Eight Feet Deep

Some of my favorite Texas political bloggers such as Vince’s Capitol Annex and Eileen’s side-splitting In the Pink Texas are wound up over the House speaker’s race. But EFD — not so much.

In fact, other than what state legislative matters I have to watch for in the course of my work as a writer, I could care less than little about the new Texas Lege session.

In times past I would be excited, jazzed, etc., over the start of a new session and all the political intrigue that went along with it. Now, not so much.

My prodigious apathy over the Texas Legislature dates back to the 2003 session when the Republicans took over. Since the body of the Lege had historically been GOPs in a Dem’s clothing for as long as I can remember, I was hoping that the rabid partisanship that defined politics during the late 20th and early 21st centuries would somehow miss the Texas Legislature. But miss it, it didn’t. And the trifling matters such as school finance, water issues and highways all had to wait in order for puppet-master Republican congressional whip Tom DeLay to engineer redrawing congressional districts. Then came the Democrats leaving for Oklahoma and I would have been just as happy had the Republicans followed suit.

The Texas Legislature has thus seemed like a wretched case of body lice during the last few years except for the fact that one may sometime get rid of lice. I do not relish the stupid legislation and the silly political maneuvering that may come from this or any future Texas Legislatures until it can be shown that they are doing at least a smidgen of work in the best interest of the state rather than in the best self-interest or best special interest.

Of course, I will follow what’s going on with the Lege in the news and on the blogs of my favorite bloggers. But until the Lege shows me something in the way of governing, I will continue my orgy of apathy.

A teen in my adopted hometown of Beaumont, Texas, obviously did not stay awake in Joyriding 101 class. At least he forgot the part that says if you are going to steal an automobile and go joyriding, make sure that you are able to drive it.

This kid stole the Beaumont Fire Department’s most expensive truck, a quint with an aerial ladder, and took it for a joyride before flipping it on its side.

The theft happened at an apartment fire on what was the very last day for retiring Fire Chief Mickey Bertrand. After this incident, the recent tumultuous contract negotiations between the city and Beaumont’s firefighters union, and the outgoing chief’s suspension for condoning an assistant chief’s purchase of tobacco products for overworked firefighters during the aftermath of Hurricane Rita, it wouldn’t be surprising if Bertrand is breathing a sigh of relief to be leaving.

Scientists continue to unveil studies that a hypothesize a little drinking can be good for you. We are still having to wait on whether any correlations can be made between a healthy life and the all fried food diet. Links between drinking wine and healthy living actually made the year’s top diet stories, according to the Associated Press.

Our scientific minds are on the right track. But they do need to draw some solid conclusions about the positive benefits of drinking and a healthy body so we may shout it from the mountain top: “Drink More!”

Of course, we must put in a qualifying statement that drinking too much and driving is a no-no. It also is generally understood that drinking too much of anything — alcohol or not — is usually not very healthy for the bod.

And since most of you know what great fondness this blog has for conceited mannequins, we must also warn that actions such as this shocking news sent by our alert friend Suzie in Arkansas are something that should not be tolerated whether we are drinking or not drinking.

One positive aspect of the holidays, especially New Year’s, is the marathons of various syndicated television reruns. Among those I watched over the weekend were episodes of “Seinfeld” and “Twilight Zone.”

All the “Seinfeld” episodes were good but my favorite played during this marathon was “The Voice” episode. It involved the quandry Jerry found himself in: Giving up a funny voice that he and his friends were doing or having his girlfriend leave him. I mean, the answer is obvious isn’t it? The girlfriend has to go. What I’ve always liked about “Seinfeld” is the sub-plots. Each of these were hilarious.

I had not watched any “Twilight Zone” episodes in quite awhile. I saw two last evening. One featured a very young William Shatner who is a newlywed obsessed with a penny fortune-telling machine. The other show was about an airliner in 1961 flying through a time warp, first the pilots see dinosaurs, then they decide to fly back through the warp and with fuel running low they have to settle for New York in 1938. Although I like some sci-fi, I am not what you would call a big fan. I did, however, like the “Twilight Zone” because of its quirky situations and well-timed suspense.

Sometimes, it is cool to visit the past whether it be through a TV program, a picture album or reading a book. I don’t think I would permanently want to be transported back to the 1930s though.

Wide awake into the morning of Jan. 1, 2007 and I see not a lot has changed. The death count for U.S. troops in Iraq hit 3,000. A peter_king/12/31/week17/”>pro football star was killed in a drive-by. And, the Supreme Court wants a raise. (well, who doesn’t?)

But good news also can be found. Scientists may help contain Mad Cow disease by … oh well, you read the story. Turkey is celebrating the meeting of the Islamic and Gregorian calendars. Also, those of us who are reading this are alive. So that can be good news.

It is my prediction that this year we shall see both good and bad news. The same can probably be said for 2008 as well. On that note, I say: Happy New Year and don’t take any wooden nickels.