rarelamb, I have posted in various threads on this subject, quotes from quite a few people about their experiences with FEMA during this disaster (and I have read quite a few quotes posted by others in the same vein). FEMA didn't just not do the job that it is tasked to do according to the mission statement and policies of the Department of Homeland Security. It also prevented help from getting where it was supposed to go. In some cases, it was supplies that FEMA either turned away, or that it kept warehoused and refused to release for want of the proper signature. In some cases it was water that was just sitting in a truck somewhere while people were literally dying of thirst (in Mississippi as well as Louisiana).

But at the very top level, FEMA was also turning away assistance from other agencies and from governments of states, cities, and even other countries. It did not call upon the US military to help evacuate those who did not have their own transportation BEFORE the hurricane hit. The Mayor of New Orleans said in JULY that he did not have the resources to evacuate those without transportation in the event of a catastrophic hurricane. The US military was prepared to assist with this effort, but was never called upon to do so by FEMA.

Chicago offered assistance and was turned away by FEMA. Around one hundred ambulances were offered by the local government of another location but were turned away by FEMA. The list goes on and on. FEMA failed to provide the help that it was responsible for under the DHS mission statement. That's bad enough. But not only did it fail to its own job, it even prevented other people from doing theirs.

This is not because of "liberals". It is because of the cronyistic cleptocratic policies of the Bush administration.

If you think we shouldn't have any national emergency management agencies, maybe you should be lobbying to have the Department of Homeland Security dismantled, and FEMA along with it. But as long as we're paying many BILLIONS of dollars of our hard earned taxes to pay for these agencies, we have every right to expect them to do their jobs.