From the article Taking Refuge in the Astrodome, (not bylined, because the dumbass who wrote this clearly knows he’s too stupid to be breathing), we’re informed that “In an extreme act of looting, one group actually stole a bus to escape ravaged areas in Louisiana.”
Looting. From AllWords.com, we get the following definition of looting:
loot
verb looted, looting
- intr
1a. Said especially of a mob: to steal from shops, warehouses, etc, often with attendant vandalism or violence during or following rioting;
- Thesaurus: ransack, raid, burglarize, rob.
intr
1b. To steal from an enemy in wartime.
- Thesaurus: ransack, pillage, plunder, maraud, raid, despoil, ravage.
2. colloq
- To steal from someone or something.
- Example: looted his son’s piggy-bank
Looters are those armed thugs shooting at helicopters and roaming the streets in bands, stealing electronics and shooting cops and raping children.
They aren’t the people taking food to feed their families.
They sure as shit aren’t the kid who took that bus.
If an eighteen year old kid takes a public bus, crams 100+ men, women and children on it in the middle of a world-class hurricane, and hauls their asses out of a sinking city by driving for seven hours through a storm, thus saving their lives, (while also saving public property, no less — because that damned bus is the only one from New Orleans that will now run, thanks to this kid), the kid is NOT a looter, you dumbfuck prissy-ass word-mangling reportermoron. He is a HERO.
Definition of hero: Scared kid who saves the lives of more than 100 people while risking his own. 
Remember this face, because THIS is the kid who should be mayor of New Orleans. He would have known what to do with all those now-floating school buses, and if he could have taken more of them, more people would still be alive. Looter, my ass. His name is Jabbor Gibson, and somebody better give him a medal.
Clearly this kid did the right thing under the worst of conditions. Hero is a perfect description. While I am bothered by the reporter’s ignorence, I’m not surprised. I’ve been watching the news and seeing factual error after factual error in the reporting from NOLA. Not the least of them is showing images of MS or AL and saying that it is New Orleans. Don’t those guys even know what state they’re over?
This kid really should have some serious reward for his efforts and the risk he took. No telling how many of those 100 people would have died if he hadn’t gotten them out.
Eleora — this is great.
I know that Ohio State University is vowing to help any hurricane victims interested in attending college on an individual-needs basis. He could give them a call, I know they are trying to help in any way that they can: (614) 292-3980
UPDATE FROM JUT: I just recently heard that the chopper I talked about earlier was not a Coast Guard chopper. The man they interviewed on T.V. said that all the Coast Guard choppers were counted for. There were two crew members on board. Both are alive, but injured.
I think you’re more accurate than I am, that it is a class thing, but class and race are so closely intertwined that it’s easier just to say “racism.”
I’ll probably be vilified for suggesting this, but I think it’s more or a class thing than race (however, most of New Orleans is poor and black, so that certainly lends itself to the impression of racism). We could argue all day whether racism or class came first, and I’m not prepared with the knowledge to do that intelligently.
I’m not entirely sure how to go about getting a kid a scholarship, but I think a good place to start is to find out what he’s interested in, then contact admissions directors and student coordinators at schools that have studies in his area. Also, there are indexes of various scholarships. He ought to be eligible for some kind of hero scholarship.
I’m absolutely sick at the racism this disaster has made so very clear. I can’t believe there are any thoughts of punishing this kid for doing what the officials in New Orleans were supposed to do and DIDN’T.
Hey Holly, if your keeping up with the stuff in New Orleans, I thought you might want to know that I just saw a helicopter had crashed. I think it was a Coast Guard chopper. It just happened so, they don’t really know much about it but I thought you might want to know. The crew is supposed to be ok, but their all wounded. I’ll be praying for them.
A link on Drudge today shows a photograph of the inundated New Orleans school garage, full of flooded buses, and a separate link to an exerpt from the official evacuation plan, which calls for use of the school buses to evacuate those without their own transportation…
UPDATE: Can we track this kid down and get a college to give him a full four-year scholarship? Or mentoring in the career field of his choice?
I’m serious. Anyone have any idea how this might be done?
DAMN straight, Holly. I wish every school bus in the city had been taken and used like this, because they sure aren’t doing anyone much good now that they’re useless lumps of metal.
You’re right. That boy DOES deserve a medal He saved lives and did what he had to do.
As far as turning buses away goes: Are the real looters still shooting at the people who are trying to offer aid? If they are, that would be a legit reason for the National Guard to be turning rescue buses away. They have an obligation to protect people, including those who want to help.
Haven’t seen the news today. I’ve been writing since dawn.
That’s amazing! The reporter is a total moron.
I agree with you entirly. And, by the way, I heard buses that were supposed to be brought in to evacuate people were being turned away by the National Guard last night.