Rape, Pillage and Plunder

Posted on December 8, 2008 by ehurst

Oklahoma Gas and Electric — a monopoly utility selling electricity to most of the State of Oklahoma. That word “gas” refers to their being the single greatest consumer of natural gas in this state, which happens to produce a whole lot of it. OG&E would love if it we all would stop using gas for our heating and stoves, so they could corner the market on all natural gas sold in this state. However, most Okies know it would cost more and be less efficient — given the horrific loss of power between generators and the consumer — to let them suck up the natural gas they use. I haven’t seen any calculations recently, but switching to gas from electricity cuts the expense roughly in half for most consumers.

OG&E are not nice people. Sure, most of their workers out on the job are decent, but their office staff are obnoxious at the best of times. Lately, I suppose the economic situation is cutting into their party budget, so they have been in a consistently foul mood. Today, one of their phone clerks called my daughter-in-law the “b-word” when she dared suggest there was an error on the bill. The clerk yelled and threatened to issue a cut-off order for disputing a charge. You see, OG&E made a very common human error, but then decided to charge my son and his wife for their own error.

I’ve sent a complaint to our state regulatory agency, but with all the stories of corruption from the past few decades, I doubt any good will come from it. OG&E has been frequently connected with the word “bribery” in news coming out of the state capitol. I had already tried reasoning with OG&E via email, using my best self-deprecating humor, but you can guess they don’t have a sense of humor and refused to take any action.

So I’m left with this impotent blog post. But of course, there’s always this one small chance someone who reads this will think twice before trusting the biggest monopoly in the state.

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If Thine Eye Offend Thee

Posted on December 7, 2008 by ehurst

Logical errors abound.

Context: For all purposes of this discussion, I’m a Christian fundamentalist. However, I am certainly not a member of the “Christian Right Wing” in America (nor the left, but let’s not chase rabbits). The point is, I thump the Bible. It rules my morals and my politics, but not in the typical sense. The big difference is in the “how” of applying it.

I contend most of my fellow Bible-thumping fundies make the biggest logical mistake of all: They believe they are supposed to shape the fallen world. You can’t, and shouldn’t try. Yes, do witness to your world, and have an impact, and even vote and campaign. But don’t assume God supports your candidate because you have some silly notion about making the government “Christian.” If it’s government in the human sense, then it cannot be Christian. The Kingdom of Heaven is an entirely spiritual entity.

Censoring is simply pointless. No, you should not click on those links until you find that picture of the naked juvenile female. You should not want to see it. That’s where the issue lies. Don’t get me wrong — If I could have prevented the picture being published, I would. Even better if I could have prevented it being made, prevented the little girl from posing for it — but not by using secular government power. The means to preventing such sin requires a full restructuring of our society. Once that picture hits the Internet, all those options are gone. All the more so since it’s so easy to keep a copy of it on several million hard drives around the world. Yes, I erased my cache because I didn’t realize what it was all about until I glimpsed the picture. My spirit cried out in terror and I quickly closed that tab in my browser. Yes, I will admit my fleshly nature revved up and wanted more. Can you admit yours? Next time I’ll be more careful to read the comments on Slashdot before I take a chance on seeing what all the excitement is about.

The difference between me and someone who does not know Christ in this is I have a holy desire not to see such things. I have a divine nature born in my soul wanting to stop such things. However, human government is not the way to go. That’s just asking one sinner to slap another sinner when he sins. Slapping is the only way sinners know to do things. Human government can not comprehend the fine details of patient spiritual pastoring. The moment anyone steps into using force, or even the threat of it, which is what defines “government” in its essence, you are outside the Spirit. The righteousness of God cannot be implemented at the point of a gun because the Spirit cannot be embodied in laws.

The UK government is wrong. I don’t care what the law says; this is pointless. The implementation of such controls guarantees abuse. All it takes is some bureaucratic idiot — which is most of any government — to decide something truly good and righteous is “unlawful” and the whole thing is against God. The place to deal with this is at some other level of government. The problem is, no modern State on earth is following God’s plan for this, so there is no right way to address it. Any measure taken at this point is inherently sinful.

Meanwhile, you, Christian — consider ways you can keep your heart safe. There are times I’m ready to shut off all graphics in my browser. When it gets really bad, and stuff I don’t need to see pops up in otherwise innocuous places, I’m almost ready to remove the entire X server from my Linux box. Those days come more frequently lately.

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Open Virtues

Posted on December 6, 2008 by ehurst

One of the most damning accusations against anything today which involves three or more people is secrecy. We on the outside of any thing are suspicious of what is hidden, and rightly so. The primary reason for hiding things is to gain more power by preventing defense against an attack, metaphorical or otherwise. This is not merely some unreasoning emotional response to exclusion, but deeply rooted in human experience. You are excluded because you are less important than the insiders, and they will almost surely treat you as less than human. No surprise the enduring central theme of Scripture is revelation — uncovering things hidden by others with no good motive, no interest in your welfare.

It is a fundamental tenet of Christian faith there are no secrets. Outsiders may not understand what is going on, but the knowledge is not denied them by design. It’s closed to them because they are closed. The deep counsels of God are wide open. Jesus taught openly, even in the face of His accusers. They dealt secretly because the bold light of day would have brought a hindrance to dark and secret plans. He taught His disciples openly of His impending death, but they were closed to the possibility long prophesied, in part because of the closure brought by Talmudic Pharisees. They closed up a truth they wished to deny, in their fascination with the Western rationalism of Hellenistic intellectual culture. You may recall Gnosticism and its secrets, and Kabbalism with its secrets, are the direct result of elitist assumptions of Greek philosophy. Kabbalism is not Eastern, except in the most superficial sense, any more than the Talmud. Ancient Hebrew faith and culture was a door wide open, but a denial of the popular notions with which men were more comfortable. Truth demands sacrifice, which is the only real barrier.

This is why so many thoughtful Christians are in love with Open Source software. While we may not have the skill to read all the code, we know we could if we tried (if we had the time and interest). This openness calls to us, is a familiar place in our souls. We don’t have to worry about our operating system phoning home to tell on us. We don’t have to worry about someone snooping on our private lives because someone built in a back door without telling us. It’s no secret Windows has such back doors, open to Microsoft when they really want it, and equally open to government snooping. Keep in mind, we Americans have far, far too much trust in government and authority figures, so we say, “What have you got to hide?” To which I counter, “What does MS and the government have to hide, that they must do this secretly?”

Privacy is not the same as secrecy. Human development requires a sense of privacy, or we are not human. Take it away consistently and you create madness.  It is this sense of separation and individuation (ego boundaries) which must develop in order to have something to bring to God. We cannot become children before Him, as Christ taught, if we don’t know anything else. Sacrifice is the central requirement of the gospel message (Galatians 2:20). You cannot sacrifice what you don’t have. So privacy against unwarranted intrusion is said to be a human right, but it’s more a human requirement. That could include “warranted” in any sense of the word. A fundamental concept of Scripture requires leadership to be open. Having power is threatening in itself; keeping secrets while in power increases the threat, and distrust is wholly warranted. What you do on behalf of the common good must be open to the common folks, because if you can’t let them see, you have no business ruling. What you do in privacy is somewhat “sacred” before the Lord, because it’s open only to Him, so demands by government to take away your secrecy is blasphemy.

Don’t trust what is not open to you. Humanity is fallen, and sinners will sin. Leaders more so, because they are still fallen, but have more power. You alone in your privacy present no threat to anyone. A person with power over others is always a threat, and more so when secretive. Never, ever trust any human with more power than you. Always trust God.

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Factions of the Elite

Posted on December 5, 2008 by ehurst

I have mentioned in the past I have significant doubts about the ability of the ruling elites of this world to do half the things they would like to do to us. There has been continuing talk of reducing the population, via several different means. All we need is for Monsanto to keep replacing more real crops with franken-foods and we’ll all be dead soon enough — or may wish we were. That’s a very real threat, but there are some which seem a little unlikely.

Making a study of the conspiracy theorists and underground resistance groups, I run into quite a few “warnings” of things which simply don’t have contact with reality. Not that there aren’t hare-brained leaders today capable of trying some really stupid things, but some rate a very low probability. For example, some folks in Obama’s camp are telling others they have concrete plans to confiscate private firearms in the US — all firearms. That’s a game of “let’s you and him fight” because they won’t be the ones getting shot, but some poor fool in uniform. That a handful of imported police squads and BlackWater were capable of disarming folks in New Orleans should not be treated as a representative trial run. There are places a lot less friendly about such things.

Some of these theories are more probable. One camp of international elites plan to recondition folks to be less patriotic, or nationalistic, and make folks think “globally.” At the same time, another faction is working hard to stir up a faux nationalism so we keep engaging foreign countries in war. You can’t have it both ways. The old warning about FEMA concentration camps still gets notice from time to time, but there simply aren’t that many places where such camps can be hidden from the locals. Now, there is a huge federal transfer center at our local airport, some 800 beds run by the US Marshals, but that thing stays pretty full. You should see it: several stories tall, there’s a branch of the runway which crosses over the highway directly to the building. There’s a secure jetway and everything. But the idea of a camp hidden at Tinker AFB is just a little far out. There is a good place for one, but it’s not exactly hidden. I doubt it would take long to set up a pretty good one quickly, having seen some of the plans during my Military Police training. The appropriate site is visible this time of year because of the foliage thinning.

On the other hand, there just aren’t enough warm bodies to secure such a thing at that location. That is, while they could probably keep inmates inside, they couldn’t quite prevent folks outside helping to break it open. Think about how much defense it would take for a 10 acre camp, when using quick fencing and such. Think about how easily the whole dang airbase could be overrun by locals who didn’t like their brother or mom being detained inside. I seriously doubt I’m the only experienced military veteran capable of organizing a penetration team and making it work, and most certainly not the only one who would find a reason and the moral courage. More importantly, I’m pretty sure quite of few folks in uniform would actually be on our side.

So the speculation can be pretty entertaining when someone is so very sure he knows martial law is being planned for February 2009. Again, it’s not that we lack fools who would try it, but just how likely would it work? A sudden crack-down in some places is just begging for dead policemen and troops. Yes, it’s possible to weaken some populations by poisoning the municipal water works, but too many folks in government can’t get another source for very long. On the other hand, there are several thousand little communities with independent water supplies. Just out the back side of my mobile home is a water tower fed by three wells. I doubt anyone could get to it without getting shot, and there’s a heavy percentage of gun-toting crazies living in this trailer park, people who loved the movie Red Dawn.

Was the current economic malaise engineered? You bet it was. Mostly it was to further enrich a certain bunch of rich folks. Is there a plan to bring down the US government, to make us part of some larger regional or world government? Sure. Folks have been working on that for a long time. Conditions aren’t right yet. Will there be a crack-down and police state, or martial law? Good chance of it, at least in some locations here in the US. Cities are especially ripe for manipulation, because the people living in them are so very vulnerable and dependent. When unemployment hits some critical tipping point, there will be riots. That’s just human nature. When there are riots, police and troops will respond. There will be bloodshed, because inevitably the cops and troops will do some really stupid things, at least half the time when following really stupid policies and orders. They do it just about every day. You only read about the times when the victims lose; you won’t hear much about successful defense against rogue cops, but it happens.

There really is a group of folks trying to gain a little more control over the human race. Most of them are bankers, financiers, or just really big business types. They work through funds, think tanks, behind the scenes manipulating the flow of money to this or that candidate for public office, this or that college professor with a radical bent, this or that policy wonk working to pervert the bureaucracy, etc. Yes, they are real. But they don’t all have the same plans. Not like the fake difference between the Republicans and Democrats, but a real difference. They are not all working to the same end because they don’t all agree on how best to save the world from itself. If any one faction wins, the others will be unhappy, and you can be sure they’ll fight in some fashion. It’s vaguely possible they’ll come to a consensus on some things, but not everything, not by a long shot.

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The Babylonian Principle

Posted on December 4, 2008 by ehurst

“Everything has a price; nothing else matters.”

So goes the basic principle of Babylon as found in Scripture. This is also the fundamental nature of the international Business Culture, not to mention Corporate America. Their god is Mammon. The Bible makes the point the final end of this religion is destruction. The Children of Babylon make deals with whomever is willing, but of course the most important partners are the State and the Church (“Harlot Church”). The latter gives power to support the world according to Babylon, and Babylon rewards them with material support.

It is particularly discomforting to recognize no country in the world more exemplifies this better than the US. Sure, I found the Dutch relentlessly secular and materialistic, but they at least had a heritage and culture which gave life some flavor. I found the Belgians hopelessly locked in regional factionalism, and it made them delightfully passionate about things they did well in each locale. Germans were a little too close to our ways, but were a lot more patient, at least, and could express a certain pride in their technical accomplishments. I saw too little of the Danish to notice anything more than way too much interest in profligate sex with foreigners. The Swiss were mostly proud of their rugged individualism in the places I visited. The Austrians were unfailingly gracious and charming. The Americans were boorish, utterly lacking in manners and civility, and clung to their own little view of reality — I generally avoided them in Europe, and didn’t often let locals know I was one of them.

