Nagkataon lang na umulan ng malakas. Kaya naisip ko ‘tong gawin. Just for? Nothing.

“Sino ba ang gustong mag-abang ng sasakyan, kung wala namang magpapasakay?”

Nakakainis na nakakatawa, kasi may nakasabay ako kanina, na nag – aabang din ng masasakyan, kahit anong gawin niya, hindi at hindi talaga lumilingon ‘yong mga drayber ng pedicab na namamasada sa kanya. Kaya baliwala lang yong ginagawa niyang pagpara ng masasakyan.

At TAKE NOTE:

Wow na wow ako sa kanya.
Wala lang, kabaliktaran ko kasi siya. I’m a boyish type kung manamit, pero siya hindi. Gurly thingy siya~. Sa tingin ko nahiya ‘yon kasi tinawanan siya nung ibang andun, though hindi talaga siya, kundi ‘yong mga drayber kasi parang nag – to – tour na lang sila kasi parang hindi naghahanap ng pasahero.

At dahil dun, ‘yong basa ng pantalon ko na hanggang tuhod kanina dahil sa ulan, tuyo na siya ngayon – ngayon lang. Oh, di ba nakakatuwa. Nung sinabi ko sa kasama ko: “Gikan ko namasak, Bay.” Sabay turo nung pantalon ko. Ang sinabi ba naman sa akin. “Hubarin mo iyan.” Sabay tawa ng sabihin ko at siguro nang narealize niya kung ano ‘yong sinabi niyang hubarin ko [yong pantalon ko]: “Alangan namang magpanty lang ako.” In a sarcastic tone.

Ah Thursday, the middle child. Not quite the end of the week, but close enough to incite that rush of weekend anticipation. Don’t worry, the mydeco team are here to ease your restlessness with today’s selection of the best design news.

mydeco’s pick of the top three stories:

1. Design Boom: Real Design Exhibition at Serpentine Gallery London

Image credit: Design Boom

We love a good exhibition at the mydeco office (even more so when they are accompanied by free wine). However, there is no alcoholic incentive needed for Design Real: the first show at the Serpentine Gallery devoted to contemporary design. Curated by Konstantin Grcic and designed in collaboration with Alex Rich and Jürg Lehni, the exhibition examines items which have a function in everyday life. And yes, before you ask the above image does fit into this category – it is simply a textile wall constructed from interconnected foam tiles. Nothing unusual about that at all.

2. Inhabitat: Dallas Hill-filled design wins Re:Vision Dallas competition

Image credit: Inhabitat

Hard to believe, but the television show Dallas was not always an accurate reflection of reality. The real city is not all high-glamour, sex and murder; in fact some areas of this gigantic metropolis might even be described as ‘run-down’. Not for long however, as the winner of Re:Vision Dallas – a competition to create a completely sustainable community in the downtown area of the city – was announced yesterday. The hillside design runs entirely on renewable energy, has vertical gardens and can grow its own food. Construction is due to begin in 2011.

3. Moco Loco: Springtime chair

Image credit: Moco Loco

This design is the brainchild of Frank Winnubust, who researched various types of springs (Frank is single) in order to create a chair that would provide optimum comfort. Notice the knitted covers on the top layer, which were added to stop the chair from looking quite so much like a torture device. Cosy.

The best of the rest:

dornob: 10 eccentric eco homes of the far east

Design milk: Klein bottle house by Mcbride Charles Ryan

Inhabitat: Eden-falls skyscraper

The Telegraph: Ski property: Buy into the high life

The Independent: Art websites: DIY designer furniture

The Independent: House hunting goes high-tech

The Independent: House doctor: ‘We’re self-employed – will we find a lender?’

Daily Mail: Mel B’s California dreamin’ as she moves her family to L.A.

That’s all from us today, but make sure you check in again tomorrow for your last fix of daily news before the weekend.

Last wednesday wasn’t the best day for Jim Brown (OSA). “I have to ask my colleague…” and ” I have to look that up in our mission / vision statement…” were his most common answers. Isn’t he interested in his own business? Getting the trash out of the slums will not work, if you don’t even have a clue of your own mission, Mr Brown.

Or did  you just got up on the wrong side of the bed?

When push comes to shove you should never depend on a wimpy piece of paper.

And that is not only a hint for OSA…

ko & kn

Numerous NGO’s are currently bustling around in Africa, claiming to do everything they can to boost situations in Africa’s poor countries. But why haven’t we heard much of them so far? Most likely because these lazy fellers don’t care as much as they claim to do! If you are about to raise as much money as possible for an organisation you are truly commited to, what would you do? Just hang around waiting to be interviewed? Probably not! You would grab any possible chance to get publicity. So what does this tell us? Are  newspapers supposed to take them by the hand? Maybe the NGOs  should start being passionate about our continent and beg for attention since it is money and supporters they need to follow through with their aim.

fm & mk

Luke 17:25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Apparently, Donny Osmond won “Dancing with the Stars” last night on television. I never watch the show but millions of other people do, so I’m guessing that many of those who voted were lifelong fans of Donny.

I can remember his first single disc “Puppy Love” and how teenage girls all over the world screamed and swooned at the concerts where he was performing. After Elvis and the Beatles, Donny and his brothers were the biggest act in the music world during the 1970’s. His only rival was a young black kid called Michael Jackson. It’s funny how life turned out for both of them.

I admire Donny’s comeback and maybe his win on the show will rekindle his showbiz career. He’s not done a lot of international performing for the past two decades, because most of his fans outgrew his music and rejected his ‘soppy’ love songs. Perhaps a new wave of nostalgia among his original fans will help rebuild his career.

People are fickle, especially those who are obsessed with celebrities. As the years come and go, so does their enthusiasm for performers, artistes, and stars. Even leaders in both the political and religious worlds can be negatively affected by this group mentality. One day the people want to crown you as their king; the next day the mob wants to crucify you to a Cross.

When Jesus was talking to His disciples, He warned them several times about the suffering to come. Most of them were caught up in Christ’s popularity and enjoyed being connected to Him. Jesus frequently reminded them about the fickleness of the crowds. He knew that He was destined to suffer. He fully understood that the people would one day reject Him.

Several generations ago, Christianity was a popular faith. The Church had helped lead our people through two World Wars and the Great Depression. Faith was a key component that enabled our people to endure the worst and hope for better days to come. But then, decades later, the same communities who had embraced and increased the Church began to reject Christ’s teachings.

Sadly, we now live in a time where agnostics and atheists are using their belief system to undermine, diminish, and marginalize our faith in the public arena. However, the Church has faced this before in different places and times. At some point, revival occurs and the Church emerges in a stronger way. We only have to look at the flourishing churches in the former Soviet bloc countries to see that this actually occurs. The world may delightfully tell us that the Christian Church is dying, but it forgets that death only means resurrection for us.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, You have stood the test of time and Your Church has endured persecution, devastation, and destruction throughout the centuries. Your Spirit never fails to inspire people every day to come to You. Thank You for the gift of the Church in the world and for the promises of hope and resurrection in the years to come. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today is Wednesday, November 25, 2009.  It is the 329^th day of the year with 36 to go.

Today’s History

In 1963, the body of President John F. Kennedy was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
In 2002, President George W. Bush signed legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security.

Today’s News

Daddy Daycare
An Indianapolis man has been arrested after he left his son in a tractor trailer while he went into a strip club to have a drink.  The child is five years old.  The man left the boy in the cabin of the tractor trailer watching cartoons so he could go inside and have a couple.  When he left the strip joint, he was so drunk that he couldn’t find his truck so he thought someone had stolen it.  He called the police to report the truck and his child missing.  The police informed him that the truck was still in the parking lot where he had left it.  They charged him with child neglect for leaving the child unattended in a high crime area and public intoxication. 

