"Criminal charges were possible, but identifying individual shoppers in Friday's video may prove difficult, said Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, a Nassau County police spokesman."

Why is it so darned difficult? Put them on TV, run them, let the public see them. See if someone comes forward. Check the credit slip names of the first five hundred purchases and get pictures of the people who signed the slips. If they tried that hard to get in they didn't leave empty handed! Pull them in for questioning if they will not talk outside. Ask if anyone was with them. See who lawyers-up. This is a homicide investigation, not the theft of a pack of gum. As an aside I consider that wrong but I wouldn't be as aggressive on looking for the perp. This wasn't a crowd that trampled the guy, this was three to five people who knocked him down and went over him. Others probably stepped on him but once the frenzy was there they were being pushed by the crowd. Look at the other workers in the store that were hurt trying to rescue him. Look at the ire when the store was closed. I never go to this kind of thing because I have said for 40 years they are dangerous. Mobs kill!

"Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers stepped over him and became irate when officials said the store was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said."

But as reprehensible as this is, the police are not without blame. Why do I say that? Look at the statement of the spokesperson.

"This crowd was out of control," Fleming said. He described the scene as "utter chaos," and said the store didn't have enough security.

Really? The store needed more security? This was not a shoplifting or someone getting hostile. This was a mob. Should the store prepare for a homicidal mob? What security would have stopped them? Billy clubs? Mace? Guns? Should store security be armed? If there had been ten armed police there (and there probably should have been with that large of a gathering) could they have prevented this? Were there calls earlier to police, before the store opened? How long after the call did the first officer get on the scene? Was it treated as a priority or was it set to age to see if it would go away? And finally, why hasn't a reporter asked these questions and reported the answers.

I have a scanner and in York City I hear at times the police dispatcher tell an officer this has been aged twenty minutes! The officer is to go and see if the problem has resolved. They are holding a ticket for twenty minutes to see if the problem will go away! Why?

Did someone call before the store opened and complain that the mob was getting unruly and the police took the wait and see attitude? I don't need to know this answer but the people of Nassau County should. I am asking the questions for them. The media should be doing a time line on this, when did each event happen? Why the media? Because they are to be the watchdogs and they are the only ones with the ability to get the information. The police will lawyer-up with their union representatives if it even looks like citizens want to check and make it difficult. The police officials will circle the wagons to defend against attack. All of them will point fingers at Walmart who if you are really honest probably has done nothing significant wrong or left undone anything they could have done. I worked the polls on election day. I saw what I would call a hostile mob at one time during that day. I was concerned. One trigger and it could have easily gotten nasty.

My guess on this is the man who was killed committed one error. He didn't get out of the mob's way in time. That mob was just as dangerous as a herd of stampeding cattle and with about the same mental level. He may have dropped a key or a pen and bent to pick it up. He may have seen something on the floor that could haven been a hazard and bent to pick it up to protect others. We may never know but he paid for that with his life. If you want to see the violence with which this mob was being driven, note that they bent the door frames.

I would love to have the police dispatcher radio tape for two hours before and two hours after the event. I would like to go through and log the calls, to, from, time, content. I would like to know. Why? Because this could happen other places! My thought on any event like this is to learn from it. If we do and learn to prevent or make it less likely to recur and Jdimytai Damour may not have totally died in vain. If we bring to justice the ones who cared so little for their fellow man that a cheap DVD was worth more than his life, maybe Jdimytai Damour will not have totally died in vain. If we make people, the police, whomever more responsive, maybe Jdimytai Damour will not have totally died in vain.

Jdimytai Damour should have lived to see his children grow up, and see his grandchildren and their children. Jdimytai Damour will not because of greed and lack of caring about each other. I apologize to the family of Jdimytai Damour for using his name repeatedly but I want someone to see it enough that it burns in their mind. I want Jdimytai Damour to be more than a nameless, faceless person in a poorly written story in AP. I want people to remember Jdimytai Damour as a fellow human being that got trampled by people in a hurry.

