Finally…Obama Declares Texas Wildfires A Disaster
Posted by Lady Liberty on Saturday, July 2, 2011, 6:57 PM
Finally! More than 1.2 million burned acres later the President has finally recognized that a major disaster exists in the State of Texas and has ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the area struck by wildfires during the period of April 6 to May 3, 2011.
(Dentonrc)
Of course, this is only a partial approval which applies only to fires fought during a designated four week period.
Chron reported -
Stop the presses!
After months of wildfires that have scorched more than 1.2 million acres of the Lone Star State, President Obama today declared the state a “major disaster” area.
Gov. Rick Perry, the state’s Republican senators and GOP legislators in Austin and Washington have been hammering Obama since April, saying that the president was ignoring a crisis in Texas while responding to other disasters in Alabama, Missouri and elsewhere. Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel said the state did not qualify for “major disaster” status because fires are treated differently than other natural disasters. White House officials flatly denied any bias against Texas, as was alleged by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Dallas, and Perry.
The Texas governor repeatedly filed requests for a presidential disaster declaration, even after Obama’s serial refusal to approve his requests. The White House announcement this afternoon came on the day Perry underwent minor back surgery.
The federal disaster declaration covered 45 counties, primarily in West Texas. The White House announcement said the new aid is designed “to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area struck by wildfires during the period of April 6 to May 3, 2011.”
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison all released late-Friday statements supporting the president’s declaration. Perry, in his statement, was quick to point out that he thought the federal support, while good for Texas, was late.
“This partial approval only applies to fires fought between April 6 and May 3, 2011, covering just a fraction of the fires fought in Texas so far this season,” the statement read. “On April 15, Gov. Perry sent a letter to President Obama requesting a Major Disaster Declaration for the State of Texas…the governor’s request was denied on May 3. Gov. Perry appealed the president’s decision on May 26.”In his joint statement with Sen. Hutchison, Sen. Cornyn struck a tone similar to the governor’s.
“I am glad the President finally answered the repeated calls of officials in Texas,” Cornyn said in the statement. “I’m disappointed that he took so long to issue this declaration for the first responders, farmers, ranchers and landowners in Texas who suffered through the loss of hundreds of structures and thousands of wildfires.”
It’s an Obama world.
Better late than never. Better some than none.
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FurryGuyJeans commented:
It pained Barry no end to even acknowledge Texas exists, since the state went for McLame in 2008.
FurryGuyJeans commented:
Barry was too busy partying and attending fund raisers to pay any attention to the plight of a bunch of bitter clingers.
Barry: “What have you done for me today, Texas?”
Rose commented:
I’m from Texas. This skeers me! He must have found a way to make it COST US MORE than it HELPS! I don’t trust him.
wanumba commented:
Compare how Obama responds to American emergencies to how he responded to Haiti.
President of Etazinni. Haiti is hardly more than one city on a pennisula. The land area of American disasters this year between flood, tornados and fire dwarfs tiny Haiti, dwarfs most countries of the world.
AWOL.
daryl commented:
From all of the reports I’ve heard our Texas fires are 90% controlled or out through lots of hard work and a lot of prayers.. Way to go BrackO.
Lordy, you are a pitiful excuse for a leader. But thanks anyway.
CONNECTICUT SSN 042-68-4425 commented:
Obama IS a DISASTER!
“We Are The Birthers We’ve Been Waiting For” – http://www.ObamaFake.bravehost.com
chuck in st paul commented:
“Ya gonna vote Republican again there Texas…?? It’d be a shame for something to happen… like maybe a little fire, or maybe a really huge fire. Ya might need a friend in high places, Hmmm?? Maybe someone like the President? Just sayin’, ya never know what might happen.”
More Chicago thuggery in action brought to you by the 52%. So how’s all that Hope and Change workin’ for ya?
retire05 commented:
The Houston Chronical was only partially right. It said that there were 1.2 million acres lost. That is correct if you only count the fires between April 6th and May 3rd. The total loss of acrage is 2.2 million acres, over a thousand homes, barns and out buildings, two firefighter deaths, untold loss of cattle and crops.
Think about that for a minute. Texas lost a land mass area that is as large as Yellowstone National Park. And Obama was off watching Weiner pics.
Mike W commented:
If only the fires had called him a “dick”, his response would have been immediate.
pjean commented:
So tell me. Does Obama have any big fundraisers coming up in the near future in Texas?
Pecos commented:
If I never see another horse on fire I’ll die content. West Texas is on edge and Obama loves lizards more than America. Just sayn’
Pat the First commented:
Obama is late for everything. That’s because he has no respect for anyone.
L.E. Liesner commented:
What can you expect from an absentee president? Maybe he thought that Biden was in charge of the fires too. Look at what the MSM did to Bush when they thought he didn’t act promptly enough in their eyes on Katrina. Nothing but double standards in this country today.
kato commented:
Texas had already declared Blowhard a disaster.
SeniorD commented:
Don’t expect Barry the White House Temp to go slow with the wild fires. Good evidence that at least one was caused by illegal border crossers. Can’t have all those prospective Demodonk voters getting the blame – thus only certain timeframes count.
vityas commented:
I really thought McCain was going to win even though I didn’t like him.
But look at the choice. I didn’t believe Americans were stupid enough to elect this guy.
Now how can you believe that the same number of people will vote for him again? You think it’s impossible. This small, petty, vindictive, racist, who either hates most of us or pathologically doesn’t care about most of us to a degree that he would break the 11th Commandment (Thou shalt not stand idly by) and let us suffer while he plays golf. What kind of man is this? There is something broken in him. It’s revealed continually, weekly, unabashedly, unashamedly.
And yet millions will vote for him again.
If there are psychiatrists in the future, if anyone can afford to go to med school and there’s still electricity so they can read books by lightbulbs and not strips of cloth soaked in used motor oil, they’ll have a field day studying this case.
gus commented:
I’d love Obama to spend the rest of his days in a Prison, where he can be examined by the finest Psychiatrists and Psychologists in the world.
Alana commented:
He doles out things only as people personally please him.
He thinks he’s a king. He’s delusional.
AuntieMadder commented:
Barky got scared Perry would take his job and kick his butt, too!
sandy commented:
#19 July 2, 2011 at 10:12 pm
AuntieMadder commented:
Barky got scared Perry would take his job and kick his butt, too!
You took the words right out of my mouth.
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