Prairie Fire Journal

The History Channel (now simply called "History"-- ha! ha!) is history. Killed off by cheaply-produced reality shows pandering to what is apparently a growing audience of 18- to 35-year-olds suffering from ADD. You can add it to a long list of cable networks whose programming content bears little relevance to the channel name. Another casualty of corporate monopoly and monotony. Rest in peace. It was nice while it lasted.

Remember back when Republicans were slamming American auto workers and blaming them for problems caused largely by management? Conservatives seldom acknowledge the economic concessions UAW workers made during the 1970s, when another major crisis not of their making arose in the auto industry. While Republicans were deriding American auto workers and the American auto indusrty as a whole, they held up the Asian management style as the model to follow.

Now we have the situation where Japanese automaker Toyota is involved in an ongoing recall and Congressional investigation concerning millions of its vehicles sold in the United States. It started with a sticking gas pedal and has now spread to possible electronic control malfunctions and braking problems on many, if not most, of the company's vehicle models. This could likely rival any automobile recall in American history.

But let one thing be clear, this problem was not caused by Toyota's rank-and-file workers. It was caused by engineers and top management who apparently didn't have their eyes on the ball like they claimed they did. As a result, Toyota assembly lines have been shutdown and sales at American dealerships have practically come to a standstill.

The economic tsunami that all this portends is only too real. Thousands of Toyota workers will likely find themselves in the unemployment line, not to mention the devastating economic impact this will have on dealerships, parts suppliers and communities who depend on those assembly lines for their well being.

This couldn't have happened at a worse time and may likely become the trigger that finally plunges the nation into depression. It looks like the Asian management model has some major issues of its own. Unfortunately, the working class will suffer the most, again, because of management's mistakes.

With all the i-hype these days about Apple products, the Mac computer is still inferior to the PC when it comes to playing the various video formats available on the internet. I can download the K-Lite Codec Package for Windows Media Player and it allows me to play virtually any video or audio format available on the internet on Windows Media Player.

On a PC you can play Apple Quicktime video on Windows Media Player, but Mac users can't play Windows Media Video on a Quicktime Player. That's what has always been the problem with Apple; they insist on being so proprietary in their offerings that they leave the user with limited capabilities as compared to a PC. There is a Quicktime codec pack called Perian that's available for Mac users, but it still doesn't support wmv format and is limited in other formats as well.

For versatility, choice and cost, I'll take a PC over a Mac any day when it comes to video.

Nobel laureate economist and editorialist Paul Krugman wrote this on December 28, 2008:

No modern American president would repeat the fiscal mistake of 1932, in which the federal government [under president Herbert Hoover] tried to balance its budget in the face of a severe recession. The Obama administration will put deficit concerns on hold while it fights the economic crisis.

Boy, was Krugman wrong. A little over a year later, Krugman and a multitude of progressives have grown frustrated over Obama and the Democrats handling of the economy. And now Obama wants to freeze government spending, except for the one trillion dollars spent annually on two wars, the Pentagon, and homeland security.

What we have now is a recipe for economic disaster that will certainly sink America into a deep depression. That's what happened when Hoover tried it. Look around and see that the economic situation is getting worse. I talk to local merchants who say their business has dropped off significantly the past year. People who have jobs have had their hours reduced or fear the possibility of layoffs in the near future.

These well-founded fears are having a very negative effect on the economy. We need jobs and wage growth. There has to be a massive government effort to restore confidence and economic stability. If the federal government now decides to pull back and balance the budget at this critical time of economic distress, the future of America is indeed imperiled.

Obama is making a terrible mistake. Either way, I've heard enough rhetoric. I'll believe you have the right answers when I see some results. As the saying goes, "the proof is in the pudding."

While the U.S.-led rescue and relief operation for Haiti has had its shortcomings (some of which I have commented on in this blog), that doesn't mean that any other country in the world was able to do any better. Brazil has been critical of the way the U.S. has operated the Port au Prince airport, but I didn't see them stepping up and taking charge of the situation when presented with the opportunity to do so.

