Final Capitol tribute to late Hawaii Sen. Inouye

Members of Congress, staff and family, watch as the casket of Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, the second-longest-serving senator in history, is carried into the Capitol Rotunda in Washington to lie in state, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. Inouye was a Medal of Honor recipient who represented his state in the U.S. House and then the Senate, where he served for five decades. He died Monday evening at age 88 of respiratory complications. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Members of Congress, staff and family, watch as the casket of Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, the second-longest-serving senator in history, is carried into the Capitol Rotunda in Washington to lie in state, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. Inouye was a Medal of Honor recipient who represented his state in the U.S. House and then the Senate, where he served for five decades. He died Monday evening at age 88 of respiratory complications. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Irene Hirano Inouye, widow of Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who was the second-longest-serving senator in history, looks at the casket of her husband as he lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. Sen. Inouye was a Medal of Honor recipient who represented his state in the U.S. House and then the Senate, where he served for five decades. He died Monday evening at age 88 of respiratory complications. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Vice President Joe Biden looks back as Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, the second-longest-serving senator in history, lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. Inouye was a Medal of Honor recipient who represented his state in the U.S. House and then the Senate, where he served for five decades. He died Monday evening at age 88 of respiratory complications. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Family members of Sen. Daniel Inouye, D- Hawaii, look on as his casket is carried into the Capitol to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 in Washington. Inouye has been in public office since 1959, and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service in Europe in World War II. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, second from left, speaks with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, right, before the lying in state of Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, the second-longest-serving senator in history, in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. Inouye was a Medal of Honor recipient who represented his state in the U.S. House and then the Senate, where he served for five decades. He died Monday evening at age 88 of respiratory complications. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Sen. Daniel Inouye, the second-longest serving senator in U.S. history, was remembered Thursday as a man who gallantly defended his country on the battlefield and gracefully sought to better it during the 50-plus years he represented his beloved state of Hawaii.

Colleagues and aides lined the Capitol rotunda five deep to say farewell. The rare ceremony demonstrated the respect and good will he generated over the years. Only 31 people have lain in the Capitol rotunda; the last was former President Gerald R. Ford nearly six years ago. The last senator who died in office and was accorded the honor was Democrat Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, in 1978.

"Daniel Inouye was an institution, and he deserved to spend at least another day in this beautiful building to which he dedicated his life," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Inouye's closed casket was draped with the American flag during the morning ceremony and placed atop the same catafalque that supported the coffin of Abraham Lincoln. His family and staff looked on as Reid, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Vice President Joe Biden paid tribute to a man whom Biden said made him proud to be called a senator.

Inouye was Hawaii's first congressman. In his early days in Washington, Inouye's modesty would never have allowed him to think he would walk the halls of the Capitol for the next five decades, Boehner said.

"He couldn't have fathomed all the good that he would do here, helping to build a new state, gaining rights and benefits for veterans, supporting agriculture, speaking out against injustice, becoming one of the most revered senators in our history," Boehner said.

Inouye died Monday from respiratory complications. The soft-spoken but powerful Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee was 88.

Before Inouye made his mark as a politician, he did so as a war hero who lost his right arm while leading his platoon into battle on a ridge in Italy. He later was awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military honor.

Biden said each person who has lain in state in the Capitol had a quality that was uniquely American. For Inouye, it was a moral compass that allowed him to do extraordinary things as a solider and as a senator.

"I've never met a man or woman in that period with as much physical and moral courage as Daniel Inouye," Biden said, referring to his years in the Senate. "I never met a man with as much loyalty to his country, to his family and to his friends."

After Inouye became Hawaii's first congressman following statehood in 1959, he won election to the Senate in 1962. He was the first Japanese-American elected to both the House and Senate and was serving his ninth term in the Senate when he died. As a legislator, his specialty was steering federal money to his home state to develop the kinds of roads, schools and housing other Americans had on the mainland.

After Biden spoke, three wreaths were placed around the casket, one representing the House, one the Senate and the other the executive branch. In the ensuring hours, a steady stream of tourists, congressional aides and other Capitol visitors took a few minutes out of their day to take in a bit of history and pay their respects.

Inouye's body will be escorted Friday to Washington National Cathedral for a funeral service, where President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are among those scheduled to speak. Inouye's body will be returned to Hawaii on Saturday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-12-20-Inouye-Senate/id-75f05bc7358f456b80739609d2074933

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Why Some Kids Have An Inflated Sense Of Their Science Skills

If you're a student at the halfway point of the academic year, and you've just taken stock of your performance, perhaps you have reason to feel proud of yourself.

