The Morning Blog

Well, it's finally begun to snow here. I'm glad it waited until today. If it had been cold enough to snow yesterday, that rain we got would have buried us.

So as grim and drear as it is today, it's nice to start off with a bit of cautious optimism:

Hamas has announced that it will honor the results of a referendum on peace with Israel. Certainly would be a nice thing if it works out. Granted, they are setting some difficult conditions, specifically that all Palestinians, including those of the diaspora and in Gaza must be included. In this sense, it is insisting that it must be recognized as a government rather than a terrorist organization by Israel and the West at large. Still, it's something...I'd love to see Israel match this by dialing back somewhat on the settlements.

So much for the slice of optimism. South Korea's National Intelligence Chief has been quoted as saying that there is a high likelihood that the North will attack again. I don't know what to make of this. It seems as though North Korea's foreign policy essentially is: get what you can out of China because they tolerate you at least for the time being , and use threats as a bargaining chip with the rest of the planet. Since China is getting a bit weary of the craziness, North Korea might be amping up the threats in order to get concessions from the rest of the region. Have to see how this plays out.

Hmm...Coffee? Yes please.

Oh, it's delicious. Really helps wake me up.

Things are heating up for Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange: Interpol has issued a red notice for him. Somewhat less than an arrest warrant, a red notice asks that people contact the police if they have information about him. Currently, he's wanted in Sweden on charges of rape, sexual molestation and unawful coercion. Conceivably, he could be extradited to the United States to face charges under the US Espionage Act, the maximum penalty of which is death.

Football: You gotta be kidding me? James Harrison has been fined yet again? With what he's paid out this year, he could buy a pretty nice house.

Now that the recession is supposedly ending, Pittsburgh's economy has begun to head South. This doesn't really surprise me. Things didn't go so bad for us because they really couldn't get much worse. Also, we're not a very hip town. It usually takes us a couple of years to catch up with whatever the cool kids are doing.

Yikes! Cleveland is growing faster! How can this be?

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on Schwarzenegger v. Plata. Their decision will be whether to uphold or overturn a federal courts decision that California must reduce their prison population by 40,000 inmates. The federal court had found that as a result of massive over-crowding, conditions had become unconstitutional. To stress how bad it is: one inmate dies every eight days due to preventable or treatable illness.

Raining on my parade: I commented yesterday in the Morning Blog that the Wikileaks dump may show signs that China is interested in a unified Korean peninsula and that they've had quite enough of Pyongyang's antics. Well... probably not.

If you have to be a lab mouse, you might as well be one genetically designed for laziness.

Trying to think of what to get someone who has everything this season? Why not Oswald's coffin? It'll be a terrific conversation piece, provided you enjoy conversations along the lines of "What the hell is wrong with you, you ghoul?"

Kacee Bait: Today is the 58th anniversary of the first publicized sex change operation.

Homeland Friggin' Security actually got involved in this case. Your tax dollars at work: A man might be sentenced to 10 years in prison. His crime? For $30 he would modify the xbox you own.

Evidently, the terrorists will win if they can play "Fallout 3"

Finally...

England is a beautiful, snowy mess.

If you're reading this Ma: Be sure to bring a scarf when you go to visit Sarah!