Advocate blows it big time

Don't get me wrong. I really do like and, more importantly, respect Rick Wamre, the publisher of the Advocate magazines and, in fact, consider him a friend. But this time he blew it.

In his February letter from the publisher, Wamre talked about visiting a neighborhood restaurant during lunch and, gasp!, the joint was practically empty. Wamre's solution was as simple as it was wrongheaded. He wrote:

"If you believe in the importance of small businesses as part of the fabric of our neighborhood, this is the time to prove it. The businesspeople who have their roots in our neighborhood, who hire our neighbors and who volunteer at our schools and churches need our help. Given a choice, if there was ever a time to shop locally, this is it. Because if we don’t, we could spend the next few years walking or driving by lots of empty storefronts that used to be staffed by people we know selling services and products we need."

For those of us who have found ourselves unemployed because of this financial mess and are struggling to make ends meet, such advice from someone fortunate enough to have enough to eat out on a regular basis is like receiving a couple of more knife wounds to an already stricken body. The last thing we need is for those with money telling those of us struggling during these times how to spend what we don't have.

Then to add more salt to the wounds, Advocate blogger Keri Mitchell compounds the error of Wamre's ways by telling us how we should all join in splurging for burgers and shakes in some corner of a wi-fi heaven she found in Lake Highlands. I felt like telling her where she could cram that wireless laptop of hers, but ...