that's just the standard pack of lies from the media. New Orleans and the state of LA is one of the most politically corrupt in the nation. where was the maintenance of the pumps and the levees for the last 50 years? did they have any disaster capabilities of their own? they just sit back, something like this happens, then they want to dump it all on the federal government.
Apparently the levees are the responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers, and they are already whining that their budget has been cut so much by Bush that they did not perform any maintenance on the levees in the last year. The Corps is the most self-aggrandizing and wasteful agency in the entire government. By the time this is over, the Corps is going to be saying they have been operating with quill pens, abacuses, and candles for the last five years.