The lawsuit was filed in October 2009 in federal court. Representing the Foundation is attorney Richard L. Bolton with Michael Newdow of Sacramento serving as local counsel. The case centers on IRC 107, which states: In the case of a minister of the gospel, gross income does not include: 1 the rental value of a home furnished to him as part of his compensation; or 2 the rental allowance paid to him as part of his compensation, to the extent used by him to rent or provide a home and to the extent such allowance does not exceed the fair rental value of the home, including furnishings and appurtenances such as a garage, plus the cost of utilities.

In his decision, Judge Shubb ruled that “plaintiffs The Foundation and its members have alleged sufficient facts which, if accepted as true, leave open the possibility that an objective observer would determine that 107 goes too far in aiding and subsidizing religion by providing ministers and churches with tangible financial benefits not allowed secular employers and employees.”

However, Judge Shubb denied the Foundation’s claim that a related part of the Internal Revenue Code, Section 265a6, “impermissibly lets ministers ‘double dip’ in that they can receive a housing allowance tax-free under 107, use that allowance to purchase a home, and receive another tax deduction under Section 265a6 for the interest paid on the mortgage.”

Judge Shubb said the purpose is clearly to encourage ministers to purchase a home, which is “a permissible secular purpose and effect.”

Additionally, Judge Shubb dismissed one claim against California Franchise Tax Board Director Selvi Stanislaus, ruling that the Foundation could not continue its claims against her under the California Constitution, but the Foundation’s allegations that the parts of the California Revenue and Taxation Code which incorporate Section 107 substantially violate the federal Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution may continue.

Whatever decision is reached at the district court level, an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is expected. You may read or download Judge Shubb’s decision online. It will be every interesting to see the results.

Rizzolo Group has many years experience helping small business owners decrease taxes and improve profitability. You need the right financial data and the right tax preparer who knows accounting bookkeeping, payroll services and gives you timely advice. Rizzolo Group does that!

www.rizzologroup.net

A 0.9% tax is to be levied against AGI which exceeds the aforementioned limits and a 3.8% tax will apply to investment income exceeding $200,000 and $250,000 respectively of MAGI; modified adjusted gross income. MAGI is similar to AGI with the exception of certain exclusions which must be added back.

Additionally, the investment income tax component defies a long standing premise by applying employment tax to unearned income. Previously, payroll taxes (most predominantly Social Security and Medicare taxes) levied against wages. In addition to this tax increase on a minority segment of taxpayers, the balance of the health care initiative is to be funded by a crackdown on Medicare fraud and abuse; a noble effort that seems as though it should have been practiced since the inception of the Medicare entitlement program.

While the Internal Revenue Service hasn’t issued any guidance, the following are preliminary answers to a few of the most common questions taxpayers have been asking about the program:

The tax increases are scheduled to take effect in 2013. Is there a chance that they may be repealed before then? This scenario is highly unlikely as Congress would have to undo the healthcare reform legislation and President Obama would still be in a position to wield the veto pen.

How do the new taxes work? These are basically flat taxes. The Medicare levy which would be applied to all income exceeding the AGI limits. This equates to $9 per thousand of income above the limits. The investment income tax in the amount of 3.8% is just that; a tax on investment income. Investment income includes interest, dividends, rents, royalties and certain capital gains. The tax is applied to any investment income which exceeds the limits at a rate of $38 per thousand.

Will itemized deductions lower my AGI? No. Itemized deductions are deducted from AGI. Therefore, no Schedule A deductions will affect the taxes. Adjustments to income, such as HSA and traditional IRA contributions, alimony paid to a former spouse and educator expenses, will lower AGI and potentially ameliorate some or all of the new taxes.

What can I do to avoid paying these taxes? Examine both your regular and investment income. Think about converting your traditional IRA’s to Roth IRA’s. Consider a defined-benefit pension if you’re eligible and consider selling assets using the installment sale method. These, and other, strategies can help in lowering AGI which is the key factor in avoiding these taxes.

