GOP senator says Hagel 'seems clueless' on Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says Chuck Hagel "seems clueless" on U.S. policy toward Iran and he's urging the Obama administration to reconsider its defense secretary nominee.

In a statement Tuesday, the South Carolina lawmaker stopped short of saying he would filibuster the choice if the president pushes forward as expected. No Democrat has come out in opposition to Hagel, two Republican senators back him and several others, including Sen. John McCain, say they wouldn't support a filibuster.

Graham is a member of the Armed Services Committee, which could vote as early as Thursday on the nomination of Hagel, the former two-term Republican senator from Nebraska.

Hagel stumbled last week at his confirmation hearing on whether the U.S. policy toward Iran is containment, then corrected himself.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gop-senator-says-hagel-seems-clueless-iran-150732470--politics.html

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Assistant Professor, Department of Education - HigherEdJobs

LaGrange College Department of Education seeks a full-time, tenure-track assistant professor in Reading/Literacy Education for the Early
Childhood and Master of Arts in Teaching programs.

Responsibilities will include teaching theory, diagnostics, literature, assessing literacy and reading in the content areas for PK -12 students. The candidate must have evidence of exemplary pedagogy which includes examples of effective use of instructional technology and media in classroom instruction. In addition to exemplary teaching skills, he or she must also demonstrate effective written, interpersonal, and collaborative communication skills. A commitment to diversity and equity is a critical candidate disposition.

The successful candidate must have earned a doctorate in Education; preferably in Reading/Literacy or a related field. Candidate must also have two years of full-time teaching experience in PK-12 classroom settings teaching reading. A thorough knowledge of Reading/Literacy Education is essential along with a commitment to contribute to the field through publications and presentations. Experience forging school partnerships is desirable as is knowledge of the common core curriculum and standards-based assessment.

The mission of LaGrange College's Department of Education is to develop and nurture teachers who have both a strong foundation in the liberal arts and essential knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions regarding both content and pedagogy. LaGrange College offers several professional education programs. These include a preservice B.A. Program in Early Childhood Education; preservice MAT Programs in Middle Grades Education and four content areas of Secondary Education (mathematics, English, history, and biology,); and two advanced degree programs for experienced teachers, a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction and an Ed.S. in Teacher Leadership.

Located one hour south of Atlanta, LaGrange is a four-year liberal arts and sciences college offering 54 academic, pre-professional and professional programs. Home to 1,000 students and affiliated with the United Methodist Church, the College is ranked in the top 10 and as one of three "up- and- coming" schools among Southern comprehensive colleges by U.S. News and World Report.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. To apply electronically, please submit a letter of application, curriculum vita, graduate transcripts, statement of teaching philosophy, evidence of teaching effectiveness and three letters of reference to Dawn Coker, Director of Human Resources, at dcoker@lagrange.edu.

Learn more about the community of LaGrange at http://www.lagrangechamber.com/.

LaGrange College is an equal opportunity employer.
Satisfactory completion of a background screen is required.

Source: http://www.higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?JobCode=175716502

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Good Reads: 'purdah' culture in India, born good, finding purpose, a Jedi response

This week's good reads includes a young woman's perspective on India's 'purdah' culture, the morality of babies, on whether a life's purpose brings happiness, and an unusual petition to the White House for building a Death Star.

By Ben Arnoldy,?Staff Writer / January 21, 2013

Female staff members of a luxury hotel exhibit their skills after a 10-day self-defense course initiated by the hotel management and Delhi Police women?s wing in New Delhi, India, Jan. 17, 2013. A brutal rape of a 23-year-old student last month has sparked a national debate about the treatment of women and the inability of Indian law enforcement to protect them.

Altaf Qadri/AP

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?My first sense as a young girl of sexual menace came from my Indian grandfather. Let me be clear: He never even remotely sexually threatened or molested me. But he made sure I knew that the world in which I, a girl, was growing up was innately perilous to women.?

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So starts an illuminating first-person recollection of an American learning the rules of purdah ? or concealment of women from men ? on visits to relatives back in India. Her grandfather upbraided her for uppity talk and anything but simple dress, to teach her that the more invisible she was, the more safe she would be.

Mira Kamdar, writing on the Asia Society website, connects these lessons to the recent gang rape of a young woman on a bus in Delhi: ?It is clear ... that a purdah mentality still dogs Indian society. A woman who can be seen is seen as a woman available for violation.? But, at the same time, ?[r]apid modernization and urbanization in India have made women, especially young women, visible as never before.?

Babies born good

Parents, it turns out that your bundles of joy could also be described as budding altruists. Writing for the Smithsonian magazine, Abigail Tucker writes on a heartwarming new area of research that?s finding babies showing preferences for ?good guys? over ?bad guys? and a proclivity to help and care for others.

