Trust the Official Stance on Nuclear Radiation Threat to the West Coast?

In times of crisis it's easy to get caught up in the fervor created by rapidly changing events.  While I always try to balance intrigue with a bit of reason when dealing with "Conspiracy Theories," it always becomes difficult to wade through the barrage of slanted media coverage during times like these.  This is where I need your help.  I need you to tell me what your thoughts are on the ongoing crisis in Japan, and what you think about any concerns I may have.  Am I appropriately reading between the lines?  Is the reason that no one in the media (including Thom Hartmann and Rachel Maddow) is saying any of what I am thinking due to a recent disconnect with reality - on either my or their part?  So without further adieu, here are my concerns:

When the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant started, all of the government and nuclear experts were on the various news stations assured us that while no level of nuclear radiation is safe, the American public had nothing to worry about.  The radiation simply could not make it to the West Coast of the United States.  But now that information has been released to the public showing that radiation is making its way to the US (expected sometime Friday evening), the pundits have changed their tune to say that the radiation levels will pose no threat.  Am I missing something?  How can something be unsafe but not threatening?

Next, whenever the experts are trying to put the current nuclear crisis into perspective, they tell us that it falls somewhere between Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.  Of course, every hour it moves further from Three Mile Island and closer to Chernobyl (proving that nuclear disasters-or at least their classification-do indeed travel across the globe).  Am I missing something, or are both of those bookends bad?  I mean, radioactive materials from Chernobyl spread across Europe.  Of course, it is difficult to attribute the increases of cancer over the past 50 years to the spread of nuclear testing and nuclear plant issues, but the difficulty to draw a line does not disprove it.

So as I wade through all of the reports, news segments, and articles, I am forced to look at the message as well as the messenger.  Governments always downplay threats until it escalates beyond their previous admissions.  We have already seen this with the Japanese government during this crisis.  And our own history shows a similar pattern (911 clean-up risks, BP contamination estimates, on and on).  Surely we can't expect any more from industry experts.  I mean, is it fair to expect someone who feeds their family by serving the nuclear industry to be honest about the risk that their occupation poses to our families?  Especially GE, the makers of the Mark 1; who coincidentally own the NBC media network.  Am I the only one who is not reassured by pundits who claim that less exposure will come to us than what airline employees, nuclear engineers, or (insert occupation here)?  Hey!  There are reasons why I am not an airline steward and it has nothing to do with their uniforms - though they are ghastly on men.  And please don't trot out the line that there's more radiation from an x-ray than the likely fallout.  I see the x-ray techs run every time they take a shot of my teeth.  And I am only exposed to that for a few seconds twice a year (assuming I make all of my dental appointments).  Besides, x-rays are gamma radiation and nuclear radiation is alpha which is far more destructive to the DNA molecule.

So I don't know if I've dove off the cliff to deranged land, or if I am actually the one being reasonable.  But as a parent of small children, I am deeply concerned about taking the right measures to protect my family.  Of course what do those measures include.  Are we packing up the car for a road trip to Colorado?  Or is there more risk in driving for 20 hours (of course not all the way at once)?  We can scratch off flying, because as the government experts have already pointed out, there is more exposure to radiation flying in an airplane that what will reach our shores from Japan.  Take it for what its worth.

Please leave me your ideas and comments so we can wade through this all together.