The Commentariat -- Nov. 23, 2012

** Paul Krugman: Marco's Rubio's "the age of the earth is a mystery" "didn't come out of the blue. As speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Mr. Rubio provided powerful aid to creationists trying to water down science education. In one interview, he compared the teaching of evolution to Communist indoctrination tactics.... Mr. Rubio's complaint about science teaching [was] that it might undermine children's faith in what their parents told them to believe. And right there you have the modern G.O.P.'s attitude ... toward everything: If evidence seems to contradict faith, suppress the evidence.... Modern American conservatism is highly correlated with authoritarian inclinations -- and authoritarians are strongly inclined to reject any evidence contradicting their prior beliefs.... Don't shrug off Mr. Rubio's awkward moment. His inability to deal with geological evidence was symptomatic of a much broader problem -- one that may, in the end, set America on a path of inexorable decline." ...

... CW: I believe this is why it is difficult to get a fair jury trial. I sometimes watch crime shows where they poll the jury afterward, & often the jurors' "reasons" for deciding guilt or innocence seem to be merely justifications for preconceived views of the accused. My advice: if you're innocent, get a liberal jury. If you're guilty, get a conservative jury; then just look innocent -- & you'll get away with murder. ...

     ... P.S. Now apply this theory to the GOP attack on Susan Rice:

The Washington Post Editors write a scathing critique of the "bizarre attack" & "half-baked conspiracy theories" of 97 House members who signed a "remarkable" letter against Susan Rice. The Post editors come mighty close to accusing the signators of racism & sexism, nothing that 80 percent of the conspiracy theorists are white men & nearly half are from former states of the Confederacy. Good for the Post. P.S. The Post editors are NOT liberals.

As Long as We Can Say "We Won!": Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Congressional negotiators ... are examining ideas that would allow effective tax rates to rise for the wealthy without technically raising the top tax rate of 35 percent. They hope the proposals will advance negotiations by allowing both parties to claim they stood their ground." CW: never mind what makes sense. ...

... NEW. Jamelle Bouie in the Washington Post: "... it would be unwise for President Obama to agree on a lame-duck package; he'll have the most leverage after Jan. 1, when the United States begins to descend the fiscal slope and tax rates return to their Clinton-era levels." As for the debt ceiling, President Obama should invoke the Fourteenth Amendment. "A provision in the amendment -- originally meant to ensure payment of Union debts after the Civil War -- [reads] ... 'The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion,' the crucial passage says, 'shall not be questioned.'"

Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) told a local television station in Georgia on Wednesday that he will no longer support [Grover Norquist's] Taxpayer Protection Pledge to never vote for any tax increases under any circumstances." CW: Chambliss claims he abandoned his pledge because of love of country, but I kinda wonder if just maybe this had something to do with it: "16 incumbent Republicans and one incumbent Senator who signed Norquist's pledge lost on election night. In total, at least 56 Republican House incumbents or candidates who signed the pledge and 24 Republican Senators or hopefuls lost." Chambliss definitely is not a principled guy.

Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: economists say the Obama administration didn't do enough to help people with underwater mortgages (no kidding!), & these mortagors continue to drag down the economy. Big surprise -- Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is the heavy. CW: six months (or more) ago, I linked to a story that provided pretty compelling evidence that Geithner didn't want to help home mortgagers because every feasible plan to reduce their mortgage payments would cost his banker buddies. Expect Timmy to get a BIG payoff when his government "service" stint ends.

Robert Reich: if you care about the U.S.'s workforce, don't shop at Wal-Mart today. Reich, a former Labor Secretary, puts startling stats about the decline of the American workforce all in one place. Read it & weep. ...

... Jordan Weisman of the Atlantic, in a very good post, publishes some stats & recounts how Wal-Mart (& other big-box retailers) screw their workers in so many ways. CW: American consumers really must demand higher prices! I mean that. Right now, taxpayers are subsidizing Wal-Mart, Target, Michael's, etc., by paying more into the social safety net programs to cover food stamps, Medicaid & other types of coverage for low-wage earners. These people work; they should earn a living wage & not have to be humiliated by dependence on the rest of us. ...

