Stupidity

[Dave O 15]

Nothing irritates me more than when in a time of need, after the hurricane has left it's mark. That when people are scared, hungry, tired, no water to drink, or food, living on a roof in still crappy weather, wondering if they willl be found on said roof or in a car floating around, no where to use the bathroom, no warmth at night, no clean clothes, bath, electric, sewage filled streets, mosquitoes, giving up in most cases on life, have lost everything and maybe no money to even start over, have lost a loved one who was swept away, mssing loved ones in another state, and loved ones missing them dearly, with no contact available, that they have to deal with the looters.

I hope everyone that has a loved one missing may soon be able to hold them and comfort each other with hugs and kisses, or just to know that they are allright. Even our fellow powerwashers.

I hope the police and military shoot first and don't ask questions later for any looter no matter what. These band of idiots who are stealing guns from the stores and shooting them, even the one that shot that officer in the head I hope you are found and , well you know what. Jails flooded sorry you gotta go.

Stealing jewerly and tv's and other items. Come on what are they going to do with this? Try to take it to the pawn shop or plug it in. Oh wait that's right no power, dumb%#$. For the police and millitary to have to stop search and rescue to deal with these band on inconsiderate idiots. That's uncalled for in my book.

I understand taking food and water from a grocery store for your family and neighbors, but leave some for the others. I do not consider this looting just borrowing to survive. Who knows when they will be saved, or who needs medicine for themselves or the neighbors child who is sick.

My prayers are with everyone who is scared, hungry, thirsty, and worn out.

My evil thoughts are with the ones who are causing problems, and will be painted with that scope.

[Russ Johnson 141]

These are the same jerk offs that will knock an old lady down for $20.00 or shoot someone for a pair of tennis shoes. Freakin' idiots can't be bothered working for what they want.

[squirtgun 122]

If they are looting jewelry,TV's and non life sustaining items.I say shoot them where they stand.

It's high time we took our country back from the trash like this whom always show their true colors when a tragedy like this happens

[JeffW 14]

I agree, these nitwits almost relish in the fact that this type of tradgedy happens.It's just one big bonanza for them.Because most of these idiots that are stealing don't have anything valuable to lose anyhow.I seen one guy on there that had a shopping cart full of shoes.I don't like the word looting,I prefer to say stealing because these people are thieves and saying" looting" kind of sugar coats it.That looks more like a third world country rather than part of the United States.I just hope they don't move very far north.

[Dave O 15]

I like what the officer said when he found or heard of looters walking into peoples houses , stepping over the bodies to steal stuff. The officer said they would rather shoot them then put a toe tag that reads looter and leave them.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

And these looters wonder why people are pissed at them.

It is pretty sad that they put so much effort into stealing and ignoring the needs of those who were less fortunate. Every one lost Everything down there for the most part.

Rod~

[tropical wave 22]

dont even get me started :mad:

we will find out by Friday if me and the rest of my swat team (about 25 guys) will be heading down......we've been training all week (10-12 hour days)

[FullBlast 14]

What has happened to the U.S.A.???? This is not right!!!!!

But Do pray for the ones that are hurting, GOD Bless them!!!

[Russ Johnson 141]

What has happened to the U.S.A.???? This is not right!!!!!

I think a lot of it started about the time they decided you couldn't spank your kids or stifle their individualism. Bring back corporal punishment and they'll start turning out to be decent citizens like us...well most of us anyway.

[Mike Williamson 198]

I think a lot of it started about the time they decided you couldn't spank your kids or stifle their individualism. Bring back corporal punishment and they'll start turning out to be decent citizens like us...well most of us anyway.

For most of these people, the trouble started when the government stepped in and began providing free housing, money, and food for the "poor". It has, over the past 60+ years, created an entitlement class who sees no need to work for what they want. We now have entire families, from the grandparents down to the children, who have never known anything but having what they need and want handed to them. They have no respect for themselves or others, so when the opportunity comes to get more free stuff, they have no problem filling up a shopping cart with shoes or electronics or jewelery or whatever.

[JeffW 14]

Lets see how many countries aid the USA during a crisis such as this.Maybe I'm speaking to soon but I have a feeling there will be none! But you can be sure the USA is always expected to go above and beyond to help in time of crisis.

[Russ Johnson 141]

For most of these people, the trouble started when the government stepped in and began providing free housing, money, and food for the "poor". It has, over the past 60+ years, created an entitlement class who sees no need to work for what they want. We now have entire families, from the grandparents down to the children, who have never known anything but having what they need and want handed to them. They have no respect for themselves or others, so when the opportunity comes to get more free stuff, they have no problem filling up a shopping cart with shoes or electronics or jewelery or whatever.

Good point, Mike. There was a huge outcry when they decided to start trimming back the welfare..."What we gonna do? How we gonna feed our 12 kids?"...GO FIND A JOB!

[baronas 14]

What has happened to the U.S.A.???? This is not right!!!!!

But Do pray for the ones that are hurting, GOD Bless them!!!

I knew all that bs would happen,if folks would burn down their city when thier team wins a championship game hell why not now?

[CCPC 26]

Lets see how many countries aid the USA during a crisis such as this.Maybe I'm speaking to soon but I have a feeling there will be none! But you can be sure the USA is always expected to go above and beyond to help in time of crisis.

Last I heard there were twelve other countries that will be offering up some hurricane relief so far, but will see.

[Dave O 15]

Tropical Wave

No fair I want to go. Fine be that way!

Well be safe, don't miss, bring back a souvenier, Practice your do you feel lucky looter phrase, and come back in one piece, oh yeah you probably have all your shots right? right? It's disease city down there. Your competition will be waiting for you when you get back.:lglolly: :bullistic No questions:bullistic :pphoto: Take pictures please.

Protect the women and children and smack the guys around who didn't protect them.

Raping women and children, and shooting at search and rescue? Now shooting at the military, swat, police, civil servants with shotguns. Boy some just dont value life. These are the ones that make us Americans look bad.

[tropical wave 22]

weve been called off L.A. but so far we have three teams scheduled to go to mississippi, team one is leaving for downstate IL tomorrow morning, then heading out from there with the equipment, our gov just signed off on it this afternoon.....minimum 2 week deployment per team....the rest of us are still waiting to hear....we've been pulled off our regular duties and are still training for it every day....todays 12 hours were CQB, vehicle assaults and hostage rescue with a 20 minute lunch and about 2 gallons of water---pooped out again.....and the deck jobs are waiting :)

those people really need some help down there, which Im all for, and there are plenty of those type people to help them, but as we were talking today, we really just wanna get there and put a real bad hurtin on people that need it..:cool: (we're a bunch of a-holes, and love it)

[Specialized 14]

Tropical wave,

I'm a P.O. here in Vegas and were sending about 20 guys down there. We were told that its at least a one - two month tour without relief. I think i'm going and will probably be leaving the begining of next week. We are stocking up on lots of bean bag rounds and taser cartriges. I guess right now several departments have sent assistance but lodging is a huge issue and they are actually turning help away for now. We will be living out of tents and eating MRE's supplied by the military. I cant wait. Hope my customers dont mind.

[PressurePros 248]

Mike, put one of those bean bag rounds between the eyes of anyone you see running from a store with a TV for me. I wanna reach through my screen and choke one of them, but no joy.

[Mike Williamson 198]

Mike, put one of those bean bag rounds between the eyes of anyone you see running from a store with a TV for me. I wanna reach through my screen and choke one of them, but no joy.

I personally don't care about the looting. Yes, it's wrong, but it just isn't something I'm getting upset about...What gets me going is the gangs and the scumbags raping, beating, and killing people who are already dealing with the worst crisis they'll likely ever have to deal with in their life. THOSE are the ones I'd like to see you put a round between their eyes, and NOT a beanbag round.

