[ESPCamaro]

WHY?

You know what I do when I can't afford something. I don't buy it. Not some people if they can't afford it they just find a way to TAKE IT from someone who can.

And ANY excuse to do so is fair game. Even if it involved you neibors being homeless or dead.


I even heard that just now on the news that these morons were steeling guns and firing at national guard and aid choppers.


Sometimes I think it would be just easier to shoot people like this than to bother with the "justice system"


PUKE!

[Rob Hood]

Well, I've read this thread and have decided to post to it. Here's my view on the whole sad affair from the storm to the looting to the poor response by the government (all levels).

1. The state KNEW the storm was coming. By that I mean public officials and private citizens. The Mayor and Governor were not only slow to react, but required prompting from the President to take action. Many private citizens purposely ignored the warnings and stayed behind.

2. The city and state did not have a disaster preparedness plan in place, or if they did, did not implement it. As a result, hundreds of school and public buses sat idly by instead of being used to relocate personnel to higher ground or out of harm's way, and hundreds of criminals were simply released vice transported to another jail. Released criminals = looting, rape, murder....

3. The levys were designed to only hold under a Category 3 storm, not a Category 4 or higher. This has been a known fact for decades. Blaming the current President (whoever he is) for poor levy design/maintenance is incorrect.

4. The city was built in a below-sea level area roughly 200 years ago. Looks like the law of averages finally caught up, unfortunately.

5. Looters should be shot, period. One's integrity should not change just because a natural disaster occurred.

6. Give to reputable charities. And I do mean GIVE. Not just money, but clothes, blood (thanks Julie!) and furniture. Many people lost everything. Whether they were "good people" or "bad people" should be immaterial at this point.

7. Take notice of what didn't happen at the local, state, and federal level, and develop an emergency plan for yourself and your family. Design the plan around the following factors:

a. Develop an escape route (and alternates). Figure out the best roads to use. Sometimes they won't be the interstates, as they may be clogged.

b. Using the escape route, establish a meeting point/place. If need be, establish an alternative method of signaling as a backup in case cell towers/land lines are down.

c. At home, keep containers of essential supplies at the ready for easy loading into your vehicle. Wouldn't hurt to keep a couple of water bottles and breakfast bars in the trunk or spare tire void as well.

d. Keep your important papers (wills, deeds, ET slips, suspension setups, inventory of personal effects) in a lockable strongbox that you can carry.

e. Also keep cash in the strongbox. Decide on an amount and leave it in there.

f. Get a generator that will support your household's electrical load (most on this board have a generator already, IIRC).


Frankly, if the city and state governments had reacted in a more proactive manner, a great majority of the problems post-storm would have been eliminated or significantly reduced. And there was no slow-down in providing assistance just because of a person's race. That is just untrue, and the statement itself wreaks of racial bias on its own. It's sad enough that there are poor people in New Orleans, or anywhere, but it is downright ignorant to use race in this case. The reason the majority of the people shown on TV (on any channel) were black is because a higher percentage of blacks lived in downtown NO than whites. That ain't MY fault. And the media could do a better job of reporting both good and bad news. Right now, the big three (CBS, NBC, ABC) predominantly report from a negative viewpoint, and also report from a predominantly anti-Republican, anti-Christian, anti-White Male viewpoint. We would all be better served if race was ignored and not used as a crutch standpoint just because it is a convenient perspective to hide behind.

I sincerely hope that everyone is able to recover and move forward from this tragedy, and that improvements will be implemented to reduce the potential impact of future storms.