“South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford faces ethics charges he broke state laws more than three dozen times by violating rules on airplane travel and campaign money, according to details of the allegations released Monday.” The South Carolina House will begin holding impeachment hearings tomorrow, but “it is unclear whether the votes exist to remove the governor.”

Waldo Hunt, the father of the modern pop-up book, has died: “A Chicago native who grew up in Northern California, Mr. Hunt joined the Army during World War II and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, his family said. He returned from the war to open an advertising agency in Los Angeles. When he sold it to a bigger company in New York, he went along as part of the deal. While strolling down Fifth Avenue, he became mesmerized by a children’s pop-up book from Czechoslovakia displayed in a toy store window.”

Congratulations to Silvio Berlusconi, who has been selected by the editors of Italian Rolling Stone as “rock star of the year” for being the person who best “distinguishes himself during the year for his decidedly rock and roll personality and lifestyle.” And congratulations to the editors of Italian Rolling Stone, who know a great gimmick when they see one. Everybody wins!

“South Park,” so much to answer for: “The beating of 12-year-old boy by a group of classmates at a Southern California middle school may be linked to a Facebook posting encouraging kids to target redheads, authorities say. The redheaded boy was beaten up by a group of seventh and eighth graders at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas in two separate incidents Friday…. A Facebook page stating that Friday was ‘Kick a Ginger Day,’ referring to redheads and possibly inspired by an episode of the ‘South Park’ series, may have sparked the injuries at the middle school, authorities said.”

Cooking the Books, with Emily Gould, was shot and edited by Val Temple. This week’s guest, Amy Sohn, is the author of Prospect Park West, a tale of four married women in baby-friendly Brooklyn. (The recipe for malfatti, should you like to play along at home, is here.) (Previously.)

The silent majority of Verlyn Klinkenborg enthusiasts must stand up and be counted! People love to make fun of the New York Times editorial board member but they are very wrong people who hate words and things that are different.

“The people who did this must be full of gingerbread dust. They will smell a long way.”
-Norwegian police inspector Erik Sveaas discusses the vandals who destroyed the town of Bergen’s 650-house gingerbread cookie village. The plunderers attacked the village-supposedly the world’s largest-by crushing its buildings and “topping off the ruins with paint and fire extinguisher foam.”

Here is the world’s worst holiday gift guide, from the Washington Post. Bubble bath! Mediocre wingtips! (Here’s a hint: if you’re going to spend more $550 on wingtips for men, then you can afford to go to John Lobb and get proper ones.) And? Says one gift-giver: “My female friends are getting amazingly colorful one-size-fits-all muumuus I found in Bali.” That is from boutique-owner Christopher Reiter, who is going to have zero female friends as of December 26th.

“Daddy feels God was using her to wake America up.”
-Franklin Graham conveys his father’s approval of Sarah Palin. Palin met Billy Graham and his son yesterday at a North Carolina stop on her book tour.

Has Science finally found a way to cure the addiction of smoking? There is a new vaccine!

NicVax causes the immune system to create antibodies that bond with the nicotine molecule if it enters the bloodstream. The result is a molecule too large to pass along to the brain. In short, the vaccine seeks to make the body immune to nicotine.

If smokers can’t get a buzz from lighting up a cigarette, the thinking goes, there’s no reason for them to continue the habit. Since the antibodies created by NicVax stay in the body for a long period of time, the chances of a smoker quickly returning to the habit are low.

I have a few questions about this. I am not particularly averse to quitting (although God knows I certainly don’t need another twenty pounds on my already overburdened frame), but assuming the thing works, will it really stop me from smoking even if I’m not getting that nicotine buzz? I mean, what am I going to do with my hands? How will I cure the boredom of standing on line for the bus? What excuse will I use to get away from people at parties? I think this is may wind up offering more problems than actual solutions.