Hassan Rohani, the Scottish-educated cleric elected in June on pledges to improve Iran’s economy and world standing.
Rohani’s endorsement today by the country’s highest authority is a constitutional requirement and it took place in a ceremony in the Iranian capital Tehran, state-run Press TV news channel reported. Rohani succeeds Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who first took office in 2005.
The government “needs to distance itself from extremism in policy making and management, and rely on rule of law,” Rohani said after receiving Khamenei’s blessing.
The link is to an NYTs article about the obstacles facing those wishing to move forward with the ACA in Missouri, and is paired with a second article about the different situation in Colorado.
"'The Zionist regime is a wound that has sat on the body of the Muslim world for years and needs to be removed," Rouhani said at a demonstration in Tehran marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, an annual show of support for the Palestinian cause. The speech also came just two days before Rouhani, described by pundits as a "moderate," was set to be sworn in, replacing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iranian president."
Jonathan Cohn, writing in the The New Republic, gives six reasons for his belief that a sufficient number of young and healthy adults will buy health insurance once the ACA "obligation" goes into effect. I really recommend reading the whole article, but I've copied the highlights below:
"A military judge on Tuesday found Pfc. Bradley Manning not guilty of “aiding the enemy” for his release of hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks. But she convicted him of multiple counts of violating the Espionage Act, stealing government property and other charges that could result in a maximum sentence of 136 years."
The American economy, ever-adapting to an evolving global marketplace, is leaving many folks behind. There are many metrics that bear this out, among them the widening gap between the wealthiest and poorest Americans.
These workers are taking matters into their own hands--with one day strikes--in the finest tradition of the workers who gave the rest of us the weekend, overtime pay, and an end to child labor.
Predicting the outcome of the Kerry effort is a pointless exercise. My own analysis on the peace process has been annoyingly negative not because of ideology, bias, or career change. My sober assessment flows from my agreement with one of America's preeminent philosophers, Groucho Marx (or Harpo) in Duck Soup: Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes? I see what I see; and it's pretty tough to persuade me that a conflict-ending accord on all the big issues, including Jerusalem and refugees, is possible now.
Really interesting piece on the projected savings for individuals who will be buying plans through New York's "exchange":
For years, New York has represented much that can go wrong with insurance markets. The state required insurers to cover everyone regardless of pre-existing conditions, but did not require everyone to purchase insurance — a feature of the new health care law — and did not offer generous subsidies so people could afford coverage.
This sounds like it might be just another horrible disaster in Iran and perhaps for the Pakistanis living near the border with Iran. The NYTs reports that nearly 2 million Iranians live near the epicenter of the quake:
