We're almost halfway through the 80th Lege, and I agree with Burka that it's been a bizarre session. We've had the Speaker's race, the four-fifths rule non-suspension, the shenanigans to bypass the constitutional spending limit, the TYC and Jessica's Law and the HPV fight, and we still haven't really gotten into the grind, where bills are debated or killed on a daily basis. There's also been a sort of eerie quiet in between some of these battles, which just adds an extra element of surrealism. Some day we're going to look back on this and wonder what the hell happened.

And the worst part is that the upcoming ruling on Medicaid coverage that's sure to blow a hole in the budget, and in a worst case scenario may lead to 2003-style cuts in social services so that the cursed property tax reductions can still be paid for. Read Burka's analysis and get ready to crawl under your desk. Once again, it's gonna get ugly.