Australian Anti-War Activist Joan Coxsedge's November 24, 2013 Letter

(The following letter from Australian anti-war and Latin American solidarity activist Joan Coxsedge—who is also a former member of the Victoria state parliament--originally appeared in an Australian-Cuban solidarity group’s newsletter).

November 24, 2013

Dear Comrades,

Last issue for the year so lots to talk about. Abbott’s only been PM for a minute and is already seen to be a dangerous far-right anti-secular dud, like his stable mate Dennis Napthine. Only surprised at the short time it’s taken. The spy scandal’s dominated our airwaves, but the media fail to report the reality, that Australia’s sovereignty is non-existent. We threw it away decades ago via a range of secret agencies and secret treaties that governments know nothing about. Our spies work for Washington, not for us, which is why I liked Chomsky’s article about a Chinese commentator who believes the world should become ‘de-Americanised’ because the US has failed to act responsibly as a global citizen. Crazy is the new norm among Tea Party extremists who have mounted an all-out assault against the population to privatise, deregulate and limit government, while retaining laws to serve those with wealth and power. Rejection of international obligations has grown so entrenched that foreign governments no longer expect Washington to ratify or participate in international treaties, a practice now accepted by Americans as if it’s their god-given right to terrorise large regions of the world with drone attacks and other killing machines. Fascism. And it’s not looking too flash here.

When it comes to Cuba, Washington defies the rest of the world (except Israel) by persisting in its blockade. Cuba committed the cardinal sin of beating back the US invasion and then had the audacity to survive an assault designed to bring ‘the terrors of the earth’, in the words of Kennedy advisor Arthur Schlesinger. This year’s anti-blockade ritual took place in the UN General Assembly with much the same result. And yet, despite all the obstacles thrown its way, Cuba managed to establish an excellent health care system, much better than the US and a template for others to follow. Each year, thousands of young leave poor countries to practise medicine in rich ones where there’s a glut of doctors, leaving people in their homeland without adequate care, whereas Cuba sends doctors to poor countries in an attempt to reverse this brain drain.

Before the Chilean coup, Allende’s ministers were warned ‘watch out, comrades, Jakarta is coming!’ ‘Jakarta’ referred to the bloody US-run coup in Indonesia in 1965 that killed more than a million people (Amnesty International, normally silent about the crimes of US imperialism, put the number at 1.5 million). ‘Jakarta’ was a monstrous experiment…to find out what happens to a poor country when hit by a coup, then thrown to religious zealots and forced to live under the heel of extreme capitalism and fascism and were no doubt thrilled by the result. Indonesia’s entire culture was destroyed and instead of education, brainwashing techniques perfected abroad were installed. Apart from the death toll, entire languages were banned, along with theatres, art films, atheism and everything that was left of centre, using thugs, paramilitaries, archaic family and religious structures and a toothless media to maintain the ‘new order’. A ruined environment, collapsed infrastructure, endemic corruption and a functionally illiterate population, ignorant about the world and its own history, completed the picture.

“…After the orgy of terror, the entire archipelago was silenced and unable to organise any resistance. But if you’re a corrupt local ruler or puppeteer that runs the country from abroad, you get easy access to all the natural resources. The West hailed this carnage as a splendid success, congratulating ‘Our Man Suharto as ‘Our Kind of Guy’! In 1988, Suharto fell, but the ‘model’ survived and the US has been busily administering it all over the world in different forms and variations to suppress dissent. Independence cannot be allowed, even in a country as small as East Timor, because it might spread. By the time Indonesian occupation ended in 1999, 200,000 Timorese – 30% of the population – had been wiped out.

In Chile, one of the world’s oldest democracies, the 1973 military takeover brought new horrors and also new hope when the soldiers arrested one of the nation’s most beloved singers, Victor Jara. They broke his hands and threw his guitar at him and shouted ‘now you can sing’, a crucial moment when the fight for freedom began. Despite great pain, Victor Jara stood up and sang Venceremos back to his tormentors. He sang loudly and they killed him, but he did not die. Victor Jara became the symbol of resistance against fascism and imperialism that spread throughout the continent, while in Indonesia there was silence. And Henry Kissinger continues to walk free. It’s fifty years since Kennedy was assassinated and the conspirators and their lackeys are still at it telling us there was no conspiracy and that the president was killed by one man, Lee Harvey Oswald. But in Mark Lane’s book Rush to Judgment, he describes in detail about all the unfortunate people with knowledge of the murder who mysteriously died. A few years later, The Parallax View by Loren Singer put the deaths into a political context. While on the subject of assassinations, it’s a matter of simple logic that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was also murdered. One of the most threatened persons in the world with dozens of Mossad agents and Phalangist spies determined to kill him. Israelis hated Arafat more than any other human being, after Hitler and Adolf Eichmann. Certain poisons do not need food. Slight physical contact is enough and Arafat’s body was not examined for radioactive polonium.

Hard to believe, but the head of a private UK outsourcing firm actually said out loud: ‘We need more wars’, blaming the lack of conflict for a spectacular collapse in Army recruitment. Take care on our roads and have a break over the holiday period. Viva!

Joan Coxsedge,

Did De Blasio's NYC Police Commissioner-Designate Bratton Violate Civil Liberties of New Yorkers?

New York City’s Democratic Mayor-elect, Bill de Blasio, recently named a former New York City police commissioner in former New York City Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s 1990s administration, Bill “Zero Tolerance” Bratton, to be the De Blasio Administration’s police commissioner in 2014. Coincidentally, De Blasio Administration Police Commissioner-Designate Bratton apparently tolerated New York City police violations of the civil liberties of many New Yorkers when he was the Giuliani Administration’s police commissioner. As University of Minnesota Law School Institute on Criminal Justice Judith Greene noted in an article, “Zero Tolerance: A Case Study of Police Policies and Practices in New York City,” that appeared in the April 1999 issue of “Crime and Delinquency”:

“The police reforms introduced in New York City by William Bratton are now hailed by...Rudy Giuliani as the epitome of `zero-tolerance' policing, and he credits them for winning dramatic reductions in the city's crime rate. But the number of citizen complaints filed before the Civilian Complaint Review Board has jumped skyward, as has the number of lawsuits alleging police misconduct and abuse of force...Police Commissioner William Bratton...served as commissioner for the first 27 months (from January 1994 to April 1996) of Giuliani's first term as mayor...

"...Bratton had served from 1990 to 1992 as chief of the New York Transit Police..At Transit, he pursued a...policing campaign that consisted of large-scale arrests of young New Yorkers for fare evasion...

"...Bratton attacked the legal restrictions that had impeded aggressive enforcement against those deemed disorderly. He `took the handcuffs off' the police department and unleashed patrol officers to stop and search citizens who were violating the most minor laws on the books (e.g., drinking a beer or urinating in public), to run warrant checks on them, or just to pull them in for questioning...

Former NYPD Commissioner William Bratton

“Joel Berger--a prominent New York City civil rights attorney who represents alleged victims of police misconduct and abuse in New York City--reports that legal filings of new civil rights claims against the police for abusive conduct have increased by 75 percent in the city over the last four years...Amnesty International has reported that police brutality and unjustifiable use of force is a widespread problem in New York City...

"There is a wealth of documentation to support the charge that police misconduct and abuse have increased under the Giuliani administration's zero-tolerance regime. The total number of citizen complaints filed annually with the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) increased more than 60 percent between 1992 and 1996, and Mark Green--the elected New York City public advocate--has charged that the police torture of Abner Louima in a precinct station house in the Borough of Brooklyn in the summer of 1997 was part of a larger `pattern of police abuse, brutality, and misconduct' in New York City that the Giuliani administration has failed to address...

