Bank Of America Layoffs: Rival Banks Say They're Being Flooded With BofA Resumes

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp employees are flooding rival companies with resumes as a major cost-cutting program gets under way at the second-largest U.S. bank.



Competitors say they are getting an influx of calls, emails and LinkedIn connection requests as the bank embarks on a plan to slash 30,000 jobs over the next few years. The employees are scouting jobs in retail, commercial and investment banking, bankers and recruiters said.



"It's definitely picking up," said a senior executive at a rival consumer bank.



The uncertainty at Bank of America gives competitors a chance to nab talented employees, bankers said. But they cautioned that many companies are only hiring selectively.



In the most high-profile departure, PNC Financial Services Group Inc last week hired Bank of America strategy executive Mike Lyons to lead its corporate and institutional banking unit. Lyons had advised CEO Brian Moynihan on his plan to sell off nonessential assets.



John Dunn, director of the banking and financial services practice at recruiting firm Stephen James Associates, said he has had about 20 calls or meetings with Bank of America employees in recent weeks, mostly in investment banking and capital markets operations. Normally, he might have talked to or met only two to four over that period.

"Now these folks are looking to get out of choppy water before they get displaced or asked to relocate," Dunn said. "It's much easier finding a job while you have a job."



Moynihan is chopping expenses as new regulations, a sluggish economy and low long-term interest rates are crimping profits across the banking industry. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America in particular needs to build capital to cover mortgage-related losses and meet new international standards.



The bank's efficiency program, called Project New BAC, aims to streamline a company bloated by years of acquisitions. But executives risk cutting too deeply or creating an unsettling environment for those who remain, said Beth Livingston, assistant professor of human resources studies at Cornell University.



"You get the survivor effect," Livingston said. "Everyone is on edge. There's a culture of fear that permeates the climate."



SHAKE-UP



In recent months, Bank of America has laid off employees, including senior leaders, in consumer, human resources, capital markets and other areas, people familiar with the situation said. The cuts are part of a round of 3,500 layoffs announced in August and the first wave of Project New BAC, which takes its name from the company's stock symbol.



New BAC cuts began in September when Moynihan ousted consumer banking head Joe Price and wealth management head Sallie Krawcheck and handed their duties to co-chief operating officers David Darnell and Tom Montag.



In reorganizing his management team, Darnell is merging mortgage operations into the consumer bank, leaving the future position of mortgage head Barbara Desoer unclear. The shake-up also displaced Bank of America veteran Henry Fulton, who has held top credit card, mortgage and consumer banking positions.



Last month, the company said the "implementation" of the first wave of New BAC, which focuses on consumer operations, was to start in October. The second phase, which will address capital markets, commercial banking and wealth management units, begins in the spring.



Bank of America said it had 288,739 employees on September 30, up from 288,084 three months earlier, but about 2,000 have been told they will be let go.



Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri declined to comment on the layoffs.



The company ranks behind JPMorgan Chase & Co in terms of assets.



(Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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Geographic Anatomical Relationship

As Above, So Below. On Earth As It Is In Heaven. Relationship Between the Geography of the Earth and the Human Anatomy



See: http://inquisitionnews.blogspot.com/2011/10/relationship-between-geography-of-earth_15.html

Where the belly button would be, there is actually an ancient dried river bed where Saudi Arabia and Kuwait meet called: Wadi Al-Batin Meaning Belly Button River.

IN SEARCH OF EDEN

by D.LAING

The location of Eden is given in Genesis 2:10-14:  "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.  The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.  And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria.  And the fourth river is Euphrates."  In this passage it must be noted that the original Hebraic reference regarding the Gihon River was that it encompassed the land of "Kush" or "Gush".  This was interpreted by the 17th century King James translators as referring to Ethiopia, much further to the south and located in Africa. There are two camps of thought regarding Eden.  One places it in the mountains of Turkey near where the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates originate.  This location is favored primarily because it has been noted that the original translation should have been "And a river rises in Eden", and arguments that the four heads of the rivers refer to what we recognize as headwaters.  The northern location favored for Eden has remained to date rather imprecise.  It has been argued however that it surely must lie somewhere near the beginning of the Tigris and Euphrates.  The problem has remained, where are the other two rivers?  And what could the references to the guarding Cherubim and the Flaming Sword be alluding to?  While the answers have to date remained vague, the Turkey location for Eden has a strong following of Biblical Scholars and traditionalists.