At the time of the Haiti earthquake, Brazil had about 7,000 military personnel stationed in Haiti as part of the U.N. peacekeeping force. Where was Brazil's government the first day of the earthquake? Brazil was in as good a position as any other country to get the airport operational for aid and rescue flights into Haiti. What happened?

What happened is that Brazil simply lacked the resources and ability to do what the U.S. was inevitably called upon to do. Brazil is a wannabe power-player on the world stage, but the reality is that Brazil is itself a developing nation with a large impoverished population. That being said, Brazil is in no position to be criticizing others who stepped up and did what it could not do.

In its latest defense of totalitarian censorship, the Chinese dictatorship claimed that it's protecting China from "information imperialism." This grand prouncement came from the thug regime in Beijing on the heels of Google's announcement earlier this week that it might pull out of China if the government did not relent on its internet censorship rules and stop hacking into Google accounts.

For over 20 years now, Western capitalists and governments have operated in China under the delusion that as the dictatorship opened up its economic markets, it would also open up on issues of human rights as well. That has not happened, and it will not happen as long as the West continues to enable China's tyrants by looking the other way while the totalitarian oppression of the Chinese people continues.

Let's see if Google really pulls out of China, because the thugs in Beijing aren't going to budge an inch. They know that at the end of the day capitalist greed will prevail over the cry for human rights. Nothing short of a massive divestment by Western captialists will change the behavior of China's dictators. And we know that ain't gonna happen anymore than the Red Army staging a coup to establish democracy.

Unfortunately, freedom and democracy are still an unrealized dream for the people of China.

The Texas Workforce Commission reported today that the Texas seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent in December, up from 8 percent the previous month. Statewide, the total non-agricultural labor force shrank by over 20,000 as more unemployed workers simply gave up on finding jobs.

Over 1 million Texas workers are now unemployed, a larger number than even during the Great Depression of the 1930s. And that doesn't take into account the number of unemployed agricultural workers who are not counted in the official unemployment statistics.

The economy is not getting better, it is getting worse.

The defeat of Democratic candidate Martha Coakley in Massachusetts' U.S. Senate race for Ted kennedy's old seat pretty much underscores the past year as far as Democrats are concerned. After Barack Obama's inauguration a year ago, the Democrats claimed to be the party of change. Now, a year later, they have proven to be the party of incompetence.

Beginning with the Democrats' failure to provide any substantive economic relief to the working class, and ending with the watered-down and still incomplete healthcare reform legislation, 2009 proved to be just more of the same crap. Democrats spent more time kowtowing to Republicans and kissing the asses of conservatives than they did confronting the issues important to the people who elected them to office.

And the Democrats still don't get it. They still insist on playing nice with the Republicans, even though the Repugs haven't shown any signs of stepping back from their obstructionist agenda. Just today, president Obama advised fellow Democrats against trying to jam a health care bill through Congress, and instead come together around a bill that can draw Republican support, too.

I've heard Obama say some stupid things, but this statement really takes the prize. It just goes to show that Obama is either naive, stupid, or just outright delusional. Are you people really paying attention to what's going on in America? This is just the kind of lameass crap that the Democratic leadership has been pulling for the past year.

The Democrats can only blame themselves for the debacle in Massachusetts. Coakley is an elitist who believed it was preordained that she would be coronated with the crown of Ted Kennedy's former seat. She was out of touch with the grassroots and basically out of touch with reality. As a result, she got trounced by her Republican opponent, Scott Brown.

Coakley's defeat wasn't a vote against healthcare reform or the platform of the Democratic Party, it was a vote against Democratic Party elitists who would rather make deals that sellout their base constituency than take a decisive stand that might require confrontation rather than compromise. Congressional Democrats have, for the most part, been spineless in their attempts at getting any progressive legislation passed.