“Joel Berger says that during the first year of the Giuliani administration, the number of complaints filed by citizens before the CCRB that involved incidents where no arrest was made or summons issued showed a sudden and sharp increase. The proportion of `general patrol incidents'--that is, civilian complaints associated simply with routine police contacts (involving no suspicion of criminal activity, no hot pursuit, no arrest or summons)--among all complaints increased from 29 percent for the last year of the Dinkins administration to 58 percent under Mayor Giuliani...

“According to New York City Public Advocate Mark Green, recent CCRB complaint data suggest that the problem of police misconduct is disproportionately concentrated in New York City's...minority neighborhoods. Nine out of 76 precincts account for more than 50 percent of the increase in CCRB complaints since 1992; 21 precincts account for more than 80 percent. Mark Green charges that those precincts with the highest incidence of misconduct `appear to have disproportionately higher percentages of African American and Latino residents'...Norman Siegel--director of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU)...has presented data showing that three quarters of all CCRB complaints are filed by African Americans and Latinos. He reports that African Americans (who make up 29 percent of the city's population) filed 53 percent of all complaints in 1996...

“Moreover, the vast majority of complaints filed with the CCRB are never substantiated, and the small portion that are substantiated usually do not result in proper disciplinary actions...Furthermore, Public Advocate Mark Green has complained that so few substantiated cases ever result in charges brought or disciplinary actions taken by the police department that the civilian complaint process is a sham….Data from the New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services from 1993 through 1996 show that arrests in New York City rose by 23 percent across the board. Reflecting the broken windows, zero-tolerance policing strategy introduced by Bratton, misdemeanor arrests rose by 40 percent--led by drug arrests, which were increased by 97 percent over this period..."

Black Worker Unemployment Rate: Still 12.5 Percent In November 2013

The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all Black workers (youth, male and female) in the United States was still 12.5 percent in November 2013; while the official jobless rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 12.3 percent during that same month, according to recently released Bureau of Labor Statistics data. In addition, between October and November 2013, the number of Black male workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 13,000 (from 8,377,000 to 8,364,000); while the official unemployment rate for Black female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 11.1 percent in November 2013.

The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 35.8 percent in November 2013; while the number of Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age who still had jobs dropped by 12,000 (from 444,000 to 432,000) between October and November 2013. In addition, the number of Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 21,000 (from 693,000 to 672,000) during the same period.

The jobless rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 18.6 percent in November 2013; while the number of white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 16,000 (from 4,578,000 to 4,562,000) between October and November 2013..

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 23.9 percent in November 2013; while the number of Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 4,000 (from 821,000 to 817,000) between October and November 2013. In addition, the number of Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 55,000 (from 1,130,000 to 1,075,000) during the same period.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age increased from 8.1 to 8.2 percent between October and November 2013; while the number of unemployed Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 26,000 (from 800,000 to 826,000) during the same period.

According to the “seasonally adjusted” data, the official jobless rate for all Latino workers (male, female and youth) was still 8.7 percent in November 2013; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 7.7 percent during that same month.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Asian-American workers in the United States increased from 5.2 to 5.3 percent between October and November 2013; while the number of unemployed Asian-American workers in the United States increased by 14,000 (from 443,000 to 457,000) during the same period.

The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for white male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 6 percent in November 2013; while the official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 5.3 percent during that same month.

In November 2013, the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 20.8 percent; while the official jobless rate for all female workers over 16 years-of-age in the United States was still 6.7 percent during that same month. In addition, the official unemployment rate for all male workers over 16 years-of-age in the United States was still 7.3 percent in November 2013. And between October and November 2013, the number of youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 28,000 (from 5,713,000 to 5,685,000); while the number of youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age not in the U.S. labor force increased by 17,000 (from 11,008,000 to 11,025,000) during the same period.

The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 6.2 percent in November 2013; while the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 6.7 percent during that same month.

In November 2013, the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all U.S. workers was still 7 percent in November 2013; while the official total number of workers in the United States who were still jobless during that same month was 10,907,000.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ December 6, 2013 press release:

“…The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged at 4.1 million in November. These individuals accounted for 37.3 percent of the unemployed…The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) fell by 331,000 to 7.7 million in November. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job…

“In November, 2.1 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force…These individuals…wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey…Among the marginally attached, there were 762,000 discouraged workers in November…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…

“…Nursing care facilities lost jobs (-4,000)…Federal government employment continued to decline (-7,000) in November…Employment in…mining and logging, wholesale trade, information, and financial activities showed little or no change in November…The change in total nonfarm payroll employment…for October was revised from +204,000 to +200,000…”

Remembering `Downtown'-`Aquarian Weekly' Editor James Rensenbrink (1932-2013)

In the Spring of 1990 the office of the East Coast Rocker/Aquarian Weekly’s sister publication in the East Village, Downtown, was located in a small rented back room inside somebody else’s store at 151 First Avenue, near E. 10th Street. And it was in that tiny back room--filled with a lot of clutter, piles of back issues and current issues of Downtown, a typewriter, a radio and a few telephones, desks and chairs--that I first met Jim Rensenbrink.

A few weeks earlier I had picked up a free copy of Downtown in the doorway of some Lower East Side restaurant. And--after noticing a “Writer for Downtown wanted” ad on one of the counter-cultural weekly newspaper’s inside pages--I mailed Downtown a copy of a column I had written to mark the 20th anniversary of the March 6, 1970 West Village Townhouse explosion (in which three members of the Weatherman faction of Students for a Democratic Society were killed) that a college student newspaper had recently published. A few days later, Jim contacted me and invited me to meet with him after 5 p.m. at the Downtown office.

Jim was sitting alone behind one of the desks reading and editing some copy when I arrived at the Downtown office. But after a few seconds, he noticed I was standing in front of his desk. And when he finally looked up, I introduced myself and reminded him that he had asked me to come meet with him.

Wearing jeans (and not a suit-and-tie like the editor of The Nation magazine had worn when I had visited that magazine’s plush office a few years before), Jim looked more like an aging hippie, beat poet or New Left professor—with a gray and white beard, but hair on his head that had been cut short—than like either a publisher/editor/owner of a youth market-oriented entertainment/arts weekly or a shrewd small businessman. And when—still wearing his glasses—Jim stood up, he revealed himself to be a lot taller than most of the other poets, writers and counter-cultural journalists I had previously met.

Jim—among his various other earthly material-world identities—was an anti-Establishment, politically radical green environmentalist, an anarcho-pacifist cultural and political revolutionary, poet-writer-journalist. And he wanted to use his Downtown newspaper to provide a media outlet in the 1990’s for Downtown Manhattan poets, artists and writers whose anti-war counter-culture rebel voices could not be found on the pages of mainstream corporate newspapers like The New York Times, plastic hip capitalist publications like Rolling Stone magazine, or weekly newspapers like the Village Voice, that claimed to be “alternative” in 1990, yet was then owned by billionaire New Jersey real estate developer Leonard Stern.

So after our chat in the Downtown office indicated that Jim and I pretty much agreed that an authentically hip counter-cultural weekly newspaper like Downtown should both include articles that Lower East Side readers would not find in the Village Voice and promote radical democratic change in the United States, I offered to write an expose' of the Village Voice’s then-owner: Billionaire Leonard Stern. And, before departing from the Downtown office, I asked Jim how long the article I was going to write should be, and Jim replied: “As long as you need to write it.”

In 2013, if a writer wants to write an article for Lower East Side readers that they would not find in the Village Voice, he or she can just post it on a blog and link it to his or her Facebook, MySpace or YouTube page or some other internet blog, comment form or social network page on the web. And if a Lower East Side reader wants to read an article like an expose’ of the Village Voice’s current ownership in 2013, he or she can often just type “expose Village Voice” inside google, yahoo or metacrawler search and eventually find such an article to read on the internet.