Corporate America can out-produce and make war like no other nation. And as soon as we win a war, we have no idea what it is we have accomplished. The best we know to do is export our hideous lack of culture, and try to cultivate the same mechanical regimentation infecting our lives, and call it “democracy.” When we march away, we leave our corporations to continue extracting whatever it was provided the actual reason we went to war. Meanwhile, outside the corporate compounds, the locals go on with their former lives as much as possible. We haven’t really changed a thing, and have proved absolutely nothing good by beating the stuffing out of them. Our superiority has never been a matter of morality, but always the result of our passion for profitability.

Think about it. Yesterday, I shared my experiences with the hide-bound rule chasing mentality in America. There is a reason you can’t get real customer service from anything bigger than a 12-man operation: It doesn’t pay. That is, all the blather about customer satisfaction is a lie, a sales pitch. On rare occasion you can get something taken care of by customer service, but only because it falls within some flow-charted, scripted response. Just try to ask about something rather unusual and you’ll get a standard response which filters out anything not in the script. We have some amazing creative people in the US, but they do not work in corporations. The concept of actually knowing their business died long ago.

You see, there was a time when people here did tend to know what was going on, but having them on the payroll cut into the profit margins. Once the business had a very good system in place, tweaked and adjusted by the experts, the whole thing was sold and the experts were fired. In comes a huge workforce of idiots who read scripts. It all seemed to happen about the same time, within a single generation — about 1950-1970. Sure, the roots go much deeper, but the obvious effects appeared over those two decades. Most significant elements in the destruction of America actually coalesced during the end of the 19th century here. By the early 1900s, the powers that be were implementing the foolish fruit of earlier intellectual moves. In other words, whatever we might have had in the guise of the “Spirit of America” was long dead when the general stasis manifested.

People mistakenly long for that period before the dead body began to stink. They forget it was a long decline before death. Our “Civil War” was the first symptom of really bad things coming, and the Union victory sealed our fate, culturally. If you honestly believe it was about slavery, you aren’t informed enough to be reading this blog. It was always about a crushing, highly centralized control.

That centralized control can only be accomplished with uniformity. Uniformity might be efficient, but it is death. People are not uniform. To drop them into neat little categories kills them, in effect. It makes them a mere matter of expense against profit. This is the reason government bureaucracy and corporate bureaucracy appear the same to the five senses. Real humans are messy and wasteful, because real humans each need to learn what went before, what makes us different from gorillas, which seldom remember anything from one generation to the next. In the process, each of us has to make sure what is and isn’t unique about us. Today, the most trivial idiocy is mistaken for “individuality” — because that’s the sort of thing which makes for a good trash trinket market. Real individuality can’t be achieved if you can’t get above the gorilla level, which is where bureaucrats want to be and where they need to keep us.

America: We are Babylon.

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Uniquely American Stupidity

Posted on December 3, 2008 by ehurst

On my other blog, I rant quite often about Western Christianity missing the point on most things. Actually, what I’m referring to is American Christianity, though it is obviously rooted in European religion. The real problem is something culturally fundamental to America: hide-bound mechanical rules.

This was most readily apparent when I served as a Military Policeman in Europe. Every time I ran into a glitch in our operations with the local national police agencies, it was always a problem with Americans following precise regulations and the Europeans doing something which made more sense in the circumstances. They have this thing about the spirit of the law being more important than the letter.

That is, we tussle intensely over words and semantics, and they casually get work done. Even when you account for their lazy, do-nothing socialism, along with their doctor-ordered year-long “stress leave” policies, they got at least as much done as we did when measured in man-hours. Plus, they had a darn sight more fun doing it. And no surprise Vox Day runs into the same idiocy dealing with FedEx. This is a glaring example of how Americans operate.

Even worse is the filthy hypocrisy of finding new meanings in the words of laws and regulations (not to mention the Constitution) when it becomes painfully obvious the letter of law just cannot fit the situation. The examples are so numerous, my head spins just trying to pick out a few. I could write books on it. We are the laughing stock of the world.