Art via Salon.

... ** Andrew Leonard of Salon: "For wily veterans of a decade of Black Friday doorbuster sales, 2012 was the year that the last semblance of a boundary between the actual day of Thanksgiving and the formal commencement of the holiday shopping season finally collapsed.... Consider the example of the Kelley family in Fort Myers, Fla., so determined to sacrifice nothing of their quality of life while in quest for the perfect deal that they showed up in front of the local Best Buy's doors on Monday, equipped with a dinner table.... The merger of festival and fantastic flat-screen TV deal makes sense: The United States is the greatest consumer society that has ever existed on this planet." CW: I am especially moved by this story inasmuch as my husband is sending me to that self-same Fort Myers Best Buy to pick up a cheap computer. I assume this is a fool's errand & the cheap computers are long-gone, but it is an errand I refused to run last night after slaving over a hot stove & two ovens all day. ...

     ... CW Update: I went, I saw, I conquered!

... AND if you think Black Friday Thursday sucks for consumers, think of those low-wage retail workers who have no choice but to leave their families & go to work on Thanksgiving, a supposed national holiday. Pat Garofalo of Think Progress reports. ..

... In Fashion Retail News. Donovan Slack of Politico: "Anna Wintour's 'Runway to win' initiative -- which had famous designers like Tory Burch and Marc Jacobs creating bags, shirts and other gear for the Obama campaign -- brought in a lot more dough than some predicted. Campaign manager Jim Messina tells Bloomberg Businessweek that the venture, which had been mocked by some pundits, raised 'just north of $40 million.'"

SEC s/b SEX. Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone: "In a salacious 77-page complaint that reads like Penthouse Forum meets The Insider meets the Keystone Kops, one David Weber, the former chief investigator for the SEC Inspector General's office, accuses the SEC of retaliating against Weber for coming forward as a whistleblower. According to this lawsuit, Weber was made a target of intramural intrigues at the agency (which has a history of such retaliation) after he came forward with concerns that his bosses may have been spending more time copulating than they were investigating the SEC."

Ned Berkowitz of ABC News: "... Jill Kelley ... was apparently so eager to make a multi-billion dollar Korean business deal that she was willing to cancel anniversary plans with her husband, Dr. Scott Kelley, according to emails reviewed exclusively by ABC News. Emails between Kelley and Adam Victor, president and CEO of TransGas Development Systems, also appear to confirm the New York businessman's claim that Kelley wanted a huge fee for brokering the transaction." ...

... CW: You know all those medals David Petraeus's valet pins on his jacket? I highlighted them on the Commentariat a couple of days ago. Don't be too impressed. Turns out you can get a medal for partying. And Petraeus was handing 'em out. Daniel Politi of Slate: "Gen. David Petraeus was the first to recommend that Jill Kelley receive the Joint Chiefs of Staff's second-highest honor to a civilian, reports the Tampa Tribune. The award was approved by Adm. Mike Mullen, who was the Joint Chiefs chair at the time. The reason for the award? Kelley 'distinguished herself by exceptional service while supporting the mission of the United Central Command, building positive relationships between the military and the Tampa community, supporting community outreach, and advancing various military endeavors,' according to the award citation." Here's the Tampa Trib article. Do these people have any idea how ridiculous they are?

Right Wing World

     ... Via Juanita Jean's.

Michael Collins of the Knoxville News-Sentinel: "U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais said Wednesday that he never intentionally misled voters about his past and stressed that he has no plans to resign over recent revelations that depict a private life starkly at odds with his public image as an anti-abortion, family values congressman.... DesJarlais said he is not the same man who supported his first wife's decision to have two abortions. The physician-turned-congressman said he also deeply regrets sexual relationships with multiple women, including two patients, three co-workers and a drug company representative while he was chief of staff at Grandview Medical Center in Jasper, [Tennessee].

