Last year, Rick Perry was talking secession. Now, with fires raging, a handout doesn't look so bad.With God apparently unmoved by Texas' official declaration of three days of prayer for rain, Gov. Rick Perry has turned his attention to another awesome potentate -- President Obama.
Specifically, Perry wants Obama to declare a federal state of emergency, which would allow Texas to recoup some 75 percent of the funds it is spending to combat devastating wildfires. But Perry is griping that despite having sent in his application on April 25, Obama still hasn't acted. Meanwhile, tornado-racked Alabama was lavished with immediate state-of-emergency love.
"You have to ask, 'Why are you taking care of Alabama and other states?' I know our letter didn't get lost in the mail," Perry, a Republican and frequent critic of the federal government, said after addressing a Texas emergency management conference.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has already authorized 20 emergency declarations for individual fires in Texas. But the obvious implication of the "you have to ask" phrasing is that Obama is delaying a statewide declaration as some kind of punishment for Texas, possibly in retaliation for its governor's well-publicized antipathy to the current administration.
http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2011/04/29/rick_perry_askes_for_federal_handout/ :nopity: