Naked mole rats are no ordinary lab mice.
The cancer-resistant African rodents can live more than 30 years and are becoming more popular in research laboratories nationwide. Scientists are using the hairless, nearly blind animals to study everything from aging to cancer to strokes.
Bucktoothed with pinkish skin, naked mole rats resemble wrinkled spring rolls with tiny legs. But while they look fragile, naked mole rats are more like tiny, tube-shaped stuntmen.
A study in next month's journal NeuroReport says the brains of adult naked mole rats can withstand oxygen deprivation for a half-hour or more. Scientists say that knowledge could eventually help in stroke research.
Monday, November 30, 2009
PRESIDENTIAL FAIL!! New Senate Report Proves That President Bush ALLOWED Osama Bin Laden TO ESCAPE!!!!
Osama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report says.
The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden's escape laid the foundation for today's reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says.
Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Barack Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate has long argued the Bush administration missed a chance to get the al-Qaida leader and top deputies when they were holed up in the forbidding mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan only three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Aimed at foes of surge?
Although limited to a review of military operations eight years old, the report could also be read as a cautionary note for those resisting an increased troop presence there now.
More pointedly, it seeks to affix a measure of blame for the state of the war today on military leaders under former president George W. Bush, specifically Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary and his top military commander, Tommy Franks.
Video
Report: Bin Laden was 'within our grasp'
Nov. 29: Msnbc's Alex Witt talks with military analyst Jack Jacobs about the Senate report.
msnbc tv
"Removing the al-Qaida leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat," the report says. "But the decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide. The failure to finish the job represents a lost opportunity that forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and the future of international terrorism."
The report states categorically that bin Laden was hiding in Tora Bora when the U.S. had the means to mount a rapid assault with several thousand troops at least. It says that a review of existing literature, unclassified government records and interviews with central participants "removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden was within our grasp at Tora Bora."
Fewer than 100 U.S. commandos
On or about Dec. 16, 2001, bin Laden and bodyguards "walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area," where he is still believed to be based, the report says.
Instead of a massive attack, fewer than 100 U.S. commandos, working with Afghan militias, tried to capitalize on air strikes and track down their prey.
"The vast array of American military power, from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of the Marine Corps and the Army, was kept on the sidelines," the report said.
At the time, Rumsfeld expressed concern that a large U.S. troop presence might fuel a backlash and he and some others said the evidence was not conclusive about bin Laden's location.
The report asserts that the failure to kill or capture bin Laden at his most vulnerable in December 2001 has had lasting consequences beyond the fate of one man. Bin Laden's escape laid the foundation for today's reinvigorated Afghan insurgency and inflamed the internal strife now endangering Pakistan, it says.
Staff members for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic majority prepared the report at the request of the chairman, Sen. John Kerry, as President Barack Obama prepares to boost U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate has long argued the Bush administration missed a chance to get the al-Qaida leader and top deputies when they were holed up in the forbidding mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan only three months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Aimed at foes of surge?
Although limited to a review of military operations eight years old, the report could also be read as a cautionary note for those resisting an increased troop presence there now.
More pointedly, it seeks to affix a measure of blame for the state of the war today on military leaders under former president George W. Bush, specifically Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary and his top military commander, Tommy Franks.
Video
Report: Bin Laden was 'within our grasp'
Nov. 29: Msnbc's Alex Witt talks with military analyst Jack Jacobs about the Senate report.
msnbc tv
"Removing the al-Qaida leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat," the report says. "But the decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide. The failure to finish the job represents a lost opportunity that forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan and the future of international terrorism."
The report states categorically that bin Laden was hiding in Tora Bora when the U.S. had the means to mount a rapid assault with several thousand troops at least. It says that a review of existing literature, unclassified government records and interviews with central participants "removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden was within our grasp at Tora Bora."
Fewer than 100 U.S. commandos
On or about Dec. 16, 2001, bin Laden and bodyguards "walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area," where he is still believed to be based, the report says.
Instead of a massive attack, fewer than 100 U.S. commandos, working with Afghan militias, tried to capitalize on air strikes and track down their prey.
"The vast array of American military power, from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of the Marine Corps and the Army, was kept on the sidelines," the report said.
At the time, Rumsfeld expressed concern that a large U.S. troop presence might fuel a backlash and he and some others said the evidence was not conclusive about bin Laden's location.
Early Reports Show That Black Friday WAS A SUCCESS!!!!
Retail Web sites kept amping up the deals Monday, the first day after the Thanksgiving holiday, to try to maintain the long weekend's strong online sales.
Though the Web is only about 10 percent of the holiday shopping pie, it's seen most of the growth so far this year — an encouraging sign after last year's first online sales decline.
Coremetrics, a web analytics company in San Mateo, Calif., said that as of 1 p.m. Monday, sales for the day that the industry still pitches as "Cyber Monday" were up 19.6 percent over a year ago.
The bright spot offers hope after traditional retail sales came in just above flat for Black Friday, with shoppers packing stores but sticking to their lists, going for deep discounts and practical items.
Investors rewarded online-only sellers Monday above their traditional brethren. Amazon.com shares rose $2.81, or 2.1 percent, to $134.55 on a day when stocks of most land-based retailers fell as Wall Street analyzed the sea of data and anecdotal reports from the weekend.
Deeply discounted electronics such as flat-screen TVs, game systems and netbooks were popular, but more practical items such as appliances and home decor were also big sellers, as consumers took advantage of sales to buy things for themselves.
Many shoppers started looking for online deals ahead of what the industry still pitches as "Cyber Monday," as retailers stretched their online deals over several days.
Target, Walmart, Amazon.com and other retailers started offering the online equivalent of Black Friday specials on Thanksgiving or even earlier.
They stepped it up Monday. Amazon.com was discounting the Apple iPod Touch 8GB for $158, $20 less than Sunday and $40 off the retail price of about $200. Target.com offered a deal Monday for a Garmin GPS system for $186.99, down from $249.99. Free shipping was also prevalent.
Marshall Cohen, chief industry analyst at market research firm NPD Group, said this year saw the "graying of Black Friday," because deals that typically occurred only on the Friday after Thanksgiving have been spread out over two weeks.
"The holiday spread itself out," he said. "On Thanksgiving Day, there's a new tradition, shopping online before you stuff the turkey, putting the turkey in oven and going out shopping."
The Monday after Thanksgiving is usually far from the busiest online shopping day of the year, but it is typically one of the top 10 busiest. It was dubbed "Cyber Monday" by the National Retail Federation trade group in 2005 to describe the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday.
The thinking was that shoppers who lacked broadband Internet access at home would wait until returning to work to look online. Now that most homes have broadband, that rationale has faded.
Analysts expect Dec. 14, the last day consumers can order goods and have them arrive before Christmas, will be the busiest online shopping day.
Keith Harris, 36, an IT consultant for Hewlett-Packard, went out Friday for in-store sales, but he waited until Monday to buy a Playstation 3 because Walmart.com offered it at the best price on Monday — in a bundle with two games and a movie, for $369.
"You're looking for that once-in-a-lifetime deal," he said.
Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru predicts online holiday sales will rise 8 percent to $44.7 billion. So far, the weekend results are "strong reinforcement of how Web sales continue to outpace store sales," she said. Online sales account for about 7 percent of retailers' total sales, though that increases to about 10 percent during the holidays.
Scott Savitz, CEO of Shoebuy.com, one of the largest online shoe retailers, reported that traffic has been robust since Thanksgiving. He expects that Black Friday, not the Monday after Thanksgiving as it had in past years, will mark the first big surge in sales and traffic for his site.
"There is definitely a behavioral shift," said Savitz. "Clearly, people are seeing that Black Friday will be the start of the holiday season, no matter whether you are online or offline."
Savitz said the average transaction is up from 2 to 5 percent so far Monday compared with a year ago. He declined to give actual dollar figures.
Mark Vadon, chairman and founder of online jewelry retailer Bluenile.com, said the company is on track to have its Cyber Monday traffic ever.
It ran no promotions over the weekend, but offered some holiday exclusives Monday. As of 1 p.m., a diamond bracelet on sale for $3950 from $5300 was nearly sold out, Vadon said.
"If consumers see good value out there, it looks like they're willing to buy," he said.
Though the Web is only about 10 percent of the holiday shopping pie, it's seen most of the growth so far this year — an encouraging sign after last year's first online sales decline.
Coremetrics, a web analytics company in San Mateo, Calif., said that as of 1 p.m. Monday, sales for the day that the industry still pitches as "Cyber Monday" were up 19.6 percent over a year ago.
The bright spot offers hope after traditional retail sales came in just above flat for Black Friday, with shoppers packing stores but sticking to their lists, going for deep discounts and practical items.
Investors rewarded online-only sellers Monday above their traditional brethren. Amazon.com shares rose $2.81, or 2.1 percent, to $134.55 on a day when stocks of most land-based retailers fell as Wall Street analyzed the sea of data and anecdotal reports from the weekend.
Deeply discounted electronics such as flat-screen TVs, game systems and netbooks were popular, but more practical items such as appliances and home decor were also big sellers, as consumers took advantage of sales to buy things for themselves.
Many shoppers started looking for online deals ahead of what the industry still pitches as "Cyber Monday," as retailers stretched their online deals over several days.
Target, Walmart, Amazon.com and other retailers started offering the online equivalent of Black Friday specials on Thanksgiving or even earlier.
They stepped it up Monday. Amazon.com was discounting the Apple iPod Touch 8GB for $158, $20 less than Sunday and $40 off the retail price of about $200. Target.com offered a deal Monday for a Garmin GPS system for $186.99, down from $249.99. Free shipping was also prevalent.
Marshall Cohen, chief industry analyst at market research firm NPD Group, said this year saw the "graying of Black Friday," because deals that typically occurred only on the Friday after Thanksgiving have been spread out over two weeks.
"The holiday spread itself out," he said. "On Thanksgiving Day, there's a new tradition, shopping online before you stuff the turkey, putting the turkey in oven and going out shopping."
The Monday after Thanksgiving is usually far from the busiest online shopping day of the year, but it is typically one of the top 10 busiest. It was dubbed "Cyber Monday" by the National Retail Federation trade group in 2005 to describe the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday.
The thinking was that shoppers who lacked broadband Internet access at home would wait until returning to work to look online. Now that most homes have broadband, that rationale has faded.
Analysts expect Dec. 14, the last day consumers can order goods and have them arrive before Christmas, will be the busiest online shopping day.
Keith Harris, 36, an IT consultant for Hewlett-Packard, went out Friday for in-store sales, but he waited until Monday to buy a Playstation 3 because Walmart.com offered it at the best price on Monday — in a bundle with two games and a movie, for $369.
"You're looking for that once-in-a-lifetime deal," he said.
Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru predicts online holiday sales will rise 8 percent to $44.7 billion. So far, the weekend results are "strong reinforcement of how Web sales continue to outpace store sales," she said. Online sales account for about 7 percent of retailers' total sales, though that increases to about 10 percent during the holidays.
