Explosion at Japanese Nuclear Plant ...

TOP POST OF THE DAY - JAPAN - MIDNIGHT RIDER AND PASTORIUS WILL BE UPDATING

Third Reactor

Reuters:

Japan Fukushima nuclear plant faces new reactor problem

Reuters) - A quake-hit Japanese nuclear plant reeling from an explosion at one of its reactors has also lost its emergency cooling system at another reactor, Japan's nuclear power safety agency said on Sunday.

The emergency cooling system is no longer functioning at the No.3 reactor at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility, requiring the facility to urgently secure a means to supply water to the reactor, an official of the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told a news conference.

On Saturday, an explosion blew off the roof and upper walls of the building housing the facility's No. 1 reactor, stirring alarm over a possible major radiation release, although the government later said the explosion had not affected the reactor's core vessel and that only a small amount of radiation had been released.

The nuclear safety agency official said there was a possibility that at least nine individuals had been exposed to radiation, according to information gathered from municipal governments and other sources.

Nikkei:

Meltdown Caused Nuke Plant Explosion: Safety Body

TOKYO (Nikkei)--The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said Saturday afternoon the explosion at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant could only have been caused by a meltdown of the reactor core.

The same day, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501), which runs the plant, began to flood the damaged reactor with seawater to cool it down, resorting to measures that could rust the reactor and force the utility to scrap it.

Cesium and iodine, by-products of nuclear fission, were detected around the plant, which would make the explosion the worst accident in the roughly 50-year history of Japanese nuclear power generation.

An explosion was heard near the plant's No. 1 reactor about 3:30 p.m. and plumes of white smoke went up 10 minutes later. The ceiling of the building housing the reactor collapsed, according to information obtained by Fukushima prefectural authorities.

At a news conference Saturday night, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano discounted the possibility of a significant leak of radioactive material from the accident. "The walls of the building containing the reactor were destroyed, meaning that the metal container encasing the reactor did not explode," Edano said.

The amount of radiation detected inside the plant after 4:00 p.m. slightly exceeded the dose people can safely receive in a year, according to information obtained by the Fukushima prefectural government.

The No. 1 reactor shut down automatically soon after a massive earthquake hit the area Friday, but its emergency core cooling system failed to cool the reactor's core sufficiently.

NISA is affiliated with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

AP:

Japan reports emergency at second nuclear reactor

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's nuclear safety agency is reporting an emergency at a second reactor in the same complex where an explosion had occurred earlier.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said early Sunday that the cooling system malfunctioned at Unit 3 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. The agency said it was informed of the emergency by Tokyo Electric, the utility which runs the plant.

No further details of the troubles at Unit 3 were immediately available.

An explosion occurred at another reactor in the complex on Saturday, destroying the building housing the reactor and handing authorities an urgent complication amid rescue and relief efforts a day after Friday's earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan's northeastern coast.

the rest here

CNBC:

About 140,000 evacuated from Japan nuke plants: IAEA

VIENNA - About 140,000 people have so far been evacuated from areas near two Japanese nuclear power plants after Friday's earthquake, the U.N. atomic watchdog said in a statement citing information from Japanese authorities.

"Evacuations around both affected nuclear plants have begun," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.

In a 20-km radius around Fukushima Daiichi an estimated 110,000 people have been evacuated. In a 10-km radius around Fukushima Daini about 30,000 people have been evacuated.

"Full evacuation measures have not been completed," it said.

SkyNews:
Japan: Tremor Follows Blast At Nuclear Plant
Richard Williams, Sky News Online

An aftershock has struck near a nuclear plant in Japan - hours after an explosion and radiation leak there sparked fears a meltdown was under way.

The 6.4 magnitude tremor occurred close to the site of dual Fukushima nuclear power plants, where the walls and a roof of a single reactor were destroyed in a blast.

Plumes of smoke were sent billowing into the sky and several workers at the power station were thought to be injured - but officials said the Daiichi Unit 1 reactor's container had not been damaged.

Three Daiichi workers have been taken to hospital after being exposed to radiation at the plant and officials were planning to distribute precautionary doses of iodine to residents.

The nearby Daini power station also suffered a loss of control of pressure in one containment vessel but a spokesman said the reactor pressure remained stable.

the rest here

Times-Standard
Crescent City harbor 'destroyed' in tsunami; man swept off beach near Klamath missing at sea
Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
Posted: 03/12/2011 01:30:18 AM PST

It appears Crescent City and southern Oregon bore the brunt of Friday's tsunami, with officials reporting devastated harbors, sunken boats and a total of seven people swept out to sea, one of whom is presumed dead.

Triggered by a massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan, the tsunami caused tides to begin rising sharply shortly after 7:30 a.m. in Crescent City and surges pounded the coastline throughout the day, with some waves reportedly exceeding 8 feet.

Early Friday evening, the U.S. Coast Guard announced it was suspending the search for a 25-year-old man who was swept off the beach near the mouth of the Klamath River. According to officials, the man and two other people had traveled to the coast to take photos of the incoming waves when all three were swept out to sea. According to the Coast Guard, two of the people were able to get safely back to shore but the third man was not.

Authorities had not released the man's identity as of the Times-Standard's deadline Friday.

According to the dispatch center for the Curry County Sheriff's Office in Oregon, four people were also swept off a beach near Brookings after venturing down to the shore to get a closer look at the surge waves. All were able to make it back to shore, and only minor injuries were reported, according to the dispatch center.

Though both harbors were safely evacuated, the surge waves caused extensive damage to the ports in Brookings and Crescent City.

”The harbor has been destroyed,” said Crescent City Councilman Rich Enea in a phone interview Friday, estimating the damage at millions of dollars. “Thirty-five boats have been crushed and the harbor has major damage. Major damage.”

Witnesses reported seeing a kind of oil slick on the surface of harbor waters at times Friday, likely the result of diesel fuel spilling from crushed and sunken boats.

Officials in Crescent City also reported that most of the piers and docks in the harbor suffered extensive damage, though they said no injuries have been reported in the area, which they attributed to extensive tsunami preparedness tests.

Before dawn Friday, tsunami sirens sounded throughout Crescent City, alerting residents to the coming surges. Enea said public safety employees also worked quickly to seal off the harbor area, and evacuate low-lying areas of the city, with people being moved to a Red Cross shelter set up at Del Norte High School.

Enea said automated tsunami sirens, installed in September, worked perfectly Friday after faltering in earlier tests.

”Let me tell you, a few weeks ago they tried them and they didn't work -- but, today they're working,” Enea said of the sirens, which receive wireless signals directly from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Enea said Crescent City citizens, hardened from going through tsunami drills every 90 days, reacted calmly.

”Nobody panicked and everybody just did what they were supposed to do,” he said.

the rest here

CNN:
Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet; shifted Earth's axis

CNN) -- The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis.

"At this point, we know that one GPS station moved (8 feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass," said Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the 8.9-magnitude quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 4 inches (10 centimeters).

The temblor, which struck Friday afternoon near the east coast of Japan, killed hundreds of people, caused the formation of 30-foot walls of water that swept across rice fields, engulfed entire towns, dragged houses onto highways, and tossed cars and boats like toys. Some waves reached six miles (10 kilometers) inland in Miyagi Prefecture on Japan's east coast.

the rest here

From AP, there was this:

IWAKI, Japan (AP) — An explosion at a nuclear power station Saturday destroyed a building housing the reactor amid fears that it could melt down after being hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami.

Large amounts of radiation were spewing out and the evacuation area around the plant was expanded but officials did not know how dangerous the leak was to people. Shinji Kinjo, a spokesman for the Japanese nuclear agency, could not say how much radiation was in the atmosphere or how hot the reactor was following the failure of its cooling system.

And then, this:

TOKYO – Japan's government spokesman says the metal container sheltering a nuclear reactor was not affected by an explosion that destroyed the building it's in.

Yukio Edano says the radiation around the plant did not rise after the blast but instead is decreasing. He added that pressure in the reactor was also decreasing.

Pressure and heat have been building at the nuclear reactor since an earthquake and tsunami Friday caused its cooling system to fail.

An explosion Saturday blew out the walls of the building housing the reactor. The government has ordered people within a 12-mile (20-kilometer) radius of the plant in Fukushima to evacuate the area.

Who knows what is really going on?

Other headlines:

Nearly 10,000 people missing from coastal town of 17,000...



Building Housing Fukushima I Reactor Blows Up...
VIDEO...
Top official: There was no explosion...
Radiation leaking, pressure in core unstable...
Caesium detected; points to nuke fuel melt...
'MAY BE EXPERIENCING NUCLEAR MELTDOWN'...
Japan nuke officials: 'High probability'...
'No immediate health hazard,' officials say -- while evacuating 45,000...
REPORT: Evacuation widened to 20 km...
Japan declares emergencies at 5 nuclear units...
Evacuations at Fukushima II...

When An ill Wind Blows From Afar! (Like from Iran, Japan or North Korea!)

Surviving Radioactive Fallout & Radiation Contamination from Iran, Japan or North Korea

Potassium Iodide (KI) or Potassium Iodate (KIO3) before exposure will saturate (fill up) a persons thyroid gland with safe stable iodine to where there is no room for later uptake of radioactive iodine. Once the thyroid is saturated, then any additional iodine (radioactive or stable) that is later inhaled or ingested is quickly eliminated via the kidneys.From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_iodide

John Cooper's comments copied from GatewayPundit:

"Nuclear reactors are not like a pot of water boiling on your kitchen stove. They continue to produce decay heat for weeks after the reactor is shut down due to the radioactive decay of fission by-products. Those megawatts of heat must continuously be removed using the Residual Heat Removal [RHR] system. Failing to cool the reactor after shutdown results in core heatup and possibly core meltdown. The RHR systems I’m familiar with use redundant 400HP vertical shaft centrifugal pumps driven by electric motors to circulate the hot water through heat exchangers to cool the water in the reactor.

When the reactor is shut down (“scrammed”), the plant depends upon offsite utility power to run the RHR pumps and other safety equipment. When the plant loses offsite power (as happened at Fukushima), there are three huge diesel generators that start up automatically to provide emergency backup power. At least that’s the theory.

At Fukushima, some dumb ass design engineer decided it was a good idea to locate the diesels where they could be flooded. No diesels means no electric power to run the emergency systems to cool the plant. Apparently they had the steam-powered auxiliary feedwater pumps for a while.

Now they’re totally fooked. It must be real dark in the control room at the moment.

“In a BBC report a nuclear physicist stated that if they use sea water to cool the reactor, they have written off the reactor for ever being used again. Too many contaminants in sea water, the reactor will be scrapped if they do this.”

That’s exactly correct. The chlorine in the salt water causes stress-corrosion cracking in the stainless steel piping. The plant will never operate again if exposed to sea water.

Also, if they’re desperate enough to pump sea water in there, I’m wondering what they are going to do with the radioactive runoff. Let it drain out to sea, probably. With no electricity, what else can they do?"

NOW A THIRD REACTOR

(Reuters) - A quake-hit Japanese nuclear plant reeling from an explosion at one of its reactors has also lost its emergency cooling system at another reactor, Japan's nuclear power safety agency said on Sunday.

Meltdown Caused Nuke Plant Explosion: Safety Body

TOKYO (Nikkei)--The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said Saturday afternoon the explosion at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant could only have been caused by a meltdown of the reactor core.
The same day, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501), which runs the plant, began to flood the damaged reactor with seawater to cool it down, resorting to measures that could rust the reactor and force the utility to scrap it.
Cesium and iodine, by-products of nuclear fission, were detected around the plant, which would make the explosion the worst accident in the roughly 50-year history of Japanese nuclear power generation.
An explosion was heard near the plant's No. 1 reactor about 3:30 p.m. and plumes of white smoke went up 10 minutes later. The ceiling of the building housing the reactor collapsed, according to information obtained by Fukushima prefectural authorities.
At a news conference Saturday night, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano discounted the possibility of a significant leak of radioactive material from the accident. "The walls of the building containing the reactor were destroyed, meaning that the metal container encasing the reactor did not explode," Edano said.

"Why Do They Hate Us..."

...the self-loathers ask. Here's why, demonstrated at a beach in Israel:




Joie de Vivre vs. "there is no fun in Islam." Or, the hatred of the good for being the good. Yeah, it's that simple.

Crossposted at The Dougout

Bill Maher to Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Muslim Brotherhood): Qur'an is "hate-filled holy book"

Of course Maher would say the Bible is too, but that's ok.

Ellison trots out Qur'an 5:32, about how killing one innocent person is like killing the whole world. He doesn't mention that it was addressed as a warning to the "Children of Israel," or that many Muslims do not consider any non-Muslim to be innocent. Nor does he mention 5:33, which mandates crucifixion or amputation of the hands and feet on opposite sides for those who make war against Allah and his messenger, or spread discord in the land.

Additionally, Ellison says, those who declare Islam is peaceful do so for "spiritual reasons", whereas those who call for violence "do so for political grievances".


Really? To some extent that is true, I am sure. But, only to a small extent. The truth is, Bin Laden has a Fatwa, from an Imam using the Koran, to use nuclear weapons on the Western World.


Jihadists cite the Koran as their inspiration to Jihad almost every time they commit acts of violence and give voice to why they did so.


And, what could Ellison possibly say to these two polls which prove the majority of Muslims want gays and apostates stoned to death?

Game Over, Pew Poll Reveals Majority of Muslims Are Anything But "Moderate"

Game Over II: Poll of Egyptians Shows 84% Want Apostates Stoned to Death 

Islam is, indeed, an inherently violent religion, and the Koran is a hate-filled holy book, and IBA tips it's hat to Bill Maher for having the balls to say what he said to Keith Ellison on national television. 


Great job, Bill

Voltaire Won't Stop Jihad

From Roland Shirk at Jihad Watch:

I hope that secular readers will pardon me for an intra-Christian column, but the attitude of Christians toward Islam is one of the critical problems we face in fighting jihad, so I think it is worth addressing. In a thought-provoking column at the worthy group-blog The American Catholic, Christopher Blosser mulls over remarks by the late, great Fr. Richard John Neuhaus:

Yet more troubling is the message that Islam, in order to become less of a threat to the world, must relativize its claim to possess the truth. That plays directly into the hands of Muslim rigorists who pose as the defenders of the uncompromised and uncompromisible truth and who call for death to the infidels. If Islam is to become tolerant and respectful of other religions, it must be as the result of a development that comes from within the truth of Islam, not as a result of relativizing or abandoning that truth. Is Islam capable of such a religious development? Nobody knows. But, if the choice is between compromising Islamic truth or a war of civilizations, it is almost certain that the winner among Muslims will be the hard-core Islamism that [Bernard] Lewis rightly views as such a great threat. 

Christianity is more, not less, vibrantly Christian as a result of coming to understand more fully the mysterious and loving ways of God in His dealings also with non-Christians. Although the story of this development is complex, the important truth is that tolerance and mutual respect are religious, not secular, achievements. I will say it again: the reason we do not kill one another over our disagreements about the will of God is that we believe it is against the will of God to kill one another over our disagreements about the will of God. Christians have come to believe that. We must hope that more and more Muslims will come to believe that. That will not happen, however, if they are told that coming to believe that will make them less faithful Muslims.

It would be easy at this point to dismiss Neuhaus as just another dhimmi—but that would not be fair. As Blosser points out, Neuhaus was one of the first major writers (along with Emmanuel Mounier) to tout the work of Bat Ye'or in chronicling centuries of Islamic intolerance, after decades of white-washing by ecumenical Westerners.
So instead, let me engage Fr. Neuhaus directly. Opining that Muslims will not surrender intolerance if they think that would compromise their claim to possessing the full religious truth, he expresses the hope that some unexpected development from within Islam may teach Muslims how to reconcile their orthodoxy with modern pluralism. Neuhaus admits that “[n]obody knows” whether this is even remotely possible. Readers of this site and of Robert Spencer's exhaustive, still unrefuted works on Islam will answer, solemnly, “No. Next question?” Readers of Robert Reilly's The Closing of the Muslim Mind might go further and explain why Neuhaus' hope is tragically unfounded: The one strand of Islamic intellectual tradition that was amenable to secular reason, capable of reinterpreting Muslim texts and traditions in the light of history, the Mu'tazilite movement, was utterly defeated in the struggle for dominance some 800 years ago. Its “heresy” was buried as completely as the Albigensian movement in Christian Europe, and its very name is a byword among religious Muslims for compromise and apostasy. As Robert Spencer pointed out in his interview with Reilly, this happened for good religious reasons: The Mu'tazilites, however much we might prefer them, did not have the texts on their side. When their critics such as Al-Ghazali accused them of adulterating the primitive spirit of Islam with Hellenistic rationalism that undermined the firm (but brittle) structure of Muslim thought, the anti-rationalists had most of the texts on their side. Indeed, reading Reilly's account of the Mu'tazilites suggests that their innovations, if adopted, would have shattered Islamic orthodoxy. They weren't so much like Renaissance critics of the papacy, or even Protestant reformers, as they were like Enlightenment philosophes, or modern Episcopalian liberals.

Here is the problem with Neuhaus' foray into optimistic speculation: The rigorists are right. When Rev. John Courtenay Murray argued in the wake of World War II that the Catholic Church could renounce the centuries-old position that Catholic states should restrict non-Catholic worship, he could point back to the early writing of St. Augustine on the subject, to the papacy's long record of protecting Jews from predatory Catholic monarchs—and more fundamentally, to the deep Christian respect for the dignity of the person. Jesus Christ Himself said, “My kingdom is not of this world,” and the Church for centuries fought to distinguish her role and her powers from those of the State. Muslims who favor tolerance, who reject dhimmitude as the proper role of unbelievers, have no such sources to point to—apart from some early suras that were abrogated within the Qur'an, and flouted by Muhammad. A Muslim who rejects sharia and dhimmitude rejects Muhammad. Doing that, I can say with some confidence, would indeed “relativize” the truth claims of Islam.

Really, I have to ask why Christians are even bothering to play this game of fantasy foosball regarding Islam. If (by some unimaginable chance) there came a revival of Mu'tazilite rationalism within Islam, it would not come as the result of debates in the pages of First Things magazine. The last time Muslims took seriously the claims of Western modernity it was within the Ottoman Empire, and occurred because of repeated military defeats, economic backwardness, and political humiliations inflicted on Muslim states by superior Western powers. Islam, it began to seem to certain Muslims, wasn't “working,” and since it claims in its own sacred texts and traditions to be a conquering faith, its this-worldly failures raised theological doubts. Muslims began to adopt Western-style reforms, to abolish “backward” practices like the jizya, and re-examine (furtively and cautiously) the relation between faith and reason. None of this had anything to do with interreligious dialogue—whose sole purpose today is to diminish Muslim atrocities against the helpless Christians in their midst.