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Don’t Dial 911

Posted on December 2, 2008 by ehurst

It’s not enough local governments tax you half to death, now they charge hefty fees for responding to emergencies. No, I don’t mean ambulance services, nor are we talking about nuisance calls. If your house catches on fire, your tire blows out and you wreck your car, or you just need police assistance, many departments are now billing you thousands of dollars for their time and services.

Imagine you’re cruising down the road when you hit a patch of black ice and slide into a guardrail. A passing motorist calls 911. Soon firetrucks and police arrive.

Weeks later, a $1,400 bill does, too — for the cost of the police and firefighters who answered the call. What’s worse, it’s not covered by insurance, and it might scar your credit if you ignore it.

Sound implausible? It’s happening in a number of towns, cities and counties in at least 24 states. And given today’s cratering economy (and property-tax revenue), more strapped local governments may be tempted to authorize so-called accident response fees.

I have no use for policemen — I used to be one. If something gets out of hand, I deal with it myself. Most of the time they are utterly useless in protecting your rights, and they are under no obligation whatsoever to protect you from thugs. In many places they are the thugs. All they do is come and fill out reports, and you’re lucky if they don’t find some off-the-wall excuse to put you, the victim, in jail, too.

Now that they have discovered billing and collection agencies, it’s as if they know no bounds. Look for them to start arresting you if you don’t call them so they can put you on the hook for a couple thousand dollars. Meanwhile, don’t call them. I am told, if someone else calls them, and a collection agency comes after you, remind them you never signed a contract, and don’t owe them a dime. If they persist, you can (for now) file a civil complaint for harrassment.

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Good Trails, Bad Path

Posted on December 1, 2008 by ehurst

The trail is progressing, but I’m in a slow stretch with lots of vines and dead-fall. Still, it rides well so far, so I’m confident it will turn out well.

A lot of other things are not going so well. I wonder how many people realize Hillary Clinton is constitutionally illegible for Sec. of State? No Senator or Rep. can vote a raise for an office, then take that office. She voted to give the Cabinet positions a raise during her current term as Senator. But then, it’s looking more and more like Obama was never a US citizen in the first place. Nor is he yet entitled to be called “President Elect” since the Electoral College hasn’t met yet.

But then Bush ignores the Constitution when it suits him, too. Congress restored the laws regarding Posse Comitatus, but Bush simply issued a signing statement to the effect he refused to bound by that. He may yet still be planning to use the troops against the citizens of the US, and will certainly hand that off to the new team.

How many of you remember that 60 Minutes report on the “Millennials”? There are plenty of fine people in that age group, but way too many of them are suffering a bad case of unearned self-esteem. What will happen when these folks find out there is no money for mommy to keep their iPods filled with music, their cellphones texting, and they may be lucky to eat? Mr. Rogers isn’t going to able to rebuild their shattered self-esteem when they have to sleep in a wretched homeless shelter and can’t even watch reruns.

Oh, wait! They can join the herds enlisting for military service because there aren’t any other jobs. These days it won’t be a tough round of Boot Camp or Basic Training so much as the increasing probability of sexual assault. Their leaders in the field may be competent, but the generals are all MBAs and CPAs with not an ounce of real leadership talent. Thus, the Millennials get sorry equipment, stupid missions, and everyone without the same uniform will hate them. Oh my! What will that do for their inflated self-esteem? Meanwhile, those who survive the meat-grinder will come home quite willing to kill their fellow citizens.

Well, perhaps the next generation won’t survive long enough to become so stupid. You see, all that melamine killing the Chinese babies is in almost all US brands of baby formula. And you should know the FDA is run by the very companies they are supposed to regulate, so no one should be surprised they decided contrary to all evidence to reverse their previous position regarding melamine. Used to be they said no amount was safe, but now it’s okay to have… oh, whatever level is just above the amount found in US baby formula. Yeah, that’s it.

I may be a lot safer wandering off down one of my trails and covering my tracks behind me.

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Shoppers Not Totally Insane

Posted on November 30, 2008 by ehurst

The big “Black Friday” weekend went off mostly with a whimper. The only stampedes of shoppers were at places like Wal-Mart and other discount stores. While some folks did fight over choice popular merchandise, over all the mood was restrained. Wise choice.

