rico1

I do have to agree. We seem to here this every year next January.

are they street leagle in the US?

I vote for moving the decimal point over to the right on place.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/12/21419232-iraqi-women-lament-costs-of-us-invasion?lite By Suadad al-Salhy and Isabel Colesk, Reuters BAGHDAD -- One year after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, then-President George W. Bush told a gathering at the White House: "Every woman in Iraq is better off because the rape rooms and torture chambers of Saddam Hussein are forever closed." A decade on, that statement rings hollow for many Iraqi women. Although few miss Saddam's iron-fisted rule or the wars and sanctions he brought upon Iraq, women have been disproportionately affected by the violence that has blighted the lives of almost all Iraqis. This week marks the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. ITV's John Irvine in Baghdad assesses a country that remains gripped by the violence of its sectarian divide. Domestic abuse and prostitution have increased, illiteracy has soared and thousands of women have been left widowed and vulnerable. Many women also rue the political leaders that came to power after Saddam was overthrown and the growing social conservatism that has diminished their role in public life. Once at the vanguard of women's rights in the region, Iraq ranked 21st out of 22 Arab states in a poll of 336 gender experts released on Tuesday by Thomson Reuters Foundation. The survey, conducted in August and September, asked questions about violence against women, reproductive rights, treatment of women within the family, their integration into society and attitudes towards a woman's role in politics and the economy. Ibtisam, 40, was injured by an iron bar as she fled shelling in the U.S.-led invasion and was forced to have her uterus surgically removed. During the sectarian carnage that followed, a Shi'ite militia kidnapped her husband and killed him. "If the 2003 war had not taken place... at least my husband would be still alive and I would not live in such humiliating circumstances," said Ibtisam, who now works on date farms near her home in eastern Baghdad to provide for her two young daughters. Seated in the living room of her home in Baghdad, Sana Majeed, mother of two, reminisced about the "golden times" during the 1970s, when she went to parties, galleries and restaurants, and was free to dress as she pleased. Jacob Silberberg / AP, file A U.S. Army soldier stands guard while women cry after soldiers kicked through their front gate in Baghdad, Iraq, on April 6, 2006. The reality of the new Iraq struck her in 2005, when she got out of a taxi and was accosted by a group of men in black who chastised her for wearing inappropriate clothing and told her to go home and cover her hair. "Islamist parties started to control Iraq and that was the worst nightmare Iraqi women have ever faced," said Majeed, who now wears a black abaya and head scarf. "Religious parties and militia have stolen free life from Iraqi women." The first piece of legislation Iraq's new leaders sought to change was the personal status law, which enshrines women's rights regarding marriage, inheritance, polygamy and child custody, and has often been held up as the most "progressive" in the Middle East. Although that first attempt failed, efforts to bring the law in line with Islamic dictates and put family affairs in the hands of religious authorities still continue. Nadje Al-Ali, a professor of gender studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, said women were often used symbolically to reject the previous political order. "There has been this increase towards greater social conservatism where women are concerned," said Al-Ali, who co-authored the book "What Kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq". "I think one has to understand that in a context of reacting against the previous regime and also reacting against Western imperialism. Overall, it has been devastating." John Moore / AP, file Mothers cradle their children and watch as nine-month-old Akram Arif dies of gastroenteritis across the room in the Saddam Children's Hospital in Baghdad on Sept. 17, 1996. Iraqi hospitals had few medicines due to U.N. sanctions at the time. The erosion of women's status in fact began before 2003, when the international community imposed punitive sanctions on Iraq in response to Saddam's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. With the economy crippled, the government was no longer able to afford services such as child care and maternity leave that had enabled women to enter the workforce as part of Saddam's drive to industrialize Iraq. "After Saddam was toppled, I had a feeling the good old days would return," said Majeed. "Saddam was gone, the blockade will be lifted, and that gave me a big hope to be a free woman again." It was a hope shared by many women after the invasion. Sidelined from politics under Saddam, women successfully lobbied for a quarter of seats in parliament to be set aside for them. But the quota has not translated into meaningful participation, according to several women lawmakers, who said most female MPs did little more than rubber stamp the decisions of their party leaders, all of whom are men. "Women are not effective in political or government decision-making processes despite the wide participation of women in the political life after 2003," said lawmaker Alia Nussaif Jassim. In the first government formed after the invasion, women held six cabinet posts, but the number has now fallen to one: the minister for women's affairs, a largely ceremonial department with a meager budget and few employees. One year after the U.S. military pullout, Iraq teeters between statehood and failure. NBC News' Jim Maceda reports. "Believe me, if Iraqi culture, tradition and mentality would accept a man to have this post, the men would not even give that to a woman," said lawmaker Safia al-Souhail, one of 21 women who won enough votes to enter parliament without the quota. Souhail lamented that women were also denied a single seat on key parliamentary committees such as security and defense, and reconciliation. Within the parliament, women's efforts to cooperate across the political spectrum have been stymied by disputes between Shiite Muslim, Sunni and ethnic Kurdish factions that have all but paralyzed the Iraqi political process. "This term, women were not able really to work together," Souhail said. "This fight between political parties and blocs and the division reflects on the women MPs as well." The invasion has been kinder to women living in Iraq's Kurdish north, which bore the brunt of Saddam's authoritarian rule, but is now prospering. The autonomous region has largely managed to insulate itself from the violent instability that afflicts the rest of the country and has even become a refuge for many Arab Iraqi men and women alike. The region's government won praise in 2011 for passing a law that criminalized domestic violence, honor killings and female genital mutilation, but activists and women's rights groups say there is still work to be done. Back in Baghdad, Majeed said women must not give up. "Women in Iraq must not quit trying to reclaim their freedom," said Majeed. "I think we should keep our voice loud, if not for ourselves, for the sake of our daughters."