The other camp places Eden at the head of the Persian gulf and at the other end of the Tigris and Euphrates.  This camp believes that the more correct match for the rivers exists there along with the mechanisms and features that would explain the presence of the flaming sword and the guarding Cherubim.  This camp composed mostly of geoscientists cite all of the required criteria, although not without resorting to allegorical corollaries.

We will endeavor as best we can to examine both possibilities.

The Southern Location

Examination of the river systems in the area of Iraq and Kuwait would seem to place the location of Eden somewhere in lower Iraq or in Kuwait at the top of the Persian Gulf.  For the Bible, this description seems rather precise.  Names for the rivers have changed however, with the exception of the Euphrates.  If we are to accept the date of the flooding of the Black Sea Basin defined by Ryan and Pitman as the date of the Flood then Eden had to have existed according to the Genesis chronology sometime about 7,200 BC or earlier.  The climate in the region at the time was more lush, and sea levels were on the rise.

An examination of the lands associated with each of the four named rivers identifies each river itself to a fair degree.  The Hiddekel for instance, can be none other than the Tigris, which flows to the East of what was once Assyria.  The Pison is associated with the land of Havilah, noted for its gold.  Gold, copper, and other metals came to the land of Ur, of Abraham's birth, from Persia, or present Iran.  The most likely candidate therefore is the river system presently known as the Karun. It is an interesting bit of historic trivia that the Persians had used ram's pelts staked in streams to recover alluvial gold.  The gold would become trapped in the dense oily wool of the pelt while the lighter sediments would wash away.  This is the probable source for a myth of a golden fleece which the Greeks made use of in one of their stories concerning their folk hero, Jason. Examination of satellite photographs indicate that the Karun, which flows from the South, at one time was more extensive than it is now, perhaps connecting with the Karkheh, which flows from the North.  In this manner, the Karun/Karkheh river system would indeed seem to encompass the entire land of Persia, or Havilah.

The next river, the Gihon, is a littler harder to identify, though hardly more so.   Again, examinations of infrared satellite photographs indicate that in Arabia to the southwest is the remnant of what at one time and in a wetter climate, was once an extensive river system, the Wadi al-Batin.  This Wadi system once drained the entire central part of Arabia, and connected to the Tigris and Euphrates river system after they had joined to become the Shat al-Arab which flows into the top of the Persian Gulf.  With this knowledge, and the fact that the Shat al-Arab has slowly migrated to the East since the establishment of Ur, we can estimate its position in the eighth millennium.  Again, infrared satellite photographs indicate a likely course for the Shat al-Arab, directly to an area named Bubiyan Island.



This is not the first time that this observation has been made.  In 1983, archaeologist Juris Zarins proposed the head of the Persian Gulf as the location for Eden.   Working from his knowledge of Ubadian culture Zarins developed his hypothesis and proposed that Eden existed during the neolithic wet phase, placing it between 6000 to 5000 BC.  Linguistics in fact indicated that he may be correct.  The first written language, Sumerian, contains the word Eden or Edin.  While this was some three thousand years after the rise of the Ubaidian culture, linguists attributed the origin of the word to a much older source.  In 1943, Benno Landsburger an Assyriologist, proposed that this word and many others found in Sumer were linguistic remnants of a pre-Sumerian culture he termed Proto-Euphratian.  According to his theory rivers and landmark locales all had names that were incorporated into the later Sumerian culture.  Basing his hypothesis on his own studies and the encouraging linguistic evidence then, Zarins formulated his theory and placed Eden under the waters of the northern Persian Gulf. He also places Havilah in Arabia based on the fact that "havilah" is the Hebrew word for "sandy" or "land of sand."  This of course reverses the Pison and the Gihon rivers, placing the Gihon to the east and the Pison to the west in Saudi Arabia.[1] The author has placed the Gihon to the east and the Pison to the west based on the evidence of early gold and copper smithing in Persia as well as evidence that Arabia, due to paleoenvionmental conditions at the time, was a much less inhospitable land.  It also should be noted that due east of the island at the mouth of the western most scar of the Shat al-Arab, the land was sand on the mainland.

