the republicans are like children to technology: or worse. the average 5 year old knows more than the shriveled old white guys that wear the R badge.

they are afraid to endorse ANYTHING the 'left' wants. its the grouch marx thing: "whatever it is, I'm against it!". that's one part of it. the other is that they see this as NOT allowing a 'nice' big business to overcharge and profetize twice for the same data.

they are not at all concerned with anyone's quality of life except what lines their own pockets. the D's are not much better, these days, but at least they are not on the wrong side of history on so many modern issues.

they have been quite brazen in how little they care for 'mr. everyman'. if you are not in the top of the rich class, you don't exist to them; and the ultra rich have no need for faster or even reliable internet. hell, they have other people 'do the internet' stuff for them, so they are very detached from reality.

but simply, its the grouch marx thing that really explains it all. too bad that we have such polarization in this country; progress has been a concept that has not been around for decades, now, because of it.

having the government step in may not be the best solution, but its the ONLY solution we can pick.

are you arguing for the so-called 'free hand' to auto correct?

(wait. you're serious??)

gov has to step in BECAUSE free market (that does not truly exist) keeps screwing the customer more and more. there is no sign of any fix coming from them; quite the opposite.

so, SOMEONE has to step in. the gov is the only other 'power' that can help balance this out of control industry.

the republicans are the groucho marx of this decade:

whatever it is, I'm against it!

just wish it was funny...

"packet police" sounds funny.

maye we should call the anti-net freedom guys "bit bastards". maybe it will stick.

"yet another bit-bastard wants to enact legislation..."

and so on.

they don't make 'tube transistors' anymore, but I could probably find some resistifiers and capacitators inside the usual china-made electronics gear of today.

maybe the occasional transistorators, as well, even though they are starting to become rare as chen's teeth.

"well, that's just - like - your opinion, man."

he's not delusional; he's just plain lying and shilling for the h1b factories.

everyone who has been in tech and looked for a job via non-friend (public) channels has seen their share of being rejected and ignored even though your quals and the job are nearly a carbon copy of each other (happens to me all the time).

I doubt there are more than 100 jobs, country wide, that NEED special talent that is not available here already. I might even be estimating that too much, too.

what's that? you say you plan to use a remote control on them?

let us know how that goes.

and the infamous 'steering wheel tray' with the great user submitted photos:

http://www.amazon.com/AutoExec...

I'm pretty well experienced in US tech. after college, I stayed in boston for 10 years working at a well known new england computer company. I later moved to the bay area and have been here 25+ years. all working for tech (software eng). I know this field, I have worked at quite a few top-name companies and so have real experience in matters that we're discussing.

when I moved here 25 or so years ago, seeing the mix of imported labor vs US born was more reasonable. still not representative, but not outrageous. maybe half of my group were from asia/india and the rest US born. over the years, its gotton to be about 90% asia/india, for any given group other than upper management. in engineering, you can now walk the hallways of many bay area companies and if its an engineering building, english will be the exception, not the rule. I am not lying, those who live here can verify this if they are brave enough to speak up about it.

now, it would be fair if you found about 10% or so of each group being imported labor. I can agree that there may be some jobs that are so specialized that no one locally can do. but when it gets to 50%, 70%, 90% of the typical group (sw, hw, sysadmin, devops, etc) - then I really question that *everyone* there is special and could not be done by a willing and able local person. most companies are run on the meat and potatoes person - competant, able, but no genius. for that, you should be able to find local employees. but when you see that 90% of a software or hardware group is h1b, you really know that its all a scam and a lie that 'no one local could be found' for all those regular old jobs.

hey, I started out wanting the glory jobs. I think I'm pretty good, I've been around, I've done lots of things. I was not getting the jobs that I applied for. so I lowered the threshold and applied for the so-called meat and potato jobs. the ones that even average people can do (and who is often hired). nope, shut out of those, too. all staffed with indian and chinese folks. I was willing to do nearly any software work that paid a living wage, and could not find it. I've personally been looking for a few months, now, and its this way for many of us.

again, if the 10% cream-of-the-cream jobs were only fillable with international talent, fine, cool, I'm ok with that. but that's not even close to what the actual reality is. its abused beyond abuse.

after you unwrap yourself from the flag, I'll tell you the real story.

the real story is: what applied back in the turn of the century does not apply any longer. lots of reasons, we can list them but I'm sure you agree that what made sense (letting tons of people in) does not, any more.

