Tuesday, March 29, 2011

When the Going Gets Tough

Times of crisis often show us the stuff of which men are made.  Let's consider the case of monsieur Shimizu, president of Tokyo Electric, the operator of the stricken nuclear plant east of Japan's capital. While the country's costliest natural disaster and the world's second worst nuclear accident were unfolding, Shimizu decided he needed a holiday. From March 16-23, as employees of his company (as well as firefighters and national guardsmen) were risking their lives to try to stabilize the Fukushima Dai-ichi facility, Shimizu was missing in action. At first it was reported that he had taken leave to alleviate the stress of overwork- apparently he had put in some long hours at the office from March 11 (the day of the quake)-15.  Subsequently, in a pathetic attempt at damage control, the company stated that in fact Shimizu had been ill. Pull the plug on this guy.

Update (Mar. 30):   Shimizu's called in sick again. He's being treated at hospital for high blood pressure, or so TEPCO says.  

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