I'm an entrepreneur, a capitalist, and a patriot. And I'm really getting sick of the jackasses who are using fear and lies to advance themselves while stifling entrepreneurship in this country. These asswipes claim immigration is a threat to you and your family, because saying so makes them rich and famous, but in reality immigration is crucial to America's innovative future and our economic vitality.

First, let's dispense with the myth that immigrants take jobs away from American citizens. That's bullshit. There's a huge amount of data that shows it's bullshit. End of debate. Period.

For years the focus of xenophobic rants in this country have been Mexicans, coming to steal our jobs. But things have changed. Scary Mexicans look like bunny rabbits compared to the new foreign threat to the American way of life: Muslims!

Yep, Muslims are coming here to take over America and eat your babies. Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle went so far as to claim that Muslims are replacing municipal law with Sharia law in places like Dearborn, Michigan and Frankford, Texas. Yeah, that's bullshit, too. There hasn't been a town in Texas called Frankford since about 1930. So you can't trust Sharron Angle or anyone who parrots her claims.

Then there are people like Steven Emerson. This guy is an "expert" who tells Americans how scary Muslims are, and how they're infiltrating every aspect of our society to take over our country. His solution? Donate heavily to the non-profit he founded, the Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation, which investigates the "ties" between American Muslims and overseas terrorists. And how does that non-profit do it's research? It pays a company called SAE Production to do it. SAE Productions is a privately held company with only one principle - you guessed it, Steven Emerson. SAE Production raked in nearly $4 million in 2008 doing research work for the non-profit. Nice little racket this guy has going, isn't it? Here's what The Nonprofit Quarterly has to say about it.

Okay, okay, you want to know what all this has to do innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic vitality. Well, I'm gonna tell you:

According to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), 25% of America’s venture-backed and publicly-traded businesses, including: Google, Yahoo!, eBay, Intel, Pfizer, DuPont and Procter & Gamble, were founded or co-founded by foreign-born residents. In 2005 these companies reported over $52 billion in sales, and employed almost half a million workers. In 2006 24% of all filled patents had foreign-born residents listed as the inventor or co-inventor.

The xenophobia currently running rampant through the USA is making it much harder for foreign-born entrepreneurs succeed. And making it harder for startups to hire and retain great people. Congress is, to be blunt, afraid of addressing these issues - especially during an election year - because any mention of immigration reform gets the xenophobes into a screaming frenzy. So unless you are a politician like Sharron Angle, ready to point fingers and make false claims, you pretty much want to keep your mouth shut.

Well, there's an election next week, and by all accounts there will be some changes in Washington. Maybe good, maybe bad, but for the sake of startups and entrepreneurs all across America, stand up for reform of EB-5 and H1 visas. The best way to do that is to support StartUpVisa.com. Go now.

I'm a founder of a startup company that's creating deeply social product. Lately when I tell people this they usually respond with, "What did you think of the Facebook movie?"

I haven't seen it yet. "What?!" they ask, shocked and disbelieving. "How can you have a social networking startup and NOT see the Facebook movie!!!"

What we're building, WatchParty, isn't a social network, it's a social interaction platform. But that doesn't matter to them. I'm clearly flawed in some fundamental way. So here are my reasons for not having seen "The Social Network" [yet]:

1. I'm really, really busy. I like movies, and I'm sure this is a great movie, but taking a few hours out to see a movie (that my daughter can't see with me) means finding a few hours away from my family and my work. You know what? It'll be out on PPV and DVD soon enough; I'll catch it then.
2. I'm on a really tight budget. Yeah, I know, it's only $10. But right now my primary job is CEO of a company that doesn't yet have any money, which means I have no paycheck. So spending $10 to see a movie - even one that's relevant to the company - means I'm spending $10 on myself instead of my family, and I try to avoid that as much as I can.
3. I've already been told what I would learn from the film. Thanks very much to Babak Nivi for that.

Honestly, I'll probably see the film sometime soon. But it's just not at the top of my priority list. In fact, it's not even near the top. And since it's based on real life I don't even have to worry about spoilers. All I really need to do is focus on turning this company into a thriving business, and hope it can become as successful as Facebook but with a far less interesting and dramatic backstory.

Oh, I want a dinosaur. I want one really, really bad. I could get some serious shit done with a dinosaur. I love my dog, but seriously we're talking about a DINO-SAUR.

And by the way, no I will not clean up after my dinosaur. You got a problem with that, you take it up with him.