Republicans Off Base on Japanese Quake

As the crisis in Japan grows worse, some of the least extreme Republicans are circling the wagons in defense of America’s nuclear industry and their own intent to gut the financing for government services to prevent and respond to such emergencies.  As for the Republican base…, well…, we’ll talk about that later.

Japan’s nuclear crisis verged toward catastrophe on Tuesday after an explosion damaged the vessel containing the nuclear core at one reactor and a fire at another spewed large amounts of radioactive material into the air, according to the statements of Japanese government and industry officials.

In a brief address to the nation at 11 a.m. Tokyo time, Prime Minister Naoto Kan pleaded for calm, but warned that radiation had already spread from the crippled reactors and there was “a very high risk” of further leakage. Fortunately, the prevailing winds were sweeping most of the plume of radioactivity out into the Pacific Ocean, rather than over populated areas.

The sudden turn of events, after an explosion Monday at one reactor and then an early-morning explosion Tuesday at yet another — the third in four days at the plant — already made the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl reactor disaster a quarter century ago.

It diminished hopes earlier in the day that engineers at the plant, working at tremendous personal risk, might yet succeed in cooling down the most damaged of the reactors, No. 2, by pumping in sea water. According to government statements, most of the 800 workers at the plant had been withdrawn, leaving 50 or so workers in a desperate effort to keep the cores of three stricken reactors cooled with seawater pumped by firefighting equipment, while the same crews battled to put out the fire at the No. 4 reactor, which they claimed to have done just after noon on Tuesday.

That fourth reactor had been turned off and was under refurbishment for months before the earthquake and tsunami hit the plant on Friday. But the plant contains spent fuel rods that were removed from the reactor, and experts guessed that the pool containing those rods had run dry, allowing the rods to overheat and catch fire. That is almost as dangerous as the fuel in working reactors melting down, because the spent fuel can also spew radioactivity into the atmosphere.

After an emergency cabinet meeting, the Japanese government told people living with 30 kilometers, about 18 miles, of the Daiichi plant to stay indoors, keep their windows closed and stop using air conditioning… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

Clearly, the situation is getting out of hand, and when divine intervention is needed, Republicans turn to their High Priest, Glen Beck.

Glenn Beck recently embraced and provided a platform for anti-Muslim activist Joel Richardson, to espouse his views on the coming Anti-Christ. Richardson believes that Shiite Muslims worship the Anti-Christ [rabid right delinked] and want to “receive ‘The Mark of the Beast,’” and also wrote an article on “what Obama and the Antichrist have in common [rabid right delinked].”

Now, Richardson believes that the deadly earthquake in Japan is a sign of the End Times.

Like Tim LaHaye, who said that the earthquake was “one of the signs of the last days,” Richardson predicts that the End Times are fast-approaching [rabid right delinked] because the rate of earthquakes in the last century is far higher than earthquakes before 1800… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Right Wing Watch>

So they will just keep counting their profits, convinced that Republican Supply-side Jesus will POOF them away at the right moment.  But since Republican Supply-side Jesus is not the real Jesus, what if Supply-side Jesus is so busy counting his profits that he forgets to POOF?

Ed Schultz had a pair of excellent segments on this.  In the first, he and Chris Hayes discuss the crisis and andn how Republicans are gutting needed services.

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In the second, Ed convers Republican support for the industry, the campaign funding behind that support, and some more Beck InsaniTEA.

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Babcock Wilcox clearly owns Alexander!

Worst of all, I’ve heard buzz that some from the Bagger brigade are blaming Japan and calling this divine retribution for Pearl Harbor.  How do these people sleep at night?!!?