searching for drugs", while being able to apply for "premium/trusted/secure/low risk/etc" traveller status so they can avoid the machines.

      Hey, if you're going to make a conspiracy theory, rule #1 is to make it believable and roughly matching up with the facts...

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    5. Re:I'm confused... by guises · · Score: 2

      Conspiracy? Sure - the TSA spends billions on useless scanners that kill more people than they save and then rather then just getting rid of the scanners they hustle them off to smaller airports where fewer people will be paying attention. Getting rid of the scanners entirely would be tantamount to admitting to either a mistake or corruption, depending on who you ask. Equally bad from the TSA's perspective, so better to just sweep them under the rug.

      The red/blue thing is stupid and submitter should feel bad.

  4. Is this the latest Fox and Friends conspiracy? by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Obamanation is moving TSA scanners to affect the election? Haven't seen the morning show recently to get my monthly dose of crazy.

    --
    I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    1. Re:Is this the latest Fox and Friends conspiracy? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

      I guess you haven't watched NBC in the last month. If you want crazy, you only need to see what their flappy headed talkshow hosts are going on about.

      I watched one show last Tuesday night with some crazy old, rich, straight, white guy that still uses binders, of all things, for something. He was talking about trusting him to fix something or another with *magic* - I'm not sure, 47% of me wasn't really listening to him... Just one of the wacky things you see on TV these days.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  5. I think... by Antipater · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think that OverTheGeicoE's tinfoil hat reflected a few too many x-rays into his brain.

    --
    Everything is better with chainsaws.
  6. Hits and my prediction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Haven't seen the morning show recently to get my monthly dose of crazy.

    In a couple of hours, you will see that this "article" will have hundreds of comments. Most of those comments will be two bit opinions; comments with "libtard", "bible thumping moron" and such; and plenty of poo flinging (purposeful reference to monkeys). Ad revenue for this "article" will be wonderful.

    Fox News has shown that "crazy" sells. Getting people emotional, irrational and giving them an avenue for their two bit-opinions makes money. Allowing people to spout off and abuse the "other side" also sells very well.

    P.T. Barnum would be envious.

    1. Re:Hits and my prediction by CanHasDIY · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Modern election politics has shown that "crazy" sells.

      FTFY.

      While FOX is well known for their... interesting and creative interpretations, they by no means have monopoly on irrational, bullshit fluff pieces.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  7. Re:What? by Hatta · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here is how to know Obama is doing a pretty good job: Almost all major accusations against him are factually wrong, or nonsense.

    Bullshit. Obama has failed to faithfully enforce the laws of the United States by failing to prosecute anyone for the well documented torture under the Bush administration, or any of the well documented fraud that lead to the 2008 financial crisis. He continues to engage in warrantless wiretapping. He signed the unconstitutional NDAA. He has prosecuted government whistleblowers under the espionage act at a rate that exceeds all previous administrations combined.

    No, Obama is not doing a pretty good job, unless you thought Bush was doing a pretty good job. In that case, Obama is doing a fantastic job by embracing and extending virtually all of Bush's abuses of power.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  8. Makes perfect sense! by frobbie · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This makes perfect sense. These machines are slower than the new one, so they are moving them to smaller airports where there are less people, and shorter lines for security.

  9. Broken Link by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2
    Fixed:

    No, they are instead moving them to smaller airports

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  10. Political Slurs by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Obamination! Now that's a good one. Here I thought that the kind of trolls who made up slurs were just incapable of doing anything clever with the man's name: Obummer, Odumba are clearly failures.

    I did think "Mittens" was kinda cute.

    But overall, if you aren't pandering to senseless frothing morons, you may want to refrain from turning a person's name into some sort of slur. Given that this is a national election, it's politic to pander to the undecided voters, not the base. Didn't you get the memo?

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
  11. Re:What? by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To the best of my recollection there has been no US president in history, regardless of affiliation, that has prosecuted past administrations for their actions. It's been traditionally viewed as a political landmine both with the citizenry and fellow politicians alike.

    --
    Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
  12. Risk Mitigation by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This sounds to me to be a case of risk mitigation. Take the more dangerous (medically and/or politically) devices out of heavily traveled airports and place them in less traveled ones. In so doing they are not throwing away the capital investment and at the same time reducing exposure to the general population.

