memeorandum: Report: Explosion at Japanese nuclear plant (CNN)

7:20 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, Pajamas Media, neo-neocon, The BRAD BLOG, Booman Tribune, Taylor Marsh, Left Coast Rebel, Crooks and Liars, The Moderate Voice, Right Wing News, The Impolitic and msnbc.com

New York Times:

Japan Floods Nuclear Reactor Crippled by Quake in Effort to Avert Meltdown — TOKYO — Japanese officials took the extraordinary step on Saturday of flooding a nuclear reactor with seawater in a last-ditch effort to avoid a nuclear meltdown, after an explosion there escalated the emergency caused …

Guardian:

Japan's fears of nuclear mayhem recede as nuclear reactor starts to cool — Physicists feared second explosion would create radioactive cloud as residents panicked, jamming city's exit roads — For a few unnerving hours, Japan faced a bleak and unsettling prospect.

Discussion: Hot Air, NPR Topics, Patterico's Pontifications, protein wisdom, The Moderate Voice and CNN

CNN:

Report: Explosion at Japanese nuclear plant — Editor's Note: Read live blogging of the Japan tsunami and earthquake. Are you there? Send your video, pictures to iReport. — (CNN) — An explosion has been reported at a nuclear plant in northeastern Japan's Fukushima prefecture …

Discussion: This Just In, Atomic Insights Blog, Little Green Footballs, The Democratic Daily, Kyodo News, iOwnTheWorld.com and Daily Kos

World Nuclear News:
Battle to stabilise earthquake reactors

Discussion: Guardian, Boing Boing, Atomic Insights Blog and The Agonist

Kyodo News:
Damage from mega quake increasing, death toll feared to top 1,800

Discussion: Reuters, CNN, newsfeed.time.com, The Jawa Report and NPR Topics

David Batty / Guardian:
Fresh nuclear fears as cooling system fails

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Scared Monkeys, Obsidian Wings, msnbc.com, New York Times and The Lede

Wall Street Journal:
Japan Tries Using Seawater to Cool Damaged Reactor

Discussion: FrumForum

BBC:
Japan warns of small radiation leak at nuclear plant

Discussion: Aljazeera, Guardian, The Other McCain, Firedoglake, Hot Air, Pharyngula, Outside the Beltway, Scared Monkeys, New York Magazine, Verum Serum, Michelle Malkin, FrumForum and Patterico's Pontifications

Guardian:
Fukushima nuclear plant blast puts Japan on high alert

Discussion: Harry's Place

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

Discussion: This Just In, Gothamist and New York Magazine

CNN:
3,000 rescued; many more missing — Shirakawa, Japan (CNN) …

Discussion: AOL News and Kyodo News

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

Discussion: Guardian

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

Discussion: Daily Kos

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: ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, unbossed.com, The Politico, TPMDC, Gawker, 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: Sky Dancing, Boston Globe, Cubachi, Weasel Zippers and The Impolitic

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: The Political Carnival, The Moderate Voice and Booman Tribune

Gail Collins / New York Times:

Eye of the Newt — The presidential race is barely under way, but already we have had our first Big Thought. I am speaking, of course, of Newt Gingrich's suggestion that he was driven into serial adultery by hard work and patriotism. — “There's no question that at times in my life …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Glenn Davis / Mediaite:

Bill Maher To Muslim Rep. Keith Ellison: The Qur'an Is A ‘Hate Filled Holy Book’ — The emotion shown by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) at Rep. Peter King's (R-NY) Muslim radicalization hearings garnered much attention, and we have a feeling Ellison's appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher tonight will get its share of play as well.

Discussion: Salon

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: Crooks and Liars and 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

Ynetnews:

Gaza celebrates; Fayyad condemns terror attack — Rafah residents hand out candy following murder of parents, three children in West Bank settlement of Itamar. Palestinian PM denounces act, says “we categorically oppose violence and terror, regardless of victims', perpetrators' identity”

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Jawa Report

Cubachi:

Daniel Hannan to America: “You deserve better, cousins.” — Daniel Hannan, Member of the European Parliament, and the most popular Englishman in conservative and libertarian circles, wrote a marvelous opinion piece extolling the virtues of America, and the dangers of Europeanization.

Discussion: Sister Toldjah and Liberty Pundits Blog

Daniel Hannan / Wall Street Journal:
A European's Warning to America

Discussion: Booman Tribune

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: The Moderate Voice, Scared Monkeys and Hot Air

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

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