But a recent study suggests some of the pride you feel at having done well ? especially in science ? may be unfounded. Or at least your sense of your performance may not be a very accurate picture of how good you actually are.

A massive analysis of some 350,000 students at nearly 14,000 schools in 53 countries has uncovered a paradox: Students in many countries that are mediocre at science have an inflated sense of good they are.

First the good news: The United States isn't among the worst offenders. Students in countries such as Thailand, Jordan, Mexico and Brazil seem to be worse than U.S. students when it comes to science knowledge, but they have even higher levels of self-esteem when it comes to their beliefs about how good they are at science.

But compared to countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Japan, South Korea and Great Britain, American students appeared to have an inflated sense of their science abilities. Students in those other countries were better when it came to scientific knowledge than American students, but it was the Americans who had the higher opinion of themselves as students of science.

The study, published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, focused on the academic performance of 15 year-old students. It was conducted by Eva Van de gaer, Aletta Grisay, Wolfram Schulz and Eveline Gebhardt.

The paradox between performance and students' impression of their performance has been noted before. The paper proposes an explanation for it: The reference group effect.

The study argues that countries have very different standards when it comes to science education.

In countries with elite science education standards, you can be a very good science student but, since you measure yourself against an elite standard of performance, you think of yourself as mediocre. On the other hand, if you live in a country with average (or mediocre) science standards, you might be just a decent student, but compared to general expectations of how good students are supposed to be, you feel like a genius.

In an interview, Schulz offered me an analogy. He asked me to think about a person who was 5-foot-10 in China and a person who was the same height in the Netherlands. The Dutch, on average, are taller than the Chinese.

"The person would in China probably think of themselves as a tall person," Schulz said. "If you go to the Netherlands, such a person would rather say, 'ah, I'm a short person,' because you compare yourself to those who surround you."

The same thing happens with science education, he said. Students in countries with elite science standards are much more likely to think of themselves as mediocre, whereas students in countries with mediocre standards are much more likely to think of themselves as elite.

Schulz works at the Australian Council for Educational Research, which studies educational issues in science, mathematics and reading.

Schulz told me the reference group effect could potentially be a double-edged sword: In terms of preparing students for competition with one another, it makes good sense to get a realistic sense of how good you actually are compared to, say, your peers in South Korea. On the other hand, Schulz said, there was also something to be said for having an inflated sense of your own abilities.

"For motivating students to take up science studies, how you perceive yourself is actually more important than how much you know," he said. "If your general belief (is) you're not that good at science, that might have this powerful effect of saying, 'Ah, I'd better stay away from it in the future.' "

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/12/21/167718275/why-some-kids-have-an-inflated-sense-of-their-science-skills?ft=1&f=1007

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Debt Crisis: Greece faces 'make or break' year - live

_{Left to right: Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, French President Francois Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, and German Canchellor Angela Merkel (Getty)}

13.33 SocGen has put out a list of 'Seven Key Calls to Kick Start 2013' - and it looks as though it is confident about a eurozone recovery. The number one call is to go long on European stocks, as it predicts they will outperform US stocks, number two is to buy Spanish debt, and number three is to sell safe assets such as German bunds. You can see the whole list here.

12.55 It would seem parliaments across Europe are tying up budgetary loose ends as Christmas approaches. Lithuania - not currently a eurozone member - has just rubber stamped its 2013 budget. The measures in the act point towards the Baltic nation's ambition for membership of the single currency, keeping its deficit-to-GDP ration within the stringent 3pc imposed by EU institutions.

_{St Casimir church in Lithuanian capital Vilnius}

12.44 Austria's economic forecasters are divided on 2013 predicitons but agree that 2014 will see the growth rate hit 1.8pc, citing "visible" signs the downturn is coming to an end. The WIFO predicted GDP would grow 1pc in 2013, compared with 0.6pc this year, but the IHS was less optimistic, slashing its 1.3pc growth forecast to 0.8pc. Both institutes were more hopeful than the Austrian central bank, which earlier this month cut its 2013 growth forecast from 1.7pc to just 0.5pc.

_{Hahnenkamm ski resort in Austria}

12.23 BREAKING: Italy's upper house has approved prime minister Mario Monti's 2013 budget bill, passing it to the lower house for the final go-ahead. The upper house's approval comes after lawmakers fron Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party postponed debate on the bill, scheduled for Tuesday, asking for more time to examine the measures, in a move decried as politically motivated by other members.