    --
    Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
  13. Who's the criminal by SnarfQuest · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I find it interesting that the TSA has caught more thieves (within their own ranks) than terrorists.

    It seems like you hear about "airport personnel" (i.e. TSA employees) who would use their searches to locate and remove valuables from passenger luggage.

    However, I have yet to hear about a single terrorist caught by the TSA.

    It looks to me like the TSA is committing more criminal activity than they are preventing.

    --
    Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
  14. I always opt out by Thagg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yesterday, for example, I opted out of the microwave scanner at Burbank airport. I do this every time I encounter a machine like this, and have the time to still make my flight. I don't do it because I feel they are unsafe (this particular machine is a ambient-microwave imager, it emits no radiation whatsoever) but as a (albiet incredibly weak) political statement -- I feel that if nobody opted out, soon enough nobody would be able to.

    --
    I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
    1. Re:I always opt out by RavenChild · · Score: 2

      I can relate to this. The first time I encountered one of these machines, I had no idea what was happening (this was a good while ago). Now I always opt out even if I'm running late. I've had people behind me in line follow me in opting out because they did not know they could. I've never missed a flight because of it and have even gotten through faster than the person behind me at least twice (they had a long line going through). I think that opting out is a small statement but the people who see you do notice.

    2. Re:I always opt out by houghi · · Score: 2

      You, sir, are a hero.

      And I mean that not in how the media calls everybody a hero. I mean that as a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    3. Re:I always opt out by turp182 · · Score: 2

      If 5% opted out the system could come to a halt. I always ask to be manually searched and they also search my bag (large foot powder, I wear the finger shoes, they drug test it...).

      Never submit to the machines. Make the people work.

      And if they get close to your junk just say "Oh yeah" or groan a little. The search goes much more quickly after that.

      I'm a guy by the way, I can understand a woman not wanting to do this, but they can ask for a woman to do the frisking, then it's game on.

      --
      BlameBillCosby.com
  15. Re:What? by FatSean · · Score: 2

    He's doing a pretty good job of not doing what John McCain wanted to do WRT wars and torture.

    --
    Blar.
  16. Re:What? by dkleinsc · · Score: 3, Informative

    The interesting thing about all that is that this argument has not once come up in the presidential debates. Why? Because it's safe to say that Mitt Romney and the Republican political establishment agrees wholeheartedly with all of those decisions.

    And people wonder why I'm voting for a minor party this year in what everyone thinks is a critical swing state.

    --
    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  17. Re:OverTheGeicoE is full of shit and by isorox · · Score: 2

    there was absolutely no reason for that last sentence to be included with the lead in. Fuck you, you inflammatory asshole.

    The editors left it in (or added it) to drive page impressions. Chill.

  18. Darwinian selection at work... by Genda · · Score: 2

    MMMmmmmmm, I love the smell of roasting fundies at the airport. It smells like the second coming!

    This was a parody, this is only a parody, had it been a real malapropism, there would have been no disclaimer, only a pithy insult, once again, this was only a parody... for those too young to get the reference, please look up "Apocalypse Now" associated with the phrase "I love the smell"

    Though folks willing to be nuked for "Security" reasons can't be surprised when successive generation get smaller and smaller, and more and more mutant... just saying life is full of trade-offs.

  19. Re:What? by gorzek · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I despised Bush. Obama is smarter but carries on most of the same policies, especially when it comes to foreign policy and economic intervention. About the only place where he really differs is on social issues and the role of government aid programs.

    All this has done is make his opposition even more insane. So, now I get to choose between a guy who is mostly like Bush and a guy who seems to have no beliefs of his own, but is beholden to a base made up of lunatics. Awesome choice there.

    I voted for Obama, again, because I could not in good conscience vote to further empower the deranged hysterics of the Republican Party.

  20. Re:What? by Hatta · · Score: 2

    You did the wrong thing. What you should be afraid of is not a bad president. What you should be afraid of is a never ending sequence of bad presidents that we can't do anything about because our electoral system is broken. By voting either D or R, you are casting a vote in favor of lack of choice. That has far worse consequences than just one bad president. Take the long view next time.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  21. unfortunately the "wealthy" use private planes by Chirs · · Score: 2

    It's only normal people that fly with other passengers.

  22. Where is Assange when you need him? by WaffleMonster · · Score: 2

    It would be soo awesome to have some internal memos detailing evidence of TSA playing security games for *political* reasons right now before the elections.