[AmericanMade1776]

What bothers me, is why does it matter, if the remaining poor souls stuck in New Orleans loot a few stores, for food, or supplies, it is not like anyone is there to sell it to them. I think Walmart can take the strain of the looting of one store.

[rockprof]

What bothers me, is why does it matter, if the remaining poor souls stuck in New Orleans loot a few stores, for food, or supplies, it is not like anyone is there to sell it to them. I think Walmart can take the strain of the looting of one store.

That's why you see images of people stealing booze, TVs, and clothes? They're not robbing a grocery store because they're hungry, they're looting because they're seeing an opportunity to steal and get away with it. It does matter. Maybe you could take the strain of loosing a few hundred dollars, should I steal it from you?

[xcamel]

Consider for a second, as in all disasters, the ones that stayed just to loot ???

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

if the remaining poor souls stuck in New Orleans loot a few stores, for food, or supplies,

Real world alert--many of these "poor souls" are looting Wal Mart's expensive items. They are there to LOOT, not to eat. They stayed behind to LOOT, not to eat MREs from the Red Cross.

[CobaltBlue]

I think we pretty much all agree that stealing food if you are hungry is something we would all do. And just leave it at that. Nothing to argue about, it's just a fact of life.

[WOSG]

You think looting is harmless?
Breakdown in law-n-order is infectious, like a disease:

"The New Orleans police officer shot in the head by a looter Tuesday was expected to survive, officials said.

The officer, who has not been identified, was in surgery at West Jefferson Medical Center after being shot in the forehead, police said.

The officer was shot by a looter after he and another officer confronted a number of looters at a Chevron store at Shirley and Gen. DeGaulle.

Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies on the scene arrested four people in connection with the shooting. One of the looters reportedly was shot in the arm by an officer during a shootout."

[daviddennis]

This is about the only case where I don't really care about the looting.

What's being looted today would be ruined by the water tomorrow. As far as I can tell, looting is essentially harmless at this time.

D

[RinaseaofDs]

Nice.

You shoot looters early to maintain order. You warn the ones taking food to leave notes on what was taken and where they can be found later. You kill the ones taking TV's.

Why?

Before you know it, they are looting the Children's Hospital.

My Dad had that thankless job roaming the streets in Watts in 1967 in the National Guard.