Need to make a point here...

Baddboy posted a comment about Ryan's last, and I wanted to add my thoughts to that...

Baddboy seems to think that FEMA was used as an example by Ryan of a government failure or shortcoming, and maybe it was... but I think it stands a an excellent example of what Government is incapable of doing better than the private sector.

Using only our first-hand, personal experiences after Katrina, can any give me an example of where FEMA did a better job, at any level or scope of duty, than the services offered by private sector entities? Perhaps there are examples, but I'm not coming up with any.

Who doesn't remember the PODs? "Points of Distribution" were areas within our communities where vital goods and services were "centralized" for ease of access by the tens of thousands of residents that had limited or no access to transportation (like me). Every example of a POD that I visited or even know of were initiated by local municipalities or private companies to expedite the distribution of goods being donated by John Q. Public in the first days after the storm... Ocean Springs Wal Mart, St Paul's Methodist Church, Singing River Mall in Gautier are my favorite examples. These PODs stayed open for the better part of a year, and provided an absolutely vital link to goods and services for people just like me.

Who doesn't remember COWs? "Communication on Wheels" were mobile communication hubs offering telephone and Internet access to thousands of residents at no cost for about 10 minutes at a time, with services provided by such companies as Nextel, Sprint and AT&T. Yes, you stood in line for a while, but once you got to the truck/van you could make a 10 minute phone call to anyone in the country and/or you could use any one of several Internet links to post updates on websites giving contact info or finding contact info for things like insurance, FEMA updates (what a joke), Red Cross access sites, etc.

With every hospital in the coastal area of Jackson County out of service for the first 10 to 12 days, my only recourse to medical services was in an inflatable "tent" set up at the Wesley Church where volunteer doctors and nurses from around the country came to offer free services and examinations to any who showed up. I had a smashed finger repaired by a wonderfully pleasant doctor (of a shockingly young age) from Atlanta, GA in that balloon-tent, and I've never seen faster, more efficient service in an actual clinic or ER.

Within days of the event, I was eating MREs and drinking water bottled for the military (courtesy of the Georgia National Guard), but I also got water bottled by Miller Brewing Co. and Anheuser-Busch which was being distributed from the PODs. Water is water... I'm not arguing that, but there is something to be said for water that is packaged in a way that makes carrying it nearly a mile back to your house twice a day an easier chore. Miller and Bud put the water in the same kind of packaging as they put beer... with handles. The GNG and the US Army water was bottled in cases of 4 1-gallon containers that made that twice-a-day walk nearly fatal in 100-degree heat.

Now, as Baddboy said, FEMA was designed as a "management" agency, not as a means to produce, distribute and manage disaster relief on a grand scale. But if it couldn't handle the "management" aspect of Katrina... can we really afford to depend on it for ALL the needed relief that future such disasters might bring to the table? I shudder to consider such dependency for my part... never again will I want for the basics because I choose to depend on the ability (or willingness) of my Government to provide for my needs in the future.

I'll even go so far as to suggest that, given FEMAs undoubted role in coordination and cooperation between local, county and State agencies, perhaps more of their primary designed purpose was met than I am giving them credit for. That does not negate the fact that I am unwilling to see MORE responsibility (and cost) heaped on them given that I simply don't think it is the most efficient means of providing relief in times of trouble. Money that would, according to the "left", go to FEMA projects and expansions, could instead go towards the individual States developing the needed infrastructure to respond and provide relief... which is EXACTLY why I think MS didn't have the same trouble with violence and unrest that LA had. MS had the means and planning IN PLACE to respond to the problems that came with and after Katrina, while LA and New Orleans especially, were entrenched in the "someone give me what I need" syndrome from top to bottom. How can the visible, measurable results of the two State's efforts not stand as stark evidence of the power of de-centralized planning and preparations? How can ANYONE that witness, let alone lived through, the debacle that was New Orleans in the two weeks after Katrina possibly want to "depend" on the US Federal government for relief in times of future crisis?