As I have mentioned before, I live RURAL. Thirty miles to a decent sized grocery store. And thirty miles back home.
We built this house, doing about 80% of the work ourselves. I have touched every piece of wood and log, inside and out. We laid all the tile and painted and stained all the walls, inside and out. I can do anything around here. If the water goes out, it is OUR problem. The name of our home is The Refuge. We have DSL internet and it was always good enough for me. Yes, there are times when visitors caused the floating white circle to hover on our screens, but it is the price I was willing to pay for peace. A slow internet speed was fine with me. If that didn’t work, I could always use my phone data or hot spot.
We have been going to Florida to spend some winter months for the past few years and it is the antithesis of The Refuge. There, we have a garbage man, a guy who takes care of the yard and city water. Yes, water controlled by some knob in an office. I do not drink it and my hair turns to straw under its shower. There is asphalt and my rig doesn’t get dusty from the road dust. It just turns black from all the jet exhaust, as we are in a traffic pattern for what is fast becoming a major airport.
We also have kick ass, lightning speed internet in Florida. Like 150 mbps download. So convenient! But, we are also ‘on’ all the time. The giant streetlights hum throughout the night and invade our sleep. There are times when I unplug what I can, but I still feel the invasive buzzzzzz of the invisible. We spend our Florida days going to the beach, eating delicious food and going to Detweilers Farmers Market. I have made new friends from C&C, Jeff Childer’s Substack and we get together for lunches. It’s all wonderful. But, it is not home.
Speed back in time to FDR’s Rural Electrification Act. In 1936, the government wanted all the ‘rural’ folks to have electricity, same as the city slickers. Electrify the poor, rural and ignorant. I am positive the REA crews were met with suspicion and more than one gun barrel.
Now, it is fiber optic cable for all the rural, poor and ignorant. And it is FREE! There are men outside my house right now working with hammers, picks and shovels to get down far enough on my property to lay fiber. We did not pay them a cent. Our local phone company is being paid by government grants to contract out the surveying and laying of fiber, for literally hundreds of miles up, down and all around my area.
So, in the incessant pounding of shovels on the hard packed Idaho dirt, there falls the soft sound of Equity. Equity for all. Internet for all. There is literally a website with that name.
“The Digital Equity Act provides $2.75 billion to establish three grant programs that promote digital equity and inclusion. They aim to ensure that all people and communities have the skills, technology, and capacity needed to reap the full benefits of our digital economy.”
“President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $65 billion in funding to expand high-speed Internet access. These grant programs aim to make high-speed Internet affordable for all. They fund planning, infrastructure, and adoption efforts that promote digital equity and inclusion. Our goal is for everyone to have the access and skills they need to get connected.”
This whole scenario reminds me of something. Something, where everyone else was super gung-ho at the picture presented. But, as I have come to believe even more strongly, the harder the push for something they tell us is for our own good, or the greater good, the deeper and more nefarious the reasons are for the pushy narrative.
As certain people have said to me “they have been spying on us for years, this cable will only speed up your internet!” Yeah. I don’t believe that. If they were spying, they already know all they need to know, just in sloth time. My internet was fine before. Why do you have to physically run this plethora of cables into my dwelling? And, why don’t you make me pay money for it? If it is free, I DON’T WANT IT. All free stuff comes with a price, doncha know?
Remember Obama phones? Free! And now, those people pay for their groceries via that phone from their gubmint funded welfare account, WIC and other programs innocuously disguised “for the good”. Be advised…I believe we are all a QR code in the making. They are handing out free cell phones to illegals as they cross the border. You think that is any different? Scanning their own personal QR code to get all their free stuff. And, to let Homeland IN-Security know where they are, of course. Because they care.
Does anyone really believe that this broadband legislation touted as ‘Biden/Harris’ was even read by either of those malfeasance-minded Muppets? Who thinks BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program) was conceived by them? Maybe by their administration lackeys, in between festivals? I don’t buy it. Nein. Nyet. Nope.
“Just Announced: Biden-Harris Administration Announces State Allocations for $42.45 Billion High-Speed Internet Grant Program as Part of Investing in America Agenda.”
“High-speed Internet access isn't a luxury. It’s needed to fully engage in the economy, and it helps ensure public safety and the health of our nation. (emphasis mine) Unfortunately, too many in America lack access to affordable, reliable high-speed Internet.
The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program provides $42.45 billion to expand high-speed Internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs in all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.”
Nobody asked me if I wanted this. I didn’t have to sign a paper or write a check. It just happened. And, it happened WAY faster than they said it would a year ago. Lightning speed. But, I don't want to be Digitalized, Equitized and Inclusified. Leave me out. Please.
So, while ‘they’ invest in America by running fiber optic cables in the middle of nowhere, the potholes in American roads get deeper, bridges collapse and trains derail. Apparently infrastructure doesn’t include the tangible, the self-sustaining or the obvious.
And we continue the struggle to decide who deserves our boycott this week, with our ever shrinking wallet. Life goes on….Ob-la-di Ob-la-da. ♪♫♪♫
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Book recommendation: A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell. The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
This book was amazing and made me feel quite small, inadequate, and hopeful at the same time. Definitely in my top fifteen favorite books!
So I’m left wondering… Are they really allowed to come on your property and do this without your permission? What would happen if you told them “no” get off my property? That’s probably even more worrisome, that the govt can do whatever they want even on your own property.
"So, while ‘they’ invest in America by running fiber optic cables in the middle of nowhere, the potholes in American roads get deeper, bridges collapse and trains derail. Apparently infrastructure doesn’t include the tangible, the self-sustaining or the obvious."
Well excellent point, they are advancing a larger agenda with these connections. Where o' where can I go and be left alone?
Thanks SadieJay - nice, well written piece, as usual. And thanks for the book rec! Best.