A giant new Wal-Mart in New Orleans was looted, and the entire gun collection was taken, The Times-Picayune newspaper reported. "There are gangs of armed men in the city moving around the city," said Ebbert, the city's homeland security chief. Also, looters tried to break into Children's Hospital, the governor's office said.
On New Orleans' Canal Street, dozens of looters ripped open the steel gates on clothing and jewelry stores and grabbed merchandise. In Biloxi, Miss., people picked through casino slot machines for coins and ransacked other businesses. In some cases, the looting took place in full view of police and National Guardsmen.
It's frustrating to watch this happen. You want to reach through the screen and coldcock the opportunistic jagoffs.
Now they say ALL people in New Orleans must get out. The entire city is being shut down and it will take months or possibly years before the city can be secured, rebuilt and restored to anything close to "normal." The New Orleans Saints will be moved to San Antonio for the time being.
Less important but still poignant, it will be the year without Mardi Gras.
The debate has already begun regarding federal funding of coastline rebuilding projects. Should the guy who shovels snow in Michigan 4 months a year be expected to pay time after time for those who choose to live in high risk areas, enjoying the beaches and sunshine?
Just as a reminder: 1-800-HELP NOW, or www.redcross.org.
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8 comments:
Building that much stuff 10 feet below sea level never made much sense to me. I wonder what will happen when the Sierras break and the ocean pours into Death Valley, 220 feet below sea level. Will make a nice new bay.
It just makes me sick that people are so stupid and ignorant to do the things they are doing in New Orleans and other cities. Watching the news yesterday and watching all the looting going on had me so mad that I just had to stop watching it.
I think St.Louis has the second largest Mardi Gras celebration....2006 I guess it will be considered the largest.
Looting shops and stores for other than food and necessities is one horror... but this just made me sick - I heard today where one of the hospitals' staff had to lock themselves in because people were wading in running rampant in the halls stealing everything, even stuff from patients' bedsides. Also, one nurse was feeling claustrophobic after four straight days in "lockdown" so she stepped outside for air. In three minutes she was hit and robbed at gunpoint by a passerby.
It's hard to watch anymore.
And that image is kind of eerie Dave... looks almost like a face looking up through a pond of weeds.
It makes me think of that whole Humans=Baboons analogy.
The looting is disgusting. No scruples. I was planning on going to Mardi Gras for the first time ever this year. My friend from New Orleans which I still haven't heard from sent me a box of beads once because I told him I had never been! I told someone today it is like a Science Fiction novel of the city under the sea. Just terrible.
I am actually a little suprised that they want to rebuild this city as is...obviously some other options need to be considered.
I am also disgusted by the looting and now the shooting at helicopters that are just there to help people. What are they thinking?
I keep wondering how the Superdome ever became a logical location for a shelter. It seems to me that if you are in a city that is mostly below sea level with a storm that might cause levy failures, then the shelters should be on high ground somewhere, not some place that will flood and then be unreachable...
It seems that the hundreds of billions of dollars we have pumped into Iraq would have made one Hell of a difference in cleaning this mess up but then we don't spend OUR tax money on things we as people need. Could you ever imagine our government offering up as much money over here to say rebuild New Orleans? Something is definitely amiss...
Steal food and shelter if you need to. Hell, steal a gun to keep your neighbor from stealing your food or raping your daughter. But a big screen tv when you won't have electricity for a month, that's just retarded.
RCS
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