HOUSTON — The Federal Emergency Management Agency is refusing to provide additional money to help rebuild the small Texas town where a deadly fertilizer plant explosion leveled numerous homes and a school, and killed 15 people. According to a letter obtained by The Associated Press, FEMA said it reviewed the state’s appeal to help but decided that the explosion “is not of the severity and magnitude that warrants a major disaster declaration.”…. FEMA already has provided millions of dollars in aid to the town of West and its residents, but the decision prevents them from getting some of the widespread assistance typically available to victims of tornadoes, hurricanes and other natural disasters. The decision likely means less money to pay for public repairs to roads, sewer lines, pipes and a school that was destroyed.
I’m not here to make light of the suffering visited upon the people of West, TX. Lord knows there’s been enough of that, and they deserve a helping hand.
What I do find interesting, though, is that no one in Texas- least of all Governor Pander McCrazy- seems to recognize the hypocrisy inherent in expecting the federal government to ride to their rescue. After years of demanding that the feds get off their backs and leave the good, God-fearing people of Texas alone, NOW they’re demanding ever greater amounts of federal assistance yesterday? Their governor and a goodly number of their Congressional delegation not so very long along were bleating about seceding from the union. Now that they’re in a difficult condition, they’re demanding federal assistance immediately, if not sooner.
Move along, people; no hypocrisy here….
There’s something about Texas Conservatives (and Teapublicans in general) that allows them to simultaneously hold two competing convictions between their ears. They’ll disparage government as the most evil, insidious, and burdensome institution known to man. Then they suffer a disaster of some sort and suddenly they’re positively frothing with righteous indignation over the fact that federal assistance wasn’t on site yesterday a nanosecond after the event ends.
Texas politicians, and the public who elected them, don’t seem to have any issue with this sort of hypocrisy. What it really represents is the dissent and opposition of convenience. When things are going well, it’s wasy to disparage government. When your back’s against the wall, who are you going to call, right?
I’m assuming that FEMA based its decision on solid criteria put in place to eliminate the possibility that a disaster declaration could be manipulated as political punishment. I can’t blame the people of West for being disappointed, but that’s not to say that FEMA hasn’t been there for the people of West.
If Texans there are upset about FEMA denying them more disaster relief assistance, I’d suggest they take a good, long, and HONEST look at what they’ve been advocating and demanding for years. They might then be forced to admit to the reality that karma isn’t always a lot of fun, knowhutimean?
