JAPAN: Nuclear Crisis Worsens

The New York Times reports:

Industry executives said that in fact the situation had spiraled out of control and that all plant workers needed to leave the plant to avoid excessive exposure to radioactive leaks. If all workers do in fact leave the plant, the nuclear fuel in all three reactors is likely to melt down, which would lead to wholesale releases of radioactive material — by far the largest accident of its kind since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago. Reports of an imminent worsening of the problem came after a frantic day and night of rescue efforts focused largely on the No. 2 reactor. There, a malfunctioning valve prevented workers from manually venting the containment vessel to release pressure and allow fresh seawater to be injected into it. That meant that the extraordinary remedy emergency workers have been using to keep the nuclear fuel from overheating no longer worked. As a result, the nuclear fuel in that reactor was exposed for many hours, increasing the risk of a breach of the container vessel and a more dangerous emissions of radioactive particles.

VIDEO: Breaking report by Lawrence O'Donnell.


UPDATE: English-language NHK Tokyo is live-streaming their video reports.

25 Years Ago Today

Where were you on this day in 1986?

Totally The Worst Clip In The Entire All-Time History Of Everything

Mark this date. It's the end of the internet.

BRAZIL: Bleachers Collapse At Car Race

Horrifying. Hundreds hurt, 22 critically.

UPDATE: SEN. TED STEVENS DEAD Former Sen. Ted Stevens Missing And Feared Dead In Alaska Plane Crash

UPDATE: CNN confirms that Sen. Ted Stevens was killed.

Former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens is feared to be among eight missing persons aboard a plane that went down near Dillingham, Alaska last night. Severe weather is restricting the search for survivors.

The Alaska Air National Guard was called to the area about 20 miles north of Dillingham at about 7 p.m. after a passing aircraft saw the wreckage, spokesman Maj. Guy Hayes said. Eight people were reported to be on board the aircraft, though their status wasn't immediately known, he said. There were possible fatalities, he said. National Transportation Safety Board reported that it will send a "Go Team" from Washington, D.C., to Dillingham to investigate the crash. The teams can consist of up to a dozen or more specialists from the board's headquarters staff and are responsible for investigating major cases -- they are the arm that responds to "catastrophic airline crash sites" -- for the board, according to the NTSB.

Steven lost his seat in 2008 days after being convicted for failing to report gifts from supporters.

The Love Parade Is No More

Organizers of Germany's Love Parade techno dance party have announced that the 21 year-old annual event is permanently canceled "out of respect to those killed and injured" on Saturday. Nineteen attendees were killed and hundreds were injured during a mass panic in the sole entrance tunnel to the event. Fearing further chaos, police instructed the DJs to continue playing for several hours, since most of those already inside had no idea what had occurred. I'd always wanted to attend the Love Parade, having only gotten a small taste at San Francisco's version of the party in 2006. Below is the 2001 remix of Da Hool's 1997 classic, Meet Her At The Love Parade.

GERMANY: Tunnel Stampede Kills 18 At Love Parade Techno Dance Party

The Oil Is Leaking Again

After a few days of seeming success, the capping attempt appears to be failing.

The federal government Monday allowed BP to keep the cap shut tight on its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well for another day despite news the well is leaking at the top and something is seeping from the sea floor nearby. The Obama administration's point man for the spill, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said early Monday that the company promised to watch closely for signs of new leaks around the mile-deep well, which has stopped gushing oil into the water since the experimental cap was closed Thursday. Late Sunday, Allen said something was detected seeping near the broken oil well and demanded in a sharply worded letter that BP step up monitoring of the ocean floor. Allen didn't say what was seeping. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday afternoon the seepage was about two miles from the well head. He also said the well head is leaking.

And some improvement in water quality was already being seen. Heavy sigh.

The Oil Spill After One Year?

A simulation by the University of Hawaii.

The Talking Feds

I have a feeling the Talking Heads didn't approve this, but you've got to admit it's well done.

Concerned Women Are Concerned About How Immorality Caused The Oil Spill

The pesky Gulf oil spill wasn't caused by a Republican deregulated oil industry free to pursue profits over safety. According to the Concerned Women for America, it was caused by immoral government employees who were surfing for porn instead of doing their jobs.

President Reagan reduced government regulations that were choking the life out of business in our nation. He certainly didn’t lift all regulations so that federal workers could be paid to surf pornography and take gifts from those they were regulating. Given these recent examples of moral license leading to costly burdens on the American taxpayer, fiscal conservatives should rethink their ideas about giving up on the social issues that we at Concerned Women for America, and our half a million members, care about.

(Via - Right Wing Watch)

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist: Dive Right In, The Oil Is Only A Nuisance

Concerned about his state's plummeting tourism, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist says that there's no need to be concerned about "the toxic nature" of swimming in the Gulf waters. "It's not detrimental to anybody. It's much more of a nuisance than anything else at this point. It is safe." Anybody buying that?

(Tipped by JMG reader David)

BP Press Release Theater

Pensacola Beach

If you can stand it, click over for more depressing photos. And it's not just the surface of the beach that is ruined: "A trench dug by a group of USF geologists shows a continuous layer of oil approximately six inches beneath."

Formerly The World's Whitest Beaches

The Grill Baby Grill GOBP Cookbook

Jacket blurb: "The GOBP has been clear: we should thank BP for all they've done to create this delicious new cuisine. This summer, cook like a real conservative with Grill Baby Grill the only cookbook full of the bold flavor of deregulation."

(Tipped by JMG reader Ed)

Photo Of The Day - Oil Spill From Space

Your Daily Minute Of Crazy

Only Rep. Crazy Eyes can make O'Reilly seem reasonable.

BP Dumps CEO Tony Heyward From Gulf Oil Spill Cleanup Team

Now that BP CEO Tony Heyward has rightfully become the punching bag of the worldwide press, the oil giant is booting him out of their cleanup operation. And very interestingly, the new guy is an American.

A day after Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP, was pummeled by members of a House committee over the company’s role in the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the chairman of the company said in an interview that Mr. Hayward would step away from daily involvement in BP’s enormous response efforts in the gulf. Carl-Henric Svanberg, the chairman of BP, told Sky News that after eight weeks of being on the scene, Mr. Hayward “is now handing over the operations, the daily operations, to Bob Dudley.”

He referred to Robert Dudley, an American oil executive who has been a managing director of BP since 2009. Over five hours of testimony to the oversight and investigations panel of the Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday, Mr. Hayward repeatedly said he had no direct knowledge of the company’s safety decisions in connection with the stricken well, and refused to speculate about the causes of the oil spill before a company investigation of the accident is completed. His sidestepping of basic questions angered lawmakers, who told him that he was “stonewalling” the committee. Mr. Svanberg, who spoke for the company after a delegation of executives met with President Obama and his aides at the White House on Wednesday, acknowledged that Mr. Hayward has struggled in the public’s perception. “It is clear Tony has made remarks that have upset people,” Mr. Svanberg said to Sky News.

Maybe BP thinks the U.S. public and press will treat an American better.

Visualizing The Oil Spill

An interactive map lets you compare the size of the Gulf oil spill to your part of the country. (I think the spill is actually bigger than this map shows.)