The American people gave the Democrats the majority they needed to get the job done in Congress. Unfortunately, they haven't had the necessary backbone to stand up and fight for the American working class. Too much of the Democratic Party leadership is beholden to the same corporate interests as their Republican counterparts. The past year was just more of the same as we had the previous eight years under Bush. And it just keeps getting sadder. I think now would be a good time for progressives to begin finding a new political home in a third party.

I believe that local broadcasters should be held accountable for the programming that goes out over their airwaves. In that respect, I would like to draw attention to those local TV stations that carry Pat Robertson's 700 Club.

After last week's devastating earthquake in Haiti, Robertson claimed that the impoverished island nation suffered the quake because of its "pact with the devil" to overthrow French rule under Napoleon over 200 years ago.

If you found Robertson's disgusting remarks about Haiti to be offensive, then I encourage you to contact your local station that carries his program and demand they stop carrying this vile person's show.

I long ago began boycotting ABC Family or FOX Kids or whatever it's now called because of the network's requirement to carry the 700 Club, as per agreement when the network was purchased from Robertson some years ago. Now that truly was a pact with the devil.

Tell these broadcasters that not only will you boycott their programming, but also all their sponsors as well. That might give them the incentive they need to dump the 700 Club. In Lubbock, KLBK TV13 carries this garbage. To find stations in your area, go to the 700 Club search page and enter your zip code.

Demented hater Pat Robertson.

I realize that Haiti isn't a part of the United States, but the U.S. and the rest of the Western Hemisphere countries bear a great deal of responsibility for Haiti turning into the hell-on-earth which it has become. The island nation isn't any farther away from Washington, D.C. than many of the lower 48 states. Unfortunately, the coordination of the U.S. emergency response to the Haiti earthquake devastation is shaping up to be similar to the Katrina response.

First, the U.S. allowed a full day to pass after it was clear that this was a devastating natural disaster, supposedly waiting for the Haitian government to request assistance. Aid ships and military personnnel could have already been dispatched and sitting off Haiti's coast. This was a no-brainer due to the fact that Haiti was already occupied with U.N. peacekeeping forces and the U.S. State Department was well aware of the Haitian government's inability to cope with such devastation.

Next, by day two, president Obama finally announces that he is launching a full-scale rescue and aid operation for Haiti. Naval ships, search-and-rescue teams, military personnel, and plane-loads of aid and equipment are dispatched. Obama tells the Haitian people that they have not been forsaken and help is on the way.

Day three, the U.S. military takes over command and control of the Port au Prince airport. Aid flights begin arriving en masse. Supplies and personnel begin to pile up and the airport is temporarily closed to incoming flights. The aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and other Naval and Coast Guard vessels arrive. But little aid is actually making its way into Port au Prince where the people desperately need it.

Today, day four, anger is beginning to turn into violence as people fight over what little food and water is available. Thousands still lie buried under rubble. Rescue teams and medical personnel are hampered by security concerns. Aid convoys are hampered supposedly because of damaged infrastructure, even though these are exactly the kind of obstacles and scenarios that emergency aid operations are supposed to be prepared to overcome. Bodies are piling up on the streets. There is no central command and coordination. Nobody seems to know who's in charge of what, other than the U.S. military is in control of the airport.

Aid sitting on the tarmac of the airport, or off-shore aboard a ship, is of no more value to Haitian earthquake victims than if it was sitting in a warehouse in Miami. The 82nd Airborne said it would be two more days before they could begin handing out aid from a station they are setting up on a golf course. That is ridiculous and will mean death for hundreds or thousands more Haitians. It's obvious that little has changed since Katrina as far as America's emergency prepardness is concerned. If, by the end of today there still is no substantial movement of supplies into Port au Prince, then this operation has truly fallen short of expectations.

UPDATE 1-18-10: It's now on day 6 and the situation has only deteriorated further. Most aid is still not reaching the people who need it. Thousands more lives are lost that could have been saved. This operation has taken way too long to get water to people. They are dying because of poor operational procedures between the U.S., the U.N., and the other aid agencies. This is not good enough.

Emergency supplies pile up at Port au Prince airport, but are not reaching
earthquake victims.