I mean, shooting at rescue personnel??? How freaking low can you get.

[tropical wave 22]

Tropical wave,

I'm a P.O. here in Vegas and were sending about 20 guys down there. We were told that its at least a one - two month tour without relief. I think i'm going and will probably be leaving the begining of next week. We are stocking up on lots of bean bag rounds and taser cartriges. I guess right now several departments have sent assistance but lodging is a huge issue and they are actually turning help away for now. We will be living out of tents and eating MRE's supplied by the military. I cant wait. Hope my customers dont mind.

Hey Rob, first of all, Nice to Meet ya :) , next time in vegas we should hook up, we LOVE it there......

we are told that we would need to bring tents, sleeping bags, water and food for a minimum 2 weeks, which we know would be longer.....lots of less lethal (my personal favorite is the 37mm sage) and LOTS of .223......but New Orleans is not the place now, looking at mississippi.....in about 20 minutes the first teams are heading out....

still waiting to hear about the rest of us.....but we were told that our mission is strictly support for the L.E. already in place and as immediate action response ........ not patrol, but to provide cover for air and marine rescue.

rob, if you go, good luck and take care of yourself, ken, if I go, Ill put PP on a few bean bags for ya....like the military put FDNY and NYPD on the cruise missles sent into Tora Bora :)

still standing by to stand by...nothing moves fast with government

[tropical wave 22]

Heres a good (but long) assesment of the problems....this is part of what Ive been attempting to get across.....among other things :) .....it is somewhat long.

An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State

by Robert Tracinski

Sep 02, 2005

by Robert Tracinski

It has taken four long days for state and federal officials to figure out how to deal with the disaster in New Orleans. I can't blame them, because it has also taken me four long days to figure out what is going on there. The reason is that the events there make no sense if you think that we are confronting a natural disaster.

If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city's infrastructure. For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.

Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists--myself included--did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting.

But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.

The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong.

The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over the past four days. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view.

The man-made disaster is the welfare state.

For the past few days, I have found the news from New Orleans to be confusing. People were not behaving as you would expect them to behave in an emergency--indeed, they were not behaving as they have behaved in other emergencies. That is what has shocked so many people: they have been saying that this is not what we expect from America. In fact, it is not even what we expect from a Third World country.

When confronted with a disaster, people usually rise to the occasion. They work together to rescue people in danger, and they spontaneously organize to keep order and solve problems. This is especially true in America. We are an enterprising people, used to relying on our own initiative rather than waiting around for the government to take care of us. I have seen this a hundred times, in small examples (a small town whose main traffic light had gone out, causing ordinary citizens to get out of their cars and serve as impromptu traffic cops, directing cars through the intersection) and large ones (the spontaneous response of New Yorkers to September 11).

So what explains the chaos in New Orleans?

To give you an idea of the magnitude of what is going on, here is a description from a Washington Times story:

"Storm victims are raped and beaten; fights erupt with flying fists, knives and guns; fires are breaking out; corpses litter the streets; and police and rescue helicopters are repeatedly fired on.

"The plea from Mayor C. Ray Nagin came even as National Guardsmen poured in to restore order and stop the looting, carjackings and gunfire....

"Last night, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco said 300 Iraq-hardened Arkansas National Guard members were inside New Orleans with shoot-to-kill orders.

" 'These troops are...under my orders to restore order in the streets,' she said. 'They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will.' "

The reference to Iraq is eerie. The photo that accompanies this article shows National Guard troops, with rifles and armored vests, riding on an armored vehicle through trash-strewn streets lined by a rabble of squalid, listless people, one of whom appears to be yelling at them. It looks exactly like a scene from Sadr City in Baghdad.

