About the gunfire in NO

[WilliamPitt]

I think, perhaps, things have reached Lord of the Flies proportions in the city. The abandoned poor are hunting for supplies, food, clean water, whatever is around to sustain life. Those supplies are scarce, and so people are shooting it out to get their hands on what's left.

These aren't "looters" or "thugs" I fear, but even worse: Reluctant, desperate soldiers in a sudden urban warfare landscape, fighting to survive and save their families, reduced to kill-or-be-killed for a bottle of water or baby formula or food.

[crispini]

1. A man in Miss. killed his sister over a bag of ice.

edited to add link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1743814

[elehhhhna]

2. Mad Max. No- Waterworld.

[hlthe2b]

3. Yes.. I think that is the majority of it and it is so tragic...

But, the mayor is right, that there are drug addicts who are severely suffering withdrawal right now. They are very likely the ones breaking into hospitals and going for more desperate and violent "solutions."

[Dhalgren]

4. I think you are right. And the really sad part is that when the

Army or the NG or the various mercs start shooting down "the lawless" element, it will be these desparate survivors who get shot...

[Burried News]

5. I hear help from the people who create reality is definitely on the way

[Raster]

6. And this perhaps is a glimpse of America's future if we continue

to ignore signs of decay and collapse and continue to allow right-wing juntas install our federal government. I swear to God, if this does not make a thinking man (or woman) sit up and take notice, I don't know what will.

[JuniperLea]

7. Bring out voters?

I hope so.

[Suspicious]

13. This is exactly what I'm thinking.

It is a glimpse of our future...a horrifying one.

I'm surprised by how many people have taken notice - people I wouldn't necessarily expect to. I've heard several people make damning statements about the total lack of response, and these are people who tend to lean pretty conservative.

Then again, I've heard other comments made about the victims and their situation that made me so furious I had to leave the room.

[Pirate Smile]

8. I thought the Mayor's description of the people trying to break into

hospitals or drug stores was probably true. Drug addicts with no drugs or dealers, with the joneses, willing to do anything to get something to take the edge off.

Even Scarborough was saying last night how if your child is dying, damn right you would break into somewhere to get them what they need to survive.

[mondo joe]

9. They reached it much earlier.

Look at the doc's letter on Counterpunch, or the live blog from NO, or some news accounts of people still in their homes. They've been living in fear of srmed looters (I don't have another word) for days now, especially at night.

[Misunderestimator]

10. Yep... that's what it is, plus you throw in a few drunk teenage men..

And frankly... five days into it now... it really IS survival now.

For us not to have been prepared for this is unforgiveable.

[KharmaTrain]

11. May This Never Happen Again

I'm still trying to believe what I'm seeing is real...not some MadMax or Lord Of The Flies or Fort Apache:The Bronx movie. But then I know this is real and that chruns up so much frustration and anger.

I ask how would anyone act in this situation. You've lost all your property (and family members), you're hot, tired, out of food and water and have just seen your world, which could be described as a moderate hell turn into dante's inferno. Would you join the looters in the pharmacy to get drugs like those who were hold up in a hotel did? This is basic survival...dare I say Darwin-ism as it's truly the survival of the fittest.

A note to ponder...in an interview I heard with a helicopter pilot who was flying missions in and out of the hospitals in New Orleans, he mentioned he heard a gunshot as he was coming in, looked out and saw and heard a man...trapped in a nearby apartment building yelling "Come Get Me Out Of Here". How does this square that?

What really is gaulling me is I'm seeing a deliberate use of the race card by the Rovian/Righ Wing spin machine to blame their way out of the messes they've created...and see that it's sticking...and sickening.

Peace...

[greekspeak]

12. No doubt some of these are homeless, medicated folks w/mental needs

Many mentally ill people are forced to wander the streets every day in America, as the "system" ignores them. Put them in an urban situation of chaos, no meds at all, starving, thirsty, burning up. It is enough to make the mentally healthiest among us snap like a twig. Imagine what that would do to someone already suffering from mental issues....paranoid schizophrenia...bipolar disorder...multiple personality disorder. Many of these are the ones who would be left behind. It is time for compassion and rational thought outside NOLA, to get help there and the situation under control. It is not time for cake, guitars, excuses, token fly-overs, plastic turkeys, propogandistic apologetic reporting defending an out of control administration, etc.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

14. That would be about accurate for the time frame

By day five you've pretty much given up hope that help is coming. You've seen helicopters, so you know they know you're there. They just aren't planning on helping you. You are abandoned, left to your own devices.

Food supplies are getting scarce and it's either you get some or you are going to die.

You've seen enough death up close and personal in the past five days to know you could damn well be next.

It becomes survival of you and yours first.

[underpants]

15. You were getting there-at this point it isn't about the "abandoned poor"

This, like all conflict, is about turf aquisition and control. Don't sugarcoat it.

[KittyWampus]

16. We ALL Have The Inner Reptile. Certainly Not Something To Be

repulsed by. When we channel it, we can do great things.

[Totally Committed]

17. Note to Bush:

When you leave people with nothing, they have nothing to lose.

You and your Party created this situaltion: Defunding of infrastructure repair and upgrade to pay for unprecedented tax cuts to the rich in a "time of war", and an elective war being waged with National Guard troops that are now absent where they are needed most. You support an NRA that has made gun ownership cheap/easy/legal for everybody. And finally... a city full of Black and Brown people so poor they couldn't leave when the storm came are being left to fend for themselves. That's all that's going on... they are fending for themselves, because that's how you left them. They are hungry, thirsty, in need of medical attention, and yes, some of them are armed.

Your response so far has been no response. That is unacceptable.

TC