opinion of new orleans looters

[RJ]

I think New Orleans looters are ordinary people who were dealt a rotten hand. I don't think they should be shot, but perhaps they should be apprehended and charged once this mess is sorted out. Hey, if they can move a mass of prisoners from a county jail, they can be held and charged.

This talk of looting reminds me of something I was told before and have sought an example of. Government is put into place in order to protect people who have from those who don't. This situation is a textbook example of this statement.

[J. J.]

I understand looting the grocery stores, but not Foot Locker.

I can.  Some of the people lost their shoes in the flooding.  They are trying to walk across submerged streets littered with debris.  If they are going to get out, they will need shoes.

A mite patronizing, aren't you?

They stole them b/c they wanted $120 shoes, even waterlogged and sewage-covered ones

No, those "$120 shoes" are worthless once they've been in that water.  A Mercedes is worthless if you try to drive it down Canal Street to Carrollton Avenue today.  That is the reality of NOLA tonight.

[patrick1]

I understand looting the grocery stores, but not Foot Locker.

I can.  Some of the people lost their shoes in the flooding.  They are trying to walk across submerged streets littered with debris.  If they are going to get out, they will need shoes.

A mite patronizing, aren't you?

They stole them b/c they wanted $120 shoes, even waterlogged and sewage-covered ones

No, those "$120 shoes" are worthless once they've been in that water.  A Mercedes is worthless if you try to drive it down Canal Street to Carrollton Avenue today.  That is the reality of NOLA tonight.

J.J. you presume rationality from these looters. 

Storebought is from the New Orleans area and I think he even was in the city, IIRC.

[J. J.]

[


J.J. you presume rationality from these looters. 

Storebought is from the New Orleans area and I think he even was in the city, IIRC.

No, I'm actually telling what the looters are saying.  In this case, shoes, they are a necessity for people who will have to walk through flooded streets.  Some of this I can empathize with.

The jewelry stores and appliances, no.  But some things, like shoes, yes.

[12th Doctor]

I understand looting the grocery stores, but not Foot Locker.

I can.  Some of the people lost their shoes in the flooding.  They are trying to walk across submerged streets littered with debris.  If they are going to get out, they will need shoes.

You know what I mean.  I understand them looting to get things that they really need, but not just for the sake of stealing.

[Platypus]

re: looting in baton rouge. You've just lost your house and all tyour money. There isn't enough fopod to go around. You see a supermarket; you, your children and spouse havent eaten in two days and have almost run out of water. What are you going to do?

Ask for charity from the owner, but if he doesn't give you any assistance?

[dazzleman]

I think New Orleans looters are ordinary people who were dealt a rotten hand. I don't think they should be shot, but perhaps they should be apprehended and charged once this mess is sorted out. Hey, if they can move a mass of prisoners from a county jail, they can be held and charged.

This talk of looting reminds me of something I was told before and have sought an example of. Government is put into place in order to protect people who have from those who don't. This situation is a textbook example of this statement.

Your last paragraph is a sad example of the type of thinking that led our cities down the road to ruin.  People who espouse this thinking fail to recognize that society cannot function without protection of law, and the ultimate effect of creating a free-for-all, and excusing people from stealing things they don't really need because they are poor, only spreads poverty further and wider.

[J. J.]

I understand looting the grocery stores, but not Foot Locker.

I can.  Some of the people lost their shoes in the flooding.  They are trying to walk across submerged streets littered with debris.  If they are going to get out, they will need shoes.

You know what I mean.  I understand them looting to get things that they really need, but not just for the sake of stealing.

I agree, but I want to point that some of what, to us, looks like stealing for profit is stealing for necessities.  Who would have thought that air mattresses (used as flotation devices) would be a necessity a week ago.

[RJ]

I think New Orleans looters are ordinary people who were dealt a rotten hand. I don't think they should be shot, but perhaps they should be apprehended and charged once this mess is sorted out. Hey, if they can move a mass of prisoners from a county jail, they can be held and charged.

This talk of looting reminds me of something I was told before and have sought an example of. Government is put into place in order to protect people who have from those who don't. This situation is a textbook example of this statement.

Your last paragraph is a sad example of the type of thinking that led our cities down the road to ruin.  People who espouse this thinking fail to recognize that society cannot function without protection of law, and the ultimate effect of creating a free-for-all, and excusing people from stealing things they don't really need because they are poor, only spreads poverty further and wider.