But in 1990 alternative places to allow readers to find articles that did not appear in newspapers, magazines, books or self-published leaflets and zines were rare. So if an article or poem wasn’t accepted for publication in some newspaper, magazine book or self-published as a leaflet or a zine, the rejected article or poem would often just end up in the bottom of a writer’s desk drawer. And that’s why Jim’s willingness to publish in Downtown the kind of anti-Establishment writing and poetry that the underground counter-cultural press of the 1960’s had been willing to publish—but the now-corporatized “alternative” newspapers of the 1990s like Rolling Stone magazine and the Village Voice were by then unwilling to publish—helped fulfill an important counter-cultural need for both writers and readers in the East Village during the 1990s.

After I researched, wrote and shoved inside Jim’s Downtown office mailbox the expose’ of then-Village Voice Owner Leonard Stern later in the Spring of 1990, Jim seemed to be taking a long time to publish it. So about three months after my initial chat with Jim, I spoke with him again briefly over the telephone in the Summer of 1990 and he indicated, in a businesslike tone, that he planned to publish the article in September 1990. Then—to my surprise—Jim highlighted the “Boss of The `Voice’: A Look At `Village Voice’ Owner Leonard Stern” article in a big way on the front page of Downtown's September 12, 1990 issue.

Apparently pleased by the reception Downtown’s “Boss of the Voice" article received from readers, Jim seemed very eager to discuss with me what the next Downtown article I wrote should be about, when I next visited the Downtown office to pick up the paycheck for the article that was in my Downtown mailbox. And we both agreed that I would next do an expose’ of Time magazine’s corporate connections for one of Downtown’s October 1990 issues.

During the next few months, the administration of George Herbert Walker Bush prepared to launch its 1991 Gulf War I attack on Iraq—on behalf of the special economic interests of the Kuwaiti royal family and U.S. transnational corporations—which initiated over two decades of U.S. military intervention and deadly economic sanctions in Iraq that have caused millions of Iraqi deaths between 1991 and 2013. So in our periodic discussions in the Downtown office between October 1990 and December 1991 when I visited there to pick up my paycheck, Jim and I also agreed that—besides writing more monthly articles about the hidden corporate connections of different U.S. mass media conglomerates—I should also sometimes write articles exposing the economic motivation for the endless U.S. military intervention abroad in countries like Iraq during the 1990s. Then, in November 1991, Jim decided to include a news briefs and comments column, "Brief" (which later evolved into a report and comment on power elite connections in the U.S. column, “Connections”), that I wrote in each issue of Downtown, until it ceased to be owned and edited by Jim in early 1997.

Unlike many other U.S. newspaper and magazine editors, Jim was a non-interventionist editor who didn’t try to substitute his own voice for the original writer’s voice when he edited copy, and who didn’t require writers to rewrite their articles over and over again, until they conformed to some pre-existing, already-established, often conventional and mainstream-defined plastic editorial standard. He was also a morally courageous rebel editor who was not afraid to print articles that expressed unpopular, dissident opinions, exposed unpleasant truths and hypocritical politicians, or challenged the criminal or immoral actions and policies of the U.S. power elite and U.S. power elite institutions. And he was an editor who opposed all forms of literary censorship, whether or not the censorship expressed itself in the form of state censorship, political censorship, commercial censorship, corporate censorship, academic censorship, fundamentalist religious-based censorship or self-censorship.

Unlike many other U.S. newspaper and magazine editors, Jim also sought neither the approval of the politically and economically powerful “1 percent” nor wealth; and he had no desire for personal celebrity or material goods. In the 1990s his main motive for publishing Downtown on a shoe-string budget and non-profit basis seemed to be altruistic and authentically philanthropic; and he once mentioned to me that if he ever felt that publishing Downtown was no longer a valid way to both serve artists, writers and the counter-cultural community of the Lower East Side and promote politically radical environmentalism and personal and collective liberation in the USA, he would gladly cease being its publisher/editor and “just spend my time writing poetry and enjoying nature.”

A check of all that Jim wrote and published in his various counter-cultural newspapers in the late 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s probably would make it obvious to most people that Jim left behind a journalistic legacy that was special and unique; and that Jim, himself—as the negative political and economic drift of early 21st-century U.S. history revealed—provided a prophetic warning in the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s of what U.S. society was turning into, as well as a prophetic vision of what could be done to avoid a future environmental/political/economic/moral catastrophe, if people in the USA—the “99 percent”--eventually rise up in revolt against their Wall Street Corporate Oppressors.

And besides his novel, The Basketball Player, Jim also left us poems like his “Snakebit” poem, which contained the following text:

“Who would have thought that the Germans would acquiesce?
Who would have thought that the Austrians would confess?
Who (but begrudgingly) gave Diamond Lil a nod
When she told the cowboys she believed in God?

“Who dare write letters to a pious pope,
when their veins and arteries are screaming for dope?
Who dare read the Bible in the month of May,
when the sex of Divinity is blooming with play?

“Disciples are wandering; the Messiah is dead.
The scientist proposes new drugs instead.
The Germans are telling their girlfriends the news.
What’s left to believe in; what deodorant to use.”

James Rensenbrink Presente!

Black Worker Unemployment Rate Increases To 13.1 Percent In October 2013

The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all Black workers (youth, male and female) increased from 12.9 to 13.1 percent between September and October 2013; while the total number of jobless Black workers in the United States increased by 25,000 (from 2,402,000 to 2,427,000) during the same period, according to recently released Bureau of Labor Statistics data. In addition, between September and October 2013, the official jobless rate for Black female workers over 20 years-of-age jumped from 10 to 11.5 percent; while the number of unemployed Black female workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 143,000 (from 946,000 to 1,089,000) during the same period.

The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age increased from 35.1 to 36 percent between September and October 2013; while the number of Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age who still had jobs dropped by 43,000 (from 487,000 to 444,000) during the same period. In addition, between September and October 2013, the jobless rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age increased from 19.3 to 19.4 percent; while the number of white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 5,000 (from 3,695,000 to 3,690,000) during the same period. And the number of unemployed white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age increased by 6,000 (from 882,000 to 888,000) between September and October 2013.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age jumped from 25.8 to 27.4 percent between September and October 2013: while the number of Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 10,000 (from 831,000 to 821,000) during the same period. In addition, the number of unemployed Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age in the United States increased by 30,000 (from 289,000 to 309,000) between September and October 2013; while the number of Asian-American workers in the United States who still had jobs decreased by 163,000 (from 8,218,000 to 8,055,000), according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

According to the “seasonally adjusted” data, the total number of unemployed Latino workers in the United States (male, female and youth) increased by 25,000 (from 2,228,000 to 2,253,000) between September and October 2013; while the official jobless rate for all Latino workers (male, female and youth) increased from 9 to 9.1 percent during the same period. In addition, between September and October 2013, the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age increased from 7.4 to 7.8 percent; while the number of unemployed Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 49,000 (from 1,026,000 to 1,075,000) during the same period.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 8.1 percent in October 2013; while the number of unemployed Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 800,000 during that same month.

The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 13 percent in October 2013; while the number of Black male workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 18,000 (from 7,307,000 to 7,289,000) between September and October 2013. In addition, the number of Black male workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 122,000 (from 8,499,000 to 8,377,000) between September and October 2013; while the number of white male workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 251,000 (from 64,323,000 to 64,072,000) during the same period.

The number of white male workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 280,000 (from 60,408,000 to 60,128,000) between September and October 2013; while the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for white male workers over 20 years-of-age increased from 6.1 to 6.2 percent during the same period. In addition, the number of unemployed white male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States increased by 29,000 (from 3,915,000 to 3,944,000) between September and October 2013.

Tthe number of white female workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 183,000 (from 51,285,000 to 51,102,000) between September and October 2013; while the number of white female workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 218,000 (from 54,279,000 to 54,061,000) during the same period. In addition, the official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 5.5 percent in October 2013.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Asian-American workers in the United States was still 5.2 percent in October 2013; while the “not seasonally adjusted” number of unemployed Asian-American workers was still 443,000 during that same month.

Between September and October 2013, the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age increased from 21.4 to 22.2 percent; while the official jobless rate for all female workers over 16 years-of-age in the United States increased from 6.7 to 6.9 percent during the same period. In addition, the official unemployment rate for all male workers over 16 years-of-age in the United States was still 7.6 percent in October 2013.

Between September and October 2013, the number of all female workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 327,000 (from 65,582,000 to 65,255,000); while the number of all female workers over 20 years-of-age in the U.S. labor force decreased by 229,000 (from 69,936,000 to 69,707,000) during that same period. In addition, the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all female workers over 20 years-of-age increased from 6.2 to 6.4 percent between September and October 2013; while the official number of unemployed female workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States increased by 97,000 (from 4,354,000 to 4,451,000) during the same period.

The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all U.S. workers increased from 7.2 to 7.3 percent between September and October 2013; while the official total number of unemployed workers in the United States increased by17,000 (from 11,255,000 to 11,272,000) during the same period. In addition, the total number of people still in the U.S. labor force decreased by 720,000 (from 155,559,000 to 154,839,000) between September and October 2013; while the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 7 percent in October 2013.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ November 8, 2013 press release:

“…The unemployment rate, at 7.3 percent, changed little in October. Among the unemployed, however, the number who reported being on temporary layoffs increased by 448,000. This figure includes furloughed federal employees who were classified as unemployed on temporary layoff…(Estimates of the unemployed by reason, such as temporary layoff…do not sum to the officially seasonally adjusted measure of total unemployed…)…

“The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 4.1 million in October. These individuals accounted for 36.1 percent of the unemployed…The civilian labor force was down by 720,000 in October…The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed at 8.1 million in October. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job…

“In October, 2.3 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force. These individuals…wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey…Among the marginally attached, there were 815,000 discouraged workers in October…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…

“…Federal government employment continued to trend down…Clothing and clothing accessories stores lost 13,000 jobs…In October, employment showed little or no change…in…mining and logging, construction, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and financial activities.

“Federal government employment declined by 12,000 in October. Over the past 12 months, federal government employment has decreased by 94,000. Federal employees on furlough during the partial government shutdown were still considered employed…”

Black Male Worker Unemployment Rate Increases To 14 Percent In September 2013

The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States increased from 13.5 to 14 percent between August and September 2013; while the official number of unemployed Black male workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 72,000 (from 1,120,000 to 1,192,000) during that same period. In addition, the number of Black female workers over 20 years-of-age in the U.S. labor force decreased by 29,000 (from 9,450,000 to 9,421,000) between August and September 2013; while the official jobless rate for Black female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 10 percent in September 2013.

The official unemployment rate for Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 35.1 percent in September 2013; while the official number of unemployed Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 263,000 during that same month. In addition, the official jobless rate for all Black workers (youth, male and female) was still 12.9 percent in September 2013; while the total number of jobless Black workers in the United States during that same month was still 2,402,000.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 25.8 percent in September 2013: while the number of unemployed Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 88,,000 (from 919,000 to 831,000) between August and September 2013, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data. In addition, the number of Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age in the U.S. labor force decreased by 164,000 (from 1,284,000 to 1,120,000) during the same period.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 8.1 percent in September 2013; while the number of unemployed Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 798,000 during that same month.

The number of Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 43,000 (from 12,799,000 to 12,756,000) between August and September 2013, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data; while the number of Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age in the U.S. labor force decreased by 113,000 (from 13,894,000 to 13,782,000) during that same period. And the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 7.4 percent in September 2013.

According to the “seasonally adjusted” data, the total number of all Latino workers in the United States (male, female and youth) who still had jobs decreased by 14,000 (from 22,612,000 to 22,598,000) between August and September 2013; while the total number of Latino workers in the U.S. labor force decreased by 116,000 (from 24,942,000 to 24,826,000) during that same period. In addition the official “seasonally adjusted jobless rate for all Latino workers (male, female and youth) was still 9 percent in September 2013; while the total number of unemployed Latino workers was still 2,228,000 during that same month..

The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 19.3 percent in September 2013; while the official unemployment rate for all white workers (youth, male and female) was still 6.3 percent during that same month. In addition, between August and September 2013, the total number of white workers in the United States who still had jobs decreased by 76,000 (from 115,464,000 to 115,388)); while the number of white workers in the U.S. labor force dropped by 199,000 (from 123,378,000 to 123,179,000).

Between August and September 2013, the number of white female workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 209,000 (from 51,494,000 to 51,285,000); while the number of unemployed white female workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 14,000 (from 2,980,000 to 2,994,000) during that same period. In addition, the number of white female workers over 20 years-of-age in the U.S. labor force decreased by 195,000 (from 54,474,000 to 54,279,000) between August and September 2013; while the official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 5.5 percent in September 2013.

The number of white male workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 8,000 (from 60,416,000 to 60,408,000) between August and September 2013; while the number of white male workers over 20 years-of-age in the U.S. labor force decreased by 110,000 (from 64,433,000 to 64,323,000) during the same period. In addition, the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for white male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 6.1 percent in September 2013; while 3,915,000 white male workers over 20 years-of-age were still unemployed during that same month.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Asian-American workers in the United States increased from 5.1 to 5.3 percent between August and September 2013; while the “not seasonally adjusted” number of unemployed Asian-American workers increased by 17,000 (from 441,000 to 458,000) during that same period.

In September 2013, the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 21.4 percent; while the official jobless rate for all female workers over 16 years-of-age in the United States was still 6.7. percent during that same month. In addition, the official unemployment rate for all male workers over 16 years-of-age in the United States was still 7.7 percent in September 2013.

Between August and September 2013, the number of female workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 168,000 (from 65,750,000 to 65,582,000); while the number of female workers over 20 years-of-age in the U.S. labor force decreased by 204,000 (from 70,140,000 to 69,936,000) during that same period. In addition, the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 6.2 percent in September 2013; while the jobless rate for all male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States was still 7.1 percent during that same month.

The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all U.S. workers was still 7.2 percent in September 2013; while the official total number of unemployed workers in the United States was still 11,255,000 during that same month. In addition, the total number of people not in the U.S. labor force increased by 132,000 (from 90,473,000 to 90,609,000) between August and September 2013.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ October 22,, 2013 press release:

“…The unemployment rate, at 7.2 percent, changed little in September…The number of unemployed persons, at 11.3 million, was also little changed over the month…In September, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 4.1 million. These individuals accounted for 36.9 percent of the unemployed…The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was unchanged at 7.9 million in September. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job…

“In September, 2.3 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force…These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey…Among the marginally attached, there were 852,000 discouraged workers in September…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…

“…Employment in…mining and logging, manufacturing, information, and government, showed little change in September…The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July was revised from +104,000 to +89,000…”

Lawrence, Massachussetts' `Not Seasonally Adjusted' Jobless Rate In August 2013: 14.9 Percent

Eight major Massachusetts cities had “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rates in August 2013 that exceeded the national “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for that month of 7.3 percent, according to recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data:

1. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate in Lawrence, Massachusetts was 14.9 percent in August 2013;

2. The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate in New Bedford, Massachusetts was 13.1 percent in August 2013;

3. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate in Fall River, Massachusetts was 12.3 percent in August 2013;

4. The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate in Springfield, Massachusetts was 11.6 percent in August 2013;

5. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate in Brockton, Massachusetts was 9.5 percent in August 2013;

6. The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate in Worcester, Massachusetts was 8.9 percent in August 2013;

7. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate in Lowell, Massachusetts was 8.5 percent in August 2013; and

8. The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate in Lynn, Massachusetts was 7.9 percent in August 2013.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate in Boston, Massachusetts in August 2013 was 7.1 percent.


