At the time of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA's role was not to officially begin until 72 hours after the storm. That was a supportive role. They were to support state and local government. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, the local governments didn't have their act together so that complicated FEMA's supportive role. That role has now changed.

Hurricane Ike was a huge storm - not just powerful. FEMA did as good as anyone expected but it was an overwhelming task.

No, that's not true. FEMA did not do as good as anyone. There were semis that came in from grocery stores and other businesses from San Antonio and other places that got there long before the FEMA trucks - which were supposedly on their way the day before Ike even struck. It wasn't until 2 days afterward that anyone saw a FEMA truck.

And then they announced to the public that they could apply for FEMA aid only by telephone or the website - this for people who are without electricity or phone service, or even gas to be able to drive anywhere IF their car wasn't totaled.

Furthermore, Ike was a Category 2, while Katrina was a Category 3.

The worst thing to me, was the fact that FEMA was blocking the help, and especially the foreign help that other countries were ready to provide. It was ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as the fact that there were warnings about possible collapse of the levies given days in advance.

Ike was bigger than Katrina - not more powerful. Katrina was a Cat3 which means it was more powerful. It was not as large as Ike was.

There is no government response that is going to be flawless. If we are looking to criticize the effort we will always find things wrong that we can criticize. FEMA is now in a new role and it is expected they will get better at it the more they do it.

If Houston's mayor Bill White and Harris County's CEO Judge Ed Emmett had been in charge, things would have run much smoother. Those are 2 excellent administrators, and one thing they learned is to not count on FEMA. I think that's one thing the entire SE Texas area learned. You may be right, that they will improve over time, but it's probably best not to count on them.

Well we have Louisiana and the blame-Bush crowd for the change in the rules.