Dennis G. of Balloon Juice: "I came across this one this morning:

Republican lawmakers in Michigan, a state which eliminated tax credits for children last year, have proposed a tax credit for unborn foetuses of 12 weeks gestation

     "So, when the nutters took control of Michigan, one of their first actions was to take away tax credits for families with children (those moochers needed to be punished). Now they want to give tax credits to zygotes and the unborn. Typical. Their fantasies must be feed and they get extra satisfaction if they can flip the bird to reality while they do it. Extreme, crazy and dangerous, they are doing wonders for the Republican brand."

Hope Yen of the AP: "Emboldened by rapid growth in e-commerce shipping, the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service is moving aggressively this holiday season to start a premium service for the Internet shopper seeking the instant gratification of a store purchase: same-day package delivery.Teaming up with major retailers, the post office will begin the expedited service in San Francisco on Dec. 12 at a price similar to its competitors." ...

     ... CW: I predict that if retailers switch over to the P.O.D., it will be a real pain for customers. The P.O.D. won't deliver packages to my door that don't fit in the box. They won't tell me they have a package that doesn't fit in the box. Instead, I get a notice of non-delivery & a fabulous opportunity to call someone at a handling center somewhere like Chicago who doesn't know squat, after which I spend the next 48 hours tracking down my $20 package, a process that usually requires me to "be firm" with some postal worker(s).

Local News

Monica Davey: "... one party will hold the governor's office and majorities in both legislative chambers in at least 37 states, the largest number in 60 years and a significant jump from even two years ago.... Twenty-four states will be controlled by Republicans.... At least 13 states will be Democratic.... (The situation in New York, where the potential for single-party control by the Democrats rests on the makeup of the Senate, is still uncertain.)" Look for the passage of "bold partisan agendas."

Fernanda Santos of the New York Times: "It took until 15 days after the election, but all valid votes in Arizona have now been counted, including a record number of provisional ballots that fueled suspicions of voter suppression among Latino voters and raised questions about the integrity of the electoral process in the state.... Results announced on or just after election night remained unchanged, though it took days for three Congressional races to be decided. All of them were won by Democrats, who will replace Republicans as a majority in the state's Congressional delegation come January."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Mark Thompson, the president and chief executive of The New York Times Company, testified on Friday in a closed-door inquiry investigating why the British Broadcasting Corporation canceled a contentious report into sexual abuse, a Times spokesman said."

Reuters: "Protesters stormed the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood's party in Alexandria on Friday, throwing chairs and books into the street and setting them alight, after the Egyptian president granted himself sweeping new powers."

AP: "The prospect of failure loomed over a European Union leaders' summit intended to lay out the 27-country bloc's long-term spending plans. While heavyweights like Britain and France are pulling in opposite directions, smaller members, too, are threatening to veto a deal to make themselves heard."

Guardian: "Egyptian opposition groups are calling for mass protests amid mounting anger at President Mohamed Morsi's surprise decision to give himself, and the Islamist-dominated assembly writing Egypt's new constitution, extraordinary new powers."

Guardian: "Argentinian politicians and global debt campaigners have responded with fury to a US court judgment that risks plunging the country back into default. Elliott Capital Management and Aurelius Capital Management, regarded as "vulture funds" by Buenos Aires, won a ruling in a New York court on Wednesday that could force Argentina to hand over $1.3bn (£816m) in repayments and interest to the tiny minority of bondholders who refused to sign up to a hard-fought writedown of its debts after the country defaulted in 2001."

Reuters: "The U.S. shopping frenzy known as 'Black Friday' kicked off at a more civilized hour, with shoppers welcoming decisions by retailers such as Target Corp and Toys R Us Inc to move their openings to Thursday night."

Thanksgiving Day 2012

Thanksgiving -- Past, Present & Future

Early American History. (Okay, it's an ad, which makes it authentically American):

... Kids do the darnedest things. An alternative history of Thanksgiving:

More Recent American History -- A Family Remembrance:

President Obama pardoned a couple of turkeys yesterday:

... even though the President really has no judicial jurisdiction over birds:

Still, we might want to cut these birds some slack:

Forty-six million turkeys won't be so lucky:

... Which reminds of this riveting moment from Thanksgiving 2008, now etched in our collective national memory. Some people who hold high office are not competent enough to pardon a turkey:

So, once gruesome reality is behind us, Chris Christie demonstrates how to prepare the turkey:

Likely, the bird came out like this. (Here's a how-to, though a friend of mine tried it & couldn't get the tinfoil to stay in place):

There are, of course, alternatives to turkey:

Gail Collins takes Thanksgiving questions.

