December, 02 2011, 03:13pm EDT
Kucinich: Revised Unemployment Rate no Cause for Celebration
“Unemployment Rate Down As More and More Americans Give Up Hope of Finding a Job”
WASHINGTON
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement after the Department of Labor issued new employment numbers that showed 120,000 jobs were created in the month of November and that the unemployment rate is currently at 8.6%, down from 9%.
"One hundred and twenty thousand new jobs in the month of November is a good thing," said Kucinich. "The drop in the unemployment rate, however, is not a sign of success, but a sign of systemic failure because the rate was lowered as a result of more Americans giving up hope of finding a job."
The unemployment rate only counts individuals who are actively seeking work. Once an unemployed person gives up hope of finding a job and stops looking for work, he or she is no longer counted in the unemployment figures. A drop in the unemployment rate without new jobs being created means that large numbers of people have simply given up.
"We need 115,000 new jobs each month just to keep up with population growth. The fact that the unemployment rate dropped after only 120,000 jobs were created is evidence that more and more Americans are simply giving up hope that the economy will ever recover.
"The government should not misrepresent this data as good news, but finally get serious and do something to put millions of Americans back to work. The longer we wait, the deeper the pain; skills atrophy, pensions are raided and recent graduates don't learn the skills they need to become productive members of society. We cannot wait for the private sector. We have to act.
"The National Emergency Employment Defense Act, H.R. 2990, which I recently introduced with Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), would assert Congressional primacy over our nation's monetary policy. It would authorize Congress to spend money into the economy, without causing inflation, to rebuild our infrastructure and create the jobs Americans need."
Dennis Kucinich is an American politician. A U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1997 to 2013, he was also a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 2004 and 2008.
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Amnesty Urges War Crimes Probe of 'Indiscriminate' Israeli Attacks on Lebanon
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Amnesty International on Thursday called for a war crimes investigation into recent Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon that killed dozens of civilians, as well as a suspension of arms transfers to Israel as it attacks Gaza, the West Bank, and Syria.
In a briefing paper titled The Sky Rained Missiles, Amnesty "documented four illustrative cases in which unlawful Israeli strikes killed at least 49 civilians" in Lebanon in September and October amid an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) campaign of invasion and bombardment that Lebanese officials say has killed or wounded more than 20,000 people.
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The September 29 attack "destroyed the house of the Syrian al-Shaar family, killing all nine members of the family who were sleeping inside," the report states.
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On October 16, Israel bombed the Nabatieh municipal complex, killing Mayor Ahmad Khalil and 10 other people.
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In the deadliest single strike detailed in the Amnesty report, IDF bombardment believed to be targeting a suspected Hezbollah member killed 23 civilians forcibly displaced from southern Lebanon in Aitou on October 14.
"The youngest casualty was Aline, a 5-month-old baby who was flung from the house into a pickup truck nearby and was found by rescue workers the day after the strike," Amnesty said.
Survivor Jinane Hijazi told Amnesty: "I've lost everything; my entire family, my parents, my siblings, my daughter. I wish I had died that day too."
As the report notes:
A fragment of the munition found at the site of the attack was analyzed by an Amnesty International weapons expert and based upon its size, shape, and the scalloped edges of the heavy metal casing, identified as most likely a MK-80 series aerial bomb, which would mean it was at least a 500-pound bomb. The United States is the primary supplier of these types of munitions to Israel.
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Guevara Rosas said: "These attacks must be investigated as war crimes. The Lebanese government must urgently call for a special session at the U.N. Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigative mechanism into the alleged violations and crimes committed by all parties in this conflict. It must also grant the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over Rome Statute crimes committed on Lebanese territory."
"Israel has an appalling track record of carrying out unlawful airstrikes in Gaza and past wars in Lebanon taking a devastating toll on civilians."
Last month, the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Israel's 433-day Gaza onslaught, which has left more than 162,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing in the embattled enclave.
The tribunal also issued a warrant for the arrest of Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged crimes committed during and after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, in which more than 1,100 people were killed and over 240 others were kidnapped.
Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice is weighing a genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel. Last week, Amnesty published a report accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
The United States—which provides Israel with tens of billions of dollars in military aid and diplomatic cover—has also been accused of complicity in Israeli war crimes in Palestine and Lebanon.
"Israel has an appalling track record of carrying out unlawful airstrikes in Gaza and past wars in Lebanon taking a devastating toll on civilians," Guevara Rosas said. "The latest evidence of unlawful air strikes during Israel's most recent offensive in Lebanon underscores the urgent need for all states, especially the United States, to suspend arms transfers to Israel due to the risk they will be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law."
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