TOP NEWS STORIES (dec 9, 2011)

1. With even a casually critical reading of the news, it becomes painfully clear that politicians are frequently truth challenged.

2. The Supreme Court will meet behind closed doors on Friday to take a first look at a challenge to Arizona’s strict immigration law and decide whether or not to take up the case.

3. Ron Paul, standing backstage before a Republican presidential debate in Spartanburg, South Carolina not long ago, was talking to Doug Wead, one of his senior advisers, about his Christian faith.

News in the Morning

1. Zuccotti Park is encased in barriers, looking more like a crime scene these days than a hotbed of social activism, but while the drummers and the mike checks and the signs are gone, Occupy Wall Street activists claim their ranks are growing and the movement is stronger than ever.

2. Former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky's wife has denied allegations that her husband sexually abused boys in their home and that she ignored cries for help.

3. The enshrinement of equal rights for homosexuals into US foreign policy activities has drawn quick ire from African nations, with one senior figure saying the notion is “abhorrent” across the continent.