So to the question Neuhaus raises, “Can Islam reform itself?” I answer not “Nobody knows,” but “I don't care.” Our efforts as citizens of secular states should be driven by proper patriotism, a love for ourselves and our neighbors who really will be oppressed if Islam (as it currently exists) takes power in any country. What some fantastical future Islam might do under unimaginable conditions mattters little. We should leave such questions to the providence of God.

Insofar as we speak and write as Christians, a different question arises. Should we be urging on Muslims the most corrosive aspects of secular modern culture (such as feminism, skepticism, and hedonism), in order to weaken our enemies—in effect, should we poison their wells? Here, the answer is no. Let those potent forces, which have already devastated the West, operate without our encouragement. What we should be saying to Muslims is not: You must embrace the Enlightenment, the Sexual Revolution, or the 60s. We should instead be arguing energetically that Muhammad was not a prophet, that Islam is not true, that many of its practices outrage the God of Abraham, and its followers should abandon their false religion for the true one. What the West needs now is not a Muslim Voltaire, but an Arabic Saul of Tarsus.

Addressing Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood and Democracy

From PJM:

The entire apparatus of U.S.-Muslim dialogue is controlled by our enemies.
READ


From Front Page:

The 5 Most Dangerous Muslim Brotherhood Front Groups Working to Destroy America from Within

According to the Team B II Report by a who’s-who of top, national security experts at The Center for Security Policy, “most Muslim organizations in America are controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood or a derivative group.” Meanwhile, the Obama Administration engages in “willful blindness-induced failures” to address “as great a threat as any enemy the nation has ever confronted.” The Muslim Brotherhood, also known as the Ikhwan, supports armed struggle against non-Muslims and has itself identified the Islamic Movement in America to be a part of the “grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated….” This “stealth jihad“, referred to as “civilization jihad“, is based in Islamist hatred for Western civilization, hence their unwillingness to conform to American standards of jurisprudence. It is through the “legal, political, military doctrine known within Islam” as Shariah that these organizations are engaging in a non-violent, “for the moment,” campaign to undermine and destroy America.
Here are the five most prominent organizations named specifically by the Muslim Brotherhood as like-minded groups of “friends” in the mission to re-establish a global Islamic caliphate.


#5 — Muslim Students Association
The first organization created by the Muslim Brotherhood was the Muslim Students Association [MSA].

As the Muslim Brothers “settled” in North America, they did so according to their stated bylaws.  At the University of Illinois in Urbana, the Ikhwan created its first front organization in North America, the Muslim Students Association (MSA) in 1963.  Today, MSA chapters are present on many college campuses across the country, serving as recruiting nodes for the MB and, in some cases for violent jihadist organizations [...]

[...] [O]ut  of  the  MSA came  nearly  every  Muslim  organization in America today.  Initially, as MSA chapters sprang  up on American campuses, they presented Islam in public as an acceptable alternative to other religions, never mentioning its revolutionary aspects.  In recent years, MSA members have  become  ever  more  aggressive  in  their demands for accommodations and  silencing those who oppose them. [Team B II Report]

We have seen the MSA’s Jew-hatred and silencing tactics on full display in their treatment of Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at UC-Irvine and support for a second Holocaust at UC-San Diego. Abdurrahman Alamoudi who was arrested in 2003 for terrorist fundraising, is a former President of MSA. Alamoudi, a financier of Al Qaeda, is a compatriot of conservative infiltrator Suhail Khan. You may remember Alamoudi also for his role in starting the Roxbury Mosque. Other former members include Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S. government’s most-wanted terrorist; Aafia Siddiqui, arrested for attempting to kill U.S. officers in Afghanistan;  Ali Asad Chandia, arrested for conspiring with the Kashmiri terrorist group Lashkar-i-Taiba; and Wa’el Hamza Julaidan, founder of Al Qaeda.
The Muslim Student Association pledge of allegiance, as stated in the video below, is in sync with the credo of the Muslim Brotherhood. The MSA claims 150 groups in 25 cities in America. Despite these horrifying truths, common ground with the Left in an anti-Israel agenda clearly helps to ensure the extremist MSA’s continued status as a “mainstream” organization in America by many universities giving them safe harbor for years.




Next: ISNA’s Extremist Indoctrination in America’s Mosques…

Continue reading page: 1 2 3 4 5

Abominable murder in Itamar

5 family members were murdered in Itamar, Israel, stabbed to death by a terrorist who managed to get through an electrified fence. Do I need to continue with that part? What I can say is that, as the article tells, Fatah's al-Aqsa Brigade has claimed responsibility.

The prime minister has condemned the attack:

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Saturday blamed Palestinian incitement for Friday's terror attack in Itamar in which 5 Israelis from the same family were stabbed to death.

And indeed that's what caused this.

The US has called on Fatah to condemn this savagery. Not enough. Fatah must not even be recognized as legitimate.

This Man Is Out Of His Fucking Mind

1,000 dead, thousands more missing, Billions on billions in damage, two reactors maybe going China Syndrome and Tingles thinks it would be a good time for Uncle Barry to remind folks he was born in Hawaii. . .

You.Cannot.Make.This.Shit.Up.



Can't we recall this dumb sonofabitch or something? Send him to the Madison crowds with a "Proud Anti-Union Republican and What The Fuck You Gonna Do About It" sign taped to his back?

Islam and the African Slave Trade

How come the new Egyptian "democracy" smells like jihad?

How come the new Egyptian "democracy" smells like jihad?

Egypt’s worst terrorist organizations resurface and enter politics, from Eye on the World:

(World Threats) Recent events indicate that some of Egypt’s most heavily suppressed Islamist groups are resurfacing.

Stoking the embers of growing political instability is the fiery Islamist leader Muhammad Hassan, a prominent figure in Egypt’s formerly banned Salafist movements. Hassan and his followers convened a large conference the Egyptian city of Mansoura this week to protest any future constitutional changes to the country’s second article which defines Islam as the official religion of Egypt and Islamic Law as the source of its legislation.

