I went back to re-read your post of 26 Sep 05 - 07:29 PM to try to find the question you seem to be indicating that I have not answered. You may be referring to this series of questions from that post:
"Local FEMA headquarters"? Since when has FEMA established 'local' headquarters? Could this again be the State arm of Homeland Security?"
-snip-
Since I wasn't sure if there was any such thing as the state arm of Homeland security, I decided to do some online searching to see what I could find.
First I entered "state FEMA deparments" into google. The first entry that came up was FEMA's homepage. I went to that homepage with its o slogan-"FEMA: Helping people before, during, and after disasters" and then went to the "About Us" page. In the "Who are we?" section of that page I read:
"FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security's Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate. FEMA has more than 2,600 full time employees. They work at FEMA headquarters in Washington D.C., at regional and area offices across the country, the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center, and the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland. FEMA also has nearly 4,000 standby disaster assistance employees who are available for deployment after disasters. Often FEMA works in partnership with other organizations that are part of the nation's emergency management system. These partners include state and local emergency management agencies, 27 federal agencies and the American Red Cross."
-snip-
I noted that the last sentence does say that FEMA's partners include state and local manangement agencies..But it seems to me by that wording that the state partners are separate entities from the federal FEMA department itself.
I then decided to google "state department of Homeland Security". The first entry that came up was the "Office for Domestic Preparedness Support". The second entry that came up was the "Tennessee Homeland Security." The third entry on that list was the federal Homeland Security department. I decided to go to that page and here is an excerpt from that page:
"The Department of Homeland Security Information Network is connected to all 50 states and more than 50 major urban areas, and allows information sharing among thousands of local agencies and the Homeland Security Operations Center." -snip-
That page also featured an information box labeled "State Contact List". That box said: "Select your state or territory to see who your Governor has appointed as your state's homeland security contact."
-snip-
Again, it seems to me that there is a difference between the federal agency of Homeland Security, and the state's homeland security contact.
So in summation, G, I'm not sure if I know the answers to the questions that you asked in your 26 Sep 05 - 07:29 PM post.
It seems to me that all levels of government, including the federal government-that is to say FEMA/Homeland Security-were [are] at fault with regard to the preparation for and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina & Hurrican Rita.
BTW Guest G, I've never considered myself as part of the "radical left" and I certainly don't "blame GWB for every thing including the paint peeling from [my]house."
That said, I'm still interested in knowing whether you think that the federal government should take any responsibility for things that went wrong or were not done at all before and during these catastrophic hurricanes.