It was great. From out of the story books of the 60's and 70's ... 51 Texas House members bolt the state, and bring the Texas House to its knees. Now, that's politics!

But I had to go to the research stacks, because I could have sworn that Tom DeLay was not in the Texas House any longer. And you know, I remembered correctly. DeLay is now in the U.S. House -- you know, the Big House in Washington (not to be confused with the Big House in Leavenworth, or the Little House in LaGrange) - no, he runs the U.S. House of Representatives.

So, what the heck is the Big Whig from Washington doing in Austin, trying to strong-arm the Texas House into undertaking a most peculiar, off-year, Congressional Redistricting Bill. This bill would cut my home town, Austin, up like day-old pie at Ma Crier's Diner - more slices, more prices - centering right on MY State Capitol.

Here's the story in a most objective nutshell. Texas Democrats outnumber Texas Republicans in the U.S. House, 17-15. That really ticks off the U.S. House leader, Republican DeLay, who thinks that the delegation should be "more in line with the popular vote" - which put Republicans in all statewide elected positions. So a bill was introduced in the Texas House, attempting to do just that, but enough Democrats "bolted" and left the State, leaving the State House helpless in not having enough members to legally meet. That is, until the deadline passed for consideration of the bill, and all returned to ... well ... normal. It was storied!

But doesn't DeLay have more important things to do in Washington? His job title says he "schedules bills for consideration by the U.S. House". Not the TEXAS House. Doesn't the U.S. House have little things like record deficits to tackle, or even - brace yourself - shouldn't they be trying to resurrect the economy by more than giving the average bloke a couple of hundred bucks to spend on shoe repair so he can look for more jobs?

This will get me in trouble, but the Honorable Mr. DeLay said it first. He said that the Texas Congressional Delegation should be "more in line with the popular vote of Texas" - that is, Republican.  OK. Granted. Then if logic holds, shouldn't the White House be occupied by someone equally more in line with the popular vote of the nation? Care to rethink your comments, Mr. DeLay?