WHY are we obligated to solve the world's problems and give everyone in the world the same rights as people who have a lot invested and who plan to live here long-term.

see, that's one thing your little jingoistic story leaves out. the ellis island folks, by and large, did not plan to move here for a short stay, make a lot of money and return home. they were INVESTED here, they eventually learned the language and merged in. that was then.

what we have now is a 'grab, take, return home' situation. we don't give these folks citizenship. look, if they are valuable, give them citizenship and let them be like the rest of us! let them live with the long-term results of what we all are going to face. if you come to shit in my country, take what's good and then leave, do you think people will want to like you?

we don't give citizenship, really; we give h1b. 'temp work permits'. in that, its nothing like ellis island days. nothing AT ALL.

stop playing star spangled banner and smell the real coffee. what worked 100 years ago is not applicable now. the workforce is too crowded, the unemployment is sky high and we are borderline on depression, again and again. is that a time you think of as a 'work surplus' era? I sure don't! if you have no surplus, you have no right giving out jobs to people who are not as invested as those who were born and raised here.

and yes, I do think that being born in a country and raised there DOES give you more rights over those who just moved in. try moving to germany or france or austria or switzerland or probably most other european countries and trying to be 'a citizen'. in some places, if you were not born there, you'll NEVER be one of them. jobs won't go to you first, etc etc. why do we have to import the word's labor force - especially when our own people are being routinely refused a living wage in the field they are WELL qualified to work in.

ethnic diversity?

have you walked the hallways of companies that hire 'a lot' of h1b's?

come visit the bay area. take a tour of any random cisco building, for example. just go into their cafeteria. or pick another well known tech company in the bay area. go walk their hallways. listen to the languages you hear there.

come back and tell me about diversity.

ok, you have a point. you can hear mandarin, cantonese, hindi and at least 10 other indian dialects. and so, yes, there's a KIND of diversity in tech, these days, in so-called US companies...

all else being equal, citizens who spent 20+ years paying dues, being immersed in the culture of the country, having a PERMANENT STAKE in the success of their country - vs 'guests' who could really care less about the long-term success of our nation?

YEAH, YOU BET! I WOULD HIRE AMERICANS ANY DAY over those who come to grab the goods and then run.

yes, we deserve first choice on jobs. is your country different? let me visit your country and see if I can get a job there. I bet I can't - and its because YOUR country realizes that it needs to protect its own people.

MY country - the US - sold its soul decades ago and cares nothing about its own long-term survival. but almost every other country in the modern world will not allow 'guests' to come in and tip the balance of the workforce.

I don't know why you think YOU deserve a job over an equally qualified american, IN america!

pretty ballsy of you to think so, too.

I don't think you are serious and its obviously not right to treat ANYONE badly like that.

what I would like to know is this: for those of us here who are not US born, how do you feel being in a tech company and 90% of the people you see are also not from the US? does that give you any guilt at all? do you honestly think that everyone you met that came from india or china was head and shoulders above a US-born worker.

I've seen stellar programmers from india and china. I've also seen horrible work from people that came from those countries. in all, what I've seen in bay area companies is that the people they have working for them are average. very few companies have top talent, and yet the population is 90% asian. is the US 90% asian? I don't think so. not even in the bay area.

so again, do you indian folks think that the system has been fair? how would you feel if the tables were turned: if your country allowed (which we know it does not!) foreign workers to come in and undercut the local labor force? suppose you walked into an indian company, in india, and 90% of the faces were white. would you think it was fair?

next time you are sitting in a round table meeting, discussing the next non-indian candidate, before you immediately conclude 'not a cultural fit', think what each hiring decision is doing. think about fairness rather than staffing up with more folks of the same background as yourself.

if we are fair with each other, we all win. if you continue to play the 'not a cultural fit', what kind of message are you really sending? and think about this: suppose your son or daughter were to witness the discrimination that happens at your company. would they be proud of you? is this the kind of morals you want them to have?

I call BS on that. you have no leverage and everyone knows it. tell me, what CAN you do if the employer wants to force you to work every weekend for the next 3 months? what are you going to do or say back to the boss?

go ahead. enlighten me, oh Mr. brave AC. tell us that you will tell the bossman to jump in the lake.

but we know you are lying.