_{The Italian Senate (upper house) in Rome}

12.17 Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem has assured parliament the Netherlands will meet the EU's 3pc budget deficit target, in spite of official forecasts released yesterday predicting the deficit would hit 3.3pc of GDP in 2013. He declined to say whether further cuts would be needed to meet the target, but has conceded the government will use the ?3.8bn windfall from its telecom spectrum auction to help plug the hole in public finances, backtracking on earlier assertions this money would not factor in the austerity programme.

_{Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem}

11.33 In an unwelcome Christmas present for the French, the contentious austerity budget unveiled by president Francois Hollande in September has clinched parliamentary approval after months of deliberation. President Francois Hollande's budget aims to cut ?30bn, two thirds of which are set to come from tax hikes, including a 75pc levy on income over ?1m - a measure which has seen French actor Gerard Depardieu revoke his citizenship in indignance (see 09.03).

11.20 Greeks struggling with loan repayments have hit the country's banks hard, with Hellenic lender Eurobank posting further losses in the third quarter. And the bank's chief executive Nicholas Nanopoulos sees the situation deteriorating, saying:

2013 will be a difficult year, there is a chance of another wave of bad debt after measures adopted by the government.

Eurobank has already received nearly ?4bn from the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) which was set up to recapitalise the country's systemic banks, and expects to get a further ?1.8bn from the HFSF shortly, executives told analysts.

11.08 Four Spanish banks have won EU approval for their restructuring plans in return for securing a ?1.87bn state bail-out. Banco Mare Nostrum, Caja3, Banco CEISS and Liberbank, which were all hit when Spain's property bubble burst in 2008, have drawn up plans to slash their balance sheets by between 25pc to more than 40pc over the next five years. They are all obliged to also halt dividend payments, with three of the banks barred from making acquisitions during the restructuring period.

10.50 Turmoil in the eurozone is creeping north, with Finland, the only Nordic member of the single currency, facing a year of recession. The finance ministry forecast GDP will shrink 0.1pc this year, before growing 0.5pc in 2013 and 1.7pc in 2014. The figures show a substantial downwards revision on previous forecasts that the economy would grow 1pc this year and 2pc in 2014. The ministry's figures are also gloomier than those generated by the country's central bank on December 13, which said the economy would grow 0.4pc in 2013, down from a previous forecast of 1.2pc.

_{Finland's economy looks set for deep freeze in 2013}

10.00 Over in Japan, the central bank has made efforts to spur on the languid economy by expanding its quantitative easing tool by ?10tn (?73bn) to ?101tn. The bank said fresh easing was tied to fears about the slowing global economy, conspicuously omitting mention of incoming conservative prime minister Shinzo Abe's planned 2pc inflation target. The bank said in a statement:

Overseas economies remain in a deceleration phase. It was judged appropriate to undertake further aggressive monetary easing policies.

_{Incoming Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe won a landslide victory on promises he would ram through full-blown 'reflation' policies to pull his country out of slump and drive down the yen}

09.42 Italians watching their spending saw October retail sales in the country dip 3.8pc year-on-year. The October figures mark the steepest decline year-on-year and month-on-month (sales fell 1pc from September) since April.

09.26 Greek news website Kathimerini has reported a major shake-up at Greece's tax authorities in an effort to beef up collection and investigation efforts. Tax evasion is thought to cost ?30bn annually in lost revenues, and improved tax operations are one of the pillars of Greek reform imposed by its troika of lenders. The revamp involved 164 directors, deputy directors and finance ministry observers being moved to different departments.

09.03 French actor Gerard Depardieu, best known for his portrayal of Obelix in 'Asterix and Obelix', has been offered tax asylum by Chechnya, after he revoked his French citizenship in protest at high taxes on the wealthy. President Francois Hollande raised the tax on earnings over ?1m to 75pc, from 41pc, as part of an austerity drive earlier this year. Mr Depardieu is currently resident in Belgium, where taxes are lower.

_{Gerard Depardieu}

08.45 Prime Minister David Cameron told his party last night they would fight the next general election on a strongly anti-Europe ticket. He told them he had to get "the big calls right", and there was no bigger call than the decision the party had to make on Europe - in a clear response to Ukip's surging popularity. He said:

I want you all to be absolutely clear - we will go into the next election with a clear Eurosceptic position. It will clearly be in tune with the British people, we will be the ones offering the British people a genuine change and a genuine choice.

Read political correspondent Christopher Hope's full piece here.

