Prairie Fire Journal

It's amazing what kind of bullshit will ooze out of the mouth of economists and government statisticians.

On the one hand there's the economists who this week claim that the recession is over. These are the same jarheads who during all of 2008 said we weren't in a recession, but then in 2009 admitted that we were in one and that it actually began in December 2007. And now it's over. Really? American workers are still losing their jobs at a rate of over 200,000 every month. The official national unemployment rate continues to rise and will be over 10 percent by the end of the year. The real unemployment rate is closer to 20 percent. Millions more workers are facing wage cuts or only working part time.

Then on the other hand we have the statisticians who crunch the inflation numbers. According to them, 2009 will be a year of "negative inflation." Bizarre terminology. Until recently I never heard of negative inflation. I thought inflation was when the price of most stuff went up, and deflation was when the price of most stuff went down. But now we have the oxymoron of negative inflation. You can't find bullshit this thick, even in Texas. The purveyors of negative inflation must not do their own shopping.

However, what's really at play here is the fact that when the number crunchers do their fancy calculations they leave out most of the stuff that ordinary people buy. That's why, even though most items in the supermarket continue to rise sharply in price, the statisticians can claim we have negative inflation. They do the same thing with the unemployment rate. Leave out most of the people who are actually unemployed and things don't look as bad statistically as they really are.

But, hey, the Dow hit 10,000 today and taxpayer-bailed-out banks are prospering from their rape-and-pillage of credit card customers by jacking up APRs before a new law kicks in in 2010. Isn't it sweet how Congress gives the loan sharks plenty of lead time to fuck us all before they supposedly rein-in the crooks. It's all just smoke and mirrors. Nothing has changed. The economy is improving for the robber barons, while the working class continues to crash and burn. That's as it was under Bush and the Republicans, and that's how it continues to be under Obama and the Democrats.

The recession may be over for the fat cats, but the working class is still in a depression.

Asthma sufferers who have long depended on the over-the-counter Primatene Mist rescue inhaler will find themselves without a less-costly OTC alternative to prescription inhalers such as albuterol. In 2006, the federal Food & Drug Administration voted 11-7 in favor of removing certain OTC asthma inhalers, such as Primatene Mist, from the market because of concerns that they contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that could harm the environment. Some physicians groups also took this opportunity to drive some nails into the coffin of OTC inhalers by using fearmongering tactics about the epinephrine-based OTC inhalers being dangerous and less effective than doctor-prescribed inhalers such as albuterol. Epinephrine OTC inhalers were given a slight reprieve, but an FDA ban on OTC rescue inhalers containing CFCs will go into effect on December 31, 2011.

The Montreal Protocol that calls for a ban on CFCs, and which the FDA is using to ban epinephrine-based inhalers, also allows "essential use" products to remain available on the market as long as there are no available alternatives and they are essential for manufacturing or medical purposes. Currently no OTC alternatives exist for epinephrine inhalers. Their have been significant difficulties in reformulating epinephrine inhalers with non-CFC propellants, and it's not clear that a non-CFC alternative will be available after the ban goes into effect. The result will be that millions of asthma sufferers will lose the only affordable rescue inhaler available to them.

The CFC issue is a ruse being used by the FDA to assist Big Pharma and its doctor lackeys in removing the only OTC alternative currently available to asthma sufferers. Primatene Mist has had its share of critics concerning side effects and effectiveness in relieving asthma symptoms. Like any OTC medication, some people like it and some people don't. However, the biggest critics are prescription drug manufacturers and doctors. Why? Because it deprives both groups of profits they'd reap from writing more prescriptions for albuterol and other prescription asthma medications. Contrary to what many doctors are saying, millions of asthma sufferers claim better relief with Primatene Mist than with the more expensive prescription inhalers being peddled by Big Pharma. I'm one of them.

