What is that smell?

Something doesn't smell right here.

Where is the logic in homeless snipers shooting at rescue vehicles? Even the TV/Stereo looters would be unlikely to do that because it would seem probable that either they or immediate family members would need rescued, medical attention, food and water.

So who is doing the shooting? Am I the only one that thinks this has a stench about it that's as big as the stench reeking from George Bush and his cronies?

ChemBob

•  Not to mention ....

  Trained military personnel turning tail and running from a few gunshots? Even the doctors at the hospital that was being evacuated are suspicious.

  If trained military personnel can;'t handle gunshots, what the hell are they doing in the military?

  Definitely fishy.

  by cookiebear on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:17:10 PM PDT

•  could be some gangsta shit...

  by sooner on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:18:03 PM PDT

  •  And the gangstas

    ... are scaring the poor ole military helicopters and Humvees???

    Is the nat Guard and military in that bad a shape?

    by cookiebear on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:19:37 PM PDT

  •  I just read somewhere that it's shooting to signal

    the choppers. Not at the choppers. Can't remember where I saw it, but it seemed like a reliable source.

    by bewert on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:46:37 PM PDT

    •  OK

      Now this would make some sense. In movies (which is all most of us know about life or death survival) they are always shooting to attract the attention of rescuers.

      by ChemBob on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:55:13 PM PDT

•  a couple of things

  First, there's people using guns to somehow force authorities/rescuers to help them.

  Second, people who lose everything and go for days without food or water, but have guns, are probably batshit crazy.

  Or, as the libertarian gun nuts like to put it, "You have a can of food.  I have a gun.  Pretty soon, I have a gun AND a can of food."
  

  by Leggy Starlitz on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:21:49 PM PDT

•  the relavent point

  ....our troops can come under fire every day in Iraq yet we retreat under gunfire trying to save lives here in the US?  I mean, even a freeper would have to agree with that.   Where was our military backing these rescue missions up?  Why is it that I see only one frickin' school bus surrounded by 30,000 people ?????

  by LauraC on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:22:02 PM PDT

•  Snipers Shooting at Helicopters

  I quite agree with you that there is no LOGICAL reason for people to shoot at rescue helicopters, but regrettably there are evil people in this world.  Serial killers don't make sense either, but unfortunately, we know they exist.

  You seem to be implying some kind of conspiracy on the part of the Bush Administration, but you give no evidence.  What would be their motivation.  Assuming the worst about President Bush from a moral perspective (which, apparently, you do), just looking at the situation pragmatically, the more successful the rescue, the better he looks.  So why would he try to impede it?

  by John Bradley on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:22:04 PM PDT

  •  Because he just doesn't care what we think

    Yes, I do think the worst about GWB. I think he doesn't care about looking good, he cares about putting this entire country into chaos to the brink of revolution then declaring martial law. When that occurs we will probably lose the right to even discuss these matters on this blog. We will live in what will amount to an American forced labor prison camp.

    ChemBob

    by ChemBob on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:28:11 PM PDT

  •  I am not defending the diarist

    But what Bush and co. have to gain from people shooting at rescue workers is this: an American
    public that blames the people in NO for their own plight; An American public that doesn't care if people in NO are rescued because, obviously, they don't want to be rescued; an American public that sees this as just dumb ni**ers that deserve to die anyway.

    The goal behind this, as I formulated from watching the reporting on fox news last night, is to desensitize the American public to the plight that these people are facing; to make the American public not care about these people; to paint them as the worst of the worst.  Only then can the Bush administration get away with the incompetent job they have been doing.  Only then can Bushco not look like complete morons for botching a job that they should have been prepared for.  Only then can they take the focus of their criminal incompetence by focusing on the criminal.
    

    by lostian1 on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:35:49 PM PDT

    •  the problem with that, although i don't

      disagree that might their purpose, is that you have reporters there actually doing their jobs. there are too many witnesses and people there who will tell the truth. white, black, and any other color.

      by stodghie on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 05:00:26 PM PDT

    •  Exactly so,

      now excuse me while I go throw up.

      by jlynne on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 05:01:32 PM PDT

