[Morrigoon]

I'm not suggesting the dismantling of government. In fact, in my last post, I erased a whole paragraph about the government having the responsibility to maintain roads, borders, and order. But when they overstep those bounds, they introduce inefficiencies which translate into waste or mismanagement.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't have been responsible for getting those people out, certainly they were (maintain order), but the fact is, they DIDN'T DO IT. They had busses sitting right there, they had the knowledge that the city could be flooded, they had research that showed a flooded New Orleans would be a toxic disaster. They didn't do it.

These are not the types of people I want in charge of my health care.

In fact, the only form of "universal health care" I'd support would take the form of insurance. Unfortunately, that still gives the gov't a dangerous level of control over the health care industry, making it less profitable, and therefore, discouraging any kind of innovation or quality.

But I'm going way OT here, sorry.

FEMA was very clearly incompetently led. But this is still an indictment of government at all levels. There never should have been that many people for FEMA to have to come rescue in the first place. The way Louisiana mishandled the hurricane Ivan evacuation, plus the mishandling of the Katrina one both led to there being far more people in NO than there should have been. Some by choice, remembering the hassle of trying to leave the city last time, and some by circumstance, being too poor to leave unless the city busses were used.

There was no organization of the effort either. Had there been concrete plans in place for busses and citizens to meet at specified locations in the city, to be transported out of there, both the city and the citizens could have acted quickly, way in advance, to clear out. None of that happened. People were sent to locations that took days for authorities to become aware of, with no supplies, no communication, nothing.

You can't blame Bush for not knowing there were people at the convention center. Whoever sent people there (governor?) should have made sure that rescue organizations were aware. If the convention center had been a pre-planned shelter or gathering point, then the governor's office could have kept information on those locations on file to email to FEMA well in advance of the storm actually hitting the city.

But I *do* wonder at FEMA not staging trucks and rescue units... I'd like to hear more on the chain of command and communication that would/should have led to that happening.