?These findings may seem counterintuitive to anyone who has seen toddlers pull hair in a playground tunnel or pistol-whip one another with a plastic triceratops,? notes Ms. Tucker.

But a series of cleverly designed experiments at Yale and Harvard universities are seeing an orientation toward the good long before parents would seem to have had much chance to shape behavior.

The eureka moment for one researcher came while passing a ball back and forth with a toddler. The ball got away from the scientist, and rather than get it, he faked an inability to reach it. Seeing his struggle, the toddler got up to retrieve it for him. Other experiments involved puppet shows in which one color puppet is shown helping or hindering another. Eye-tracking tests found infants as young as 3 months old preferring the helper.?

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of meaning

Whether we are born with it, or taught it, altruism looks to be key to our well-being as adults.

Emily Esfahani Smith, writing for The Atlantic, highlights a new psychological study that suggests ?a meaningful life and happy life overlap in certain ways, but are ultimately very different.? Researchers interviewing 400 Americans found meaning in life to be tied up with being a ?giver,? while happiness was more linked with being a ?taker.? Meaning is also found in contemplating the future and the past, while happiness is fixated on the present ? and is consequently more fleeting.

From the nation?s foundational documents to the self-help aisles of bookstores, Americans are famously in pursuit of happiness. But that?s something of a mug?s game: ?Research has shown that having purpose and meaning in life increases overall well-being and life satisfaction, improves mental and physical health, enhances resiliency, enhances self-esteem, and decreases the chances of depression. On top of that, the single-minded pursuit of happiness is ironically leaving people less happy, according to recent research,? Ms. Smith writes.

The magazine goes on to cite data that roughly 40 percent of Americans have not found a ?satisfying life purpose.?

There will be no Death Star

A group of Internet pranksters raised the 25,000-plus signatures needed to get a response from the White House on their petition to have the US build a Death Star. The White House, to no one?s surprise, replied that the country would not be building the moon-shaped space station from the ?Star Wars? films that could blast planets into space dust. But the wording of the response, glorious it was.

?Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars? ? $850,000,000,000,000,000, according to one study ? ?on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?? wrote Paul Shawcross, chief of the Science and Space Budget at the White House Office of Management and Budget, and arguably the best communicator to emerge from the intersection of space science, accounting, and the federal government.

This smooth-talking Jedi then went on to highlight the gee-whiz stuff the government and the private sector are doing in space.
?[W]e?ve got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we?re building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun. We are discovering hundreds of new planets in other star systems and building a much more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will see back to the early days of the universe.?

In other news, the White House has just upped the signature threshold for a response to 100,000.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/TFtKZzT7T9E/Good-Reads-purdah-culture-in-India-born-good-finding-purpose-a-Jedi-response

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Records: Veteran had been in mental hospital

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) ? The Iraq War veteran charged with killing a former Navy SEAL sniper and his friend on a Texas shooting range had been taken to a mental hospital twice in the past five months and told authorities he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, police records show.

Eddie Ray Routh, 25, also told his sister and brother-in-law after the shootings that he "traded his soul for a new truck," according to an Erath County arrest warrant affidavit obtained by WFAA-TV. Police said Routh was driving the truck of victim and ex-Navy SEAL Chris Kyle at the time of his arrest.

Routh is charged with one count of capital murder and two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of Kyle, author of the best-selling book "American Sniper," and his friend Chad Littlefield at a shooting range Saturday in Glen Rose. He is on suicide watch in the Erath County Jail, where he's being held on $3 million bail, Sheriff Tommy Bryant said.

Routh, a member of the Marines Corps Reserve, was first taken to a mental hospital Sept. 2 after he threatened to kill his family and himself, according to police records in Lancaster, where Routh lives. Authorities found Routh walking nearby with no shirt and no shoes, and smelling of alcohol. Routh told authorities he was a Marine veteran who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Eddie stated he was hurting and that his family does not understand what he has been through," the report says.

Routh's mother told police her son had been drinking and became upset when his father said he was going to sell his gun. She said Routh began arguing with them and said he was going to "blow his brains out."

Police took Routh to Green Oaks Hospital for psychiatric care.

Dallas police records show Routh was taken back to the same mental hospital in mid-January after a woman called police and said she feared for Routh's safety.

Green Oaks will not release patient information, citing privacy laws. Most people brought by police to the hospital are required to stay at least 48 hours.

In another brush with authorities, Lancaster police in May responded to a burglary reported by Routh's mother that included nine pill bottles. Police say Routh was involved but no other details were available.

Authorities say Routh, Kyle and Littlefield arrived at the sprawling Rough Creek Lodge about 3:15 p.m. Saturday, and a hunting guide called 911 about two hours later after discovering the bodies. Kyle and Littlefield were shot multiple times, and numerous guns were at the scene, according to the affidavit.

