Radiation leak said to be "extremely small"

Water Leak Shuts Down San Onofre Nuke Unit (Navel Gazing)

     Southern California Edison officials confirmed that water and steam may not be all that leaked from Unit 3 at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. An "extremely small" amount of radiation may have also leaked into the atmosphere as well, SCE revealed today as the search continues for the cause of a small water leak in a steam generator tube that forced Unit 3's shutdown Tuesday evening....

San Onofre surfers complain of “glowing extremities” (San Clemente Picayune)

Loungin’ with Mitt: just sayin’! (Red Emma)

RED EMMA

Dog on roof

     Good day today. Woke up rested, if too early. Still, four a.m. offers its muted charms: the sound of the irrigation going off, purr of the fridge, the comforting glow of the security light. Drank coffee. Played with the new cat, Boo Radley. He’s ferocious. He thinks. Graded a set of student papers. Read a chapter of the new biography of Madame Modjeska. She was a superstar once. The olive trees planted by her husband surround our home in this canyon. Reviewed notes for a difficult grievance at the salt mine. Baked donuts for the sleepers downstairs. Made coffee, etc., again, this time for wife and small child, both pretty darn happy about the donuts when I roused them, warm and sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon. Drove lovely boy and his friend to school, saw Santa Catalina Island across the channel. Some day I will fly over there. Not today.
     Then, the best part: heard Mitt Romney say on KPFK that he doesn’t much like President Obama and “his friends in the faculty lounge.” Only 8:30 a.m. and this puts Red Emma in a very good place indeed, adding to the layer-cake of emotion, now with chocolate frosting on top: helping students, reading history, fighting for labor justice, baking, appreciating So Cal beauty and listening to community radio. But the quote does, indeed, take the you-know-what. My day is made. I have my theme. The brass ring is already in the bag. My superPAC has sent a check.
     No, you don’t need to be political linguist George Lakoff to get, enjoy and keep enjoying this one. Subtle it ain’t. “Friends” is bad (good) enough, as Obama and his ilk couldn’t have real, genuine friends. But “lounge.” Perfect!
     You can see them, those so-called teachers, sitting in the lounge when they should be working with students, those bums. There they are in the lounge, doing aerobics to Jane Fonda videos, rereading Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, listening to old Reverend Jeremiah Wright sermons, praying to the graven images of Mother Jones, Eugene Debs, Albert Einstein, Samuel Gompers and César Chávez. Thinking of yet more ways to make our children homosexuals.

Thinking of yet more ways to make our children homosexuals.

     Just one word, really. “Lounge.” Yup, the old Mittster could have said “classroom” instead but that of course would have made the entire rhetorical exercise red meat-free and honest and, well, substantive and therefore pointless.
     Funny, sure. The Right never picks on the weaknesses of its opponents. They always go for our strengths. That teachers have a lounge, a place to go and collaborate on pedagogy, drink coffee, grade papers, call parents, get a break from the classroom for fifteen minutes and drink more coffee is a good thing. So are food stamps and unemployment insurance and work safety laws.
     Mitt doesn’t want a teachers’ lounge? He doesn’t like teachers? He doesn’t want to be our friends? Nope.
     I am confident that somebody who works for media other than Pacifica will get right on this. The odious Juan Williams, a tragic figure of American journalism if ever there was one, at least had the nerve to ask Newt Gingrich about his totally racist South Carolina pandering. Who at the networks will call Mitt on lazy teachers?
     Will look for the story tomorrow morning, early.

Fleischman on Williams: "embarrassed for all of us here in the County of Orange"

     Of all people, blogger Jon Fleischman—once closely tied to Sheriff Mike Carona—is asking John Williams to just go away:

Community Editorial: John Williams' Cringeworthy Behavior (Voice of OC)

Some excerpts:

     ...At the time this deal was consummated, it cemented in my mind that the John Williams I had come to know over the years had, at best, lost his perspective or even worse, had become a scoundrel.
     Revelations this week that Williams had, in fact, signed a letter in which he stated his intention to resign his office this month, but is now trying to "flip flop" on that decision, are another demonstration that Williams is lacking in character.
     I have spoken to enough people who were party to the dialogue that took place between Williams, the Board of Supervisors and the County CEO to know that (despite my strong advice to the contrary) Williams did cut a deal. The County has literally locked Williams out of his former office, and a judge has now refused a request to have him let back in.
. . .
     This entire situation comes at considerable taxpayer expense, in the time spent on it by county personnel and lawyers, the costs of Williams' screw-ups in the running of his office, and finally the idea that Williams for the rest of his life will get enhanced pension benefits at our expense because of the way this has gone. It's totally outrageous.
. . .

Scoundrel (c. 1970)

     The Board of Supervisors should immediately meet and take the extraordinary step of issuing a public reprimand of Williams along with a press conference vetting all of the information they have about Williams' conduct as well as the deal that was struck (from which Williams' is now trying to extricate himself).
. . .
     For now, it's hard for me to decide whether to be angry with Williams, or just pity him. The one thing I do know is that I am embarrassed for all of us here in the County of Orange.