For the first time since April 1983 the unemployment rate has surpassed 10 percent, which translates into 16 million people without jobs.

The Labor Department announced today that the jobless rate has risen from 9.8 percent in September to 10.2 percent. There was a net loss of 190,000 jobs in October, more than economists expected.

President Obama gave his condolences to those at Fort Hood in the wake of the shootings yesterday – but he came under critique for spending several minutes on national television giving a “shout-out” to a Congressional Medal of Honor winner at the conference he was attending and then name-dropping others before finally commenting on the tragedy. It seemed an awkward transition from light-hearted to serious – see what you think.

The Nov. 21 issue of WORLD Magazine is available this morning online. Here are some highlights:

COVER STORY All-American adoption story: All-American Michael Oher went from the streets as a 15-year-old son of a crack addict to potential NFL Rookie of the Year on the love and dedication of an adoptive family that wouldn’t let him fail.

ELECTION ’09 Turnabout: Decisive Republican gains in off-year elections spell work for Democrats to win back ‘change’ voters.

MOVIE REVIEW Horror on screen: WORLD’s Sam Thielman says low-budget Paranormal Activity will leave viewers terrified.

NICK EICHER Needed: WORLD Movers: In a time of journalistic retreat, a plan to grow WORLD’s influence.

To see what else is in the Nov. 21 issue, click here. If you’re not a subscriber to WORLD, you ought to be. Click here for more information.

Protesters staged a rally on Capitol Hill this afternoon to express their displeasure with the proposed House healthcare bill. WORLD Washington Bureau chief Edward Lee Pitts reports:

[T]he afternoon largely belonged to the citizen brigade that covered the Capitol grounds in protest.

“What a crowd. No wonder I couldn’t get a room,” joked actor and healthcare reform opponent Jon Voight.

The day had a patriotic flair: Kids decked out in colonial-era outfits stood beside parents wearing patriotic hats with tea bags dangling from the brims. Scores of American flags flapped in the light wind of an unseasonably bright, warm day. Numerous protestors also hoisted the historic “Don’t Tread on Me” flag.

These competed with hundreds of signs and repeated chants, as citizens from across the country seemed determined to spook Democrats just a week after Halloween: “Public Healthcare is Public Enemy No. 1,” read one sign. “Nancy We’re Barack,” read another.

“You see this building here, you own this building,” shouted conservative commentator Mark Levin, referring to the Capitol. “But the people who run that building today reject limited government. Now they have their sights set on the mother of all entitlements.”

“Vote them out,” responded the crowd, referring to the 2010 elections. Clearly still in a celebratory mood after this week’s Republican victories in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races, the protestors held aloft signs predicting a worse fate for Democrats next November.

Read Lee’s report in its entirety here.

Twelve people have been killed and 31 wounded in shootings this afternoon at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas. One of the shooters was killed and two others have been apprehended. All three were soldiers.

UPDATE: There was only one suspected gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, and he is still alive. There are now 13 dead.

On the fifth try, voters in Ohio finally agreed to amend the state’s constitution and allow casinos to be built in four major cities. Pro-gambling supporters point to a study that predicts the casinos will bring 40,000 jobs and $4 billion in economic impact to a state with unemployment above 10 percent. It’s a shame that desperate times lead to desperate solutions.

Last spring, the Maine legislature passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage, but yesterday voters in the state repealed it. This issue has been put to the test in 31 states so far, and each time the popular vote has sided with preserving traditional marriage between a man and a woman. This is, however, the first time voters have rejected legislative action. Gay marriage is legal in five states, all through legislation or court rulings, not by popular vote.

Constructed with 7.5 tons of steel recovered from the World Trade Center, the Navy assault ship USS New York arrived near the site of the 9/11 attacks this morning, receiving a 21-gun salute and the praise from onlookers, including families of victims of the terrorist attack.

“It’s a transformation . . . from something really twisted and ugly,” said Rosaleen Tallon, whose firefighter brother Sean died in the attack. “I’m proud that our military is using that steel.”

According to a Navy spokeswoman, there have been numerous requests to serve on the ship, and 13 percent of the sailors on board are from New York, a higher percentage than is usually the case.

If you’re a print subscriber, your copy of WORLD is on its way to your mailbox, but thanks to WORLDmag.com, you can get a head start on reading the latest news and views from a Christian perspective.

The cover story in this issue focuses on Belmont Abbey College, a 1,600-student Catholic college in North Carolina. Federal attempts to pressure the school to pay for employees’ contraception could foretell the loss of religious freedom after Congress overhauls healthcare.

WORLD’s Jamie Dean and Edward Lee Pitts report:

Earlier this year, eight Belmont Abbey faculty members filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over a school policy rooted in Catholic doctrine: The college refuses to include birth control in its healthcare coverage for employees, citing Catholic teaching against contraceptives. The school also refuses to cover abortion or sterilization.

The EEOC district office in nearby Charlotte, N.C., initially dismissed the complaint in March but suddenly reversed course: A July 30 letter from District Office Director Reuben Daniels claimed the college is discriminating against women by refusing to pay for birth control, despite the school’s religious objection to the practice. The implication was clear: In this case, an accusation of gender discrimination trumps religious freedom.

Read the complete report here.

Hear about the big DOJ drug bust yesterday? U.S. drug agents this week arrested more than 300 members from the relatively new Mexican cartel La Familia.

La Familia is a weird, weird cartel – its members pass out Bibles and they say they give proceeds from their illicit trade to the poor. In 2006 they threw five human heads on a dance floor with a note that said the act was “divine judgment.” Newsweek reports that members read the works of Christian writer John Eldredge (Wild at Heart, Captivating, The Sacred Romance) regularly.

Eldredge does not preach violence and has no connection to La Familia, officials say. But the cartel apparently is taken with his muscular theology, which teaches that men should assert their “Christian masculinity” through acts of physical rigor.