The Friendship State?

Commentary would like to remind folks this morning that our official state motto is “friendship.” Sure. We sure don’t sound or act like the “Friendship State” today.

This came out this morning:

Texas Tribune Retweeted

Alexa Ura‏Verified account @alexazura 6h6 hours ago

Houston ISD opposes #SB6, says HISD trustee Anna Eastman — only school district to come out against bill at hearing #txlege

Good for my good friend Anna and HISD!

Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Lisa Falkenberg also has something to say. Here is how she starts out:

Once upon a time, the Texas Senate was regarded as the stately grown-up body of the Legislature and the lower chamber was affectionately referred to as the Animal House.

No more. These days, if you want leadership in Austin, you look down, not up.

Take education policy.

This week, the House’s public education chairman, Houston Republican Rep. Dan Huberty, filed a $1.6 billion proposal that, while imperfect, takes an important first step in addressing some nagging inequities that have dogged the Texas public school finance system for decades.

On Tuesday, his committee heard initial testimony on the bill that would make modest but helpful changes, such as clearing out some of the cobwebs in funding formulas and boosting funding for long-neglected dyslexic students.

What were they doing over in the mature chamber?

The Senate’s Committee on State Affairs was hearing lengthy testimony on a bill regulating potty time for Texans.

And here is how it ends:

Thank the Lord for the House, starting with Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, who appointed Huberty to chair public education.

Huberty recently made headlines when he said at a Texas Tribune event that vouchers were dead on arrival in the lower chamber. He said the issue had been studied and debated, and there simply wasn’t the support for it in the House.

“Why don’t we talk about the real issues?” the Houston Republican asked. “The discussion needs to be about the 5.3 million children that are in our system today.”

That, my friends, is what a grown-up sounds like – in case some of the kids in the upper chamber forgot.

Here is all of Lisa’s column: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Who-are-the-grown-ups-in-Austin-on-education-10984775.php?cmpid=btfpm.

Nice job, Lisa. Tell it like it is!

The hard-core MLB fans know that this player played for 13 different teams (12 franchises) and holds the record for most career pinch hit dingers. He no longer plays but he certainly is still with us. Who am I talking about?

Then this tweet came out last night:

Fox News‏Verified account @FoxNews 13h13 hours ago

.@SenTomCotton: “There is no job in America that Americans will not do.” #oreillyfactor

I beg to differ and let me differ from experience. For the last two years, my part of the city block I live on has been under construction siege. Three house have been completely or near completely rebuilt – rebuilt, not remodeled. The houses on either side of me and one across the street. I am also talking about big and huge houses.   I have seen up close who is doing the heavy lifting so to speak. I hear what they are whistling while they work and they are not whistling American tunes.

Matt Stairs of course has the MLB record with 23 career pinch hit dingers. Stairs played with (in this order) the Expos, Red Sox, A’s, Cubbies, Brewers, Pirates, Royals, Rangers, Tigers, Blue Jays, Phillies, Padres and Nationals. He currently serves as the hitting coach for the Phillies.

As part of the giveaways at The Yard this season, on Friday, April 7 against the Royals, they are handing out 10,000 welcome mats.