NY TIMES: Mayor takes cops off rescue to stop looting...

[liberaliraqvet26]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Katrina-Looting-HK1.html?hp&ex=1125547200&en=ac83f77a8295731f&ei=5094&partner=homepage

pure stupidity.

[bluethruandthru]

1. Who cares?

I just heard that at the end of Countdown. When thousands of people need help including food, water, etc. why bother with looters?? Many are only taking necessities. Those dragging away electronics are just going to have to leave them behind when they evacuate. Resources should be used to help those in need...not to punish looters.

[Spangle]

4. Waste of Man Power that could be saving lives

I seen the troops on the street with their guns driving around and it really pissed me off. They should be passing out food and water!

I wasn't pissed at them. Just at the stupid person who came up with the idea that they should waste their time like that. And the person who ordered it!

[Gary173]

2. Under orders from the

Secretary of Walmart

[iamjoy]

3. It Sounds Like It Has Gotten Out Of Hand

the mobs are looting nursing homes and hospitals.

It is one thing to steal from an empty grocery store, but they are taking food from people who could also die.

A cornerstone of a civilized society (and of Democrats, by the way), is that we do not accept an "only the strongest survive" philosphy.

They are stealing the car stereos of hospital employees. Maybe that is insignificant when people are dying. But you have hospital workers pumping ventilators by hand to keep patients alive when there is no power & the generators are failing. These overtaxed health care workers who risk their own lives and safety for others deserve some measure of protection. Looters are stealing guns and shooting at people, including law officers trying to help the city.

It sound stupid to pull from search and rescue, but these looters have gone too far. They are past the point of stealing food to survive, they are no longer lifting televisions or electronic goods. These are criminals taking advantage of the situation. They have become a public menace that may be as great as the flood.

[bluethruandthru]

5. cops are looting too

An amazing story on Countdown showed a reporter in Walmart filming the looters...and there were 3 or 4 cops..they were walking around filling up a shopping cart for themselves!

[iamjoy]

7. Hard To Resist Calling Them Evil

they have been through a horrible trauma and are under a tremendous amount of stress.

It is one thing to justify it when the store is empty and the stuff would be written off anyway. As one poster said in another thread, how dare we moralize when we are safe and dry. But, I think what really seems beyond the pale is them becoming violent, hurting others, stealing from faces you can see.

Somehow, I think of soldiers in war zones who commit atrocities (stealing, harming civilians) because they are snapping under the stress. I know it isn't exactly the same...

[expatriot]

11. evil? they're hungry and dying of thirst? Where else can they get water?

or food? Read the article. In an article that didn't shy away from calling them "thieves" still reported the specific target of their quest: food and water.

[iamjoy]

16. I Don't Know

I mean, one looter stole a van from a nursing home. Maybe they needed that van to try to evacuate sick people.

They are shooting at people. Is it just for water and food to survive or something else.

And, even if it is for survival supplies, maybe that doesn't make them evil, but is it OK? They are stealing from people who need that food and water to survive also. Particularly in the case of hospitals it bothers me, because these workers risked their lives to help their patients, and now they are having to fight in an apocalyptic "every man for himself" scenario.

[npincus]

20. I agree with you

[Pirate Smile]

6. The fire that started today is why. Looters started the fire and

they are worried they are getting more aggressive. People are afraid they are going to set building on fire after they loot.

The issue really is that they need MORE people for rescue and law enforcement.

[Yupster]

19. Many of these looters are in-shape young men

They are the manpower that should be out helping their older and younger fellow citizens instead of making it more difficult for others to help.

Waterworld was a really crappy movie. It's even worse in real life.

[expatriot]

8. Oh my god, they're starving and desperate mobs.

Amid the turmoil Wednesday, thieves commandeered a forklift and used it to push up the storm shutters and break the glass of a pharmacy. The crowd stormed the store, carrying out so much ice, water and food that it dropped from their arms as they ran. The street was littered with packages of ramen noodles and other items.

Looters also chased down a state police truck full of food. The New Orleans police chief ran off looters while city officials themselves were commandeering equipment from a looted Office Depot. During a state of emergency, authorities have broad powers to take private supplies and buildings for their use

[high density]

9. I wonder if this is just bogus info given to the media

to scare away the looters?

[liberaliraqvet26]

12. the NY Times???

[high density]

15. The NY Times has published a lot worse.

I'm just thinking that this doesn't make much sense because there probably isn't much left to loot, plus the people have no way to get the stuff they've stolen out of the city.

[rocktivity]

18. I agree--they're leaning on this looting angle a little hard

People are roaming the streets with AK-47s? In chest-high water?

:headbang:
rocknation

[muwriter]

10. Cops aren't that useful in this S&R anyway. You need choppers.

Coast Guard and military are better equipped for this.

The looters are torching buildings, and that could burn the whole city down with no way to fight the fires.

[rocktivity]

13. What's left to loot at this point?

Where are they gonna take the stuff? Where are they gonna plug it in?

:crazy:
rocknation

[bribri16]

14. This mayor is going to be damned if he does and damned if he doesn't

FOX is just chomping at the bit to point fingers at him and the female Governor of LA, yet the same kind of disater and "unpreparedness" has happened in MS where the RW darling Haley Barbour is governor. There may be plenty to talk about once this shit is over but right now we need to focus on how to get help to the people!

[PurityOfEssence]

17. Property's always more important than lives

Anybody who doesn't have the economic means to not be in peril is some kind of loser anyway; it's MUCH more important to save private property.

Times like this truly show the dark side of the American character.

[Freddie Stubbs]

22. Armed gangs may take BOTH

[iamjoy]

21. Thought About This....

Maybe a reason they don't feel so bad taking cops off of search & rescue to stop looters is they figured they wouldn't be able to save anyone else.

Think about it, the water had stopped rising. If a person is trapped, stranded with no supplies in that sweltering heat, the chances of them surviving much more than 2 - 3 days is very slender. And the logistics of finding those people, having to break into attics of houses that may be abandoned, etc.

Maybe they just thought there was no one else to rescue, although I think if so they gave up too early.