Dunno about Maryland or Louisiana, but I've hung around the edges of "emergency management" here in Maine for years, emergency communications (ham radio) and such. Things like evacuation plans and designating/stocking 300 shelters for 100 people each rather than one for 30,000 come under local planning. Around here, FEMA plays a backup role to MEMA and local actors, as demonstrated in our tangle with a region-wide ice storm a few years ago. Power was out for about a week in the heart of a Maine winter, and the most visible federal presence was Al Gore playing lineman without a license. That response was also fucked. I think it comes with the federal territory.

But, as Ms. Billings says, there's plenty of blame to go around. I'm not interested in letting Bush & Co. off the hook, just keeping the local honchos firmly _on_ it.