What explains bands of thugs using a natural disaster as an excuse for an orgy of looting, armed robbery, and rape? What causes unruly mobs to storm the very buses that have arrived to evacuate them, causing the drivers to drive away, frightened for their lives? What causes people to attack the doctors trying to treat patients at the Super Dome?

Why are people responding to natural destruction by causing further destruction? Why are they attacking the people who are trying to help them?

Sherri figured it out first, and she figured it out on a sense-of-life level. While watching the coverage last night on Fox News Channel, she told me that she was getting a familiar feeling. She studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Chicago, which is located in the South Side of Chicago just blocks away from the Robert Taylor Homes, one of the largest high-rise public housing projects in America. "The projects," as they were known, were infamous for uncontrollable crime and irremediable squalor. (They have since, mercifully, been demolished.)

What Sherri was getting from last night's television coverage was a whiff of the sense of life of "the projects." Then the "crawl"--the informational phrases flashed at the bottom of the screen on most news channels--gave some vital statistics to confirm this sense: 75% of the residents of New Orleans had already evacuated before the hurricane, and of the 300,000 or so who remained, a large number were from the city's public housing projects. Jack Wakeland then gave me an additional, crucial fact: early reports from CNN and Fox indicated that the city had no plan for evacuating all of the prisoners in the city's jails--so they just let many of them loose. There is no doubt a significant overlap between these two populations--that is, a large number of people in the jails used to live in the housing projects, and vice versa.

There were many decent, innocent people trapped in New Orleans when the deluge hit--but they were trapped alongside large numbers of people from two groups: criminals--and wards of the welfare state, people selected, over decades, for their lack of initiative and self-induced helplessness. The welfare wards were a mass of sheep--on whom the incompetent administration of New Orleans unleashed a pack of wolves.

All of this is related, incidentally, to the apparent incompetence of the city government, which failed to plan for a total evacuation of the city, despite the knowledge that this might be necessary. But in a city corrupted by the welfare state, the job of city officials is to ensure the flow of handouts to welfare recipients and patronage to political supporters--not to ensure a lawful, orderly evacuation in case of emergency.

No one has really reported this story, as far as I can tell. In fact, some are already actively distorting it, blaming President Bush, for example, for failing to personally ensure that the Mayor of New Orleans had drafted an adequate evacuation plan. The worst example is an execrable piece from the Toronto Globe and Mail, by a supercilious Canadian who blames the chaos on American "individualism." But the truth is precisely the opposite: the chaos was caused by a system that was the exact opposite of individualism.

What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. They don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.

But what about criminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about saving their houses and property? They don't, because they don't own anything. Do they worry about what is going to happen to their businesses or how they are going to make a living? They never worried about those things before. Do they worry about crime and looting? But living off of stolen wealth is a way of life for them.

The welfare state--and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages--is the man-made disaster that explains the moral ugliness that has swamped New Orleans. And that is the story that no one is reporting.

[jason c. 14]

thats a pretty uneducated blog. and i wont use the term racist to describe it, but if you are familiar with the racial demographics of new orleans you can infer what the author is implying. the one thing he says about inmates being let loose in the streets is bs. i realize, however, that alot of nonsense has been going on out there. but i think that the majority of the people out there are good hearted and plain old scared. there have been people rescued from their attics with water up to their necks. (in the days after the hurricane) then taken to a situation in the superdome that was almost as horrific. while most of the residents evacuated, some did not. some by choice and some who had no chance to. whites and blacks alike. where do you evacuate to??? if they are poor i doubt they can just jump in the car and head to the second home in california or elsewhere. and the superdome, where they were supposed to go, wasnt prepared to accomodate them. people can point the finger to whomever they like in this situation. there were faults from the citizens of n.o., all the way to the president. but the bottom line is people are suffering and dying, and help shouldnt have taken as long as it did to arrive. i cant remember which hurricane it was that was about to strike florida a year or two or three back, and the president was on t.v. talking about relief efforts were waiting, just in case. i attatched what i think is one of the greatest pictures i've ever seen. i'm not trying to start anything with anyone or get the i'm on this or that side flared up. but in a time like this people prey, especially on the internet, on others emotions.

by the way the pic is of some caring people trying to cool down an elderly lady who had been in the superdome and was dying in the heat.

