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From SeeingBlack.com The 411
The US military has announced it’s met all of its annual recruiting goals for the first time in thirty-five years. In announcing the milestone, the Pentagon said the nation’s worst economic crisis since the Great Depression played a key role in boosting enlistments. Senior Pentagon official Curtis Gilroy said a ten percent increase in the national unemployment rate generally translates into a four to six percent improvement in recruiting goals. Another top official, Bill Carr, called the recession “a force,” adding, “unemployment…allowed us to be for much of the year in a very favorable position.” Military Piloting Middle School Recruitment Program The military meanwhile is looking into plans to bring recruiting to middle schools across the nation. A Kansas school district has implemented a middle school program based on the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps curriculum. The program is being studied to see if it can be expanded nationwide. Home Foreclosures Rise 5% In housing news, new figures show the number of homes facing foreclosure has risen over five percent in recent months. According to RealtyTrac, 938,000 homes were at risk of foreclosure for the three-month period ending last month, up from 890,000 in the prior three months. Foreclosure-related filings are on pace to reach around 3.5 million this year, up from 2.3 million in 2008. As Foreclosures Hit All-Time High, Wall Street on Pace to Hand Out Record $140B in Employee Bonuses The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 10,000 Wednesday for the first time in a year, as JPMorgan Chase reported massive profits in the third quarter. The nation’s second-largest bank took in $3.6 billion during the last three months. JPMorgan is not the only bank making billions. Earlier this morning, Goldman Sachs announced it made about $3.2 billion in the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that major US banks and securities firms are on pace to pay their employees about $140 billion this year—a record high. Goldman Sachs alone is set to pay out at least $20 billion in bonuses. That’s an average of $700,000 per employee. The record bonuses come less than a year after taxpayers bailed out many of those same financial institutions. While Wall Street is on the path of recovery, the real economy remains in a state of crisis. It was just announced that US foreclosure filings climbed to a record high in the third quarter. Nearly 940,000 homes received a default notice or were repossessed by banks—that’s a 23 percent increase from a year earlier. Meanwhile, economists project the national unemployment rate will soon top ten percent. King Children Reach Deal in Estate Dispute The three surviving children of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. have reached a private settlement in a dispute over his estate. Dexter King’s two siblings had filed a suit accusing him of improperly handling the corporation that manages their father’s legacy. The deal avoids a public jury trial that would have likely revealed extensive personal and financial details about the King estate. Family Denied Health Coverage for Overweight 4-Month-Old Infant In Colorado, a couple in the town of Grand Junction has revealed they can’t obtain health coverage for their four-month-old baby son because insurance companies say he is too overweight. Bernie and Kelli Lange were told last week their son Alex can’t be insured because he is in the 99th percentile for height and weight for babies his age. The Langes said they tried to obtain coverage with Rocky Mountain Health Plans but were told: “Your baby is too fat.” Bernie Lange said, “My gripe is not with Rocky Mountain. It’s with the general state of the health care system.” EPA Releases Email Ignored by Bush Admin The Environmental Protection Agency has released a two-year-old email that the Bush administration refused to open because it contained a ruling calling for the regulation of greenhouse gases. The ruling cited six gases it said endangered public welfare and called for regulating their release. The Bush administration objected to the ruling and ignored it by informing the EPA the email wouldn’t be read. 2009 Right Livelihood Winners Announced The 2009 Right Livelihood Awards have been announced with four recipients. The Canadian scientist David Suzuki will receive the Honorary Award for his lifelong environmental advocacy. The other honorees are Congo activist Rene Ngongo, who has fought for preserving the Congo’s rainforests; New Zealand anti-nuclear activist Alyn Ware; and Catherine Hamlin, an Australian doctor who has treated African women suffering from childbirth injuries for over fifty years. The Right Livelihood Awards are awarded annually and are widely known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” Author Barbara Ehrenreich on “Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America” In her new book, author Barbara Ehrenreich documents what she says is the destructive power of the positive thinking movement in the United States, from breast cancer to the workplace, to the economy, to politics as a whole. Ehrenreich opens the book by writing about her own experience with breast cancer culture after being diagnosed with the disease in 2000. She says in the prevailing positive thinking culture of America, breast cancer patients are urged to avoid feeling angry and instead find meaning and even uplift in the disease. She writes, “In the most extreme characterization, breast cancer is not a problem at all, not even an annoyance—it is a ‘gift,’ deserving of the most heartfelt gratitude.” Israel Continues E. Jerusalem Home Demolitions In other Mideast news, Israel continues to demolish Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem. On Monday, Israeli troops destroyed the home of Amjad, an East Jerusalem father of three children. Amjad: “In the morning I sleep inside. The soldiers come and take me. They bring the dog. ‘What do you want?’ I tell him. ‘I have a problem in my heart.’ ’It’s not my problem,’ he tells me. ‘Go outside.’ But I don’t want to go. Five soldiers take me, they brought me out. They take my phone and my—[inaudible]. You know, she tells me, ‘No, we don’t want.’ And we see, after, they broke the house. Now I have two problems: I don’t have any place to sit, I have three children.” More than 200 Palestinian homes have been demolished in East Jerusalem and the West Bank this year, displacing at least 520 Palestinians. Puerto Ricans to Hold National Strike Against Public Sector Layoffs In Puerto Rico, tens of thousands of people were expected to take part in an island-wide strike against massive public layoffs. Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuno is proceeding with plans to fire some 17,000 workers next month, including schoolteachers, social workers and healthcare workers. The job cuts would bring total government layoffs in Puerto Rico this year to nearly 25,000. Union leaders say some 100,000 people will converge on the Plaza las Americas in the largest of several planned rallies. In addition to cutting jobs, Governor Fortuno has drawn criticism for threatening to charge protesters with “terrorism” if they interfere with the flow of goods at Puerto Rican ports. Groups Warn of Civilian Toll in Congo Fighting In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a coalition of humanitarian groups is warning more than 1,000 civilians have been killed and over 900,000 displaced in fighting between Rwandan Hutu militias and Congolese forces so far this year. The groups say both sides have targeted civilians, but attacks from Rwandan Hutus are believed to account for a majority of the deaths. © Copyright by SeeingBlack.com |
