Barbour-ous Treatment
There's some wistfulness for law and order over at the Corner today, with Rich Lowry pining for the manly intervention of Mississippi guv Haley Barbour: "Talking about any possible looters in Mississippi, the governor said (I'm quoting from memory) that they would be dealt with 'ruthlessly,' that they are 'sub-human,' and that they would get 'a lesson they wouldn't soon forget.'" The fact that most of the looters are black is just a coincidence, we're sure.
In any case, we were glad to see that New Orleans, they still have a sense of Southern hospitality: Let the police loot first.
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 best of it, we might add, would be to start picking up the pieces before you start doing violence to looters.
IF ONLY HALEY HAD BEEN IN CHARGE OF POST-WAR BAGHDAD [NRO's The Corner]