[Texas] wildfires have ravaged more than 1,000 square miles of mostly rural terrain in the last week, prompting Gov. Rick Perry to ask President Barack Obama for federal help.
“Texas is reaching its capacity to respond to these emergencies and is in need of federal assistance,” Perry said in a statement Sunday. “I urge President Obama to approve our request quickly.”
Wildfires have spread across more than 700,000 acres — about the size of Rhode Island — in drought-stricken Texas. About half a dozen massive fires were still burning.
Calmer winds gave firefighters a chance to get a handle on a few massive fires Saturday, and some residents were able to return to their homes — or what was left of them. Winds intensified again Sunday to 20 to 25 mph from the south with gusts to 30 mph, giving new life to even some fires that had been declared fully contained, the Texas Forest Service said. LINK.
Regarding the wildfires, Texas Liberal writes:
I’d also like to know when the Tea Party volunteer fire companies and the Tea Party disaster relief teams will be rushing to assist people impacted by the fire? Where are county Republican parties in Texas organizing teams of citizen-volunteers to help out our fellow Texans so that they will not have to turn to government?
Are we going to allow socialized fire companies of public employees team up with Washington to do the job that everyday Texas citizens should be doing?
Please read the entire post: Rick Perry Asks For Help From Washington For Texas Wildfires—Where Are The Tea Party Volunteer Disaster Relief Teams?
The Runaway Lawyer 
lobotero said,
April 18, 2011 at 4:01 am
But I thought they wanted to go it alone…secede or some sort of nonesense….
runawaylawyer said,
April 18, 2011 at 10:23 am
You’re not getting rid of us that easily!
“Sanford Levinson, a professor at the School of Law at the University of Texas at Austin, said that between the Texas Constitution, the U.S. Constitution and the 1845 Joint Resolution Annexing Texas to the United States, there is no explicit right for the state to return to its days as a republic.
“We actually fought a war over this issue, and there is no possibility whatsoever that the United States or any court would recognize a ‘right’ to secede,” Levinson said in an e-mail.
Levinson noted that the 1845 resolution allows for Texas to break itself into five states but doesn’t specify whether that would require congressional approval — and forming new states still wouldn’t constitute secession.
Limbaugh said on his program Thursday that Perry’s speculation on the possibility of secession might awaken conservatives to actions by the federal government that he described as abusing citizens.”
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/04/17/0417gop.html