As for side effects, in a side-by-side comparison, albuterol has just as many of the same possible side effects as epinephrine. It really comes down to money. The primary concern of doctors and Big Pharma is how much money goes into their bank account. Relieving human suffering is a secondary concern. They have to perform the latter in order to grow the former. Eliminating epinephrine-based rescue inhalers is a way for doctors to force asthma sufferers into making more office visits to get prescriptions for albuterol, because they will no longer have an over-the-counter alternative. It's comparable to eliminating all OTC pain relievers and forcing consumers to pay for expensive visits to the doctor's office just so they can get a prescription written for an expensive prescription pain reliever.

Primatene Mist is currently the only over-the-counter rescue inhaler available to millions of asthma suffers who don't have health insurance and can't afford expensive prescription inhalers. Its removal will cause many asthma sufferers to be unable to afford treatments for their asthma and put them at risk for serious health complications. For many of them, epinephrine provides better relief than prescription medications. The product has been available OTC since 1963. The FDA has approved Primatene Mist as a safe and effective product for relieving shortness of breath, tightness of chest, and wheezing due to diagnosed bronchial asthma. There currently is no other FDA-approved epinephrine inhaler made without CFCs or sold without a prescription. Millions of asthma sufferers should not be denied its continued OTC availability while attempts continue to reformulate the product using non-CFC propellants.

Reported cases of seasonal flu and the H1N1 strain are now widespread across Texas. People are being strongly advised to properly wash their hands to help reduce the spread of these diseases. Unfortunately, many healthcare workers continue to be lazy and irresponsible when it comes to this most important means of disease suppression. Lab technicians who draw patients' blood are of particular concern. I have personally witnessed lab techs at Lubbock's University Medical Center wearing filthy surgical gloves that looked like the person had been wearing the same pair all day. You would have thought that somebody working with these people would have noticed and corrected their bad behavior. But I have seen such things at UMC more than once, so it must be a systemic failure on the part of the hospital. I'm singling out UMC because that's the only hospital I've had experience with, but I know it's not confined just to them.

Improper hygiene among medical staff is the leading cause of staph outbreaks at hospitals. Going from one patient to another without properly washing hands and changing gloves is still much too common an occurance in hospitals and clinics. More educating of healtcare workers appears to be necessary. Those healthcare professionals who find myriad excuses to justify their bad hygiene practices need to be severely reprimanded and even fired if necessary. All personnel in hospitals and clinics should be required to report cases of poor hygiene to their supervisors who should strictly enforce the rules of cleanliness.

There's no excuse for bad hygiene. If you're too lazy to properly wash your hands and change gloves between patients, then you probably shouldn't be working in the healthcare field.

In April 2008, Levi King pleaded guilty before a Pulaski County, Mo., judge to killing two rural McDonald County residents: retired restauranteur Orlie McCool, 70, and his 47-year-old former daughter-in-law, Dawn Burr McCool, on Sept. 29, 2005. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without parole.

In July 2008, the State of Missouri allowed King to be extradited to Texas to stand trial for capital murder in the killing of Pampa residents Brian Conrad, his pregnant wife Michell, and her 14-year-old son Zach Doan on September 30, 2005. Michell's 10-year-old daughter, Robin Doan, was also shot but survived and called 911. If convicted and sentenced to death, the Texas punishment would take precedence under an agreement with Missouri. The trial was moved to Lubbock, Texas on a change of venue from Pampa.

King pleaded guilty Sept. 3 to the three killings. That sent the capital murder trial directly to the punishment phase. Because King pleaded guilty he faced either life without parole or the death penalty. A unanimous vote of all the jurors is necessary to sentence a defendant to death in Texas. On Tuesday, after nearly five weeks of prosecution and defense testimony, the Lubbock jury of 11 women and one man sentenced King to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The lone man on the jury, Tommy Jones, was also the jury foreman. According to Jones, one woman on the jury was totally opposed to the death penalty and would not agree to sentence King to death. That meant that King was automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Now Jones is mad that the woman robbed him of the opportunity to play God and sentence someone to death.

Jones admitted to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal on Wednesday that he told the jurors that he was frustrated and upset that they "couldn't kill the son-of-a-bitch." Jones had said that even though he was frustrated, he didn't blame the juror for sticking to her beliefs. However, since then, Jones has been lambasting the lone dissenter through any media outlet he can find to listen to him. In contrast to Jones' continued rantings to the media, Brian Conrad's mother said "We respect the decision of the jury and I appreciate their hard work and we came into this totally prepared to accept what happened, it's just part of the process."

Robin Doan, now 14, took the stand after King's sentencing and told him she is constantly haunted by her mother's scream and is still paranoid to go to sleep. She told King that she forgives him and that she hopes one day when he meets God, he will ask for forgiveness too. It was the recording of Robin Doan's 911 call that Jones said helped sway him toward giving King the death penalty. If the family members can forgive and accept the jury verdict, then Jones should put a stop to his grumbling to the media.

As for Missouri authorities, they apparently thought that they could wash their hands of King by sending him back to "The Execution State". King will now be returned to the Show-Me state to spend the rest of his natural life behind bars. That's where he belongs. Mr. Jones should accept that and move on.

While Texas Tech University Chancellor Kent Hance is slapping himself on the back for another record $100-million-plus year in fundraising, it shouldn't go without notice that the university pays its janitors and custodians the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The people who keep the halls of academia shining are treated like the dirt they clean-up off the floors. Way to go Kent. You should be ashamed of yourself, but I doubt that it bothers you in the least.

Kent Hance
TTU Chancellor

What originally brought me to Carlsbad Caverns National Park was my passion for the backcountry wilderness. The park's backcountry isn't easily accessible to the average tourist. There are few established trails and no campgrounds anywhere in the park. The terrain, though breathtakingly beautiful, is rugged and hostile. Most people who visit the park either don't know about it's 33,000 acres of backcountry wilderness or don't care. They come to see the Caverns. That's why it was such an appealing backpacking destination for someone like me. I used to go out on 3-day solitary journeys and not see a single soul the whole time.

Back in the early 1980s, I spent six months working as a volunteer at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. I originally signed on to work in the backcountry. I was a backpacker, not a caver, and my interest at the time lay above ground, not below it. That would soon change when I began working with NPS cave specialist Ronal Kerbo and other volunteers on some restoration projects in the Caverns. I also participated in surveys of Left Hand Tunnel, Lake of the Clouds, and Spider Cave. I witnessed Kerbo's first failed attempt to float helium-filled party ballons up to an opening in the Big Room ceiling at Top-of-the-Cross in hopes of securing a rope to climb up and survey for possible new passageways.

That six-month period was my first and last experience with caving. I still carry fond memories of those days and having the opportunity to explore the marvels of the subterranean world with some of the top folks in the field. But I also found something a little disconcerting about some of those people. It was during this time that I first came into contact with members of the Cave Research Foundation (CRF). Some of them seemed like good enough folks. But most of them came off to me as being arrogant Ph.d egghead elitists who had such bloated egos that I found it amazing they didn't fall over from being so top heavy.

Recently I was doing some internet research on Lechuguilla Cave. During my time at Carlsbad Caverns, the cave was a nondescript guano pit, though the barometric winds that howled up from the floor of the cave led many in the caving community to believe there was much more to the cave than met the eye. That belief was confirmed in 1986, and Lechuguilla Cave has since become one of the greatest cave discoveries in the world, rivaling Carlsbad Caverns in its immensity and diversity. Unfortunately, most of the cavers who would love to experience this underground wonderland will never get the opportunity to do so.

That's because a group of elitists associated with the CRF has successfully commandeered the cave for their own selfish purposes and won't even allow a small portion of the over 120 miles of passages so far discovered to be accessed by anyone except their approved research and survey teams. Twenty-three years after the initial breakthrough, the greatest cave discovery ever found in this publicly-owned national park is still totally off limits to the public.

At present, only about 50 people a year are allowed inside, consisting almost entirely of CRF associates, members of the Lechuguilla Exploration and Research Network (LEARN), and NPS employees. Getting into Lechuguilla Cave first requires becoming a member of LEARN. Then you must submit a caving "resume", which is accepted or rejected. This must be accompanied by a recommendation from a sponsor who has previously been in the cave. If all that goes well, your name is put into a hat, and if you're lucky you get picked.

Like gods standing on Mt. Olympus, these elitists have managed to appropriate this natural wonder all to themselves, while sneering down self-righteously at the non-academic rabble who would dare encroach on their private domain simply for the pleasure of exploring its hidden beauty. The elitists don't want the rabble dispoiling the pristine cave environment, even as they themselves have already done with their urine dumps, ropes, bolts, flagging tape, extraction of drinking water from some of the underground ponds, and just by their very presence in the cave. The cave ceased being an unspoiled pristine environment the moment the first discovery team exhaled their first breath inside its bowels.

Lechuguilla Cave is a perfect example of the academic and environmental elitisim that is taking over the national parks. They are taking environmetalism and nature conservation to an insane level. It amounts to an exclusionary ideology that applies to everyone except them and their chosen ones. The elitists want it all for themselves and to hell with the rest of us.

The Pearlsian Gulf
Lechuguilla Cave

Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by the State of Texas in 2004 for allegedly killing his three daughters in a December 1991 house fire that investigators claimed was set intentionally by Willingham. However, three independent reviews over the last five years, involving seven of the nation's top arson experts, found no evidence that the fire was set intentionally.

The most recent report was commissioned by the Texas Forensic Science Commission. The author, renowned arson expert Craig Beyler, blasts the investigators who handled the Willingham case, finding that they misread the evidence and based their conclusions on a poor understanding of fire science. It now appears that the State of Texas executed an innocent man. Willingham professed his innocence right up to the time they strapped him down to the execution gurney at the Walls Unit in Huntsville.

A hearing by the Texas Forensic Science Commission was scheduled for today to critically examine the flawed arson investigation. Beyler was expected to testify about his findings. But that didn't happen, because Governor Rick Perry removed the Chairman and two other members of the Commission on Wednesday and replaced them with political hacks. The new chairman, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, promptly canceled the Friday hearing.

Perry claims that it was within his discretionary powers as governor to replace the Commission members since their terms were expiring. But it's obvious that this is a blatant attempt by Perry to cover up and bury an investigation that could negatively reflect on the governor as he makes a run for re-election next year. Bradley has stated that he is considering putting an end to the arson inquiry altogether.

The people of Texas must hold Rick Perry accountable and not allow him to get away with this.

American Federation of Labor officially endorses campaign for a six hour day, five day workweek - 1934.

Joining with 400,000 coal miners already on strike, 500,000 CIO steel workers close down the nation’s foundries, steel and Iron mills, demanding pensions and better wages and working conditions - 1949.

Starbucks Workers Union baristas at an outlet in East Grand Rapids, Mich., organized by the IWW Wobblies, win their grievances after the National Labor Relations Board cites the company for labor law violations, including threats against union activists - 2007.

Thousands of dairy farmers in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Iowa strike in demand of higher prices for their milk - 1935.

The Republican wing of the Democratic Party succeeded in getting the public option plan squashed by the Senate Finance Committee in it's final version of a healthcare reform bill it will now send to the full senate. Democratic senators Max Baucus(Montana), Ken Conrad(North Dakota), Blanche Lincoln(Arkansas), Bill Nelson(Florida), and Tom Carper(Delaware) sided with their conservative brethren to give the Republicans a 14-8 victory.

Like a stuck record, Baucus repeated the mantra that the Republican wing has to be appeased in order to get a 60-vote filibuster-proof majority when the bill comes up for a vote before the full senate. The Democratic majority has been stopped cold in its tracks because they're afraid of a filibuster. Republicans never had this fear when they had a less-than-60 majority.

Why are Democrats afraid of a filibuster? Simple. They haven't got the balls to stand up and fight it out. Let the Republicans filibuster and show themselves to be the schills of the insurance companies that we know they are. We elected Democrats to stand up and fight for the working men and women of this country, not for them to run scared and sell us out because they're afraid of a filibuster.

The Democrats are in short supply of backbone. What good is a Democratic majority if they won't stand up and fight? Get some guts, stop appeasing the Republican infiltrators in the party, and quit hiding behind this filibuster nonsense.