My last paragragh isn't a "sad example" of anything. Perhaps phrasing it as the "have" and "have not" isn't quite the way you're used to hearing it. I'd like to hear what you think I'm espousing.

[dazzleman]

I think New Orleans looters are ordinary people who were dealt a rotten hand. I don't think they should be shot, but perhaps they should be apprehended and charged once this mess is sorted out. Hey, if they can move a mass of prisoners from a county jail, they can be held and charged.

This talk of looting reminds me of something I was told before and have sought an example of. Government is put into place in order to protect people who have from those who don't. This situation is a textbook example of this statement.

Your last paragraph is a sad example of the type of thinking that led our cities down the road to ruin.  People who espouse this thinking fail to recognize that society cannot function without protection of law, and the ultimate effect of creating a free-for-all, and excusing people from stealing things they don't really need because they are poor, only spreads poverty further and wider.

My last paragragh isn't a "sad example" of anything. Perhaps phrasing it as the "have" and "have not" isn't quite the way you're used to hearing it. I'd like to hear what you think I'm espousing.

You seem to be legitimizing theft, and disparaging the necessity of maintaining law, order and property rights.

If you mean something different than that, please explain.

[Storebought]

I understand looting the grocery stores, but not Foot Locker.

I can.  Some of the people lost their shoes in the flooding.  They are trying to walk across submerged streets littered with debris.  If they are going to get out, they will need shoes.

You know what I mean.  I understand them looting to get things that they really need, but not just for the sake of stealing.

If public order has degraded to a state that the city police, the sheriff's deputies, and the city council can't allocate scarce resources during an emergency, then it makes no difference as to what a person steals -- law has stopped and the State of Nature begun.

Please ask the question: Southern MS and AL have been annihilated, and are just as removed from civilization as anyplace else, but why haven't looting and murders and strewn dead bodies occurred in either state? One answer: competent (not even Giuliani-, or even Riordan-style civic heroism) county governments.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I understand looting the grocery stores, but not Foot Locker.

I can.  Some of the people lost their shoes in the flooding.  They are trying to walk across submerged streets littered with debris.  If they are going to get out, they will need shoes.

You know what I mean.  I understand them looting to get things that they really need, but not just for the sake of stealing.

If public order has degraded to a state that the city police, the sheriff's deputies, and the city council can't allocate scarce resources during an emergency, then it makes no difference as to what a person steals -- law has stopped and the State of Nature begun.

Please ask the question: Southern MS and AL have been annihilated, and are just as removed from civilization as anyplace else, but why haven't looting and murders and strewn dead bodies occurred in either state? One answer: competent (not even Giuliani-, or even Riordan-style civic heroism) county governments.

New Orleans has massive flooding, so it's different.

[Storebought]

I understand looting the grocery stores, but not Foot Locker.

I can.  Some of the people lost their shoes in the flooding.  They are trying to walk across submerged streets littered with debris.  If they are going to get out, they will need shoes.

You know what I mean.  I understand them looting to get things that they really need, but not just for the sake of stealing.

If public order has degraded to a state that the city police, the sheriff's deputies, and the city council can't allocate scarce resources during an emergency, then it makes no difference as to what a person steals -- law has stopped and the State of Nature begun.

Please ask the question: Southern MS and AL have been annihilated, and are just as removed from civilization as anyplace else, but why haven't looting and murders and strewn dead bodies occurred in either state? One answer: competent (not even Giuliani-, or even Riordan-style civic heroism) county governments.

New Orleans has massive flooding, so it's different.

Which was known by every man, woman, and beast living in Louisiana since Bienville

[J. J.]

I understand looting the grocery stores, but not Foot Locker.

I can.  Some of the people lost their shoes in the flooding.  They are trying to walk across submerged streets littered with debris.  If they are going to get out, they will need shoes.

You know what I mean.  I understand them looting to get things that they really need, but not just for the sake of stealing.

If public order has degraded to a state that the city police, the sheriff's deputies, and the city council can't allocate scarce resources during an emergency, then it makes no difference as to what a person steals -- law has stopped and the State of Nature begun.

Please ask the question: Southern MS and AL have been annihilated, and are just as removed from civilization as anyplace else, but why haven't looting and murders and strewn dead bodies occurred in either state? One answer: competent (not even Giuliani-, or even Riordan-style civic heroism) county governments.

Actually, there have been reports of looting in Mississippi.  There is not a lot left to loot.

