Oh i agree that people shooting at rescuers should be shot. However there are thousands of people down there not looting. They dont have food or water. They cant go anywhere or get rescued.
Ill admit that some of those looters are animals, but others are just trying to survive. No one can seem to admit that.
If you've followed the threads here, you would know that such is not the case. The vast majority of folks here understand that taking food and other bona-fide necessities from an abandoned store is justified under the duress of the circumstances, provided that the owner is compensated for his loss. Ideally there should be a plan in place to have the local authorities secure such facilities to ensure that those genuinely in need (like elderly shut-ins) are able to have access to supplies. That's why public order is imperative. You can't help those in need if the gangstas are firing at rescuers with AK-47s. Taking control is the first priority.
Yes, there are thousands of people trapped down there without food or water. It's been four days, and that represents a major failure on the part government officials in charge - who were voted into office by the victims of their indolence, corruption and incompetence. I would also submit that a large part of this failure is the result of decades of PC-liberalism with respect to crime, thuggery, corruption and general immorality - just as the article's author does.
Those that need rescue can walk (or wade) to the outskirts of the city. Then ask for directions to a Red Cross station.
Looters is New Orleans have ensured that all rescue operations must initially regard ANY survivor as a potential hostile.
Looters that you act as an apologist for.
"...others are just trying to survive, no one can seem to admit that"
Actually many here have admitted that over and over. Our problem is with the animals assaulting others and stealing luxury items and guns and alcohol.
We also have a problem with anyone making excuses for them.
Oh, put a sock in it.
I lived through three hurricanes last year. The first one, Charley, knocked power out to my entire home town for four days, and it was six before my lights came back on. And my community was lucky - Charley was only a Cat 2 when it came through here. In Hardee and DeSoto Counties (which are very poor, rural, with lots of Latinos and blacks), as many as 75 percent of the homes were severely damaged, many to the point of being uninhabitable. The city of Punta Gorda, wher Charley made landfall, was all but leveled. A year after the storm, lots of folks in Punta Gorda are still living in FEMA trailers.
And not in a single one of these places was there anything even approaching the anarchy in New Orleans. No one bulldozed the doors to the local Wal Mart and ran off with as many DVDs and mp3 players as they could carry, no one dragged 14-year-old girls into restrooms and raped them to death in the shit and the empty crack vials. No one shot at cops or relief workers or power crews or any of the volunteers who came down here from all over the country and helped us clean up and put our lives back together.
And you know what else? we were grateful for the help we received - we sure as hell didn't throw food back at the people offering it to us and saying ,"I ain't eating that. "
This August 13, the residents of Punta Gorda marked the one-year anniversary of Charley's landfall. They gathered together for a celebration - they celebrated the fact that they were alive, that their community, while still bearing many scars, was coming back better than ever, and that they had a bright future to look forward to, than ks to their faith and their hard work. One year from now, hell, even ten years from now, the people of New Orleans will probably still be sitting in the mud and the sewage, when they're not preying on one another, having refused to even think of lifting a finger to help put their community back together again, and blaming George Bush and the Republicans for their plight.