Perry Watches His State Burn

Seen from space, the wildfires of Texas rage on.  Currently the worst of the wildfires are in Bastrop County near Austin, TX.  I have many dear friends that live in the Austin area and have spent countless hours these past couple of days checking on their safety and hoping that they remain safe.

It sickens me to learn that our wonderful state governor and now presidential candidate Rick Perry, in March cut state funding for the volunteer fire departments that protect most of the state from wildfires by 75%.  Firefighters have actually been dipping into their own pockets to fight fires.  Volunteer departments that were already facing financial strain had their funding cut from $30 million to $7 million.  There are 879 volunteer fire departments in Texas, 114 paid fire departments, while 187 departments are a combination of volunteer and paid.  (source)

In lieu of funding fire departments who are our first line of defense against these out of control wildfires, Perry asked the citizens of Texas to pray for rain.  Texas is now in the depths of the worst drought in state history.    However, Perry is wasting no time in asking for federal disaster relief and stated earlier this week that FEMA would be in the state yesterday. 

An estimated 1,600 homes have been destroyed during these wildfires and the Bastrop wildfire is only 30% under control.  Brave men and women are putting their lives in harms way in hopes of getting the blazes under control.  Some of the volunteers are those who have retired from the force but are giving their time and effort to save homes and lives. 

Also earlier in the week in a made-for-TV moment, Perry announced that he was cutting his campaign schedule short to return to Texas to oversee the relief efforts.  All the while cameras caught moments of Perry consoling evacuees, climb into a helicopter to survey the damage from the air and then leave the rest to his response team as he jet off to California just in time for the republican presidential debate. 

Nero played his fiddle while he watched his empire burn ...  Perry just toots his own horn.