Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee today that the "terrible situation" in Syria "has no simple answers."

Pannetta was facing tough questions from Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, who on Monday called for U.S.-led air strikes on the security forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"In past situations, America has led. We're not leading, Mr. Secretary," McCain told Panetta.

Fox News reports that Panetta defended the administrations decision not to intervene militarily.

The Book of Revelation, the final book of the New Testament, has some of the most dramatic and frightening language in the Bible.

In her new book Revelations: Visions, Prophecy and Politics in the Book of Revelation, Princeton University religious professor Elaine Pagels places the Book of Revelation in its historical context and explores where the book's apocalyptic vision of the end of the world comes from.

Scientists who work for the Food and Drug Administration are feeling more optimistic about the future of their agency than they did back in 2006, according to a survey just out from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

But they still report concerns about outside pressures on the FDA's decisions and policies.

Americans use 300 million gallons of gasoline every day, so it's no surprise they keep a close eye on prices at the pump. Taxes, refinery regulations, transportation expenses and global crude oil supply and demand all influence rising costs.

As Ars Technica describes him, Sabu was "a sort of hacker demigod in the world of Anonymous."

"If you couldn't trust him, who could you trust?" Ars Technica writes.

Given his victories on Super Tuesday, there's growing talk that Republican officeholders and voters are just about ready to line up behind Mitt Romney as the party's "inevitable" presidential nominee.

The South hasn't gotten the memo.

We have two pieces of economic news this morning:

-- First the Labor Department announced that while American workers were more productive at the end of last year, the gains in productivity slowed. The AP reports that could "signal that companies are ready to hire more workers."

The AP adds:

As has been the case with all of Apple's product unveilings, there is a shroud of secrecy surrounding today's impending announcement.

Today, Apple has invited media to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for a 1 p.m. ET. event. The only clue provided by Apple was a typically cryptic invitation with a picture of an iPad and a few words: "We have something you really have to see. And touch."

The 4th annual Wintersong songwriter's workshop will be held at the Mountain Arts Community Center in Signal Mountain Tennessee on Saturday, March 10th.  The workshops include topics like grabbing the listener's ear and getting started in songwriting.  The sessions will be led by nationally known writers and performers Louisa Branscomb, Kathy Reed, and Earl Brackin.  Local musicians and singer/songwriters will also be involved in Wintersong.  Workshops begin at 9:30 am.  The day long event wraps up wit

Our friends at It's All Politics have started to digest the results of Super Tuesday. In a nutshell, it pretty much left us where we were before the 10 big contests: All four candidates are still in the race and the campaign will go on and on.

There were two non-presidential pieces of news from last night, too: