just get rid of the police

The enormous devastation and loss of life in New Orleans depresses me to the point where I can't bear to watch the news any more. I've donated what little I can, but what purpose can be served by depressing myself to no end?

The other emotion I'm feeling a lot lately is anger. Anger at the stunning combination of incompetence and fascism that is the response of the State at all levels. Fascism example one is from the Volokh Conspiracy:

Water was receding across this flood-beaten city today as local police officers prepared for a mass forced evacuation of the several thousand residents still living here. Authorities also began confiscating firearms from civilians.
. . .
The city's Police Department and federal law enforcement officers from agencies like the United States Marshals Service will lead the evacuation, Mr. Compass said. Officers will search the city house by house, in both dry and flooded neighborhoods. No one will be allowed to stay, he said.

Meanwhile, the city is confiscating firearms from civilians, including legally registered weapons, Mr. Compass said. "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," he said.

Why are they forcing everyone to leave? Because that's the only thing they are competent at, using force. More fascism on display over at Samizdata.net:

Unfortunately, our sinking feeling (along with the sinking City) was correct. Just as dusk set in, a Gretna Sheriff showed up, jumped out of his patrol vehicle, aimed his gun at our faces, screaming, "Get off the fucking freeway". A helicopter arrived and used the wind from its blades to blow away our flimsy structures. As we retreated, the sheriff loaded up his truck with our food and water.

Once again, at gunpoint, we were forced off the freeway. All the law enforcement agencies appeared threatened when we congregated or congealed into groups of 20 or more. In every congregation of "victims" they saw "mob" or "riot". We felt safety in numbers. Our "we must stay together" was impossible because the agencies would force us into small atomized groups.

In the pandemonium of having our camp raided and destroyed, we scattered once again. Reduced to a small group of 8 people, in the dark, we sought refuge in an abandoned school bus, under the freeway on Cilo Street. We were hiding from possible criminal elements but equally and definitely, we were hiding from the police and sheriffs with their martial law, curfew and shoot-to-kill policies.

I'm outraged out. Someday someone will write a James Bovard-like book on all the depredations that the State engaged in in the aftermath of Katrina. It will be sickening to read if the latest news accounts are any indication.