•  You bet it smells

  And remember, the more this area descends into chaos, the better the chance for martial law to continue and to be expanded. I still say that is their ultimate aim.

  by Patriot for Al Gore on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:22:36 PM PDT

  •  Indeed

    I agree, they've been moving in this direction for a long time, Katrina just put the icing on their dictatorial cake for them.

    by ChemBob on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:29:49 PM PDT

    •  WTF?

      you guys are fruitcakes. Bush is an idiot and can't eat a pretzel without practically killing himself-but he has covert operatives sniping at rescue helicopter so he can become a dictator and rule the free world?  You need to put the tinfoil hat back on-the black helicopters are listening to your thoughts!

      by The umpire on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:36:04 PM PDT

      •  they found each other; don't interrupt ;)

        by PhillyGal on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:39:02 PM PDT

      •  Perhaps...

        but I'm also in Mensa, a former mayor in Oklahoma and a scientist who studies trends in data using exploratory data analysis techniques. I am someone who wasn't paying attention to politics for a few years and voted for GWB the first time (go ahead and kick me) but had learned to detest the man well before last year's election and fought long and hard with all the Republicans I knew to get them to vote against him. FWIW.
        

        by ChemBob on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:48:10 PM PDT

      •  btw

        you don't really think Bush is calling the shots on any of this anyway, do you? Really?

        by ChemBob on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:49:52 PM PDT

•  I think it says something frightening

  about class and race in America. Most of the desperate people stuck in New Orleans are black.  They are stressed and frightened, but there's a deep well of anger there too.

  Reagan set race relations in the US way back.  George the First did nothing useful to heal injuries. Bill Clinton - well, welfare reform didn't do much to help out New Orlean's underclass either, did it?  ANd I say that with a great deal of affection for Clinton, but really - he didn't accomplish as much as he could have.

  And Bush - what has he done for race relations in the US except cynically manipulate people with gay bashing and the faith based initiative?  

  Folks are poorer and more desperate than ever.  Just like in Sadr City, when order breaks down, people have little sense of community when they have little access to the full benefits of society.  It is a frightening thing, but we had all better start thinking hard about the need to get back with the program in terms of creating a more inclusive, fair country - especially for urban, poor African Americans. This is a symptom of a whole lot of anger just under the surface.

  The republican thugs will misunderstand.  As far as they are concerned, these people are simply criminals who were too stupid or stubborn to leave when told to leave.  They don't have any intention of critically examining the reasons why a large number of urban poor in a major US city would go medieval once order breaks down.

  by ivorybill on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:41:47 PM PDT

  •  The beast in us all?

    I don't think the breakdown in order is limited to class or race.  It is all about what you can get away with if there are no consequences. An entire village of jews in Poland were slaughtered by their own neigbors simply because they knew they could get away with the murder and subsequent looting of the dead.

      I don't disagree  there is a vast gulf between the haves and have-nots, however we should never underestimate the cruel and inhuman things people will do just because they can.  Remove the threat of retribution and many-poor and rich-will impress you with their barbarism.

    by The umpire on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 05:16:08 PM PDT

•  Put yourself in their shoes.

  You're young, poor, black and up until recently relatively healthy. You haven't eaten or drank anything in five days and you see a helicopter rescuing a white senior citizen from a hospital. You have a gun and nothing left to lose.

  by Arken on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:43:00 PM PDT

•  now that you mention it, maybe cia or

  some other government funkley trying to rile up the koolaid drinkers about those mean looters.

  by stodghie on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 04:57:54 PM PDT

•  Just had a phone call from a friend

  whose brother is down in Baton Rouge for FEMA.

  She said there are 1900 prisoners who escaped during the storm and are on the loose in the NO streets.

  These are the bad guys apparently causing much of the shooting mayhem, rapes, etc.

  Had anyone heard this on the news, cause I sure hadn't.

  by towit on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 05:45:10 PM PDT

  •  vague

    I remember there was some mention of trouble at prisons in the area yesterday but I did not hear about 1900 of them escaping. Thanks for the info.

    by ChemBob on Thu Sep 01, 2005 at 05:55:58 PM PDT