Those supplies should be sent to the flood victims in the Midwest. Except those people are more self-sufficient.
I have heard no crying about where is the help,or I want this and I want that. Take care of yourself people.

The Federal Government is largely incompetent regardless of who the top guy is. Always has been. Blaming Bush is fun, but wait until Obama/Pelosi/Reid makes the government much larger. The part of this story I found interesting was "And even though the stocks were offered to state agencies after FEMA decided to get rid of them, one of the states that passed was Louisiana." Why did Louisiana pass? Isn't that where New Orleans is? Have you ever seen the calculated cost of Federal aid per New Orleans inhabitant? I wonder where the money went?

Yeah....what a disaster. The supplied went to federal and state agencies that can actually use them rather than sitting uselessly in a warehouse. Seems to me this is a good thing that FEMA is doing.

The Federal Government is largely incompetent regardless of who the top guy is. Always has been. Blaming Bush is fun, but wait until Obama/Pelosi/Reid makes the government much larger.

Your insane (and I mean that literally) argument is completely undone by the success of FEMA under the Clinton administration. Back then, they actually knew how to pick up after a disaster--and they cared enough about their jobs to get it right. Our government now functions as a third-rate Chicago style patronage system. Pretty absurd; even more absurd that conservatives defend it.

Dave,

Bush's FEMA operated just fine in the aftermath of the dozen or so hurricanes prior to Katrina. FEMA never faced anything close to a Katrina-like disaster under Clinton.

Apparently FEMA, under Homeland Security since 2003, knows how to spend money and warehouse supplies, it just failed to get them to those in need at the time of need. This is too much, much too late. Fortunately the future administration knows how to use the internet for something other than privacy intrusion. If those in need could have logged on and requested supplies from a database, the costly relief would have found the appropriate recipients during their time of need. Heckuva job.

I never discount any bureaucracies ability to move slowly, and to be reactive, instead of proactive.

That said, I don't believe any President or Homeland Security Czar is going to bask in the warm glow of natural disasters.

They are, by definition, unpredictable and messy. The name at the top of the masthead isn't going to make them less so.

Mistakes/delays/stories of incompetence are part and parcel of disaster response. That's why so much emphasis is placed on personal/family readiness and emergency response planning.

How many of us have 5 days worth of non-perishable food and water ready to go?

"If those in need could have logged on and requested supplies from a database...."

gee....no potential for fraud or abuse there....

The rap sheet of Chimp's injuries and harms and crimes, is not incompetence nor ineptness nor accidents nor monkeyshines -- GET THIS: Intentional, pre-meditated, antisocial hate, enemy awfully means to hurt us. Psychopath.

Their really more on the supply side of the disaster equation.