We know now however that based on the work of Dr. Pitman and Dr. Ryan, during the period of 6000 to 5000 BC was when the great flood occurred, so Eden would have had to existed earlier yet.[2] The well researched past levels of the Dead Sea act as a sort of barometer of climatic conditions.  Shown on the chart below is the neolithinc wet phase which may be said to have begun with the reversal of the preceding dry period somewhere about 9,500 BC.  This period lasted until about 5,000 BC when levels began to drop once again.  If we accept this as regional evidence, then we would have a period of about 4,500 years in which to place the Eden setting.  We know however that the flood occurred sometime about 5,500 BC which is near the end of the period.  We may also examine on satellite images a remnantal delta formed when the Wadi Batin (probably the Gihon River) emptied into a shallow bay.  Careful analysis reveals a main channel that joined the Wadi Batin to the Shat al-Arab when it was located further to the west and  before the waters of the Persian Gulf had risen that far thus predating the delta.  Since the main channel is wide, yet more poorly defined than the delta itself, the delta was formed after the channel which was subsequently somewhat obscured.  This is confirmation that the level of the Persian Gulf was rising at the time.  If the Persian Gulf followed a similar pattern as the Dead Sea which is likely, then the description as related in the Bible only would match the configuration of the rivers well before the Gulf's waters had risen that far.  Since the configuration is similar today with the exception of the now Dry Wadi Batin, this would place the time of the event somewhere after 7,500 BC, but not after perhaps 7,200 BC.



It was proposed by Zarins that presently, the Shat-al-Arab (meaning "river of the Arabs" in Arabic) is the remnant of the river that went out of Eden.  This is a 120 mile long river in Iraq, formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers at Al-Qurna.  Iraq's only outlet to the sea, it flows southeast along the Iraq-Iran boundary through marshes, rice paddies, and date groves, until it reaches the Persian Gulf.  Its waters are used for irrigation and ocean vessels can go as far north as Basra, although navigation is difficult above Abadan.  It has been noted that this river, like the Euphrates, has over the millennia migrated towards the east.  The oldest channels, now filled, exist as has already been noted, to the west of its present course and appear to have placed the river's outlet directly at Bubiyan Island.

Could Bubiyan Island be Eden?  We know that sea levels have been both lower and higher than present since the eighth millennium BC, so how likely could it be that Eden could have existed here?  Possibly quite likely.  Bubiyan Island is located above a salt dome, and salt domes, due to their relatively low density and plastic fluidity under pressure tend to perpetuate themselves as structures not in spite of but due to accumulating sediments deposited over them. This has been learned from studies of other salt basins where the geologic history is well understood  and the data is sufficient to accurately map different types of salt features.[2] A tabular salt bed (illustration below) results when the salt precipitates due to the evaporative process in an isolated basin.  As the water in the basin drops, salt accumulations may become quite thick.  When due to rising sea levels or changing environmental conditions the basin once again fills, sediments cover the salt (A).  Salt is of a lower density than these sediments which compact and harden as the deposits thicken.  Salt is also relatively fluid by comparison.  In the same manner as a viscous oil covered by water, the salt has a tendency to rise.  A salt dome may start as a gentle swelling in the tabular bed (B).  As it rises upward, the salt surrounding the dome feeds its growth (C).  Due to both physical and geologic factors, the distance from the dome that it can withdraw salt to feed its growth is limited.  This results in synclinal or downward deformation in an area surrounding the dome creating an annular syncline.  As the dome continues to grow, it will eventually withdraw most or all of the stock surrounding it (D).  Once this occurs it will feed on itself utilizing the salt in its own flanks for upward growth.  At this point piercement of the overlying rocks and sediments generally will occur if it has not already (E).  As a result of the loss of support due to the changing configuration of the dome's flanks, faulting often occurs above the dome.  These faults are often expressed at the surface where they sometimes result in broken terrain.  As the top of the dome eventually rises to encounter shallow groundwater, salt may be dissolved to the extent that insoluble minerals, mostly anhydrite, is left behind to form an erosion resistant caprock.  The combination of caprock and faulted sedimentary rocks will often create enduring surface features (F).  It is this type of feature that comprises Bubiyan Island, so it is quite likely that the Island was in evidence at the time of Eden and has persisted since, rising as sediments accumulate due to deposition by the massive river system to the north.



Given the sediment loads deposited annually into the Persian Gulf by the  river systems of the Tigris-Euphrates-Karun-Karkheh, the fact that the gulf has not long since been filled, and the absence of a significant delta system indicates another possible geologic mechanism at work.  Relative stasis of a shoreline due to differential compaction and compression of sediments, possible basement fault block relationships, and depression of geologic features due to the mass of sediments they contain may occur.  Mobile Bay in Alabama is an example of a geosyncline in which this process is active.[3] The northern end of the Persian Gulf may be a basement rock rift grabben feature in which a similar process is at work.  If this is true, then Bubiyan Island very well could be the location for Eden. In other words, Eden may not have sunk beneath the Persian Gulf as Zarins proposed, it may have been displaced by a rising salt dome, or have been buried under tons of river sediments.

