I’m not an expert in these matters but I think I know enough to say that religion and politics don’t mix well in Iran. Cooperation between the two is an illusion, an illusion the people of that country realize is getting them no where fast. Iran was on its way to becoming a democracy (sort of) during the Shah’s US backed reign. Of course the Shah-Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi-had his problems with the religious right because of his White Revolution (visit White Revolution in Wikipedia-very interesting) that, among other things, extended suffrage to women, modernized the nation and recognized the sovereignty of Israel, a no-no for any Muslim nation.Modernization in Iran was seen by Shi’a clergy as secularization and they began withdrawing support for the Shah. In 1979 a revolution occurred that brought to power the Ayatollah Khomeini and his rule by the Supreme Jurist. Many Iranian citizens were opposed to the return of theocracy but knew better than to complain. Religious zealots remember, have ways of bringing the wrath of God to bear when needed to bring about unquestioned compliance, or so those zealots say. I became acquainted with an Iranian family that was able to escape the Ayatollah’s Supreme Jurist rule in 1982. A well-to-do family, the result of education and hard work, eventually made their way to the US where we met. The patriarch and his wife were in their seventies, both were ill, and they were broke. The Supreme Jurist wouldn’t allow them to leave Iran to seek medical assistance with any thing but the cloths on their backs. The familie’s home, jobs, and retirement fund were lost, never to be retrieved. The good news is that Americans-many were Iranian themselves-helped this family get what they needed and the bad news, of course, is they could never return to their beloved Iran.A product of the 70′s revolution in Iran was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, now into his second term as Iran’s blowhard president. Strange indeed how Ahmadinejad began his ascent because of a cleric’s government take over in 1979, a puppet groomed by theocracy to lead a country back into the dark ages and now theocracy and Ahmadinejad are both suffering a significant loss of respect and power.Jon Meacham, in a Newsweek editorial, wrote; “In an imperfect world there will never be a complete end to theocracy any more than there will be a complete end to tyranny. Power will ebb and flow, regimes come and go. But in the main, history’s path leads to more liberty, not less.”Riots are raging throughout the Middle-East and as many know already Ahmadinejad is on his way out eventually. Rule by the Supreme Jurist is sure to be marginalized as well and the result, we hope, will be more liberty, not less. However, the not-less part is contingent upon reining in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps the most powerful and secretive organization in the region, their goal; eradication of all non-fundamental Islamic believers. There is much to be done to bring about liberty in those Muslim states and I am afraid it will get worse before it gets better. And in the meantime the Iranian Islamic radicals near their quest for nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them.
Enhance Your Marketing Through Personal Products Promotion
If you are in sales, great customer service and product knowledge are the basic foundation to your success. These skills will undoubtedly increase your production and earnings over time, but growing your business by word of mouth advertising and through past customers referrals will take time. Adding marketing and promotional products to promote your business will be an effective compliment to expand your business faster.If you are in the financial or real estate business, after you have completed a transaction and your customer is happy with your service, they may tell their friends and family for a few weeks. Unfortunately, after a few weeks the referrals will likely stop unless you maintain contact with them. A strong marketing and promotional campaign is a vital key to keeping up with your competition. Promotional campaigns use products that have your name, logo, and contact information on them to help you grow your business and develop recognition in your marketplace. When calling on your lead sources make your sales calls more effective and lasting by offering them useful products that will promote your services. Typical promotional products such as: pens, cups, flash lights, tape measures, and stress balls are all useful items in the real estate and financial industries. If you add a promotional campaign to your marketing endeavors, you should be able to lengthen the time your past customers and lead sources promote you and your business, thereby retaining a higher percentage of your past customers.Promotional items will also assist you in introducing a new services or products that you may want to offer. These new products and services may help you specialize and become more profitable. Becoming an expert in rehabilitation loans, first time home buyer down payment assistance loans, or zero down payment mortgage products and promoting your expertise through marketing and promotional products campaigns will decrease the time needed to capture new business and profits. You can create a marketing promotional campaign to maintain contact with past customers, reach out to new customers at events, or more effectively promote yourself through your sphere of influence. Creating an effective promotional marketing campaign will help you and your contacts spread the news of what you can offer. Promotional items should fit your business needs and can be used as closing gifts, informational pieces, generalized marketing, and employee retention and motivation.Creating an all-encompassing marketing system should utilize all aspects of personal promotion to reach your lead sources, these include: seminars, product knowledge, outstanding customers service, consistent contact, and retention systems to maximize your efforts. Developing a total marketing plan will enhanced your overall image as an expert and increases the likelihood that they will recommend their connections to you.