08.23 Greek finance minister Yannis Stournaras, in an interview with the FT, warned Athens still faces "the possible risk" of exiting the single currency, a sobering message amid the festive cheer brought by the nation's tumbling cost of borrowing in the wake of receiving a ?34.3bn rescue package from the IMF, ECB and European Commission troika of lenders. He said:

What we have done so far is necessary but not sufficient to achieve a permanent solution for Greece. The issue is now implementation.

Our partners? decision to give us so much money ? more than we expected ? removes a large part of the risk [but] we still face the possible risk of bankruptcy.

08.00 Last night we heard reports the Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, has indicated he will run for election. Italian newspapers, citing unnamed sources, said Monti was ready to back a new centrist grouping set up by Ferrari chair Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. The FT quoted a source as saying: "Monti would be the political chief of the operation." He is widely expected to announce his intentions over the weekend, with Italian news agencies quoting Andrea Riccardi, a government minister thought to be close to Mr Monti, saying as much.

_{Italian premier Mario Monti, who was installed by the country's president last year in the wake of Silvio Berlusconi's forcible exit from power}

06.00 Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the eurozone debt crisis.

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568387/s/26c96508/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cfinance0Cdebt0Ecrisis0Elive0C97565540CDebt0ECrisis0EGreece0Efaces0Emake0Eor0Ebreak0Eyear0Elive0Bhtml/story01.htm

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Ke$ha tweets hit 'Die Young' 'now inappropriate'

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? Ke$ha says she understands her hit song "Die Young" ''is now inappropriate" following the shootings in Newtown, Conn.

The pop singer said in a Twitter post Tuesday night that she's "so so so sorry" for anyone affected by the tragedy.

Earlier Tuesday, Ke$ha tweeted that she had her own issues with "Die Young" due to the lyrics, but that she was "FORCED TO" sing them. That tweet was deleted a short time later.

Ke$ha's spokesman said the 25-year-old had no comment Wednesday morning.

"Die Young" is intended as a party anthem and is No. 3 on this week's Billboard Hot 100 chart. But radio stations began to pull it and other songs with potentially upsetting lyrics after 27 people, including 20 children, were killed Friday at an elementary school.

___

Online:

http://keshasparty.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ke-tweets-hit-die-young-now-inappropriate-191750025.html

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Man wanted in Ore. shooting arrested in California

MORENO VALLEY, Calif. -- A man wanted in a violent home invasion robbery in Oregon has been arrested in Southern California.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said in a statement Wednesday that 25-year-old David Robert Friend was arrested in Moreno Valley.

Authorities alleged that Friend and an accomplice forced their way into a Springfield, Ore. house in July 2011 and shot and wounded a man in the house. Friend was charged with attempted murder, burglary, assault and other counts.

He evaded arrest until investigators recently learned that he had been living in Riverside County.

Eimiller said Lane County detectives are expected to take Friend back to Oregon soon to face prosecution.

Source: http://www.modbee.com/2012/12/19/2502839/man-wanted-in-ore-shooting-arrested.html

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Mirage President Felix Rappaport resigns

By Ron Sylvester (contact)

Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 | 4:26 p.m.

Felix Rappaport resigned today as president and chief operating officer of the Mirage, after 21 years with MGM Resorts International.

Rappaport is the second casino chief to leave MGM this month. Bill McBeath, president and COO of CityCenter announced his resignation on Dec. 3.

MGM Chief Executive Jim Murren said the company would immediately begin looking for a replacement. Corey Sanders, COO for MGM, would be assigned to work with the Mirage during the transition, Murren said.

"Felix has been the epitome of a hospitality leader," Murren said in a statement. "We thank him for his many years of dedicated service and successful leadership to the company and extend every best wish for success."

Rappaport, 60, did not announce his plans.

Growing up in Philadelphia, Rappaport took his first job at age 14 working in a men's clothing store making $25 a week. He eventually went into hotel management and moved to Las Vegas in the early 1990s. He has spent most of his career with MGM, where he worked in the executive offices of the MGM Grand, Luxor, Excalibur and New York-New York before moving to the Mirage.

He oversaw a massive renovation at the Luxor, while serving as president of that casino and the Excalibur, in early 2000s. Rappaport took over as president of the Mirage in September 2010, during a move of casino leadership that also sent Scott Sibella to the MGM Grand, Renee West to run the Luxor and Excalibur and promoted Chuck Bowling to president of Mandalay Bay.

Rappaport is a well-known foodie who oversaw the development of new nightclubs and restaurants at the Mirage.

Source: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/dec/18/mirage-president-felix-rappaport-resigns/

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The Bogus Case Against Chuck Hagel (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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