According to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development’s September 19, 2013 press release:

“…Revised BLS estimates show a 300 jobs loss in July….Over the year, Manufacturing lost 1,500 (-0.6%) jobs….Other Services lost 1,200 (-1.0%) jobs over the month… Professional, Scientific and Business Services lost 300 (-0.1%) jobs over the month…Trade, Transportation and Utilities lost 100 (0.0%) jobs over the month…The August labor force increased by 1,200 from 3,490,600 in July 2013, as 1,200 fewer residents were employed and 2,400 more residents were unemployed over the month….”

In August 2013, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data, 241,700 workers in Massachusetts were still unemployed. Over 66,000 of these unemployed Massachusetts workers—or around one out of every four unemployed Bay State workers—live in either Boston, Brockton, Fall River, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Springfield or Worcester.

Bill De Blasio: Hillary Clinton's Puppet for Mayor of New York City?--Part 1

“In February 2000, I formally declared my candidacy…Patti Solis Doyle…coordinated my White House and campaign schedules,…overseeing logistics and helping to run campaign strategy…On the campaign, Patti joined an experienced team led by my campaign manager, Bill de Blasio, who proved to be an outstanding strategist and trusted emissary among the…communities of New York…Finance director Gabrielle Fialkoff…handled the…critical job of raising money…”

--former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2003


BILL DE BLASIO: HILLARY CLINTON'S PUPPET FOR MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY?

In 2000 the wife of former Arkansas Governor and then-Democratic President Bill Clinton decided she wanted to disenfranchise voters in New York--by “carpetbagging” from the White House, grabbing a third seat in the U.S. Senate for Arkansas’s white corporate power structure, using the seat in the U.S. Senate as a stepping-stone for her presidential campaign, and voting to support the Bush Administration’s 2003 military attack on Iraq that most New Yorkers opposed.

And, coincidentally, when former Wal-Mart board member Hillary Clinton needed a campaign manager in New York to help her disenfranchise New York City anti-war voters, the local politician she hired to manage her 2000 campaign to grab New York’s seat in the U.S. Senate was none other than 2013 Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio. As the “New York Times” (8/25/13) recalled:

“Mr. de Blasio, a former official in the Clinton administration under Housing Secretary Andrew M. Cuomo, joined the campaign in late 1999, after being recommended by several people close to the Clintons, including Harold Ickes, a former deputy chief of staff to President Bill Clinton….His primary objectives — given the carpetbagging charges that dogged Mrs. Clinton — included serving as a liaison to New York’s power brokers, in the city and upstate…

“Never was he more instrumental, his colleagues say, than when he soothed the feelings of Jewish leaders…Indeed, Mr. de Blasio stayed in close contact with Assemblyman Dov Hikind ... And Patti Solis Doyle, a longtime adviser to Mrs. Clinton, said that the former first lady `would not have been senator without him’ because `he paved the way for her with many of the prickly political factions in New York State.’

“Mr. de Blasio’s assiduous courtship of Jewish leaders in Brooklyn also solidified his credentials for his own Council run in 2001. Colleagues even joked about his frequent trips to Brooklyn during the Senate race, and started calling him Councilman.

“And his networking efforts paid off: Mrs. Clinton’s Senate donors eventually accounted for more than a third of his fund-raising haul in his Council race, according to an analysis by `The New York Times’….”

Like her apparent puppet, Hillary Clinton did not get any of her pre-2000 jobs by being chosen in an election by New York City voters. “Hillary: Her True Story” by Norman King describes how the possible 2016 Democratic Party presidential candidate obtained, for instance, her lucrative corporate lawyer job at Arkansas’s Rose Law firm during the 1970s:

“When her husband took the oath of office in January 1977 and prepared for two years of dealing with the enforcement of law in the state of Arkansas. Hillary looked around for some kind of legal work…She was pleasantly surprised to land a place at the Rose Law firm…

“Conflict-of-interest questions frequently arose because the Rose organization was so ingrained in the Arkansas establishment…The firm specialized in…business litigation…Many of its clients were corporations, including General Motors,…the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, and Tyson Foods.

“…According to partner George Campbell of Rose, `Herb [Rule] was responsible for getting her’…Clinton and Rule, a former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, had been friends since Rule’s campaign for the 1974 congressional seat. `I was the point person on recruiting,’ Rule recalled, `and I got the word that she was coming, and I tracked her down.’”

Between 1985 and 1992, the Clinton Administration in Arkansas, coincidentally, dished out over $240,000 in Arkansas government contracts to the Rose corporate law firm that employed Hillary Clinton, according to the April 27, 1992 issue of "U.S. News & World Report". Of the $240,000 in state contracts Hillary Clinton’s law firm received from her husband’s administration, $135,000 came from Arkansas state agencies and $109,000 came from Arkansas state bond counseling work. Although Bill Clinton’s economic program in Arkansas enabled his family to accumulate over $1 million in assets during the 1980s, in 1991 only seven other states had a greater percentage of people living in poverty than had Arkansas. Only four other states had a lower average income than Arkansas in 1989, when Arkansas’s average income was over $5,000 less than the U.S. national average and nearly $10,000 less than the average income in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

So don’t expect a New York City Mayor who has a history of being an apparent puppet of the Clintons of Arkansas to be anymore politically effective in finally ending poverty in New York City after 2013 than the Clintons were in finally ending poverty in either Arkansas or the United States when they held political offices prior to 2013.

Black Worker `Not Seasonally Adjusted’ Unemployment Rate Increases To 13.5 Percent In August 2013

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all Black workers (youth, male and female) increased from 13.4 to 13.5 percent between July and August 2013; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age jumped from 12.4 to 13.3 percent during the same period, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data. In addition, the “not seasonally adjusted” total number of jobless Black male workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 61,000 (from 1,052,000 to 1,113,000) between July and August 2013; while the number of Black male workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 174,000 (from 7,398,000 to 7,224,000) during the same period, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Black female workers over 20 years-of-age increased from 11.3 to 11.5 percent between July and August 2013; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” number of unemployed Black female workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 25,000 (from 1,063,000 to 1,088,000) during that same period. In addition, the number of Black female workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 27,000 (from 8,382,000 to 8,355,000) between July and August 2013, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 38.4 percent in August 2013; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” number of unemployed Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 306,000 in August 2013.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age increased from 7.7 to 7.9 percent between July and August 2013; while the number of unemployed Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 33,000 (from 1,063,000 to 1,096,000) during the same period. In addition, the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 28.4 percent in August 2013: while the number of unemployed Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 78,,000 (from 997,000 to 919,000) between July and August 2013, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 8.7 percent in August 2013; while the number of Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 103,000 (from 9,041,000 to 8,938,000) between July and August 2013. In addition, the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all Latino workers in the United States (male, female and youth) was still 9.2 percent in August 2013; while the total number of Latino workers not in the U.S. labor force increased by 338,000 (from 12,328,000 to 12,666,000) between July and August 2013, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 19.4 percent in August 2013; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all white workers (youth, male and female) was still 6.4 percent in that same month. In addition, between July and August 2013, the total number of white workers in the United States who still had jobs decreased by 537,000 (from 116,321,000 to 115,884,000); while the number of white workers in the U.S. labor force dropped by 1,021,000 (from 124,807,000 to 123,786,000) during the same period, according to the official “not seasonally adjusted” data..