***UPDATE 11/30/2008***

A quote from a union leader appeared in another story. "New York's largest grocery workers union on Friday urged federal, state and local authorities to investigate what it called 'Wal-Mart's failure to provide a safe workplace.'"

He continues his meaningless and uninformed tirade. "'This incident was avoidable,' said Bruce Both, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500. 'Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? ... This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart.'"

I agree with Bruce Both that this should be investigated but Both's comments and thrust fly in the face of getting to the truth, learning how to prevent a repeat and in compassion to the family. Let's face it. Both and his union have not been able to unionize Walmart. He and his union don't get to line their pockets with the union dues from those wages. Let me assure you, that is big buicks, usually about two hours a month of pay from each worker. Union leaders decry management living off the backs of the workers but let's face it, they do too. He makes no indication he had first hand information or even second hand information about the situation. He asks where the barriers were, the security. Justice would have been better served by him just keeping his mouth shut. But he isn't interested in justice, he is interested in JUST US, the union. I believe his members should realize that if something is good for one local and not for the union the local will be sacrificed down to the last job. I know that first hand. The article continued.

"Wal-Mart said it had added additional internal security, third party security, more store associates and had worked closely with local police.

'We also erected barricades. Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred,' Hank Mullany, a Wal-Mart senior vice president, said in a statement.'

The Walmart manager was there. He helped with the preparations. Nobody who was there is questioning his statement. I would tend to believe it more than Both's who wasn't there and has as big an ase to grind as anyone from Walmart. In addition, Both can be irresponsible and go to excess with no possible repercussions. It helps his stature. The Walmart manager does not have that luxxury. If he overstates now it will most likely come back to haunt him.

Did Walmart not do enough? I don't know. I will bet Hank Mullany is asking himself that question now and a year from now will still be doing it. I pray for him. Hank has the distinction now of having something in common with a battlefield commander who looses a man. No matter who or what is blamed he will probably always question, did I miss something.

By now, many of you have probably heard the story: a Wal*Mart worker on Long Island was killed by a stampeding mass of customers on Black Friday.  The poor victim was working near the doors at 5a.m. when the store opened, and people rushed in to get the best early-morning deals.  Other workers were also injured in the mess as they tried to help their companion get back on his feet.  A total of four others were ultimately taken to a nearby hospital.  To make matters worse, customers proceeded to get angry when police shut the store following the incident! 

Now, police are seeking out those involved in the incident to prosecute the shoppers who let the worker be crushed to death.  Local investigators have spent hours reviewing surveillance videos of the incident trying to identify which individuals were directly responsible for the death.  After all, with hundreds flooding through the doors, it’s hard to determine who should be put on trial for the death.  Some say the store itself is responsible, claiming the Wal*Mart should have had better security in place.  Others believe no one is to blame.  According to them, in a mob mentality, individuals cease to be accountable for their actions.  Does this imply shopping is the same as joining a mob?  Have our malls become battleground?

Ultimately, the Wal*Mart incident raises one more pressing question: what is this season coming to?  Are we so concerned about saving money that we are willing to hit, kick, and even kill one another to get the best deals?  Many people cite the current economic downturn as adding fuel to the Black Friday fire.  However, the Wall Street Journal actually reported there was LESS frenzy this year as people decided to buy less for the holidays.  Others estimate that more people chose to shop their Black Friday deals online than show up at the stores themselves. 

If reports like this are accurate, it means less people caused more havoc than we’ve ever seen.  It truly is a shame that personal well-being falls victim to a desire to save a few dollars.  Should those involved in the Al8Mart tragedy be prosecuted for their ignorance and selfishness?  Everyone has their own opinion on that.  One thing is certain, though, a holiday gift cannot truly be given from the heart if it was bought at the expense of another human being’s life. 

