International Herald Tribune: The real looters
“In the midst of this charity, big oil looted America. The pumps instantly shot past $3 a gallon, with $4 a gallon well in sight. In a thinly disguised attempt to act as if it cared about the people wading in the water, Chevron has pledged $5 million to relief efforts. ExxonMobil and Shell have pledged $2 million apiece. British Petroleum and Citgo have pledged $1 million each.”: “This is nothing next to their wealth.”: “It is not pleasant to see anyone loot a store. But big oil is looting America, and no one is declaring martial law on them.”
Saturday 3 September 2005
Derrick Z. Jackson The Boston Globe
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2005
BOSTON President George W. Bush told the television network ABC on Thursday, “there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this, whether it be looting or price-gouging at the gasoline pump or taking advantage of charitable giving or insurance fraud.”
Zero tolerance is meaningless when the White House lets the biggest looters of Hurricane Katrina walk off with billions of dollars.