Rizzolo Group has many years experience helping small business owners decrease taxes and improve profitability. You need the right financial data and the right tax preparer who knows accounting bookkeeping, payroll services and gives you timely advice. Rizzolo Group does that!

www.rizzologroup.net

The Federal Stimulus Tax Credit:
Homeowners who have made qualified energy-efficient home improvements from January 1, 2009, through December 31, 2010 (or who have invested in renewable energy sources through 2016), are eligible for a tax credit of 30 percent of the cost for up to $1,500. The tax credit applies to the cost of materials for home improvements such as new windows, doors or insulation that increase your home’s energy efficiency, as well as the cost of installation, labor and materials for new heating and cooling systems, heat pumps and boilers.

Common Home Problems:
Brushing off the drafty rooms or cold floors in your home as simply seasonal nuisances is often a common mistake that leads to wasted energy and high utility bills. These high bills may be related to inefficient windows, improperly installed HVAC equipment, or ducts that have been poorly insulated. Cold floors may be associated with the types of flooring material, yet they can also be a sign of poor insulation. Condensation on windows, drafty rooms and dry indoor air are also examples of common home problems that can often be solved with energy-efficient improvements.

Home Energy Audits:
Getting started with your energy-efficient home improvements is a simple process that will have major benefits on your overall utility costs. The first step often involves a home energy audit, during which you assess your home’s energy use and consider the options that will help improve efficiency. While do-it-yourself audits may save money, hiring a professional can give you more specific information regarding how much energy your home uses, how much energy is being wasted, and how to best solve your home’s energy efficiency problems for the long term.

Professional home energy auditors use special tools and equipment that measure house leaks, such as advanced infrared cameras, which detect insulation concerns and gaps in what’s known as your “building envelope” that may not otherwise be noticed with the naked eye. From there, energy auditors can provide an energy audit report, complete with thermographic pictures of your home and a list of prioritized recommended improvements. Together, you can discuss possible solutions that work best for your home so that you can begin saving money and energy immediately.

Jeff Pizzino, APR, writes for Pro Energy Consultants (http://www.proenergyconsultants.com), a professional energy auditing firm that provides residential and commercial energy audits. Pro Energy is committed to raising energy awareness and helping residents and businesses reduce waste to save money. Visit ProEnergyConsultants.com for more information.

Every day, children are being abducted, and men and women are lured into traps of enslavement. This constant process creates an endless supply of humans victimized by this tragic pandemic. The most vulnerable groups for modern day slavery are those with limited rights or protections.

Who are the people behind child trafficking? Often, human slavery is managed by organized criminal networks, large and small, both within the United States and abroad, which have taken control and advantage of this economic ’supply and demand’ situation. This control allows them to traffic and exploit victims in order to generate enormous profits.

Forced Labor, Primarily In The Sex Industry

The Department of Health and Human Services reported in an overview of the modern day slavery issue that many are victimized through prostitution and sex by the entertainment industry. However, they note there are various other types of labor exploitation, including sweatshops, migrant agricultural work, domestic servitude, and more.

Human enslavement, which typically occurs by deception or force, brings in profits of over 12 billion dollars a year according to UNICEF. Much of this is generated through child trafficking with about 2.5 million children being exploited. Many organizations attempt to rescue these children, women, and men from slavery; yet, they are barely making a dent in what seems to be an unending supply of enslaved humans.

She Thought She Would Be A Model

Within the United States, it could be as simple as someone offering what seems to be a great opportunity for a modeling career. As reported by Primetime, Miya was working in a mall when she was approached by a man who offered her a lucrative opportunity that turned into a nightmare.
Miya shared with Primetime that the predator told her he was a modeling agent looking for potential new models in the area. Although modeling was not a career she wanted to pursue, the offer interested her as a way to pay off bills and save for upcoming college expenses.

She took what she thought was a great opportunity to become a model. After getting made over for a photo session with a disposable camera, Miya was alarmed and soon became aware of what was really going on, but it was too late. After enduring a brutal ordeal, she was forced to work as a prostitute until one early morning in San Francisco when she made her escape. The police were able to capture the man responsible for Miya’s first-hand encounter with modern day slavery.

The cases of child trafficking take on various forms and faces. In some foreign countries, and places where women and children’s rights are compromised, the cases appear to be more predominantly heinous. Women and children are preyed upon by traffickers, ripped away from their homes, and sold into modern day slavery.

Addressing The Demand

Every year, the United States Department of State publishes a report on the child trafficking issue. The report states that sex enslavement is a large part of the overall issue and comprises the majority of transnational modern day slavery. The report continues by stating that the issue would not exist if the demand for commercial sex was not as prevalent throughout the world.

The industry sustainability is generated through the growing demand from predators that take advantage of these helpless victims. The perpetrators of countless crimes against numerous victims go unprosecuted in many cases by local governmental authorities, giving these predators a sense of invincibility for their crimes against children. This feeling of invincibility only works to drive the demand of modern day slavery.

The State Department’s report maintains that if anyone expects to have success in combating the issue of sex enslavement, they must confront both the demand for commercial sex that is driving the victimization of individuals, and the supply of trafficked humans.

Legal deterrents developed through the cooperation of state, national, and international governments are an effective tool, if acted upon, at deterring people from taking part in this heinous crime. While at this time many states link child trafficking cases to kidnapping and prostitution, some states, such as Oklahoma, are working on laws that would make human and child trafficking a felony with a minimum 10-year prison sentence.

Regardless of where it occurs, child trafficking and enslavement needs to stop. Many organizations exist with the aim of attempting to rescue those victimized by child trafficking. Other organizations are trying to stop the demand for victims through targeting these predators. Through awareness and support, there can be an end to child trafficking.

Chris Harmen is a writer for Stop Child Trafficking Now. SCTNow is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending child trafficking and modern day slavery in this lifetime.

Taken Right From Her Home

Debbie’s story began with a phone call from a friend who wanted to stop by her house. As she was about to go back inside, Debbie went to give her friend a hug. She was forced inside the vehicle where she was tied up and blindfolded. This all happened right in the driveway of her home. Debbie was driven around Phoenix for hours and finally ended up at an apartment that was within a half hour of her home.

At the apartment, the girl was threatened and abused. She described to Primetime that the person who kidnapped her asked her where Debbie would like to be shot. At that point, he began playing with the gun, counted to three, and pulled the trigger. She opened her eyes to see him laughing at her, and she was scared for her life.

After that, Debbie was drugged and gang raped. The perpetrators took her to the living room where a middle-aged man was waiting for a teen to take advantage of. He and four other guys raped Debbie. She was later found by police stuffed in a drawer under the bed, too scared to even cry for help when the police first came through the home.

Predators Use Different Methods To Trap Victims

For some, getting tricked into a human trafficking ploy comes through the offer of a lucrative modeling career. No matter how it happens, the problem is real. An Oklahoma woman shared with a local Fox station that she thought she was going to die. The woman, who goes by ‘Jules’ to protect her identity, believed that she would end up being a Jane Doe at the morgue. Jules was shocked by the inhumane response of these predators. The 19-year-old at the time told one of her clients the truth about her age, as he thought the girl was a minor. He was only outraged that he had paid $5,000 for what he thought was a minor, and she really was not. Jules said that she was often sold off as a 13-year-old girl.

Jules is now a part of bringing awareness to people throughout the state of Oklahoma. She cautions teens to be wary of what they post on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Jules shared that predators look for ways to get at the kids if they are in an argument with parents or are discontent with life.

What Can Parents Do To Protect Their Kids From Child Slavery?

The first step in protecting your child is education. Parents should learn more about various tactics and warning signs that are being used in order to make their child more aware of the potential dangers they face. Informing kids about potential warning signs will help them to make better decisions if they ever face a situation that is potentially dangerous. The key to protecting your kids from child slavery is keeping open lines of communication that allow them to talk to you about what is going on in their life without fear.

Another way to help protect your child is through creating awareness in the community. When people are aware of the problem, they will be on the lookout for suspicious situations that could be related to human trafficking. This will help to reduce and potentially eliminate the demand for child slavery in your community.

Assist organizations that are trying to bring an end to this terrible tragedy happening around the world. Some launch efforts to rescue children, women, and men trapped in human trafficking. Still others look to bring an end to the demand for child slavery, which should bring an end to the problem as a whole. These organizations develop teams that investigate suspected predators which gather evidence and work in coordination with local authorities.

In total, the solution for parents to protect their kids and bring an end to child slavery is to get involved. Be involved with your kids, your community, and organizations looking to protect children, women, and men worldwide victimized by this heinous crime. Petition drives are happening in states across the country to bring awareness to this issue and to get state legislatures to create harsher penalties for those guilty of human trafficking. Americans united together on this front can bring an end to human trafficking.

Chris Harmen is a writer for Stop Child Trafficking Now. SCTNow is dedicated to ending human trafficking and child slavery in our lifetime.

An earlier auction attempt, in June, the first since Iraq nationalized its oil production in 1972, had already fizzled when the majors balked at Iraq’s tough bargaining stance. Yet, amid extraordinarily tight security, they did show up: and more important, they were in a mood to gamble. The two-day event turned into the biggest oil field auction in history.

“The terrorists tried to send a message to the oil companies through the bombings,” the oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, declared on Iraqi television. “But this message was not delivered.” After three decades of decline, sanctions and war, Iraq’s oil industry now appears poised to recover its place among the world’s leading producers – and perhaps even to challenge Saudi Arabia for the top spot by the end of the decade.

If all the companies participating in the industry’s revival “are reasonably successful in delivering on the commitments we’ve made, it is quite likely we will see Iraq increase its production to around 10 million barrels per day within about 10 years,” Tony Hayward, chief executive of BP, told the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, last month. Iraq now produces about 2.4 million barrels a day and ranks below the top dozen producers.

Saudi Arabia produced about 10.7 million barrels a day in 2008, but reduced output slightly in 2009. It has a capacity of about 12.5 million barrels a day, but could increase that to 15 million.

The Saudis, with 266 billion barrels in proven reserves, have far more oil than anyone. Iraq ranks fourth, behind Canada and Iran, with 115 billion proven barrels: but that figure dates from the 1970s. Most oil experts believe that, with new technology, it has a lot more oil to be found and that these reserves will not be particularly difficult to develop.

Royal Dutch Shell and the state-run company Petronas in Malaysia were among the biggest apparent winners. They will jointly develop the giant Majnoon field, with proven reserves of 12.5 billion barrels and are expected to increase daily output to 1.8 million barrels, from 46,000 barrels now. Lukoil, of Russia, and Statoil, of Norway, will develop the similarly sized West Qurna 2, with reserves of 13 billion barrels. Other companies that came away with major prizes included Gazprom, of Russia, China National Petroleum, Sonangol, of Angola, and Total, of France.

The successful bidders will sign service contracts that will pay them a fee ranging from $5.00 to $1.15 a barrel for each barrel they produce above an agreed minimum.

Robert Hoffman is the President of Southern Bike Night,LLC, Mortgage Company Rocks, Inc., Real Estate Company Rocks, Inc., and Dinar Inc –

www.dinarinc.com

The short and fierce political campaign could end up either solidifying Iraq’s nascent democracy or leaving the country fractured along ethnic and sectarian lines. But it was arguably the most open, most competitive election in the nation’s long history of colonial rule, dictatorship and war.

The election results, however, added to rather than reduced the country’s political turmoil. The slate led by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki trailed one led by a former interim leader, Ayad Allawi, by 89 seats to 91. Both were far from the 163 seats needed to secure an outright majority in the new 325-member Parliament.

Mr. Maliki protested the results, despite agreement by international observers that the contest was generally fair, and on April won a court ruling that ordered a recount in the Baghdad region, which accounted for a fifth of the total votes cast. Mr. Allawi warned that there could be violence if his victory was overturned.

The prime minister also won a ruling from the nation’s Supreme Court that could allow him rather than Mr. Allawi to be the one to put together a new cabinet. Another complicating factor were the rulings handed down before the election by the committee in charge of the so-called de-Baathification process that a number of candidates on Mr. Allawi’s slate should be barred because of their connections to the party of Saddam Hussein.

In many ways, the vote solidified ethnic and sectarian divisions unleashed by the American-led invasion in 2003. Despite a conscious effort by most parties to appeal to nationalist sentiments, people still voted along the lines of identity. Those demarcations of Sunni Arab, Shiite Arab or Kurd have bedeviled attempts to solve the country’s most pressing issues, including borders disputed between Arabs and Kurds and the power of the federal government in a country still haunted by decades of dictatorship.

At stake is not only the question of who will lead Iraq, but also of whether the American military will be able to stick to a timetable that calls for large-scale troop withdrawals later in 2010. By August, the number of troops is set to be down to 50,000, and they would be restricted to non-combat roles.

When the election was planned, it was hoped that it would produce a legislature that more fully represents Sunnis, who largely boycotted the 2005 vote, and one less divided along sectarian lines. But the preparations have instead highlighted the continuing conflicts between the country’s parties and ethnic groups, raising tensions before the official campaigning even began. The date of the voting was pushed back from January because of lengthy delays in getting campaign laws through Parliament.

And the country was brought to the verge of a political crisis in early 2010 when the electoral commission disqualified about 500 candidates because of their ties to the Baath Party of Saddam Hussein. The move was seen by Sunnis and Shiites as a heavyhanded attempt by the party led by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to block rivals. It was overturned by an appeals court, which said the question of disqualifications should be taken up after the election potentially setting up an even more bitter conflict over removing elected legislators.

Voters were not choosing a prime minister directly, but rather electing the members of Parliament who will select one. In 2006, it took months of negotiations before legislators settled on Mr. Maliki.

At the beginning of 2010, Mr. Maliki’s widespread popularity as the leader who helped stop the cycle of violence that almost consumed Iraq seemed destined to bring him another term. But as the election approached, his chances became far more uncertain.Even his own supporters acknowledged that Mr. Maliki appeared isolated, imperious and impetuous, his re-election prospects hurt by events out of his control and by others of his own making.

Election Day on March 7 was marked by violence that left at least 38 dead, but that did not dissuade voters from turning out in large numbers. The vote counting process proved to be more chaotic than expected, with accusations of fraud by leading parties, divisions among highly politicized electoral officials and chaos in disclosing the results.

Mr. Allawi, a secular Shiite, put together a coalition that included many Sunni parties, and his list won heavily in their parts of the country. Mr. Maliki, whose Dawa Party broke with other Shiite religious parties, ended up splitting the vote of the Shiites, who make up 60 percent of the population.

Neither candidate, however, won anywhere near the 163 seats needed for a majority in Parliament. In the days leading to the announcement of results of the March 7 poll, it was widely assumed that the candidate who won the most seats would be given the advantage of the first attempt at forming a government, and be given 30 days to do so.

However, the day before the results were announced, the prime minister’s office asked the Supreme Federal Court for a definition of the term, the parliamentary bloc with the most members in Article 76 of the Iraqi Constitution. With little explanation, the court ruled that the leader of the bloc with the most followers once Parliament convenes probably in June would be the one forming a government.

With Mr. Allawi winning not only the most seats in Parliament but also the most popular votes, there could be widespread dissatisfaction if Mr. Maliki were given the first opportunity to form a government. In final results, Mr. Allawi’s Iraqiya list won 2,851,823 votes, with the next closest list, Mr. Maliki’s, gathering 2,797,624 votes.

Just as problematic for Mr. Allawi will be efforts by the government’s Accountability and Justice Commission formerly known as the De-Baathification Commission to disqualify 52 candidates for Parliament, most of them from the Iraqiya list.

Mr. Maliki won yet another procedural victory on April 19, when a court ordered a partial recount. While the recount is limited, so far, to the province that includes Baghdad, it could upend the narrow two-seat national victory of Mr. Allawi.

The region accounts for more than one-fifth of the 12 million Iraqis who voted in March and 70 of the 325 lawmakers who will serve in the new Parliament, meaning that any significant change in the count could prove decisive.
Many have read Mr. Allawi’s strong showing as a victory for a cross-sectarian alliance that hewed to a nationalist line. But the results released on March 15 show that his coalition had only moderate gains in the Shiite south, scoring a distant third in most provinces there. That has made for one of the election’s greatest paradoxes: a secular Shiite heading the Sunni bloc in Parliament.

It also points to the greatest difficulty Mr. Allawi will face: balancing the demands of his new constituency with the necessities of forging an alliance to lead the government. An ally on his list has insisted that the presidency go to a Sunni Arab rather than to a Kurd. Many of the powerful candidates on his list, known as Iraqiya, are also adamantly opposed to concessions to Kurds along disputed borders.

Robert Hoffman is the President of Southern Bike Night,LLC, Mortgage Company Rocks, Inc., Real Estate Company Rocks, Inc., and Dinar Inc –

www.dinarinc.com

At certain times in history, countries have chosen to “lop” the last 3 zeros off of their currency, which basically makes a 25,000 note 25. Fairly simple. The question we need to ask is this: Why do countries lop? One reason is hyperinflation.

Sometimes a country prints currency so fast and furious that the economy can’t keep up, and the value of the currency goes down, down, down. Take the Zimbabwe currency, for example. A “Zimbabwean Millionaire” doesn’t really have too much to brag about. That is Zimbabwe, though. Not Iraq.

Iraq does not have the inflation problem, Iraq is not a country with no way of obtaining wealth to increase the value of it’s currency like Zimbabwe. Iraq doesn’t even need to invent a gadget to make money like China could do…
Their pockets are already lined with Black Gold.

I have said many times that Iraq’s currency is possibly THE most stable currency in the entire world, and Aswat Al-Iraq recently concurred with that statement: BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The exchange rates of the Iraqi Dinar (ID) against the U.S. Dollar is currently constant and stable, an adviser of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) said on Thursday.

Currency policies are normally unstable in an absolute way, Modhihar Mohammed Selah told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said that the CBI intervenes to respond to legal demands of customers regarding the U.S. Dollar.

Currency policies are inherently unstable, but the Iraqi Dinar is stable. Iraq’s central bank denied on Thursday the reports that talked about its decision to cancel three zeroes from the Iraqi currency.

The central bank will not cancel three zeroes from the Iraqi currency at this time to reduce inflation suffered by the Iraqi economy…. Canceling the zeroes will make things more complicated and would cost the state large sums of money and enormous economic cadres to implement this project. The head of the Central Bank Sinan Al-Shabibi told the Independent National News Agency of Kurdistan (AKnews).

This won’t be applied at our current time. The central bank and Finance ministry will adopt rational solutions to reduce inflation that Iraq is suffering from currently because some important governmental institutions misused the money, Al-Shabibi added.

Removing the zeros from the currency will reduce the level of the Iraqi dinar in accordance with the American dollar.
Many members of the parliamentary Economic Commission urged the Central Bank and the Finance Ministry to address the Iraqi decreasing funds by removing the three zeroes from the Iraqi currency.

Robert Hoffman is the President of Southern Bike Night,LLC, Mortgage Company Rocks, Inc., Real Estate Company Rocks, Inc., and Dinar Inc –

www.dinarinc.com

But now the true test begins! In the weeks and months ahead, the two winning alliances in this election will have to work together to form a coalition government and the sooner the better. The longer the al-Malaki government is in limbo, and his status as prime minister is uncertain, the more time Iraq has to fragment once again.

Al- Malaki’s STATE OF LAW party apparently split the majority of votes with former prime minister Ayad Allawi’s secular coalition, THE IRAQI NATIONAL MOVEMENT. Al-Malaki has successfully held off the more sectarian Shiite coalition, THE NATIONAL IRAQI ALLIANCE.

We now have the forces for democratic reform, openness and true reconciliation Allawi’s coalition in a strong position to wrest significant power from the corrupt and dictatorial Shiite-dominated government of Nuri al-Malaki.

The question thus becomes, will al-Malaki allow it? Will his Shiite government, and their supporters in the military, bow to the will of the voters or will they manufacture any excuse to suspend the democratic process and the election mandate?

Al-Malaki’s tenure as prime minister is very much in doubt, even within his own limited coalition. His reckless and transparent endorsement of the illegal disenfranchisement of over 500 candidates from this election made him new enemies.

If the forces for peace, justice and honest government are successful, Ayad Allawi will emerge as the most respected and logical candidate for prime minister within these two coalitions. All other arrangements and power-sharing decisions will flow from this one. Al-Malaki has accumulated much power within the office of the prime minister, and he will not give it up without a struggle, especially to Allawi, who has spoken out forcefully over the years in favor of a government free from religious dominance and influence.

The next few weeks and months will define Iraqi democracy once and for all. The strong showing by THE IRAQI NATIONAL MOVEMENT means that the Shiite stranglehold on power is seriously threatened.

We know from experience that elections alone do not guarantee democratic outcomes. The forces of tyranny can ride into power on the back of a democratic election, then undermine and corrupt that very same process so as to guarantee their lock on power.

The true test of any democratic election is whether or not a transition of power can take place peacefully and honestly while the institutions of government continue to function.

We’re going to see, for better or worse, if Iraq can accomplish that difficult but essential goal. The Shiite-dominated al-Malaki government has been in power since 2005. With this election, Sunnis in exile and within the country have joined with secular Shiites and Christians to challenge the status quo and to stake their rightful claim to share in the decision-making processes of the central government.

In 2005, we had thousands of troops in Iraq to guarantee an orderly transfer of power to the newly elected parliament and their new prime minister. This time around, we won’t be there in great and powerful numbers to enforce anything of a sort, which is why these coming weeks and months will be perilous.

This time around, Iraqis will be making all the hard but critical decisions and compromises necessary for an orderly realignment of power. If they fail in this test, and power ultimately ends up in the hands of those with the most brute force, then this experiment in Middle Eastern democracy will have failed completely.

Robert Hoffman is the President of Southern Bike Night,LLC, Mortgage Company Rocks, Inc., Real Estate Company Rocks, Inc., and Dinar Inc –

www.dinarinc.com

The clerk asked for her insurance card and the girl presented her pharmacy card, which until this very moment, I didn’t even know there was such a thing. The clerk informed the girl that a pharmacy card was insufficient. So the girl left the clinic to run back to her house to grab her card. My wife and I waited and as the girl returned, my wife was called into the clinic. I waited in the lobby, anxious to see what was going to happen with this poor girl. She approached the counter with her insurance card in hand, anxious to see a doctor. The clerk then asked for the $100 co-pay. The girl looked distraught because she obviously did not have $100.

I followed the conversation as best I could, but the gist is that the co-pay had recently gone up from $10 to $100 and the girl didn’t know. They went back and forth for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, my wife returned to the lobby with her prescription in hand, fully diagnosed. So to recap, my wife was able to walk into a clinic, be seen by a doctor, receive a prescription and diagnosis, and then leave the clinic all before this girl. The only thing that set their situations apart is that my wife had her insurance card and the co-pay, while the girl did not, despite the fact that the girl was much, much sicker than my wife.

As I watched this, I became alarmingly aware that the quality of healthcare in America will always depend on how much money you have. It doesn’t matter how sick you are or what President Obama signs into law; if you have money, you will receive great care. If you don’t, well…good luck to you.

And in this day and age of technology, where everything is at the click of a button, why on earth would you have to have your insurance card to receive health care? How is it that the healthcare industry is lagging so far behind the rest of the world that they don’t have anything automated? No electronic patient files, no electronic records and not even the ability to communicate electronically with insurance agencies to update files.

As people continue to complain about the health care plan and the effect it has on you, think about this situation and the thousands like this that happen every day across America. If I have to pay an extra $100 a month so this girl can get a prescription for flu medicine, then so be it. There are problems in the healthcare system and the only action that’s wrong is no action.

Brad Sturdivant – Founder, Flix66.com

Brad is the Founder/Editor of Flix66.com, a movie news, reviews and features website that is the place for all your movie kicks.