At around 7:30 PM, suddenly, and without warning, there was a roar from the sea, and a fifteen foot wall of water descended upon their frail houses. It poured in through doors and windows and in it's undertow, swept away the homes as if they were matchboxes, sometimes with women and children inside. One heroic mother ran into the street and seeing the advancing waters ran back to rescue her two children. She waded bravely through the door, only to be swept out to sea in the wreckage of the building. Boats, both small and large, were torn from their anchorage and dashed upon the shore crashing against buildings. In the small community of Port-Aux-Bras, 7 lives were lost, while many others were rescued after having been adrift for hours. Terrorized, many residents of the peninsula thought the island was sinking. Bereft of all reason, some were found several hours later wandering helplessly inland. All communication was cut off with the outside world as all cables, telegraph and telephone lines had been broken by the earthquake and at the time, there was no road connecting the Burin Peninsula with the rest of the island.

It was days later before help arrived and the first to reach the scene were appalled by the catastrophe. It was several more days before a government ship arrived carrying doctors, nurses and provisions. In all 36 people died and many more were injured. Left with almost no food and little shelter chaos, tragedy and distress were everywhere. Although this happened ten years before I was born and my parents lived many miles away, I remember my mother speaking of the tremor that shook the house. Today, 79 years later people still speak of the "tidal wave" as it has always been called, an event far more common in the pacific than the Atlantic ocean.

This is what George W. Bush chooses for us and this is what John McCain wants to continue.

What's the point in war? I just don't understand how blowing off body parts and burning each other to a crisp and just plain killing each other is supposed to solve anything. What is that supposed to prove? Isn't there a better way?

When these men were little boys they were taught in school to be kind to one another. They were taught not to fight with one another when they disagreed about something. Violence was not permitted but then they grow up and are put in a war where they have to do the exact opposite.

The only difference is that they aren't just punching or wrestling each other they are shooting and killing people, people who they know nothing about, people who have families to go home to, and people who are so young they have yet to live their lives and yet their lives are over in a split second, or changed dramatically because of injuries that they can never be free of. They are killing and injuring people who they have nothing personally against and the same is being done to them and their friends. All because the governments of these countries can't get along, and can't trust one another. Why? When will it end? President Bush claims to be a Christian but where is the peace? Why can't he work out the differences with other countries? What about “Thou Shalt not kill?”

Through all of this the rest of us sit at home enjoying our freedom to do whatever and say whatever we want. We should feel as guilty as the ones who are doing the killing; we should feel just as much pain and grief as they do when they see friends lying dead before them because we sit idly by letting it happen. We chose the leaders who choose to kill these young men and choose to waste human life. If it's wrong to kill a human through abortion then it is wrong to kill a human by putting them in a situation where they will be killed. Why choose a president this election who will continue this senseless killing! Why choose a president who believes it's right to send innocent people into a horror scene like this? Why choose a president who will continue what Bush has started?

Choose LIFE! Choose a president who will put an end to it by working out the differences we have with other countries! Choose Obama!

Barker and DJ AM, also known as Adam Goldstein, perform together under the name TRVSDJ-AM.  They performed for free in Columbia, Friday night prior to the accident.   

Six people were on the plane and only two made it out alive, those two would be Travis Barker and DJ AM.

The four people that died in the crash were the pilot Sarah Lemmon of Aneheim, California, co-pilot James Bland from Carlsbad, Passenger Chris Baker of Studio City and Charles Still.   Sarah was 31, James was 52, Chris 29 years old and Charles was 25.

A witness told local news that he saw a fireball rolling across the highway and then he saw it crash in an embankment.  He also said he saw two men get out of the plane on fire, and they were hitting each other trying to put the fire out.  Some say the learjet never made it off the runway before it crashed in the embankment and  went up in smoke.

Travis and DJ-AM, the only survivors,  were taken to a burn ward in a hospital in Augusta, Georgia.  News sources say that they will make a full recovery, however it is still sad to hear.

Furthermore, I want to show my support to the families that lost someone in the crash.  My condolences go out to those families because it is hard to lose those who are close to you. 

August 2008, A Boeing 737 operated by Itek Air crashed just after take off at Manas International Airport, Kyrgyzstan, killing 68 of the 90 passengers aboard. The crew had reported technical problems and were returning to the airport.

