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The 9.
0 earthquake and resultant tsunami has left still-uncounted thousands dead and hundreds of thousands more without shelter, fuel and sustenance.
Entire towns have been eradicated.
Families who have lost loved ones do not know whether the missing have been washed out to sea, or remain buried under the mountains of rubble.
And somehow it may get even worse, as Japan teeters on the brink of nuclear catastrophe.
Amidst the horror, Japanese crews subject themselves to lethal doses of radiation as they desperately use water cannons to cool the flaming fuel rods, risking their own lives to save their fellow countrymen.
Sources report that the heroic plant workers have successfully equipped an alternative power source, which would allow the redeployment of the cooling system that had been knocked out by the thirty foot tidal wave.
Updates from Tokyo Electric Power and the Japanese government have been sporadic at best, which is understandable given the fluid nature of events on the ground, the destruction of local communications infrastructure, and the difficulty of accessing the nuclear reactor site.
And for reasons that are difficult to understand, the Obama administration has piled on with suggestions that the Japanese government has been less than forthcoming in disclosing the seriousness of the nuclear crisis.
The New York Times reports that the chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission ("NRC") "gave a far bleaker appraisal on Wednesday of the threat posed by Japan's nuclear crisis than the Japanese government had offered", and said that American officials believe that the damage to at least one crippled reactor "was much more serious than Tokyo had acknowledged".
Chairman Gregory Jaczko went on to challenge the Japanese assessment of the danger, stating, "We would recommend an evacuation to a much larger radius than has currently been provided by Japan.
" Even the Times suggested that "[t]hat assessment seems bound to embarrass, if not anger, Japanese officials, suggesting they have miscalculated the danger or deliberately played down the risks.
" Why the Obama administration would choose to challenge or contradict the onsite assessment by the Japanese authorities, who certainly have an interest in protecting their own people and homeland, is difficult to understand.
It would seem that the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power, with personnel on the scene, are in the best position to ascertain the seriousness of the crisis.
Certainly, little is gained by the United States' suggesting that Japan has minimized the disaster or that the Japan government's evacuation plans are inadequate.
And there is some hypocrisy in the Obama administration, which itself promised transparency but has been among the most opaque Presidencies in memory, now claiming that Japan has withheld information about the crisis.
The answer may lie in the agenda driven policies of this administration and its appointees.
NRC Commissioner Jaczko, a longtime critic of nuclear power, was appointed to the post by President Obama in 2009.
Jaczko, who had previously served as current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's appropriations director and science policy advisor, was originally appointed to the NRC by George W.
Bush as part of a broader compromise with Democrats who had opposed numerous Bush nominations.
Because Jaczko had already been confirmed by the Senate when he was appointed to the five person NRC board in 2005, Senate confirmation was not required when he was appointed by President Obama to head the Commission in 2009.
Like many other confirmed and unconfirmed Obama appointees, Jaczko seems to have allowed his left-leaning prejudices to influence the execution of his functions as member of the Obama administration.
Critics of nuclear power, hoping to sour a national mood that had been swinging toward acceptance of atomic energy as a viable, and green, alternative to fossil fuels, have painted a particularly dire picture of Japan's nuclear crisis.
Not wishing to let a crisis go to waste, these opponents of nuclear power have painted Fukushima as proof that nuclear power is far too dangerous to consider as an alternative energy source.
So, when the Japanese authorities suggest that the events unfolding at Fukushima are anything short of the apocalypse, the Obama administration and its liberal acolytes recoil -- accusing Japan of being less than truthful.
If the United States throws yet another ally under the bus, even during it times of heart-wrenching national crisis, c'est la guerre.
We marvel at the grace and dignity of the Japanese people as they fight through the unimaginable tragedy that has stricken this great nation.
Our thoughts and prayers are with them during their time of need, support and understanding.
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