HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologizes for health law rollout fiasco - NY Daily News

WASHINGTON – Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologized to Americans on Wednesday for problems with the launch of Obamacare’s website, healthcare.gov.

"You deserve better. I apologize,” Sebelius said in testimony at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. “I am committed to earning your confidence back.

Like President Obama, Sebelius, who faces Republican calls for her resignation, said she is "as frustrated as anyone” by problems with the site.

Read more...HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologizes for health law rollout fiasco   - NY Daily News

Was the Obamacare Implosion the Real Goal All Along?

Something is rotten in Denmark.For the past few weeks I have tried to wrap my head around this rollout of Obamacare and how it has crashed and burned in such a rapid and dramatic fashion.My question is; why from day one was this an immediate disaster? How could so many so-called experts along with $600 million taxpayer dollars have created something so useless and worthless?With over three years to construct the website, why was it never means tested before it was presented?Why didn’t it work so easily and efficiently that everyone would praise it to the heavens?

Read more...Was the Obamacare Implosion the Real Goal All Along?

Fertility Clinics Help More Gay Couples Have Kids

BOSTON -- BOSTON (AP) — Fertility clinics have put a new twist on how to make babies: A "two-mom" approach that lets female same-sex couples share the biological role. One woman's eggs are mixed in a lab dish with donor sperm, then implanted in the other woman, who carries the pregnancy.

A New York doctor described 18 of these cases Tuesday at a fertility conference in Boston that featured other research on ways to help same-sex couples have children. Dr. Alan Copperman is medical director of Reproductive Medicine Associates, a New York City clinic that does the "two-mom" approach.

Read more...Fertility Clinics Help More Gay Couples Have Kids

White House under pressure on NSA monitoring of German chancellor | World news | theguardian.com

The White House was under intense pressure on Sunday to reveal the extent to which President Barack Obama knew about or even authorised US surveillance operations targeting the leaders of allied countries.

The US is facing a full-scale diplomatic crisis over the disclosure that the National Security Agency monitored the phone conversations of at least 35 world leaders, including the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Read more...White House under pressure on NSA monitoring of German chancellor | World news | theguardian.com

Iran wants to hammer out a nuclear 'roadmap'

(CNN) - Iran has struck up a new, conciliatory chord on negotiations about its nuclear program. And its leaders say it's eager to get down to business.

Foreign minister Javad Zarif reiterated Iran's apparent haste to reach an international agreement on its energy program in a statement Monday.

Read more...  http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/14/world/meast/iran-nuclear-talks/index.html?c=world

PressTV - Iran nuclear chief downplays Obama claims on Iran

“The US president acknowledged in his UN General Assembly speech that Leader [of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] has issued a fatwa declaring any attempt to build and stockpile weapons of mass destruction as haram (religiously forbidden),” said Salehi on Sunday.

Read more...PressTV - Iran nuclear chief downplays Obama claims on Iran

Dispensaries wary of fully legalizing marijuana in Arizona

Medical-marijuana dispensary operators are apprehensive about plans by a powerful marijuana-advocacy group to campaign for full legalization of the drug in Arizona.

The Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that advocates marijuana legalization and regulation, is a former ally of the dispensary owners, having played a key financial and public-relations role in passage of the state law that created the burgeoning medical-marijuana program.

Read more...Dispensaries wary of fully legalizing marijuana in Arizona

Shutdown orders issued as Congress misses deadline - News Nation Washington - Boston.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time in nearly two decades, the federal government staggered into a partial shutdown early Tuesday morning after congressional Republicans stubbornly demanded changes in the nation's health care law as the price for essential federal funding and President Barack Obama and Democrats adamantly refused.

Read more...  http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2013/09/30/shutdown-orders-issued-congress-misses-deadline/hQgoOfNupkJuJf1WEp3Z0M/story.html