memeorandum: Gen. Wesley Clark says Libya doesn't meet the test for U.S. military action (Wesley K. Clark/Washington Post)

2:30 PM ET, March 12, 2011

Top Items:

Red Alert: Nuclear Meltdown at Quake-Damaged Japanese Plant — A March 12 explosion at the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Japan, appears to have caused a reactor meltdown. — The key piece of technology in a nuclear reactor is the control rods.

Discussion: Associated Press, Fox News, Crooks and Liars, Atomic Insights Blog, Taylor Marsh, Left Coast Rebel, The BRAD BLOG, The Moderate Voice, Booman Tribune, Right Wing News and The Impolitic

New York Times:

Radiation Leaks Said to Recede After Blast at Japan Nuclear Plant — TOKYO — An explosion at a nuclear power plant in northern Japan on Saturday blew the roof off one building and destroyed the exterior walls of a crippled reactor, but officials said radiation leaks from the plant were receding …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Talking Dog, The Other McCain, ABCNEWS, The Daily Beast, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Gateway Pundit, Instapundit, Hot Air, Pundit & Pundette, Connecting.the.Dots, BLACKFIVE, Pam's House Blend, alicublog, New York Magazine and Patterico's Pontifications

BBC:

Japan warns of small radiation leak at nuclear plant — Pressure in one of the six reactors is considerably higher than normal, Japan's nuclear agency says — Japanese authorities have warned there could be a small radiation leak from a nuclear reactor whose cooling system was knocked out by the earthquake.

Discussion: Hot Air, Aljazeera, Guardian, Firedoglake, Outside the Beltway, Pharyngula, Scared Monkeys, Michelle Malkin, Wall Street Journal, FrumForum, The Moderate Voice and CNN

Martin Fackler / New York Times:
Japan Pushes to Rescue Survivors as Quake Toll Rises

Discussion: This Just In, Gothamist and New York Magazine

David Batty / Guardian:
Town ‘missing’ 10,000 as nuclear fears recede

Discussion: World Nuclear News, Wall Street Journal, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Jawa Report, Obsidian Wings, The Agonist and msnbc.com

msnbc.com:
Meltdown possible at Japan nuclear plant, official says

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, IAEA Alert Log, LiveScience, ABCNEWS, All Things Nuclear, Hot Air, The Political Carnival, FOK News Channel, Patterico's Pontifications, Suburban Guerrilla, english.kyodonews.jp, Associated Press, The Democratic Daily, The Other McCain, The Moderate Voice and New York Times

Kyung Lah / CNN:
Japan scrambles to reach trapped victims

Discussion: AOL News and This Just In

Reuters:
Radiation leaking from Japan's quake-hit nuclear

Discussion: Daily Kos

Kyodo News:
Damage from mega quake increasing, death toll feared to top 1,700

Discussion: CNN, NPR Topics, Scared Monkeys and Guardian

Reuters:
Factbox: What happens when a reactor loses coolant

Discussion: Scientific American and Guardian

Scarecrow / Firedoglake:
Two [Now Five] Japanese Nuclear Units Still at Serious Risk

Discussion: All Things Nuclear, Clean Beta and Hullabaloo

Scott Conroy / Real Clear Politics:

Bachmann Mangles Revolutionary History In N.H. — MANCHESTER, N.H. — Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's visit to the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire got off to a rocky start on Saturday morning when she misstated a key fact about the American Revolution in a speech to a group …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, FrumForum and Talk Radio Sucks

Alexander Bolton / Ballot Box:

Bachmann makes gaffe in New Hampshire — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), a possible presidential contender in 2012, made an embarrassing gaffe Saturday morning in a speech to a group of conservatives in New Hampshire. — Bachmann erroneously touted New Hampshire as the site of the first battles of the American Revolutionary War.

Discussion: The Politico and Weasel Zippers

Daniel Hannan / Wall Street Journal:

A European's Warning to America — The perils of following us toward greater regulation, higher taxes and centralized power. — On a U.S. talk-radio show recently, I was asked what I thought about the notion that Barack Obama had been born in Kenya. “Pah!” I replied.

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Cubachi:
Daniel Hannan to America: “You deserve better, cousins.”

Discussion: Sister Toldjah and Liberty Pundits Blog

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

POLITICIANS CAUGHT ACCIDENTALLY TELLING THE TRUTH.... Incidents surrounding live mics are some of my favorites — unexpected candor can be revealing. — Take this gem out of Iowa, for example. (thanks to Blue Girl for the tip) … The conversation was between some of the top leaders of the Iowa State House.

Discussion: They gave us a republic

Jason Clayworth / Des Moines Register:
House Republican, caught on tape, jokes of ‘give a handgun to a schizophrenic bill’

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Booman Tribune

Jaime Lalinde / Vanity Fair:

Larry Kudlow Devalues Human Life With Japan Earthquake Freudian Slip — In these tough economic times, isn't it nice to know that calamitous natural disasters needn't have an adverse affect on your investment portfolio? After the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan failed to induce a market nosedive …

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Mark Kleiman / The Reality-Based Community:

A weak President — Asked about the extraordinary conditions imposed on Bradley Manning and the even more extraordinary remarks of the State Department spokesman dumping on DoD for that mistreatment, Barack Obama sounds completely clueless. Clueless at the Bush level:

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:
Crowley deleted tweet comparing Middle East ‘tsunami’ to Japan crisis

Discussion: A Chequer-Board of Nights …, New Deal 2.0 and Emptywheel

Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Barack Obama: Bradley Manning's well-being a factor in his treatment

Discussion: Washington Post, Weasel Zippers, Philippa Thomas Online and ...My heart's in Accra

Wesley K. Clark / Washington Post:

Gen. Wesley Clark says Libya doesn't meet the test for U.S. military action — In March of 1974, when I was a young Army captain, I was sitting in a conference on civil-military relations at Brown University. Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.) was onstage expounding on the lessons from Vietnam about military interventions.

Discussion: Eunomia, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Booman Tribune and Talk Radio Sucks

Michelle Malkin:

Seattle-area call for help: Help us search for Marizela Saturday — (Download here in PDF form.) — This is probably one of the most difficult things my family has ever undertaken. It has been an overwhelming week and we need help. — Tomorrow, Saturday March 12 …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and Hot Air

Lachlan Markay / NewsBusters.org:

NPR Board Member Admits It Serves ‘Liberal, Highly Educated Elite,’ Wonders How to Justify Public Funding in Light of This — At least one National Public Radio board member has a firm grasp on arguments against the organization receiving federal funding. Criticisms of NPR “do have some legitimacy …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, UrbanGrounds, Althouse and ProfessorBainbridge.com

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Obama promises to continue fight for women's equality — Two days after Senate Democrats demanded that President Obama take a more public stance in the budget fight, Obama devoted his weekly address to honoring Women's History Month. — While Democrats want the president to plunge …

Discussion: The Politico, JammieWearingFool and Ballot Box

New York Times:

Democrats See Wisconsin Loss as Galvanizing — Even as the Republican governor of Wisconsin was signing a bill Friday that all but ended collective bargaining for state employees, Democrats nationally had put out advertisements and letters to use his own success against him.

Discussion: Prairie Weather