Room for Error

Ask people what comes to mind when they think of Japanese engineering and they'll immediately answer, "quality." Some folks might go farther than that and mention the exacting standards of Japanese construction and workmanship. This is not surprising, given the Japanese tradition of exactitude. Everything in Japan is measured to the picometer, timed to the nanosecond, and set to the finest point. There are anecdotal stories of Japanese people getting flustered and frustrated by straying from their schedules by a fraction of a second. The Japanese take exact measures to the extreme, and that has allowed them to make the most durable products in the world.

So you have to wonder how Japan feels about the disaster unfolding at Fukushima nuclear power plant. Yes, an American company built the plant, but the Americans - as guests of the Japanese - had to build the plant by strict local standards and codes, and the plant had to be built to withstand the most severe earthquake imaginable. But Japanese engineering, while astonishingly exact, isn't perfect. No one, anywhere, could imagine a 9.0-Richter scale earthquake triggering a tsunami and damaging Fukushima practically beyond the ability of the plant workers to control it and avoid a meltdown.

The Japanese have come to learn this much - namely, that you can't build everything to be fail-safe all the time. It was probably never a good idea to build a nuclear power plant there in the first place. The best anyone in positions of authority can do now is to minimize the damage and do everything possible to avoid a meltdown.

Ironically, the Japanese penchant for exacting standards might help them find a way to do so.

A Matter of Priorities

The earthquake in Japan and the tsunami that it spawned, which threatened both Hawaii and the mainland Pacific states and caused some formidable waves in both areas, show how important it is that we prepare for the worst and how we should always make sure that we have the resources to make our warning systems work . . . and work well.

So why did the Republicans propose a spending cut of about $126 million for the National Weather Service, which runs the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii, before the tsunami was generated?

Why do the Republicans want to cut $454 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, of which the National Weather Service is part, which could cause intermittent closures of weather service offices? Why would they make it more difficult, if not impossible, to get people to safety in the event of a tidal wave - like if, say, Rush Limbaugh goes back to Hawaii for a vacation and decides to go cannonball diving off a pier?

Well, let me let House Appropriations Committee spokeswoman Jennifer Hing answer that:

"The nation is in an historic fiscal crisis, and it is imperative that the Congress roll back spending in virtually every area of government — including NOAA — so that we can help our economy back on track."

Hing added that the House Republicans recognize the need to keep critical lifesaving and safety programs, which is why their proposed budget would not cut spending for a network of tsunami-detecting buoys in the Pacific Ocean.

Gee, I feel so much better.

It should be clear that the Republicans have no regard for the general welfare in any circumstances - even when the lives and safety of millions of people are involved.

Next, you'll be telling me that they want to cut spending for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, even though the accident at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant shows how badly things can go wrong with nuclear energy even in countries where it is strongly regulated.

On second thought, don't. . . .