Scary post over at Below the Beltway. He drew from Michelle Malkin's site, where there's general discussion of the significant looting underway in New Orleans. Can you imagine what's going on in the rest of the devastated coast? Pray for the survivors, not only that they survive the ravages of the aftermath of this horrible natural disaster, but also that they survive this pathetic breakdown of society.

It's often been said that we live on a thin veneer of civilization, under which lies the rotten underbelly of human history, one of the strong preying on the weak. Our country, among others, was founded to fight this concept, and here we see we occasionally fail. The looters even have the unmitigated gall to justify their behavior.

Mike Franklin stood on the trolley tracks and watched the spectacle unfold."To be honest with you, people who are oppressed all their lives, man, it's an opportunity to get back at society," he said.A man walked down Canal Street with a pallet of food on his head. His wife, who refused to give her name, insisted they weren't stealing from the nearby Winn-Dixie supermarket. "It's about survival right now," she said as she held a plastic bag full of purloined items. "We got to feed our children. I've got eight grandchildren to feed."

This is what we revert to; Stealing beer and TV's because those are the basic necessities. This is sick. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen looting portrayed in a negative light, not in any media presentation or movie or even TV show. Only those who try to control the looters are portrayed negatively. It's often portrayed as a joke, even. Well now it's no joke. Now you see how horrible it really is. People steal from others and justify it as "survival". I've never been more in agreement with the phrase "Looters will be shot" than I am reading this crap.

Not that I trust the cops to do anything. They and the National Guard appear to be ignoring most of it.

At a drug store on Canal Street just outside the French Quarter, two police officers with pump shotguns stood guard as workers from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel across the street loaded large laundry bins full of medications, snack foods and bottled water.

"This is for the sick," Officer Jeff Jacob said. "We can commandeer whatever we see fit, whatever is necessary to maintain law."

Another office, D.J. Butler, told the crowd standing around that they would be out of the way as soon as they got the necessities.

"I'm not saying you're welcome to it," the officer said. "This is the situation we're in. We have to make the best of it."

The looting was taking place in full view of passing National Guard trucks and police cruisers.
One man with an armload of clothes even asked a policeman, "can I borrow your car?"

Pathetic.

And I don't buy how all these looters are just trying to feed their families. That falls under the old "Don't p!ss down my back and tell me it's rainin'" rule. Most are common thieves, and deserve to be treated as such. If the unconfirmed reports that a police officer was shot by a looter are proven true, I say issue the order, that all looters get the same. This is not anarchy and this is certainly not some banana republic. This is the United States and you will obey the basic laws of society. If not, then what the hell does being in this country mean? Stealing from your fellow man has never been right and never will be. We're pouring more aid and more manpower into helping those in need in the devastated areas than can be imagined. Make no mistake, looters reap what they sew, and when the first of them start getting shot for it, I won't shed a bitter tear.