In another move that is likely to complicate civil and democratic interests in the country, Gama’a al-Islamiya, the Islamist terrorist group responsible for both the assassination of former president Anwar Sadat and the 1997 Luxor Massacre at Deir el-Bahari, is also consolidating its followers. This week they began the process of creating a formal political party which they say will participate fully in the coming Egyptian elections.

To understand more about the Salafist use of da’wa ... click here.

Japan Quake and Tsunami -- sticky & updated all day -- updates top down after videos

Quake rating upgraded, now fourth most powerful recorded. . .ever

Honolulu Star:

Tsunami warning center raises magnitude of Japan quake to 9.1
By Ken Kobayahshi

The Japan earthquake was the fourth most powerful ever recorded with a magnitude of 9.1, twice more powerful than the initial estimate of 8.9, Gerard Fryer, geophysicist of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, said this morning.

Three others that were more powerful since the late 1800s when seismometers started measuring ground motions were in 9.5 in Chile in 1960, 9.2 in Alaska in 1964 and 9.1 in Sumatra in 2004, according to Fryer.

The new magnitude was adjusted based on the impact of the quake throughout the Pacific, he said. "It fits all measurements, including in Hawaii," Fryer said.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimate of the quake's magnitude is still 8.9.

It is not uncommon for scientists to estimate different magnitudes immediately after an earthquake.

Death toll from powerful Japan quake likely to top 1,000
(from all info coming in that is a horrendous understatement --mr)


USGS states quake ripped hole in earth's crust 150 miles long and 50 miles wide

AP:

US says Japan earthquake left billions in damage
(AP) –

WASHINGTON (AP) — A massive earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan Friday was the strongest quake in the area in nearly 1,200 years.

David Applegate, a senior science adviser for earthquake and geologic hazards for the U.S. Geological Survey, said the 8.9-magnitude quake ruptured a patch of the earth's crust 150 miles long and 50 miles across.

He said the earthquake, which also spawned a massive tsunami that hit Japan before racing across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States, likely caused tens of billions of dollars in structural damage in Japan.

Laura K. Furgione, deputy director for the National Weather Service, said the tsunami first hit Hawaii early Friday morning. An 8.1-foot wave destroyed piers and docks in Crescent City, Calif., later Friday.

Newsmax:

Japan on 'Path of Core-Melt' Nuclear Accident, Expert Tells Newsmax
Friday, 11 Mar 2011 04:40 PM
By David A. Patten

Japan is “on the path of a core-melt accident,” a nuclear expert tells Newsmax in an exclusive interview.

The news Friday that the only nation that ever has endured a nuclear-weapons attack is venting contaminated vapor from a nuclear power plant’s containment core could indicate that the coolant loss is quite serious, says Mark Hibbs, a Berlin-based senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a nonprofit think tank. Hibbs, who works in Carnegie's Nuclear Policy Program, has spent 20 years reporting for nuclear-energy journals and has spoken with Japanese officials in the aftermath of the nuclear plant mishap resulting from the earthquake there.

Japanese nuclear officials say radiation levels inside a nuclear power plant have surged to 1,000 times their normal levels after the cooling system failed.

The nuclear safety agency said early Saturday that some radiation has also seeped outside the plant, prompting calls for further evacuations of the area. Some 3,000 people have already been urged to leave their homes.

The cooling system for a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant failed on Friday after a massive earthquake caused a power outage.

The continued loss of electricity has also delayed the planned release of vapor from inside the reactor to ease pressure. Pressure inside one of the reactors had risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal.

The pressure inside the reactor containment domes is 50 percent higher than normal, the officials say, although they contend that a last-ditch emergency cooling system is intact.

“The Japanese public is generally very alarmed about things like radioactive emissions,” says Hibbs, who served for two decades as an editor and correspondent for the nuclear energy publications “Nucleonics Week” and “Nuclear Fuel.” “They have an extreme high standard of safety protection, and they don’t like to see risks like this taken even if the risk is small.

“It’s a very, very risk-averse culture in this regard. So if the authorities are willing to do this, that might be a sign of how serious they perceive the threat to the reactor.”

Although coolant interruptions to nuclear power plants are not all that unusual, says Hibbs, who adds that the surprising aspect of this incident is that Japan’s redundant systems apparently have been unable to counteract reactor core heating.

“What happened in Japan is very alarming because it would appear . . . that about 2:30 this afternoon Japan time, when the earthquake struck . . . three of the reactors that were operating were disenabled because of a loss of offsite power that was caused by the earthquake.”

the rest here

NEW QUAKES, NOT AFTERSHOCKS. . .

Nikkei:

Powerful Quakes Hit Japan's Nagano Prefecture

TOKYO (Kyodo)--Two powerful earthquakes hit an inland area northwest of Tokyo early Saturday, each measuring 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Nagano Prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The agency did not issue a tsunami warning. The 3:59 a.m. and 4:32 a.m. quakes, with preliminary magnitudes of 6.7 and 5.8 respectively, hit areas including Niigata Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast, which is far from the Pacific coastal area jolted by a magnitude 8.8 quake the previous day.

Police said they had received reports of a mudslide in the city of Tokamachi as well as avalanches in Tokamachi and the town of Tsunan following the early morning quakes.

Wooden buildings including a town hall and a garage were reportedly destroyed and some sections of Route 117 were ruptured in the village of Sakae in Nagano, a village official said.

The focus of both predawn quakes was in central Niigata at a depth of 10 kilometers, the agency said.

The first quake measured upper 6 in Niigata but Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it was continuing to operate its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in the prefecture.

Breitbart:

Japan to release of radioactive vapor at nuke pant

TOKYO (AP) - Japanese authorities will release slightly radioactive vapor to ease pressure at nuclear reactor whose cooling system failed.

The failure occurred after a power outage caused by Friday's massive earthquake off northeastern Japan.

Japan's nuclear safety agency says pressure inside one of six boiling water reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant had risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal.

The agency said the radioactive element in the vapor that will be released would not affect the environment or human health.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

TOKYO (AP)—Japan's massive earthquake caused a power outage that disabled a nuclear reactor's cooling system, triggering evacuation orders for about 3,000 residents as the government declared its first-ever state of emergency at a nuclear plant.

