I’m on a mission to restore the American Dream – and I know that to do that, we’re going to have shake things up in Washington. It’s time we fundamentally change our priorities; and that starts by putting pressure on our leaders to act on creating good jobs and stop protecting unnecessary tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent.

I have a deep faith in this country that we can solve any problem that comes our way, but we have to be willing to put partisan politics aside and make the tough decisions. Washington needs to do that; and that’s why today I’m launching an online petition aimed at Congress demanding they start focusing on creating jobs now.

This broken mentality in Washington that has lead with inaction on the economy and believes the best plan is one that keeps the status quo in place has to end if we’re ever going to guarantee an America where everyone can achieve their highest hopes and dreams. That, my friends, is why I am running for United States Congress.

I’ve seen first hand that people are hurting with a national uneployment rate stuck at 9.1% and our district’s unemployment rate is at a staggering 16%! Congress cannot wait until the next election to take action; not with those numbers. Too many families are desperately waiting for them and the longer they wait the worse it gets – and the further we move away from being able to reach the American Dream.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to solve the problems that we face, but it does take leaders that fundamentally understand what is at stake and are willing to make the tough choices. Rather than cater to the will of the rich few, it’s about time Washington realign it’s priorities and help restore the American Dream for millions of people.

I need your help to put pressure on Congress. Sign my petition demanding Congressional leaders and all Washington politicians change their priorities right now and start focusing on creating good jobs!

If we can collect 2,500 grassroots petition signatures by Tuesday, October 25th, I will personally deliver the petition to Congressional leaders. I will tell them it’s time to restore the American Dream.

Thank you for joining me on this important journey,

– Jose Hernandez

One of the most significant benefits of LightSquared’s network will be the elimination of the “digital divide” that keeps millions of Americans – many of them in rural areas – from participating in the wireless broadband revolution.

Our network will bring 4G-LTE to rural Americans from coast to coast, and our integrated satellite-terrestrial capabilities will help every corner of the country receive a strong, high-speed wireless broadband signal. We expect that LightSquared will be especially helpful to our nation’s agricultural sector, in which wireless technology is especially needed to conduct business, communicate and receive information from remote locations.

For the past decade, we have developed our network based on the fact that America needs more capacity and competition in broadband wireless, and that the technical challenges – notably, the potential for GPS receiver interference – are surmountable by applying ingenuity and energy to develop engineering solutions. We have always believed that LightSquared and GPS can and will co-exist, for the benefit of the country. That benefit will be felt by all Americans in the form of increased choice, greater innovation and lower prices – but perhaps most notably among farmers, who too often are denied its benefits.

This week, we received a strong endorsement of our view that LightSquared and GPS can co-exist from several of the country’s leading agricultural organizations: the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Sugar Alliance, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Farmers Union, National Potato Council and the Western Growers Association. These groups signed a joint letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture committees calling for them to work to ensure that the agricultural sector receives the benefits of LightSquared’s network alongside GPS.

“We believe that both of these technologies have great potential to drive economic development in rural America and a reasonable agreement should be reached to allow for their future success,”

the organizations wrote.

“We urge your committees to communicate to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the benefit farmers and ranchers will receive from expanded broadband access and precision agriculture. The FCC must ensure that accurate GPS will continue to be available for precision agriculture and also ensure that broadband access be made available for all of rural America.”

We welcome the support of these important organizations and their members. Read the full letter here.

OK, we’ll admit it – we love a great infographic. And this one from the Internet Innovation Alliance is one of the best we’ve seen in a while. It makes the connection between broadband and jobs – the fact that more Americans than ever before rely on a fast, reliable connection to do their jobs. That more investment in broadband will yield hundeds of thousands of jobs. That… well, we could go on, but really you should just check it out for yourself.

A really great infographic on broadband and jobs! http://internetinnovation.org/…

Special interests are trying to distract attention from the facts.

For eight years, LightSquared has navigated the regulatory process to win approvals to build America’s first privately funded coast-to-coast wireless broadband service. LightSquared’s plan to invest billions of dollars to use its frequencies for an integrated ground-space network has been supported by both Republican and Democratic regulators –Michael Powell and Kevin Martin, FCC Chairmen appointed by President Bush,and Julius Genachowski, the FCC Chairman appointed by President Obama. In fact, the regulatory approvals that paved our way came in the mid-2000’s, during the Bush administration under Powell and Martin.

Regulators from both parties understand LightSquared’s approach will create more competition in the marketplace, put downward pressure on the prices paid by consumers, create good paying jobs in the tech sector, and give Americans access to the most modern cellular technology. LightSquared’s plan has drawn bipartisan support because it’s right for the country.

Any suggestion that LightSquared has run roughshod over the regulatory process is contradicted by the reality of eight long years spent gaining approvals. Just this week, there has been another request from the government for an additional round of testing of LightSquared’s network.

We understand that some in the telecom sector fear the challenges for their business model that LightSquared presents. We understand the opposition of some in the GPS industry; many of their devices “squat” on someone else’s spectrum and while technological fixes are readily available, some companies are loath to make the necessary engineering changes and would instead prefer to get access to someone else’s spectrum for free.

It’s also ludicrous to suggest LightSquared’s success depends on political connections. This is a private company that has never taken one dollar in taxpayer money. About $10,600 sits in the LightSquared PAC. The founder of LightSquared has given to candidates in both political parties in the last eight years, with two thirds of his contributions going to Republicans because of the founder’s free market philosophy. It’s difficult to charge that LightSquared has undue political influence when it was denied the opportunity to testify at the recent hearing of the House Armed Service Committee’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee – or even be allowed a one-on-one meeting with the chariman of that committee prior to the hearing, as the GPS industry was given.

This entrepreneurial company is poised to create as many as 15,000 jobs as it spends $8 billion to help provide American consumers with cheaper, better cell service. It’s time Washington politicians stop using LightSquared as a piñata. Smart engineers, not political rhetoric, should decide LightSquared’s fate.

If LightSquared is blocked from entering the wireless market, consumers will lose out on the benefits of a new source of more competition, better service and lower prices.

The news on jobs has not been good lately. There is a bright spot, though, one that has the potential to created thousands of good, well-paying jobs. As AT&T’s Adam Grzybicki, president of AT&T Oregon/Idaho/Montana, explains, it is AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA. Grzybicki, writing for www.cdapress.com, makes a compelling and clear case that “despite the pervasive headlines, there are some bright spots on the horizon that hold promise to reinvigorate the economy and deliver thousands of jobs for American workers. One of those bright spots is AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA.

As part of the deal, AT&T has pledged to bring 5,000 jobs back to the United States that are currently outsourced to other countries. This is the single largest commitment by an American company to bring jobs back to the U.S. since the economic crisis began in 2008. The company has also committed to no job losses for wireless call center workers at AT&T and T-Mobile on the payroll at the closing of the proposed acquisition. As the nation faces unemployment figures stubbornly stuck at near historic highs, this is much-needed good news.

As part of the transaction, AT&T will invest more than $8 billion to integrate AT&T and T-Mobile networks and to expand its next-generation 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless network. That investment will create an estimated 55,000 to 96,000 jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute study commissioned by the Communications Workers of America. In today’s job market landscape, those numbers are substantial and encouraging.

In everyday terms, super fast wireless connectivity means businesses of all sizes will be able to conduct business on their smart phones or tablets, from anywhere covered by the network. That kind of mobility injects flexibility into business operations and marketing that can have a real impact on a company’s bottom line. In addition to the impact for businesses, widespread access to the latest wireless technology available can revolutionize health care and education.

From handheld wireless devices, doctors can monitor and interact with patients who are comfortably at home. Physicians can share high resolution medical imagery among peers separated by thousands of miles, while standing in an operating room. Students can leverage wireless applications and high quality online content to enrich their classroom experience or even take their experiences outside the classroom. The options made possible by high-speed wireless connections are endless.

The Department of Labor reported that there was no net job increase in the United States in August. Analysts had predicted an increase of 60,000 to 100,000 jobs during that time, but none materialized. In contrast to this gloomy news, the combination of AT&T and T-Mobile is a bright spot on the horizon poised to deliver tens of thousands of American jobs and tremendous residual economic benefits.”

As Grzybicki concluded, the merger and the jobs it would create is indeed welcome news.

Can you imagine having to wait your turn to make a mobile phone call? It may seem like a far-fetched concept, but it’s a practical reality in many large urban areas where completing a call during peak times has become a frustrating challenge. After years of double digit growth, the nation’s wireless networks simply don’t have enough capacity on their towers to support the more than 300 million mobile devices in this country.

This spectrum shortage has been compounded by the popularity of smart phones, which use 24 times more wireless capacity than a regular handset. Wireless tablets, such as an iPad, use five times as much as a smartphone, and netbooks send and receive four times as much data as a tablet. It’s easy to see how all those videos, photos and Facebook updates are clogging our nation’s networks and leading to dropped calls and no service signals.

The trend towards more network congestion is clear, and that’s not good news for consumers who are used to technology advancements providing faster speeds and lower prices. But the nation’s wireless networks are not keeping up with the rapid advancement of our mobile devices. Rather than keep up with demand, Verizon and AT&T have begun to ration their customers. Both companies recently stopped offering unlimited wireless plans, meaning that it will cost subscribers more to access the same services.

LightSquared is poised to help alleviate the problem by putting a huge new chunk of airwaves to use. We plan to build a 4G-LTE network that will provide world-class connectivity in urban and rural America. LightSquared’s wholesale model will give a host of different companies – from regional wireline providers to retailers to device manufacturers – the opportunity to offer competitively-priced wireless services while providing the same or better speeds and features as the national carriers. LightSquared is what our nation’s wireless consumers need now.

What we’re talking about can be summed up with one word: Jobs. Like Art Pulaski in this op-ed from Capitol Weekly puts so succinctly: “Jobs – the number one issue on the minds of Californians.”

Check out Art’s op-ed. He puts the argument for the AT&T/T-Mobil merger into terms that make sense for working Californians.

“A Blow to Job Creation” by Art Pulaski, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the California Labor Federation:

http://mobilizeeverything.com/…

This editorial in The Detroit News by Orjiakor N. Isiogu, chairman of the Michigan Public Service Commission, very nearly perfectly sums up our argument.

Like HDTV before it, 4G-LTE wireless holds incredible promise for consumers and device manufacturers alike. But today there is insufficient wireless capacity to support millions of 4G-LTE devices, and demand is rising ever faster. According to Cisco Systems, mobile traffic is expected to increase 26-fold by 2015. By 2015 the majority of Internet traffic will be via mobile devices – a reality unthinkable just two years ago.

That’s why LightSquared’s venture is significant. It would substantially increase America’s broadband wireless capacity while providing next-generation high-speed wireless data and voice to areas previously underserved. In addition, the company plans to market its nationwide network on a wholesale model, allowing any number of new competitors to enter the market. Many observers have hailed this proposal as a key part of President Obama’s plan to increase high-speed Internet adoption nationwide, while also increasing competition in a consolidating wireless industry, all at zero cost to taxpayers, thanks to a planned $25 billion investment by the company.

More competitors in the market will mean lower prices and better service for consumers, along with expanded wireless broadband options. Another key benefit will be the economic benefit associated with building out a national network, including the creation of an estimated 15,000 jobs per year. Public safety could be enhanced by this network as well.

Simply put, whether you’re somewhere in urban Michigan or rural California, an expanded wireless network means more competition, lower prices, and better service. And we’re doing it all at zero cost to taxpayers.

For real – it is. And the truth is, that while all of this debate about the AT&T/T-Mobile merger is important, worthwhile and necessary, it’s also something of a red herring. Because at the end of the day the problem that the merger was initiated in part to address, the problem that will ultimately prevent new competition, stifle innovation and shut down the incredible potential to create jobs and grow the economy through broadband investment remains.

And that problem is SPECTRUM.

And if there’s something we know a little bit about, it’s the need for more spectrum.

Check out this very excellent article written by Jeff Kagen at E-Commerce Times, “Let’s Solve the Real Wireless Problem: Spectrum Shortage” http://www.technewsworld.com/s…