What do you tell your kid when he grows up?  “Hope that didn’t traumatize you, kid, sitting in the parking lot of a strip club while daddy gets his rocks off.”  The report states that the mother came to pick up the child and the husband.  I’m wondering why he didn’t just take his kid home, or call his wife and tell her to come get the kid.  Actually, I’m wondering why she just didn’t leave the husband at the jail, get her kid and just go home.  I hope she doesn’t intend to stay married to someone that would leave her child in the parking lot of a strip club.

Wanderlust
A 13-year-old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome, who had been missing for 11 days, was found wandering the subway.  Asperger’s Syndrome is similar to autism.  The boy had been at school when he ran away because he thought he was in trouble.  When the mother called the police to report him missing, they blew her off stating that many teenage children run away from home.  She tried to explain about her son’s condition.  Children with Asperger’s have difficulty socializing and communicating; they generally won’t ask for help because they are too shy to approach someone they don’t know.  The kid had a few dollars in his pocket and survived by eating lollipops and bags of chips he bought from vending stands.  When authorities found him, he was still in the same clothes he’d been wearing the day he went missing.  The mother says the police didn’t even try to help her until the boy had been missing five days because they thought he was just another runaway.

That’s messed up.  What if something had happened to that boy?  Yeah, a lot of teenagers do run away but the mother told the police that he was retarded and they pretty much blew her off.  Retarded kids run away too but mostly because they are scared and don’t know what to do.  Luckily he wasn’t too retarded because he knew enough to buy himself something to eat and he stayed in the subway system so he wasn’t exposed to the cold.  I know I couldn’t survive 11 days on the streets. 

F– Me Up, Facebook
Authorities believe a posting on Facebook encouraged some bad ass schoolchildren to beat up a boy because he had red hair.  Police found a Facebook posting declaring Friday to be “Kick a Ginger Day,” in which people were supposed to go around and kick redheads.  The red-headed boy at a middle school in California was beat up in two separate occasions on Friday.  It is possible that the Facebook posting was derived from a South Park episode.  The boy was not seriously injured and no one has been arrested.

Kick a Ginger Day…yeah.  That’s all I’ma say about that.

F– My Life, Facebook
A Canadian woman is taking her employer to court after they revoked her benefits due to some pictures she posted on Facebook.  The woman had been on extended leave because she was diagnosed as clinically depressed.  She was relying on sick leave benefits to help pay her bills, but the company stopped paying the benefits when she started posting pictures of her at parties and on vacation.  They said if she was feeling good enough to go to a party then she was feeling well enough to go back to work.  The woman claims that her shrink told her to help battle depression she should treat herself and take herself out.  The photos included Chippendale dancers, a birthday party and a beach holiday. 

More than ever people are using our social networking sites to spy on us.  I’ve recently read a story where a woman was denied her degree after she posted a picture of herself drunk at a party.  The woman was getting her teaching degree.  The school contended that the woman wouldn’t be a good candidate to be a teacher since she was getting trashed.  I completely disagree with the fact that people are using our business against us, but until there’s some kind of legislation against it, we have to protect ourselves.  Although there’s ways around everything, make your social sites private.  I guess whoever “they” are thinks we should be sitting in our houses with the lights off in order to fit into this neat little square of morality “they” have created for us.  A party is a perfectly reasonable place to be drunk, but if there had been children present, than maybe this isn’t somebody you would want to have as a teacher.  There’s a difference.  This woman was depressed, so she should probably get out, get some fresh air, enjoy life to bring her spirits up.  Or maybe, according to the insurance company, she should have sat in the house and slit her wrists, proving that she really was depressed.  People are so stupid.

Fighting Fat
Peruvian police have arrested several members of a gang that have been going around killing people for their fat.  They were using the fat for cosmetics.  The gang confessed to killing at least five people for their fat.  Two were arrested with about $60,000 worth of liquid fat in bottles.  Even though fat has a cosmetic use, there isn’t a huge black market value for the stuff.  The gang would attack a victim, kill him, and then cut off his head, arms and legs.  The organs would then be removed so that they could drain the fat into tubes.  The police are continuing to investigate the disappearance of 60 other people who may have been victims of this fat-snatching gang.

