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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?

From The Economist:A big decision for South DakotaThe air force has a future in South Dakota. Do the Democrats?IT WOULD take a direct hit from an enemy warhead to breach the 25 tons of steel and 12 inches of concrete...

Cats are for wimps, lonely women and people with deep-seated mental disorders. I love dogs, and things like this are one of the reasons why: Lost dog catches train home. WHEN Archie the black labrador lost his owner at a...

I'm tremendously touched by the donations I've received so far for our local Sheriff's Relief Fund, a venture that aims to get a truckload of supplies delivered to Mississippi for distribution to local law enforcement/fire/EMT folks. (Click the link for...

Instead of mindlessly attacking Bush, maybe left-wing bloggers could direct readers to sites where they can contribute to help care for the suffering and aid in reconstruction. The libertarian Instapundit does so here. I encourage SDP readers to follow this...

I haven't been anywhere near a computer today, so I hope everyone was keeping an eye on Instapundit's blogstorm and lining up a good relief effort or three to donate a little dough to. Or, you could have picked either...

John Thune will be on This Week, with George Stephanhumpaluffagus (is that how it's spelled?) tomorrow morning....

As I realized John Thune had defeated Tom Daschle last November, the first thought that came to mind was that the people of South Dakota as just saved the Supreme Court. With the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the...

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