but is the looting really gonna change that? i guess for something like jewelry it could still be good but everything is probably ruined and going to be claimed whether it gets stolen or not. that doesn't make it right, but there are gonna be insurance claims out the ass for this disaster no matter what happens at this point.
I am sorry guys, but anyone who ran into stores to steal TVs and DVD players along with jewlery is NOT too damn concerned about the 'tough times' people are going through in that awful city to begin with, since apparently they are still thinking about 'worldy gains' and are unable to restrict themselves to only what is needed for their essential survival. You can't justify people stealing flat-screen TVs that won't work to begin with when no electricity is around. Anyways, to go back to the topic of this Hurricane, This is TRULY the worst natural disaster I have ever seen, it's almost as if we are witnessing distruction of 'biblical' scale! It's amazing how destructive mother nature can be. IMO, and I know this is probably a topic for another time, New Orleans should NOT be rebuilt again only to flood later on if another disaster takes place. The city is BELOW SEA-LEVEL and is located near the Gulf! I know this is probably not even an option, but it's rediculous to have a city at ALL built in such a bad location.
I blame the stupid Frech Colonialists. But then Again, Im latin so Im always looking to blame 16th century colonialism.
OK..... So I guess it would be legal to beat somebody like Rodney King, since the police did it too? I can understand the looting for essential supplies, food, water, medicine, etc. but when it comes to electronics, make-up, liquor, or anything else you can live without it is just plain WRONG!
Actually, almost every major port city in the world is near, at, or below sea level. We might as well write off all of Holand, and many of the major historical cities of Italy. Venice, particularly, is many feet below sea level. In the US, of the 50 largest cities, the following all have points at or below sea level: New York Los Angeles Houston Philadelphia San Diego San Jose San Francisco Jacksonville Baltimore Boston Seattle New Orleans Portland Long Beach Miami Oakland Newark Cities build around commerce. Commerce builds around the shippment of goods. The shipment of goods is greatest in the global economy over the sea. The sea is at sea level. ergo...
I saw this one white chick standing in line to enter the Superdome on the news a couple days ago. I think that's about the only non-black person I've seen stuck in NO thru 2 days of TV footage now. Oh, and I think they said that the white chick's name was Senfronia... Anyways, as previously posted, they should've gotten all these people out of the 'bowl area' the day before the storm hit. Federal and State agencies/authorities/military should have had elaborate and rehearsed contingency plans in place and been able to act immediately to protect every American citizen there by evacuating them out of harm's way. Rich, poor, white, black, whatever.....everyone who did not have their own method of tranportation should have been shipped out on train cars, farm tractors, or frickin swiftboats to safer ground outside of the bowl. You can't announce a mandatory evacuation knowing damn well that ~100k residents don't have cars and then just leave them there to chance. The situation there today is a national failure that had been warned of by case studies and FEMA itself for decades. There is no excuse for the lack of proper planning all these years.
Im no geologist but isnt NO a special case in that it has 0 bedrock to support it and is literally sinking every year. Which if i remeber a 60 min report once the reason the roads are so badly maintianed is on account of the continual shift of earth. And arent Hurricanes native only to the Carabean, Gulf of MExico and somewhere in the pacific?
The city of New Orleans is 67% black. Most of the white people live in Metarie or other surrounding suburbs. It really is a culture shock for people who visit New Orleans and have not been around that many black people before.
I hear you. I see a lot of "I know it's wrong, but....." in this thread. To me, what's wrong is wrong. There shouldn't be any "but" at the end of the sentence. I guess I really don't have a problem with people stealing things for their essential survival, but I don't see a whole lot of people stealing canned foods and bottled water....
What a bunch of garbage. How can you honestly try to claim that TVs and Computers are 'lost' merchandise? Who do you think pays for Federal flood insurance? And morals are not meant to apply only when things are going great.
this is true. NO is built on the Mississippi river delta...which if you will recall your geography classes....is basically the silt and sand that gets washed downriver. Im not sure how far down you would have to go to find bedrock.,...I doubt it is anywhere close to the surface in that area. EDIT...btw...hurricanes are not just the Carribean and Gulf...most of them form in the Atlantic. f4p, not all of the stores that are being looted are underwater....else how would the folks be getting to them? That isnt saying that they may not end up underwater if the COE cant stop up the holes in the levees...but at this point, when they are stealing non-essential items, those items are not a loss yet. exactly imad2k...wellsaid.
The roads in NO are badly maintained because they recieve zero federal funding for them. A while back the fed got pissed that they the big easy was selling alcohol to minors and threatened to take away road funding. NO didn't stop, thus the roads are maintained by the city and girls gone wild: mardi gras continues to outsell dvds of pearl harbor. I believe Tennessee recently lost their road funding due to their lack of enforcement of the open-container law.
nyquil, now you get to a whole 'nother topic... states rights and Federal coercion. I think it's wrong, and it should be unconstitutional. Maybe that's for another thread down the road. Hell yes, looters should be put behind bars. They are lucky they don't get shot. Summery execution has been the traditional response to widespead looting. Start with the son of a b**** who shot a cop in the head. (sorry, but that really ticked me off) Getting food and water out of desperation to keep your family and yourself alive is one thing. Leave a note with your name and address and pay the people back later. This other BS has got to stop. We are a civilized society. Keep D&D Civil!!
Sad, sad, sad pictures on TV. I wish the pictures would have looked like this- Hundreds of New Orleans residents flocked to downtown to stand guard around local businesses so that theives could not steal merchandise. Many residents took bottled water from stores and shared the water and basic food staples with neighbors but left more expensive items in the stores. Looting has been almost non-existent as local residents have helped overstressed police watch over businesses, only a few criminals have attempted to steal property that belonged to others. The rest of the nation can be proud by the way the citizens of New Orleans have responded in a time of disaster.
It was a MANDATORY evacuation. There were free buses leaving the city for anyone. These people decided to stay and not instead of helping fix the problem they are looting and having to be rescued and becoming part of the problem.
That would be nice rhester. But as a realist, I understand human nature and history demonstrate VERY CLEARLY that such events are rare if ever during disater scenes. It sucks...but that's the way it always has been and the way it will always be. Humans are not perfect, right?
The jails are full and/or unsafe. Personally, I hope our law enforcement is spending their time saving people's lives ...looting is a secondary problem. And for all you folks saying people shouldn't steel TV's. On principal, I agree. HOWEVER, many of these people are low income with no insurance and they have lost everything they own. I'm not mad at them for feeling desperate. This is a lose-lose situation. Nobody from the looters or the business owners or the city is coming out ahead. Just be sad for them and leave it that.