Well, there’s certainly a new way to lose weight:  have a gang member kill you and suck the fat out of your body.  All the Hollywood stars will be jumping on this one.  In the old days, they used to steal your teeth, now they want your fat.

Daddy Daycare, Part 2
A Minnesota man admitted that he spoke only Klingon (a fake alien language from Star Trek) to his child for the first three years of his life.  He said he was interested in whether the boy would acquire it like any other human language.  He said he wanted to understand how children learn languages better.  The wife spoke to the child in English.  The boy is now in high school, but the father had long since stopped speaking to him in Klingon because it was obvious the kid didn’t like it and wouldn’t respond.  He said he didn’t want to make it into a problem.

Uhm.  It already is a problem.  If I was the wife I would have been like, “Either speak a real language or I’m divorcing you.”  What if he had messed up the child’s language learning abilities?  What if the kid never learned how to speak English (or any other language) properly?  What if he developed some other mental issue?  When the boy starts swinging from the rafters pretending he is a Klingon then what?  People just don’t think.

Today’s Thought

Self is the only prison that can bind the soul. ~Henry van Dyke

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…that’s right everyone, C-Day is a mere month away. Now, I feel it is my duty to warn readers before the festive season gets under way – with the exception of Cliff Richard, I am possibly Christmas’s biggest fan. So, from next Tuesday, expect each instalment of the daily news to be seasoned with yuletide joy. Luckily for you this has not yet kicked in, so today’s selection of design stories comes with the usual smattering of pessimism.

mydeco’s pick of the top three stories:

1. dornob: Paper-city: Cool Origami Island & Colourful castle complex

Image credit: dornob

Patience has never been my strong point (the great British tradition of queuing is a constant irritant), so how someone managed to create an entire origami city – complete with moving train line and electric lights – is completely unfathomable to me. Apparently the paper metropolis took Japanese artist Wataru Itou four years to complete, using a very sophisticated toolkit of scissors, hole-punches and modelling glue. Follow the link to see more pictures.

Inhabitat: Tabletop cardboard Christmas tree from Cloudgate Design

Image credit: Inhabitat

Being a yuletide enthusiast does have its disadvantages, though luckily they don’t affect me. For example, when it comes to the Christmas tree, I accept nothing less than perfection. Not so much a problem now, but should I ever have children, I might find that crushing their decorative enthusiasm each year starts to wear on my conscience. Thankfully, Cloudgate Design have come up with this cardboard tree. Friendly to infants as well as the environment, children can decorate them however they wish. The colours don’t even have to compliment each other.

Design Milk: Architectural jewellery

Image credit: Design Milk

Here’s a wearable design if ever I saw one – giant pieces of jewellery which look as though they have broken away from an architectural model and latched themselves onto someone’s wrist. In all fairness, Joshua Demont’s designs are pretty impressive, if only for their creative ingenuity. This jewellery might not get you on any best dressed list, but at least it’s guaranteed to make a statement. Expect to see Lady Gaga wearing it in the near future.

The best of the rest:

Technews: Like.com acquires street style fashion community Weardrobe

Design Milk: Edge table lamp

The Telegraph: Are Agas off the boil?

The Telegraph: My space: Jemma Kidd, make-up artist

Financial Times: High life, low prices

Financial Times: Interiors: ‘No corner is left empty’

Wallpaper: Barbara Kruger at Sprueth Magers London

Inhabitat: Rolling green roofed sports park rises in Slovenia

Hope you enjoyed our selection today, make sure to come see us again tomorrow when we’ll have more tasty design pickings for you.

