True, it's partisan and it needs to be done every so often. What is bothering me is the multiple special sessions when we have a legal map already in place and there has been little public support. In McAllen, the Texas Rangers had to be called out to maintain the peace at one of the local hearings to discuss the issue. Liberal numbers are saying 90% of people who attended the hearings were opposed to the plans and since I haven't heard anything come out of the other camp on that aspect, I'll assume it's somewhere around 75% really opposed it. I personally wouldn't mind seeing either the courts officially take charge of it or some sort of computerized system. It really shouldn't be too hard to create a map that keep districts in some sort of realistic geographic areas while maintaining proper demographics for the area. (I throw in the realistic geographic areas bit because in the last map I read about, Austin was divided into three or four districts including one that went from South Austin to the Mexican border). Plus, we can't afford all these special sessions as far as I'm concerned. I'm going to be paying more in tuition to get decreased services partly to do with a cut in funding from the state. Call it short-sighted but I'm paying more for a state institution while we hear about all these money problems. All the while, all Austin is concerned with is drawing lines that are legal as they are. Go ahead and redistrict but wait until 1) other matters are taken care of, 2) the state's financial outlook is a little better, 3) when the courts declare the current map illegal and/or 4) in 2011 when the Constitution says we're supposed to.