It has recently been pointed out that "a river rises in Eden" might also be interpreted to mean "a river rises from Eden".  If this is the case, it must also certainly be true that the ancient Hebrews knew that water flows down hill.  Standing on Bubiyan Island, one may observe that all rivers rise from there.  It should also be noted that the modern terms "headwaters" and "river mouth" may confuse peoples of other languages if they are not familiar with the terms.  After all, who would associate the mouth with anything but the head?  There are many examples of allegorical representaions of physical features with animals.  In many cases these developed until mountains, lakes, rivers and oceans were worshiped by primative peoples as gods represented allegorically by animal glyphs.  It would take little stretch of the imagination to associate a sinuously coursing river with a great silver serpent. It may well be that the mention of the serpent in the creation story was originally allegorical.  The Shat al-Arab itself could then be represented in the story as a serpent with its mouth in Eden and the rest rising to the north.  This could also explain another part of the story.  Examinations of the satellite photographs seem to indicate that Bubiyon Island was at one time encircled by the waters of the Shat al-Arab and the Persian Gulf with the possible exception of a narrow connection with the mainland to the east.  If the river were represented as a serpent and were it to rise sufficiently, it would then flood much of the island and cut it off from the mainland.  Tempted by hunger then, its inhabitants may well have eaten of a sacred tree.  This is of course pure speculation, but if one were looking for a practical explanation, it would fit as well as any other.

The location of Eden is not as significant as the description itself.  It is clear from satellite photo

analysis that if this theory is correct, the description, even though it may have been passed on orally and written down thousands of years after the "Eden" event, is never the less an actual observation.  It describes river locations and configurations as they only could have existed several millennia before the founding of Ur around 5,000 BC  It is highly unlikely that it could have been invented by a people that knew little of environmental cycles, glacially affected meteorological phenomena, and geologic processes, yet the Biblical observations seem to match the facts. The observations as recorded are a factual description of the river systems as they once were!

[1]  Dora Jane Hamblin; "Has the Garden of Eden been located at last?";Smithsonian Magazine, Volume 18. No. 2, May 1987

[2] William B. F. Ryan et al, "An Abrupt Drowning of the Black Sea Shelf," Marine Geology, 138(1997), 119-126, p. 124

[3] D. Laing; "Diagenesis of Salt Stuctures of the East Texas Basin";  Hudson Resources; August, 1982

[4] D. Laing; "Geologic Setting of Mobile Bay"; Halitech Corporate Paper; September, 1984

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Geographic Anatomical Relationship

Scientists Plan To Reverse Evolution 2011

Geographic Anatomical Relationship

The Relationship Between the Geography of the Earth and the Human Form. The shape of the continents of the earth as the model for the human physique.

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8/21/2011 -- Project Camelot video -- title : "Dutchsinse Learn About Hi...

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NASA Considers Tractor Beams for Future Rovers

By Adam Mann

NASA is exploring ways to use tractor beams in future robotic probe missions. The agency has recently awarded a team of engineers $100,000 to study three experimental techniques for trapping small particles with lasers.

Spacecraft flying by comets and asteroids or rovers landing on Mars could use the methods to continuously sample their target.

While such technology has been used in biological and surgical applications for years, there has been little work on using it for remote sensing in space, said Paul Stysley, a NASA engineer at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who leads the group studying the techniques.

The idea of using tractor beams on space missions caught the attention of members of NASA’s Mars rover project.

“At first they thought we were a little crazy, but luckily that group is supportive of crazy ideas,” said Stysley.

Current rover missions use drills, which can take a long time to get a sample. But a future probe could quickly zap rocks with a laser and then use a tractor beam to collect some of the resulting vapor. A beam pointed at the atmosphere could also monitor how gases change in response to day-night cycles on Mars.

Though the three technologies will require further investigation and may take up to a decade to develop for space-based missions, much of the work is already being done here on Earth.

The first technique, optical tweezers, is already common in biology laboratories. This method uses a pair of lasers with beams that travel in opposite directions. Changing the intensity of one beam heats air around trapped particles and can cause them to travel toward a probe, essentially creating an optical conveyor belt. But this technology can only be used when an atmosphere is present, so while it could work on some planets, it won’t work in the vacuum of space.