National Health Care System In Japan And Taiwan – Would It Be Possible For Us?
Every society is affected by any national changes or new movement introduced; therefore, an issue one may think is unrelated to his environment can very well affect him through chains of cause and effect.Health care is an immediate issue that concerns all of us. We all experience it and need it. Let’s serious ask ourselves if the current health care system is satisfactory and available to everyone. Should health, medicare and treatments be available to only selected groups? Many people are voting for the presidential candidate who can restore the present health care system or who can pioneer a better healthcare distribution for our country. Personally, I hope to see a change that health care is available and affordable to everyone.Being able to receive basic health care is a fundamental need of all people. Fulfilling this fundamental need makes people feel secured, and it makes sense that people with better health can contribute more to the society. A realistic and reachable standard of health should be set for all people. This effort needs a non profit driving entity to establish and to maintain it. People’s life and health should not be compromised for the profit of few organizations.Before moving to Japan, I was covered under my parents’ insurance policy in the United States. Their policy covered children of the family until the age of twenty-four. Upon graduating from university, I moved to Japan and started my first job there. I joined the Japanese national health insurance through the company I worked for. There are basically two types of health insurance in Japan: national health insurance and employer-sponsored health insurance. Usually, under employer sponsored insurance, the insurance premium is calculated according to income, number of dependents, and the company’ subsidies. For someone who is self-employed or unemployed, the national health insurance costs a minimum of 13300 yen, or about $110 per month plus a small percentage of income for those who are self-employed. In other words, everyone can get insurance from around $100 dollars a month. Unlike the Medicaid program in the U.S. which is only available to certain low-income groups with specific requirements for eligibility, the Japanese health insurance is available to every citizen and legal residents. There is a ceiling to what the Japanese National insurance covers, but it covers all the basics and beyond.In most cases in Japan, patients choose their doctor and hospital. There is no limitation to the doctors or hospital they can visit. This is a true competition among the clinics, hospitals, and medical practitioners, not for profit, but for quality. The same insurance that people have in Japan gives them the freedom to get second opinions and naturally eliminates those doctors whose practices are in question. The doctor visits, treatments, and medicine are not free; one is responsible for thirty percent of their medical bills. Japanese health costs are much lower than the costs in the United States. Thirty percent of the medical bill is still a reasonable amount one can afford. There are also special cases or categories of illness for which the insurance would give more coverage. If one is late on his payment, his insurance will not automatically be invalid. The insurance will still cover the person as long as he makes up the missed payments. After all, some people do run into difficulties in life at one point or another. Sounds to good to be true? Well, It’s real.Taiwan, a place with no world recognition politically, has one of the top public health care system in the world. After moving to Taiwan due to my husband’s transfer a year a go, I learned and appreciated the system where universal or national health care is available to all more than ever. When speaking of universal, national, or pubic health insurance, people often turn their attention to the well-debated and discussed health care system in Canada. There are those whose views are negative, claiming that the medical service in a single-payer insurance system may not perform at its ultimate, and those whose views are positive, saying that they do not live in fear of ever having to face bankruptcy for outrageous medical bills. From my informal inquiries, more Canadian I came across favor their national health care system. Most of those who favor their national health care system commented that people of Canada are more secured in having their basic physical and psychological needs met.In Taiwan, there is also government-sponsored universal health care for not only their citizens but also for foreign residents who live in Taiwan. Foreign residents can apply for the government-sponsored insurance after proving their legal status of residing in Taiwan. The insurance fee starts from the basic 600NT, or around $18 a month. For people in higher income brackets, their insurance is calculated based on a percentage of their income over the 600Nt. Fees are waived for retired soldiers, those who are physically challenged, and people who have economic disadvantages.Interestingly, Taiwan’s national health insurance has only been established for little more than two decades, since 1985. The government policy-makers studied health care system from different foreign countries and composes the first Taiwan national health care from the ideas and methods of the system of other countries. It was said that Taiwan’s national insurance system is like a completed puzzle made from pieces of which fit its country and people. This insurance now covers the entire population, including foreign legal residents. According to research funded by Taiwan’s National Health Research and Taiwan’s Bureau of National Health Insurance, the cost of health care did not rise after the universal coverage was established (Jui-Fen & Hsiao, 2003.) What does that tell us?A basic health care program can greatly reduce the consequences of illness left untreated. Basic health care does not mean free of charge or mindless spending without control. To build a healthy nation, we should take a closer look at the current U.S. health insurance. After all, a sound nation starts with the health of its people.