ViL: The Times (of London) on FEMA

"Mr Brown, 50, drew praise for his “ruthless” leadership role during four hurricane clean-up operations last year, and he has supervised 164 big Fema operations during his tenure. But his background came under scrutiny this week as Fema emerged as the weak link in the federal response to Katrina, delaying the deployment of troops and national guardsmen, turning back volunteers and out-of-state emergency personnel, and focusing on presenting “a positive image” rather than saving lives, according to a memo Mr Brown wrote himself.

The agency delivered almost no aid in the 72-hour “golden” period that follows any big disaster, when food, water and medicines and rescue helicopters can do most good."

There's another story in The Times on how bodies are still rotting uncollected on the I-10, but FEMA has banned journalists from photographing them "out of respect for the dead". Nice.