Reply #33: What Looting is Really About [View All]

First, the interest in the looting part of this crisis is not going to go away just because you ignore it. It is a compelling and graphic part of this story.

I also believe that the radical Republicans, for some perverted reason, think that somehow the looting 'delegitimizes' this catastrophy. Why? Who knows ... I know they are upset that this is going to detract from the 9/11 celebrations that were anxiously awaiting.

But we need to talk about this looting.

First, it underscore the absence of the National Guard and military away in Iraq. The looting never should have gotten started and never would have gotten out of hand if the Guard had been home where it belongs. The looting is another indictment of Bush's reckless use of the National Guard.

Second, the looting is also a sign of desparation on the part of some who are participating. When you subconciously believe that you have nothing to lose, that the end is near, that no one is going to help you ... the normal restraints of civil behavior fall away. If the federal emergency response had been timely and deliberate, the looting would have been minimized.

Finally, I think this has something to do with the moral tone that has taken over in the halls of power in this nation over the past five years. The ethics of the Bush regime have been 'get your own', 'take what you want', if you have the power-go get rich. The Halliburton war profiteering, the tax cuts for the super rich, the obscene salary and bonuses for CEOs have had their impact.

Bush and the radical Republicans have been looting the federal treasury for five years now and getting away with it ... that is the moral and ethical message from out so-called leaders that is giving some bad folks in New Orleans a false sense of permission to do a little of their own looting.