I MOVE TO REDUCE THE GENTLEMAN'S TIME

Sorry about being so irregular here. Billy Clyde ran out of Internet Metamusil.

Gotta be brief, but ...

**Can someone explain to me why H.B. 218, the first voter identification up today (we’re on Amendment 30 after about six hours of debate, with no end in sight) is important? Every freshman and sophomore at UT has gone to the flee market on U.S. 290 and got ‘em a fake ID. If someone really, really wants to vote, why wouldn’t they do the same?

BC’s proposed election law reform: mandatory voter competency test. In a society in which Jackass was No. 1 at the box office and some people think Borat was a real documentary and Who Wants To Marry A Dancing Millionaire Apprentice or some such nonsense gets higher ratings than Friday Night Lights ... well, you see where I’m heading.

**It’s been a full week since the House conferees on the general appropriations act (H.B. 1) were appointed. But still no Senate conferees. Throw darts at the wall, have a Twister contest, use the rock-scissors-paper method – whatever works. But for the love of God, don’t drag us bystanders into a special session. This plain old regular session is wicked enough.

P.S. The delay has nothing to do with the Lieutenant Governor tying the appointment of conferees to action on that Jessica’s Law bill. Billy Clyde knows this as an iron-clad fact because he read in the clips this weekend that Governor Dewhurst said so.

**Speaking of that Jessica’s Law deal, has anyone else heard about a filibuster tomorrow on that issue? I know that Senators exerting special privileges like voting “no” on a bill or filibustering is frowned on these days. But the bill will be eligible tomorrow, so it’s possible.

**The Sunset Review process is a freakin’ joke. The safety net bill places no pressure whatsoever on members to pass a Sunset legislation. Witness the TABC bill today (it failed last session, too). Senator Montford called the Sunset system “pet food for lobbyists,” so I would normally be a big booster. But even lobbyists don’t get much out of it anymore.

Sheryl Crow (great musician and former Lance Armstrong flame) just came out for toilet paper restrictions as an environmental protection measure. Eliminating Sunset would save WAY more paper and would have other, uh, benefits not offered by her one-square per crap idea.

**After Calendars tonight sets a schedule for the rest of this week, we’re down to about 10 legislative days left for House bills in the House. To quote felonious cook and decorator Martha Stewart, “That’s a good thing.”

Folks and folkettes, I gotta move the previous question. And again, Billy Clyde is taking positive steps to be more regular with you nice people.