-Quality is still hovering just below acceptable.  Most of our errors today were 130’s – obscured or cropped text, and I believe almost all of those were in small 500ppi paperbacks.  These are tough books, but I think if a scanner is noticing dozens of pages with text running into the gutter, they should probably reject the book… or at least spend more time in repub and have it marked difficult.

-Production however is through the roof…. we’re still not at what we ’should’ be doing given 400pph minimum, but yesterday we scanned over 92,500 pages!  We also broke the QA sample barrier with 306 books scanned!  I’m still QAing a set of 32, as anything over 281 books technically requires a set of 99!  The higher-ups are going to need to hash out a few more QA tiers!

-Time clock issues:  due to the shifting of scanners, we have a few people coming up under the sflp time-clock that are now located elsewhere.  Can we change Adriana’s, Lawraine’s, and Francis’ location to reflect where they’ve moved to now?  As far as problematic punches go:

*Angelina – no ‘end shift’ punch

*Genet – has been punching in @ 7:45 since last monday – does not punch in / out for lunch

*Kian – Now and forever… just keeps happily punching out for “paid lunch” despite arriving at 7:30

-On the Maintenance end, the left lens on scribe 19 was blowing out images, so it was replaced and packaged for precision.

-3 members of the SFPL came by with some questions for paul, looking for information about wonderfetch, where to ship books to (300 or sfpl), foldouts, quality control and when they can start sending out the next shipment.  I answered them as best I could, but still reccomend someone contacting them to follow up, just in case I gave any horribly wrong information I left their business cards on the desk that Paul usually uses.

-Thats all for today! Have a good evening!

-Sean

May natanggap akong mensahe mula sa isang kaibigan. Na nagsasabing:

“Hello, kumusta? I missed U! May tanong ako saU. Kung ikaw ang mkapagdcisyon, anong gusto mong mangyari sa buhay pag-ibg mo?”

Natawa ako sa tanong niya. Naisip kong parang wala yata siya sa kanyang sarili. Kaya ang sabi ko:

“OK lang. Pero ikaw parang ‘di ah~ Nakakain ka ba ng palito ng posporo? Anong lasa? Oy, kita-kits naman taU minsan.”

At ang tanging sinagot sa akin ay “Hahaha~~ Loka ka talaga. SerUso ako. Sagutin mo nmn.”

Marami pa kaming napag-usapan na umabot sa dahilan kung bakit niya naitanong sa akin ang mga ganoong katanungan.

Napatulala lang naman ako sa kaisipan: Kung ano ang gusto kong mangyari sa buhay pag-ibig ko.

May isang kantang –nakalimutan ko ‘yong pamagat– na sinabi ko sa sarili kong sana maranasan ko ‘yong nangyari sa kanta. Ah, alam ko na. “You’ve Made Me Stronger” pala ‘yong title nang song. Na tinawanan naman ako nung nakarinig sabay sabing: “Bakit?”.

Hindi ako makaisip ng magandang sitwasyon na maaring masasabi kong ’sana ganito ang mangyayari sa love life ko’ eh sa wala akong pakialam eh~

Ayokong nakatulala sa kawalan para lang pag-isipan kong ano ang gusto kong mangyari sa love life ko. Ayokong matulad sa kanya na parang wala kang kausap kahit magkasama kayo~ Dahil sa kakaisip ng mga bagay-bagay na imposibleng-imposibleng mangyayari sa totoong buhay.

Adios, Akira.

Good morning faithful flock, we’ve shaken off our Monday blues here at the mydeco office (it’s like someone has slipped happy pills into the water supply) and everyone is jovially hard at work. Read on to see the fruits of our efforts, with a selection of the latest and greatest in design news.

mydeco’s pick of the top three news stories:

1. Design Milk : Mary had a little lamp

Image credit: Design Milk

Ever had that morning-after horror, when you roll over in bed and realise that you didn’t come home alone last night? Well imagine that you awoke to find that not only do you have company…but he has a lamp for a head. Scary. Still, should you decide to invest in this lamp to stop you feeling lonely when going to bed with nothing more than a good book, I would advise against Danielle Steel. Trust me, it’s bound to end badly.