Japan's nuclear safety agency said pressure inside one of six boiling water reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant had risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal. To reduce the pressure, slightly radioactive vapor may be released. The agency said the radioactive element in the vapor would not affect the environment or human health.

After the quake triggered a power outage, a backup generator also failed and the cooling system was unable to supply water to cool the 460-megawatt No. 1 reactor, though at least one backup cooling system is being used. The reactor core remains hot even after a shutdown.

The agency said plant workers are scrambling to restore cooling water supply at the plant but there is no prospect for immediate success.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the 40-year-old plant was not leaking radiation. The plant is in Onahama city, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

If the outage in the cooling system persists, eventually radiation could leak out into the environment, and, in the worst case, could cause a reactor meltdown, a nuclear safety agency official said on condition of anonymity, citing sensitivity of the issue.

the rest here

Business Insider:

REPORT: 88,000 People Are Missing In Japan
Joe Weisenthal

Heartbreaking: While the death toll remains in the low hundreds right now (officially) it seems sure to spiral much higher.

According to the Kyodo News Agency, via BBC, the official missing persons tally is around 88,000.

It's well known that a lot of people are simply stranded in the cities, including Tokyo, and in many cases the people are probaby safe. It's not clear how they're included in the number.

Boston Globe

Strong quake strikes central Japan, felt in Tokyo (a new quake, not an after shock -- mr)
Associated Press / March 11, 2011

TOKYO—Japan's Meteorological Agency says a magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the central, mountainous part of the country hours after a massive quake hit off the country's northeastern coast.

Dozens of aftershocks have rattled Japan's northeast since Friday's magnitude 8.9 temblor, but the most recent quake was in an entirely different location.

The latest quake hit early Saturday at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 105 miles (170 kilometers) north of Tokyo.

It caused buildings in Tokyo to sway. There were no immediate reports of damage.

KTVU:

Tsunami Slams Into Santa Cruz Harbor; Crescent City

SAN FRANCISCO -- A tsunami generated from a massive killer earthquake in Japan slammed into two Northern California coastal communities Friday, capsizing and damaging several boats and leaving the waters littered with debris.

Officials reported that the tide pulled back about 8 inches over a five-minute period nearby at Pillar Point, setting the scene for the destruction in Santa Cruz. At least 15 fishing and pleasure crafts were ripped from their moorings and heavily damaged during the surge.

Two docks also sustained major damage during the surge. Local officials had declared an emergency and estimated the damage at $2 million.

Meanwhile, to the north in Crescent City, the tsunami caused heavy damage to the harbor town.

Del Norte County sheriff's spokesman Bill Stevens said most boats were pulled out of the harbor in preparation for Friday's tsunami, but 35 vessels that remained crashed into one another and were sinking.

The wooden docks were also breaking apart under the force of the waves.

Crescent City Councilwoman Kelly Schellong said the docks and harbor were "pretty much completely destroyed."

Stevens said the damage cost wass estimated to be into the millions, and the surges were expected to continue through the afternoon.

"This is just devastating. I never thought I'd see this again," said Ted Scott, a retired mill worker who lived in Crescent City when a 1964 tsunami killed 17 people on the West Coast, including 11 in his town. "I watched the docks bust apart. It buckled like a graham cracker."

The waves didn't make it over a 20-foot break wall protecting the rest of the city, and no serious injuries or home damage was immediately reported.

Elsewhere, the wave impact had not been felt as dramatically.

Earlier in the morning, hundreds of cars jammed the roadside along Highways 35 and 92 as residents of Half Moon Bay and other nearby communities obeyed a voluntary evacuation warning in preparation for the tsunami's arrival.

County officials had advised residents in the low-lying areas west of Highway 1 to move to ground east of the highway, according to the county's emergency alert system.

Residents in the Linda Mar area of Pacifica were advised to evacuate to the east of Adobe Drive. Those in El Granada should evacuate to the east of Coronado Street.

Meanwhile, Pacifica school officials canceled classes for the day.

In San Francisco, acting Mayor Ed Lee said no evacuations had been ordered because of a combination of low tide and only a surge expected to be only 1-2 feet.

However, as a precaution Lee said the Great Highway along Ocean Beach had been closed. The highway was closed from Point Lobos at 48th Avenue to Lake Merced, Lt. Troy Dangerfield said.
To the south along the Central Coast the tsunami surge also caused damage to boats in Morro Bay.

Police Chaplain James Berg said the swells had knocked some boats loose and damaged a dock. Hundreds of people have been evacuated from low lying areas, the harbor and the embarcadero areas of the city.

Daily Mail:

Cruise ship and bullet train go missing as Hawaii and Pacific are put on alert for 33-foot tsunami waves
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:17 PM on 11th March 2011

A large number of tourists are thought to be among 400 passengers feared drowned after a high-speed bullet train and cruise ship went missing following the devastating Japanese earthquake earlier today.The massive earthquake - 8,000 times stronger than the one that hist New Zealand last month - sent a catastrophic 33 foot tsunami hurtling across the Pacific Ocean.

Thousands of people were forced to flee for their lives as the massive wave bore down on them, sweeping away everything in its path.

This afternoon, the Japanese declared a state of emergency at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima after the 8.9 quake caused the cooling system to fail.

Meanwhile, a ship carrying 100 people was swept away by the tsunami and bullet train carrying hundreds of passengers in the Miyagi region was missing. Their fate is unknown.

At least 200 to 300 bodies have been found in Sendai city, while dozens others were reported to have been killed in other areas of Japan.

Miyagi police also said that a ship carrying more than 100 people was washed away by a tsunami, without providing more details.

The death toll has now risen to 300 but it is feared thousands more are at risk as the true scale of the devastation becomes apparent and the tsunami rips across the ocean.

Tsunami warnings have been issued across the entire Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.

the rest here

ABC:

Pressure at Damaged Japanese Nuclear Reactor Rising with Fears
Coastal U.S. Nuclear Power Plants Brace for Tsunami After Japanese Quake
By DEVIN DWYER and MATTHEW MOSK

Earthquake damage at a Japanese nuclear power plant northeast of Tokyo has stoked fears of radioactive fallout unless the reactor's core can be cooled, and renewed concerns about the security of other nuclear facilities in the tsunami's path.

A state of emergency was declared Friday at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant when its cooling system failed to function properly after the nuclear reactor lost power and automatically shut down.

