Prairie Fire Journal

Congress finally got around to approving the extension of unemployment benefits. Unfortunately, it offers nothing for the 99ers (or 93ers in Texas) who have already exhausted all of their benefit extensions. Below is a C/P of the latest information available in pdf format at the Texas Workforce Commission website:

Congress Extends EUC and EB
The U.S. Congress extended the deadline to qualify for Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) and state Extended Benefits (EB). This change will allow more long-term unemployed recipients to qualify for the federal extension of benefits. While Congress extended the deadlines for EUC and EB, it did not add additional weeks for applicants who have exhausted all entitlement to benefits. When you exhaust your current benefits, TWC will notify you if you are eligible for another program.

The extended deadline affects claims as follows:

EUC Tier 1
If you run out of your regular unemployment benefits by November 20, 2010, you can apply for EUC Tier 1. This extension pays up to 20 weeks of benefits. TWC mails you an application after you exhaust your regular benefits. You have until April 30, 2011, to collect the benefits on your EUC claim.

EUC Tier 2
If you run out of EUC Tier 1 by November 27, 2010, you may be eligible for Tier 2, which pays up to 14 weeks of benefits. If you exhaust Tier 1 by the deadline, TWC will automatically add Tier 2 benefits to your claim. You have until April 30, 2011, to collect the benefits on your EUC claim.

EUC Tier 3
If you run out of EUC Tier 2 by November 27, 2010, you may be eligible for Tier 3, which pay up to 13 weeks of benefits. If you exhaust Tier 2 by the deadline, TWC will automatically add Tier 3 benefits to your claim. You have until April 30, 2011, to collect the benefits on your EUC claim.

Extended Benefits
If you run out of EUC Tier 3 by November 27, 2010, you may be eligible for state Extended Benefits (EB), which pay up to 20 weeks of benefits. If you exhaust regular benefits and available EUC by the deadline, TWC will automatically add state EB to your claim. However, TWC can only pay EB through the week of December 4, 2010.

More info about Texas extended unemployment benefits is available in pdf format by clicking here.

Contrary to the propaganda spin being put out by the LEDA Liars Club, the economic situation continues to deteriorate in Lubbock and the surrounding South Plains communities. Since the beginning of the Great Recession in late 2007, the South Plains Food Bank has experienced almost a 100 percent increase in requests for food. The situation is getting critical.

According to an article posted yesterday on KCBD.com:

An extreme food shortage prompts the South Plains Food Bank to call an emergency food drive and they need the community's support now more then ever.

They are running so low on food, if they don't get more donations, daily boxes may have to be cut in half and the shelves are bare. "I've been here for four years and I have to be honest with you, I have never seen our shelves quite so empty," said South Plains Food Bank Director of Development Lyn Garcia.

Garcia says they are down to just a two week supply of dry food. "Our people that put our food boxes together are a little bit in a panic," she said.

They are completely out of frozen foods. "We are kind of in a bind, because we have a lot of people to feed and people are coming out here everyday to the food bank," said Garcia.

You can go to the SPFB website and make a cash donation. Or you can bring food and cash donations by the South Plains Food Bank any time during business hours at 4612 Locust Avenue in Lubbock. The need is urgent.

The EPA has issued a new report on its continuing remedial efforts to cleanup groundwater contamination at a Superfund site along State Hwy. 114 west of Levelland, Texas.

Some background information:

The State Road 114 Ground Water Plume site, as it is officially called, is an area of ground water contamination underlying the western boundary of the City of Levelland, Hockley County, Texas, approximately 31 miles due west of Lubbock. The population of Levelland is approximately 13,000. The land use over the plume area is mostly agricultural with pockets of light commercial or residential development. There are 28 impacted private drinking water wells in the area of the plume.

The site consists of a 1,2-dichloroethane (DCA) and benzene plumes in the Ogallala Aquifer that extends from west to east (in the direction of ground water flow) along State Highway 114 for approximately 1½ miles from the former Motor Fuels Corporation (MFC) property to the City of Levelland municipal park. The ground water plume is approximately a mile wide, bounded roughly by Ellis Road to the north and Houston Avenue to the south. The saturated zone is approximately 150 feet below ground surface and varies in thickness from 40 to 90 feet.

