Hamilton Herald Masthead

Editorial


Front Page - Friday, December 2, 2011

The Week That Was




Run Herman run. From Atlanta, Ginger White told Fox 5 news that she and Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain had a 13-year affair.  White, a businesswoman, came forward over the Thanksgiving weekend, saying, “It was pretty simple. It wasn’t complicated. I was aware that he was married.

And I was also aware I was involved in a very inappropriate situation, relationship.” Cain actually tipped off CNN an hour before White made the announcement, saying he was about to face the allegation, at the same time denying it was true.  But Cain’s lawyer, Linn Wood, said “private, alleged consensual conduct between adults” is nobody’s business. Cain says he plans to keep running, as long as he has the support of his wife.

                                                           ***

Psycho shoppers. Black Friday is an appropriate name for the day after Thanksgiving. I remember the 2002 movie by the same name in which a high-powered attorney returns home from work to find his family being held hostage by terrorists. Shoppers and terrorists have something in common, I think.  That Northwest Arkansas Five and Dime, which went on to become the nation’s largest retailer, is again able to report violent acts from stores across the country as people try to do some early Christmas shopping. Here are the top five Walmart incidents as reported in The Week.

The waffle maker riot. This took place in my hometown when $2 dollar waffle makers started a riot. You can see it at http://gawker.com/5862628. One woman tries to bull her way through the mob like Dennis Johnson through a defensive line.  She is carrying five boxes and best I could tell, didn’t fumble. The post on Gawker.com reads, “…it embodies everything awesome about America, including a horrible economy, aggressive consumerism, mindless violence and a complete lack of concern for one’s fellow human beings.”

Pepper spray and Xboxes. Moving west to L.A. where a woman in her 30s used pepper spray to fend off some 20 people who were trying to get at the same Xbox 360 she so badly wanted.  She got her prize and was able to pay for it and escape but her conscience must have gotten the better of her because the next day she turned herself in.

Video games and police brutality. There was bloodshed in an Arizona Walmart when 54-year old Jared Newman hid a video game under his jacket to conceal it from other shoppers.  A cop pulled Newman aside, and according to CNN citizen iReporter, David Chadd, Newman appeared to be cooperating when the officer suddenly slammed Newman face first into the floor, knocking him out.  Reports say he lay on the ground about 10 minutes, unconscious in a pool of his own blood.

Parking lot shootings From coast to coast, on Black Friday, shoppers were held up at gunpoint in Walmart parking lots.  In San Leandro, Calif., a man and his family were walking through a store parking lot after midnight when a group approached and demanded they hand over their purchases.  But the family, having already survived the melee inside the store, refused the robbers, causing the dad to be shot and critically wounded.

The smart phone smack down. Two women in Rome, N.Y. ended up in the hospital after they attempted to get at a $35 deal on smart phones.  One of the women said, “I was shoved down and kicked in the face. It was just like a stampede. All you heard was just like a herd of animals coming through there.”