Sometimes I'm ashamed to be an American. I'm sitting here watching Fox News Channel coverage of Hurricane Katrina, and all I see are stories about lootings, rapes, riots, shootings at police and emergency workers, people stealing ambulances and boats, and other senseless violence. And that's just in New Orleans.
Granted, this hurricane affected areas of New Orleans that are poor and already have high crime rates, but what happened to the helpful spirit that America showed on 9/11? The problem in this case is that it's not just a few people who are causing the trouble; it seems that so many people are committing crimes that they may as well shut down the entire city because the crime wave has spread so far. Why is it that in a disaster of this type, so many Americans turn into animals? There are so many victims of the hurricane already, and these people are creating more victims with every passing day.
A news alert just came on the screen that the mayor of New Orleans
issued an SOS, ordering police to stop search and rescue (SAR)
operations and put all efforts into controlling the crime wave. Earlier today I've heard stories that the mayor seemed dazed and confused, and that people saw police officers standing around trying to figure out what to do because no one was directing efforts. So I guess this SOS is a step in the right direction, but will the mayor survive the political fallout of this disaster?
