Watch out for hysterical urban legends, unconfirmed reports, and exaggerated nightmare scenarios about looting in New Orleans. There’s looting and violence all right, and when all is told there are going to be some sad and frightening stories about it.
But who benefits from a lot of scare talk about masses of armed looters, snipers, and great crowds of the unwashed attacking rescue personnel? The people who want to blame the victims, that’s who.
All those officials who failed us are going to talk long and loud about the breakdown in civil order and the need for zero tolerance and lots of soldiers with guns. Don’t forget the real villains here: the people who didn’t give the evacuation order in time, the local agencies that left people on their own without transportion to leave, the federal agencies that pulled the funding for the levees, the President who couldn’t be bothered leaving his vacation until the corpses were floating already. They’d just love for you to concentrate on all those grimy underclass losers stealing beer and taking potshots at helicopters.
Keep your focus. The “grownups” in suits who were supposed to spend our tax money to save lives stood around while Americans died. If they try to look good later by shooting some pathetic losers for boosting a beer, it’s doubling their own crime.
Be My Blog 
Of course, if the reports that large numbers of NOPD police were among the armed looters are true, that puts a different perspective on the blame.
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unsurprising
A decade ago the NOPD completely fell apart. Some 40 officers at one time were being charged with felonies including calling out hits on each other. A friend of mine at the time was a cop there and leaving at high speed to switch careers to avoid either becoming a dirty cop or becoming dead. It was later “cleaned up” but you can’t clean up a town with one new police chief.
Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.
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AMEN
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Ray Nagin is keeping it real.
[audio src="http://www.dementedramblings.com/images/nagin.mp3" /]
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The federal response to the disaster sickens me. It is blatantly criminal. And they behave as if no power in the world will be able to take them to task. And the sad thing is that they are probably right.
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re
I see blame on both sides. I felt there was adequate warning, heck, there were reports so scary I almost evacuated California… Everyone living in that area knew their precarious situation. This did not strike suddenly like an earthquake or tsunami.
Sure those in power fail us as always. Sure there were a few mortally poor amputees who probably couldn’t get themselves out. Sure there are stories of real tragedy.
But many of these folks could have been better prepared. Seems like too many people just chose to hang out and take their chances on a category 5 hurricane. Category 5. Maybe some of them saw a payday coming?
God I sound like a neocon..
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Already, blame is being placed on those affected by Katrina by the news media.
“How dare they loot for food? Don’t they know the government will save them?”
How long did it take for ANY relief to get there? Why was anyone even left in the city to begin with?
ps found you through Hep’s LJ and am wondering if I could link this entry through my journal?
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Why sure, that’s quite a compliment.
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