Routh drove to his sister's house, and told her he had killed two people and that he planned to drive to Oklahoma to evade Texas authorities, the affidavit said. Routh's sister then called police, and he was arrested after a short police pursuit in Lancaster.

Jailers used a stun gun on Routh on Sunday night after he appeared ready to assault them when they entered his cell after he refused to return his food tray, the sheriff said. Then they put Routh in a chair that restrains his arms and legs in his solitary confinement cell, Bryant said.

Bryant said Routh has an attorney but hasn't met with him at the jail in Stephenville, about 75 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Routh's mother and sister were unsuccessful Monday.

Sundae Hughes, an aunt of Routh's, said she watched him grow up but hasn't seen him since his high school graduation in 2006. Hughes was in disbelief that her nephew could be involved in such an incident.

"He has a kind heart (and was) someone willing to jump in and help, no matter what it was," she said.

Routh joined the Marines in 2006 and rose to the rank of corporal in 2010. His military specialty was small-arms technician, commonly known as an armorer. He had been stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and served in Iraq from 2007-08 and in the Haiti disaster relief mission in 2010.

He is now in the individual ready reserve. He could be called to duty, but it's uncommon unless he volunteers, 1st Lt. Dominic Pitrone of the Marine Forces Services public affairs office said.

Travis Cox, director of FITCO Cares ? the nonprofit that Kyle set up to give in-home fitness equipment to physically and emotionally wounded veterans ? said he believes that Kyle and Littlefield were helping Routh work through PTSD.

Cox didn't know how Routh and Kyle knew each other. He said the shooting range event was not a FITCO session.

Kyle, 38, left the Navy in 2009 after four tours of duty in Iraq, where he earned a reputation as one of the military's most lethal snipers. "American Sniper" was the No. 3 seller of paperbacks and hardcovers on Amazon as of Monday, and the hardcover was out of stock.

Littlefield, 35, was Kyle's friend, neighbor and "workout buddy," and also volunteered his time to work with veterans, Cox said.

__

Stengle reported from Midlothian, Texas. Associated Press writers Juan Carlos Llorca in El Paso, Texas; Christopher Sherman in McAllen, Texas; Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, N.C.; and AP researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/records-veteran-had-mental-hospital-012051417.html

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NASA Planes Fly Over Bay Area To Measure Air Pollution Levels

An anonymous reader writes "NASA is trying to measure the air pollution by flying a plane at various altitudes over the bay area. The tests are a part of a larger effort led by the DISCOVER-AQ campaign ? a multi-year program launched across the United States in 2011 by NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. DISCOVER-AQ stands for Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality. NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., is the lead center for the mission."

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/Yz9uiUNhQJA/story01.htm

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France targets Islamist bases in northern Mali

PARIS (AP) ? France's foreign minister says new French airstrikes are targeting fuel depots and bases of Islamist extremists in northern Mali.

Laurent Fabius said on French radio Monday that the strikes hit the Kidal region overnight, near the border with Algeria. It's part of a broader effort to cut off supplies to radical fighters who had taken over much of the African country and enforced harsh rules on the population.

Fabius said on France-Inter radio, "They cannot stay there a long time unless they have new supplies."

The French intervened in Mali on Jan. 11 to stem the advance of the al-Qaida-linked fighters.

Fabius also said that France wants African forces to assume security responsibility for the historic city of Timbuktu "very fast," perhaps as soon as Tuesday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-04-Mali-Fighting/id-f9776c5291ef4557a0c523afd7dac530

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What comes now for NFL after tumultuous season?

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? The Super Bowl closes a tumultuous year for the NFL.

Suicides by former NFL players. Thousands of others filing concussion lawsuits. New studies linking football to brain disease. Still no testing for human growth hormone. The specter of other purported performance-enhancing products ? deer-antler spray, anyone? ? being peddled to players.

A pay-for-pain bounty scandal. A lockout of officials resolved only after a ludicrous game-ending call. Zero minority hires for 15 coach or general manager openings.

And yet the league is as popular as ever.

Advertisers paid nearly $4 million per 30-second television commercial for the right to reach the 100 million or so Americans expected to tune in to Sunday's Super Bowl between the AFC champion Baltimore Ravens and NFC champion San Francisco 49ers. Eleven of the 12 most-watched TV programs during the last 2? years were NFL postseason games, according to the league.

Uncertain, though, is what the future holds for an NFL still coming to grips with the dangers of a brutal sport that makes it tremendously wealthy.

"The game has changed and keeps changing. ... It is such a violent game, and such a collision game, that careers are going to be kind of like not long at all. Because you take those licks ? you've only got so many in your body, and at some point that's going to wear it out," said Ravens running backs coach Wilbert Montgomery, who played that position for the Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions from 1977-85.

Montgomery said he got six concussions in one season alone, and others along the way, including one that knocked him out cold a few days before playing for the Eagles in the NFC title game at the end of the 1980 season.

