Rick tours fire damage...

Wildfires are especially bad in Texas this year. We've faced nearly two years of drought immediately following crazy amounts of rain in early 2007. Those rains caused a lot of things to grow explosively, then the two years of drought have dried everything out. It's prime for wildfires in Texas.

Rick toured some wildfire ravaged areas (link). Excerpt follows...

Holly and her 11-year-old daughter, Adryanna, came to ask Governor Perry how he planned to help them for the future. Perry said the Texas legislature is working right now to develop its own disaster relief fund. So homeowners like Russell don't have to wait as long for help. "Instead of us waiting like we are today for the federal government dollars to flow down here to assist in the recovery of these counties that we are immediately able because we have created this fund in the state to put those dollars into place," said Gov. Rick Perry.

But Texans across the fire-stricken area have clung together like never before. And Perry said he's proud as ever. "Some of you risked your lives to take care of your friends. And that kind of investment in a community that is all too rare in the world we live in today. And I wanted to come here today and say thank you for being great Texans, for taking care of your neighbors. Your efforts demonstrate the way that Texans take care of their own and thank you for what you've done."

Governor Perry said he's asked President Obama to make an emergency declaration in nearly 200 Texas counties and several more major disaster declarations. He said those will help provide for better resources to fight future disasters.

Some see a contradiction between this and the 10th amendment stuff, but from my perspective Rick can use this and other natural disasters as a tool for railing against the federal government. People generally remember how Texas came to the rescue to so many Katrina victims, and how Texas much like Mississippi has its act much more together than, say, Louisiana or the feds, when it comes to hurricanes. The Texas>federal government theme fits when it comes to these disasters. Step one is asking the feds for help. Step two is reminding that they still have not helped. Step three is talking about federal bureaucracy and mismanagement from the feds when they do finally allocate resources. It goes on and on like that most of the time. It has worked pretty well for a lot of governors for a long time all across America.