It is interesting to me that it is now taken as an article of faith that the federal governent's response was so poor as to be reprehensable. This despite the fact that the response was quite a bit faster than the response to Andrew, which generated quite a bit less protest. I also find it interesting that many of the same people heaping derision on the federal government for for the slowness of its response generally give the local governent a free pass for its lack of a reponse. Mistakes were clearly made by all parties but politics have so badly contaminated the debate, distorting or ignoring the facts that I am not entirely sure that rational debate is possible any more.

SFC W