The talking heads on CNN have become little rebels here and there! The New York Times has a look at the political fallout while it looks like a good possibility for a new civil rights movement in the US.

"We wanted soldiers, helicopters, food and water,' said Denise Bottcher, press secretary for Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana. 'They wanted to negotiate an organizational chart.'

Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans expressed similar frustrations. "We're still fighting over authority," he told reporters on Saturday. "A bunch of people are the boss. The state and federal government are doing a two-step dance." (...) 'Why did it happen? Who needs to be fired?' asked Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, south of New Orleans.

Far from deferring to state or local officials, FEMA asserted its authority and made things worse, Mr. Broussard complained on "Meet the Press."

When Wal-Mart sent three trailer trucks loaded with water, FEMA officials turned them away, he said. Agency workers prevented the Coast Guard from delivering 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel, and on Saturday they cut the parish's emergency communications line, leading the sheriff to restore it and post armed guards to protect it from FEMA, Mr. Broussard said.

Nearly every emergency worker told agonizing stories of communications failures, some of them most likely fatal to victims. Police officers called Senator Landrieu's Washington office because they could not reach commanders on the ground in New Orleans, Mr. Sharp said. (...) Dr. Ross Judice, chief medical officer for a large ambulance company, recounted how on Tuesday, unable to find out when helicopters would land to pick up critically ill patients at the Superdome, he walked outside and discovered that two helicopters, donated by an oil services company, had been waiting in the parking lot. (...) Mayor Nagin said the root of the breakdown was the failure of the federal government to deliver relief supplies and personnel quickly. 'They kept promising and saying things would happen," he said. "I was getting excited and telling people that. They kept making promises and promises."