NYT:

The chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave a significantly bleaker appraisal of the threat posed by Japan’s nuclear crisis than the Japanese government, saying on Wednesday that the damage at one crippled reactor was much more serious than Japanese officials had acknowledged and advising Americans to evacuate a wider area around the plant than the perimeter established by Japan.

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“The Republican National Committee is considering sanctioning the GOP presidential primary debates and then selling the broadcast rights to news outlets, two Republicans with knowledge of the idea tell CNN.”

“The [budget cuts to] tsunami warning centers, it’s really — the timing of that really puts attention on the subject matter. I don’t know that I would go back and look at that… I think we often over-react to emergencies, especially natural disasters, before we assess the limit of the damage, and particularly with the nuclear part of this.” [ThinkProgress]

So we’re making the rounds, looking for a story to riff on, when we come across an intriguing item out of Texas. Seems a soda tax is being considered to help balance the state budget, which strikes us as curious, since we’ve been bombarded recently by Paid Actors Portraying Angry Everyday Americans Who Oppose Taxing Our Nation’s Precious High-Fructose Corn Syrup, and, well, this story’s out of Texas.

False alarm, alas — the soda tax is being proposed by a Demrat, which is tantamount to burying the lead, since everybody knows that Demrats no longer exist in Texas, except in certain Austin neighborhoods that everybody avoids, and surely National Geographic should be alerted to the sighting.

But before we give up on the piece, this passage confronts us:

“Texas politicians must cut down on their spending binges instead of making citizens swallow this not-so-sweet tax,” said J. Justin Wilson, a senior research analyst at nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom in Washington, D.C.

Nice line, Mr. Wilson. We’re sure you were paid well for it. But by whom?

And here’s the thing: The reporter never tells us.

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should pick up this podcast. NHK is Japan’s version of NPR, and the news is pretty much unfiltered.  No word from the girlfriend since yesterday morning, and I’m assuming it’s the lack of power in Tokyo.  More as I hear it.

In an interview on the popular Tony Perkins radio program “Theocracy Now”, Jim DeMint decries the Bureaucrat-Atheist Complex:

Some are trying to separate the social, cultural issues from fiscal issues, but you really can’t do that. America works, freedom works, when people have that internal gyroscope that comes from a belief in God and Biblical faith. Once we push that out, you no longer have the capacity to live as a free person without the external controls of an authoritarian government. I’ve said it often, and I believe it: The bigger government gets, the smaller God gets, as people become more dependent on government, less dependent on God.

We can’t help but think “more dependent on government” is code for Obamacare, which numerous studies have proven is less effective than faith-healing.

Jim DeMint’s Theory Of Relativity: ‘The Bigger Government Gets, The Smaller God Gets’ [ThinkProgress]

Absolute Genius Halloween Photo: Brixey Banter

“House Republicans are holding an emergency meeting of the Rules Committee on Wednesday to take up legislation that would block funding to NPR in the wake of James O’Keefe’s hidden camera prank on the news organization.” [TPM]