Ten Words from Today's Times - March 15, 2012

These people are increasingly frustrated with what they see as a shift in recent years to a profit-above-all mentality.

But it is unfortunate that an individual opinion about Goldman Sachs is amplified in a newspaper and speaks louder than the regular, detailed and intensive feedback you have provided the firm and independent, public surveys of workplace environments.”

The report reaffirmed the firm’s principles and outlined changes aimed largely at bolstering internal controls and disclosure.

At a closed-door Senate Republican lunch on Tuesday, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska sternly warned her colleagues that the party was at risk of being successfully painted as antiwoman — with potentially grievous political consequences in the fall, several Republican senators said Wednesday.

Republicans are bracing for a battle where substantive arguments could be swamped by political optics and the intensity of the clash over women’s issues.

Republicans say they see that line of attack coming and will try through amendments to make the final version more palatable.

The scale of Iran’s involvement remains unclear, and some Yemeni officials and analysts remain skeptical about the impact of any weapons shipments, citing a long history of dubious accusations by Saudi Arabia — Iran’s regional nemesis — and Saudi allies in Yemen.

American officials said Iran supplied the same lethal roadside bombs to insurgents in Iraq during the worst of the violence there, an accusation that Iran has consistently denied.

Skilled guerrilla fighters, they fought a short war with Saudi Arabia in 2009, and could presumably be used as an Iranian proxy force.

There have been reports on the subject in the Yemeni press — as in years past — but those are widely dismissed as rumors disseminated by Saleh loyalists, or allies of Saudi Arabia.