In August 2013, the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for white female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 5.9 percent; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 5.8 percent in the same month.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Asian-American workers was still 5.1 percent in August 2013; while the number of Asian-American workers who still had jobs decreased by 20,000 (from 8,153,000 to 8,133,000) between July and August 2013, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data. In addition, the number of Asian-American workers in the U.S. labor force decreased by 67,000 (from 8,641,000 to 8,574,000) during the same period, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

In August 2013, the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 22.1 percent; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all female workers over 16 years-of-age in the United States was still 7.3 percent in that same month. In addition, the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all male workers over 16 years-of-age in the United States was still 7.4 percent in August 2013.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States was still 6.7 percent in August 2013; while the “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 6.7 percent in that same month..

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all U.S. workers was still 7.3 percent in August 2013; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” total number of unemployed workers in the United States was still 11,462,000 in that same month. In addition, the total number of people not in the U.S. labor force increased by 1,428,000 (from 88,560,000 to 89,988,000) between July and August 2013, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ September 6,, 2013 press release:

“…The unemployment rate was little changed at 7.3 percent…Employment…declined in information...Both the number of unemployed persons, at 11.3 million, and the unemployment rate at 7.3 percent, changed little in August…

“In August, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was about unchanged at 4.3 million. These individuals accounted for 37.9 percent of the unemployed…The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) declined by 334,000 to 7.9 million in August. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job…

“In August, 2.3 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force…These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey…

“Among the marginally attached, there were 866,000 discouraged workers in August, essentially unchanged from a year earlier…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…

“…In August…employment in information declined...Employment in temporary help services changed little in August…Within information, the motion picture and sound recording industry lost 22,000 jobs in August…Employment in…mining and logging, construction, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and government, showed little or no change in August…

“The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised from +188,000 to +172,000, and the change for July was revised from +162,000 to +104,000. With these revisions, employment gains in June and July combined were 74,000 less than previously reported…”

Democratic Obama Administration's Planned Attack On Syria Would Violate UN Charter and International Law

According to a recent articles in some UK newspapers, UK Prime Minister Cameron and US President and Commander-in-Chief Obama agreed during a recent 40-minute telephone conversation to order their war machines to attack--without any United Nations authorization--people in Syria during the next two weeks. Yet according to Article 2(3) of the United Nations Charter:

"All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered."

And according to Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter:

"All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations."

Principle VI:(a) of the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunals also states the following:

"Crimes Against peace: (i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances; (ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned in (i)."

In addition, Principle VII of the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunals states:

"Complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against huanity as set forth in Principle VI is a crime under international law."

According to a 2005 article by Roger Normand and the Center for Economic and Social Rights:

"The U.S. and U.K. have also sought to justify war under the legally dubiious doctrine of humanitarian intervention, a new concept that has not gained the support of the international law community. This doctrine--recently advocated by several Western countries and human rights organizations--proposes that the international community has the right and duty to use military force for humanitarian purposes such as stopping egregious violations of human rights. This concept has aroused skepticism from most international lawyers, in part because it circumvents well-established procedures and principles of the U.N. Charter and international law...

"The obvious danger of humanitarian intervention is that it enables individual states to intervene wherever and whenever they perceive a compelling humanitarian necessity, unaccountable to established legal limits on the use of force. There is no safeguard to prevent states from manipulating this concept to serve narrow political interests rather than universal humanitarian concerns...

"By invoking the concept of humanitarian intervention to justify an otherwise unlawful use of force, the U.S. and U.K. would effectively overturn the established hierarchy of international law..."


So a military attack on people in Syria by the U.S. and UK war machines during the next two weeks would violate the UN Charter and international law--since no military attack on people in either the United States nor the United Kingdom by any Syrian government-controlled military unit has occurred.

Ironically, the U.S. president who recently authorized an illegal military attack to be launched on people in Syria apparently graduated from Harvard University Law School during the early 1990s.

Lawrence, Massachusetts `Not Seasonally Adjusted' Jobless Rate In June 2013: 15.7 Percent

Nine major Massachusetts cities had “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rates in June 2013 that exceeded the national “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for that month of 7.8 percent, according to recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data:

1. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate in Lawrence, Massachusetts was 15.7 percent in June 2013;

2. The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate in New Bedford, Massachusetts was 13.6 percent in June 2013;

3. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate in Fall River, Massachusetts was 12 percent in June 2013;

4. The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate in Springfield, Massachusetts was 11.9 percent in June 2013;

5. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate in Brockton, Massachusetts was 9.9 percent in June 2013;

6. The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate in Worcester, Massachusetts was 9.7 percent in June 2013;

7. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate in Lowell, Massachusetts was 9.3 percent in June 2013;

8. The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate in Lynn, Massachusetts was 8.6 percent in June 2013; and

9. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate in Pittsfield, Massachusetts was 8.3 percent in June 2013; and

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate in Boston, Massachusetts in June 2013 was 7.8 percent—the same “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate as the U.S. national “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for that month.

According to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development’s August 15, 2013 press release, “revised BLS estimates show a 2,100 jobs loss in June” 2013 in Massachusetts. And in Massachusetts during July 2013:

“Education and Health Services shed 1,100…jobs over the month…Other Services lost 600… jobs over the month…Manufacturing lost 400 jobs…over the month….Government lost 2,200…jobs over the month….”

In July 2013, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” date, 255,900 workers in Massachusetts were still unemployed.

Australian Anti-War Activist Joan Coxsedge's July 18, 2013 Letter

(The following letter from Australian anti-war and Latin American solidarity activist Joan Coxsedge—who is also a former member of the Victoria state parliament--originally appeared in an Australian-Cuban solidarity group’s newsletter).

“July 18, 2013

"Dear Comrades,

"Hope you’re OK. The world certainly isn’t. Like the bubonic plague, US imperialism has infected every square inch of it through military bases and trade deals, corporate exploitation, debt and a vast communications surveillance network (confirming what many already knew) which has exposed Washington’s reach into every street and hall of power, spying and indiscriminately collecting the emails and telephone records of hundreds of millions of people and largely getting away with it in the name of ‘national security’. More than McDonalds and guns, the empire relies on fear and retaliation, even on its home turf.

"Last week, Obama escalated the war on freedom of the press when a Circuit Court judge ruled that New York Times reporter James Risen must disclose his sources or go to gaol. A blow to US investigative journalism and to whistleblowers, but lord knows how it will affect us here seeing that investigative journalism is almost non-existent. Surveillance on this scale is not a kid’s game of cops and robbers but is a linchpin of a repressive social order with the capacity to strike against anyone who dares to oppose it. Why else have the surveillance? If Washington wasn’t engaged in policies and actions that are illegal, immoral, aggressive, war-provoking and evil, the issue of leaks would never arise. Secrecy is the perfect camouflage to protect the elite’s hidden agenda and its war crimes, with the ballot box a further useful way to shut people up by giving an illusion of democracy.

"In his Brave New World Revisited, writes Pilger, Aldous Huxley describes a new class of people conditioned to accept a normality that is anything but, where the human voice has been silenced so early in their lives they do not fight back. Surveillance is normal in an Age of Regression – as pointed out by Edward Snowden - where ubiquitous cameras are normal, subverted freedoms are normal and public dissent controlled by police is normal. Huxley describes this regression as insane and ‘our adjustment to an abnormal society as a sign of madness. Which just about sums us up, but thankfully, not all of us.

"The more I read about Obama the less I like him. He supports militarisation and a passive constituency that yawns when confronted with climate change, environmental degradation and pollution associated with mining and fracking. Earlier this month, former White House journo Helen Thomas died. She’d been covering the presidential patch since Adam fell in the treacle but lost her job after saying that Israel ‘should get out of Palestine.’ Obama jumped straight in and called her comments ‘offensive’ and sacked her, underpinning his ardent support of Israel’s brutal occupation. No wonder the ‘peace process’ is a sick joke. His Sec of State John Kerry marches around the Middle East brow-beating the Palestinians into signing a dud accord that serves Israeli and US interests and then trumpets a ‘breakthrough’ after twisting the arms of corrupt Netanyahu and corrupt Abbas whose Palestinian Authority was created with Israeli consent and funded by US-led donor countries. When his ‘breakthrough’ comes to an abrupt end you can be sure the Palestinians will cop the blame. Kerry claims to be an anti-war activist, but his brief career in Vietnam and Cambodia was notable for acts of savagery and a lack of contrition for atrocities that in a rational society would be classified as war crimes.

