The Commentariat -- March 19
** Elizabeth Kolbert of the New Yorker: the federal government's nuclear energy policy is to pretend our plants are safe & hope we get away with it:
More than two dozen reactors in the http://www.realitychex.com/process/admin/CreateOrModifyJournalEntry?moduleId=4549814&entryId=10842517#U.S. have aboveground storage pools similar to those that have failed at Fukushima — the only difference is that the American pools contain far more waste than their Japanese counterparts.... David Lochbaum ... of the Union of Concerned Scientists, called the risks currently posed by spent-fuel pools in the U.S. 'about as high as you could possibly make them.' ...
... Bob Herbert: "The public deserves a much fuller accounting of nuclear power’s pros and cons." ...
... "Duck and Cover." Karen Garcia lived within 50 miles of New York State's Indian Point nuclear plant which has a "long history of unplanned radioactive gaseous burps and leakage problems and a transformer explosion and proximity to a fault line." Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to shut it down, but he has no plan whatsoever for providing an alternative source of the energy the plant produces.
Glenn Greenwald: "... the intervention in Libya was presidentially decreed with virtually no public debate or discussion; it's just amazing how little public opinion or the consent of the citizenry matters when it comes to involving the country in a new war." ...
... Karen deYoung of the Washington Post: "The planned military action in Libya marks a rare international intervention in which U.S. forces will not take the lead operational role. With French, British and United Arab Emirates jets poised to begin flights over Libya, and other European and Arab forces assembling to aid enforcement of a no-fly zone, the Americans were far from the pending action, in ships offshore and surveillance aircraft high above." ...
... Helene Cooper & Steven Lee Myers of the New York Times have more background on the rapid evolution of U.S. policy on the Libyan crisis. The writers credit U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, National Security Council aide Samantha Power, & -- ultimately -- Secretary Hillary Clinton -- for moving the U.S. & other nations toward intervention." See also yesterday's Commentariat for a link to Josh Rogin's reporting on the same subject.
One example I particularly like is the encouraging number of female presidents in the region. And I must say that I’m far enough away from my own career in electoral politics that I will not take too much heat for suggesting that these women and societies can teach American voters a thing or two! -- Hillary Clinton, on Latin America
Local News
Richard Oppel, Jr., of the New York Times: "In an abrupt change of course, Arizona lawmakers rejected new anti-immigration measures on Thursday, in what was widely seen as capitulation to pressure from business executives and an admission that the state’s tough stance had resulted in a chilling of the normally robust tourism and convention industry. The State Senate voted down five bills that among other things sought to require hospitals to inform law enforcement officials when treating patients suspected of being in the country illegally and to prod the to rule against automatic citizenship for American-born children of illegal immigrants."
News Ledes
President Obama today on the strikes on Libya:
New York Times: "American and European forces began a broad campaign of strikes against the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi on Saturday, unleashing warplanes and missiles in the first round of the largest international military intervention in the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon said.... The Pentagon said that American forces dominated an effort to knock out Libya’s air-defense systems. In a briefing Saturday afternoon, Vice Adm. William Gortney told reporters that about 110 Tomahawk missiles, fired from American warships and submarines and one British submarine struck 20 air-defense targets around Tripoli, the capital, and the western city of Misurata." ...
... New York Times: "Libya had pledged a cease-fire hours before [President's Obama's address yesterday]. But reports on Saturday from rebel-held territory indicated that Colonel Qaddafi’s troops were attacking in the east. Government forces continued to advance on Benghazi, the rebel’s capital in the east, and the reported that some tanks were in the city on Saturday morning. The government spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, denied in Tripoli that pro-Qaddafi units were attacking in Benghazi and said that only the rebels had an incentive to break the cease-fire. After the BBC report on tanks moving within Benghazi, the BBC Web site was inaccessible in Tripoli, suggesting that it may have been blocked." The Times story has been updated: "American, European and Arab leaders began the largest international military intervention in the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq on Saturday, in an effort to stop Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s war on the Libyan opposition. Leaders meeting in Paris on Saturday afternoon said direct strikes against Libyan government forces, as approved by the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, would begin within hours. And President said French warplanes had already begun enforcing a no-fly zone in Libya, conducting reconnaissance missions and preparing to intercept any Libyan military aircraft."
A plane shot down over Libya. To the left of the plane, you can barely see the pilot, his parachute beginning to open. The plane is reported to be a Libyan plane shot down by rebel forces over Benghazi. AFP photo.... AP: "A warplane was shot down over Libyan rebels' eastern stronghold Saturday as the opposition accused Moammar Kadafi's government of defying a cease-fire.... Trying to outmaneuver Western military intervention, Kadafi's government declared a cease-fire on Friday as the rebel uprising faltered against his artillery, tanks and warplanes. But the opposition said shells rained down well after the announcement and accused the Libyan leader of lying."
AP: "Palestinian militants in Gaza fired more than 50 mortar shells into Israel on Saturday, the heaviest barrage in two years, Israeli officials said, raising the prospect of a new Mideast flareup. Also Saturday, Hamas police beat reporters and news photographers covering a rally in Gaza City, drawing a stiff condemnation from the reporters' association."
New York Times: "Egyptians flocked to the polls to vote in a referendum on a package of constitutional amendments that will shape the country’s political future."
New York Times: "For the first time since demonstrators began camping out in front of Sana University calling for an end to the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the country’s opposition leaders attended the protest as a group on Saturday afternoon to voice their support."
Reuters: "One of six tsunami-crippled nuclear reactors appeared to stabilize on Saturday as Japan raced to restore power to the stricken power plant to cool it and prevent a greater catastrophe. Engineers reported some rare success after fire trucks sprayed water for about three hours on reactor No.3, widely considered the most dangerous at the ravaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex because of its use of highly toxic plutonium." ...
AP: "Japan said radiation levels in spinach and milk from farms near its tsunami-crippled nuclear complex exceeded government safety limits, as emergency teams scrambled Saturday to restore power to the plant so it could cool dangerously overheated fuel. The food was taken from farms as far as 65 miles (100 kilometers) from the stricken plants, suggesting a wide area of nuclear contamination."
New York Times: "After securing the Federal Reserve’s blessing, a series of financial giants rushed to raise their dividends and buy back stock on Friday, underscoring how Wall Street profits and an improving economy have helped the biggest banks stage a broad recovery since they were laid low by the financial crisis. Within hours of being told by regulators they had passed a second round of stress tests, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and several other major lenders laid out specific plans. Meanwhile, American Express and Goldman Sachs announced they were resuming large-scale stock repurchases, with Goldman buying back the $5 billion stake it sold to Warren E. Buffett in the fall of 2008."
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