The head of the National Hurricane Center says it's only a matter of time until the U.S. is hit by a storm worse than Katrina. But what is being done to prepare for an event which many consider to be inevitable. Mayfield was one of the few people in our government who did their job leading up to Katrina and his warnings should be taken very seriously. However hurricane preparedness is not on the national agenda, cities from Houston to New York remain vulnerable to an event that Mayfield described as a "Mega-disaster".

If federal, state and local leaders continue to ignore this issue the problems will only become even further compounded. America continues a dangerous pattern of poorly planned coastal development, people in hurricane zones have become woefully complacent despite the massive death toll in Katrina. Another problem that has been revealed by Katrina is the inability of the working poor and unemployed to be able to get out on their own. When the government is AWOL and people have no resources to leave on their own the inevitable result is a tragic loss of life. Simply asking citizen to be ready to leave on their own is not good enough.

Will anyone stand up and admit this problem, or propose any solutions. So far neither party has made hurricane preparedness a part of their party platform, the issue will likely get swept under the rug, forgotten until the next storm that kills thousands comes along. With the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina under a week away I must say I would like to hear a Clark cast on the subject of storm preparedness and learning from the mistakes of Katrina.

The victims of Katrina will not be mourned en mass in nationally televised ceremonies to boost support for Republicans, their names will not be read off one by one. there will be no presidential appearances no moments of silence. America it would seem wants to forget Katrina, people want forget the ugly side of this country that the storm brought out, but failing to remember the mistakes of the past almost insures that those mistakes will be repeated.

Their memories may not be honored by the mass media, they may be forgotten by the President and his cronies, will we also treat August 29th as if it is just another day? The greatest tragedy would be to have suffered this loss and yet still persist in burying our heads in the sand, condemning thousands more to their deaths. There needs to be a debate in this country about this issue, or never again will be yet one more hollow promise of a government that has left the least among it's people to fend for themselves.