Loudon Wainwright III's "Thanksgiving" begins about 2:45 min. in:

... Not that there aren't some beautiful, upbeat Thanksgiving songs out there:

The real spirit of the season:

Finally, we can all be thankful that this is not, after all, our future:

I am, of course, ever thankful to all of you, readers and contributors.
-- Marie

President Obama's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here. Thank God he mentions God this year. Sorry, Fox "News."

News Ledes

Guardian: "A secret 10-day emergency process culminated in the appointment of Royal Opera House chief executive Lord (Tony) Hall to the £450,000-a-year job of running the BBC, as the corporation turned to a former veteran to help begin the process of recovering from the Jimmy Savile and Newsnight crises."

AP: "U.S. troops in Afghanistan celebrate Thanksgiving."

AP: "A Jacksonville police officer has quit after admitting he told colleagues that he would volunteer to assassinate President Barack Obama>. Sam Koivisto told the Florida Times-Union (http://bit.ly/10zfc6q) on Wednesday that his comments had been blown out of proportion and that he'd planned to retire in five months anyway."

AP: "Israeli authorities arrested an Arab Israeli on Thursday on accusations he planted a bomb on a bus in Tel Aviv that wounded 27 people and threatened to sabotage efforts to broker a cease-fire to end the fighting in Gaza, police said."

New York Times: "With a constitutional assembly on the brink of collapse and protesters battling the police in the streets here over the slow pace of change, President Mohamed Morsi issued a sweeping decree on Thursday night, granting himself broad new powers above any court and ordering the retrial of his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak." Al Jazeera story here.

AP: "Victims of Superstorm Sandy in New York and elsewhere in the Northeast were comforted Thursday by kinder weather, free holiday meals and -- for some -- front row seats to the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade."

New York Times: "A ceasefire agreed under intense Egyptian and American pressure between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas to halt eight days of bloody conflict seemed to be holding on Thursday, averting a full-scale Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip without resolving the underlying disputes."

AP: "The worst U.S. drought in decades has deepened again after more than a month of encouraging reports of slowly improving conditions, a drought-tracking consortium said Wednesday, as scientists struggled for an explanation other than a simple lack of rain."

AP: "European leaders were staking out their strong positions as they gathered Thursday for what promises to be a turbulent and lengthy summit on the 7-year budget for the 27-country European Union." ...

... New York Times: "... as leaders from across Europe gather in Brussels on Thursday to haggle over more than a trillion dollars in spending over a seven-year period starting in 2014, widespread public anger over perceived extravagance [at the E.U. itself] when national governments are slashing their own budgets has helped fuel a mood of hostility toward the world's most ambitious and, until the debt crisis exploded three years ago, most successful experiment in economic and political integration."

AP: "Internal emails among U.S. military officers indicate that no sailors watched Osama bin Laden's burial at sea from the USS Carl Vinson and traditional Islamic procedures were followed during the ceremony. The emails, obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act, are heavily blacked out, but are the first public disclosure of government information about the al-Qaida leader's death. The emails were released Wednesday by the Defense Department."

Reuters: "Thanksgiving is now the start of the annual holiday shopping endurance race, as more stores open on Thursday's national holiday to seek a bigger share of spending that is expected to grow slowly this season. Target Corp has joined Wal-Mart and Gap Inc in being open at least part of the day, and some retailers will be open throughout the day, a trend that began to take hold in 2011. Traditionally, retailers enticed shoppers with 'doorbuster' deals early Friday morning. Then they shifted to midnight following Thanksgiving."

