Frankly, I'm shocked - shocked, I say - that TxDOT hasn't pulled out the terrorism angle. This would make a better commercial than anything they've run so far.

Picture a TV commercial voiceover saying, "When our roads are no longer free, then terrorists will no longer be free to use our roads. Support TxDOT's fight against terrorism by supporting the Trans Texas Corridor.

Just as no law was made about TxDOT propaganda commercials, likewise, no law was made against political stupidity, to come into effect Sept. 1. Perhaps that's why novelist/ musician Kinky Friedman said he's considering another run for governor - as a Democrat.

Kinky's political deaf ear was so bad that he apparently didn't even recognize that the overlapping of the circle of people who agreed with him favoring gay marriage and the circle of people who agreed with him that those who don't love Jesus should go to the nether regions was a mighty small circle. After he made those comments within a week of one another, I knew that his candidacy was doomed to flop, though vigorously flop at first, like a fresh-landed fish dropped on the beach on a 100-degree day. Plus, Kinky may have forgotten his clueless and insensitive "jailhouse Negro" comments, but Democratic voters surely haven't. Perhaps that's why he doesn't get that his chances of getting the Democratic nomination in 2010 are about that of a snowball in Kerrville. (Personally, I think Houston Mayor Bill White would be a strong candidate.)

One law that did take effect in August was to control school districts from having early-August starts to the school year. Frankly, I don't think that's such a bad idea if combined with lengthening the school year about 10 or 20 days. Surely part of the reason students in other "First World" countries score better than us on standardized math, science, geometry and history tests is having such longer school years. That's not the only way in which we could learn some K-12 educational ideas from other "Westernized" nations, but it surely is one way.

Finally, I hope your Labor Day was a chance to not work, rather than mad mall shopping or something similar, as the day was created to remember what labor, and organized labor, has done for America. Organized labor has continued to get battered; unions represent just 7 percent of private-sector employees, which I find disconcerting. Unions may not be perfect, but they did give the country the eight-hour day, the 40-day week, child labor laws and a minimum wage.