DUNCAN — Have spread myself pretty thinly recently, and as some of you know, there ain’t that much of me to spread. But amidst all the multi-tasking, a stack of sticky notes that serve as my memory has  somehow accumulated:

Not being an economist, perhaps I just don’t understand the dynamics at play, but there’s a trend in hiring that just seems totally counter-productive to solving this country’s unemployment situation. Apparently, if you don’t have a job, you can’t get a new job.

In the past two months, a half-dozen friends in hiring positions have told me that when a job opens, they’re not supposed to even consider applications from prospects who aren’t working. Four of these folks are in white-collar professions and the edicts have come down from the Great Corporate Gods. Two others are in blue-collar jobs and the “don’t hire the unemployed” order has come from their bosses.

Being an intrepid — i.e., nosy — reporter, I’ve since discovered that the trend toward immediately casting out the unemployed as job candidates is nationwide and exists on many rungs of the job ladder. And being a reasonable — OK, fairly reasonable — person, this trend seems wacko.

First, it implies that millions of people who’ve lost their jobs during the Bush/Republican Recession wanted to lose their jobs; that they asked to be let go by companies and businesses that have trimmed their work force.

Second, how in the world do we resuscitate the employment base if a criteria for getting a job is that you must already have a job when applying for an opening? Such a theory comes straight from the Bizarro World, y’all.

—Oh, sorry if some of my Republican friends don’t like the reference to the Bush/Republican Recession. But you know, some of us remember who was in power in the first six years of the 21st century, when the foundation was laid for the current economic malaise.

Folks in the GOP have tried to toss that hot potato into Barack Obama’s lap since he took the presidential oath; they couldn’t wait to proclaim it “Obama’s economy.”

Granted, the current administration may or may not be doing a good job finding solutions to get us out of this mess, but Obama didn’t create the mess. Which makes it ironic that the “messers” are now begging the “messees” to give them another chance.

Guess that’s an inherent problem with a system dominated by two parties — every so often, we common types are damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

—Didja happen to catch a news report on an OKC television station about a drug bust in Edmond this past week? Seems the gendarmes popped a fellow for distribution of marijuana and pills. The kicker is: The dealer lived in a place called the Rolling Green Apartments.

Who makes this stuff up?

—When it’s time to dim the lights and draw your significant other close, there’s no better soundtrack than a slow ballad by a great sax player like Coleman Hawkins.

—Note to the jerk who decided to rifle through my car recently — albeit, I was a dope to leave the Taurus unlocked: Was a pack of smokes, a few stick pins and a half-dozen CDs really worth going to jail?

And by the way, while you’re listening to my copy of Bob Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks, pay special attention to the song Idiot Wind. The line, “You’re an idiot, babe; it’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe,” was written with you in mind.

—During the World Cup, it seemed many people in the “Land of Real Football” — including sports radio talk show hosts — spent a lot of time dissing the sport we call “soccer.” But the fact was: Next to South Africans, the largest amount of World Cup series tickets were purchased by Americans.

And expect soccer to keep growing in the USofA. That ol’ saw that Americans just don’t understand the game is becoming less true all the time. Millions of our young’uns have played youth soccer in the past two decades and they do understand and appreciate the game.

—Yes, during heat waves like we’ve had since June in these parts, IT IS justifiable assault to give a dope slap to anyone who asks, “Hot enough for ya?”

—Just for the record: Shooting stars aren’t stars. They’re meteors.

—A news item from Tacoma, Wash.: “Fish and Wildlife Services scientists plan to kill about 40 stocky, black sea ducks called surf scooters around Commencement Bay to find out why their numbers are declining.”