The dumbest power grab has to be Governor Perry’s. I can sort of understand it; anything that’s going to involve a lot of state committment, he wants control of. But to turn over total authority for calling evacuations to bureaucrats who are not from and have no experience in coastal conditions is rank stupidity.

Worse, it’s much ado about very little. The Rita evacuation mess occured for one reason, and one reason only: press sensationalism over Katrina only 3 weeks earlier. We will never see such an insane evacuation again, not even if news breaks that there’s a terrorist nuclear weapon about to detonate, simply because everyone who experienced the madhouse of that evacuation has said “Screw it, I’m not doing that again. I’d rather take my chances on being blown away.”

The state authorities need to have open lines of communication and prepared action plans for when such an evacuation is necessary, not a centralized command that has to give all the orders. Just ask the residents of New Orleans how depending on their Governor to give the necessary orders worked so well for them. To see a Republican governor attempt such a stupid centralization and power grab is . . . all too typical these days, I’m afraid.

The other power grab is even less justified, but more expected. Is anyone surprised that the mayor’s new Parking Authority wants, well, more authority? As I said before, it’s part of the long range plan to remove property rights and as much government as possible from our grasp, and milk us for as much revenue as possible.. TIRZ’s, METRO, Parking Authorities…. the elites at the core of our city’s power structure will stop at nothing to determine the direction of this city’s growth and force it into the mold they want.