AP: "Jesse Jackson Jr.'s resignation from Congress might end his once-promising political career but it doesn't mark the end of troubles for the civil rights icon's son. Just two weeks after voters re-elected him to a ninth full term, Jackson on Wednesday sent his resignation letter to House Speaker John Boehner, citing his ongoing treatment for bipolar disorder and admitting 'my share of mistakes' while confirming publically for the first time that he's under a federal probe and cooperating with investigators."

AND CW: old codgers like me will remember where they were 49 years ago today.

The Commentariat -- Nov. 21, 2012

When events unfolded at CIA last week, my wife called me immediately. She said, 'I hope the president doesn't make you take that job again.' I said, 'No, been there; done that.' -- Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, former CIA Director

Paul Krugman Explains American Politics to Shut-ins: "... on economic issues the modern Democratic party is what we would once have considered 'centrist', or even center-right.... Today's Republican party is an alliance between the plutocrats and the preachers, plus some opportunists along for the ride.... Anyone who imagines that there is any real soul-searching going on is deluding himself or herself."

Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "President Obama's decision to send his top diplomat on an emergency Middle East peacemaking mission Tuesday marked an administration shift to a more activist role in the region's affairs and offered clues to how he may use the political elbow room afforded by a second term. The move could pay dividends quickly if Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton helps arrange an end to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

CW: Denise Velez of Daily Kos picks up my column on Maureen Dowd's hit job on Ambassador Susan Rice, et al. Velez includes some interesting background on Rice, too. ...

... Testimonials. Karen Gleuck of Politico: white Republican men who have attacked Susan Rice for "incompetence" say they aren't racists. Okay, that settles that.

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "The Obama administration took a big step on Tuesday to carry out the new health care law by defining 'essential health benefits' that must be offered to most Americans and by allowing employers to offer much bigger financial rewards to employees who quit smoking or adopt other healthy behaviors."

Matt Yglesias of Slate: "The dishonesty with which the 'Fix The Debt' campaign is dealing with the fiscal cliff is really breathtaking." CW: Fix the Debt seems to be an Erskine Bowles-Alan Simpson concoction so you know it's mm-mmm good. Update: apparently it's a project of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a buncha Very Serious Deficit Hawks. As Dave S. says in today's comments, they get some funding from the Richest Deficit Hawk of Them All Pete Peterson.

New York Times Editors: "In a persuasive ruling last week, a majority of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit struck down Michigan's ban on race-conscious affirmative action policies. The ban violated the United States Constitution's equal protection clause by placing an unfair burden on racial minorities seeking to change those policies."

Voter Suppression

Steve Benen: "Why would Wisconsin's governor [Scott Walker {RTP}] and leading state GOP lawmakers want to scale back a [same-day voter registration] system that's worked so well? According to Walker, the state has 'poll workers who are wonderful volunteers, who work 13-hour days and who in most cases are retirees." He added, 'It's difficult for them to handle the volume of people who come at the last minute. It'd be much better if registration was done in advance of election day. It'd be easier for our clerks to handle that.' Yes, the governor of Wisconsin wants to scrap same-day registration because he feels bad for county clerks and elderly volunteers. Riiiiiight. I'm sure that's the only reason Walker, who also pushed a destructive voter-ID scheme that was blocked by the courts, supports this change." CW: so here's the (fake) rationale: we don't have enough able-bodied workers to allow everybody to vote. If the Republican legislature passes this law, Walker's statement sounds like a good basis for a lawsuit against it. I expect a judge would find "We're too tired to let everybody vote" an amusing defense.

Rachel Maddow: Republicans are "competing against our democracy":

New York Times Editors: "In a spontaneous aside [during his November 7 victory speech] -- 'by the way, we have to fix that' -- the president acknowledged the unnecessary hardship of casting a vote in the United States and established a goal that he now has an obligation to address." Congress & the President can fix that. The Times editors suggest legislation AND a Constitutional Amendment. CW: what they don't mention -- and they should have -- is a fix to the Federal Elections Commission; it's broke.

Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times: "A union-backed group of Wal-Mart workers, OUR Walmart, said on Tuesday that it had filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, asserting that Wal-Mart was making illegal threats to deter its employees from participating in protests scheduled for Black Friday."

