No, I’m not referring to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” …

If you've been following the posts on this website you may remember that I posted this past summer about my love of Baseball, and of the perennial feud between Cub and White Sox fans. Well, as a very remarkable year ends, while our newly-elected politicians get ready to do battle in January, and while most Baseball fans have gone into hibernation until Spring Training, I want to end this year with some thoughts and memories about the game I love, and of three former players who recently passed away.

Any adult who truly loves Baseball not only loved to play the game, but also loves the strategy, the statistics, the history, and the life-lessons of the game. You become attached to a team, or teams, and that attachment lasts a lifetime—reaching back to the history of the teams and forward to pass the love affair to your children and grandchildren.

Baseball is a game that, as it's learned and played, teaches both individual responsibility, and responsibility for the eight other players with whom you share a uniform and a field. It is a simple, yet deceptively difficult game that teaches hope, perseverance, redemption, and renewal; for any error on the field or at the plate can be overcome over the next few innings, in the next game, and over a lifetime of seasons. The best hitters fail 70% of the time, the best pitchers give up 3 runs a game, and the best teams have lost between 35 and 62 games in a season. In fact, of the 83 teams since 1892 that have won 100 or more games in a season, over 50 of them did not win the title; and of the rarified 6 teams that won 110 or more games, only 3 won the World Series. Those few moments of pure joy, when your team finally wins it all (or comes so close), can sustain a lifetime of attachment.

It is a boy's game that binds fathers and sons (and some mothers and daughters, too), and for some moments—like we experienced in October, 2005—it can bind a whole city in shared joy, expectation, grief, and hope. It's a boy's game that a few men have had the luck to play as adults; and some of those men have played it so well that they have stayed in our collective memory as the young men they were, long after they've stopped playing the game.

Three of those men recently passed away: Bob Feller; Phil Cavarretta; and Ron Santo. To end this year, I'd like to share what I know about each of them.

While 10 Texas Republican Senators try to undermine Gov. Rick Perry's correct decision to reject Obama changes to Texas' unemployment compensation system, freshman Rep. Ken Legler (R-144)introduced a common sense bill that eliminates the perceived necessity of taking the $555 million in 'stimulus' funds. His bill, HB-1135, is being considered in the House Committee on Technology, Economic Development & Workforce this morning. The relevant text:

Sec. 207.026.  REQUIRED DRUG TESTING; DISQUALIFICATION FOR BENEFITS. (a) Each individual who files a claim for benefits under Chapter 208 or receives benefits under this subtitle must submit to drug testing as provided by this section.

Too bad the wayward Republican senators that want to go against Gov. Perry didn't think of that, isn't it? The estimated savings easily offset the 'stimulus' funds and do not require Texas to change its unemployment insurance program such that it pays part-timers to sit at home. The estimated savings are staggering:

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	Total
Savings	$139	$138	$131	$127	$157	$692
Cost	$43	$42	$40	$39	$38	$202
Total	$96	$96	$91	$88	$119	$490
			(millions)

You didn't realize so many unemployed workers were druggies, did you? And that is just the first five years. Unlike O's 'stimulus', it continues the savings year after year, while the plan the 10 Republican Senators signed onto will cost Texans year after year, both fiscally and socially.

It is unlikely to get a fair hearing or to pass because major changes in law and policy generally do not come from freshmen legislators. As well, the drumbeat from the Democrats will be loud in opposing such a common sense fiscal idea and even though they are the minority party they seem to have the upper hand this session. There is also the separation of the general budget funds and the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund to deal with.

At any rate, kudos to Rep. Legler for trying. I'll be letting my representative know that I support this bill.

Harris County Commissioners Court went along with retiring Precinct 8 Constable Bill Bailey's plan to give his chief deputy a leg up in next year's election:

Phil Sandlin was appointed Precinct 8 Constable by Harris County Commissioners Court this morning, to take effect June 1 on current Constable Bill Bailey’s retirement.

You probably remember that Bailey "sacrificed" himself by quitting because of the layoffs he was forced into, right? Sure you do, the media fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Below is a quote from ABC 13's Miya Shay's report on his resignation March 22nd:

It's a bold move by Harris County's longest-serving current constable dealing with budget cuts. During Tuesday morning's meeting at commissioners' court, Precinct 8 Constable Bill Bailey announced he would step down and cut his own position, rather than fire another one of his employees.

LOL, a "bold move". Anyone that follows politics in Harris County knew that it wasn't bold at all - it was a political move designed to give Phil Sandlin a leg up in the primary next year because it was widely known that Bailey wasn't going to run again. And Commissioners Court likes it because Sandlin is a good guy and well known to them. This move gives Sandlin about 10 months as the incumbent, meaning he'll be tough to beat. It'll be interesting to see if anyone runs against him.

Politics as usual. Next.