The statistics are most impressive: 10 million liters of water and 4 million MREs stockpiled in Texas; 1,300 buses, 130 airplanes and "hundreds" of helicopters ready to go; 10,000 Texas National Guards on standby by midweek; and contracts already drawn up for relocation housing.

These are the precautions that the Federal Emergency Management Administration and the state of Texas are taking if Hurricane Dean, now whipping itself into a frenzy as it crosses from the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico, should turn north toward Texas and present authorities with the problem of evacuating perhaps 100,000 people.

Late Monday, Hurricane Dean was headed well south of Texas, and so is unlikely to become a critical test of whether FEMA is capable of redeeming itself from its response to Katrina. But the agency's preparation has been encouraging.

The head of FEMA is David Paulison, who was named acting head of FEMA in September 2005, replacing an official who got his job largely through Bush campaign connections. Paulison's thorough preparation and his refusal to mince words that others should be similarly prepared are encouraging signs of an aggressive, proactive FEMA.

Said Paulison, "I do not see this country allowing another Katrina-type event to happen." Another monster hurricane hitting the U.S. mainland at some future date is inevitable; another Katrina should not be.