Red Friday

I wasn't sure exactly when the first red card would get pulled out, but here it is.

Shoppers stampeded to death 31-year-old Wal-Mart employee Jdimytai Damour in the early hours of a post-Thanksgiving Day sale in Long Island, NY. The 2,000-person mob tore the store's front doors from their hinges and pushed one another to get inside, encouraged by a sign that had stated "Blitz line starts here".

Four other people, including a pregnant woman, were taken to the hospital.

But, as NewsDay reports, the story gets even more revolting:

"Though rumors circulated among the shoppers that someone had been badly injured, people ignored the Wal-Mart workers' requests that they stop shopping, move to the front of the store and exit."

Yesterday, speaking on the economy, Barack Obama asked Americans to "make good choices" shopping this holiday season. Yet there was little restraint, fiscal or physical, in Nassau County this morning.

Showing these shoppers and the advertisers that incite them a red card for their actions is a pathetic gesture, I admit. As information comes forward, as I'm sure it will, regarding a memorial fund for Mr. Damour, I'll post it here.