[PressurePros 248]

The more negative an experience, the more you learn from it. Complacency can creep in destroy just about anything that thrives. So unfortunately, we need events like Oklahoma, 911, and now Katrina to keep us on our toes. Systems we thought capable were proven woefully inadequate.. again.

Okay, I'll take this opportunity to hijack the thread for personal agenda. The bleeding hearts are gonna hate me for this one and I will pretend I actually worry about that.

The storm aftermath was not only a test of governmental preparedness, it was a test of fleeting humanity. You may call me prejudiced but what kind of animal declares war on the people that are risking their own lives and sacrificing everything of themselves to come and offer aid? Scumbags that society would be better off without. I am not condemning a whole race, I'm sure there were humans from various genetic that participated in the chaos. But one can only blame socioeconomics to a certain degree. It's deeper than that. There is a mentality that floats among certain people. Perhaps it has been breed through years of mistrust and mistreatment. The are many groups that have had political and economic hardship that have risen above squalor (both real and perceived) and climbed from poverty,. The prevailing factor is not race, there are plenty of Middle Eastern, Indian and Asians that are quite successful despite the contempt that is often parlayed onto those that differ from white anglo-America.

The prevailing factor is personal motivation. Human beings are incredibly adept at changing enviromental conditions. Many immigrants come to this country on equal ground and many manage to rise above project living and handouts. One can cry about the inability of the afflicted poor to get out of the path of impending destruction. Does that same person shake their head in disbelief when many of those same afflicted are yielding guns, robbing, raping and pillaging and once again proving to world perception that this country's social system is fatally flawed? That we are indeed a nation of savages with aggrandized personal agenda? <sigh>

Some things never change and perhaps never will. While I choose not to substantiate the facts of that article as real or other, I wholeheartedly agree with it's message.. If you hold nothing of value, have worked to achieve nothing and live handout to handout, of course you will not hold anything else, including human life or personal condition, as worthy of redeeming.

Who cares whom is to blame for the woefully slow response in N.O.? I'm sick of hearing about it. How about the other areas that were hit and how they are coping and rebuilding. I'd like to see some positive aftermath for a change.

[tropical wave 22]

well said...... its no different "to a degree" in MANY cities across America, Chicago, NY, L.A. (if the Rodney King riots dont ring a bell), Houston, Miami, Baltimore, Washington DC, Detroit, Atlanta and the list goes on and on....Savages is a perfect word Ken.... and it is not a racist thing nor is the article from racist view points, all races are and can be equally savage. Predators in nature dont try to take on the healthiest animal in the herd, they cause commotion, disstractions and target the weakest beast they can.........

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

There is a saying about how one person can ruin things for so many others. Any one person can leave a bad taste in someone else's mouth. Multiply that, and you can see why people are so upset with those who would make the relief efforts harder than they need to be. If everyone would pitch in and help, dig down deep and find some compassion in thier hearts it would help. But one thing people feel when hurt, is anger. No escaping it. Makes it harder to be compassionate.

No matter how you slice it, this is a horrible event. Natural disasters are terrible things.

Beth

[jason c. 14]

just wanted to be clear on the fact that i am not blaming socioecon. i would hate to think the response was because of anything other than inability. as for the article, any rationaly minded person can agree with the authors general message, but he is using false information to stir a fire in people at a time when emotions are already boiling over. alot of people will read that and get pissed w/o knowing that most of the authors "facts" are false.

as for crying, dont think so. dont think of those same afflicted "many" are robbing lotting etc. either. i agree that many "immigrants" and people for that matter have risen above their surroundings to accomplish great things. but i also believe that that is a different issue.