August 2008, Madrid, Spain, 154 of 172 passengers aboard the McDonnell Douglas MD 82 plane operated by Spanair crashed while trying to take off.

August 2008, Another near disaster was averted when a Qantas Airways Boeing 747-400 passenger aircraft had to make an unscheduled landing in The Philippines. There was a rapid loss of pressure inside the aircraft when a panel was blown off its undercarriage, leaving a huge hole.. This left a gap of approximately two metres long where the wing intersects with the aircraft body.

July 2008, An aircraft was on route from Hong Kong to Melbourne, Australia, reported problems. It had previously flown from London to Hong Kong without incident.

According to Reuters in Manila, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is an independent body operating within the Australian Department of Transport, said that flight number QF-30 made an emergency descent from 29,000 feet to 10,000 feet and all 346 passengers and 19 crew were without injury.

An inspection crew has travelled to Manila to inspect the damage and ascertain the cause.

Passengers reported that part of the cargo hold was ripped open and that luggage was hanging out, so there was undoubtedly some loss of baggage.

The Boeing 747-400 is the newest 747 passenger aircraft in service and the last one was produced in March 2007. It is a massive 68.6 metres in length, with a wing span of 64.4metres. Its maximum cruising speed in 939 kilometres per hour and it weighs 399,000lbs. The aversion of what could have been a major air disaster and the safe landing of this giant aircraft, is certainly a tribute to the pilot and crew.

This is just another incident in an increasing catalogue of near air disasters which seem to be getting more frequent in the past few months.

In January 2008 a British Airways Boeing 777 travelling from Beijing to London with 136 passengers aboard lost all power as it came in towards London Airport and landed just short of the runway. 18 passengers suffered minor injuries but the scenario could have been much worse if it wasn't for the skill of the pilot and crew.

On March 2008, in New Delhi, a jet blast from another aircraft cracked the wind shield of a 50 seater Kingfisher Airlines aircraft as it prepared for take off. The damage was caused when a jet aircraft gave a high power thrust while taxiing along the runway. The offending aircraft has been grounded.

Then, a Turkish private plane and an Air France Airbus had a near miss in mid air over Russian airspace. Air traffic controllers were able to avert this at the last minute. The Beechcraft 400 private plane was en route from Sheremet'evo (Moscow) to Istanbul. Pilot error meant that the smaller aircraft ended up in the same flight corridor as the French Airbus. Fortunately, air traffic controllers spotted the error and were able to avert a collision.

There are many other instances of similar near misses. Perhaps we should ask ourselves if there are now too many aircraft in our skies at one time and whether operators of these flights are as cautious about safety as they need to be. Could it be that cut backs in the air transport industry are putting passengers at risk?

It is time we fight back the legal way. It is time that names start appearing in the papers and on the news. It is timethese "juveniles" are no longer considered juveniles. You do the crime, your charged with time. "jail time,""Not Children and Youth time."

We as citizens have a right to be safe in our own homes as well as on our streets! Allowing hoodlums, animals or juveniles, which ever you prefer to call them to run free in our streets has got to stop.

To the parents of any juvenile that commits a hideous crime---- If the law states that the names of the juveniles cannot be released in the paper or on the news, then you insist the names be released. "You," yourself, release the names if you have to! I as aparent would not look down on you as aparent for doing this, infact, I would look upon you with respect. Shame on the juvenilenot the parent of the juvenile!"

Any youth that commits a crime should be expect to pay all medical and criminal bills that are caused by their offence, their parents should not have to cover these bills! I realize the juveniles can't pay now because of their age at the time of their crime, but they should be billed as soon as they become of age. Any insurance that pays the bills now should be entitled for full reimbursement later. If this juvenile is in debt for the next ten, fifteen, twentyyears or more when he becomes an adult, "to bad" they brought it all on themselves! They should be responsible for their actions!

Let's stop looking at juvenile criminals as children. If our juveniles want to commit adult crimes, then let's treat them as adults.

