Last day of freedom and I can do is post to this damn blog. Maybe it was a bad idea to put it up, it's consuming all my time.

Anyway here's a comic I enjoyed yesterday.

I'm sure you've heard about this.
No, this is not representative of all US soldiers. The story is important though.

Update: Bush Response

I don't usually find Mad TV that funny, but I liked this video from 2000. The link.

Senator John McCain's letter to Sinclair broadcasting for their decision to preempt Nightline tonight where Ted Koppel will read the names of all the fallen American soldiers in Iraq. The Link

When I was in third grade my grandmother came to visit us from Iran. Overwhelmed with excitement, I informed my teacher of the visit. My teacher thought it would be a wonderful experience for the class if I asked my grandmother about her impressions when she first saw the Statue of Liberty when she arrived in the United States. Not realizing that my teacher thought immigrants and foreigners were still arriving in boats in New York harbor, I asked my grandmother about her impressions when she first saw the Statue of Liberty. Luckily, she had arrived via Newark airport and had seen Lady Liberty from the plane. My grandmother thought for a moment, and then replied, "I don't know, I didn't really think about it." I was rather disappointed by her response.

When I arrived to my classroom the next day, I wasn't particularly excited about reporting my findings to the class. I wanted to lie and give some inspirational anecdote, but I've never been a very good liar. My grandmother's response confused my teacher as much as it had me. She asked, "Is that all?!?". Yup, that's all.

Maybe my grandmother remembers this gentleman.

Maybe listening to the "other" side will start to create a more civil and reasonable discourse. I've provided some links to right-wing blogs that I read. Though I almost always disagree with them, I am trying to listen.

Link

It was my last day teaching at San Antonio College today. Teaching remedial students was an eye-opening experience. Most of my students were recent high school graduates, and many of them had children of their own. I can't imagine trying to raise a child, work, and attend classes at that age. They don't have the time to come to office hours for extra help, they miss class a great deal, and they're tired. Even with all the frustrations, teaching was by far the most satisfying work I've ever done. When I saw my students succeed, it made me feel like I've actually done something important.

After my last class, I had lunch with one my students who is a Vietnam Vet. This was the second class he took with me at SAC, and when I first saw him in my class, I felt a little uncomfortable about teaching a student considerably older than me. Imagine what he thought when he first saw me! We developed a friendship after I talked about my friend's brother who was killed in action in Iraq last year. He approached me and we started talking about Iraq, politics, and Vietnam. Interesting fellow.

I hope that I can someday return to teaching. On Monday I start my soul less computer job while we wait to hear from a couple more law schools. Fingers are still crossed for the big scholarship money to come through.

By the way, if you still haven't listened to the NPR special on Nelson Mandela, you're missing a great work. It's all online and the last part in the five part series is tomorrow.

Karen Hughes is insane. Here's the story from Sarah: Link

Another PBS plug

Frontline looks interesting tonight. Here's the Austin listing for the show: Link

Seth found something rather scary: Link

The other day when we were at the grocery store, I noticed a bumper sticker on a rather large truck. It read, "My SUV (hearts) Iraqi Oil". I can't seem to forget about it. My initial reaction was anger. Now, I'm starting to realize that I respect that guy just a wee bit. Why? He is totally honest about his understanding of why we are occupying Iraq. He creates no illusions about "bringing democracy" to Iraq, or changing the Middle East for the future. I wish our leaders could be this honest.

Public Radio and TV Plug

If you haven't listened to this feature on NPR this week, you should. It's incredible.

Also, this is a fantastic show on PBS. A few weeks ago they had a three part documentary on new immigrants to the United States. I felt like I was watching my first few years in America.

Interesting.

The NY Times covered it here.

Awesome.

Lunatic
Thanks to Atrios for bringing this to my attention. I thought about letting it go and not giving this guy more publicity than he deserves, but this quote from
the station manager prompted me to write about it:

"He said that [Severin] wasn't talking about American Muslims, he was talking about Muslims outside the US . . . "

Whaaa?

Anyway, here's a list of the station's advertisers if you want to let them know how you feel about this asshole:
Link

You can e-mail the radio station directly here: Email

To those of you in Boston, these are mostly local advertisers, so your call might be more effective than the rest of us.

I've finally given in and decided to create my own blog. We'll see if I can keep it up, but I have a feeling I'll get bored with it pretty quickly.