did anyone listen to the gov of louisiana rip the tv pictures

[madrchsod]

of the looters? dam was she pissed off! she was really pissed because there were more heroes than looters and she said several times in several different ways that order was going to be restored and by what ever means necessary.

she pointed out that the area that could be used to stage relief,red cross services,evacuation,triage,and other vital services is being controlled by armed gangs of looters and others. dam i wish we had more people in this party and the country as tough as she is in a crisis

[madeline_con]

1. At the risk of seeming redundant...

I would like to point out the darker side of looting that has nothing to do with food and water...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. And at the risk of being redundant, I'd like to point out the darker

side of incompetence which has everything to do with looting including people suffering in what is really heat over 100 degrees for three days with no basic services. I think it's enough to turn anyone into an animal. Yes there are some criminal minds out there, but what we are witnessing is a real live war game. Leadership didn't show up so people took over...sometimes the people who take over are corrupt.

[The Magistrate]

3. That Is Generally The Case, Ma'am

The people who emerge at the top of a chaotic and desperate circumstance are generally real pieces of work....

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. And that, Sir

explains how Bush keeps ending up at the top of the steaming pile. ;)

[madeline_con]

5. Yes. My point is all looters are not out to feed the babies.

[phish420]

7. Oh ok, and what are they gonna do

with that tv with no power? While they are 'getting food for their babies', they are letting loose on a town that has been utterly destroyed anyways. Who cares. All of these companies are going to claim 100% loss ANYWAYS, so who the HELL are they stealing from? Guess who will pay for the bail out to pay for the losses? Them. This is all to obscure the fact that the response from our government has been dreadful.

[madeline_con]

14. I need to make the distinction between....

people who are scavenging for food, I'll call them "looters", and armed scum pirate thugs who are killing and robbing other people, I'll call them scum.

That should be clear enough. :)

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. Of course not. My point (and I wasn't intending to flame you) was

to shift the focus to the source.
It was REASONABLE that no one could get to these people on Monday.
It was REASONABLE that people would be without services.
It was REASONABLE that people might live in fear for a day.

The week is almost over...the hurricane and its ill-effects are about to outlive the attention span of the American public and people STILL don't have WATER.

We know the reason there aren't more air rescues occurring...the equipment and trained professionals that would ordinarily be there to serve have been squandered elsewhere.

If leadership at the federal level were regarded as a commodity, we'd have had to declare bankruptcy long ago to get to -------->here.

The looters are a symptom..lack of leadership is the disease.

[madeline_con]

15. Baghdad as a model.

At first, some Louis XIV chairs were whisked from Saddam's palaces.

Now, people are shooting hell out of each other in the streets and robbing each other.

Two very different types of looting.

[Cleita]

12. Yes, but many of them are feeding babies.

So why are you making a big deal out of a few asses?

[madeline_con]

13. When the governor of LA says that places that could be...

used as staging areas for rescue and distribution points have been taken over by armed thugs, and asks for federal help to secure them, I'm going to assume more than a "few" asses are at work there.

[Cleita]

16. I don't know if you have ever been in similar situations, but

I don't think you have, or you wouldn't be focusing on the sensationalism of the news. It seems to be that a million people who have been stranded aren't running around in the streets acting like hooligans. So CNN and Faux and however gets that footage and plays it over and over doesn't mean that a million people are doing it.

[madeline_con]

17. When we evacuated last year, we took our weapons,

so they wouldn't be stolen and things like this happen.

I live in a poor area that has a high crime rate. I know everyone isn't sweetness and light to begin with, and adding stress to the mix does not make everyone suddenly care for their fellow man.

When it becomes a concern worthy of mention by the governor to the feds, it has gone beyond basic survival by taking some food.

I'm talking about armed bandits controlling some areas of the city, not a family looking for a can of beans.

[Cleita]

20. That's the reason I don't have weapons anymore.

My late husband and I make a decision that we didn't want them falling into the wrong hands.

[madeline_con]

21. We have them because so many are already in the wrong hands

:(

[VolcanoJen]

11. a real live war game.

Thank you, nsma, for your lucidity.

[CottonBear]

4. I agree but we wouldn't be discussing this if Nat'l Guard & Army engs

and FEMA had been sent down to No and Al and MS prior to the storm landfall and bunking in the Superdome w/ all equipment and then IMMEDIAETLT deploying the next morning to save lives and stabilize the levees. The Feds should have sent in planes (forced the airlines to return w/ empty planes and fly out people), not allowed the crusie ship to debark passengers in NO, and evacauted people by what ever menas posibble-boat, palne, bus, car train...

Bush fucked up bigger than any US president in history.

That is all. * should burn in hell.

[Old and In the Way]

9. What's being looted?

Food, water, clothes, medicine? I suspect that's 90% of the "looting". Under the circumstances, I think foraging is a better term to describe the actions of these people.

In the scheme of things, this is nothing. How many billions have been destroyed? And we're focused on a few million in distressed merchandise that's insured? How small of us.

I see the right winger meme already being created with the universal complaining about plasma TV's being stolen....anyone see this yet on TV? What will these watch on it? Where will they put it? Why aren't these same people complaining about the real crime - our government's inability to react to a natural disaster?

[NYC]

18. You suspect correctly.

He said the "looting" he saw was (and I quote): "90% food, diapers, clothing and that people waded in, took stuff and passed it out"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4539500

Meanwhile, I keep hearing from friends who watch television that the looting is out of hand, and MOST people are taking televisions not food.

[Old and In the Way]

19. Without power and a home to watch it in, it's kind of pointless.

But we all know how addicting TV is.

;-)

[NYC]

22. Absolutely pointless, but it makes me wonder.

If a person steals a television, doesn't that imply that he expects to live through this experience? It must. He foresees a time when he will again have electricity, or at least be able to barter away the television to someone else who shares that level of optimism.

[Old and In the Way]

23. Well, you know that the very poorest, who have lost everything

aren't going to get much help after they are rescued. Maybe they are already bartering for their existance. When these people are finally brought out, I suspect all of these goods will stay and become part of the future landfill.

[tulsakatz]

10. on Olbermann's show........

........he did a report about looters. There was a reporter in a big store and there were lots of people there just taking stuff. There were so many, you would have thought they were shoppers. There was also a police woman there and the reporter asked what she was doing and she said she was looking for looters. But the funny thing was, she didn't seem to be doing anything about it.

Then outside the store, there is another police officer pushing a shopping cart.....so apparently the police are doing it too!!