2. Telegraph : Carla Bruni’s Castle for sale

Image credit: The Telegraph

Once upon a time there was a little girl, whose grandfather was the king of all the tyre-manufacturers in the land. The little girl grew up in a beautiful 11th century castle in Italy, complete with frescos, marble floors, and 173 acres of parkland to frolic upon. When the little girl grew up, she dropped out of school, became a model, and dated Mick Jagger. Now she lives in a different palace, and her old one is on sale for $28m. Follow the link to find more information on how you can buy it and live happily ever after.

3. dornob: Traffic-stopping style cone-shaped breakfast set

Image credit: dornob

The alarm goes off, and you grudgingly drag yourself out of bed. Those who have risen earlier greet you with a cheery ‘good morning’, and you discover feelings of unadulterated hatred you never thought yourself capable of. What could possibly make 6am worse? Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with Pierre Lescop’s traffic-cone shaped breakfast-set.

The best of the rest:

dornob : Amazing home atrium and multi-level interior garden design

Daily Mail: Why Bread’s Jean Boht is selling her £2.25m home in Reigate

Daily Mail: Why estate agents also shared the joy of Magnificent Seven’s lottery win

Daily Mail: Average cost of fixed rate mortgage falls below 5% for first time in 5 months

Daily Mail: As number of empty shops in Britain soars, why are local councils turning down bids to turn them into homes?

The Guardian: All fired-up: Wood burning stoves

The Guardian: Let’s move to…Cromer

The Guardian: Myspace: Alan Yentob, editor and TV presenter

Want more? Well, make sure you join us again tomorrow for Wednesday’s instalment of design news.

Giappone, il Governo chiede alla BoJ più impegno per lo sviluppo

Il ministro giapponese Shizuka Kamei ha criticato senza giri di parole la Banca del Giappone per lo scarso impegno sul fronte della crescita e ha sollecitato l’istituto a “giocare un ruolo più attivo” per supportare l’ancora fragile economia del Paese.

In una testimonianza al parlamento Kamei ha ricordato che per anni “aveva avvertito una discrepanza tra la realtà economica e politica della Banca del Giappone”.

Nel rivendicare maggior influenza sulla politica della banca centrale, il ministro ha detto che i politici e il governo non sono molto convinti che la politica della BoJ sia un “santuario”.

Fonte:
http://www.milanofinanza.it/news/dettaglio_news.asp?id=200911170934492049&chkAgenzie=TMFI

Published on PBS FRONTLINE
24 November 2009

In May 1985, federal agents arrested a 47-year-old retired Navy chief warrant officer on charges that he had spent the better part of two decades spying and providing top secret U.S. documents to the Soviet Union. It was a headline story for weeks and one of the last major spy cases of the Cold War era.Details emerged that the man, John Anthony Walker, Jr., had provided codes for more than 200,000 encrypted naval messages to the KGB and organized a spy ring in what was considered by many to be one of the most damaging cases of espionage in the United States.

What caused a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Navy to become a spy? According to the FBI, Walker’s motivations were strictly financial. In 1966, he had taken out a large loan to open a bar in South Carolina, but the bar was a failure. Mounting debt and the financial pressures of having to provide for a wife and four children are what motivated him to drive four hours from his duty station in Norfolk, Va. to the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C. For the next 18 years, Walker provided the KGB with classified documents in exchange for a weekly salary ranging from $500 to $1,000.

Twenty-four years later, the case highlights the reason why the Department of Defense continues to fight to protect its military personnel from accumulating unmanageable debt.

Matters of National Security

“When you’re entrusting an individual with classified information, any sort of weakness that can be exploited by our adversaries to try and garner that information, like finances, is a factor that needs to be considered,” Air Force Lt. Col. David Silverman, commander of the 21st Force Support Squadron, told FRONTLINE.