"Polls from all over the world consistently show that Israel and the US are regarded as the two greatest threats to peace and yet these two lawless governments ponce around pretending to be the ‘world’s greatest democracies’. Neither government accepts any accountability to international law, to human rights, to the Geneva Convention or to their own statutory law. They are rogue governments, throwbacks to the Hitler era. For the past 68 years, most military aggression can be sheeted home to these two. It’s Israel that has a nuclear arsenal that is illegal, unacknowledged and unaccountable and it’s Washington morons that have drafted a war plan against China based on a nuclear first strike called ‘AirSea battle. Their supremo electronic spying body, the National Security Agency, is the spearhead for an American version of fascism. We should heed Jimmy Carter’s recent statement – only reported in Germany – that the United States is no longer a functioning democracy. But Israel is in trouble. A binding EU directive due to become effective on January 1, 2014, will pave the way for a complete boycott of Israel’s illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"Back home, grudging confirmation that Pine Gap is pivotal in US war games. Three of us put out booklets during the 1970s and a book in 1982 (31 years ago) detailing Pine Gap’s role where the US pulls the strings and Australian workers on the base are cooks, guards and bottle-washers and the hush-hush 5-nation UKUSA Treaty signed by Australia, expecting to cause a stir. Silly us! It was attacked by the Right and ignored by the mainstream. Which brings me to censorship and Washington’s unrelenting war on Cuba that it doesn’t want you to know about. In June, a fraternal British group, the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, sent money to the US Monthly Review Press to buy 100 copies of a new book The Economic War Against Cuba, but numbskulls in the US Dept of the Treasury seized the money, symptomatic of the lengths to which the US is prepared to go. A big thank-you to those hardy souls who braved the driving rain to take part in the launch of my book – Old Cuba, World Heritage - by Dr Ralph Newmark. A lovely evening despite the weather. Just a thought. Baby George drew breath on July 14, the same date the tumbrels rattled through the mediaeval streets of Old Paris to ferry the Bourbons to Madame La Guillotine. Viva Cuba!

"Joan Coxsedge "

Latino Worker `Not Seasonally Adjusted’ Unemployment Rate Increases To 9.5 Percent In July 2013

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all Latino workers (youth, male and female) increased from 9.1 to 9.5 percent between June and July 2013; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latina female workers over 20 years-of-age increased from 8.6 to 9 percent during the same period, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data. In addition, the “not seasonally adjusted” total number of jobless Latino workers increased by 121,000 (from 2,277,000 to 2,398,000) between June and July 2013; while the number of unemployed Latina female workers increased by 32,000 (from 857,000 to 889,000) during the same period, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age increased from 7.5 to 7.7 percent between June and July 2013; while the number of unemployed Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 27,000 (from 1,036,000 to 1,063,000) during the same period. In addition, the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age increased from 29.6 to 30.9 percent between June and July 2013: while the number of unemployed Latino youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age increased by 63,000 (from 383,000 to 446,000) during the same period, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 42.9 percent in July 2013; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all Black workers (youth, female and male) in the United States was still 13.4 in the same month. In addition, the official “not seasonally adjusted” number of unemployed Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 399,000 in July 2013; while the “not seasonally adjusted” number of unemployed Black workers (youth, female and male) in the United States was still 2,513,000 in that same month. And the number of Black workers not in the U.S. labor force increased by 63,000 (from 11,502,000 to 11,565,000) between June and July 2013, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.
The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Black female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 11.3 percent in July 2013; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” number of unemployed Black female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 1,063,000 in that same month. In addition, the number of Black female workers over 20 years-of-age still in the U.S. civilian labor force decreased by 102,000 (from 9,551,000 to 9,449,000) between June and July 2013.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 12.4 percent in July 2013; while the official “seasonally adjusted” number of unemployed Black male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States was still 1,052,000 in that same month..

The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 20.5 percent in July 2013; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all white workers (youth, male and female) was still 6.8 percent in that same month. In addition, in July 2013 the “not seasonally adjusted” total number of officially unemployed white workers in the United States was still 8,486,000; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” number of unemployed white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 1,165,000 in that same month.

Between June and July 2013, the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for white female workers over 20 years-of-age increased from 6.2 to 6.3 percent; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 6 percent in July 2013. In addition, the official “not seasonally adjusted” number of unemployed white female workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 64,000 (from 3,346,000 to 3,410,000) between June and July 2013; while the “not seasonally adjusted” number of white female workers over 20 years-of-age who still had jobs decreased by 99,000 (from 50,893,000 to 50,794,000) during the same period.

According to the “not seasonally adjusted” data, the total number of unemployed Asian-American workers in the United States increased by 53,000 (from 435,000 to 488,000) between June and July 2013; while the unemployment rate for Asian-American workers also increased from 5 to 5.7 percent during the same period.

In July 2013, the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 24.2 percent; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all female workers over 16 years-of-age in the United States was still 7.8 percent in that same month. In addition, the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all male workers over 16 years-of-age in the United States was still 7.6 percent in July 2013.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States was still 6.8 percent in July 2013; while the “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 7 percent in that same month. In addition, the total number of female workers over 20 years-of-age not in the U.S. labor force increased by 346,000 (from 48,905,000 to 49,251,000) between June and July 2013, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all U.S. workers was still 7.7 percent in July 2013; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” total number of unemployed workers in the United States was still 12,083,000 in that same month. In addition, the total number of people not in the U.S. labor force increased by 97,000 (from 88,463,000 to 88,560,000) between June and July 2013.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ August 2, 2013 press release:
“…In July, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at
4.2 million. These individuals accounted for 37.0 percent of the unemployed…The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was essentially unchanged at 8.2 million in July. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

“In July, 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, little changed from a year earlier…These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey…Among the marginally attached, there were 988,000 discouraged workers in July, up by 136,000 from a year earlier…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…”

“…Employment in temporary help services changed little over the month.

“Manufacturing employment was essentially unchanged in July and has changed little, on net, over the past 12 months…Employment in health care was essentially unchanged over the month….Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, construction, transportation and warehousing, and government, showed little change in July…In July, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 2 cents…Employment gains in May and June combined were 26,000 less than previously reported…”

Massachusets "Not Seasonally Adjusted" Unemployment Rate Jumps To 7.4 Percent In June 2013

If you haven't had much luck finding a job in Massachusetts recently, you're probably not the only one in Massachusetts who's been having some difficulty getting hired  recently under the current U.S. economic system and the Democratic Patrick Administration in Massachusetts.

Between May and June 2013, the official "not seasonally adjusted" jobless rate in Massachusetts jumped from 6.7 to 7.4 percent, according to the recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data; while the total number of unemployed workers in Massachusetts increased by 27,000 (from 234,3000 to 261,000) during the same period.

