Leader of Federal Effort Feels the Heat (from the Times)
This article lays out the history of FEMA, started by Jimmy Carter in 1979, elevated to a cabinet position under Clinton in 1993, and dismantled by Bush starting in 2001.
Like Condoleeza Rice, who had zero National Security experience when appointed as NSA chief in the first Bush term (resulting in a complete lack of preparedness for 9/11), Michael D. Brown, the head of FEMA, is yet another Bush appointee with no experience in the area he is appointed to, resulting in the death and suffering now occurring in New Orleans. To Bush and his cronies, the federal government exists purely to increase their own wealth and power by granting political favors, not to serve the citizenry.