"I know one thing: Back then, it didn't make any difference. They gave you smelling salts and then, after that, you went back in," Montgomery said. "I have headaches all the time. That's why I say my wife is always messing with me when I have outbursts, saying, 'You've been hit too many times upside the head.'"

Montgomery laughed for a moment. Then he rubbed his forehead and continued talking, mentioning former teammate and friend Andre Waters and opponent Dave Duerson. Both committed suicide; researchers studied their brain tissue and found signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative disease also found in boxers and often linked with repeated blows to the head. Former star linebacker Junior Seau, who shot himself in May, also was found to have CTE. Baltimore's starting center on Sunday, Matt Birk, has pledged to donate his brain for study when he dies.

"It's a serious thing," Montgomery said. "It's scary."

When the President of the United States refers to fans perhaps having a guilty conscience when watching a game and parents thinking twice before allowing a child to play ? as Barack Obama did in a recent interview with The New Republic ? it sends a strong signal about what confronts the NFL today.

"If I was worried about my health," 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick said, "I wouldn't be playing football."

So the league must figure out how to deal with "walking a fine line," as 49ers CEO Jed York described it: The two-sided task of making the game safer, which Commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledges is imperative, while not making it "too safe," thereby diminishing the popularity of an enterprise that is violent by its very nature.

"There's no question that that is a bit of a conundrum. But to me, we've got to place more weight on player safety," New York Giants co-owner John Mara said. "The rules changes that we've implemented over the past five or six years have not made the game any less exciting. If anything, the game is as exciting as ever, and I strongly believe that we can make additional improvements in the rules and we're not going to lose anything in terms of excitement on the field."

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti is convinced the NFL will strike the proper balance.

"What did they do for boxing when they made them go from 6-ounce, to 8-ounce to 12-ounce gloves or whatever? Did it change boxing? Not really," Bisciotti said. "I believe that with every change, there will be a correction. ... And I believe that we as a league and the (players' union) will agree on things that don't take football out of football."

In a series of moves that began shortly after Goodell was grilled at a congressional hearing, the league has changed concussion return-to-play guidelines, adjusted rules for kickoffs ? and floated the idea of eliminating them altogether ? stepped up punishment of illegal hits, and stopped arguing against the players' wish for independent neurology specialists on the sidelines during games.

Even if there are some players who in one breath worry about whether their health is imperiled, and in the next say, "We're basically going to be playing two-hand touch in a while" ? Baltimore nose tackle Terrence Cody's words this week ? the head of their union points out that prudence and popularity do not have to be mutually exclusive.

"The reality of it is, 'football as we know it' has evolved over decades. ... Our job is to have an unqualified commitment to the health and safety of the people who play the game, and then to make those changes where we see necessary," NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith said.

"I don't think there is this thing of 'football as we know it.' What we have is football that has constantly developed," Smith said. "And even with all of the (recent) rule changes ... my guess is this Super Bowl will be the highest-rated of all time."

Indeed, while the concussion lawsuits mount ? a U.S. District Court judge in Philadelphia will hear oral arguments in April on the NFL's effort to dismiss a group of cases ? and questions arise about what insurers will charge the league moving forward, the money does keep rolling in. Revenues already topped $9 billion at the time of the last labor deal in 2011, and new TV contracts will only help increase it.

"At $10-to-$12 billion? It ain't going nowhere," said Warren Sapp, a retired defensive tackle elected Saturday to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and who now works for the NFL Network, another piece of the league's marketing machine. "We play a beautiful game. We hit each other. (Players) have to take care of each other better. Then it will be fine."

Meantime, the NFL continues to look for new ways to increase its cash flow.

During his state of the league address two days before the Super Bowl, Goodell did not rule out increasing the regular season from 16 to 18 games, and he reiterated the possibility of expanding the postseason, too. He announced that two 2013 games in London already are sold out, and there could be three in future seasons ? down a path that, eventually, could lead to a franchise based in Britain.

"For you to be adding games to the season, are you looking out for player safety? Or are you trying to generate more player revenue?" 49ers receiver Randy Moss said. "If you're trying to look and protect the players, and keep it healthier and better every year, I don't think it's a good idea."

Several players in this year's Super Bowl were incredulous that the league would even consider more games. A handful voiced concern over a disconnect between players and owners.

The president of the NFLPA, former Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth, said he wonders how truthful Goodell and other NFL officials are being when they say ? as they often do ? that players' well-being is a priority.

"The league, their No. 1 focus ? at least they say their No. 1 focus ? is health and safety. And we say our No. 1 focus is health and safety. How come we have such a hard time moving the ball on some health and safety issues?" Foxworth said. "I believe health and safety is on their list of top five things, but it comes in well behind increasing the bottom line."

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/comes-now-nfl-tumultuous-season-175948299--nfl.html

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