just a thread, follow if you can.

You all know I am an education nut. Self-education being my 'thing' right now. I have been hitting the books hard lately and not just hitting the books but putting that mess into working order by using it. One of those is the Stirling engine project that I have been working on. This is covering my maths, my metal-casting, metalworking, studies in energy, and an attempt to come up with a design that can be scaled up as needed with minimal gear-churning upstairs.

Another area that I have been working on is languages. I was attempting to study Latin. There are several reasons for that but key being a foundation. So much of our own language (amongst others, some more some less) is Latin based. Well, I was beating my head against a wall. There really needs to be another person involved when learning a language. Seriously so. To attempt self taught language, especially one that is considered 'dead', is an exercise best left to monks living on high in the Andes.(and chances are, they will screw it up too.) With some twisted logic, a shot of Vodka, a full pipe and some net time, I figured out I would learn Spanish instead. Latin based language, 82% vocabulary similarity, all of the vowels repeat consistently, etc etc. I am going to plug a product here. They aren't paying me to do so, but I have to say, I have never found a better program to learn with. Repetitive, without being boring and has a more than a little bit of an adult theme to the 'plot line'. Has more 'street cred' than the other Big name out there and they chose the hardest dialect to learn from to encourage further learning.(Argentinian) I am only one week into the course, (5 weeks, 6 classes a week.) WOW, I am able to actually HEAR the local Immigre and understand at least some of what they say beyond, 'Ola' and 'Burrito' (I am not pushing it either. I re-watch each class about 3 times before moving on and refer back frequently. Its set up for ease of doing so. Also a better setup than the really expensive big name) Now, I also chose Spanish for some slightly more selfish reasons. One is, how ya say, um, hormonal. LOL .
The other is kinda career oriented. Not just in my current or potential future endeavors, but 'just in case' things really go from bad to worse (as we all expect.) Think about it. 1/6^th of the world is Spanish speaking. Of that, I haven't a clue how much of the Continental America is primarily Spanish speaking. More than 50% though I would guess . If not as a primary at least a dominant second language. The other side of that is the current “Undocumented Workers” here in the U.S. Many would either like to “Kill 'em all” , Run em back south of the border, or Legalize em for the vote. Having talked to a couple from around here, they don't want to be Citizens. They only want to make the American dream as seen from South of the border. That is , Work your tail off under less than desirable conditions, while cramming your butt in a small space with other like minded peeps, save EVERY SINGLE DIME you can, then return home and live as a rich man on 1//5^th of what a similar American lives on. (NO, this doesn't apply to all of them, only the handful I spoke with for certain.) There are two ways to look at that. The first and obvious point being, THEFT. Yes, they are stealing the livelihood right out of America. This would be 1400 times worse if we still had a Gold Standard but even so, its money that is leaving the country, never to return.(I have a hard time holding this thought, If you think about it, the fact that we no longer manufacture, well, pretty much anything, all of our money is going overseas, never to return ANYWAY. That and the fact that we sell our debt to the highest bidder to be paid back at interest. The least of our worries is some Mexican sending money home .)
The other way to look at it. These people are already starving the monkeys. They soak the system for all that they can get while here, sock away a large amount of money, then go live large while still young enough to enjoy it. There may be a think or two that we could learn from them in the meantime. There may even be more of a way that we can set up a shadow economy (if it isn't already established) in the meantime with them. They may be more open to the idea if they could get a fair shake at things without having to constantly watch out for 'Le Migre'.
Around here, I hear the locals condemning the Immigre for 'stealing jobs'. Funny thing is, when you offer a local a job, chances are they will come up with 29 excuses as to why they 'Can't'. (the real reason is that most of them are soaking up SSI and/or are pill-heads) There are a few local contract companies that are more than happy to give the work up to the Mexicans since they will work on the cheap, work till the job is done, and not complain about “work conditions”. Plus, they show up without fail. Unlike the druggies around here. Once the Druggies have a couple of bucks for a pill, they are usually pretty much gone. Either physically, or mentally or both.(one note of good I can say for the druggies around here. They have cleaned up all of the old junkers that used to fill the valleys and creeks. Scrap metal is a big hit around here. LOL)
I know that some of this may start a firestorm in comments. That's alright. I am not saying we need to be less watchful of our borders. Quite the opposite. There are more than a few baddies getting across our border. More the southern one than the North but only because the southern 'state' of Mexico is a whole lot more lax about what crosses OUT than we are about what crosses in. They just don't care. Maybe they feel that the Cartels and Terrorists cutting cross our border is a good thing for Mexico. What we do need is to ENFORCE the law. AND we need to figure out how to make it so the law isn't so mucked up with Monkey rules. Those that wish to become legal, struggle through that muck while there are new citizens born in everyday just by the luck of 'being on the right side of the fence.” Yes, this is a minor call for Reform of Immigration. BUT, I think there are much bigger fish to fry before this really gets tackled by the people.
Lets get back to the Monkeys in this thought. How many have tried to figure out someway of keeping more of what you earn? Hands up, I am guilty. Of course that is one way of starving monkeys. Another way is to get “onto the dole” in some way. All while hiding the real money from the monkey collective. I know that this is something that Tom B. has covered much more extensively and much more eloquently than this little scribbler can. I suggest going and learning that while you can if you haven't already. But one thing that wasn't covered (at least not in depth ) was the Monkey starver's that are already amongst us. The ones that the collective has a hard-on for(only for the good of the nation, not a damned thing to do with a new voting base) The ones I am talking about are the ones that try to hide in the cracks. Not the ones that are attending “Universidad” in SoCal all while Protesting how unfair the U.S. Is to them, Nor the ones that insist that WE learn Spanish instead of their attempting to learn the native tongue.(IE English.) I CHOOSE to learn Spanish as I think it will be useful in more ways than I can count. IF it were forced upon me, well, Someone would find out just how much of a rompepelotas I really can be.
\The other side of that coin is 'Common Courtesy'. I wouldn't travel to another country without trying to learn at least a passable 'tourist' vocabulary.(I did this while in the Philippines, and again during the short time I was in country during the first Gulf war.) I certainly wouldn't intend on migrating to another country without learning at least a conversational level of the local dialect. Most countries won't accept your immigration papers unless you have a basic level of the local tongue mastered. WE, the U.S, are one of the few exceptions to that. Again, something that needs thought about but at this time, can wait. Bigger fish to fry.
As it is, there are bad 'illegals' in the mix and that is of course what many focus on when they need a demon to expose. There are many that only want to get away from an extremely depressed economic state that is bordering on complete dictatorship. There are some that would rather attempt to take over a part of CONUS and re-establish a Mexican Territory. There are some that only want to feed an already addicted society with more addictives. We are far enough along that no matter what the future holds for 'illegals', none are going to get a fair shake at 'getting it right'.

I think what I am getting at is this: Self-improvement. We all need to be better persons, more well rounded in our knowledge, and on the same token, more adaptable. The Mexicans here trying to get ahead without being outright criminals are trying to get ahead but are not prepared for if things get really wonky. (other than cut and run back home.) We on the other hand can't cut and run. We are home. Its time to start thinking about how we can keep our home together. And if we can't keep it together, how we can make our little corner that much better. Self-improvement is a start to that. (along with a whole lot of sweat and toil and hopefully full gardens.)