Alternatively, the team is investigating a Bessel beam, which creates a ring of light around small molecules to generate electric and magnetic fields to move samples. This method, which as yet only exists on paper, would work in space but would be more limited to close-in observations.

The final technique uses optical solenoid beams, where the laser’s intensity forms a corkscrew shape that can be used to nudge samples into a trap. Theoretically, this technology can be used in a vacuum and also has the advantage of being able to draw in material from far away, which would be useful for satellites orbiting high above a comet or asteroid.

Image: Paul Stysley

Video: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Conceptual Image Lab

See Also: Laser-Powered Tractor Beam Could Move Tiny Particles Mars Rover Reaches Giant Crater After 3-Year Trek Sleeping Mars Rover Finds Evidence of Liquid Water Japanese Spacecraft Returns From Asteroid Sampling Mission Plans Afoot: Bringing Back Samples From Mars

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Catholic Church helped Nazis escape thru "Ratlines" [Knights of Malta & Operation Bernhard] Pt 1-3

For more information on the crimes committed by the Catholic Church worldwide and its long track record of using its false appearance of "holiness" to deceive the masses and commit crimes, visit: http://www.vaticancrimes.us



We will soon see the destruction of this corrupt and evil religious system as the Vatican and its tentacles has used the Lord's name to commit crimes against humanity since its inception.



Visit the Protect Your Children Foundation at http://www.protegeatushijos.org or http://www.vaticancrimes.us to learn more.

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Banks Extract Fees On Unemployment Benefits

Out of work and living on a $189-a-week unemployment check, Rob Linville needs to watch every penny. Lately, he has been watching too many pennies disappear into the coffers of the bank that administers his unemployment check via a prepaid debit card.

The state of Oregon, where Linville lives, deposits his weekly benefits on a U.S. Bank prepaid debit card. The bank allows him to make four withdrawals per month free of charge. After that, he must pay $1.50 for each visit to the ATM and $3 to see a teller. Managing his basic expenses, including rent, bus fare and groceries, typically requires more than four withdrawals, he says. Unexpected needs -- Linville recently bought a sport coat for $20 to prepare for a job interview -- entail more. He's afraid to withdraw his full benefits in one shot, knowing that the bank could sock him with a $17.50 overdraft fee if he exceeds his balance. So he pulls out small amounts of cash as he needs it, incurring about $15 in fees in the last two months he says.

"I'm so broke," Linville said, his voice expressing resignation that this is simply how the world works. "But I don't really have any other options."

Across the nation, people receiving a range of state-furnished benefits -- from unemployment insurance and food stamps to cash assistance for poor families -- are facing similar options and reaching the same conclusion. In 41 states major banks and financial firms have secured contracts to provide access to public benefits via prepaid debit cards. And banks are increasingly extracting hefty cuts of these funds through an assortment of small fees. U.S. Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and other institutions hold contracts to distribute these benefits on prepaid debit cards.

When Bank of America announced plans to charge regular banking customers a $5 monthly fee to use their debit card it created a wave of public criticism. But the lesser-known fees attached to prepaid debit cards are already extracting money from the most vulnerable Americans -- those unable to pay their bills and feed their families without public help -- in the midst of stubbornly high unemployment and soaring rates of poverty.

"The big banks have actually figured out a way to make unemployed workers a profit center, one that only grows as things get worse," said Angela Martin, executive director of Economic Fairness Oregon, a nonprofit advocacy group for low income and poor families.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Bancorp, the parent company of U.S. Bank, said unemployment recipients are clearly informed about the fees that pertain to their debit cards. She added that the cards provide a convenient and economical service, because they allow holders to use them to buy goods at stores and withdraw cash back without incurring a fee.

Prepaid debit cards often look a lot like the debit cards which many Americans are already familiar with. But the cards can carry a range of fees for basic banking activities such as visiting an ATM, making a purchase, checking one's balance or paying a bill online.

Six years ago, states distributed $55 billion in public benefits via prepaid debit cards, according to an estimate from Mercator Advisory Group, which monitors the consumer payment industry. By last year, that figure had ballooned to $133 billion. Mercator does not track how much of that money was handled by banks.

There are some hints of how much money is flowing from America's poorest families to banks. In 2008, California's welfare families paid $8 million in surcharges to access their cash welfare benefits, according to a Western Center on Law and Poverty analysis, which advocates for the poor. Surcharges paid by welfare recipients will exceed $16 million this year, the Center projects.

