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If I were a left-wing ideologue who reads all news through the prism partisanship, I might try to make some hay out of today's report on the rise in poverty. But luckily I am not an ideologue and I also...

Carried Away

This WaPo coverage of looting in the wake of Hurricane Katrina has more than a little sympathy, rationalization, and justification for much of the looting going on.

...as we are also learning from the post-Katrina chaos, what we think of as looting may be more complicated than it seems.

No, it's NOT complicated, moonbat. Stealing stuff, is stealing stuff. And most of the stuff being taken is NOT survival supplies!

Benigno E. Aguirre of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware has been watching and reading about looters in Louisiana. "It may look from the outside as if they are stealing or breaking the law," says Aguirre, "when in fact some of them are trying to survive."

Yep - it DOES look that way, maybe because what's happening IS bad. If some ARE trying to survive, this isn't the prevailing behavior. For instance when a Wal-Mart was invaded by the latter-day barbarians, the guns, and electronics were the FIRST targets of opportunity, followed by other consumer items. The food, and (non-alcoholic) beverages were largely ignored. Yep, survival is insured by a new plasma HD TV!

On the other hand, he says, some of the thieves are garden-variety crooks. "There is always a very small number of people that are predisposed to crime, and they see a disaster as an opportunity to act." There are the disenfranchised who jump at the chance to get even with those who have more stuff than they do. "Disasters can become opportunity for class warfare, and that kind of appropriation of other people's property should be prosecuted," he says.

"Class warfare"? Sounds like our academician has been imbibing wisdom from the fountain of Marx. At least he concedes that they should be prosecuted, thanks be for small favors.

Many may be people taking drastic measures required by drastic times. And some, he says, are the in-an-emergency equivalent of hunters/gatherers, foraging for food, fresh water, medicine, matches, batteries, everyday essentials that are just not available. Not at home, not at shelters.

Again, the Wal-Mart case (as well as others) would be a counter-indication of the validity of this statement.

The images are played on TV over and over: Windows are smashed. Huge dudes muscle into an abandoned store and hustle out with stolen TVs and boomboxes. Women hoist unwieldy packs of diapers and cartons of baby formula. Run-amok hooligans snatch up jewelry and electronic gizmos. Other things are stolen: shopping carts of soda pops and snack foods, clothing, bicycles. There are survivors, scavengers and criminal looters, and it's hard to tell the difference.

No, the distinction is too fine. If someone breaks in to get some bottled water, or food to survive, the Chief would say OK. ANYTHING else - including "scavengers" are thieves. That's it. Comprende?

A bit of dialogue I had today: Person: They should shoot all of those looters in New Orleans in the head. Me: All of them? What if they're just looking for something to eat? Person: Shoot 'em all. Me: You're...

Power Line:By the way, Meyer Levin's excellent book Compulsion begins with the observation that Nothing ever ends. I'm starting to get that feeling, too. Among the people whom Sheehan thanked in her last post were Dennis Banks and Russell Means...

I can't even begin to touch the quality of blogging that others are providing, so I'm trusting that you're reading it. As I look over the Times-Picayune site, I can't seem to quite get my head around the devastation that's...

Larry Elder has a column that addresses the use of firearms in self-defense:UCLA professor emeritus James Q. Wilson, a respected expert on crime, police practices and guns, says, We know from Census Bureau surveys that something beyond a hundred thousand...

I guess Dave Kranz wrote about the news in recent weeks about the Democrats' vegetarian spokesperson:It started when Randy Frederick, state Republican chairman, suggested that his Democratic counterparts at the national level are out of touch with most South Dakotans.Frederick...

On the scent of Africa's landmines

Here's a great use for the large rodents. Abundant, and expendible, they're also cheaper than other candidates for this task, such as dogs and lawyers.

...scientists have shown that rats can be trained to be a safe, fast, reliable and cheap method of locating mines of all kinds, according to this month's issue of BBC Wildlife, published today.

You just KNOW that PETA won't be happy about this!

F.E.T.E.

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