The Motor Fuels Corporation site was a former petroleum products refinery that operated from mid-1939 to 1954. The site consisted of approximately 64 acres. The refinery and above-ground storage tanks were demolished and removed and in 1958 the land was sold off in parcels. The land is currently owned or occupied by the Farmer's Co-op Elevator Association, an oilwell service company, and Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation.

Analyses of samples collected during site investigations to date indicate maximum benzene concentrations of 19,000 ppb and maximum DCA concentrations of 380 ppb. EPA has established a maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 5 ppb for both DCA and benzene in drinking water. The businesses and residences in the plume area were previously dependent on private wells for drinking water until completion of a municpal water line extension.

Current Status of Remediation:

The ground water pump and treat system and the soil vapor extraction system are currently operating at the Site. The systems were designed and constructed in 2009 to achieve the remedial action objectives for the Site and are currently undergoing a 12-month shakedown of the treatment plant operations. The soil vapor extraction and treatment system has recovered over 100,000 gallons of refined condensate from beneath the refinery that was contributing to the groundwater contamination.

The groundwater treatment system has recovered and treated over 27 million gallons of water that has been injected back into the Ogallala aquifer. The last wide groundwater sampling event was completed in March 2010, and the next scheduled sampling event will be in July 2010. The 10-year long-term remedial action is scheduled to start in September 2010.

The remedial action construction milestones included the following:

Completion of the remedial design in 7 months between July 2008 and January 2009.

Completion of the remedial action construction in 8 months between January 2009 and August 2009. The formal construction completion date is September 1, 2009.

Completed installation of 21 groundwater extraction wells, 10 monitoring wells, and 4 injection wells by April 2009.

Completed installation of 62 soil vapor extraction (SVE) wells by January 2009 within the former refinery area.

Completed excavation and on-site disposal of 3,600 cubic yards of contaminated soil in April 2009.

Completed construction of a treatment plant building for the combined groundwater and soil vapor treatment system in May 2009.

Completed installation of the treatment system in August 2009. The treatment train for the contaminated groundwater includes an air stripper for removal of the volatile organic compounds, and metals precipitation and filtration for metals removal. A cryogenic compression and condensation treatment system was integrated into the treatment system for off-gas treatment from the air stripper and the SVE well network.

Installation of the water supply line from the City of Levelland was started in April and completed in July for all residential and commercial connections. Installation of the main line from the City of Levelland pump station was completed in May 2009. Testing and sampling of the line was completed in June followed by residential and commercial connections to the water line.

The July 2010 EPA report is available online in pdf format for viewing or downloading and includes aerial photos, maps and other graphics. Click here to view the document.

The Obama Administration, in a continuation of the Gestapo tactics initiated under George Bush, is using the Department of Homeland Security to direct police-state actions nationwide against photographers. Whether you're a professional photojournalist or just someone taking snapshots while on vacation, you face the very real possibility that police and DHS thugs will corral you, intimidate you, and threaten you with arrest.

This is the kind of change America is seeing under Barack Obama. The same tactics used by dictators in North Korea and China are now part of the American landscape. Here's one such incident that occurred in Texas City, Texas last Friday:

A photographer taking pictures for a series of ProPublica/Frontline articles on BP and the Gulf oil spill, was detained Friday while shooting pictures of BP's Texas City refinery from a public roadway. You may recall, this is the same refinery that blew up in 2005, killing 15 workers.

The photographer, Lance Rosenfield, said that shortly after arriving in town, he was confronted by a BP security officer, local police and a man who identified himself as an agent of the Department of Homeland Security. He was released after the police reviewed the pictures he had taken on Friday and recorded his date of birth, Social Security number and other personal information. The police then turned that personal information over to BP Security.

No charges were filed.

Rosenfield, an experienced freelance photographer, said he was detained shortly after shooting a photograph of a Texas City sign on a public roadway. Rosenfield said he was followed by a BP employee in a truck after taking the picture and blocked by two police cars when he pulled into a gas station.

According to Rosenfield, the officers said they had a right to look at photos taken near secured areas of the refinery, even if they were shot from public property. Rosenfield said he was told he would be "taken in" if he declined to comply.

So here we have DHS and the local police harassing a photojournalist for taking pictures of a refinery used by BP to murder 15 workers. Pictures taken from a public roadway of a publicly-visible refinery. Then the Gestapo agents provided BP with the photojouranlist's personal information.

This was not a military base or secure area, it was on a public roadway. There are no signs posted saying it's illegal to take pictures. The photographer did not break any law. The police certainly had no right to turn Rosenfield's personal information over to BP. This is simply a case of police-state harassment and the Obama Administration helping to cover the backside of a murderous corporation.

Welcome to Obama's police state.

As politicians gather today at a memorial service for the late Senator Robert Byrd, it would be nice if more of them were like Robert Byrd. Not as he was as a U.S. Senator from West Virginia, but as he is today at this very moment.

The American capitalist economy is a house of cards built primarily on consumer spending. About 70 percent of the economy consists of consumer spending. Such an economy is unsustainable and is driven mostly by consumers taking on ever-greater amounts of debt. That's why we're in the economic mess we're in right now.

So while Obama talks about halving the deficit of the federal government, he encourages American workers to get the economy moving again by spending money they don't have. If the government can't afford to take on more debt, what makes Obama think the working class can afford to? Of course, the bankers love Americans having to borrow all that money needed to fuel the economy.

Obama is hardly the raging socialist the teabaggers make him out to be. In fact, he's a true corporatist and the bankers couldn't have a better friend. His anti-Wall-Street rhetoric is all smoke and mirrors. The Democrats' so-called financial reform is as bogus as their so-called health care reform. The only change that has occurred under Obama and the Democratic Congress is that the corporations and bankers have become stronger and more entrenched than at any time in the past 100 years.

The main point in the media's eulogizing of Senator Robert Byrd is the fact that he spent 51 years as a U.S. senator representing West Virginia. That makes him the longest serving senator in the history of the country. I don't think the original framers of the Constitution envisioned politicians like Byrd making the senate a lifetime career. Entrenched senators-for-life are exactly why Congress is the pathetic institution it is. It's time for a Constitutional Amendment limiting the terms of senators and representatives.

The Black Bloc G20 actions in Toronto Saturday and Sunday didn't disappoint those who support direct action initiatives. Unlike the street theater clowns and pacifist-type protesters, the Black Bloc aren't afraid to get on the frontlines and challenge the cops. On Saturday, Black Bloc protesters smashed windows of downtown stores and banks and torched police cars. Others probed and tested the perimeter security around the meeting.

On Sunday, police clashed with hundreds of protesters who marched on a temporary detention center for demonstrators arrested in Saturday's riots. Witnesses saw at least two muzzle blasts, and a police spokeswoman confirmed that "individual applications of tear gas" were fired on the crowd. The blasts are typically used against individuals at close range.

Later in the day, a final standoff played out in the downtown core near the just-finished G20 summit of world leaders. The standoff lasted more than five hours, from the late afternoon through to the late evening, as hundreds of police in full riot gear hemmed in protesters at a normally busy downtown intersection. Police said that 605 protesters had been arrested by late Sunday afternoon.

CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEOS OF G20 POLICE VIOLENCE.

The Black Bloc protesters only undertook strategic attacks against corporations and symbols of capitalism and did not harm or attack bystanders. The same cannot be said for the police, who began to indiscriminately attack any and all protesters on Sunday. It was an act of retaliation by the cops after being humiliated on Saturday when the Black Bloc set several police cruisers ablaze.

The Black Bloc is not a formal organization; it has no leadership, membership, or headquarters. Instead, the Black Bloc is a tactic: it is something people do in order to accomplish a specific purpose. By wearing black clothing and masking their faces, the Black Bloc allows for greater protection to those who choose to undertake direct actions.

