Here is the courageous statement from Gov. Blanco of LA:
Gov. Kathleen Blanco called the looters "hoodlums" and issued a warning to lawbreakers: Hundreds of National Guard troops hardened on the battlefield in
Iraq have landed in New Orleans.
"They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," she said. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will."
Now, whatever the dire need for law and order in New Orleans right now, is it really necessary to have a governor engaging in the worst sorts of fearmongering and calling for the execution of its citizens?
And another observation: anyone who's been looking at the emphasis, and words used, surrounding the looting, I think will see the same old divide of what's being said in Dem camps and GOP camps.
Rethugs mention it at the top of their list, in the same or greater priority as every other tragedy going on without a whiff of sympathy for people trying to save their own lives in the face of hideously bad relief efforts.
Dems have deemphasized it somewhat when I've seen it mentioned, but, in the everpresent fear of looking soft on crime, they still don't acknowledge that taking a loaf of bread from Wal Mart might just not be that bad when your other option is starving to death, right?
Outside a looted Rite-Aid drugstore, some people were anxious to show they needed what they were taking. A gray-haired man who would not give his name pulled up his T-shirt to show a surgery scar and explained that he needs pads for incontinence.
As for the looters, if you were in this situation wouldn't you do exactly the same? And puhhhlease don't counter with (but they took TV's too!!!. Yes, yes, and while I'm sure there hasn't been a scientifically valid survey done to plot the distributions of items taken, I think it's quite fair to say that anyone with an IQ over 70 is going to be concentrating on maximizing their chance for SURVIVAL. Which gets more difficult when this happens:
Donald Dudley, a 55-year-old New Orleans seafood merchant, complained that when he and other hungry refugees broke into the kitchen of the convention center and tried to prepare food, the National Guard chased them away.
"They pulled guns and told us we had to leave that kitchen or they would blow our damn brains out," he said.
To protect and serve eh? Even the Chimperor chimes in with this helpful bit of encouragement to the stranded:
"I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this -- whether it be looting, or price gouging at the gasoline pump, or taking advantage of charitable giving or insurance fraud," Bush said. "And I've made that clear to our attorney general. The citizens ought to be working together."
Gee, thanks Shurbbery! Chimpster's a zero-tolerance cowboy! Glad to see you have your priorities in order as usual! Because, it's obvious in a situation like this, that protecting merchant's merchandise is the most important thing. Shoot.. why would anyone riot? Can't we all just...work together? I ORDER you to work together. I've made it clear to them, just like I made it clear to Saddam.