Crisis planners take note: there are significant lessons to be learned from the tragedy wrought by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Painful lessons that, morethan four years after the anniversary of 9-11, we still have not learned.

First and foremost is the need to fix the problem and provide care for the hundreds of thousands of people displaced and devastated by the wind and water damage. Next up is the need for a plan that anticipates the magnitude of this kind of calamity. And finally, we should never assume that prior planning is sufficient to prepare us for the disasters we seek to mitigate.

Watching the news and listening to the various responsible parties point the finger at each other reminds me of the time when, after an argument with my wife, we found our three-year old son walking around the house saying,