"You have to continue to supply water. If you don't the fuel will start to overheat and could melt," said Edwin Lyman, a senior staff scientist in the Global Security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington.

A meltdown could lead to a breach of the reactor's steel containment vessel and allow radiation to escape into an outer, concrete containment building, if not the environment.

"Up to 100 percent of the volatile radioactive Cesium-137 content of the pools could go up in flames and smoke, to blow downwind over large distances," said Kevin Kamps a nuclear waste specialist at Beyond Nuclear. "Given the large quantity of irradiated nuclear fuel in the pool, the radioactivity release could be worse than the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe of 25 years ago."

"We have to take this very seriously. Every nuclear power plant has two layers of defense, first the brakes; second, you dump cold water on it. And that apparently has malfunctioned. That's what causing concern," said physicist Dr. Michio Kaku.

"It does not mean we have a runaway accident, but it is cause for concern because this is not supposed to happen," he said.

U.S. nuclear experts say modern power plants are designed to withstand earthquakes and tsunamis and have several security layers in place in the event of lost power, including diesel fuel generators and battery systems.

"There are mutliple redundancies to continue to feed water to the core to take the heat away at most facilities," said an official with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, who asked not to be named since he is not familiar with details of the Fukushima plant.

But those back-up power sources may not have worked in this case, a development many international experts called troublesome.

"The Japanese are considered the best in the world," said Mycle Schneider, a nuclear consultant in Paris who is familiar with the facilities in Japan. "They had several generators in place in case one of them doesn't work. This is the first time I've heard of where none of them worked. To me, that is a very deep concern."

Japanese officials said radiation has not leaked from the plant, but ordered 2,800 people living around the facility to evacuate their homes as a precaution.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. military transported coolant to the Fukushima nuclear plant and will continue to assist as needed. "You know Japan is very reliant on nuclear power and they have very high engineering standards but one of their plants came under a lot of stress with the earthquake and didn't have enough coolant," Clinton said.

Nearby, the turbine building at the Onagawa nuclear power plant burst into flames shortly after the earthquake and has since been extinguished. Another plant at the facility was also reported to be experiencing a water leak, according to Japanese officials.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was closely monitoring the situation at the four Japanese nuclear power sites impacted by the earthquake and confirmed that all had been successfully shutdown.

"It's a positive sign," Mitch Singer of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a U.S. industry trade group, said of initial reports of the power plants' performance and durability following the massive quake. "This industry more than all others depents on the safe operation of the plant, and it appears these robust facilities have operated as they were designed to do."

Japanese Quake Stirs Nuclear Concerns
Officials with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission are "closely monitoring" operations at two California nuclear power plants situated directly on the coast and at risk of impact from the approaching tsunami triggered by the quake off of Japan's coast.

Both the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County and the San Onofre Power Plant in San Diego County are still operating normally but taking preparatory action, an NRC official told ABC News.

A tsunami has potential to disrupt operations and power output at the facilities, which rely on steady sea water flow for energy.

But officials said a giant wave would not likely damage the reactor or create a safety risk to the public. Experts say the sealed containment structure around the reactor would protect it from the water, though other parts of the plant facility could be damaged.

The December 2004 tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9 earthquake off the coast of India led to the automatic shut down of the Kalpakkam nuclear power plant near Chennai after water levels fluctuated in the cooling water intake. It resumed operations just six days later.

According to the World Nuclear Association, Japanese nuclear power plants have been tested repeatedly by earthquakes in recent years and operated effectively.

Worldwide 20 percent of nuclear powerplants operate in areas of "significant seismic activity," according to WNA.

Fox:

Hundreds of Bodies Found in Japan After Massive Tsunami Spawned by Earthquake

Japanese police say 200 to 300 bodies have been found in a northeastern coastal area where a massive earthquake spawned a ferocious tsunami Friday that swept away boats, cars and homes.

The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake -- the largest in Japan's history -- unleashed a 23-foot (7-meter) tsunami and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.

The bodies found were in Sendai city, the closest major city to the epicenter, Japanese police said. Earlier, police confirmed at least 60 people had been killed and 56 were missing. The death toll was likely to continue climbing given the scale of Friday's disaster.

Tsunami waves generated by the massive quake hit Hawaii early Friday morning. The first waves crashed into the island of Kauai at 3:13 a.m. local time. Officials predicted they would experience waves up to 6 feet (2 meters).

Alaska Emergency Management also reported a 5.1-foot wave at Shemya, 1.5-foot at Adak, and 1.6-foot at Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. Shemya is 1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Emergency Management Specialist David Lee at Fort Richardson said there are no reports of damage and no significant damage expected on the coast of Alaska, although that could still depend on the surge in different areas.

The Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the coastal areas of Alaska from Attu to Amchitka Pass in the Aleutians and an advisory from Amchitka Pass along the West Coast to Oregon.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 2:46 p.m. quake was a magnitude 8.9, the biggest earthquake to hit Japan since officials began keeping records in the late 1800s, and one of the biggest ever recorded in the world.

The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 80 miles (125 kilometers) off the eastern coast, the agency said. The area is 240 miles (380 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

The Japanese government ordered thousands of residents near a nuclear power plant in Onahama city to evacuate because the plant's system was unable to cool the reactor. The reactor was not leaking radiation but its core remained hot even after a shutdown. The plant is 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter.

"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.

Trouble was reported at two other nuclear plants as well, but there was no radiation leak at any.

more here

Fox:

Japan Issues Emergency at Nuke Plant; No Leak
Published March 11, 2011

TOKYO -- Japan's top government spokesman says the country has issued a state of emergency at a nuclear power plant after its cooling system failed. There was no radiation leak.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says the nuclear power plant in Fukushima developed a mechanical failure in the system needed to cool the reactor after it was shut down in Friday's earthquake.

He said the measure was a precaution and there was no radiation leak at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant. He said the facility was not in immediate danger.

8.9 Earthquake and Tsunami Hit Japan -- 5th Largest Quake Since 1900

THIS POST WILL REMAIN AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE AND WILL BE UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY - scroll down for updates

Some reports say the Tsunami wave was 33 feet high. Only 32 are reported dead so far, but that number will very likely rise as the extent of the destruction becomes more evident.