The revenue generated from providing access to public benefits on prepaid debit cards has become particularly important to banks this year, said Lauren Saunders, a managing attorney at the National Consumer Law Center in Washington, D.C. A 2010 federal law capped the swipe fees banks can collect from merchants when consumers use ordinary debit cards. But those caps do not apply to the prepaid debit cards used to withdraw unemployment benefits and other forms of cash assistance.

In several states, the public benefits debit card business involves a largely captive audience that must exert itself to find an alternative means of securing its money. A half dozen states force the unemployed to receive their benefits on prepaid debit cards, according to a May study released by the National Consumer Law Center.

In Oregon, jobless people who apply for unemployment benefits are automatically given their weekly benefits via a U.S. Bank ReliaCard unless they expressly opt out and furnish information about a personal bank account to establish a direct deposit.

Six Oregon residents interviewed by The Huffington Post said that when they applied for unemployment benefits online, the state's website did offer them the opportunity to set up a direct deposit instead of relying upon a prepaid debit card furnished by U.S. Bank. But the page on which they were offered the options did not clearly lay out the fees that can be incurred with the debit card option, they said. Another section of the Web site does list the fees, The Huffington Post found, but locating that information requires looking on a separate page.

Between July and September, U.S. Bancorp secured $357 million in revenue through the division that includes its prepaid cards, according to its most recent earnings statement. That was more than one-fourth of its total revenues. The bank refused to say how much of this revenue was comprised of fees from its handling of state unemployment benefits.

The fees are the sole source of revenue the bank derives by handling unemployment benefits and court-ordered child support payments in Oregon. The state does not pay the bank for issuing debit cards or administering the payments. Oregon's treasurer will begin negotiating a new contract in November. A request for proposals from other banks has not been issued.

For the state, the cards minimize the need to mail checks or manage transfers to myriad banks. Since 2007, Oregon has saved at least $11 million on printing, mailing and other costs associated with the unemployment program alone, said James Sinks, a spokesman for Oregon State Treasurer Ted Wheeler's office. State staff estimate that over the course of the contracts, about 40 percent of people in both programs have used ReliaCards, Sinks said. The remainder receive funds via direct deposit.

Sinks described the notion that fees are unfair, abusive or out of touch with consumer spending habits as "specious" and "laughable." People can always obtain cash without paying fees by making a purchase at a store where customers can request cash back.

"The card was negotiated the way that it was to make people's money available to them at the lowest cost," said Sinks. "Are there fees, yes. But there are ways for people to access their money for free and there are robust ways to do that. I don't believe that most people are paying fees."

But several unemployment benefit recipients in Oregon said it was quite difficult to switch to direct deposit after they learned of the fees on their prepaid debit cards. Many recipients complain that their unemployment benefits are so limited that even an unwanted pack of gum purchased to access their benefits without fees amounts to a consequential expense.

A woman in the southern Oregon town of Grants Pass who enrolled in the state's unemployment program in 2007 said she did not receive a notice of fees until several months after she incurred some $220 in surcharges. A Portland man who enrolled in August and receives $507 in benefits each week said he cannot find a U.S. Bank ATM or retail store where he can remove more than $200 at a time, forcing him to pay fees to get all of his funds.

Linville, who lost his job as a data entry clerk in August, said he was not aware of the fees when he signed up for the U.S. Bank card on Oregon's unemployment web site but later received a schedule of fees in the mail. He has a bank account but thought the U.S.Bank card would give him a way to pay bills immediately when his unemployment benefits arrived. Often, Linville is so short on cash that he pulls money off the card to pay bills on the same day they are due, he said. If he can, he pays the bill with the debit card, a retail purchase that does not carry a fee. But, that is not always an option.

"I try to use it the best way I can really," said Linville, 39. "But it's not that easy to plan a way around those fees. You just pay them and you move on to the next problem." Read more at www.huffingtonpost.com

 

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Big Sis To Monitor Social Networks For Signs Of Social Unrest

Federal agency concerned about riots breaking out in United States



Paul Joseph Watson

Infowars.com

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The wave of civil unrest that has swept the globe over the past year has prompted the Department of Homeland Security to step up its monitoring of Twitter and other social networks in a bid to pre-empt any sign of social dislocation within the United States.

“Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Caryn Wagner said the use of such technology in uprisings that started in December in Tunisia shocked some officials into attention and prompted questions of whether the U.S. needs to do a better job of monitoring domestic social networking activity,” reports the Associated Press.

Wagner announced that the federal agency would implement new guidelines that would focus on “gleaning information from sites such as Twitter and Facebook for law enforcement purposes.”

