1 Of course. Under rightwing Republicans such as Reagon and the current Bush federal spending and not simply defence has risen as a percentage of GNP. Borrow ansd spend. The tendency is always to shift a larger proprtion of funds to Republica states (LA is purple.) Liberal states tend to get back far less than they pay in taxes, Republican states more. The numbers are public record. Simply because a set of partisans talks about self sufficiency and reduced spending don't believe them. This is how con games are played. This is well known to true liberatarians, but beyond the synapses of Republicans who take on that term to describe themselves. As for responsibility we had a muc vaunted new agency that was supposed to set priorities. It was clear that New Orleans was one and spending should have been increased rather than allocating 200 million bucks to bridges going nowhere in Alaska and tens of billions upon tens of billions in pork. The fact that local authorrities and Democrats did not do better does not change the fact that Republicans ran government and ignored a problem that will at a minimum cost us hundreds of billions and may trigger recession. One is sick of the exctremes of both parties whose style is simply to point at the absurdity of the other side. The fact that Republicans do this better does not make them better able to lead, perhaps the opposite. For whatever they do they avoid consequences. Working systems need consequences not excuses for failures.

2 Are you suggesting that the primary focus of the DHS was supposed to be mitigating natural disasters?