Well I had another scare over the weekend with my car.  I ran a lot of little errands yesterday that involved me starting and stopping the car frequently.  I got home from my errands and then went in the house, made a few moves on blogshares, paid my bills and then decided to head to the supermarket.

For the second weekend in a row the car wouldn’t start.  I went ahead and thinking I might have a soft spot on my starter, let the car slide down the driveway while in gear, and unlike last weekend, it didn’t work yesterday.

I hooked up my battery charger to the battery and let it charge for several hours, then went and tried it again, and still no start.  I then spent a sleepless night wondering how long it would take me to get to work by bus and trolley, and of the long walk to even get to the bus stop.

After tossing and turning all night I woke up at five, slipped on some clothes and ran out to the car.  It started right up, so I let it run for about 15 minutes while I went in and started getting ready for work.  I was still a little apprehensive about it starting a second time, but it did and I made it to work on time.

I hope I am not having trouble with the alternator or starter.  I am not getting any malfunction lights or anything, so I figure I either have a short, a bad battery, a bad alternator, or maybe it overheated.  I did not have any problems with it during the week, but then I was not doing a lot of starting and stopping during the week. 

I think I will buy a new battery on the way home today, just to be safe.  They are not very expensive and at least I will have it as a backup in case it is the alternator.  I have a little stop and go driving to do before I take my trip on Friday.  I will try and keep the starting and stopping to a minimum until I am certain of what is wrong.  I just can’t afford to be without a car.

Well I talked to some of the guys that know about cars and they told me how to check and see if it is the alternator or the battery.  I found out that after starting the car, all I have to do is undo the black battery cable (ground side) and if everything dies it is the alternator.  If everything is good it is the battery.  Anyway, they also told me most car part places will check it for me so I may do that.  I just hope that if it is the alternator it will be easy to change.  I have been told it should not be too hard.  I guess I will ask when I am at Auto Zone.

I also learned some other stuff about it, like there is a high-speed diode and a low-speed diode.  Well now that I think about it I always drive with the radio on and the air conditioner or heater.  I have taken some long drives over both weekends and since I always have everything turned on if I do have an alternator problem then if I just leave some of this stuff turned off until I can get it scheduled for maintenance it would be cool.  I will just have to watch the use of electricity when I am driving and maybe charge it overnight one more time. 

Anyway, I will research how hard it is to change a Volkswagen alternator tonight when I get home.  I am so car stupid, but at least I know people who are car smart to ask.  If it is too hard I will take it to a shop.  I am sure they can fix it quick. 

This morning I woke up a few minutes later than usual, I guess because it is nearing the end of the work week and I always seem to have less energy, even though I have been making an attempt to go to bed earlier.  Gone are the days that I would stay up until 2 or 3 AM and still get up for work at 5:30.   I guess my age is starting to catch me.

Anyway I got up and took a nice warm shower and then got my coffee and opened up Trillian and Skype so I could spend the time before work with my beloved Laila. 

Anyway that is when I heard something that was very disturbing on the news and I heard it emphasized a little more in the car on the way to work.  It seems that the Junior High and High School students in Oceanside have created such a ruckus, that they have shut down the junior, middle, and high schools for the rest of the week.  I have not heard of that happening in the city limits here yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to see that happen here too, as the word gets out that Oceanside has closed the schools.  After all, these kids all love an excuse to miss school, and even though they do not have a clue about what they are protesting about. 

It seems to me someone is putting these kids up to this and I do not think it would be their parents especially if the parents are illegal, as I would think they would want to stay out of the spotlight.  I am wondering if there may be a few folks out there in our schools encouraging these kids to do this for some reason.  After all I saw a picture of a Mexican Flag, flying over an upside down American Flag at one of the local schools.  Since the lanyards are locked after the flag is raised someone in authority had to be involved, and I want to know whom.  The taxpayers of this state pay teacher's wages and if there is someone out there being paid by me, that allow things like this to happen at our schools to the Flag of the United States of America, then I want that person terminated immediately.  I also want to see any teachers that may be encouraging this civil disobedience terminated too, as they are there to teach our children, not encourage defiance of authority.

Actually I think all the attention these folks have raised will actually hurt their own cause.  If I were one of the people inconvenienced by these kids blocking the roads and highways I would be a little angry.  And you know whom I would take it out on?  My elected officials, that's who.

Congress had better get this one right, and I will watch voting records very carefully.  I will not allow any of these people to tell me they are tough on immigration, unless I see them vote for those tougher laws.  I will not accept an amnesty program of any type and I think anyone who suggests it, should be voted out of office.

Reagan had his great amnesty program complete with tough laws to keep this problem from happening again.  See where that has managed to get us?  We have more illegal's here now than ever before.  We don't need any new laws; we need enforcement of the old ones.  I would have extremely stiff fines for anyone caught hiring or caring for illegal aliens.  I would have mobile boarder patrol and immigration enforcement offices at all the Home Depot's and Lowe's.  I would have an agent stationed at each emergency room. 