Under the new framework, when the department receives information about a “potential threat,” it will then ask its contractors to look for relevant search references using “open source” information.

Although it’s somewhat naive to think that Homeland Security wasn’t already scanning the likes of Facebook and Twitter for social trends and signs of civil unrest, the fact that its now being announced publicly illustrates the increasing concern that riots which have hit the Middle East and Europe over the last 18 months will soon manifest themselves inside the United States.

Indeed, US law enforcement bodies are already scanning Twitter and Facebook for signs of unrest.

Having launched a specialized unit to focus on gleaning clues from social media websites, the NYPD Disorder Control Unit recently brought together police from all five of the city’s boroughs to rehearse what the response would be “should out-of-control riots break out here”.

Social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter came in for harsh condemnation following the UK riots, with Prime Minister David Cameron advocating authorities have the power to shut down access during times of public disorder, mimicking the Communist Chinese system of Internet censorship, which is used to curtail political protests.

Although the Occupy Wall Street movement has been the only real expression of civil unrest in the United States thus far, a worsening economic climate almost guarantees the prospect of an increase in social disorder across the globe.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO), a prominent UN agency, warned yesterday that the world faces an imminent “dramatic downturn” in employment, and a new recession which in turn would lead to greater social unrest, particularly in European countries.

In preparation for potential riots inside the United States, the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Institute issued a report in November 2008 entitled Known Unknowns: Unconventional Strategic Shocks in Defense Strategy Development.

The report lays out the strategy for how authorities would respond to “purposeful domestic resistance,” wherein U.S. troops would be deployed domestically to counter civil unrest.

The report was issued weeks after the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, and included a potential “economic collapse” as one of the scenarios under which troops would be used inside the U.S. to restore order.

By P. SOLOMON BANDA, Associated Press

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The wave of uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East that have overturned three governments in the past year have prompted the U.S. government to begin developing guidelines for culling intelligence from social media networks, a top Homeland Security official said Monday.



Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Caryn Wagner said the use of such technology in uprisings that started in December in Tunisia shocked some officials into attention and prompted questions of whether the U.S. needs to do a better job of monitoring domestic social networking activity.



"We're still trying to figure out how you use things like Twitter as a source," she said. "How do you establish trends and how do you then capture that in an intelligence product?"



Wagner said the department is establishing guidelines on gleaning information from sites such as Twitter and Facebook for law enforcement purposes. Wagner says those protocols are being developed under strict laws meant to prevent spying on U.S. citizens and protect privacy, including rules dictating the length of time the information can be stored and differences between domestic and international surveillance.



Wagner said the Homeland Security department, established after the 9/11 attacks, is not actively monitoring any social networks. But when the department receives information about a potential threat, contractors are then asked to look for certain references within "open source" information, which is available to anyone on the Internet.



The challenge, she said, is to develop guidelines for collecting and analyzing information so that it provides law enforcement officials with meaningful intelligence.



"I can post anything on Facebook, is that valid? If 20 people are tweeting the same thing, then maybe that is valid," she said. "There are just a lot of questions that we are sort of struggling with because it's a newly emerging (issue)."



Wagner was in Colorado Springs to deliver a speech at the National Symposium on Homeland Security and Defense, a conference that included defense contractors and the military.



Aside from discussing the use of technology in unrest that has led to regime changes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, she delivered a speech that addressed the way the department operates, saying that its crucial elements include a nationwide network of 72 fusion centers that gather and analyze reports of suspicious activity, a new National Terrorism Advisory System that replaces the color coded alert system with one that provides more information about a threat, and a "See Something, Say Something" campaign that encourages citizens to report suspicious activity.



She also said another key program involves training hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers across the country in filling out suspicious activity reports.



By Beecher Tuttle, TMCnet Contributor

Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Caryn Wagner acknowledged on Monday that revolts in countries like Tunisia and Egypt have forced the U.S. government to change the way that it views social media tools like Facebook (News - Alert) and Twitter, which were highly credited with setting the stage for a number of political and social uprisings this year.







Wagner told the Associated Press that revolts in the Middle East and Northern Africa have driven the U.S. government to consider new guidelines for gathering intelligence from social media tools.



"We're still trying to figure out how you use things like Twitter (News - Alert) as a source," she told the AP. "How do you establish trends and how do you then capture that in an intelligence product?"



The difficulties in collecting and analyzing information from social networking sites are obvious. First off, how do you determine what information is viable and what is merely hearsay or Web chatter? Secondly, how do you implement an intelligence initiative while also protecting personal privacy?



