The Life and Times of the Watters Family

Marathon Training Update

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update on my training for the Portland Marathon. Well, I haven’t stopped training and, in fact, the race is just a little over two weeks away on October 9th. I’m tapering down my training now to get rested for the race.

Things have been super busy at work and at home, so I’ll post my backlog of running diary/log entries when I get a chance.

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First Day of Kindergarten

Caleb starred in a photo essay in today’s issue of the local newspaper.

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Sean’s 1st Day of School

Sean’s first day of first grade.

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Who’s To Blame for Katrina’s Destruction?

I don’t usually post stuff like this here, but I’ve been following news coverage, and frankly, I’m getting pretty pissed off. I’m not an expert, and don’t claim to be one. Here goes:

While I agree the federal government has a responsibility to these people, doesn’t the bulk of the governmental responsibility here lie with the mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana?

Why wasn’t the city doing more for it’s poor during the evacuation? Why wasn’t it using it’s fleet of school buses and public transportation buses to get people out? Why wasn’t it coordinating with nearby cities to plan, IN ADVANCE, for adequate shelter and refugee housing?

Why isn’t anyone addressing the fact that ALL of the adults in the city CHOSE to live there in the first place. The potential for this type of disaster was a WELL KNOWN RISK. Heck, I knew about it and I live about as far away as you can get in the lower 48 — in Washington State.

While I believe it is tragic that people are in such dire straights, it seems irresponsible to ignore the fact the the primary factors that placed any/all persons in this predicament were the result of local municipal decisions and the personal choices of individual citizens in and around New Orleans and NOT the federal government.

For the record, I live near the base of an active volcano that has long been predicted, by some, to blow its top. Additionally, it has long been predicted that the area will be hit with a major earthquake any day now (they’ve been saying it for at least 10 years). When those events occur, if I’m still living here, I won’t be asking why the government didn’t do more to earthquake proof the city (much of which is built on top of a landfill or old coal mines) or protect us from lava flows. If I survive, I’ll get up, make sure my family is safe and then get to work helping my neighbors.

UPDATED 2005-09-07:

I’m not alone. Here are the best of the pros saying what I said.

Blame Amid the Tragedy
Don’t blame only feds
An Unnatural Disaster

No matter who is ultimately to blame, everyone should be doing what they can to help out. One way to do that is to donate to the Red Cross.

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