One problem in NOLA is 1/3 to 2/3 of the police quit.

[Storebought]

I understand looting the grocery stores, but not Foot Locker.

I can.  Some of the people lost their shoes in the flooding.  They are trying to walk across submerged streets littered with debris.  If they are going to get out, they will need shoes.

You know what I mean.  I understand them looting to get things that they really need, but not just for the sake of stealing.

If public order has degraded to a state that the city police, the sheriff's deputies, and the city council can't allocate scarce resources during an emergency, then it makes no difference as to what a person steals -- law has stopped and the State of Nature begun.

Please ask the question: Southern MS and AL have been annihilated, and are just as removed from civilization as anyplace else, but why haven't looting and murders and strewn dead bodies occurred in either state? One answer: competent (not even Giuliani-, or even Riordan-style civic heroism) county governments.

Actually, there have been reports of looting in Mississippi.  There is not a lot left to loot.

One problem in NOLA is 1/3 to 2/3 of the police quit.

And, before then, the NOPD was the smallest per capita force of any major city (even including Miami, I think).

[Peter]

I think the solution is glaringly obvious: Nuke New Orleans.

Think about it people:

1. No more looters
2. No more poors
3. Nobody will be able to build on the site of one of the most badly situated cities in the history of civilisation for about a thousand years.

Click here for the other really purile ideas I wrote for my boss to use in a partisan publicity stunt.

[opebo]

3. Nobody will be able to build on the site of one of the most badly situated cities in the history of civilisation for about a thousand years.

I'm tired of the constant refrain that New Orleans was 'badly situated'.  It was perfectly situated at the mouth of the Mississippi to prosper from the river trade with the interior of the primitive continent.  Prior to the railroads it was pretty much the only way in or out for goods.

[minionofmidas]

Not to mention that the oldest part of the city wasn't flooded...oh, and the city sunk as a result of flood control...
Really: Anybody who ever makes that claim again, no matter what their political affiliation, will be deemed a conservative hack, taken out into the Utah desert, tied up, buried in sand, have his head covered in honey, and be left for dead. Deal?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Wasn't the site of the old part of New Orleans (which, as you say, wasn't badly affected. Kinda like when Shrewsbury floods over here actually... again the big problem is (or in this case was) less silt being deposited) inhabited before the French came?
I dimly recall reading that somewhere.

[J. J.]

Wasn't the site of the old part of New Orleans (which, as you say, wasn't badly affected. Kinda like when Shrewsbury floods over here actually... again the big problem is (or in this case was) less silt being deposited) inhabited before the French came?
I dimly recall reading that somewhere.

The Spanish were there at one point.  The first really major settlement was French.

[minionofmidas]

Wasn't the site of the old part of New Orleans (which, as you say, wasn't badly affected. Kinda like when Shrewsbury floods over here actually... again the big problem is (or in this case was) less silt being deposited) inhabited before the French came?
I dimly recall reading that somewhere.

The Spanish were there at one point.  The first really major settlement was French.

I think he was referring to some distant relations of yours...and I don't mean your French relations.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Those that took food and water, and calmly handed them out to other people are freedom fighters. So is the guy who stole a bus to rescue 100 people.

[Carey]

I know it sounds cliche and unoriginal, but if they are looting to survive (ie stealing food, liquid medicine or clothing/blankets,) or to help others by getting the previously mentioned stuff for them, I think they should be left be, as I am old fashioned and believe the value of a human life is greater than that of property.

However, as for the ones who are looting luxuries or are just being vandals, it's against my beliefs to condemn anybody to death, so I'll just say they should have their behinds kicked really hard!

[J. J.]

Wasn't the site of the old part of New Orleans (which, as you say, wasn't badly affected. Kinda like when Shrewsbury floods over here actually... again the big problem is (or in this case was) less silt being deposited) inhabited before the French came?
I dimly recall reading that somewhere.

The Spanish were there at one point.  The first really major settlement was French.

I think he was referring to some distant relations of yours...and I don't mean your French relations.

No, mine were Delawares.

[J. J.]

Those that took food and water, and calmly handed them out to other people are freedom fighters. So is the guy who stole a bus to rescue 100 people.

No, they are survivors.  I don't have a problem with people stealing for necessities and to escape, expecially since the stores and the banks are closed.

I am outraged about the affluent couple fled the city because "looters" looking for food an water, while the "borrowed" a car that didn't belong to them.