Texas Twisted

Texas Twisted
IBD Editorials ^ | May 18, 2011 | Staff

Posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 8:32:13 PM by Kaslin

Politics: The month-long cold shoulder that the White House gave Texas' plea for a disaster declaration was bad enough. Now the wildfire-scorched state has been turned down flat. Don't think this isn't about punishment.

Through no fault of its own, Texas has now lost 2.3 million acres of land to a freak weather combination that has ignited 9,000 wildfires across the state well ahead of summer. 

At least two people have been killed, 400 homes incinerated, 1,200 miles of agricultural fencing destroyed and nearly 1,000 horses, cattle and sheep left to perish since November.

We would think at least some of its 200 counties would be in line for a routine federal disaster declaration to grant firefighting aid and access to low-interest loans that will help with the rebuilding.

That's what neighboring Oklahoma, with a similar fire situation got, and it's certainly what tornado-ravaged Alabama and other states in the region were deservingly given. Even California's coast, caught in the wake of Japan's March tsunami, got a swift disaster declaration to repair its yacht harbors.
But now we're supposed to believe the Federal Emergency Management Agency when it says Texas doesn't need this particular declaration, that it already has gotten "enough" from feds who dragged the process out for more than a month before making any response.

Coming from a president who once complained to an interviewer about his perception that the state hasn't shown him sufficient gratitude, this isn't surprising.

But statesmanship it is not. Until now, disaster aid has been the least-politicized of any government spending. The U.S. has shown generosity even to its worst enemies — Iran, North Korea and Cuba among them — at times of sudden need.

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