We have children killing and or maiming other children, we have children killing their family and friends, Kids are taking guns to school and to the streets, when is it all going to stop? It's not right!It has to stop! Look around folks we need to do something! Years ago such things were unheard of, parents were allowed to make their children mind, life wasn't as fast paced.

It is time for a change and we need to do it soon!

I think it is simply about a principle of demonstrating strength in the face of attack. That is a simple schoolyard technique of dealing with a cowardly bully: when hit, hit back with devastating force so the bully will not strike again.

The radical Islamists who attacked the United States on 9/11 saw us as a soft target, especially when there was little or no response to the first attack on the towers, and the Clinton administration showed no interest in pursuing Bin Laden.

If President Bush had not responded with a massive display of military strength, I truly believe there would have been more, and more brutal attacks in our country no matter how much we strengthened our internal defenses. Personally, I would have preferred that he had taken his stand in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, but perhaps after studying the Soviet's failure there, Iraq seemed a better choice.

International intelligence agencies (Great Britain, Russia, the U.N. and Israel) all confirmed the presence of weapons of mass destruction, but because the attack was telegraphed the weapons were either shipped out or hidden. From Desert Storm, the international community already knew that Saddam Hussein had and was likely to again violate the sovereignty of his neighboring countries. Likewise, they knew that he had already used WMD's against the Kurds. Hussein was a genuine bad guy who had killed on both personal and genocidal levels. He was a "good" target.

One way or another, the U. S. had to back up its potential power to destroy our enemies with a demonstration that we had the courage and will to actually use it. As the Japanese who attacked Pearl Harbor learned that wrath of this country is a fearsome thing, so the attack on Iraq, whether the official reason was to eliminate WMDs or an evil dictator, has had the effect of causing our enemies to re-evaluate the cost of further attacks. Libya almost immediately in response to the U. S.' show of strength, backed down from its former stand as a supporter of terrorism.

And that, I believe, despite what the diplomats and politicians may say, is the real reason for the war in Iraq....it was and is a necessary show of force to slow down rage-blinded fanatics that want only to destroy us, by demonstrating that it will not be as easy as they thought.

Editor-in-Chief of “US News & World Report, Mortimer B. Zuckerman has defined the goal of Terrorists quite thoroughly in his article, The Tyranny of Imagery in the October 30th, 2006 edition of his publication. In brazen, bold red letters at the center of page one: “Perhaps better than anyone, terrorists understand how pictures of violence amplify their cynical message, paralyzing democracies around the globe,” is the explanation we need in the report regarding whether we accomplished our mission in Iraq or against terror once this war, if ever, comes to an end. “Now players can surprise the enemy for the ultimate advantage in firefights, leading a fire team throughout the entire Normandy campaign. For the first time, players will also be able to lead a bazooka team, order their squad on an MG42, or fire mortar rounds. An enhanced co-op mode (Skirmish) offers players a 12-mission campaign,” is the description available on www.Gameseek.com.uk which describes the Playstation Portable video game, “Brothers in Arms”.

To a parent at Christmas; this is harmless. Who among our generation does not have parents or guardians that watched war movies where soldiers would not bleed when shot? Differences here are noted. First, the level of interaction that your impressionable child has over a virtual character that is made to look exactly like a living human. Second, the realistic gore of violence included in video games that depicts war-like scenarios of mine explosions, rocket explosions, gunfire, wounded comrades, decapitation, dismemberment, organ trauma, etc. Third yet not last is the obvious way in which stimulating visual and audio media affects our immediate, real-life circumstance. Watch “Cold Mountain” again and decide not to feel disheartened at the end. Do not laugh through any of Abbott and Costello's comedy routines. Do not laugh at Mitch Hedberg or Dane Cook.

Do not laugh at Eddie or Charlie Murphy. In fact, don't laugh at all. Sickening truth is, your children are doing the laughing for you as they put bullets in each other's heads without repercussion. What is scarier than that is that simulated military violence is not where it ended. It has come to our streets in the virtual world through games like “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City”.