Now that I remember, I did drop a class in college once because the professor was too much of a left-wing radical (as opposed to a real liberal) who was way too critical, and unfairly so, of the United States and its government. It was a sociology class, and I was really disappointed in having to drop it.

I didn't have that choice with my right-wing reactionary eighth-grade social studies teacher. Yeah, the one who essentially said that if you don't support Reagan, you'll go to hell.

Then again, I believe in keeping one's political or religious opinions out of education and sticking to commonly-known-and-agreed-upon facts. Call me naïve; I dare you.

It's September, so hang in there... only four months more summer heat and it's Christmas.

For the second time, Musician, author and fellow smartass Kinky Friedman is seeking to become Texas' first Jewish governor. He ran in 2006 as an independent; this time, he's a Democrat.

His platform: a $3000 across-the board pay raise for teachers, abolishing standardized testing, closing toll roads, and legalizing casinos, using tax revenue to fund roads instead. He's got a fundraiser scheduled for later this month with Willie Nelson.

He joins Tom Schieffer, Hank Gilbert Mark Thompson in the Dem race. Republican challengers so far are Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (who I'd gladly support if she's got the best chance of being Perry) and Debra Medina.

Humorist, author and fellow smartass Kinky Friedman is seeking to become Texas' first Jewish governor. He ran in 2006 as an independent; this time, he's a Democrat.

His platform: a $3000 across-the board pay raise for teachers, abolishing standardized testing, closing toll roads, and legalizing casinos, using tax revenue to fund roads instead. He's got a fundraiser scheduled for later this month with Willie Nelson, so if it's in Austin, DO NOT LET ME MISS THIS.

He joins Tom Schieffer, Hank Gilbert Mark Thompson in the Dem race. Republican challengers so far are Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Debra Medina. (I forgot to post a blog entry about Kay when she announced her run, but here's a fact check from KXAN-TV here in Austin.)

I haven't been able to make any public entries lately, even in English. The mental fatigue that's been slowing my work is back. Some of it is this record heat wave that's lasted since June, but most of it is the usual internal stress.

I've also wanted to write more on the whole fight for health care reform in the US, but I really don't have much to say that more professional bloggers haven't said already. I'm really more interested in articles that explain the basic facts for regular folks that don't have much time to read things in depth without oversimplifying or spinning.

The four myths about the health care reform bill are as follows, and these have all refuted by simple fact-checks: "death panels" for the elderly, coverage for illegal immigrants, a government takeover of the health industry (which a public option is definitely not), and funding for abortions.

And there's a difference between being bipartisan and presenting both sides of an issue on one hand, and giving the facts and proven error equal time on the other, and the latter is not responsible behavior for the media. Truth is by nature biased in favor of itself.

Edit: PBS's Frontline makes the case that "socialized medicine" does not equal socialism.

Say it with me now... Sen. Al Franken (D-MN).

Google Translate has now added Persian to its list of working language ahead of schedule. It's still very rough, but online automatic translation isn't generally pretty (try translating English to Japanese back to English, for example).

Also, a candlelight vigil for slain protesters in Iran is scheduled tonight at Pfluger Bridge, 9 PM tonight. Since it's a memorial and not a protest, wear dark clothing and bring candles, not signs or flags. As they did the same for us after the September 11 attacks, I say we owe them the favor.

I'm no stereotypical Texan. I'm a vegetarian, for starters, both for health and ethical reasons. I don't condemn people for eating meat and wearing leather and silk, but hunting for sport and wearing luxury fur coats is vain savagery in my book. I'm also helping take care of a half dozen or so abandoned cats with some neighbors.

But PETA needs to give it up already, stop pretending to speak for all of us. They're now upset because Obama swatted a fly. They called it an "execution". So lemme get this straight... it's acceptable to let disease-carrying roaches and rats roam your family's house, or even deadly snakes and scorpions? At least give the President for showing more compassion to humans than his predecessor.

Even the strictest Jains, who don't even eat potatoes and carrots because that involves killing the plant, don't raise a fuss.

It's hard for me to follow the news, but naturally, I've been taking a great deal of interest in the events in Iran; I've studied Farsi, since I used to be married to someone from there. It could be that this obviously stolen election may be the best thing to happen for the country--hopefully. Either there will be another Velvet Revolution or another Tiananmen Square, twenty years after both events.

First: I take back everything bad I've ever said about Twitter. I just wish I had more reason to use the thing.

Second: the real bloggers are doing a much better job covering Iran than I ever will, and Andrew Sullivan and Team HuffPo are no exceptions. (Also includes some Rumi, a poet I've been trying to get more into lately.)

Third: Allahu akbar, and Ahmadinejad : Khamenei :: Bush : Cheney and Rove.

Fourth: thank God we didn't bomb Iran, Sen. McCain.

Fifth: why is the US media's reporting this thing so half-assed? They talked about what went down in 1979 non-stop, though we did have fifty-two hostages there for over a year. It was one of the first world news-thing I followed closely, and I was all of eight years old.

This is a United States Senator for God's sake. (Or maybe it's fake; who knows.)

As Americans, we are taught that, as Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Of course, this applies to non-Americans as well, though states don't always respect these rights.

That means that all that live and breathe have the right to be free, be happy and be alive. These rights apply to all* regardless of gender, age, race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or disability, as long as one can handle the responsibilities that invariably go with such rights. One can lose those rights if they deprive the same of others.

So if my Maker gave me these rights, do I even have the right to deny myself these blessings because others don't think I deserve them? Granted, "happiness" doesn't mean being as rich as Bill Gates and having a harem like Hugh Hefner, but happiness would imply being able to fulfil my dreams, use my talents, and being accepted as part of a community and treated with dignity in the same. I still think I should also get married, have that honeymoon in Paris and father one or two kids. It's not just a right to me, it's a duty. Except the trip to Paris of course.

I've had this argument with those who don't believe in natural unalienable rights. Some of them actually believe in God or claim to. But cynics are cynics for a reason; they've had a rough like I have, but reacted to it more negatively. I still don't know why they chose to live in the United States.

*Arguably, species could be added to the list, but that's another debate for another time...

Tomorrow night at 7 pm EDT, Ann Curry and Dateline NBC take us to Iran, who--God willing--will soon have a new President, Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

He has the support of former President Mohammad Khatami, a portion of the interview here.

Please, Ann. Show Iran as a real country with real people with a real culture and a real history and not some rabid fundamentalist rogue state bent on world domination or world destruction. Talk about how the overwhelming majority of Iranians are young adult or younger and women play a major role in society and government, even if they have to cover their heads in public. Talk about the Jewish community in Tehran, the largest in the Middle East outside of Israel, and how Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians each get at least a seat in Parliament. And talk about how Iran has given the world authors, poets, artists, scientists, philosophers, inventors and polymaths for thousands of years. They probably won't mention that Shi'ism preserved some of the spirit of ijtihad and open-mindedness that made the Islamic Golden Age great, at least until Khomeini and his cronies from Qom took over.

(Oh yeah, their women are also beautiful, their food pwns, and they may have invented the guitar.)

I get sick of hearing and reading people complaining about people speaking Spanish or some other language in public. Of all the problems we're having in this country, multilingualism is a comparatively petty thing. There's nothing in the First Amendment about language; free speech is free speech.

Yes, I do believe all immigrants should learn English, and the vast majority do. I live in the barrio myself, and I come in contact with Mexicans on a constant basis. Not all of them are here legally, I presume. But every one I've met speak at least a minimal amount of English, or are at least trying to learn. It takes a long time to learn a language beyond saying "hello" and "what time is it". I know. I took two years of French in high school (I'm of French ancestry on my mother's side) and I feel stupid if I hear something in that language. And that's one of the easiest languages to learn for an Anglophone; you want a real challenge, try Arabic, Chinese or Japanese. (We now know the President knows at least two words of Arabic, "thanks" and his middle name.)

This "one nation one language" myth is just that, a myth. A third of this country was part of Mexico at one time, including my home state of Texas, and France controlled a big chunk of territory before we got a sweet deal for it. Russia had Alaska and scattered settlements as far south as California. And we still have strong German-speaking communities in several locations in the US, and we used to have a lot in Texas. Still, you can have a strong, united country with several languages. Switzerland, Ireland, Spain, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Peru and that big country to the north are multilingual and doing just fine with it, or their problems are related to something having nothing to do with language.

All these talk radio guys and the hardliner Republicans in this state are no conservatives; they're right-wing populist radicals. And there's a big difference between a conservative and a reactionary. And some of these hypocrites are having lunch at Taco Bell today while they bitch about immigrants.

Rock over London, rock on Austin. Taco Bell: yo quiero Taco Bell.

I've dissed Sen. John Cornyn of my state during his tenure, mostly for being a lock-stepper during the Bush admin. But he's now defending Obama's pick to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court from accusations of "racism" from wannabe-GOP leaders Limbaugh and Gingrich.

It's the Senate's job to critically and thoroughly vet Judge Sonia Sotomayor and her record. But the accusations of "racism" are ridiculous and desperate, and comes from a parasitic group of childish demogogues that is only further corrupting our center-right party and making it more irrelevant nationally. Yes, the left attacked Clarence Thomas a bit much at times during his confirmation, ad hominem worst of all. But we know the right will attack Sotomayor simply because Obama picked her.

She has the classic American story, that of a Puerto Rican from the Bronx working her way to the top, but most of all, she has what matters most in the long run: experience. She's been in the Federal judicial system since the first Bush administration, and her record definitely does not reflect that of a "liberal activist" "legislating from the bench". (How many times have you heard that rhetoric in TV ads during election time, Texans?) In fact, her decisions on both sides of the abortion issue, since that issue is the hot-button of hot-buttons, make it hard to characterize her as pro-choice or pro-life.

Maybe she doesn't want to be either, and just judge based on what the law is, not what she thinks the law should be. Isn't that the function of the judiciary: interpret laws, not make them?