Scott Savitz, CEO of Shoebuy.com, one of the largest online shoe retailers, reported that traffic has been robust since Thanksgiving. He expects that Black Friday, not the Monday after Thanksgiving as it had in past years, will mark the first big surge in sales and traffic for his site.
"There is definitely a behavioral shift," said Savitz. "Clearly, people are seeing that Black Friday will be the start of the holiday season, no matter whether you are online or offline."
Savitz said the average transaction is up from 2 to 5 percent so far Monday compared with a year ago. He declined to give actual dollar figures.
Mark Vadon, chairman and founder of online jewelry retailer Bluenile.com, said the company is on track to have its Cyber Monday traffic ever.
It ran no promotions over the weekend, but offered some holiday exclusives Monday. As of 1 p.m., a diamond bracelet on sale for $3950 from $5300 was nearly sold out, Vadon said.
"If consumers see good value out there, it looks like they're willing to buy," he said.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Young Black Men Face A 35 PERCENT Unemployment Rate!!!!
These days, 24-year-old Delonta Spriggs spends much of his time cooped up in his mother's one-bedroom apartment in Southwest Washington, the TV blaring soap operas hour after hour, trying to stay out of the streets and out of trouble, held captive by the economy. As a young black man, Spriggs belongs to a group that has been hit much harder than any other by unemployment.
Joblessness for 16-to-24-year-old black men has reached Great Depression proportions -- 34.5 percent in October, more than three times the rate for the general U.S. population. And last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment in the District, home to many young black men, rose to 11.9 percent from 11.4 percent, even as it stayed relatively stable in Virginia and Maryland.
His work history, Spriggs says, has consisted of dead-end jobs. About a year ago, he lost his job moving office furniture, and he hasn't been able to find steady work since. This summer he completed a construction apprenticeship program, he says, seeking a career so he could avoid repeating the mistake of selling drugs to support his 3-year-old daughter. So far the most the training program has yielded was a temporary flagger job that lasted a few days.
"I think we're labeled for not wanting to do nothing -- knuckleheads or hardheads," said Spriggs, whose first name is pronounced Dee-lon-tay. "But all of us ain't bad."
Construction, manufacturing and retail experienced the most severe job losses in this down economy, losses that are disproportionately affecting men and young people who populated those sectors. That is especially playing out in the District, where unemployment has risen despite the abundance of jobs in the federal government.
Traditionally the last hired and first fired, workers in Spriggs's age group have taken the brunt of the difficult economy, with cost-conscious employers wiping out the very apprenticeship, internship and on-the-job-training programs that for generations gave young people a leg up in the work world or a second chance when they made mistakes. Moreover, this generation is being elbowed out of entry-level positions by older, more experienced job seekers on the unemployment rolls who willingly trade down just to put food on the table.
The jobless rate for young black men and women is 30.5 percent. For young blacks -- who experts say are more likely to grow up in impoverished racially isolated neighborhoods, attend subpar public schools and experience discrimination -- race statistically appears to be a bigger factor in their unemployment than age, income or even education. Lower-income white teens were more likely to find work than upper-income black teens, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, and even blacks who graduate from college suffer from joblessness at twice the rate of their white peers.
Young black women have an unemployment rate of 26.5 percent, while the rate for all 16-to-24-year-old women is 15.4 percent.
Victoria Kirby, 22, has been among that number. In the summer of 2008, a D.C. publishing company where Kirby was interning offered her a job that would start upon her graduation in May 2009 from Howard University. But the company withdrew the offer in the fall of 2008 when the economy collapsed.
Kirby said she applied for administrative jobs on Capitol Hill but was told she was overqualified. She sought a teaching position in the D.C. public schools through the Teach for America program but said she was rejected because of a flood of four times the usual number of applicants.
Finally, she went back to school, enrolling in a master's of public policy program at Howard. "I decided to stay in school two more years and wait out the recession," Kirby said.
On a tightrope
The Obama administration is on a tightrope, balancing the desire to spend billions more dollars to create jobs without adding to the $1.4 trillion national deficit. Yet some policy experts say more attention needs to be paid to the intractable problems of underemployed workers -- those who like Spriggs may lack a high school diploma, a steady work history, job-readiness skills or a squeaky-clean background.
"Increased involvement in the underground economy, criminal activity, increased poverty, homelessness and teen pregnancy are the things I worry about if we continue to see more years of high unemployment," said Algernon Austin, a sociologist and director of the race, ethnicity and economy program at the Economic Policy Institute, which studies issues involving low- and middle-income wage earners.
Earlier this month, District officials said they will use $3.9 million in federal stimulus funds to provide 19 weeks of on-the-job training to 500 18-to-24-year-olds. But even those who receive training often don't get jobs.
"I thought after I finished the [training] program, I'd be working. I only had three jobs with the union and only one of them was longer than a week," Spriggs, a tall slender man wearing a black Nationals cap, said one afternoon while sitting at the table in the living room/dining room in his mother's apartment. "It has you wanting to go out and find other ways to make money. . . . [Lack of jobs is why] people go out hustling and doing what they can to get by."
"Give me a chance to show that I can work. Just give me a chance," added Spriggs, who is on probation for drug possession. "I don't want to think negative. I know the economy is slow. You got to crawl before you walk. I got to be patient. My biggest problem [which prompted the effort to sell drugs] is not being patient."
The economy's seismic shift has been an equal-opportunity offender, hurting various racial and ethnic groups, economic classes, ages, and white- and blue-collar job categories. Nevertheless, 16-to-24-year-olds face heavier losses, with a 19.1 percent unemployment rate, about nine points higher than the national average for the general population.
Their rate of employment in October was 44.9 percent, the lowest level in 61 years of record keeping, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment for men in their 20s and early 30s is at its lowest level since the Great Depression, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies.
Troubling consequences
Unemployment among young people is particularly troubling, economists say, because the consequences can be long-lasting. This might be the first generation that does not keep up with its parents' standard of living. Jobless teens are more likely to be jobless twenty-somethings. Once forced onto the sidelines, they likely will not catch up financially for many years. That is the case even for young people of all ethnic groups who graduate from college.
Lisa B. Kahn, an economics professor at Yale University who studied graduates during recessions in the 1980s, determined that the young workers hired during a down economy generally start off with lower wages than they otherwise would have and don't recover for at least a decade.
"In your first job, you're accumulating skills on how to do the job, learning by doing and getting training. If you graduate in a recession, you're in a [lesser] job, wasting your time," she said. "Once you switch into the job you should be in, you don't have the skills for that job."
Some studies examining how employers review black and white job applicants suggest that discrimination may be at play.
"Black men were less likely to receive a call back or job offer than equally qualified white men," said Devah Pager, a sociology professor at Princeton University, referring to her studies a few years ago of white and black male job applicants in their 20s in Milwaukee and New York. "Black men with a clean record fare no better than white men just released from prison."
Joblessness for 16-to-24-year-old black men has reached Great Depression proportions -- 34.5 percent in October, more than three times the rate for the general U.S. population. And last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment in the District, home to many young black men, rose to 11.9 percent from 11.4 percent, even as it stayed relatively stable in Virginia and Maryland.
His work history, Spriggs says, has consisted of dead-end jobs. About a year ago, he lost his job moving office furniture, and he hasn't been able to find steady work since. This summer he completed a construction apprenticeship program, he says, seeking a career so he could avoid repeating the mistake of selling drugs to support his 3-year-old daughter. So far the most the training program has yielded was a temporary flagger job that lasted a few days.
"I think we're labeled for not wanting to do nothing -- knuckleheads or hardheads," said Spriggs, whose first name is pronounced Dee-lon-tay. "But all of us ain't bad."
Construction, manufacturing and retail experienced the most severe job losses in this down economy, losses that are disproportionately affecting men and young people who populated those sectors. That is especially playing out in the District, where unemployment has risen despite the abundance of jobs in the federal government.
Traditionally the last hired and first fired, workers in Spriggs's age group have taken the brunt of the difficult economy, with cost-conscious employers wiping out the very apprenticeship, internship and on-the-job-training programs that for generations gave young people a leg up in the work world or a second chance when they made mistakes. Moreover, this generation is being elbowed out of entry-level positions by older, more experienced job seekers on the unemployment rolls who willingly trade down just to put food on the table.
The jobless rate for young black men and women is 30.5 percent. For young blacks -- who experts say are more likely to grow up in impoverished racially isolated neighborhoods, attend subpar public schools and experience discrimination -- race statistically appears to be a bigger factor in their unemployment than age, income or even education. Lower-income white teens were more likely to find work than upper-income black teens, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, and even blacks who graduate from college suffer from joblessness at twice the rate of their white peers.
Young black women have an unemployment rate of 26.5 percent, while the rate for all 16-to-24-year-old women is 15.4 percent.
Victoria Kirby, 22, has been among that number. In the summer of 2008, a D.C. publishing company where Kirby was interning offered her a job that would start upon her graduation in May 2009 from Howard University. But the company withdrew the offer in the fall of 2008 when the economy collapsed.
Kirby said she applied for administrative jobs on Capitol Hill but was told she was overqualified. She sought a teaching position in the D.C. public schools through the Teach for America program but said she was rejected because of a flood of four times the usual number of applicants.
Finally, she went back to school, enrolling in a master's of public policy program at Howard. "I decided to stay in school two more years and wait out the recession," Kirby said.
On a tightrope
The Obama administration is on a tightrope, balancing the desire to spend billions more dollars to create jobs without adding to the $1.4 trillion national deficit. Yet some policy experts say more attention needs to be paid to the intractable problems of underemployed workers -- those who like Spriggs may lack a high school diploma, a steady work history, job-readiness skills or a squeaky-clean background.
"Increased involvement in the underground economy, criminal activity, increased poverty, homelessness and teen pregnancy are the things I worry about if we continue to see more years of high unemployment," said Algernon Austin, a sociologist and director of the race, ethnicity and economy program at the Economic Policy Institute, which studies issues involving low- and middle-income wage earners.
Earlier this month, District officials said they will use $3.9 million in federal stimulus funds to provide 19 weeks of on-the-job training to 500 18-to-24-year-olds. But even those who receive training often don't get jobs.
"I thought after I finished the [training] program, I'd be working. I only had three jobs with the union and only one of them was longer than a week," Spriggs, a tall slender man wearing a black Nationals cap, said one afternoon while sitting at the table in the living room/dining room in his mother's apartment. "It has you wanting to go out and find other ways to make money. . . . [Lack of jobs is why] people go out hustling and doing what they can to get by."
"Give me a chance to show that I can work. Just give me a chance," added Spriggs, who is on probation for drug possession. "I don't want to think negative. I know the economy is slow. You got to crawl before you walk. I got to be patient. My biggest problem [which prompted the effort to sell drugs] is not being patient."
The economy's seismic shift has been an equal-opportunity offender, hurting various racial and ethnic groups, economic classes, ages, and white- and blue-collar job categories. Nevertheless, 16-to-24-year-olds face heavier losses, with a 19.1 percent unemployment rate, about nine points higher than the national average for the general population.
Their rate of employment in October was 44.9 percent, the lowest level in 61 years of record keeping, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment for men in their 20s and early 30s is at its lowest level since the Great Depression, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies.
Troubling consequences
Unemployment among young people is particularly troubling, economists say, because the consequences can be long-lasting. This might be the first generation that does not keep up with its parents' standard of living. Jobless teens are more likely to be jobless twenty-somethings. Once forced onto the sidelines, they likely will not catch up financially for many years. That is the case even for young people of all ethnic groups who graduate from college.
Lisa B. Kahn, an economics professor at Yale University who studied graduates during recessions in the 1980s, determined that the young workers hired during a down economy generally start off with lower wages than they otherwise would have and don't recover for at least a decade.
"In your first job, you're accumulating skills on how to do the job, learning by doing and getting training. If you graduate in a recession, you're in a [lesser] job, wasting your time," she said. "Once you switch into the job you should be in, you don't have the skills for that job."
Some studies examining how employers review black and white job applicants suggest that discrimination may be at play.
"Black men were less likely to receive a call back or job offer than equally qualified white men," said Devah Pager, a sociology professor at Princeton University, referring to her studies a few years ago of white and black male job applicants in their 20s in Milwaukee and New York. "Black men with a clean record fare no better than white men just released from prison."
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
REPORT: HIV Cases In The Caribbean Rise To PANDEMIC LEVELS . . . Driven By Inequality!!!
The HIV pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean is fuelled by a range of social and economic inequalities exacerbated by high levels of stigma, discrimination of highly vulnerable groups, and persistent gender inequality and homophobia, says a new report issued in Lima, Peru by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). It is released on the occasion of World AIDS Day 2009.
"Despite efforts to reduce the impact on HIV in the region, many of these factors have not been adequately addressed," says the report. "Most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are affected by social and economic inequality which creates a growing gap in health conditions between those who can afford medical services and have access to higher education and those who live in precarious conditions with little or no medical services and limited access to education and prevention information," it adds.
The report mentions that even if many countries in the region can be considered as having "low level" epidemics among the general population, prevalence rates among highly vulnerable communities such as men who have sex with men; prisoners; sex workers, and injecting drug users are typically very high, going over 5 per cent.
It also names other most at risk population such as vulnerable young people, migrants and displaced people.
"Understanding the local specificities of the HIV pandemic is key to success in reducing the scale of HIV transmission. It is vital to work directly with most at risk populations to try to prevent further infections, employing a range of approaches such as peer education and behaviour change communication," explains Julie Hoare, the IFRC's health and social services coordinator for the Americas. "Addressing vulnerability by advocating on behalf of the most vulnerable communities confronted with the threat of HIV, improving access to services and reducing stigma and discrimination are equally important."
The IFRC report provides several examples of HIV programmes that have been adapted by Red Cross societies to focus on the needs of minority groups like indigenous people in Colombia, Guatemala and Ecuador as well as young people in countries such as Haiti, Jamaica and Argentina.
The document also highlights the necessity for the international community not to lower but rather "increase its level of funding" for HIV, also reminding that addressing HIV and AIDS requires long-term sustainable action.
"Even though this report focuses on just one region, many of the trends identified are actually also relevant in other parts of the world, including in Africa which remains by far the most affected continent," concludes Getachew Gizaw, acting head of the IFRC's global programme on HIV.
In 2008, Red Cross and Red Crescent societies throughout the world reached more than 27.4 million people, including 132,500 people living with HIV and 128,200 children orphaned by AIDS, through prevention messages and direct psychosocial support. The aim by 2010 is to double Red Cross Red Crescent programming in targeted communities.
"Despite efforts to reduce the impact on HIV in the region, many of these factors have not been adequately addressed," says the report. "Most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are affected by social and economic inequality which creates a growing gap in health conditions between those who can afford medical services and have access to higher education and those who live in precarious conditions with little or no medical services and limited access to education and prevention information," it adds.
The report mentions that even if many countries in the region can be considered as having "low level" epidemics among the general population, prevalence rates among highly vulnerable communities such as men who have sex with men; prisoners; sex workers, and injecting drug users are typically very high, going over 5 per cent.
It also names other most at risk population such as vulnerable young people, migrants and displaced people.
"Understanding the local specificities of the HIV pandemic is key to success in reducing the scale of HIV transmission. It is vital to work directly with most at risk populations to try to prevent further infections, employing a range of approaches such as peer education and behaviour change communication," explains Julie Hoare, the IFRC's health and social services coordinator for the Americas. "Addressing vulnerability by advocating on behalf of the most vulnerable communities confronted with the threat of HIV, improving access to services and reducing stigma and discrimination are equally important."
The IFRC report provides several examples of HIV programmes that have been adapted by Red Cross societies to focus on the needs of minority groups like indigenous people in Colombia, Guatemala and Ecuador as well as young people in countries such as Haiti, Jamaica and Argentina.
The document also highlights the necessity for the international community not to lower but rather "increase its level of funding" for HIV, also reminding that addressing HIV and AIDS requires long-term sustainable action.
"Even though this report focuses on just one region, many of the trends identified are actually also relevant in other parts of the world, including in Africa which remains by far the most affected continent," concludes Getachew Gizaw, acting head of the IFRC's global programme on HIV.
In 2008, Red Cross and Red Crescent societies throughout the world reached more than 27.4 million people, including 132,500 people living with HIV and 128,200 children orphaned by AIDS, through prevention messages and direct psychosocial support. The aim by 2010 is to double Red Cross Red Crescent programming in targeted communities.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
REPORT: Blacks And Latinos At Getting Their Homes FORECLOSED ON At A HIGHER RATE Foreclosure!!!!
Blacks and Latinos - especially those living in major cities - are at a higher risk of defaulting on their mortgages or having their homes foreclosed, according to a recent study.
The White Paper, authored by UCLA professor Raul Hinojosa and released by the William C. Velasquez Institute, looks at how the home ownership crisis is impacting blacks and Latinos. It focuses on major cities nationwide that have been hit hardest by rising foreclosures and unemployment, such as Los Angeles.
"The meat and potatoes of this study is we are about to face wave two of this tsunami of foreclosures," Hinojosa said. "And it's going to hit hardest among minorities - blacks and Latinos - in a perfect storm of decreasing employment, decreasing property values, as well as the resetting of high-priced mortgages."
According to the study, blacks and Latinos in the Los Angeles area were about three times more likely to hold high-priced mortgages than whites - and half of all home loans sold to blacks and Latinos were considered "high-priced."
Furthermore, blacks and Latinos in several major cities across the nation - including California - held more than double the amount of high-risk loans compared to whites from 2006 to 2007.
Experts say the reason behind the increased risk is simple: Latinos and blacks were more vulnerable to predatory lending practices during the housing boom in the early to mid-2000s.
And now it's catching up with them.
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"It was too good to be true. The heyday of real estate - 2004, 2005 to 2007 - they were just giving money away," said Chris Vigil, a broker and appraiser in the Whittier area. "Anyone with a pulse could get a loan."
As a result, many blacks and Latinos striving for the American dream received home loans, but under faulty qualifications, said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the Velasquez Institute, a think tank for Latino studies.
"It wasn't the concept that was bad, it was the implementation, the profiteering," Gonzalez said.
He referred to balloon payments, adjustable interest rates, sub-prime mortgages and zero-down-payment tactics used to prey on homebuyers who weren't ready to take on mortgages.
"No one expected that millions of Americans would fail on their loan payments simultaneously," Gonzalez said. "But they did, because of these ticking time bombs in the mortgage structures."
Glendora real estate broker Marty Rodriguez said she knows of at least one such case - a woman in Pomona who managed to get a loan despite the fact she hadn't worked in 10 years. Her husband is a gardener. Now that woman, a Latina, is losing her home.
"You can see when you look at the defaults - you can see by the name - there are a lot of Latino surnames," Rodriguez said.
Of course, home ownership wasn't always that easy. For decades, owning a home was the thing of dreams, Gonzalez said, until after World War II, when the government began providing subsidized home loans, essentially creating a middle class.
Still, homeowners were predominantly white. It wasn't until the last two decades or so that blacks and Latinos became serious homebuyers, Gonzalez said. And now that staple of the American dream is fading.
"We've always lagged behind whites in home ownership," Gonzalez said. "Now most of that progress made in the last 15 years has been wiped out."
Furthermore, rising unemployment coupled with already troubled housing markets puts "homeowners of color" at even more risk, said David Mason, a doctoral student in the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA and a research assistant on the study.
The latest figures show the nation's jobless rate was at 10.2 percent in October - the highest since early 1983. And in Los Angeles County, the unemployment rate shot up to 12.7 percent in September.
Rodriguez said turning the tide for black and Latino homebuyers is going to take a lot of education - "educating these people to live within their means and educating them not to be taken advantage of."
But it's also going to take policy change, Gonzalez said.
Right now, foreclosure aid is not available to a lot of blacks and Latinos because they are underwater in loans, lacking enough income or unemployed, he said.
"It's cherry picking in the sense that it's helping people that are in bad shape, but not helping the people who are in really bad shape," Hinojosa said.
Gonzalez and Hinojosa suggested allowing bankruptcy judges to restructure loans.
"(Barack) Obama's policy needs to be revamped so it's not cherry picking and not temporary," Gonzalez said.
The banks need to help out too, Curry said.
"The banks got bailed out, but they're not making any effort to help the people," she said. "The banks are not stepping up at all and somebody should make them."
The White Paper, authored by UCLA professor Raul Hinojosa and released by the William C. Velasquez Institute, looks at how the home ownership crisis is impacting blacks and Latinos. It focuses on major cities nationwide that have been hit hardest by rising foreclosures and unemployment, such as Los Angeles.
"The meat and potatoes of this study is we are about to face wave two of this tsunami of foreclosures," Hinojosa said. "And it's going to hit hardest among minorities - blacks and Latinos - in a perfect storm of decreasing employment, decreasing property values, as well as the resetting of high-priced mortgages."
According to the study, blacks and Latinos in the Los Angeles area were about three times more likely to hold high-priced mortgages than whites - and half of all home loans sold to blacks and Latinos were considered "high-priced."
Furthermore, blacks and Latinos in several major cities across the nation - including California - held more than double the amount of high-risk loans compared to whites from 2006 to 2007.
Experts say the reason behind the increased risk is simple: Latinos and blacks were more vulnerable to predatory lending practices during the housing boom in the early to mid-2000s.
And now it's catching up with them.
Advertisement
"It was too good to be true. The heyday of real estate - 2004, 2005 to 2007 - they were just giving money away," said Chris Vigil, a broker and appraiser in the Whittier area. "Anyone with a pulse could get a loan."
As a result, many blacks and Latinos striving for the American dream received home loans, but under faulty qualifications, said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the Velasquez Institute, a think tank for Latino studies.
"It wasn't the concept that was bad, it was the implementation, the profiteering," Gonzalez said.
He referred to balloon payments, adjustable interest rates, sub-prime mortgages and zero-down-payment tactics used to prey on homebuyers who weren't ready to take on mortgages.
"No one expected that millions of Americans would fail on their loan payments simultaneously," Gonzalez said. "But they did, because of these ticking time bombs in the mortgage structures."
Glendora real estate broker Marty Rodriguez said she knows of at least one such case - a woman in Pomona who managed to get a loan despite the fact she hadn't worked in 10 years. Her husband is a gardener. Now that woman, a Latina, is losing her home.
"You can see when you look at the defaults - you can see by the name - there are a lot of Latino surnames," Rodriguez said.
Of course, home ownership wasn't always that easy. For decades, owning a home was the thing of dreams, Gonzalez said, until after World War II, when the government began providing subsidized home loans, essentially creating a middle class.
Still, homeowners were predominantly white. It wasn't until the last two decades or so that blacks and Latinos became serious homebuyers, Gonzalez said. And now that staple of the American dream is fading.
"We've always lagged behind whites in home ownership," Gonzalez said. "Now most of that progress made in the last 15 years has been wiped out."
Furthermore, rising unemployment coupled with already troubled housing markets puts "homeowners of color" at even more risk, said David Mason, a doctoral student in the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA and a research assistant on the study.
The latest figures show the nation's jobless rate was at 10.2 percent in October - the highest since early 1983. And in Los Angeles County, the unemployment rate shot up to 12.7 percent in September.
Rodriguez said turning the tide for black and Latino homebuyers is going to take a lot of education - "educating these people to live within their means and educating them not to be taken advantage of."
But it's also going to take policy change, Gonzalez said.
Right now, foreclosure aid is not available to a lot of blacks and Latinos because they are underwater in loans, lacking enough income or unemployed, he said.
"It's cherry picking in the sense that it's helping people that are in bad shape, but not helping the people who are in really bad shape," Hinojosa said.
Gonzalez and Hinojosa suggested allowing bankruptcy judges to restructure loans.
"(Barack) Obama's policy needs to be revamped so it's not cherry picking and not temporary," Gonzalez said.
The banks need to help out too, Curry said.
"The banks got bailed out, but they're not making any effort to help the people," she said. "The banks are not stepping up at all and somebody should make them."
WTF????? Every Member Of Congress Under Investigation Is AFRICAN-AMERICAN!!!!
The House ethics committee is currently investigating seven African-American lawmakers — more than 15 percent of the total in the House. And an eighth black member, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), would be under investigation if the Justice Department hadn’t asked the committee to stand down.
Not a single white lawmaker is currently the subject of a full-scale ethics committee probe.
The ethics committee declined to respond to questions about the racial disparity, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are wary of talking about it on the record. But privately, some black members are outraged — and see in the numbers a worrisome trend in the actions of ethics watchdogs on and off Capitol Hill.
“Is there concern whether someone is trying to set up [Congressional Black Caucus] members? Yeah, there is,” a black House Democrat said. “It looks as if there is somebody out there who understands what the rules [are] and sends names to the ethics committee with the goal of going after the [CBC].”
African-American politicians have long complained that they’re treated unfairly when ethical issues arise. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are still fuming over Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to oust then-Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) from the House Ways and Means Committee in 2006, and some have argued that race plays a role in the ongoing efforts to remove Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) from his chairmanship of that committee.
Last week’s actions by the House ethics committee are sure to add fuel to the fire.
The committee — which has one African-American lawmaker, Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), among its 10 members — on Thursday considered three referrals from the recently formed Office of Congressional Ethics. It dismissed a case against Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who is white, but agreed to open full-blown investigations of California Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson, both of whom are black.
The committee was already investigating five other African-Americans. Rangel is the subject of two different probes, one involving a host of issues he has put before the committee and another involving allegations that corporate funds may have been used improperly to pay for members’ trips to the Caribbean in 2007-08. Reps. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Donald Payne (D-N.J.) and Del. Donna Christensen (D-U.S. Virgin Islands) are also included in the second of those investigations.
A document leaked to The Washington Post last week showed that nearly three dozen lawmakers have come under scrutiny this year by either the House ethics committee or the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent watchdog created in 2008 at the insistence of Pelosi. While the list contained a substantial number of white lawmakers, the ethics committee has not yet launched formal investigative subcommittees with respect to any of them — as it has with the seven African-American members.
The OCE has also been a particular target of ire for the Congressional Black Caucus. Black lawmakers, including CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), met with OCE officials earlier this year to raise their concerns. Spokesmen for Lee and the OCE both declined to comment.
A number of CBC members opposed the resolution establishing the OCE, arguing that it was the wrong response to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, which helped Democrats seize control of the House in 2006.
Setting up the OCE “was a mistake,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) told The Hill newspaper recently. “Congress has a long and rich history of overreacting to a crisis.”
Cleaver, though, now finds himself part of the four-member subcommittee that will investigate Waters, who voted against the OCE. Waters is being probed over her intervention with the Treasury Department on behalf of a minority-owned bank in which her husband served on the board and owned at least $250,000 in stock.
While she has flatly denied engaging in any unethical or improper behavior in her dealings with OneUnited, Waters was described by colleagues and Democratic aides as “livid” over the ethics committee’s decision to investigate her.
“She was hopping mad,” a Democratic lawmaker said of Waters. “She feels this is a complete miscarriage of justice.”
Another CBC member said black lawmakers are “easy targets” for ethics watchdog groups because they have less money — both personally and in their campaign accounts — to defend themselves than do their white colleagues. Campaign funds can be used to pay members’ legal bills.
“A lot of that has to do with outside watchdog groups like [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] that have to have a level of success to justify OCE,” the CBC member said. The good-government groups were strong backers of the OCE’s creation.
But these same groups won’t go after Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), this lawmaker claimed, “because she has plenty of money to defend herself,” and the outside groups don’t want to take a risk. The Democrat said the ethics committee would be going up against Harman’s lawyers and “going up against” the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee if they push the OCE to pressure the ethics committee to act.
In fact, CREW filed a complaint against Harman with the OCE.
Harman was allegedly recorded on a 2005 federal wiretap discussing with an Israeli operative her bid to become Intelligence Committee chairwoman. Harman has denied any wrongdoing, but an attempt by the ethics committee to get a transcript of the taped call was rebuffed by the Justice Department.
What especially galled black lawmakers was that the ethics committee voted to move forward with the Waters and Richardson probes following the OCE referrals, while Graves — who OCE also thought should be investigated by the ethics committee — saw his case dismissed.
Even worse, the ethics committee issued a 541-page document explaining why it wouldn’t look into allegations that Graves invited a witness to testify before the Small Business Committee — on which he sits — without revealing his financial ties to that witness.
“It is kind of crazy,” said an aide to one senior black Democrat. “How can it be that the ethics committee only investigates African-Americans? It doesn’t make sense.”
White lawmakers have certainly been the subject of ethics committee investigations before. Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was admonished by the committee for his dealings with corporate lobbyists, while ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) was the target of an investigation over his dealings with teenage male House pages in late 2006. Foley resigned after the sex scandal was revealed.
And the document leaked to the Post last week shows that a number of white lawmakers — including senior House Appropriations Committee members John Murtha (D-Pa.), Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) and Jim Moran (D-Va.) — have drawn the attention of the committee and the OCE.
The two congressional ethics watchdogs are looking into these members’ ties to the PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm that won tens of millions of dollars in earmarks from members of the Appropriations Committee. The lawmakers who arranged for the earmarks received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from PMA’s lobbying clients.
But it seems unlikely that the PMA case will become the subject of a full-blown ethics committee investigation. The Justice Department is also looking into the PMA allegations; the FBI raided PMA’s office last year, and Visclosky and his former chief of staff have been served with document subpoenas. And under ethics committee rules, the panel cannot conduct an investigation of any member or staffer already being probed by a law enforcement agency.
The nation’s only black senator, Roland Burris of Illinois, is currently under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee. It’s not clear whether that committee is currently investigating any white members, although Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) is likely to be in its sights if the Justice Department doesn’t pre-empt a committee investigation.
Not a single white lawmaker is currently the subject of a full-scale ethics committee probe.
The ethics committee declined to respond to questions about the racial disparity, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are wary of talking about it on the record. But privately, some black members are outraged — and see in the numbers a worrisome trend in the actions of ethics watchdogs on and off Capitol Hill.
“Is there concern whether someone is trying to set up [Congressional Black Caucus] members? Yeah, there is,” a black House Democrat said. “It looks as if there is somebody out there who understands what the rules [are] and sends names to the ethics committee with the goal of going after the [CBC].”
African-American politicians have long complained that they’re treated unfairly when ethical issues arise. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are still fuming over Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to oust then-Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) from the House Ways and Means Committee in 2006, and some have argued that race plays a role in the ongoing efforts to remove Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) from his chairmanship of that committee.
Last week’s actions by the House ethics committee are sure to add fuel to the fire.
The committee — which has one African-American lawmaker, Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), among its 10 members — on Thursday considered three referrals from the recently formed Office of Congressional Ethics. It dismissed a case against Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who is white, but agreed to open full-blown investigations of California Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson, both of whom are black.
The committee was already investigating five other African-Americans. Rangel is the subject of two different probes, one involving a host of issues he has put before the committee and another involving allegations that corporate funds may have been used improperly to pay for members’ trips to the Caribbean in 2007-08. Reps. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Donald Payne (D-N.J.) and Del. Donna Christensen (D-U.S. Virgin Islands) are also included in the second of those investigations.
A document leaked to The Washington Post last week showed that nearly three dozen lawmakers have come under scrutiny this year by either the House ethics committee or the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent watchdog created in 2008 at the insistence of Pelosi. While the list contained a substantial number of white lawmakers, the ethics committee has not yet launched formal investigative subcommittees with respect to any of them — as it has with the seven African-American members.
The OCE has also been a particular target of ire for the Congressional Black Caucus. Black lawmakers, including CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), met with OCE officials earlier this year to raise their concerns. Spokesmen for Lee and the OCE both declined to comment.
A number of CBC members opposed the resolution establishing the OCE, arguing that it was the wrong response to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, which helped Democrats seize control of the House in 2006.
Setting up the OCE “was a mistake,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) told The Hill newspaper recently. “Congress has a long and rich history of overreacting to a crisis.”
Cleaver, though, now finds himself part of the four-member subcommittee that will investigate Waters, who voted against the OCE. Waters is being probed over her intervention with the Treasury Department on behalf of a minority-owned bank in which her husband served on the board and owned at least $250,000 in stock.
While she has flatly denied engaging in any unethical or improper behavior in her dealings with OneUnited, Waters was described by colleagues and Democratic aides as “livid” over the ethics committee’s decision to investigate her.
“She was hopping mad,” a Democratic lawmaker said of Waters. “She feels this is a complete miscarriage of justice.”
Another CBC member said black lawmakers are “easy targets” for ethics watchdog groups because they have less money — both personally and in their campaign accounts — to defend themselves than do their white colleagues. Campaign funds can be used to pay members’ legal bills.
“A lot of that has to do with outside watchdog groups like [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] that have to have a level of success to justify OCE,” the CBC member said. The good-government groups were strong backers of the OCE’s creation.
But these same groups won’t go after Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), this lawmaker claimed, “because she has plenty of money to defend herself,” and the outside groups don’t want to take a risk. The Democrat said the ethics committee would be going up against Harman’s lawyers and “going up against” the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee if they push the OCE to pressure the ethics committee to act.
In fact, CREW filed a complaint against Harman with the OCE.
Harman was allegedly recorded on a 2005 federal wiretap discussing with an Israeli operative her bid to become Intelligence Committee chairwoman. Harman has denied any wrongdoing, but an attempt by the ethics committee to get a transcript of the taped call was rebuffed by the Justice Department.
What especially galled black lawmakers was that the ethics committee voted to move forward with the Waters and Richardson probes following the OCE referrals, while Graves — who OCE also thought should be investigated by the ethics committee — saw his case dismissed.
Even worse, the ethics committee issued a 541-page document explaining why it wouldn’t look into allegations that Graves invited a witness to testify before the Small Business Committee — on which he sits — without revealing his financial ties to that witness.
“It is kind of crazy,” said an aide to one senior black Democrat. “How can it be that the ethics committee only investigates African-Americans? It doesn’t make sense.”
White lawmakers have certainly been the subject of ethics committee investigations before. Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was admonished by the committee for his dealings with corporate lobbyists, while ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) was the target of an investigation over his dealings with teenage male House pages in late 2006. Foley resigned after the sex scandal was revealed.
And the document leaked to the Post last week shows that a number of white lawmakers — including senior House Appropriations Committee members John Murtha (D-Pa.), Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) and Jim Moran (D-Va.) — have drawn the attention of the committee and the OCE.
The two congressional ethics watchdogs are looking into these members’ ties to the PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm that won tens of millions of dollars in earmarks from members of the Appropriations Committee. The lawmakers who arranged for the earmarks received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from PMA’s lobbying clients.
But it seems unlikely that the PMA case will become the subject of a full-blown ethics committee investigation. The Justice Department is also looking into the PMA allegations; the FBI raided PMA’s office last year, and Visclosky and his former chief of staff have been served with document subpoenas. And under ethics committee rules, the panel cannot conduct an investigation of any member or staffer already being probed by a law enforcement agency.
The nation’s only black senator, Roland Burris of Illinois, is currently under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee. It’s not clear whether that committee is currently investigating any white members, although Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) is likely to be in its sights if the Justice Department doesn’t pre-empt a committee investigation.
The National URBAN LEAGUE To Offer Small Business Loans To Minority Businesses!!!!
The National Urban League is teaming with a small-business financial specialist to offer loans to companies unable to get approved by banks.
On Deck Capital will provide loans through Urban League local affiliates, starting in Philadelphia and Los Angeles and then expanding across the country, it was announced Wednesday.
The program offers one-year loans ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 at interest rates of 18 to 36 percent. All the loans must be repaid through automatic daily "micro-payments" from the business' bank accounts.
The program will focus on urban areas with high concentrations of minority businesses and help create new jobs there, said Patricia A. Coulter, president and CEO of the Urban League of Philadelphia.
"In today's really tight market, credit has dried up, banks are not lending," she said. "It's even more critical for small and minority businesses to have access to capital."
To qualify, businesses should generally have between $500,000 and $2 million in annual revenue and have been operating for at least three years, said On Deck founder and CEO Mitch Jacobs.
Jacobs said that for small loans, banks rely on the business owner's personal credit score, which often has suffered because the owner has tapped every possible avenue to grow their company.
On Deck uses a proprietary technical system to examine other data about the business, such as customer transactions, online payments and other electronic banking records.
Jacobs acknowledged that banks offer better interest rates, but said they do not have the time or resources to deal with "micro-loans." On Deck has made about 1,000 loans totaling about $50 million since 2007, he said.
Their typical customers: "Restaurants, retailers, hair salons, pet shops, flower shops, doctors offices, dry cleaners," Jacobs said. "Really the broad spectrum of main street and off-main street businesses."
The loans will be offered through the Urban League's Entrepreneurship Centers, which are located in Atlanta; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Jacksonville, Fla.; Kansas City; New Orleans; Chicago; Los Angeles; and Philadelphia. There was no indication how much money is available for the loans.
On Deck Capital will provide loans through Urban League local affiliates, starting in Philadelphia and Los Angeles and then expanding across the country, it was announced Wednesday.
The program offers one-year loans ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 at interest rates of 18 to 36 percent. All the loans must be repaid through automatic daily "micro-payments" from the business' bank accounts.
The program will focus on urban areas with high concentrations of minority businesses and help create new jobs there, said Patricia A. Coulter, president and CEO of the Urban League of Philadelphia.
"In today's really tight market, credit has dried up, banks are not lending," she said. "It's even more critical for small and minority businesses to have access to capital."
To qualify, businesses should generally have between $500,000 and $2 million in annual revenue and have been operating for at least three years, said On Deck founder and CEO Mitch Jacobs.
Jacobs said that for small loans, banks rely on the business owner's personal credit score, which often has suffered because the owner has tapped every possible avenue to grow their company.
On Deck uses a proprietary technical system to examine other data about the business, such as customer transactions, online payments and other electronic banking records.
Jacobs acknowledged that banks offer better interest rates, but said they do not have the time or resources to deal with "micro-loans." On Deck has made about 1,000 loans totaling about $50 million since 2007, he said.
Their typical customers: "Restaurants, retailers, hair salons, pet shops, flower shops, doctors offices, dry cleaners," Jacobs said. "Really the broad spectrum of main street and off-main street businesses."
The loans will be offered through the Urban League's Entrepreneurship Centers, which are located in Atlanta; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Jacksonville, Fla.; Kansas City; New Orleans; Chicago; Los Angeles; and Philadelphia. There was no indication how much money is available for the loans.
REPORT: Black Women Are TWICE AS LIKELY To Suffer A LATE TERM MISCARRIAGE Than Other Women!!!!
African-American women are twice as likely to suffer a late-pregnancy loss as white women -- partly because of higher rates of pregnancy- and labor-related complications, a government study finds.Researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health found that among more than 5 million pregnancies in 2001 and 2002, black women were more likely than white or Hispanic women to have a stillbirth.
Among African Americans, 22 of every 1,000 pregnancies ended in a stillbirth. That compared with 10 and 10.5 per 1,000 among white and Hispanic women, respectively.
Health conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes and certain complications during pregnancy -- such as uterine bleeding and premature rupture of the sac surrounding the fetus -- explained a larger share of black women's stillbirth risk compared with white and Hispanic women.
The same was true of labor-related conditions, including problems with the placenta or umbilical cord.
Those disparities suggest that improvements in black women's health before and during early pregnancy could help erase some of the gap in stillbirth risk, the researchers report in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Stillbirth refers to fetal deaths that occur after the 20th week of pregnancy. Among the most common causes are birth defects, poor fetal growth and problems with the placenta -- such as placental abruption, where the placenta peels away from the wall of the uterus, leading to heavy bleeding.
Past studies have found that African-American women are at increased risk of stillbirth, and while the national rate of stillbirth has declined in the past 20 years, the racial gap has not narrowed.
These latest findings shed more light on the problem, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Marian Willinger of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Using records on more than 5.1 million U.S. pregnancies, the researchers found that racial disparities in stillbirth risk were greatest in the 20th to 23rd week of pregnancy and smallest in the last few weeks.
Underlying medical conditions and pregnancy- and labor-related complications accounted for 30 percent of the risk among black women, compared with 20 percent among white and Hispanic women.
In contrast, birth defects and poor fetal growth were bigger factors in white women's stillbirth risk than they were for black women.
A "striking" finding, according to the researchers, is that the racial disparity was even more pronounced among more-educated women. That was because higher education (beyond high school) was linked to a 30 percent reduction in stillbirth risk among white women, while there was little evidence of benefit among black women.
Higher education -- often a marker of advantages like higher income and better healthcare -- is generally associated with better pregnancy outcomes. Exactly why better-educated black women failed to show a substantial decrease in stillbirth risk is unclear.
More research is needed, Willinger's team writes, to see whether biological mechanisms may be contributing to the racial disparity.
Among African Americans, 22 of every 1,000 pregnancies ended in a stillbirth. That compared with 10 and 10.5 per 1,000 among white and Hispanic women, respectively.
Health conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes and certain complications during pregnancy -- such as uterine bleeding and premature rupture of the sac surrounding the fetus -- explained a larger share of black women's stillbirth risk compared with white and Hispanic women.
The same was true of labor-related conditions, including problems with the placenta or umbilical cord.
Those disparities suggest that improvements in black women's health before and during early pregnancy could help erase some of the gap in stillbirth risk, the researchers report in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Stillbirth refers to fetal deaths that occur after the 20th week of pregnancy. Among the most common causes are birth defects, poor fetal growth and problems with the placenta -- such as placental abruption, where the placenta peels away from the wall of the uterus, leading to heavy bleeding.
Past studies have found that African-American women are at increased risk of stillbirth, and while the national rate of stillbirth has declined in the past 20 years, the racial gap has not narrowed.
These latest findings shed more light on the problem, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Marian Willinger of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Using records on more than 5.1 million U.S. pregnancies, the researchers found that racial disparities in stillbirth risk were greatest in the 20th to 23rd week of pregnancy and smallest in the last few weeks.
Underlying medical conditions and pregnancy- and labor-related complications accounted for 30 percent of the risk among black women, compared with 20 percent among white and Hispanic women.
In contrast, birth defects and poor fetal growth were bigger factors in white women's stillbirth risk than they were for black women.
A "striking" finding, according to the researchers, is that the racial disparity was even more pronounced among more-educated women. That was because higher education (beyond high school) was linked to a 30 percent reduction in stillbirth risk among white women, while there was little evidence of benefit among black women.
Higher education -- often a marker of advantages like higher income and better healthcare -- is generally associated with better pregnancy outcomes. Exactly why better-educated black women failed to show a substantial decrease in stillbirth risk is unclear.
More research is needed, Willinger's team writes, to see whether biological mechanisms may be contributing to the racial disparity.
Michigan's BAN ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Set To Be CHALLENGED IN COURT!!!!
Michigan's ban on using affirmative action in college admissions heads back to court at 9 a.m. today.
At issue is the decision by Michigan voters in 2006 to make illegal policies like those at University of Michigan, where officials at the time could consider race in admissions decisions.
U-M argued that the policy helped build a diverse student body, but opponents countered that non-minority candidates were sometimes turned away to make room for less-qualified minority candidates.
Motions filed in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Cincinnati, echo many of the same arguments lobbed before the 2006 vote as well as during an earlier appeal at the U.S. District Court, where a judge last year upheld the 2006 vote.
It may take weeks or even months for a decision by the three-judge panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court in this case that attorneys on both sides say is bound for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Two of those judges were sitting on the court when it made its decision in 2002 to uphold affirmative action in admissions at U-M Law School, a decision later supported - albeit by a slim margin - by the U.S. Supreme Court.
At issue is the decision by Michigan voters in 2006 to make illegal policies like those at University of Michigan, where officials at the time could consider race in admissions decisions.
U-M argued that the policy helped build a diverse student body, but opponents countered that non-minority candidates were sometimes turned away to make room for less-qualified minority candidates.
Motions filed in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Cincinnati, echo many of the same arguments lobbed before the 2006 vote as well as during an earlier appeal at the U.S. District Court, where a judge last year upheld the 2006 vote.
It may take weeks or even months for a decision by the three-judge panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court in this case that attorneys on both sides say is bound for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Two of those judges were sitting on the court when it made its decision in 2002 to uphold affirmative action in admissions at U-M Law School, a decision later supported - albeit by a slim margin - by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Women Are Overtaking Men in the U.S.
The United States may have officially entered the age of woman.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this fall, for the first time in U.S. history, women have surpassed men and now make up more than 50 percent of the nation's workforce. In 1967, by comparison, they accounted for just one-third of all workers.
Signs of the changing landscape in gender relations are just about everywhere you look:
• Double the number of single women are now purchasing homes in America than there are single men.
• Four out of every 10 women are are now their family's primary breadwinner, a sharp increase from past decades.
• The New Hampshire State Legislature is now made up of a majority of women, a first for a legislative body in the U.S., and the number of women in government continues to edge up nationwide.
• Women now account for 30 percent of math Ph.D.s, up from just 5 percent in the 1960s.
• On average, women read nine books every year. Men only read four, and women account for 80 percent of the U.S. fiction market.
• The World Bank recently estimated that the global earning power of women will reach an estimated $18 trillion by the year 2014, up $5 trillion today.
"Women really have become the dominant gender," said Guy Garcia, author of "The Decline of Men." "What concerns me is that guys are rapidly falling behind. Women are becoming better educated than men, earning more than men, and, generally speaking, not needing men at all. Meanwhile, as a group, men are losing their way."
That seems especially true during tough economic times. While the economy has shed millions of jobs during the recession of 2008 and 2009, men have been three times more likely to lose theirs than women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Dr. Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, said that in the case of the recession, there really haven't been any winners in the labor force.
"As the economy improves, many of the blue-collar jobs that men hold are likely to return," Shierholz said. "But the longer-term picture is that we're seeing women continue to make relative gains in the workplace. That's not surprising when women are getting good educations and earning solid degrees."
In fact, a gender education gap, in which women are far outpacing men in terms of educational achievement, has been quietly growing in America over the past few decades. In 2009, for instance, women will earn more degrees in higher education than men in every possible category, from associate level to Ph.D.s, according to the U.S. Department of Education. When it comes to master's-level education, for instance, U.S. women earn 159 degrees for every 100 awarded to men.
"The big reason for the disparity is that women are going back to finish college or get new degrees and training," said Heather Boushey, senior economist at the Center for American Progress and one of the co-authors of The Shriver Report, which considers the implications of shifting gender roles.
"Girls today grow up in a post-feminist environment, being told they can do whatever they want in life," Boushey said. "But then they get out into the workplace and they find that they still make just 77 cents on the dollar compared with men."
That harsh realization, Boushey argued, helps account for why women have flocked to colleges at a time when the country finds itself shifting from a manufacturing-based economy to knowledge-based one.
"It's a huge shift," Boushey said, "when you think that a generation and a half ago our attitudes and expectations for what roles women and men could play in our society were entirely different than they are today."
As for the discrepancy in wages between men and women, that, too, may be soon be a thing of the past. A study of U.S. Census data conducted by Queens College sociologist Andrew Beveridge found that young women in New York and several other big American cities actually earn more than their male counterparts.
Garcia bemoaned what he sees as a "fragmentation of male identity," in which husbands are asked to take on unaccustomed familial roles such as child care and housework, while wives bring in the bigger paychecks.
"There was a division of labor, right or wrong, that men understood," Garcia said. "Now, the trade-offs are murky, and women often get stuck doing both jobs--taking care of kids and playing the primary breadwinner."
Boushey, on the other hand, thinks that now that both men and women are starting to share in the dual burdens of work and home responsibilities, we're more likely to find solutions that benefit both genders.
"It's about finding a mutually beneficial balance," Boushey said.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this fall, for the first time in U.S. history, women have surpassed men and now make up more than 50 percent of the nation's workforce. In 1967, by comparison, they accounted for just one-third of all workers.
Signs of the changing landscape in gender relations are just about everywhere you look:
• Double the number of single women are now purchasing homes in America than there are single men.
• Four out of every 10 women are are now their family's primary breadwinner, a sharp increase from past decades.
• The New Hampshire State Legislature is now made up of a majority of women, a first for a legislative body in the U.S., and the number of women in government continues to edge up nationwide.
• Women now account for 30 percent of math Ph.D.s, up from just 5 percent in the 1960s.
• On average, women read nine books every year. Men only read four, and women account for 80 percent of the U.S. fiction market.
• The World Bank recently estimated that the global earning power of women will reach an estimated $18 trillion by the year 2014, up $5 trillion today.
"Women really have become the dominant gender," said Guy Garcia, author of "The Decline of Men." "What concerns me is that guys are rapidly falling behind. Women are becoming better educated than men, earning more than men, and, generally speaking, not needing men at all. Meanwhile, as a group, men are losing their way."
That seems especially true during tough economic times. While the economy has shed millions of jobs during the recession of 2008 and 2009, men have been three times more likely to lose theirs than women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Dr. Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, said that in the case of the recession, there really haven't been any winners in the labor force.
"As the economy improves, many of the blue-collar jobs that men hold are likely to return," Shierholz said. "But the longer-term picture is that we're seeing women continue to make relative gains in the workplace. That's not surprising when women are getting good educations and earning solid degrees."
In fact, a gender education gap, in which women are far outpacing men in terms of educational achievement, has been quietly growing in America over the past few decades. In 2009, for instance, women will earn more degrees in higher education than men in every possible category, from associate level to Ph.D.s, according to the U.S. Department of Education. When it comes to master's-level education, for instance, U.S. women earn 159 degrees for every 100 awarded to men.
"The big reason for the disparity is that women are going back to finish college or get new degrees and training," said Heather Boushey, senior economist at the Center for American Progress and one of the co-authors of The Shriver Report, which considers the implications of shifting gender roles.
"Girls today grow up in a post-feminist environment, being told they can do whatever they want in life," Boushey said. "But then they get out into the workplace and they find that they still make just 77 cents on the dollar compared with men."
That harsh realization, Boushey argued, helps account for why women have flocked to colleges at a time when the country finds itself shifting from a manufacturing-based economy to knowledge-based one.
"It's a huge shift," Boushey said, "when you think that a generation and a half ago our attitudes and expectations for what roles women and men could play in our society were entirely different than they are today."
As for the discrepancy in wages between men and women, that, too, may be soon be a thing of the past. A study of U.S. Census data conducted by Queens College sociologist Andrew Beveridge found that young women in New York and several other big American cities actually earn more than their male counterparts.
Garcia bemoaned what he sees as a "fragmentation of male identity," in which husbands are asked to take on unaccustomed familial roles such as child care and housework, while wives bring in the bigger paychecks.
"There was a division of labor, right or wrong, that men understood," Garcia said. "Now, the trade-offs are murky, and women often get stuck doing both jobs--taking care of kids and playing the primary breadwinner."
Boushey, on the other hand, thinks that now that both men and women are starting to share in the dual burdens of work and home responsibilities, we're more likely to find solutions that benefit both genders.
"It's about finding a mutually beneficial balance," Boushey said.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Shit Is Real!!!Middle Class African Americans Are Hit DISPROPORTIONATELY HARD By The Recession!!!!
The robust job market of the 1990s eased the way for millions of African-Americans to join the middle class, and Barbara Mitchell was among them.
The South Side native landed a customer-service job with a telecommunications company, and for many years, she thrived, earning $51,000 at her peak. When her job was eliminated in a restructuring, she took a company transfer to a different, lower-paying position in Wisconsin to stay employed. Ultimately, the job was a poor fit, she said, and fearing termination, she opted for an early retirement.
Mitchell assumed she would be well-positioned for another customer-service post, but more than a year later, at age 57, she's living in a subsidized apartment on the Near West Side with no job, no medical insurance and almost no remaining retirement savings.
"I pray, I stay prayerful," said Mitchell, who is trying out for a part-time phone sales job this week. "The recession will never take me back to where I've been."
The cold fact, however, is that this deep recession is hitting African-Americans more severely than the overall population, due largely to the staggering levels of unemployment for this segment of the population.
When October unemployment data come out Friday, the nation's seasonally adjusted rate is expected to nudge upward, close to 10 percent. But among African-Americans, the jobless rate was 15.5 percent in September. In Illinois, the black unemployment rate was closer to 18.6 percent in the third quarter, according to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute.
For black teens nationwide, the rate was 40.8 percent in September.
The United States historically has seen higher unemployment rates for minorities, but the gap has widened in this recession, in part because of job losses in the manufacturing and auto sectors. And the jobless growth, coupled with the predatory lending that flourished in segregated neighborhoods during the real estate boom, have led to dramatic spikes in mortgage foreclosures, sending home values into a downward spiral. The bottom line: A silent depression for African-Americans.
"The untold story is that between unemployment, a significant drop in property values, the wave of foreclosures and a lack of credit, there is a whole generation of African-American wealth that is disappearing," said Jean Pogge, executive vice president of ShoreBank, which operates in many minority communities across the city and is under financial pressure itself due to loan losses.
"The traditional way Americans have acquired wealth and gotten into the middle class is through buying a home and building equity in that home," she said, "and a lot of that has been wiped out by the recession."
Robert Williams, a 38-year-old who made more than $50,000 a year training travel agents, is among those who have come perilously close to losing a home due to a layoff.
The South Shore condo owner had sought a modification of his mortgage terms earlier this year after his employer had cut salaries and hours. And then he was laid off altogether in May, derailing his mortgage negotiations with ShoreBank.
"I was preparing myself mentally that there was a 90 percent chance I'd lose my place ... and I'd be out searching for someplace to live," Williams said. "It stresses you out. You don't want to spend 50 cents on a pack of gum, it got to be that bad."
ShoreBank was able to get him a modified mortgage through the Obama administration program launched in March, reducing his monthly payment to $468 from the original $1,150.
The disparity in the unemployment rates for whites and blacks has grown since the recession started in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to a study by Algernon Austin, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute.
The national white rate increased by 3.8 percentage points, to 7.8 percent in the second quarter of this year, while the black rate rose by 6.1 percentage points, to 14.7 percent, the highest of any major racial or ethnic group.
African-American workers "have a relatively high representation in manufacturing and the auto industry, and those industries have been hit pretty hard," Austin said.
As well, "black workers tend to be younger and lower-ranked in organizations," he said. "And both factors make it more likely that when layoffs come, you're going to be laid off."
That factor also makes African-American workers more vulnerable to having their hours cut.
"I'm at the bottom so it's hard for me to get any days -- I have no seniority," said Chanel Hall, 22, a room attendant at a downtown convention hotel who has seen her shifts cut back as the travel business has slowed.
She expects to make about $20,000 this year, about two-thirds of what she would make if she had a full schedule. She recently took out a $400 high-interest payday loan so she could pay bills and the rent on her apartment in the Washington Park neighborhood on the South Side. And she's searching for a second job.
"I've had no call-backs," said Hall, who has been looking since September.
The landscape is so bleak that some laid-off workers are using this time as a sort of sabbatical, living off unemployment while they go back to school or into training programs.
Shawan McDonald, an unemployed machinist, is learning to program and run computerized milling and lathing equipment in a training program run by the Jane Addams Resource Corp.
"I hope by March that I will be able to work, that it will be a more stable situation and I will not be walking on eggshells," said McDonald, a 40-year-old Edgewater resident.
The climb to recovery may be a tougher one for African-Americans, particularly because unemployment is expected to continue rising into next year.
"If history is our judge, I think it will take longer," ShoreBank's Pogge said. "African-Americans tend to be the last hired, and there has been this incredible decline in property values in African-American communities that is going to take years to recover.
"People have decimated their savings just to survive, and that needs to be rebuilt. It's a pretty serious situation."
Barbara Mitchell, the unemployed customer-service employee, worked part of the past year as a hostess at a quick-serve restaurant in Wisconsin before moving back to Chicago to care for sick family members. Now she applies for three to four jobs a day, attends job fairs and networks with friends.
"I do believe it will get better, and if it doesn't, I will go to Ready Maid, any kind of day labor," she said over a cup of coffee at a Loop cafe. "I will go to any length to find employment."
The South Side native landed a customer-service job with a telecommunications company, and for many years, she thrived, earning $51,000 at her peak. When her job was eliminated in a restructuring, she took a company transfer to a different, lower-paying position in Wisconsin to stay employed. Ultimately, the job was a poor fit, she said, and fearing termination, she opted for an early retirement.
Mitchell assumed she would be well-positioned for another customer-service post, but more than a year later, at age 57, she's living in a subsidized apartment on the Near West Side with no job, no medical insurance and almost no remaining retirement savings.
"I pray, I stay prayerful," said Mitchell, who is trying out for a part-time phone sales job this week. "The recession will never take me back to where I've been."
The cold fact, however, is that this deep recession is hitting African-Americans more severely than the overall population, due largely to the staggering levels of unemployment for this segment of the population.
When October unemployment data come out Friday, the nation's seasonally adjusted rate is expected to nudge upward, close to 10 percent. But among African-Americans, the jobless rate was 15.5 percent in September. In Illinois, the black unemployment rate was closer to 18.6 percent in the third quarter, according to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute.
For black teens nationwide, the rate was 40.8 percent in September.
The United States historically has seen higher unemployment rates for minorities, but the gap has widened in this recession, in part because of job losses in the manufacturing and auto sectors. And the jobless growth, coupled with the predatory lending that flourished in segregated neighborhoods during the real estate boom, have led to dramatic spikes in mortgage foreclosures, sending home values into a downward spiral. The bottom line: A silent depression for African-Americans.
"The untold story is that between unemployment, a significant drop in property values, the wave of foreclosures and a lack of credit, there is a whole generation of African-American wealth that is disappearing," said Jean Pogge, executive vice president of ShoreBank, which operates in many minority communities across the city and is under financial pressure itself due to loan losses.
"The traditional way Americans have acquired wealth and gotten into the middle class is through buying a home and building equity in that home," she said, "and a lot of that has been wiped out by the recession."
Robert Williams, a 38-year-old who made more than $50,000 a year training travel agents, is among those who have come perilously close to losing a home due to a layoff.
The South Shore condo owner had sought a modification of his mortgage terms earlier this year after his employer had cut salaries and hours. And then he was laid off altogether in May, derailing his mortgage negotiations with ShoreBank.
"I was preparing myself mentally that there was a 90 percent chance I'd lose my place ... and I'd be out searching for someplace to live," Williams said. "It stresses you out. You don't want to spend 50 cents on a pack of gum, it got to be that bad."
ShoreBank was able to get him a modified mortgage through the Obama administration program launched in March, reducing his monthly payment to $468 from the original $1,150.
The disparity in the unemployment rates for whites and blacks has grown since the recession started in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to a study by Algernon Austin, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute.
The national white rate increased by 3.8 percentage points, to 7.8 percent in the second quarter of this year, while the black rate rose by 6.1 percentage points, to 14.7 percent, the highest of any major racial or ethnic group.
African-American workers "have a relatively high representation in manufacturing and the auto industry, and those industries have been hit pretty hard," Austin said.
As well, "black workers tend to be younger and lower-ranked in organizations," he said. "And both factors make it more likely that when layoffs come, you're going to be laid off."
That factor also makes African-American workers more vulnerable to having their hours cut.
"I'm at the bottom so it's hard for me to get any days -- I have no seniority," said Chanel Hall, 22, a room attendant at a downtown convention hotel who has seen her shifts cut back as the travel business has slowed.
She expects to make about $20,000 this year, about two-thirds of what she would make if she had a full schedule. She recently took out a $400 high-interest payday loan so she could pay bills and the rent on her apartment in the Washington Park neighborhood on the South Side. And she's searching for a second job.
"I've had no call-backs," said Hall, who has been looking since September.
The landscape is so bleak that some laid-off workers are using this time as a sort of sabbatical, living off unemployment while they go back to school or into training programs.
Shawan McDonald, an unemployed machinist, is learning to program and run computerized milling and lathing equipment in a training program run by the Jane Addams Resource Corp.
"I hope by March that I will be able to work, that it will be a more stable situation and I will not be walking on eggshells," said McDonald, a 40-year-old Edgewater resident.
The climb to recovery may be a tougher one for African-Americans, particularly because unemployment is expected to continue rising into next year.
"If history is our judge, I think it will take longer," ShoreBank's Pogge said. "African-Americans tend to be the last hired, and there has been this incredible decline in property values in African-American communities that is going to take years to recover.
"People have decimated their savings just to survive, and that needs to be rebuilt. It's a pretty serious situation."
Barbara Mitchell, the unemployed customer-service employee, worked part of the past year as a hostess at a quick-serve restaurant in Wisconsin before moving back to Chicago to care for sick family members. Now she applies for three to four jobs a day, attends job fairs and networks with friends.
"I do believe it will get better, and if it doesn't, I will go to Ready Maid, any kind of day labor," she said over a cup of coffee at a Loop cafe. "I will go to any length to find employment."
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
SHOCKING NEW STUDY: 90% Of Black Children WILL BE ON FOOD STAMPS At Some Point In Their Lives!!!!
Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher, researchers say.
The estimate comes from an analysis of 30 years of national data, and it bolsters other recent evidence on the pervasiveness of youngsters at economic risk. It suggests that almost everyone knows a family who has received food stamps, or will in the future, said lead author Mark Rank, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis.
"Your neighbor may be using some of these programs but it's not the kind of thing people want to talk about," Rank said.
The analysis was released Monday in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The authors say it's a medical issue pediatricians need to be aware of because children on food stamps are at risk for malnutrition and other ills linked with poverty.
"This is a real danger sign that we as a society need to do a lot more to protect children," Rank said.
Food stamps are a Department of Agriculture program for low-income individuals and families, covering most foods although not prepared hot foods or alcohol. For a family of four to be eligible, their annual take-home pay can't exceed about $22,000.
According to a USDA report released last month, 28.4 million Americans received food stamps in an average month in 2008, and about half were younger than age 18. The average monthly benefit per household totaled $222.
Rank and Cornell University sociologist Thomas Hirschl studied data from a nationally representative survey of 4,800 American households interviewed annually from 1968 through 1997 by the University of Michigan. About 18,000 adults and children were involved.
Overall, about 49 percent of all children were on food stamps at some point by the age of 20, the analysis found. That includes 90 percent of black children and 37 percent of whites. The analysis didn't include other ethnic groups.
The time span included typical economic ups and downs, including the early 1980s recession. That means similar portions of children now and in the future will live in families receiving food stamps, although ongoing economic turmoil may increase the numbers, Rank said.
An editorial in the medical journal agreed.
"The current recession is likely to generate for children in the United States the greatest level of material deprivation that we will see in our professional lifetimes," Stanford pediatrician Dr. Paul Wise wrote.
Wise said the Archives study estimate is believable.
"I find it terribly sad, but not surprising," Wise said.
James Weill, president of Food Research and Action Center, a Washington-based advocacy group, said the analysis underscores that "there are just very large numbers of people who rely on this program for a month, six months, a year."
"What I hope comes out of this study is an understanding that food stamp beneficiaries aren't them — they're us," Weill said.
The analysis is in line with other recent research suggesting that more than 40 percent of U.S. children will live in poverty or near-poverty by age 17; and that half will live at some point in a single-parent family. Also, other researchers have estimated that slightly more than half of adults will use food stamps at some point by age 65.
The estimate comes from an analysis of 30 years of national data, and it bolsters other recent evidence on the pervasiveness of youngsters at economic risk. It suggests that almost everyone knows a family who has received food stamps, or will in the future, said lead author Mark Rank, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis.
"Your neighbor may be using some of these programs but it's not the kind of thing people want to talk about," Rank said.
The analysis was released Monday in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The authors say it's a medical issue pediatricians need to be aware of because children on food stamps are at risk for malnutrition and other ills linked with poverty.
"This is a real danger sign that we as a society need to do a lot more to protect children," Rank said.
Food stamps are a Department of Agriculture program for low-income individuals and families, covering most foods although not prepared hot foods or alcohol. For a family of four to be eligible, their annual take-home pay can't exceed about $22,000.
According to a USDA report released last month, 28.4 million Americans received food stamps in an average month in 2008, and about half were younger than age 18. The average monthly benefit per household totaled $222.
Rank and Cornell University sociologist Thomas Hirschl studied data from a nationally representative survey of 4,800 American households interviewed annually from 1968 through 1997 by the University of Michigan. About 18,000 adults and children were involved.
Overall, about 49 percent of all children were on food stamps at some point by the age of 20, the analysis found. That includes 90 percent of black children and 37 percent of whites. The analysis didn't include other ethnic groups.
The time span included typical economic ups and downs, including the early 1980s recession. That means similar portions of children now and in the future will live in families receiving food stamps, although ongoing economic turmoil may increase the numbers, Rank said.
An editorial in the medical journal agreed.
"The current recession is likely to generate for children in the United States the greatest level of material deprivation that we will see in our professional lifetimes," Stanford pediatrician Dr. Paul Wise wrote.
Wise said the Archives study estimate is believable.
"I find it terribly sad, but not surprising," Wise said.
James Weill, president of Food Research and Action Center, a Washington-based advocacy group, said the analysis underscores that "there are just very large numbers of people who rely on this program for a month, six months, a year."
"What I hope comes out of this study is an understanding that food stamp beneficiaries aren't them — they're us," Weill said.
The analysis is in line with other recent research suggesting that more than 40 percent of U.S. children will live in poverty or near-poverty by age 17; and that half will live at some point in a single-parent family. Also, other researchers have estimated that slightly more than half of adults will use food stamps at some point by age 65.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK??????
A deputy assistant attorney general who said he was on his lunch break when an officer found him with a stripper and sex toys in his sport utility vehicle has been fired, his boss said Wednesday.
Roland Corning, 66, a former state legislator, was in a secluded part of a downtown cemetery when an officer spotted him Monday, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.
As the officer approached, Corning sped off, then pulled over a few blocks away. He and the 18-year-old woman with him, an employee of the Platinum Plus Gentleman's Club, gave conflicting stories about what they were doing in the cemetery, Officer Michael Wines wrote in his report, though he did not elaborate.
Here his what got dude for getting his "presidential" in a cemetery!
Corning gave Wines a badge showing he worked for the state Attorney General's Office. Wines, whose wife also works there, called her to make sure Corning was telling the truth.
He then searched the SUV, where he found a Viagra pill and several sex toys, items Corning said he always kept with him, "just in case," according to the report.
"We received credible information about inappropriate behavior Monday afternoon," McMaster said Wednesday. "And by the close of business, he was no longer working here."
Such a trip to the cemetery "would not be appropriate, at any time, for an assistant attorney general," McMaster said.
Roland Corning, 66, a former state legislator, was in a secluded part of a downtown cemetery when an officer spotted him Monday, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.
As the officer approached, Corning sped off, then pulled over a few blocks away. He and the 18-year-old woman with him, an employee of the Platinum Plus Gentleman's Club, gave conflicting stories about what they were doing in the cemetery, Officer Michael Wines wrote in his report, though he did not elaborate.
Here his what got dude for getting his "presidential" in a cemetery!
Corning gave Wines a badge showing he worked for the state Attorney General's Office. Wines, whose wife also works there, called her to make sure Corning was telling the truth.
He then searched the SUV, where he found a Viagra pill and several sex toys, items Corning said he always kept with him, "just in case," according to the report.
"We received credible information about inappropriate behavior Monday afternoon," McMaster said Wednesday. "And by the close of business, he was no longer working here."
Such a trip to the cemetery "would not be appropriate, at any time, for an assistant attorney general," McMaster said.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Black Detroit Congressman Conyers CRITICIZES President Obama . . . Makes Some VERY DISRESPECTFUL Comments!!!!
President Barack Obama is "getting bad advice from ... clowns" on Afghanistan and "sucking up to the wrong people" on health care, U.S. Rep. John Conyers told a Detroit radio audience Saturday, according to show host the Rev. Horace Sheffield.
Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, made the comments during a discussion about the effects of the recession on urban poor people, Sheffield said.
The congressman expressed frustration that health care legislation pending in Washington, D.C., is too solicitous of insurance companies and special interests, Sheffield said.
"He wasn't angry. He was just deeply concerned that some of the issues being focused on don't address the human reality," said Sheffield, who hosts the program "On The Line" on WGPR-FM (107.5).
According to a news release from Sheffield, Conyers said: "President Obama is sucking up to the wrong people and insurance companies as Obama pushed a weak health care package."
On Iraq and Afghanistan, Sheffield quoted Conyers as saying: "President Obama is getting bad advice from those clowns in the White House. We should be ending those wars now. America should be providing food instead of bombs from drones that kill innocent civilians." A transcript of the show was not available.
Conyers, an early supporter of Obama's presidential bid in 2007, could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, made the comments during a discussion about the effects of the recession on urban poor people, Sheffield said.
The congressman expressed frustration that health care legislation pending in Washington, D.C., is too solicitous of insurance companies and special interests, Sheffield said.
"He wasn't angry. He was just deeply concerned that some of the issues being focused on don't address the human reality," said Sheffield, who hosts the program "On The Line" on WGPR-FM (107.5).
According to a news release from Sheffield, Conyers said: "President Obama is sucking up to the wrong people and insurance companies as Obama pushed a weak health care package."
On Iraq and Afghanistan, Sheffield quoted Conyers as saying: "President Obama is getting bad advice from those clowns in the White House. We should be ending those wars now. America should be providing food instead of bombs from drones that kill innocent civilians." A transcript of the show was not available.
Conyers, an early supporter of Obama's presidential bid in 2007, could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
A former tobacco industry executive said Friday in Charleston that cigarette companies have targeted black people in America.
LaTanisha Wright began working for the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., based in Louisville, Ky., in 2001. She resigned after the company merged with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco in July 2004 to form Reynolds American.
"My goal is to educate people in churches, schools and community centers, as well as public health officials," Wright said. She said her experience in the tobacco industry makes her better able to help people now.
"Our training stresses how Big Tobacco targets black communities. A lot of people living in black communities don't recognize that," Wright said. "They targeted black communities and youth. They post many more billboards and signs in black communities than in white communities."
About 40 people attended Wright's five-hour training session on Friday at the Blessed John XXIII Pastoral Center. Melissa Lewis, who works for the West Virginia Department of Veterans Affairs, was one of them.
"Today, people start smoking at a younger age," she said. "They think it is cool and brings them more friends. They don't realize the dangers and threats to their future health."
Not only that, she said, but smoking is a major economic drain for many people, with cigarettes often selling for about $4 a pack.
"Cigarettes are very expensive. By not buying them, we could be better off financially," she said.
Drema Robertson coordinates work for the African-American Tobacco Prevention Center in Bluefield and helped organize Wright's training sessions in Charleston, Bluefield and Kimball, McDowell County this week.
Donald Reed, who works with Robertson, has visited coal towns over the past two years encouraging people to quit using tobacco.
"West Virginia is No. 1 in the country in spit tobacco use, No. 2 in smoking during pregnancy and No. 3 in the smoking rate among adults," Reed said.
LaTanisha Wright began working for the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., based in Louisville, Ky., in 2001. She resigned after the company merged with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco in July 2004 to form Reynolds American.
"My goal is to educate people in churches, schools and community centers, as well as public health officials," Wright said. She said her experience in the tobacco industry makes her better able to help people now.
"Our training stresses how Big Tobacco targets black communities. A lot of people living in black communities don't recognize that," Wright said. "They targeted black communities and youth. They post many more billboards and signs in black communities than in white communities."
About 40 people attended Wright's five-hour training session on Friday at the Blessed John XXIII Pastoral Center. Melissa Lewis, who works for the West Virginia Department of Veterans Affairs, was one of them.
"Today, people start smoking at a younger age," she said. "They think it is cool and brings them more friends. They don't realize the dangers and threats to their future health."
Not only that, she said, but smoking is a major economic drain for many people, with cigarettes often selling for about $4 a pack.
"Cigarettes are very expensive. By not buying them, we could be better off financially," she said.
Drema Robertson coordinates work for the African-American Tobacco Prevention Center in Bluefield and helped organize Wright's training sessions in Charleston, Bluefield and Kimball, McDowell County this week.
Donald Reed, who works with Robertson, has visited coal towns over the past two years encouraging people to quit using tobacco.
"West Virginia is No. 1 in the country in spit tobacco use, No. 2 in smoking during pregnancy and No. 3 in the smoking rate among adults," Reed said.
Former TOBACCO INDUSTRY Insider Explains How CIGARETTE Companies Target AFRICAN AMERICAN Youths!!!
A former tobacco industry executive said Friday in Charleston that cigarette companies have targeted black people in America.
LaTanisha Wright began working for the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., based in Louisville, Ky., in 2001. She resigned after the company merged with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco in July 2004 to form Reynolds American.
"My goal is to educate people in churches, schools and community centers, as well as public health officials," Wright said. She said her experience in the tobacco industry makes her better able to help people now.
"Our training stresses how Big Tobacco targets black communities. A lot of people living in black communities don't recognize that," Wright said. "They targeted black communities and youth. They post many more billboards and signs in black communities than in white communities."
About 40 people attended Wright's five-hour training session on Friday at the Blessed John XXIII Pastoral Center. Melissa Lewis, who works for the West Virginia Department of Veterans Affairs, was one of them.
"Today, people start smoking at a younger age," she said. "They think it is cool and brings them more friends. They don't realize the dangers and threats to their future health."
Not only that, she said, but smoking is a major economic drain for many people, with cigarettes often selling for about $4 a pack.
"Cigarettes are very expensive. By not buying them, we could be better off financially," she said.
Drema Robertson coordinates work for the African-American Tobacco Prevention Center in Bluefield and helped organize Wright's training sessions in Charleston, Bluefield and Kimball, McDowell County this week.
Donald Reed, who works with Robertson, has visited coal towns over the past two years encouraging people to quit using tobacco.
"West Virginia is No. 1 in the country in spit tobacco use, No. 2 in smoking during pregnancy and No. 3 in the smoking rate among adults," Reed said.
LaTanisha Wright began working for the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., based in Louisville, Ky., in 2001. She resigned after the company merged with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco in July 2004 to form Reynolds American.
"My goal is to educate people in churches, schools and community centers, as well as public health officials," Wright said. She said her experience in the tobacco industry makes her better able to help people now.
"Our training stresses how Big Tobacco targets black communities. A lot of people living in black communities don't recognize that," Wright said. "They targeted black communities and youth. They post many more billboards and signs in black communities than in white communities."
About 40 people attended Wright's five-hour training session on Friday at the Blessed John XXIII Pastoral Center. Melissa Lewis, who works for the West Virginia Department of Veterans Affairs, was one of them.
"Today, people start smoking at a younger age," she said. "They think it is cool and brings them more friends. They don't realize the dangers and threats to their future health."
Not only that, she said, but smoking is a major economic drain for many people, with cigarettes often selling for about $4 a pack.
"Cigarettes are very expensive. By not buying them, we could be better off financially," she said.
Drema Robertson coordinates work for the African-American Tobacco Prevention Center in Bluefield and helped organize Wright's training sessions in Charleston, Bluefield and Kimball, McDowell County this week.
Donald Reed, who works with Robertson, has visited coal towns over the past two years encouraging people to quit using tobacco.
"West Virginia is No. 1 in the country in spit tobacco use, No. 2 in smoking during pregnancy and No. 3 in the smoking rate among adults," Reed said.
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