I just don't know what to say. My first inclination, however, is to dismiss the story as some sort of unsubstiated report. My reason for this is that the report takes place in New Orleans, after all. The city is famous for, among other things, its' infamous Mardi Gras and Bourbon Street custom/tradition of women baring their breast in exchange for beads.

If the story is as reported, then I would find this unexcusable but could understand it happening in the context that this was some perverse attempt at levity in a rather inappropriate context. However, I doubt that anyone would levy any sort of official sanction against the rescuers in the light that they were performing their duties beyond what was expected of them given the degree of stress, pressure and fatigue that they were operating under.

Nevertheless, if true, this behavior was unacceptable.

(I wonder how many beads the women survivors ended up wearing?)

With everything else happening in that city, you find THIS hard to believe

Face it, those people down there are not capable of civilized behavior, something that, oh well, never mind.

Anyway, this thread has been posted previously, my bad. Go ahead and lock it, it makes me sick to my stomach to read it anyway.