UPDATE, March 28 Yokota Air Base, just outside Tokyo, has become the nerve center and logistical hub for “Operation Tomodachi,” the U.S. humanitarian assistance efforts to help earthquake/tsunami/nuclear-power-plant-disaster-ravaged Japan. In the weeks that have followed the disaster, some 1,300 military and government workers have converged on Yokota, and “[s]uddenly, this usually sleepy airlift base...

Days ago, the countries of the G-7 stepped in to rescue the yen from its counter-intuitive appreciation since the great earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis struck. According to this editorial from Japan’s Akita Sakigake Shimpo, such prompt action from American, British, Canadian and European central banks was a very positive sign not only for Japan, but for the entire global economy. The Akita Sakigake...

South Carolinians rallying for a moral budget in their state.

How dramatically will Japan’s nuclear catastrophe affect the rest of the world? According to this editorial from Germany’s Die Welt, to address the ever-growing dangers and fears of nuclear power will require at least as much time, dedication and money as the developed world has spent on securing itself from terrorism since September 11, 2001. The Die Welt editorial says in small part: The earthquake...

Japan of all countries should have understood the dangers of nuclear energy.  It was the only country to be on the receiving end of Nuclear Weapons, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and had 23 crewmen of the fishing boat Daigo Fukury? Maru.contaminated when the first hydrogen bomb was tested by the United States at Bikini Atoll.  In spite of all this Japan had 54 reactors which supplied 30 percent of the country’s...

UPDATE, March 27 The New York Times reports this morning on the Libyan rebels “first major victory since American and European airstrikes began a week ago.” The rebels’ advance was the first sign that the allied attacks, directed not only against Colonel Qaddafi’s aircraft and defenses but also against his ground troops, were changing the dynamics of the battle for control of the country. As night...

UPDATE: 16:15 ET March 19 AP has confirmed that the U.S. military has launched a missile attack against Libya’s air defenses. A senior U.S. military official says the strike was aimed at sites along the Libyan coast. The missiles were launched from U.S. Navy vessels in the Mediterranean. The official says the assault would unfold in stages and strike at air defense installations around Tripoli, the capital,...

UPDATE: 12:20 ET France has officially confirmed that its military are engaged around and over Libya. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in Paris, “Our air force will oppose any aggression by Colonel Gadhafi against the population of Benghazi…As of now, our aircraft are preventing planes from attacking the town…As of now, our aircraft are prepared to intervene against tanks.” Read More Here...

As the struggle continues at Japan’s malfunctioning nuclear plants, this news item from Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun looks at the challenges being faced by Japanese and international rescuers as they scramble to save as many lives as possible in the aftermath of last week’s incredible tsunami. The article from Japan’s Mainichi Shimbum says in part: In the earthquake-affected areas of northeastern...

After three disasters of such monumental proportions, Japanese newspapers are urging people to bind together to help those most in need, and expressing thanks to people around the world for coming to their aid. This editorial from the Akita Sakigake Shimpo, from Japan’s main island just south of the disaster zone, urges people to help others and take heart that they are not alone. The editorial from the...

UPDATE, 6:30 AM ET March 19 The New York Times Reports: Forces led by Moammar Gaddafi entered the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi Saturday after airstrikes and fierce fighting as the United States and its allies prepared to launch military attacks on Libya. A warplane was shot down over Benghazi. Government troops — some reportedly in tanks — entered Benghazi from the west, in the university...

I came across “Ode Magazine” a couple of years ago and it has appeared on my screen almost daily since then. It is a rather unusual publication. It is “a print and online publication about positive news, about the people and ideas that are changing our world for the better.” I know, such a publication should not at all be “unusual,” but these days, alas, it is. Ode was founded in 1995 in Rotterdam,...

What’s the connection between the women of Rio’s Carnival and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg? For Brazil’s O Globo, Mônica Geraldi Valentim writes that even if women have become more financially independent in recent decades, the lengths to which they’ll go to look attractive is proof that catching a mate still requires good old-fashioned thin waists, full lips and silky hair; and...

One of the side aspects to the crisis in Japan has been the very orderly reaction of the public to the crisis, a reaction which (had it occurred somewhere else) we might have even termed ‘Japanese’ in nature. Japan has long been a society of conformity and the people have maintained a faith in the truth and honesty of the government that hasn’t been seen in the US for decades (if not longer). But...

UPDATE, March 17 From the Stars and Stripes: U.S. military personnel have delivered 40 tons of supplies to the hardest-hit areas of Japan, as humanitarian aid continues in the face of an ever-increasing threat from the failing Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant. The U.S. 7th Fleet reported that aircraft from the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group flew 15 sorties Wednesday, delivering food, water, clothing,...

With President Obama about to travel to Brazil [March 19], it looks as though Brazil’s new president may be keen to show a change in direction in regard to Iran and the United States. Days ago, off of the radar screen of most of the world, Brazil’s new government took the bold decision to dissociate itself from its past policy of looking the other way when Tehran commits human rights abuses by...

Cam Cardow, The Ottawa Citizen This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

Texas State Representative Leo Berman, R-Tyler, has sponsored a bill “relating to the establishment of English as the official language of Texas” and the requirement that official acts of government be performed in English. The proposed legislation cites several reasons why such a bill is necessary, including: * the people of the United States have brought to this nation the cultural heritage of...

One country’s human devastation is another country’s economic boon. And Larry Kudlow isn’t reluctant to say so (emphasis in the quote within the quote is Booman’s; emphasis in Booman’s ending commentary is mine):

This is Michelle Malkin writing on her website; I am going to quote it in full:

John Cole, The Scranton Times-Tribune This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

Some have written today about a disgraced former counsel, named Kevin Maher, who is alleged to have made some beastly comments about Asians in Okinawa and Japan. Maher was then also removed from shuffling forward incoming stories for the Japan desk for the State Department, apparently. That this story runs today merits a response, I think. Just this: There is massive regard carried by the masses of Americans...

Just before today’s massive earthquake, U.S.-Japan relations were badly dented by comments made by Kevin Maher, a former U.S. consul to Japan who was, until yesterday, the head of the State Department’s Japan desk. As is reflected in this editorial from Japan’s Nishinippon Shimbun, Maher’s comments, jotted down by U.S. students, triggered an uncharacteristically angry response in Japan. The...

UPDATE: Washington Post, 20:12 ET, March 15: New assessments of the explosion at Unit 2 of Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant Tuesday heightened fears that it will begin spewing large amounts of radiation. The explosion probably damaged the main protective shield around the uranium-filled core inside one of the plant’s six reactors. Such a breach would be the first at a nuclear power plant...

After my first initial reaction of pure horror, this was one of my first thoughts after hearing about the earthquake in Japan: