'Undocumented': U.S. banks servicing drug cartels?

The vital role of U.S. banks in moving billions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels—enabling their latest five-year killing spree—has largely been “undocumented.” Wachovia, now owned by Wells Fargo, is prominently featured on the list of financial institutions that have helped move money for Mexican cartels. The list also includes Bank of America, American Express, as well as the Mexican offices of Citigroup and the European HSBC and Banco Santander, and money-transfer giant Western Union.

HUD report: Low income renters suffering

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently released its bi-annual report to Congress on the housing needs of low income Americans.
It shows an increased number of very low income households have severe housing difficulties, particularly housing costs that far exceed what they can afford.
The findings of the 66-page“Worst Case Housing Needs 2009: Report To Congress,” released Feb. 1, reveal that in 2009 there were 7.1 million worst case needs households in the country, up significantly from 5.9million two years prior.
HUD defines these worst case needs households as very low-income renters who do not receive government housing assistance and who either paid more than one-half of their income for rent, lived in severely inadequate conditions, or both.

Bloomberg to Lay Off Thousands of Teachers

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg intends to eliminate 4,278 teaching jobs through layoffs, and about 1,500 through attrition, marking the first significant layoffs of teachers since the fiscal crisis of the 1970s.

 

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange rails against Facebook, says it's a spy tool for US government

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange called Facebook "the most appalling spying machine ever invented" in an interview with Russia Today, pointing to the popular social networking site as one of the top tools for the U.S. to spy on its citizens.

"Here we have the world's most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations, their communications with each other and their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to US Intelligence," he said. "Facebook, Google, Yahoo, all these major U.S. organizations have built-in infaces for US intelligence.

"Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook they are doing free work for the United States intelligence agencies," he added.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/05/02/2011-05-02_wikileaks_founder_julian_assange_rails_against_facebook_says_its_a_spy_tool_for_.html#ixzz1LabXPyc9 

Unemployment down, Black unemployment up

More than 200,000 jobs were created last month, 216,000 to be exact.Coming after the February lift of more than 200,000 jobs, there are those who are saying that economic recovery is around the corner. I don't know what corner they are standing on, but the Black corner took a hit in March, and the Black unemployment rate rose from 15.3 to 15.5 percent.

No other racial/ethnic group saw unemployment rates rise.

Some will say the slight increase is statistically insignificant.Try telling that to Blacks who don't have jobs, or to those who are not in the labor force.Indeed, while the number of Whites who had dropped out of the labor force went down, the number of Blacks out of the labor force went up.

Will America ever have enough jobs?

“Blacks have got to make a major economic adjustment. There are a lot of jobs out there but they require computer and other skills training,” said Dr. David Horne, a California-based African Studies professor and political scientist.

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