Looting is the whole story on CNN...

[Ron Green]

or at least 80% of the story. They've run the same clips dozens of times, and made looting the point of their coverage, rather than the need for the massive mobilization of resources that are now in Iraq, for crying out loud. I've heard NO ONE in the media mention the fact that Bush is at "business as usual" (fundraising and talking about September 11) instead of making things happen to help the people of the Gulf Coast.

[Pithlet]

1. It's disgraceful

Just no excuse. And people are falling for it, even here.

I know I said I'd go to bed. That I'd get out of GD. But, damn it, this just pisses me off so much.

[Qibing Zero]

2. The only mention of it at all that I've seen was by Cafferty.

He wasn't nearly as harsh as it sounded like he wanted to be (and should have been imo), but he did at least mention it unlike everyone else. =P

[Extend a Hand]

3. exactly...

that is the bigger crime and it's being totally ignored.

gotta love our corporate media...of course desperate people stealing during a horrific catastrophe is what they would focus on.

[blossomstar]

4. I totally agree... I think most of them are hungry!

I think most of the people looting are just getting groceries and I saw a lot of people taking out baby diapers too. My God, they just need their basic needs met! Who cares? They should be there handing out this stuff to these poor people and they wouldn't be forced into this type of situation. These people are desperate! Where is the help for them? I haven't seen all the people they say are there helping (Red Cross, FEMA, etc.)??? I think they are all just TALKING about all they're going to do instead of getting it done! Where is our LEADERSHIP?!!!!

[NYC]

6. I'm not certain, but I think the Red Cross

was setting up outside the city. I read that earlier somewhere, but I don't remember where.

[chalky]

11. Outside the city? Do you know how big NO is? And the poorest are NOT

located on the outskirts. How are they supposed to get to the Red Cross? Do they even know about the buses leaving the SuperDome?

Remember...there's NO communication. There's NO transportation. And these people have NO news about what's going on outside of their little block.

[NYC]

14. The Red Cross is waiting for the government to evacuate the people.

And I didn't even know about the buses leaving the Superdome. The people in New Orleans know nothing.

[shraby]

7. Right where they always are...with

their heads up their asses...assessing the situation. Those grocery stores should have been opened up to feed and water the people if there weren't provisions for them. I know I'd be out of stuff in a couple of days myself and be trying to find what I needed. Granted there were looters taking valuables, but for the most part I think it was just ordinary people trying to sustain themselves.

[Tyranny_R_US]

9. but but but can't you see (imagine) them looting wet tv's...

that they can't plug in because there is a major power outtage!!!!!

*crawls into a corner with his George Bush dolls*

[wli]

5. The orders from Ft. Bragg are in, I see. n/t

[chalky]

8. Not to turn this into a looting thread, and not to ignore your point about

our fearless leader, but...
I've had CNN on in the background all evening, and you're right. They keep showing the same three clips of the "looters" over and over. I've seen them often enough to start paying attention to the "loot".

In the first, a guy is making off with a grocery cart that looks to be filled with drinks--either sodas or bottled water, I can't tell. One guy's following behind him and he's either hauling beer or sodas.

In the second they're taking off with diapers, bags of chips, soup, toilet paper and what appears to be "feminine products". A policeman hauls a guy who's holding onto a box of Snickers back into the store.

In the last I see them hauling off clothes. AN AWFUL LOT OF CLOTHES, yes, but clothes nonetheless. Yes, there could be something more expensive stuffed down the bags I saw but mostly they look to be stuffed with cloth-like items, and since the bags were that lovely Walmart blue and covered with yellow smiley-faces, I doubt there were a lot of minks and Tiffany items in them. One guy's bag looked packed with Coca-Colas (And yes, I can recognize a Coke product a mile away, thank you for asking).

AND YET...the talking heads never go into specifics about what's being taken. They keep referring to "merchandise" and "items".
And I had to wonder--are they afraid that they'll stir up too much sympathy for the survivors if they actually say that what these people were looting was food, toiletries and clothes?

To be clear--I heard the reports of shootings, drug addicts stealing "bling" and car-jackings and I DON'T DOUBT THEM ONE BIT. And yes, there's a clip of a smashed ATM that they've shown as well. I'm just having problems with the reporters lumping the people taking survival items in with the true criminals. And I'm wondering about the percentage of crooks loading up on big screen TVs vs. people loading up on Huggies and Snickers.

Thanks for letting me hijack your thread. And now that I've got THAT off my chest, back to your original point....

I heard a few hints (or slips, rather) when one or two of the CMWs went off script, earlier. Sadly, I was actually startled to hear Aaron Brown make an oblique reference to Bush "graciously taking time to go to NO" and his even more subtle reference to the lack of NG.

[Tyranny_R_US]

10. You know whats really funny they totally ignored the TV's in a shop window

I believe fox news aired the video.

[Ron Green]

12. You're welcome to go on your tangent,

and I agree that the items seem to be necessities. The problem, to me, is that CNN, while posing as some sort of "official" news source (your Hurricane Headquarters) is taking the low road by producing the whole thing as entertainment, and fear-mongering. Of course all the faces in the clips are black. They, and the people in the Superdome (also near 100% black) are the poor -- the ones who couldn't get out of town. But the effect is "wild jungle bunnies in the street." It's exactly what the image-makers want people to see, and to fear.

What we SHOULD fear is the dysfunctional president and his masters.

[chalky]

13. Oh, I whooooolly agree with you. And to that, I also have a problem with

this whole tagline business: "Your Hurricane Headquarters". It makes me feel like we're one step away from letting the CMWs slap copyrights on hurricanes to keep other news sources from reporting on them.

eta: Oh, and excuse my French, but FUCK YOU, LARRY KING.
Earlier he had a local reporter on who described the desperation of the people left, how the majority of looting he witnessed was from the nearby convenience store where people were taking necessities, and how people were growing increasingly desperate in their pleading for water, money, even wanting the camera "for something to barter".

How does the great LK summarize that moving report this time around? "Things were so dangerous...they were evacuated because their boss was worried for their lives."

But what more should I expect from Haley Barbour's self-described "old friend"?

[bluedonkey]

15. Looting is a big problem

one cop got shot in the head by a looter and they just said looter are trying to get into the children's hospital.Somebody from inside had called out for help,but they are unable to get to the hospital at this time.
One of my friends watched on tv how his house was being looted.It's one thing to take necessities.....