God Spare New Orleans

[OnyxCougar]

I was of the opinion, on day 3 (Wednesday) that martial law should have been declared to quell the looting and such.

Now I am of a different mind, for a few reasons.

1) With no food or water getting into the area (strange that people with guns can get in, but not backpacks with MRE's...) there is no other recourse but to (a) walk out or (b) break into buildings and get supplies from local sources until evacuation.

If the response had been what everyone was expecting it would be but turned out NOT to have been, then yes, looting would have been simply unconscionable. However, with the current state of things, NOT fending for yourself, by whatever means necessary, is the unconscionable part. Please understand, I'm not talking about "fending for yourself" as in raping women and children (rumoured to be happening) but I think at this point, looting to keep yourself and your family alive is the best thing you could do, short of walking out to safety.

I also have a few questions:

1) If troops (cops, rescuers, whatever) with guns can get in to "control the crowd", why can't the crowd get out to food/shelter/water/supplies?

2) Why aren't people simply leaving the Superdome? Seems to me MORE people are being rescued offsite, by the coast guard or whoever, than are being rescued from the superdome and convention center. I'd be a walking/swimming/crawling fool before I stand/sit/whine that no one is coming to rescue me.

3) If people are being prevented from leaving, WHY are they being prevented from simply walking to somewhere safe, with supplies?

The government has failed these people but still they wait around and do nothing. You know, I might die trying to get out of New Orleans, but it's better than starving to death, waiting for an evacuation that never came.