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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?

I just got my new Lexus and returned to the dealer the next day complaining that I couldn't figure out how the radio worked. The salesman explained that the radio was voice activated. Watch this, he said. Nelson! The...

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.

Chad at CCK has a post on the Roberts nomination to be Chief Justice (I checked, Professor Schaff and it really was Chad). The CCK position is perfectly reasonable.I don?t claim to be any expert on the nomination process. But...

That is the title of a Dr. Ted Baehr column. Here is the introduction:People will either be self-disciplined or need the whip of tyranny, to paraphrase the famous 19th century sociologist Alexis de Tocqueville. He noted that the United States...

From Rush Limbaugh: RUSH: This is dicey. It's like I say: law and order in New Orleans is a code word for racism. You don't talk about law and order because you'll have people like Jesse Jackson on your case....

Post updated on 9-3-2005! Now accepting PayPal donations! Scroll down for details. Last night I mentioned that I was helping out on a cool project to get a truckload of relief supplies delivered to Mississippi from my local community. Today,...

I haven't been anywhere near a television set today, and I've only just begun trying to catch up on what's happening in Louisiana and Mississippi via the Internet, but Instapundit's been covering it all day....

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