And please remind me which branch of the armed forces was he in? I can proudly say that I served in the Air Force and have been supporting our troops by working in Afghanistan the last few years.

Just 1+ you. I have also read that if you are going to renounce your citizenship that are going to start to make you pay tax's on your net worth and that will also include act real and personal property at market rate and not some low ball estamete and the government gets to decide what the value is. Also that tax bill will come due at the time you turnover your passport.

Sorry Machine, I didn't see that you had answered the question before I posted. I think we should share the pot as we go the answer correct to his trick question.

I believe that this is a trick question as if I remember correctly the Kuwait Dinar never RV'd it RI'd re-instituted to the rate that it was before Iraq invaded them.

Luigi1, this not a rumor and you know it. This is an out right lie. I would have hope that you know the deference.

It's been there for as long as I have lived here and I moved here in 2004.

Yes there is one between Las Cruces and Alamogordo at White Sands Monument.

So what you are saying is they aren't doing a good job of protecting the borders so they need to set up check points away from the boarder? I would think that it would be better to stop them before they get here. I live every day in a part of the country that is over run with illegal aliens and drugs. And I don't see them being stopped at the boarder because there are people that don't think that it is a big issue to fortify it. I don't like having to go thru a check point when every I want to leave town and answer questions like I am a common criminal. And wonder if the dog will hit on the sandwich that I have and then give them cause to tear apart my car. And do you think that they will put it back together the way they found it if it is clean? Are the guy's in the video's little ****'s yes, And I wish that I had the guts to do it also. But then I would have to deal with my wife.

I live in Las Cruses and you cant go 20 miles out of the city north south east or west without hitting a choke I mean check point.

I luv a good bank story

Why did the M & M inspector lose his job? Throwing all the W's out.

He knows and is getting off on everyone talking about him.

And the Lone Ranger, Mother Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver, Rin Tin Tin, Buffalo BOB and Claribel. Beach Nut, Black Jack and Double Mint gum for a nickle. Bazooka Bubble gum for a Pennie. I can remember playing kick the can or hide and seek until the sun went down with all of the kids in the neighborhood. Then I would hear my mom calling and have to go in.

I agree. A rumor is one thing but when you post something that you know is not true it ceases to be a rumor. I myself have brought over Guru quotes before and have always added the caveat that it was just for fun. But you do have to wonder when someone posts several times a day what the Guru's are saying are they just having fun or is there another motive? JMHO

This guy is so full of BS. The Kuwaiti Dinar was not RV'd (revalued). It was RI'd (reinstated) to the rate that it was before Iraq came in and started to print Dinar. They declared all of the Dinar printed during the Iraqi occupation as invalid and worthless and reinstated all Dinar that had been printed and in circulation before the occupation to the value that it was. They also did it all at once and not over a few day's or weeks. If you had the Dinar that had been printed by the Kuwaiti's than you did fine. If you had the Dinar printed by Saddam than you where out of luck. This is just Guru BS. If I am not correct than I am more that positive that someone on this site that is smarter than I will come forward.

I like it when he uses Pin Head

Theeeeeere grreeeeaaat!

Cracker Jacka$$ box

Yep, that's my take.