Sunday Reads

Morning everyone! Hope you had a safe Christmas and that Santa brought you all the goodies you wanted…If you missed some of the post yesterday, be sure to check them out. Dakinikat had an interesting piece about Lady X, and the discovery of a new species of ancient ancestors. I also had a post about the recent study which found the highly toxic chemical Hexavalent Chromium in the tap water of 31 US cities. We are snowed in here, and hopefully we will not lose power.

Here are a few news items going on:

Speaking of snow, all of you in the North East get ready for one mean ass blizzard. If we got 10 inches of snow here in Georgia, you all are probably going to get worse. Eastern Mass. braces for blizzard Monday commutes expected to be long:

Heavy Snow and a White Christmas

The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for most of Eastern Massachusetts beginning at noon today, when a severe winter storm is expected to begin dumping 15 to 20 inches of snow on the region, likely bringing highway gridlock, power outages, and coastal flooding in its wake.

National Weather Service meteorologist Alan Dunham said sustained winds of 35 miles per hour are likely to make visibility so limited that people should stay home if at all possible. The warning applies to all of Massachusetts east of Worcester, except for Cape Cod.

“It’s going to be heavy snow,” said Dunham, stationed at the weather service’s Taunton office. “Sometimes you refer to this kind of snow as ‘heart attack’ snow,” because it is so heavy for people to shovel. He said the storm may cause power outages and he urged people to keep batteries, portable radios, and other necessities on hand.

It looks like Manning is not doing very well. BBC News – Wikileaks suspect Bradley Manning’s health;declining; And considering the treatment he is getting, is no surprise to me…

The only person to visit Wikileaks suspect Pte Bradley Manning in custody other than his lawyer says his health has declined in the past four months.

US journalist David House, who has been visiting him since September, told the BBC World Service he looked “frazzled”. The Pentagon has denied it is mistreating Pte Manning. A Marine Corps spokesman said the military was keeping him “safe, secure and ready for trial”. Pte Manning faces up to 50 years in jail if convicted of leaking secrets.

Dak also found this from the New York Times, so I wanted to bring it up to the front page.

The whistle-blowing Web site WikiLeaks has not been convicted of a crime. The Justice Department has not even pressed charges over its disclosure of confidential State Department communications. Nonetheless, the financial industry is trying to shut it down.

I am sure that she will post more on this later on…;)

Over in Pakistan, a female bomber kills 45 people at a food center.

KHAR, Pakistan (AP) – A burqa-clad female suicide bomber in Pakistan lobbed hand grenades, then detonated her explosive belt among a crowd at an aid center Saturday, killing at least 45 people in militants’ latest strike against the authorities’ control over the key tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Police believed it was the first time Islamic militants have sent a woman to carry out a suicide attack in Pakistan, where the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan against al-Qaida and the Taliban insurgents continues to spill over despite Islamabad’s repeated claims of victory on its side of the porous border.

President Obama issued a statement from Hawaii,

“Killing innocent civilians outside a World Food Program distribution point is an affront to the people of Pakistan, and to all humanity.”

What can be said about something like this. I guess after so many of these suicide bombers, it reaches a point where you become numb to the news. Is it a disassociation that we have? I don’t know. I guess I have just become so used to this sort of killing.

There has been a lot going on over in Africa’s Ivory Coast.

Laurent Gbagbo: Democratic martyr turned dictator

The president of Ivory Coast promised a new kind of African leadership. But his refusal to accept defeat in the recent election is all too familiar.

This head of state doesn’t seem to have any trouble crushing “ebullience” now. Gbagbo’s intransigence, augmented by military force and rumoured “death squads”, has pushed his nation to the brink of a second civil war.

The 65-year-old’s defeat by opposition leader Alassane Ouattara in last month’s presidential election runoff has been recognised by the UN, the US, the EU, the African Union and former colonial power France – everyone, in fact, except Gbagbo himself.

From Minx’s Missing Link File: I missed this little nugget over the last few days, some of you may have seen it.

NM Gov Bill Richardson to replace Hillary Clinton at State Dept?

Numerous sources are pointing toward New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as possibly replacing Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State in 2011. Governor Richardson will be ending his term as Governor on December 31st after eight years in office and has just returned from North Korea after working in an “unofficial” capacity to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

I just can’t imagine someone else being Secretary of State, she does such a fabulous job.

For the Easy Like Sunday Morning…Here is the Winter Arts Calendar chosen by the Guardian’s critics:

Our critics pick the season’s highlights. From Elisabeth Moss on stage to Adele’s new album, these are the dates for your cultural diary

What are you finding interesting…and how was your holiday? I love reading your comments…

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