In 2008, the Navy reported that financial issues accounted for roughly 80 percent of security clearance revocations and denials — approximately 1,500 sailors out of 330,000 active-duty Navy personnel. Cpt. Mark Patton, chief of staff for the Navy Installations Command, told FRONTLINE that security clearance revocations seriously impact a unit’s mission readiness. When one service member is unable to deploy because he or she cannot obtain a security clearance, he explained, the military is often forced to deploy another service member sooner than expected or extend a deployment in order to fill that void. “Any time the nation is at war, any issue that affects your operational readiness and prevents a service member from carrying out his duties and responsibilities is a significant issue,” Patton said.

A 2005 study commissioned by the Department of Defense showed that the U.S. military, excluding the Army, revoked 2,654 clearances that year due to financial problems, up from 284 in 2002, the year before the invasion of Iraq. During that four-year period, more than 6,300 troops from the Navy, Air Force and Marines lost their clearances because of financial troubles. (Figures were not available for the Army, the largest branch of the military.)

Retired Navy commander David Julian, the director of personal finance for the Defense Department, told FRONTLINE that financial problems could affect a service member’s performance during missions. “If we’ve got a service member who’s deployed, potentially in harm’s way, they’ve got to be thinking about the important tasks at hand,” Julian said. “They can’t be thinking about their personal finances at home.”

Money Management Skills

Like most Americans in their late teens or early 20s, new recruits have received little financial education before entering the military. Members of the armed forces earn more money during a deployment — from hazard pay, tax-free income and separation pay — and military financial counselors from bases across the country report that many of these troops return home with little understanding on how to manage it, often finding themselves in financial danger.

Since 1994, the military has mandated financial literacy programs for troops. “Long before the current economic crisis, DoD has valued the financial education of service members and family members, [and] provided them access to resources and programs,” Julian said. “When the current economic crisis hit, we were able to fall back on those controls we already had in place to help our service members be financially ready.”

Betty Geren, who oversees financial education for soldiers and families at Fort Campbell, Ky., home of the 101st Airborne Division, said her department provides mandatory financial education for all first-term soldiers. Staff also provide one-on-one counseling, pull CarFax and credit reports, and assess if a soldier qualifies for a low-interest or no-interest loan. Through a debt liquidation program, the department can also negotiate lower monthly payments and interest rates for a soldier in severe financial trouble. “I think we’re better educating them when they first get here,” said Geren, who has taught financial education for more than 15 years. “And I see more soldiers coming in to be proactive about their finances.”

The Military Lending Act and Other Provisions

Congress has also played a part in protecting the financial security of the nation’s forces. When senior military officials recognized that one of the biggest obstacles to the financial security of its troops was the proliferation of payday lenders — small short-term loan centers that come with extraordinary high interest rates — which popped up near bases in the last decade, Congress took action.

In 2007, lawmakers passed the Military Lending Act, which put an interest rate cap of 36 percent on loans made to service members and their dependents. It requires lenders to disclose the terms of the loan information in writing with a clear description of the payment obligations, the annual percentage rate and fees associated with the loan. The act also prohibits lenders from rolling over debt from one loan to another and from using a personal check or vehicle title as collateral for the loan. Since the act was implemented, it has effectively banned payday lenders from capitalizing on a service member’s debt.

The Military Lending Act is not the only provision in place to assist members of the armed forces, Julian said. Since the Civil War, the government has passed several laws designed to protect the rights and property of service members at war. A 1940 bill included a provision that caps all interest rates on debt accrued prior to active duty service at 6 percent. The bill’s protections were expanded further in 2003, when it was renamed the Servicemember’s Civil Relief Act.

Even with established educational and support programs, Julian said the next step is to expand and improve the financial services for military personnel. “If we can get our service members to understand the right way to do things financially and have the awareness of the programs that are out there,” he said, “then that’ll help solve 90 percent of the problem.”

Watch the accompanying PBS FRONTLINE story that aired on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, for which I was the associate producer.