This is the time to be buying necessities and durable goods. This will be a rather rough winter as more people lose their homes to foreclosures, but even worse as businesses are foreclosed. Any operation providing necessities will probably survive, but those who offer middling grade luxury goods will will likely shut down in the next few months. Also, any store which imports most of its necessities from the Asia-Pacific area may be forced to close, since there’s good reason to expect those sources of goods will dry up. That is, they would wisely stop taking the US dollar.

The powers that be have declared their intent to devalue the dollar on purpose, as if that were really news. This is simply a matter of coming clean. Indeed, about the only place where a brisk market can be expected is locally supplied necessities. Any grocer which can obtain food from local farmers and ranchers will do quite well. Any general merchandiser who can find a local manufacturer for things people want will do well. Any enterprising small production shop will quickly notice where demand is higher than supply, and start making stuff now imported. When local manufacturing re-enters the market for stuff now unanimously produced off-shore, we stand a chance of at least surviving.

We can be sure our current level of creature comfort will fade greatly. Folks will stop throwing out furniture and appliances they really need simply because the old one broke down. They’ll invest a lot more energy in repair. Look for the local repair shops to re-appear. Naturally the prices for these things will be much higher, since we’ve been essentially living off the backs of folks who would gladly work for less per day than most of us made in an hour. For obvious reasons, look for barter to return, since a lot of folks who can’t figure out how to create their own jobs will remain unemployed. Look for an awful lot of property crime, too.

You may know there was a bonanza for gun dealers. Not merely because the new president and his friends will likely move to make future sales nearly impossible, but because his term in office will surely see a huge increase in social unrest and violence. Decide for yourself whether you want to blame him, but he will preside over a very difficult time, and his political allies don’t include too many wiser heads. The statements these people have made in the past indicate they would rather destroy the country and kill millions than surrender their political dreams. Of course, we could say that for either of the two major candidates.

I think the bulk of shoppers sense things are not getting better, but worse. Keep your eye on the local buying trends, and don’t listen to the media hype.

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Jungle Stomping

Posted on November 29, 2008 by ehurst

Back when I first enlisted in the US Army (1979), I had been at my first assigned unit for only a few weeks when I found out a few of us were scheduled to make a trip to Panama for Jungle School. We weren’t authorized jungle boots as an issue item, and couldn’t wear them in that unit. But those rules didn’t apply when we went to schools like that. I’d never been to a tropical place, but I knew what it was like to have feet roasting in hot boots, so I went out and invested in jungle boots. They weren’t exactly the Army issue kind, but close enough to serve the purpose. My feet did rather well in Panama, but just about everything else went wrong.

About a decade later, I was stationed in the Netherlands. I found out we were authorized to wear jungle boots and I bought a pair from the Army uniform store. They were okay for regular duty wear, but I decided to try them on a volksmarch. Having tested jogging shoes, hiking boots, and a few other kinds of footwear, I found jungle boots were the single best choice for hilly hikes cross-country. While fairly stiff and hard on the soles, they were extremely durable and light, and my feet recovered rather well the next day. Even better was when I replaced the issue-style insoles with carbon-foam cushioned insoles. Those boots lasted several years of hard use.

As our economy grinds to a halt, and the US Treasury prepares to devalue the dollar, it occured to me it might be a while before I could afford to get good footwear if I didn’t get them soon. I had hoped I might hit a military surplus store and get another pair of jungle boots. I would be okay with regular decent hiking boots, but those are less versatile. Still, in the midst of other shopping for necessities, we stopped at Academy. After poking around for a half-hour, I stumbled across a pair of regular styled jungle boots. Not exactly the issue kind, but better. These have a real welt, instead of a hard rubber sole injected around a leather upper. Otherwise, the same ultra-light unpadded design. Amazingly, they were only about $20.

I’m not crazy enough to think there is no way we can avoid some descent into chaos in the US. It could happen, and I feel certain there will be some rioting and unrest in certain locations, mostly urban, as things get tighter. The price of fuel may not rise to such great heights again as in the recent past, but it won’t matter if you simply have no income at all, or not enough. I suspect a great many people will become unemployed, and it will snowball as businesses in every sector will close because people won’t have money to spend, and those folks join the ranks of the unemployed, and more business close, etc. There might be a lot of people walking wherever it is they have to go, and I’ll probably be one of them at least part of the time. I wonder how many folks will wear out their flip-flops and cheap athletic shoes in the first few months of 2009.

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