Michael Lysiak, et al., of the New York Daily News: "The notes Paula Broadwell sent to Jill Kelley were far more sinister than previously reported and seemed like the rantings of someone 'clearly unhinged,' a close friend of Kelley told The News Monday." CW Note: this is a single-source report that relies on an assertion by an anonymous friend of Jill Kelley's who said Kelley read her the Broadwell e-mails over the phone. I leave it to you to decide what it's worth. I'm running with it because a number of major news outlets picked up the story. ...

... Whatever the nature of the Broadwell emails that set in motion the public airing of the Petraeus Affair, they key players have created a cottage industry for high-powered lawyers & P.R. consultants, Scott Shane of the New York Times reports. ...

... "AND," as Maureen Dowd writes, "no doubt, pave the way for future book deals, cushy jobs and TV apologias in honeyed light with Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters." Meanwhile, Dowd recommends the parties read Jane Austen: "'Pride and Prejudice' is full of warnings about the dangers of young ladies with exuberant, flirtatious, 'unguarded and imprudent' manners visiting military regiments and preening in 'all the glories of the camp.' Such folly and vanity, the ever wise Elizabeth Bennet cautioned, can lead to censure and disgrace."

Pam Benson of CNN: "The intelligence community -- not the White House, State Department or Justice Department -- was responsible for the substantive changes made to the talking points distributed for government officials who spoke publicly about the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, the spokesman for the director of national intelligence said Monday."

AP: "Gen. John Allen has returned to Kabul to resume his e-mailing duties as the top U.S. and NATO commander of the war in Afghanistan, more than a week after the Pentagon announced it is investigating potentially 'inappropriate' correspondence between the four-star general and a woman linked to the David Petraeus sex scandal."

Right Wing World

Dave Weigel of Slate: the Republican voter fraud meme is upon us. The guy who did the Unscewed Polls site before the election, which perpetually claimed Romney was winning everyplace, has moved on to "proving" voter fraud. He even has a map! CW: Did you know that Obama only won Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia & Florida because of voter fraud? You can tell because Screw-Loose there colored those states in black. Great color choice! ...

... Update: Rachel Maddow has more on Barack O'Fraudo & other conservatives who are telling themselves things to make themselves feel good:

AND here's Mr. Forty 7. Percent, filling his own gas tank this past weekend. Obviously, he's having a bad hair day. His usually-crisp shirt and pants are rumpled. He looks like either (a) a regular American tending to chores, or (b) the villain in a slash movie eying his next victim. Mitt Romney -- the 47 Percent Candidate. Markos Moulitsas: Some states are still counting votes. "President Barack Obama already has a higher popular vote margin than George W. Bush had in 2004. While Bush's margin over John Kerry was a sliver over 3 million, the margin in 2012 now exceeds 4 million votes.... If Romney hits 47.49 percent [as is likely], his totals will round down to 47 percent. It doesn't matter of course, but it would be delicious irony to see him finish the election at that very famous 47 percent mark." ...

... Joshua Holland of AlterNet is not buying the Clueless Romney story: "It's far more likely that the campaign was telling these fat-cats that Romney had a great chance of pulling out a win if they'd just dig a bit deeper. They showed their supporters their unskewed internal polling and assured them that their money wouldn't go to waste." CW: So while Mitt was suckering the electorate with his secret plan to get them good jobs, he was suckering the fat cats with his secret plan to win the election. Mitt was never anything more than a con-man in a Mormon suit. Now he's pumping gas, appropriately enough.

Every day is Anti-Science Day in Right Wing World. Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs: "... today we have a real howler of an anti-rational manifesto, courtesy of CNN contributor Erick Erickson. I have to give credit where it's due: Erickson does not try to dodge the issue, like Marco Rubio did. He's anti-science and extremely proud of it, and he wants the world to know." ...

... Okay, make that Every Day Is Anti-Science Day in Politics. CW: I don't agree with Daniel Engber's premise that believing in magic is A-okay because you can do algorithms while still believing in virgin birth or something, but it turns out Marco there was copying from Senator Barack Obama's playbook. ...

