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I'm a undecided voter , but has been leaning towards Hillary Clinton more than ever. At the start of this race... I was leaning towards Barack Obama, as well as many people I know. Well what happen? Positive things happen, and I see Hillary Clinton as a better candidate.
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If Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee, I said to myself that I will support either democratic president. Although now I will have to rethink not once but twice + if I rather have Obama or McCain sit in office. Well why? Obama simply ignored the two states of Michigan and Florida. I heard he speaks on having the delegates splited evenly, which is a ridiculous ideal and doesnt reflect the votes of the people. With Michigan and Florida in the race it can put Hillary Clinton in the lead of popular votes and delegates. Right now Obama is in the lead without the two states playing a role which completes the United States of America. I would find it hard / I dont know if I could accept a president that didnt become a president with the votes/ delegates of every state in the United States of America reflected by the people. He dissapointed many of those I know, and their vote for him no longer exist. I couldnt argue against them and I wont.
You're welcome to vote for whom you wish. But know thy facts when you do. The governors of Michigan and Florida decided to go against the rules of the Democratic National Committee and change the proscribed voting dates. THEY broke the rules and now cannot figure out how to give their citizens the vote. Obama and Hillary were not to be on the ballot, but Hillary, because Obama was ahead, decided she would put her name on the ballot because she needed the votes and is the reason why she is begging for those states to find a way to allow their people to vote. Obama said, OK if they decided I shouldn't be on the ballot, so be it. I will follow the rules. He even says now (CNN - Larry King last night) that if they find a way to remedy this situation, he is all for it. So why you blaming him? I realize Hillary is blaming Obama for this but wrongly for the history I just cited, and you fall right into it instead of listening and deciding with your own mind and not Hillary's.
My wife is American and we are buying some property in the USA. Yes jobs, Housing, Health Insurance Cost of living is important to us. Race relations in any country is a volatile situation. Because i would love to see this ugly underbelly of racism irradicated does not stop me from wanting the other important issues solved too. I will be a American resident and possibly, citizen too. The Health issue, economy issue are both in a extremely bad state. they will be resolved. Unfortunately the Racism issue may not be and that is sad in a modern America.
Contrary to what you're apparently buying into here, race relations in the U.S. are better than they are in England. The reason we haven't had homegrown Muslim terror cells blowing up infrastructure here as they have in England is because our Muslim residents and citizens have assimilated better in America than they have in England.
I do read, and know about the mobs of disaffected Asian youth rioting in the Midlands and such. The Archbishop of Rochester (C of E) has made issue that there are "no go" areas throughout the country where whites/non-Muslims cannot pass safely.
Please don't think I'm slamming England. I LOVE your country and can't imagine why you'd want to leave it, LOL. Before I got sick and became disabled, I was doing my paperwork to come to teach in Bristol! But it's disingenuous, frankly, to claim fears about rampant racism in America.
My son is studying computer engineering. You know, the field for which Bill Gates says Americans aren't qualified so he NEEDS to bring in foreign workers (read LESS EXPENSIVE) from India and Pakistan and the good Dems and Repubs in Congress have shouted, "Yes, you can!" This is a BIG concern for us and one my son and I discuss frequently, sigh. I hear Obama and the others saying they will penalize companies for taking jobs offshore but not much about cracking down on these special visas to bring foreign workers HERE.
When a kid has been studying hard for four years, it is rather insulting to tell him that there will be no jobs in his field waiting (the SAME government that convinced his generation that they should be pursuing careers in Engineering, math, science and technology!!!) and he will have to do government service for low pay or retrain for something else.
I agree with MiamiU08, and actually have PERSONAL experience in this regard as my sister is married to one of the "Microsoft Millionaires" - an immigrant from India who grew up in a house with a dirt floor and no running water and now lives in the same neighbor as Bill Gates and retired from Microsoft at age 40 to start his own software company - which now employees about a dozen highly paid personal about evenly split between the US and India. - and in my opinion he deserves EVERY penny he's got. He's brilliant and has brought much to America - and I'm pleased to say, as of a couple of years now, is a proud US citizen.
Microsoft is hiring both Americans (I know, I live in Seattle where Microsoft just keep growing and growing) and folks overseas. There is indeed a real shortage of highly skilled folks in IT (again something I'm familiar with as I work the field myself).
Contrary to what you're apparently buying into here, race relations in the U.S. are better than they are in England. The reason we haven't had homegrown Muslim terror cells blowing up infrastructure here as they have in England is because our Muslim residents and citizens have assimilated better in America than they have in England.
I do read, and know about the mobs of disaffected Asian youth rioting in the Midlands and such. The Archbishop of Rochester (C of E) has made issue that there are "no go" areas throughout the country where whites/non-Muslims cannot pass safely.
Please don't think I'm slamming England. I LOVE your country and can't imagine why you'd want to leave it, LOL. Before I got sick and became disabled, I was doing my paperwork to come to teach in Bristol! But it's disingenuous, frankly, to claim fears about rampant racism in America.
Comparing isn't important. If there's racism in England and racism in American it's both bad. But Geeoro is reading these posts/threads and from what he hears/sees, I can't blame him for his conclusions on race problems in the US.
The problem is that the racism in the USA is a huge problem. It is a huge problem in the UK because we allow anyone into the country and give them money to stay. We did not stop or slow the influx of illegals or immigrants. This is happening in the USA as we speak. What has happened here is happening in America. Gas stations in Florida now make you pay before filling the car. The gas attendants told us it was because of illegal immigrants filling up then driving off without paying. Racism is still a flashpoint in so many parts of the USA. To say that you do not have a race problem is doing exactly what Obama said in his speach. Ignoring the race issue will not make it go away. Ignoring your failing health system and economic and work failure will not cure it either.
America has the ability to solve all these problems but only if the everyday citizen accepts there is a problem and not just sweeps it under the carpet.
Gates, in the article you are referring to, also pushed for "more investment in math and science education." Gates supports hiring American workers for these positions, and is not paying the Indian and Pakistani workers any less for their services, but there are simply not as many Americans with the skill sets necessary to keep Microsoft competitive in their software development efforts. The Gates Foundation has "has donated billions to educational programs, backed investment to raise educational standards and attract more talented people into math and science teaching." But until these efforts pay off, there is not enough supply of American workers to fill demand. If Microsoft is to be around to give the next wave of skilled, American workers jobs, it must stay competitive now.
Miami, Please research the difference between the wages of American versus foreign engineers. There's a $10,000-20,000 pay difference. Please also research just how many engineers American universities are graduating. There is an AMPLE supply. If they need to bring in some specialists from other countries -- NO PROBLEM! But they can't justify the way and the frequency in which the visa program is used.
I'm very familiar with the Gates Foundation as I previously helped my minority students apply for scholarships through them. (Successfully, I might add.) But the Gates Foundation doesn't provide undergraduate scholarships for non-minorities. I don't know why. They will fund graduate work in other countries, though. (Again, I know this firsthand -- before I was stricken by Lupus, I was working on an application for a Gates scholarship to do my D.Phil. at Cambridge.)
We received Gates Foundation computers at the high school where I taught on the Border. They were an improvement from the ancient, broken and mismatched computers we had, but they weren't even reasonably new and they required a lot of maintenance. We suspected that Microsoft simply unloaded its unsaleable, non-refurbishable computers on poor schools and got a tax credit for the donation!
Remember that Gates didn't become a mega-billionaire without being a savvy businessman!
I agree with MiamiU08, and actually have PERSONAL experience in this regard as my sister is married to one of the "Microsoft Millionaires" - an immigrant from India who grew up in a house with a dirt floor and no running water and now lives in the same neighbor as Bill Gates and retired from Microsoft at age 40 to start his own software company - which now employees about a dozen highly paid personal about evenly split between the US and India. - and in my opinion he deserves EVERY penny he's got. He's brilliant and has brought much to America - and I'm pleased to say, as of a couple of years now, is a proud US citizen.
Microsoft is hiring both Americans (I know, I live in Seattle where Microsoft just keep growing and growing) and folks overseas. There is indeed a real shortage of highly skilled folks in IT (again something I'm familiar with as I work the field myself).
Ken
Ken, I truly hope you're right. My son is taking longer to graduate because he's doing a business degree, too, upon the advice of his university mentors who are worried about the hiring trends in computer engineering and the experiences of recent grads. My kid's thinking of staying to do an MBA but I'm not sure if that's because he's frightened of the job outlook or he actually believes he needs one!
Ken, I truly hope you're right. My son is taking longer to graduate because he's doing a business degree, too, upon the advice of his university mentors who are worried about the hiring trends in computer engineering and the experiences of recent grads. My kid's thinking of staying to do an MBA but I'm not sure if that's because he's frightened of the job outlook or he actually believes he needs one!
Well, the first issue your son will face are the fact that the economy is definitely looking down now. How far down? Well who knows. But certainly down for SOME period of time - maybe a longggg time (that would be ugly) and although there is a shortage of skilled IT folks right now, that may not remain the case if the economy tanks.
Secondly of course, he faces the same problem anyone right out of school faces - a lack of direct work experience. Though there is a shortage of skilled IT folks the key word here is SKILLED - typically meaning "experienced" so I recommend that if possible he take part in an intern program of some sort with one of the big companies nationwide during his final year at school (or during a summer break). This would give him some "real world" experience, but even more importantly, if an intern does a good job, this tends to be remembered and can often lead to a direct job offer upon graduation.
I also applaud his "double degree" decision. I myself got my second bachelors in computing after finding no jobs in the teaching field (I received a BA in History from the UW). The fact is, my timing was simply bad. Like your son, I took a while to get through school. Though I was a Regents full scholarship winner in New York State, for family reasons I ended up giving it up and working my way through school out here in Seattle so it took me more than the standard 4 years to get my BA (plus I met my wife (who already had 2 kids) in the meantime and we'd gotten married). All told, it was a tough road, but I have no regrets and all worked out well in the end.
Ken
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