The majority of people involved in the Black Bloc do not participate in property destruction. However, in masking up they express their solidarity with those who choose to take autonomous direct action against the corporations, authorities and politicians who wage war on our communities.

People seem to be caught up on the damage done by the very few protestors. What about the damage that has been done by the police, the military and the G20 countries that have oppressed people all over the world? The real violence and criminal activity is being perpetrated by those countries whose leaders have to meet behind a police fortress to shield themselves from the rage of the people who they continue to rob and oppress.

CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEOS OF G20 POLICE VIOLENCE.

Diehard supporters of the Texas Democratic Party are shaking in their boots at the thought that some third-party gubernatorial candidate will get on the ballot and make the November governor's race a repeat of 2006. That was the year that Kinky Friedman ran as an independent garnering about 12 percent of the vote, which resulted in Rick Perry winning by less than a majority. I don't even remember who the Democratic candidate was, and most likely neither do most of the folks who voted in that election.

The Texas Democratic blogosphere is awash with diatribes against progressives who dare look to a third-party candidate. The likes of Daily Kos, Burnt Orange Report, Lone Star Report and other Democratic Party faithfuls are cranking the whine presses full steam. They all seem to be under the same delusion that if Kinky hadn't run, then their candidate would have prevailed. That ain't necessarily so. Most folks I know who said they voted for Kinky were more inclined to vote Republican than Democrat if those were their only choices.

Now Texas Democrats believe they have a great gubernatorial candidate in moderate-right Bill White. The Demo-bloggers are spewing hatred at any progressives who don't line up with their Republican-light candidate. We're all just a bunch of Democrat haters. Their logic dictates that all progressives should line up with "the Party" man regardless of whether or not he offers anything for the left. So now they're attacking the Green Party and anybody else on the left that might offer an alternative to Bill White's lesser evil.

Truth be told, the Democratic Party has done nothing of any significance at either the state or national level to help working-class Texans. The only reason that White's supporters can give the left for voting for him is that he's not Rick Perry. That's not good enough. If the only choice I have is between the lesser of two right-wing evils, I'll sit out this election. But I hope a left-leaning third party does get on the ballot. By hook or crook, I don't care.

The Democratic corporate ass kissers hardly have room to be pointing their dirty fingers in self-righteous indignation at the Greens or anybody else on the left. You offer the left nothing, so why should we continue the insane practice of going through the motions believing you will. You would have thought that after the Gore/Nader debacle in 2000, that the Democrats would have gotten the message.

Apparently not. You need another kick in the butt just like in 2000. Maybe if the left kicks you enough times you'll wake up and pay attention. Start standing up for the working class. Then you will have earned our respect and our vote. Then you won't have to worry about who's financing the Greens. If the Republicans are secretly funneling money to get the Green Party on the ballot, then they must be aware of the discontent on the left. Too bad that same awareness hasn't yet sunk in to the thick-skulled Democratic Party pushers.

The official Texas unemployment rate held steady at 8.3 percent for the month of May, according to figures released Friday by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). The only reason the unemployment rate didn't increase was due to a reduction of 48,000 in the state's total civilian labor force as more unemployed workers give up hope of finding a job and extended unemployment benefits become exhausted.

TWC figures show that 34,000 fewer Texans were employed in May than in the previous month. Total statewide civilian employment dropped from 11.221 million in April to 11.187 million in May. However, the total civilian labor force contracted from 12.210 million in April down to 12.162 million in May, which made the official unemployment numbers appear unchanged even as more Texans continued to lose jobs.

Here on the South Plains, the Lubbock MSA showed a slight dip in the unemployment rate from 5.9 percent in April to 5.7 percent in May. However, that reduction is misleading as the actual number of employed civilian workers fell by 700 in May compared to April. The total civilian labor force for the Lubbock MSA also contracted from 149,000 in April down to 148,000 in May, a reduction of 1,000 workers.

The TWC figures show that the unemployment situation in Texas continues to get worse and thousands of workers have given up hope of finding a job, as more jobs are being cut than are being created.