... Dear 46 Per of Americans Who Are Creationists: yes, evolution is a scientific "theory" -- as is every scientific assertion -- and it gets tweaked from time-to-time as scientists examine new evidence or re-think existing data. Creationism is a fairy tale. The ancient religions, like Judaism, developed stories to explain stuff that was mysterious to people then but is not so mysterious now. The ancients made up gods, & they made up what the gods could do. Jewish mythology is no more or less accurate than Greek or Egyptian mythology. There are two different & conflicting early Jewish myths about the creation of humankind, and they both appear in the first chapters of your infallible Bible. Trick Question: Which infallible chapter of Genesis is a lie: Chapter 1 or Chapter 2? -- Constant Weader

News Ledes

New York Times: "The cease-fire brokered between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday was the official unveiling of [an] unlikely new geopolitical partnership [between President Obama & Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi], one with bracing potential if not a fair measure of risk for both men. After a rocky start to their relationship, Mr. Obama has decided to invest heavily in the leader whose election caused concern because of his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, seeing in him an intermediary who might help make progress in the Middle East beyond the current crisis in Gaza."

Reuters: "U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, broke her silence on Wednesday and defended her remarks on a September attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to the North African nation."

New York Times: "Newly released documents add vivid detail to the emerging portrait of the Food and Drug Administration's ineffective and halting efforts to regulate a Massachusetts company implicated in a national meningitis outbreak that has sickened nearly 500 people and killed 34."

Politico: "Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is resigning his seat in Congress after a protracted absence due to what he described as mental health issues. The Illinois Democrat, who was elected in 1995, has sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) saying he will resign, an aide to Boehner said. Jackson Jr.'s office hasn't responded to requests for comment." ...

     ... Update: New York Times story here.

NBC News: "The Labor Department reported that new jobless claims fell a seasonally-adjusted 41,000 to 410,000. The four-week moving average, which smooths out some of the wrinkles in the data, rose 9,500 to 396,250.... [Hurricane Sandy] has elevated the claims data."

New York Times: "Israeli airstrikes overnight continued into Wednesday morning, hitting government buildings, the smuggling tunnels under the southern Rafah border crossing, and a bridge on the beach road that is one of three linking Gaza City to the central area of the strip. The Hamas healthy ministry said the Palestinian death toll stood at 140 at noon, with 1,100 injured. At least a third of those killed are believed to have been militants." ...

     ... ** UPDATE. New Lede: "Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire on Wednesday after eight days of lethal fighting over the Gaza Strip, the United States and Egypt said after intensive negotiations in Cairo. The cease-fire, which is to take effect at 9 p.m. local time (2 p.m. E.S.T.), was formally announced by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr of Egypt at a news conference [in Cairo].

... Al Jazeera: "At least seventeen casualties have been reported as a bus exploded in Tel Aviv a block away from the Israeli defence ministry. Israeli police are calling the explosion on Wednesday a "terrorist attack," and have said that an unidentified package was left in the bus."

Al Jazeera: "A large blast that was most likely a suicide bomb attack ripped through the heavily barricaded diplomatic area of the Afghan capital Kabul, a police official said, and there were an unknown number of casualties. At least two people were killed along with two suicide bombers, two people were also injured. The guards fired on the assailants, killing them, but not before one of the vests exploded...."

AP: "Three Southern California men charged this week with plotting to kill Americans and bomb U.S. military bases overseas spent months preparing for a trip to Afghanistan where, authorities say, they hoped to join the Taliban and eventually graduate to the ranks of al-Qaida."

AP: "San Francisco lawmakers disappointed committed nudists Tuesday by narrowly approving a ban on public nakedness despite concerns the measure would undermine the city's reputation as a sanctuary for free expression. The Board of Supervisors voted 6-5 in favor of a public safety ordinance that prohibits exposed genitals in most public places, including streets, sidewalks and public transit. The law still must pass a final vote and secure Mayor Edwin Lee's signature to take effect early next year."