Storm wakes kittens. Kittens decide to suck on my pillow case which activates the hearing centers of my brain enough to notice the storm. The storm gets loud enough that Lin has to turn up the gunfire and screaming movie he is watching. My eyes open enough to notice “someone” has learned how to open the bedroom closet. This activates other portions of my brain, and my bladder realizes I had a huge glass of water before going to bed last night. And thus … I am now awake.

The weather is most foul right now, and I am hearing Austin may have its worst winter storm in years this weekend (mostly Monday). A 30% chance of snow! Hey, Mother Nature, I wanted ice and snow on Xmas, not Martin Luther King Day!

In other local news, if anyone is interested, Governor Perry is opposing proposed legislation that would send 100% of a state sales tax on sporting goods to our state parks department. He agrees we need to spend more on our state lands, but not THAT much. Of course, what I suppose he hopes everyone forgets is that in 1993 that very tax was dedicated entirely TOO the state parks department … which, of course, hasn’t been happening, because they keep pillaging that budget to spend the money on other crap. Just like the lottery income was supposed to go entirely to schools, once they saw the green rolling in, they couldn’t keep their hands off it. Don’t think I believe the new tax on cigarettes is going to go to schools either. I am entirely too accustomed to my state government coming up with new ways to make money for problem areas and then not following through with it to believe anything they say about where money will go.

Want some sobering statistics on poverty in the area? One in six Travis County residents lives in poverty. One … in … six. Nearly 50% of single mothers with children under the age of five live in poverty. Both of those are depressing statistics.

In closing, the Texas House passed its session rules, and on the monitor behind the front podium the words “In God We Trust” will now be prominently displayed whenever the screen isn’t being used for house business. Why? “To remind us to whom we answer.” How about the words “The People of Texas” instead? Isn’t that really to whom they are supposed to answer?

Enough local news. I better go make Lin some coffee, and then maybe I will crawl back into bed … provided the kittens will let me go back to sleep.