The former governor of Texas, Rick Perry, says he "is frustrated with political rhetoric that he sees as discriminatory toward Muslims."

Coming from the Lone Star State, and with an intimate connection to the oil industry, perhaps Gov. Perry should be more concerned about the apparent discrimination against native-born Americans in the state's university system – especially in those departments related to petroleum.

I had a quick look around some university websites for petroleum engineering in Texas, and I'm forced to wonder why so few natural-born Americans appear to be working in these departments.

At Texas Tech University, the Department of Petroleum Engineering has eight faculty.  Two appear to be from Iran, one from Egypt, one from Algeria, one from China, and one from Thailand.  So that looks to be a department that is perhaps 50% Muslim and 75% immigrants.

Of the 27 faculty in the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University, two are from Iran, two are from Turkey, one is from Egypt, one is from Argentina, one is from India, one is from Brazil, one is from Bangladesh, one is from South Korea, one is from Taiwan, one is from Japan, two are from China, one is from Hungary/the USSR, and one is from the Netherlands.  That appears to be on the order of at least 19% Muslim and 59% immigrants.

Among the 28 faculty in Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, two are from Iran, one is from Pakistan, three are from India, one is from Argentina, one is from South Korea, two are from Japan, one is from Poland, one is from Croatia, one is from Mexico, and one is from the Netherlands.  This sounds like a demographic profile comprising about 11% Muslims and 50% immigrants.

Didn't any native sons and daughters of the United States of America apply?  Or is there perhaps discrimination against such natural-born individuals?  Are they inferior in some regard?  If so, how?

Now look up the proportions of the U.S. population that are Muslim and/or first-generation immigrants, and compare these values to the numbers you see above for these very prestigious, secure, and extremely well-paying jobs.  Perhaps that will tell you which direction the real discrimination in Texas appears to be headed.