is looting ok?

[adam04]

just thought i would use the poll that was on sky news through the week?  think they might of been getting desperate???

[katynewbie]

 

You cannot be serious!!!!

[terrace max]

Is watching Sky News ok??

[Svea]

desperate situations call for desperate measures.
we dont know what we would do given the circumstance.

throwing the first stone, and all that.

[adam04]

am serious was a poll on sky news in the week, think it was bank holiday monday actually!

[amphibian]

If my child had gone without water for days, and no help had arrived or seemed on its way, then I wouldn't hesitate to break into a hop to get her some water, hell the stock will all be claimed on insurance as damaged anyway.

[return of the mac]

Its not okay, but bush ignoring them is even worse. They are the poorest, blackest citizens and bush would love to lose a few, as theyre not stupid enough to vote for him, so he has been as slow as possible in assistance   . If it was NY or Washighton evacuation would have happened days earlier and theyd already be making repairs.

[terrace max]

Either looting was hampering relief efforts, or lack of relief efforts was causing looting.

I suspect Bush and co. went for the 'blame the victim' option while they decided how little help they could get away with giving...

I think the whole Katrina fiasco just goes to show there is only one super-power: nature.

[!mpetuous]

Bush - nuff said

It is absolutely disgusting for the authorities to operate a shoot to kill policy on looters when it is those self same authorities that are denying aid for as long as they can possibly get away with it because their natural voters all managed to get out on time - they only lost their yahts which I see CNN was very concerned about in the early days before the New York Times spoke out - by the way that was the 'can't get away with this anymore catalyst.  And yes I do think it was wilful on the Bush regime's part.

[daisymay]

I think the whole Katrina fiasco just goes to show there is only one super-power: nature.

Sure has put them America their place hasn't it! if Bush hadn't spent so much money on the Iraq war then maybe the vital work on the flood defences may have been done.

I know it is an absolute tradgedy and I do not mean to be cold by saying this..... but if the hurricane had hit the coast of Africa or India (i.e. 3rd world) would it be getting as much media coverage?? Natural disasters on this scale happen every year and they are minor news items.

To have a poll on sky news about whether looting is bad I find quite sad, I assume you maybe rang in the show to vote etc... I hope the proceeds went to the Red Cross. (I don't mean on here though as Adam will not be profiting from our answers!)

[Robert_Brenchley]

I think looting depends on the circumstances. If you're starving and steal food, say, that's OK in my book, and many people must have been reduced to that sort of situation. What I don't find any excuse for is the situation we had in Handsworth some years ago; I think it was 1993. There was an arson attack on a factory, and power to a substation next to it had to be cut off temporarily. A section of Birmingham was plunged into darkness, and people from all over the West Midlands descended in cars and vans and systematically looted every single shop, even the butcher and the shoe shop. I was in the middle of it and saw everything; the police just watched. Nobody hungry there, but NO is a different matter. Not that I find much excuse for the people who took TV's and the like.

[Svea]

quite - you will not find much sustinence in a TV.
i certainly agree with the food and water bit, if push comes to shove, most would do the same

[Mrs Ava]

No, looting for profit, no way!

Looting to save your childs life, yes.

[terrace max]

No, looting for profit, no way!

Looting to save your childs life, yes.

Agree wholeheartedly.

And the biggest looting, smash and grab for profit in history? Bush & Blair in Iraq...bang 'em up!

[Robert_Brenchley]

Dunno, even that pales into insignificance beside some of the Roman efforts; Crassus took about 62 tons of gold from the Jerusalem Temple on his way to disaster in Persia, and Caesar looted so much wealth from Gaul that the only way to stop him afterwards was to kill him. I don't know what the European powers took from their empires, but it must be astronomical. If you look at post-colonial history though, I agree you won't find a parallel.

[terrace max]

You're right RB.

But I think in the post-colonial period there is a framework of international law which was absent in the examples you cite. The Iraq war broke this law and was, therefore, an illegal grabbing of another's property. Hence the parallel with looting...

[Robert_Brenchley]

That's true; while international law certainly existed by Napoleonic times, it only applied to 'civilised' nations, and to restricted areas like the treatment of prisoners. By Victorian times, atrocities like the regular massacres of wounded during the Zulu war of 1879 horrified many people in England, but the military could afford to ignore this. To this day, international law still doesn't protect weak nations against exploitative trade barriers and the like.

[return of the mac]

Anyone heard Barbara Bush's comments?  "So many of the people here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them." What an insensitive cow. I cannot beleive that any members of this awful family have been given so much power. It makes you think- Bush's grandad was chummy with the nazis, his mother making these comments and his inactivity- they are clearly racist snobs. Bush deserves a murder charge- he has treated innocent human beings like low value property.

[terrace max]

he has treated innocent human beings like low value property.

Outrageous suggestion ROTM - I'm sure he treats his low value property with much more respect...

[Pegmumm]

Hi all,
I am one of the lurkers that live in another part of the world very similar in weather to yours, in Northwest Washington State in the USA. I have learned so much from you and your site, its amazing. I just had a 10 kilo harvest from my White Lady runner beans, just four poles. And I have you all to thank.
My rant:
-----------------------------------

One thing about this whole New Orleans/Hurricane Katrina thing.
I am one of a growing number of Americans that believe that the lack of response by federal authorities to the flooding victims was deliberate. You see, the feds cut state and local communication lines, barred anyone from entering or leaving New Orleans and turned away any and all aid coming to the city. I think it was meant to kill. Why is the question.

Those who looted had little choice but to take what they could to feed themselves and their families. Those who took tvs, etc. had nowhere to sell them. It was an irrational act in a time of stress. Most were frightened that if they had been allowed to leave, they would never have been allowed back into their homes or to the property they owned ever again. And they were right. Watch what you see and hear with a jaundiced eye, please.

We, in the US, are at the mercy of a ruthless group of men bent on gaining power in any way they can. Even if it means killing innocent people.

---------------------
Rant over...
I don't know what the death of a city means to us or to the world.
I only know my garden is a lush, quiet, abundant paradise into which I can immerse myself and forget the starvation, death and disease that plagues other parts of my country at the moment.
Peace to everyone,
peg