a sense of joy and then a panic

At least, I don't think so.  I mean, no one is talking about it.  There was an article in the paper that was so non-alarmist I pretty much ignored it.  And then I read a comment saying we shouldn't be quick to sneer at Japan's nuclear power plant safety because in Nebraska two nuclear plants are starting to "swim."  I was like, what now? 

But apparently there is this, from a Pakistani news wire:

A shocking report prepared by Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency (FAAE) on information provided to them by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states that the Obama regime has ordered a “total and complete” news blackout relating to any information regarding the near catastrophic meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant located in Nebraska.

According to this report, the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant suffered a “catastrophic loss of cooling” to one of its idle spent fuel rod pools on 7 June after this plant was deluged with water caused by the historic flooding of the Missouri River which resulted in a fire causing the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to issue a “no-fly ban” over the area.

This is what the (local) Columbus Telegram says, among others:

For example, there's a report that a Russian nuclear agency has accused President Barack Obama of covering up a nuclear near-meltdown on June 7 at Fort Calhoun.

In fact, said the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Omaha Public Power District, there was a fire in an electrical switchgear room that day, but the spent-fuel pool was in no imminent danger and a fire-suppression system extinguished it quickly.

The plant temporarily lost power to a pump that cools the spent-fuel pool, but power was switched to a backup pump, said OPPD, which runs Fort Calhoun. During the 90-minute interruption, the temperature of the pool increased a few degrees, but the pool was not in danger of boiling, the utility said.

The reactor and spent-fuel pool are in a normal, stable condition and are protected from flooding, OPPD said. The plant was shut down for refueling in April and will remain shut down until floodwaters recede.

Another Internet rumor claims there's a no-fly zone around Fort Calhoun Station because of a radiation leak.

"Rumors about a radiation release at the site - that never happened," said Victor Dricks, spokesman for the NRC Region IV office in Arlington, Texas.

Dricks said a no-fly zone put in place around all U.S. nuclear power plants after Sept. 11, 2001, has been relaxed, but planes are not supposed to fly or loiter near them.

OPPD spokesman Jeff Hanson said air space around Fort Calhoun is restricted by the Federal Aviation Administration to a two-mile radius below 3,500 feet because OPPD was concerned small planes would get tangled in high power lines.

Basically, comments on this Reuters article sum up the situation:

What I find amazing is that the International Media knows what happened, but the US Media is not reporting it. I guess Weiner was a useful idiot for Obama to the end, eh? Or was Obama’s stupid ATM comment an attempt to distract America from the truth? http://www.eutimes.net/2011/06/us-orders-news-blackout-over-crippled-nebraska-nuclear-plant/ is where Europe is reporting on the issue. In addition, there has been no reporting on the increase in infant mortality on the West Coast due to Fukishema, which is still an on-going disaster. I am very sad that Reuters has chose to accept government dicta for serious journalism.

People’s paranoia is starting to make me laugh and get scared at the same time. The source for the article is the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency! Come on people! Did anyone actually go to that website? It has an English version and there is no mention anywhere on that site of this ‘catastrophe’. Do a search for Nebraska…no mention of it anywhere... A temporary loss of cooling to spent rod pool is hardly “one of the worst nuclear accidents in US history.” (The quoted part is from the eutimes.net website). Here’s more headline from that website: 1. Obama Orders 1 Million US Troops to Prepare for Civil War. 2. U.S. Forces Plan Direct Action Against American Citizens.

This sort of interplay isn't new, of course.  It's just very, very weird to be so near the center of it.  So for everyone's edification, we in Nebraska are not dropping dead of radiation sickness and have also not been carted away/evacuated/eliminated/any of that shit.  We are, as ever, discussing the next football season, nursing homes, and death row inmates.  Or, even closer to the center of impending disaster, discussing the College World Series and crime.  We are alive!  We are still here!

Re: The recent controversy over the Smithsonian Institute's installation "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture." 

I actually really, really like the "video in question:" "Fire In My Belly," created by David Wojnarowicz in 1987.  Brutal and sad and frightening for sure (it almost reminds me of Begotten, but better).  But powerful, I think, and evocative.  You can hardly accuse it of having nothing to say or being "merely competent."  And look, people: I have mummy-phobia, and I have it pretty bad.  I don't find it pleasant either.  But judging by the way people were talking about it, and the way it was described in news articles, you would have thought it was a 4-minute video of ants crawling on a crucifix (or as the Washington Post puts it "Ant-covered Jesus video").  That segment is 11 seconds.  11 seconds!  And not even a memorable part.  That's like calling Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing a "book about abandoning dogs."

But, the video was removed after people like the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights (hahaha), House Minority Leader John Boehner, and Republican Whip Eric Cantor complained about it.  Catholic League guy is just grossed out: "The material is vile... This is hate speech... It is designed to insult (Christians)."  Eric Cantor is pitching to the Putting the Christ Back in Xmas demographic: "an obvious attempt to offend Christians during the Christmas season."  Just want to remind: 11 seconds.  Also, not everything is about you.  Boehner threatened the Smithsonian with... something, when the Republicans take control of the House in January, if they didn't fix the problem.  But another Republican, Jack Kingston, wants to launch a Congressional investigation, because he is very angry about tax dollars - no, no, public space - being used to fund this "really perverted sick stuff" (he also thinks "Male nudity, Ellen DeGeneres grabbing her own breast" are sick and perverted and kinky and questionable; presumably female nudity can still qualify as art): "They claim that this is not paid for by tax dollars, yet this is a public building with a publicly paid staff, public heat and air-conditioning, if you will, public security. So there’s no question the taxpayers are subsidizing this."

Contrast this with this snippet from the Publishers Weekly review of a book about Wojnarowicz, David Wojnarowicz: A Definitive History of Five or Six Years on the Lower East Side: "informed by his outrage against America's treatment of outsiders, in particular those suffering with AIDS." 

So on the one hand, video informed by outrage against America's treatment of outsiders.  American politician condemns video as, essentially, not representative enough of the public experience to justify public dollars being spent on it.  Yes, you ARE an outsider, says Jack Kingston.  You are not one of the public.  Your pain and your experience are not ours.  Sit down and shut up. 

Which is fucking bullshit, in case I needed to add that.

See also, a great article by John Coulthart (he makes the same point I do - "Among other things Wojnarowicz’s film depicts the artist having his lips sewn together. By shutting out Wojnarowicz from their exhibition the gallery and the Smithsonian Institute re-affirm the point he was making in the 1980s about the voices of the afflicted being silenced" - and adds a ton more, including a bonus riff on The Passion of the Christ, re: who is "allowed" to depict violation of Christ's body): "Ecce homo redux."

Patient: I can’t get my contact lenses out.

House: Out of what? They’re not in your eyes.

Patient: [pointing at his eyes] But they’re red.

House: That’s because you’re trying to remove your corneas.

A quarantine officer, left, monitored a thermal scanner as passengers from an international flight arrive at Incheon Airport, west of Seoul, South Korea. A South Korean woman tested positive for swine flu in additional examinations after traveling to Mexico, making her the country's first case, the authorities said Tuesday.