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Clinton Tech Plan Reads Like Silicon Valley Wish List (usatoday.com)
theodp writes from a report via USA Today: "If there was any lingering doubt as to tech's favored presidential candidate," writes USA Today's Jon Swartz, "Hillary Clinton put an end to that Tuesday with a tech plan that reads like a Silicon Valley wish list. It calls for connecting every U.S. household to high-speed internet by 2020, reducing regulatory barriers and supporting Net neutrality rules, [which ban internet providers from blocking or slowing content.] It proposes investments in computer science and engineering education ("engage the private sector and nonprofits to train up to 50,000 computer science teachers in the next decade"), expansion of 5G mobile data, making inexpensive Wi-Fi available at more airports and train stations, and attaching a green card to the diplomas of foreign-born students earning STEM degrees." dcblogs shares with us a report from Computerworld that specifically discusses Clinton's support of green cards for foreign students who earn STEM degrees: As president, Hillary Clinton will support automatic green cards, or permanent residency, for foreign students who earn advanced STEM degrees. Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, wants the U.S. to "staple" green cards on the diplomas of STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) masters and PhD graduates "from accredited institutions." Clinton outlined her plan in a broader tech policy agenda released today. Clinton's "staple" idea isn't new. It's what Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential candidate in 2012, supported. It has had bipartisan support in Congress. But the staple idea is controversial. Critics will say this provision will be hard to control, will foster age discrimination, and put pressure on IT wages.
That late 90s economy couldn't have existed as it did separate from it's aftermath.
Yeah, we got to hear the President play the sax on TV and benefit from the "bubble expanding" half of the boom/bust cycle (and also collect on the dividend of the end of all that Cold War spending, but I digress) but the hype fest couldn't go on indefinitely. VA Linux and the dot.bomb hype outfits needed to eventually produce something that could realize a profit (*ahem*)
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 enabled the biggest telecom theft of public dollars in history:
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pu...
Essentially, we gave $200 Billion to the telecoms in exchange for fiber connectivity to every residence and business in America. The telecoms took the $200 Billion and gave us - nothing.
Guess who signed the Telecommunications Act? Yep, Hillary's husband - Bill Clinton.
Why should we believe that Clinton 45 will be any better at tech policy than Clinton 42?
Clinton doesn't actually have a "tech plan". She was given one by her wealthy Silicon Valley donors. This is a woman who doesn't know how to use a fax machine, the idea that she even remotely understands net neutrality is a joke.
Do you have ESP?
What's the deal with gay marriage? Do you think she doesn't really support it, or does really support it but says she doesn't?
She didn't support it, until it turned out that a lot of voters supported it, so in 2013 she changed her position and supported it. It speaks to principles. Hers are "say what's popular." I'm sure if people heard what she said to Goldman Sachs audiences (that netted her hundreds of thousands of "speaking fees"), most people would not support it, so we won't get to hear those comments.
Clinton opposed same-sex marriage as a candidate for the Senate, while in office as a senator, and while running for president in 2008. She expressed her support for civil unions starting in 2000 and for the rights’ of states to set their own laws in favor of same-sex marriage in 2006. As polls showed that a majority of Americans supported same-sex marriage, Clinton’s views changed, too. She announced her support for same-sex marriage in March 2013.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
I think it's because she took so long to support it, well after many other prominent Democrats were publicly in favor. Also, she had an almost 20 year public record of being against gay marriage when she was First Lady and Senator Clinton. And, she has shown an amazing record of telling specific audiences what they want to hear in order to further her own goals:
1996: President clinton signs DOMA. I'm sure she didn't have anything to say about that at the time.
1999: When running for Senate, she tells a gay audience that she was against her husband's "Don't ask / Don't tell" policy. Another line the same article clarifies her views on gay marriage and DOMA:
Mrs. Clinton's spokesman, Howard Wolfson, said that the first lady, like her husband, supported legislation passed by Congress in 1996 that effectively banned gay marriages.
2000: Speaking in White Plains, NY:
Marriage has got historic, religious and moral content that goes back to the beginning of time, and I think a marriage is as a marriage has always been, between a man and a woman.
Also 2000: She supports rights equality with gay civil unions:
"I have supported the kind of rights and responsibilities that are being extended to gay couples in Vermont,"
2004: Senate floor speech where she was against a Federal amendment banning same-sex marriage. She still opposed gay marriage in the 2004 speech, but was against enshrining it into the Constitution.
2006: Tells group of gay politicians that and she wouldn't block it if New York passed a law allowing it. Never mind that she couldn't under the 10th Amendment.
2007 - 2008 Presidential Primary: Asked about her opposition on gay marriage by a gay-oriented television network, she gives this:
"Well, I prefer to think of it as being very positive about civil unions. You know, it’s a personal position. How we get to full equality is the debate we’re having, and I am absolutely in favor of civil unions with full equality of benefits, rights, and privileges."
2013: Full throated support of gay marriage now that DOMA is about to be shot to sunshine by the Supreme Court
2014: During her book tour, she interviews on NPR's "Fresh Air" where Terry Gross asks her about her past positions on gay marriage, and Hillary gets a little pissy about it, throwing out the "playing with my words" accusation. About 1/3 of the way through the transcript is where the exchange takes place.
Only now that the majority of the electorate supports gay marriage does she support it. Flip flop on an issue that is religious / moral with a nice sprinkling of civil rights when the polls say to? That's how you define leadership!
(For the record, I'm fine with gay marriage, so don't get up in my business as being some homophobic whatever.)
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
I have talked to Hillary supporters who have said without any embarrassment: "Of course, she can't keep those promises and she has to lie. But it's vitally important that she get elected and she has to say things because American voters are stupid and she wouldn't get elected otherwise. Once she has been elected, she will just do what's good for the country."