With about two weeks left in the legislative session, lawmakers are entering the phase when bills start to wither and die. Thursday was a critical deadline in the state house which was made all the more deadly when Tea Party-aligned lawmakers, who groused that they were being punished for petty personal politics, engaged in running out the clock maneuvers which would kill lots of bills. Meanwhile, it was the artful parliamentary maneuvers in the Texas Senate that saved a slew of bills that