There is no need for a fence.  I say put the National Guard on the border.  Have them follow the same rules of engagement that the Mexican military has on its southern border.  When they have these protests I would like to see the border patrol and military show up and have them detained.  As illegal immigrants you have no rights or privileges granted to you by the Constitution of the United States.  At these rallies people need to show a valid ID or be immediately arrested and deported.  I want our government to treat these people the same way an American would be treated should he be caught being in Mexico illegally.

I see a lot of Mexican Flags at these rallies.  If you are so proud of Mexico and so disappointed with the United States then why are you here?  Why is it better to sneak in rather to apply for legal entry?  If you say it takes too long guess why, genius?  It is because of all the illegal's that are here now, which will cut down on legal immigrants.

You say that you are here to just raise your family and you hurt no one.  Wrong again, as I have a recent experience that demonstrates it. 

My son was at work a couple of weeks ago when someone driving a white pickup truck with Baja Mexico plates hit his car and caused a bunch of damages.  Of course this fine upstanding example of the type of good citizens, that are just trying to take care of their families and make money, stopped and swapped insurance information, drivers license information and checked to see if my son was ok.  Nope, or course not, the guy sped off as fast as he could, leaving me to pay my insurance deductable, watching my insurance rate rise, and having to watch my son lose time at work as he didn't have a car to make his deliveries in.

This is not the first time this has happened to me either.  It happened back in about 1986 when the then wife was run off the road by a group of these people.  In that one there were injuries to the wife and both kids. 

I want to see life imprisonment for identity theft as the illegal alien using someone else's Social Security Number is messing up someone's credit and tax status.  This has to stop and a really stiff sentence would do it.

What is with banks giving home loans to illegals?  That practice will definitely have to stop.  There are so many people that have a hard time qualifying for a home loan that are legal citizens of this country and here we have banks giving loans to people who are not citizens, who may flee the country instead of paying back the loan.

There are many questions I have concerning illegals, such as why do they seem to have more rights than citizens.  If they commit a crime they are deported only to sneak back in at a later date.  They pay cheaper tuition than out of state residents for our colleges. They don't have to register their car, get insurance or even learn to drive, though they know what to do in case of an accident, run to the border.

Frankly, I have had it and I want to see something done and amnesty of any type is not acceptable.  Anyone here when the law is signed should be rounded up, shipped home, and go to the bottom of the immigration list. 

Demonstrate your patriotism in your own country, not on my streets.  Learn English, but do not demand for me to speak your language.  Stop stealing Social Security Numbers, bringing your gang members, your drug dealers, and your thieves here.  Yes, immigrants founded our country, but they were legal, not lawbreakers like the ones coming here now.

Well again I am trying to think of something stellar to blog about.  But then there are so many subjects and so little time.  I did have a little fun today as my class was doing their first labs in the OTCIXS/TADIX areas, which is always good for a few laughs.

These are basically the name of some communications circuits that use some specific equipment.  Today I was injecting faults into the ON-143 Interconnecting Group.  For non-navy electronic types, an interconnecting group is an interface unit that allows different types of equipment to talk to each other.

What we have is several different computer systems, with different formats and capabilities that have to be encrypted and then through an Ultra High Frequency Transceiver to a satellite and then will go anywhere in the world the Navy operates.

In addition to acting as an interface to allow different equipment to talk to each other it also acts as a storage buffer, collecting all the message traffic from the different systems hooked to it, and storing it until given permission to transmit by the net control station.  It is pretty cool the way it happens and up to 9999 users can be on the net.  Just imagine if they all tried to transmit to the satellite at the same time. 

Anyway I get to teach the sequence of events that keep only one station transmitting at a time and all.  It is fun to teach the ways they do this stuff and keep everything in an orderly fashion and all.

Well I have taught all the classroom stuff and today was the time to break it and have them find the problems.  His piece of gear is very easy to troubleshoot because about 80% of the problems will generate a bit (built in test) code, and then all you have to do is look it up in the technical manual to have the problem localized down to just a couple of circuit cards.  They usually find the problems right off, but sometimes troubleshooting on the first day on a new piece of gear can get quite exciting.

Since the equipment is so easy to troubleshoot, sometimes they can't believe they found the problem that fast and so they do not believe their results.  Those are the fun ones because you get to ask them why they kept going after they identified the fault.  Once they get the hang of it though they can then rapidly solve most of the problems, usually within 10 minutes.

Sometimes they get way off the beaten path, or they forget their place in the procedures and I have fun trying to get them back on track, mainly by asking them questions about what they did.  I sometimes have to restrain myself from laughing, because sometimes the answers to my questions can be quite humorous.

Anyway, I guess that is it for today.  I have 7 more workdays to go before my vacation starts and I go see Laila and her family again.  9 days total to go, and I am getting very excited about it.

I guess the only thing I have to blog about is the farewell for one of my buddies at work.  Matt Rohr is leaving the Navy and going to work for Intel, up in the bay area.  He has been a good friend and I wish him luck with the move and the new job.

He has been an excellent instructor and has done a great job in the two years he has been here, and he will be missed.  

So to you Matt, fair winds and following seas.

Ok, I have stayed off this subject for the past couple of days as I have been trying to tone down my rhetoric regarding illegal immigration, but what I have seen on the news and on the web the past couple of days has me growing concerned and bothered.

The massive rally's over the weekend by pro-illegal immigration folks and some of the violence that broke out in Indiana over the weekend and the sheer numbers of people that showed up in Los Angeles had better wake people up to the fact that this is a serious problem and it must be dealt with, before we have a civil war here in our own country.

I have tried to keep my comments toned down of late as my church is in favor of protecting illegal immigrants, and I don't like feeling like a hypocrite, but actually I don't really think I should feel that way at all.  There are several things I don't totally agree with my church with, and I am still at peace with God so I should be ok.

I have heard the arguments that these people are taking the jobs others don't want, are paying taxes, and that the country was formed by immigrants.  I don't buy into any of it.

True immigrants, legal immigrants, who learned to speak English, who didn't carry disease, and who assimilated into society, formed the United States.  Why do these folks think it is ok to jump to the head of the line and consider themselves law-abiding immigrants?  They have bypassed all the checks and balanced put in place to protect legal immigrants and American citizens.

These people are now taking jobs away from American citizens, as just one look at the construction industry should be clue enough.  How many carpenters, electricians, and painters are out of work do the thundering hoards hanging out at Lowe's and The Home Depot every day?  Fast food is another area these people have been taking over in.  Mc Donald's, Wendy's and others were a good starting point for the youth or the country to land their first job.  Not any more, as now you have to speak another language so they can get your order right at the drive through window.

Then there is the tax thing.  OK, they are paying sales tax, and that is about all I can see them paying.  Are they paying income tax?  If so, how can they be doing that, as they need to have a Social Security Number for that?  Ah, that's right, stolen Social Security Numbers, so someone out there is the victim of identity theft as illegal aliens are using their numbers to get work, and those wages are recorded for that taxpayer.

We are a country of about 200 Million people, and of that 11 million are illegal immigrants.  That is 5.5 percent and climbing.  They are gobbling up our health care, our tax dollars for the poor, and they are making a shambles of our education system.  There has to be a point where the government will rise up and see this for what it is, a full-scale invasion from inside.

Congress is just starting to take notice.  I like this new law, but I think it will go the way of everything else.  Back when Ronald Reagan was president he gave amnesty to illegal's living here at that time.  They were going to then start enforcing the laws and keep the problem from raising its ugly head again.  So as a result of that we should have no problem.  Actually the problem is worse now, and these rallies would have never happened back in Reagan's day.

I think all these people currently here should be deported back to wherever they came from and then be placed at the bottom of the legal immigration list.  The just because you are born here medical loophole should be eliminated.  They should establish a guest worker program and it should be open to all countries, not just Mexico.

When I hear these folks whining about how it will split up their family and all, while I am sympathetic and all, they knew they were breaking the law when they came, so they should except the consequences.

There have been laws on the book pretty much for many years concerning hiring of illegal's and the companies that hire them should be fined heavily.  When I hear this crap of home loans for illegal's I really want to blow my top.  That is what caused the violence in Indiana.

I am currently working hard to brink Laila and her children to the United States legally.  It is a paperwork hassle, but it will be well worth it in the end, as we will have the satisfaction of knowing we did it properly.  The folks that come here illegally are the reason it takes so long for regular legal immigrants to come here.  They should be sent back and to the bottom of the list.

Getting rid of them will relax the healthcare, education, legal, and law enforcement burdens cause by these law-breakers.  They have no rights as they are not subject to our Constitution and have not earned the protections offered by it.  Being able to sneak into the country does not automatically make you a citizen or give you any rights. 

By properly filling out all the paperwork, having a physical and showing a means of support other than applying for a welfare heck does put you on the road to gaining it.  This craziness on our borders has to stop.  I realize we have not had another 9/11, but it is only a matter of time, because if the contractor putting a new roof on my house can do it cheap with some guy who entered the country illegally, than one of Osama Bin Laden's buddies can blow that roof up after they sneak in by the same means.

Well someone is going to be in deep crap for this one.  U.S. Navy Aegis Radar equipped DDG collides with a tanker.  I am sure glad I was not the Officer of the Deck on board there.

The way the Navy is, it does not matter who was at fault.  Whoever was on watch on the bridge and in combat is going to watch their careers end, as with all the electronic equipment and all the watch standers that should have been on duty, something like this should not happen. 

I know a few people on the McCampbell and am glad that no one was seriously hurt.  I do feel bad for the folks on watch, as even if the McCampbell was following the Rules of the Road, this will be blamed on someone.