Looting The Victims

The sad saga of the Hurricane Katrina victims here is an on going struggle. So again I write more about that event. Today it is about the inhuman theft of the personal property of those flooded in the storm. There are more and more reports now of looting by "contractors" (who allegedly are at the homes to fix them) and a few locals outside the looted area.
Because many homes in those areas are two stories high, they have become targets for the looters. Looters know that many of the homes were flooded up to the second floor of the residence, and that the upper floors still contain valuables- antiques, furniture, electronics personal keepsakes etc.- that the homeowner has not yet removed, given that many of them have no place to transfer and store their possessions.
One man, for instance, even had his W.W. II medals taken by thieves. And the thieves don't just steal, they trash the residence while doing it, destroying what is not taken. Police have arrested over 300 looters, mostly workers from Texas and Mexico here to "help" victims fix broken lives, so far in areas of heavy damage- Eastern New Orleans, Lakeview, Plaquemine's Parish, St Bernard. But every area of the city has houses that have been looted by people who work on fixing others and then re enter a home at night to steal property form a separate unguarded home.
The estimate is that more than 1000 homes have been looted since the storm destroyed them. But wait! It's so bad that even some families have been caught in looting sprees. That's right! Some local families are out looting together, mothers fathers, the kids, husbands wives... they do it because the destruction is so wide spread, police can not patrol the devastated areas well enough to nab them. Too, police say it's hard to tell who legitimately belongs in many of the properties because of the plethora of contract workers clearing homes.
So far residents have resorted only to being at their property 24 hours a day (despite no electricity, water or rest room facilities, and a stench that is unbearable), removing what valuables they can store, or boarding up and locking stairs that lead to the upper floors of the home to make it difficult to unload stolen property. There has been no call for more patrols or using military of national guard troops to roam the areas at night. So one wonders when we will have the first "I shot the looter" incident. That would be even more surreal that the looting, but in some ways nothing here can be called surreal now.
This years award for bad taste in Christmas decorations goes to Joel Krupnik and Mildred Castellanos of New York City. Joel and Mildred have a rather sick way of protesting the commercialization of Christmas decor. So this year they decked the halls of their mansion with a grisly scene that includes a 5 foot tall Santa who has a knife and a very menacing look, a tree full of decapitated Barbie dolls, and a elf hidden behind the tree with fake blood spurting out of his eye sockets.
While mom won't be taking the kiddies to see that Christmas decoration, Joel and Mildred say they are doing it "for God". "Christmas has p religious origins, " he said. "It's in the Bible. Santa is not in the Bible. He's not a religious symbol." So Joel wants to make Santa a symbol of mass murder....I guess. Merry Christmas to Joel and Mildred!