Mexico Revisited: Some Hidden Facts About Mexican History and Mexican Society--Part 5

In his 2010 book Mexico: Why A Few Are Rich and The People Poor, University of California-San Diego Professor Emeritus of History Ramon Eduardo Ruiz revealed the following remaining hidden facts about Mexidan history and Mexican society:

41. "...Over 12 million Mexicans do not have running water in their homes..." (page 210)

42. "Mexico City...has some of the most polluted air in the world..." (page 210)

43. "More than 4.5 million Mexicans, one-tenth of the workforce, are unemployed [in Mexico]..." (page 211)

44. Half of the government agents in Mexico's Justice Department apparently receive money from their drug busts; and 500,000 Mexicans are apparently linked in some way to drug trafficking industry. (page 213)

45. "...Ten of the world's billionaires were from Mexico [in 2010], among them the telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim..." (page 216)

46. "...Carlos Slim...purchased the [Mexican] nation's telephone network...at a bargain price; his monopoly nonetheless...charges some of the world's highest phone rates..." (page 218)

47. "...The Great Recession of 2009...set Mexico adrift on a sea of trouble...The shock in Mexico was felt at once. The peso's value dropped...Even Volkswagen, the German giant, laid off workers...Maquiladoras [border area factories in Mexico] shut down or cut workers in Baja California, Norte, Sonora, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Tamanlipas and Conhuila..." (page 236)

Mexico Revisited: Some Hidden Facts About Mexican History and Mexican Society--Part 4

In his 2010 book "Mexico: Why A Few Are Rich and The People Poor," University of California-San Diego Professor Emeritus of History Ramon Eduardo Ruiz revealed the following additional hidden facts about Mexican history and Mexican society:

31. "...By 1996, Wal-Mart...had scores of stores in Mexico...General Motors, Volkswagen, Chrysler and Nissan accounted for 80 percent of [Mexico's] export. It was cheap to assemble autos in Mexico and then ship parts and autos by truck or rail to the biggest market in the world..." (page 186)

32. "...Privatization [in Mexico] cost 400,000 Mexicans their jobs..." (page 187)

33. "...Thousands of Mexicans, unable to find decent jobs at home, fled to the United States. Each year during the 1960s, some 27,000 Mexicans had left; by 1999, that number had multiplied tenfold..." (page 188)

34. "Unwilling to help their poor, Mexico's elite had chosen to rely on Uncle Sam to give the [Mexican] poor jobs and to feed them, and equally important, to avoid a potential social explosion of the restless [in Mexico]..." (page 188)

35. In 2000, 10 percent of Mexico's labor force earned less than the minimum wage in Mexico.

36. In 2000, less than 20 percent of Mexico's labor force belonged to labor unions.

37. "...For the poor of Mexico, NAFTA has failed to deliver more jobs: half of the workforce is unemployed, underemployed or in the informal sector, and...no country in the world has exported more manpower than Mexico..." (page 206)

38. "An average of 450,000 people a year are thought to have crossed into the United States [from Mexico] during the early years of the 21st-century..." (page 206)

39. "Some 2.5 million workers had left their families [in Mexico] for jobs in the United States [in the early 21st-century], more than 16 times the rate for the 1960s, when only 30,000 Mexicans per year had fled northward..." (page 206)

40. "One fact [in Mexico] stares one in the face. The well-off [in Mexico] hate paying taxes, and Mexico has one of the lowest-tax rates in the world. Less than 1 percent of Mexico's local budgets are collected from property taxes..." (page 207)

Mexico Revisited: Some Hidden Facts About Mexican History and Mexican Society--Part 3

In his 2010 book "Mexico: Why A Few Are Rich and The People Poor," University of California-San Diego Professor Emeritus of History Ramon Eduardo Ruiz revealed the following more hidden facts about Mexican history and Mexican society:

21. "Despite [former Mexican President] Cardenas's land reforms [of the 1930s], nearly half of the national real estate [of Mexico] remained in the hands of big landlords...The landless campesinos of 1960 outnumbered those of 1930..." (page 168)

22. "...Mexican employers had an abundant pool of cheap, unskilled labor to exploit, which kept wages low..." (page 159)

23. "In 1993, workers at the Ford assembly plant in Hermosilla [Mexico] earned 6 pesos an hour (about $2 dollars), while their counterparts in the United States earned $15 dollars an hour for exactly the same job..." (page 159)

24. "At the Volkswagen plant in Pueblo [Mexico], the best-paid auto assembly plant [in Mexico], employees earned $28 dollars for a day's labor, but unionized assembly workers in the United States took home between $120 and $180 dollars per day..." (page 159)

25. "...NAFTA opened the gates to American multinational corporations and financial behemoths to Mexico..." (page 184)

26. "...Telephone fees [in Mexico]]...were among the highest in Latin America..." (page 185)

27. "...Mexican industry, as always, was the story of monopolies..." (page 185)

28. "...A handful of families in cahoots with foreign capitalists...controlled most of Mexico's beverage sales, cement, and even flour for tortillas..." (page 185)

29. "The telephone service [in Mexico] solld off to one of the richest men in the world, became Telmex, a national monopoly controlling most of the country's landline phone service as well as nearly three-fourth of the cell phone market..." (page 185)

30. "Televisa, a private company, controlled the nation's television [in Mexico]..." (page 185)

Murdered At Howard Beach

(chorus)
Murdered at Howard Beach
By a band of white youths with bats
Murdered at Howard Beach
While people stood by and watched.

(verses)
Their car broke down on the wrong side of town
And a police tow truck never arrived
And so they walked in the dangerous dark
To the pizza place where racists hide. (chorus)

There are no police in Howard Beach
To protect a young Black man
And if you flee to the Belt Parkway
A cop's son may mow you down. (chorus)

Michael Griffith is dead after being stranded
And cornered in a white neighborhood
Racists rule New York, and they won't let you walk
Until power rests in Black hands. (chorus)

Griffith's car broke down on the wrong side of town
And a police tow truck never arrived
And Sandiford walked in the dangerous dark
To the pizza place where racists hide. (chorus)

There are no police in Howard Beach
To protect a young Black man
And Griffith escaped to the Belt Highway
But Dominick Blum mowed him down. (chorus)

Michael Griffith was corned and now he lies dead
And the D.A. won't jail his killers
Racists rule New York, and they won't let you walk
Until Black power arrests murderers. (chorus)

And people mow march and people now chant
From Howard Beach to Boys and Girls High
"No cover-up" is the shout and again people fight
For freedom right now and tonight. (chorus)

Mexico Revisited: Some Hidden Facts About Mexican History and Mexican Society--Part 2

In his 2010 book "Mexico: Why A Few Are Rich and The People Poor," University of California-San Diego Professor Emeritus of History Ramon Eduardo Ruiz revealed the following additional hidden facts about Mexican history and Mexican society:

11. "...Mexico inherited from Spain a society split by class and by caste...By the 1840s, Mexico's society had approximately 8 million inhabitants, over half of them persons of dark skin, largely owing to Indian ancestors, the large majority of them woefully poor..." (page 63)

12. "The [Mexican] army ate up 80 percent of the Republic's budget money for 90,000 men by 1850..." (page 66)

13. "The church was the biggest property owner and the [Mexican] Republic's chief banker..." (page 67)

14. "...As Mexico became fully integrated into the world market, the engine driving it was the flow of capital from United States..." (page 93)

15. "So attractive did Yankees find Mexico that they had invested nearly $2 billion dollars by 1911, monopolizing over 80 percent of all foreign investments." (page 93)

16. "[In 1911] U.S. corporations controlled over 80 percent of mining, owned over 100 million acres of land, and provided nearly 60 percent of imports [in Mexico]..." (page 93)

17. "...By 1900...foreigners owned 150 million acres , a majority of them in American hands, roughly one-third of the land of Mexico. Only 4 percent of rural families possessed any land..." (page 101)

18. "...By 1900, some 82 percent of the country's campesinos were landless; just 1 percent of the population owned 97 percent of the fertile land..." (part 102)

19. "Between 1810 and 1910, wages paid to the peon remained nearly stationary [in Mexico]..." (page 102)

20. "...In the census of 1930, just 1.5 percent of the landlords owned 97 percent of the rural property..." (page 126)