....hundreds and hundreds of buses that the city of New 
    Orleans failed to use to evacuate its most disadvantaged 
    citizens out of harm's way before hurricane Katrina hit 
    last week. Tens of thousands of New Orleans' residents 
    could have been spared the worst of the past week and 
    many might still be alive today if the city had actually 
    activated its plan to use its own vehicles--school and 
    commuter buses--to give them a ride. But the plan was 
    never activated, though the city was fully aware of the 
    plight of its citizens after hurricane Ivan nearly struck 
    it last year..... 

    Instead of acknowledging the faults that lie at city 
    level and stepping in to organize relief efforts, 
    Louisiana and New Orleans officials spent most of last 
    week lashing out at the Bush administration, though its 
    response was three times faster than the response to 
    hurricane Andrew just 13 years ago. Government actually 
    got quicker at doing something, in spite of the massive 
    increase in the number of lawyers on the public dime in 
    the intervening years. The locals blamed the feds even 
    though the administration, whatever its faults, was ahead 
    of all local officials when it came to declaring a state 
    of emergency and requesting a mandatory evacuation. A 
    massive butt-covering exercise is underway in Louisiana 
    as I write, so massive it is second only to the actual 
    relief and law and order efforts going on in the vast 
    Katrina destruction zone.