Wagner said that specific protocols will be introduced to guard against lapses in judgment. These protocols include establishing the differences between domestic and international surveillance and developing rules on how long information can be stored, according to the AP.



In addition, the Department of Homeland Security will not actively monitor social networks. Rather, they will look for "open source" information only after receiving viable tips on a possible threat. Wagner admits that establishing a new social media policy won't be easy.



"There are just a lot of questions that we are sort of struggling with because it's a newly emerging (issue)," she told the news source.



The U.S. is far from the first country to look at social media tools as an intelligence channel. The U.K.'s National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) announced late last year that it has begun incorporating social network monitoring into its training program.



The unit embraced the initiative after finding that U.K. authorities have used social network monitoring to solve several high-profile murder cases in the last two years.



Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.



Edited by Rich Steeves



By Amanda Winkler | Christian Post Reporter

The world has seen a wave of civil unrest sweep across nations this year and as a result the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is taking measures to prevent any sign of social disturbance from happening within America. One of the measures include monitoring social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, for clues on growing civil disobedience.

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  (Photo: AP / Damian Dovarganes)
  
  
  
  Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, right, and Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., speak on their way to a news conference after touring the Los Angeles port complex at the Port of Los Angeles Coast Guard Station on Monday, April 13, 2009, in Los Angeles.

“We're still trying to figure out how you use things like Twitter as a source," said DHS Undersecretary Caryn Wagner, according to The Associated Press.

"How do you establish trends and how do you then capture that in an intelligence product?"



The undersecretary went on to explain that the use of social media in uprisings, which began in December in Tunisia, prompted U.S. officials to do a more efficient job of monitoring domestic social networking activity.



Wagner also said that the DHS would create new guidelines to focus on “gleaning information from sites such as Twitter and Facebook for law enforcement purposes.” However, she went on to mention, that the guidelines would be implemented under strict laws “meant to prevent spying on Americans.”



Still, many social media users express concern that the government would track what they do on social sites.

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“I agree with the motive behind the government's proposed choice, but still view it as an invasion of privacy against its citizens,” Mark Smiley, a 25-year-old research analyst, told The Christian Post.



“It is unlikely that Intel would be used in a way that is going to bring harm or inconvenience an innocent citizen, but it makes me uncomfortable because it is possible. I see this as no different than tapping our phone lines.”



Smiley went on to say that if the government were to track social media sites it would be problematic considering the flippant and sarcastic nature of messages posted on sites like Twitter and Facebook.



“Sarcastic statements can be easily misinterpreted.”



Wagner admitted that using social media for Intel could be difficult in that it is hard to determine the validity of claims made online.



"I can post anything on Facebook, is that valid? If 20 people are tweeting the same thing, then maybe that is valid," she said to AP.



"There are just a lot of questions that we are sort of struggling with because it's a newly emerging [issue]."



While the DHS still has kinks to work out in their method of online monitoring, it is definitely not a new phenomenon nor is it native to just the DHS. This week, Fast Company revealed that the New York Federal Bank is the most recent organization to try its hand at social media monitoring. This is due, in part, to the Occupy Wall Street protests as the Fed wants to know “how they are perceived.” The Fed is now “evaluating bids for a social media analysis system that will mine data from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and web forums – beginning in December.”



The Atlantic Journal explains how leery citizens like Smiley should perhaps be more concerned with how the government can monitor more traditional online channels, like email. While there is reason to be concerned about the monitoring of social media, participants post things on social media sites knowing that it will be in the public venue. Emails, however, are often meant to remain private.



The Wall Street Journal reports that the government "obtained a controversial type of secret court order to force Google Inc. and small Internet provider Sonic.net Inc. to turn over information from the email accounts of WikiLeaks volunteer Jacob Appelbaum" and mentions that this type of secret request happens often. According to The Atlantic Wire, “In the second half of 2010 alone, the government sent 4,601 such requests to Google, who complied 94 percent of the time.”



The law, however, does little to protect citizens’ private data.



The Electronic Communications Privacy Act was passed in 1986 and therefore is older than the Internet which was created in 1989. The law, as it stands, allows law enforcement to obtain emails, cell-phone location, and other digitized documents without a search warrant. The government must just show “reasonable grounds” that the records would be “relevant and material” to an investigation.



Currently, big name technical companies like Google and Microsoft are lobbying Congress to update the privacy laws to include a mandatory search warrant in digital investigations.

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