Broadband For Free*
Tam at View From the Porch brings up an article dealing with the recent decision by the United States government to provide broadband for everybody. The article is about a whiny ninny web developer who is crying because she doesn't have broadband:
Like a photographer without a camera, or a mechanic who doesn't own a car, Kelli Fields is a webmaster without high-speed Internet access.
By day, the 42-year-old uses a broadband connection at work to update a university's Web site, which she built and codes from scratch.
But when she goes home at night, the rural Oklahoman struggles with a dial-up Internet connection so slow, she does chores to pass the time while Web sites load. Her high school-age son is so fed up with the glacial pace of their Internet connection that he asks his mom to update his Facebook page from the office.
Let's look at this shall we. My father is a mechanic and he owns his own shop. I can tell you one thing the government never provided him with a car, tools, hoist, alignment rack, or even a front desk. Likewise I don't know a single photographer who has a camera purchased for them by the government. But using these examples this story tries to convince you that the government should be providing Ms. Prissy with boradband for her work? Why does a web developer get special treatment?
Oh because she's in a rural area where she only has dial-up. Let me check if the government will provide tools to an auto shop that's in a rural area away from any tool shop. Nope. Will the government provide cameras to photographers in locations far away from a camera store? Nope. Hm I guess those situations still remain irrelevant.
Stop running to the government every time you need something. Oh and I love this part:
She could install a satellite and connect to the high-speed Internet, but the installation fee is $300, and she said she can't afford that right now. She's been waiting for wired broadband to come to her home for five years, and she holds out some hope that the network will get to her eventually.
She can't afford $300.00 but wants broadband Internet? How much money does she think it'll cost to run wired broadband out to her rural house? Here's a hint, a fucking lot. Of course I'm sure she's fine with it so long as every tax payer in America is footing the bill and not just her. God this entitlement society pisses me off. And I haven't even touched on the subject of government provided and therefore controlled Internet access.
* And by free I mean you're paying for it through your tax dollars.