That's right, the State of Louisiana's Homeland Security department blocked the Red Cross from bringing food and water from the first day. According to the head of the Red Cross (now making televised interviews), the LHSD didn't want food/water brought in since they didn't want the evacuees to get too comfortable and stay.

"It was announced at a news conference by the Mayor Ray Nagin on Sunday 28 August, less than 24 hours before the hurricane struck early the next morning. The question has to be asked: Why was it not ordered earlier? The Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said at the same news conference that President Bush had called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation."

"The federal government began rushing baby formula, communications equipment, generators, water and ice into hard-hit areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, along with doctors, nurses and first-aid supplies"

"Nagin said late Saturday that he's having his legal staff look into whether he can order a mandatory evacuation of the city, a step he's been hesitant to do because of potential liability on the part of the city for closing hotels and other businesses."

So really, if you want to criticize what's going on the Guard and responses may be 24 hours behind optimum schedule, the best you can hope for but they're moving enormously quickly for a disaster that spanned 90,000 square miles.

Simple question, is anyone ever happy with the pace of any type of emergency response? After going through the 4 hurricanes last year and checking out news reports of other emergencies and disaster it should be readily apparent to everyone that no matter how fast help arrives, it never arrives quickly enough.

"NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 3 - Reeling from the chaos of this overwhelmed city, at least 200 New Orleans police officers have walked away from their jobs and two have committed suicide, police officials said on Saturday."

"KABUL, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Impoverished Afghanistan will give $100,000 for relief efforts in the United States in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. embassy said."

"BATON ROUGE, La. As hurricane victims are being moved hundreds of miles from home, the president of the New Orleans City Council is demanding to know why Louisiana isn't housing more of them."

"The National Guard was slow to move troops into New Orleans because it did not anticipate the collapse of the city's police force after Hurricane Katrina, the guard's commander said. Lieutenant General Steven Blum said the New Orleans police force was left with only a third of its pre-storm 1,500-person strength."

The difficult part to understand here is that while the Feds authorized aid on 8/27 (the Saturday before the hurricane), what took LA so long to request it? Before someone says the Feds should have rushed in, there are laws preventing just that from happening and the Washington Post reports that as of Friday night that Blanco is still fighting the Feds from taking a more active/coordinating role in disaster relief.

"The delay in putting New Orleans under martial law has taken a toll. Wild looters who have already completely pillaged every place of commerce within sight are now locking their feasting eyes towards abandoned private residences. No doubt the more desperate ranks of the hellish banditti currently plaguing the city will have few reservations in invading occupied homes, leading to further bloodshed. My question to Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco is this: how the hell could yo...

"Louisiana's marshlands, the only buffer for hurricanes that come out of the Gulf, are slipping into the ocean at an alarming rate. New search indicates that just one major hurricane could put New Orleans under water. The Big Easy is in big trouble. New Orleans is sinking. And fast. But what's the big deal? Local businesses and residents have heard it all before. They've built levees to control the raging Mississippi. They've developed pumping systems to deal with rain and flooding. They'...

If this isn't the time for Blanco to make use of the stockpile, when will it be time? Nine stockpiles of fire-and-rescue equipment strategically placed around the country to be used in the event of a catastrophe still have not been pressed into service in New Orleans, five days after Hurricane Katrina, CNN has learned.

"Interestingly, the survey's most undervalued home -- expressed in dollars as opposed to percentages -- belongs to a politician who has not hesitated to condemn the city's erratic appraisal practices: Mayor Ray Nagin ."