This is a major tragedy. The previous largest earthquake recorded in Japan was 8.3. Each 1.0 is 10 times greater in magnitude. That means this earthquake was 6 times greater in magnitude than the previous largest recorded earthquake in Japanese history.



From AP:

TOKYO – TOKYO (AP) — A powerful tsunami spawned by the largest earthquake in Japan's recorded history slammed the eastern coast Friday, sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control. Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.

Authorities said at least 32 people were killed. The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake was followed by at least 19 aftershocks, most of them of more than magnitude 6.0. Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter.

A utility company in northeastern Japan reported a fire in a turbine building of nuclear power plant.

"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.

Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions. It unleashed a 23-foot (7-meter) tsunami that swept boats, cars, buildings and tons of debris miles inland.

Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the cities, slamming against overpasses. Upturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water.

Waves of muddy waters swept over farmland near the city of Sendai, carrying buildings, some on fire, inland as cars attempted to drive away. Sendai airport, north of Tokyo, was inundated with cars, trucks, buses and thick mud deposited over its runways. Fires spread through a section of the city, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing directions and carrying the cars, homes and other debris out to sea. Flames shot from some of the houses, probably because of burst gas pipes.

"Our initial assessment indicates that there has already been enormous damage," Chief government spokesman Yukio Edano said. "We will make maximum relief effort based on that assessment."

Click image to see photos of quake, tsunami damage

REUTERS/KYODO

He said the Defense Ministry was sending troops to the quake-hit region. A utility aircraft and several helicopters were on the way.

US widens tsunami warning to most of Pacific

The US tsunami monitoring center on Friday widened a warning to virtually the entire Pacific coast, including Australia and South America, after a massive earthquake in Japan.

Tsunami warning sirens in Hawaii trigger evacuations while coastal residents from Southern Calif. to Oregon move to higher ground.

A tsunami warning has been issued for the central and northern California coast and Oregon, the National Weather Service announced early Friday.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, an emergency warning system announcement for a tsunami warning was braodcast just after 1 a.m. Waves could begin arriving in Crescent City, Calif., at 7:23 a.m. and the Bay Area shortly after 8 a.m.

A lower-level tsunami advisory was issued for the Southern California coast south of Point Concepcion, which includes southern San Luis Obispo County and the counties of Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego.

According to the weather service, those living in tsunami warning areas near the beach or in low-lying regions “should move immediately inland to higher ground and away from all harbors and inlets, including those sheltered directly from the sea."

"Those feeling the earth shake, seeing unusual wave action, or the water level rising or receding may have only a few minutes before the tsunami arrival and should move immediately. Homes and small buildings are not designed to withstand tsunami impacts.”

Speaking of CNN, Breitbart.tv has a streaming live feed of CNN, which has wall to wall coverage of this disaster.

Breaking News on Twitter has numerous updates; more as it comes in here at the Tatler, and presumably Instapundit as well.

Horrific video of the tsunami that struck Japan has been going up on YouTube; Richard Fernandez has several such clip at the Belmont Club; here’s another:





Japanese tsunami creates whirlpool A huge whirlpool has been created by the earthquake in Japan.It was created after the sheer force of the tsunami hit another strong current in the water.The vortex-like motion is dragging anything nearby into its core.



See the full story here.

Nevada Appeal:

Tyrus W. Cobb: In a rage over ‘Muslim rage'
By Tyrus W. Cobb

Muslims worldwide are in a “rage” over the deployment of American forces in foreign lands. Islamic extremists are in a rage over cartoons that lampoon a holy figure. Muslims are in a rage over lack of benefits Western societies deny them when they emigrate there, even while calling for the overthrow of these same governments. Muslim extremists blow up innocent children because they are enraged over societies that worship a God other than their own. Well, excuse me, but I'm in a rage over “Muslim rage.”

If my count is correct, the last several times we have deployed American troops, it has been on behalf of Muslim countries or populations (First Gulf War to free Kuwait, Kosovo, Bosnia, Somalia, the overthrow of Saddam, humanitarian assistance to Indonesia, the Philippines, etc). Do we hear a resounding cry of thanks for protecting and assisting these beleaguered populations? No, in fact, what we hear is that the U.S. is the “Great Satan,” bent on some “anti-Islamic crusade.”

I am in a rage over political leaders who deny that the Holocaust occurred, who provide support for the destruction of Israel, or pursue an “Islamic nuclear bomb.” I am tired of so-called religious figures who preach a doctrine of hate, bigotry, and fanaticism, and who summon the faithful for a Jihad against Western civilization. I am upset with “moderate” Arab leaders who ignore the problems of Islamic extremism when such problems do not threaten their own regime, and have encouraged the export of terror.

We hear accusations that the United States is insufficiently sympathetic to cultural differences between the Judeo-Christian West and the Islamic world. Not sympathetic to what? To a culture that imprisons women, forcing them into virtual servitude to their male masters? To political systems that venerate rule by a “theocracy” that oppresses anyone who dares speak against the regime? To fanatical religious teachings that turn children into suicide bombers and mothers into screaming maniacs shouting praise to Allah that her sons have died while blowing up innocent women and children in Israel?

Perhaps we also are guilty of suggesting that those who have labored under authoritarian regimes — Arab, Persian, Indonesian, or whatever — deserve to have the right to freely choose their own political system, to be able to express views that differ from the prevailing political orthodoxy, or to allow women the freedom to pursue careers and participate openly in daily life. We are charged with trying to “export democracy,” believing that, heresy of heresies, where political freedoms exist, tolerance prevails, and compromise is possible.

If these are sins, then count me among the “guilty.” We should not apologize for our support for the concept of governing under the rule of law, rather than the absolute whim of self-anointed Mullahs. We should have no shame in preaching the virtues of a society that extols freedom of religious choice, of the right to speak freely on controversial subjects, and that deplores hatred and bigotry.

We must not underestimate the nature of the threat posed by “Islamo-fascism.” It represents what has correctly been labeled the “clash of civilizations.” It is a threat that will not be mollified by appeasement and tepid responses. It is a challenge that must be met by firmness, resolve, and unity, by our society as a whole, not just by a few soldiers sent to distant lands to combat the threat. This is the consummate struggle between two ways of life, two ideologies, two cultures. Are we ready?

• Tyrus W. Cobb is a former special assistant to President Reagan.