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There's nothing to apologize for. My first post to you was a reply to your #146

In particular this:
" No. The President of the United States does not have to get permission from state governors to call in the National Guard or to coordinate response efforts during a national emergency.

You seemed to think the appointmrnt of a fed coordinator is the equivalent of appointing a fed dictaor. Read #169 again.

coordination != dictation.

You have yet to find anything that gives the feds the right to dictate to and overrule State and local officials. that stands regardless of your repeated presentation of this little gem, because as a stand alone quote out of context it fits your agenda:

"(4) the Secretary has been directed to assume incident management responsibilities by the President"

As per link given to you in #169, the incident management responsibilities are for coordination, not dictation.

That quote is from DHS's National Response Plan. What about it is obfuscatory or unclear? If you read the NRP -- even just the overview at the beginning -- it makes clear that the whole point of it is to establish a chain of command with the federal government at the top, as it rightly should be, during a national disaster.

Another way to look at it is this: the National Guard has been federalized before without state officials' permission, as people have pointed out elsewhere on this thread. Many have said that this was only allowed as a function of the Insurrection Act. However, the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act -- which was explicitly invoked by both Gov. Blanco and President Bush -- gives the federal government the same powers to federalize the response to a national emergency.

The Homeland Security Act, for example, states:

SEC. 886. SENSE OF CONGRESS REAFFIRMING THE CONTINUED IMPORTANCE AND APPLICABILITY OF THE POSSE COMITATUS ACT.
(a) FINDINGS- Congress finds the following:
(1) Section 1385 of title 18, United States Code (commonly known as the `Posse Comitatus Act'), prohibits the use of the Armed Forces as a posse comitatus to execute the laws except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress. (2) Enacted in 1878, the Posse Comitatus Act was expressly intended to prevent United States Marshals, on their own initiative, from calling on the Army for assistance in enforcing Federal law. (3) The Posse Comitatus Act has served the Nation well in limiting the use of the Armed Forces to enforce the law. (4) Nevertheless, by its express terms, the Posse Comitatus Act is not a complete barrier to the use of the Armed Forces for a range of domestic purposes, including law enforcement functions, when the use of the Armed Forces is authorized by Act of Congress or the President determines that the use of the Armed Forces is required to fulfill the President's obligations under the Constitution to respond promptly in time of war, insurrection, or other serious emergency. (5) Existing laws, including chapter 15 of title 10, United States Code (commonly known as the `Insurrection Act'), and the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.), grant the President broad powers that may be invoked in the event of domestic emergencies, including an attack against the Nation using weapons of mass destruction, and these laws specifically authorize the President to use the Armed Forces to help restore public order.