A Wal-Mart worker was killed Friday after an “out of control” throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains broke down the doors at a suburban store and knocked him to the ground, police said.

At least four other people, including a woman eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening.

…

Dozens of store employees trying to fight their way out to help the man were also getting trampled by the crowd, Fleming said. Witnesses said that even as the worker lay on the ground, shoppers streamed into the store, stepping over him.

One person bumping into another…that happens.

One of said people taking a tumble…that also happens.

The person who fell getting trampled to death by a savage horde of materialism zombies eager to spend spend spendspendSPEND!!!!…no.  No fracking way.  Not in any civilization that I want to be part of.  Unfortunately I don’t see any way to vote with my feet on this one, since America, while importing everything else so that our trade deficit kind of looks like our national deficit, has managed to balance things up nicely if you figure in consumerism and materialism as exports.  So, as we’ve gone, the rest of the world will be following shortly.

If you read the full article, it says the guy was a temp–probably picking up some extra work to buy Fluffy McRufflepants the Flying Dinosaur or Suzie the Doll that Poos Real Poo or whatever the stupid overpriced toy of the year is for his spawn, or else expensive jewelry for his lady friend.  Or I’m wrong and he was using the opportunity to get a few bucks to make rent in the economic clusterfrack created by the real estate market being unable to support that many not-even-interest home loans.  Either way, materialism at its finest has given this worker’s family a funeral for Christmas.

Scrooge was onto something, referring to the festivities of Christmas as “humbug,” which, loosely translated, means “BS.”  I would say that for people to trample someone to death in order to go shopping, to put a human life’s value below that of stuff, qualifies as BS.  So, bah humbug to all, and to all a good right.

If my tax money goes to save all these companies, that should be payment in advance for any of their services that I ever need. Fair’s fair. Never gonna happen…but it’s on my wish list.

In the midst of all the bailout and weakening markets and general frackedness…a friend of mine saw an ad for a bank telling people basically that they could get a home equity loan to pay for a vacation. The hell? Call me old-school but I thought “don’t risk the house” was one of the fundamental rules of economic responsibility and the only good reasons to get a loan involving the house were medical bills (when you need a kidney you gotta do what you gotta do), home improvements that add value (especially if you’re trying to sell), and paying off (and then cutting up) higher interest debts. Not a damn week in the Bahamas.

Oh, but I said the R word…responsibility. No wonder.

Seriously…the only way we’re going to pull out of this clusterfuck is to get back to basics. People from Joe Schmoe and Suzy Average to the state and (omg!) federal governments have to to run a balanced budget. This involves not buying things they can’t afford because you can’t spend money you don’t have (House would add “You idiot!” at this point).

We also have to get credit-providing companies to plug their business sense back in and only lend out money that the person will be able to pay back in installments that work for them over a reasonable amount of time. If they approve people that they know can’t pay, it’s their own damn fault and it shouldn’t be my hypothetical grandspawn that have to pay for it. This is why the bailout concept pisses me off. These companies, by their own stupidity/dishonesty, got themselves fracked…yes, that’s a boot in the ass. And when Mommy Government stops Daddy Market from quite naturally putting his boot in Rebellious Teenager Company’s ass, Rebellious Teenager Company gets even worse. (We all had this sibling, yes? )

It probably also involves V-chipping the home shopping channels, changing the channel when MTV Cribs or any Extreme Makeover show comes on, shopping less but comparison shopping more, and rediscovering the park and the library. Our status-spending values are a huuuuuuuuuuge part of how we got ourselves into this. Those who have kids, or who think you might one day, teach them that fun can be free and the price tag isn’t the person…not by saying it, by living it. I mean, FTLOFSM, at least go more than a year with the same cell phone. Capitalism has the advantage of being the only economic system I know of that works as described (i.e. people work so that they can buy stuff); its cultural spawn, consumerism, however…sucks.

Robert Kadera of Lake Villa and his 14-year-old son, Isaac, were standing outside the aircraft, a 1949 Piper Clipper, which was sitting in the middle of the golf course about 20 feet south of the retaining wall that separates the golf course from Route 22, police said.

Kadera said it was not an emergency landing, but rather, the boy was late for his tennis lesson at the Lincolnshire Club across the street from the golf course on Route 22, police said.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/golf.course.plane.2.668950.html

Here’s a thought.  There is no degree of being late for tennis practice that would make it reasonable to land on a golf course.  Definite fail of common sense check.

That reminds me of a story.  A few CAP meetings ago, we talked about another severe thunderstorm warning–apparently this guy could have used an internal barometer.  Or maybe he would have just ignored it, like the repeated advisories from the tower before he nominated himself for a Darwin Award.  We felt sorry for the plane.

As for the pilot, he at least found his mission in life: