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"Doesn't the Governor/Mayor have to request FEMA and others to come in and help. Aren't ultimately the Mayor or NO and the Governor of LA the ones responsible."

Response by NGOs, including Red Cross, was slowed down at the federal level. Even now, as we speak, FEMA is blocking stuff from arising.

Look, of course the Mayor and the Governor are thoroughly incompetent. Compare Lousianna's Governor with the expert response of Haley Barber of Mississippi.

But FEMA didn't do what it was supposed to do. It can't account for -- show any forward progress -- in pre-storm preparation or after-storm response. I know lots of disaster relief people -- I volunteer in this area too -- and they are shaking their heads in disgust. If FEMA wants to block aid from arising until things are perfectly safe, they should stop being a federal disaster response agency and turn into a Girl Scout troop leader association. The ill-trained burueacrats at the top fundamentally didn't get their job.

Fact that might not be popular to post on a political website: a lot of good federal gov't work is good execution. Lots of things aren't political, and there's just one good way to do them, and you *do* need experienced career people who know how to execute to do the actual execution. Fact: FEMA has become a dumping ground for political hacks. I have no loyalty for these bozos simply because I like their politics: they are still ill-prepared and stupid hacks. If people want to use federal agencies as dumping grounds for a party's political patronage system, use the Small Business Administration and Commerce (and oh they do) and leave an agency as important as FEMA out of it, I say. And so say a lot of good gov't workers at FEMA. Morale there's been terribly low because of this silly hackery.

The Admiral Allen's of this world -- this is what we need more of at FEMA. I strongly believe in FEMA's mission and I of course understand that the fed'l gov't can't be everyone's parents and protect everyone from their idiot mayors, their lack of preparation, etc. But FEMA is still supposed to act, execute, and minimize life/property damage. And FEMA just didn't. No excuse for it, none. The ball was in their court and they didn't execute either.

In short, the failures of the local gov't do nothing to dissuade me from the need to fix this federal agency immediately.

The current disaster aside for the moment, do you remember several years ago during the Clinton Administration when they said that they were going to make FEMA a part of the Judicial branch under Janet Reno? Everyone at that time it was the worse thing that could happen because it would be come a worthless enity. It looks like it happened just on the wrong watch. You are right, it needs to be cleaned out and done with a big shovel. Most people though, unless they have worked in the military or with the Police or Fire Departments don't know #### about disaster preparedness or even how to set up a plan much less how to execute it.

And yes, I have had experience with DP's and how the are set up and executed. I became very familiar with them both before and after Hugo. You always prepare for a worse case scenario and thus are better able to handle whatever happens. And you train and train and train so that it become rote by the time that a disaster comes. Paper pushers/desk jockies should be made to take part in the active excersises so that they know what is to be expected.

I agree about the Coasties, they didn't wait, they just did what had to be done. They are the heroes of the hour.