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Obama announces plan for high-speed Internet in low-income homes
Published July 16, 2015


DURANT, Okla. – Calling the Internet a 21st century necessity, President Barack Obama on Wednesday unveiled a program to bring faster Internet connections to more low-income households, particularly to help students living in public and assisted housing stay ahead in school.

Under ConnectHome, the public, private and nonprofit sectors have pledged to work together to provide high-speed connections and digital devices to more families at lower cost.

More than 90 percent of households headed by a college graduate have Internet access, Obama said. But fewer than half of low-income households have similar access.

In this day and age, Obama said the "digital divide" puts these individuals at a disadvantage by limiting their educational and economic opportunities because the Internet is increasingly needed to find a job, finish homework or keep in touch with family and friends.

"In this digital age, when you can apply for a job, take a course, pay your bills ... with a tap of your phone, the Internet is not a luxury. It's a necessity," Obama said in Durant, Oklahoma, on the first day of a two-day visit to the state.

"You cannot connect with today's economy without having access to the Internet," he said.

ConnectHome is similar to ConnectEd, a federal program that Obama said is on track to wire 99 percent of K-12 classrooms and libraries with high-speed Internet by the end of 2017.

ConnectHome will begin in 27 cities and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, which is headquartered in Durant. With about 200,000 members spread across much of southeastern Oklahoma, the Choctaw Nation is the nation's third-largest Native American tribe.


The 27 cities the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development selected for ConnectHome are: Albany, Georgia; Atlanta; Baltimore; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Boston; Camden, New Jersey; Cleveland; Denver; Durham, North Carolina; Fresno, California; Kansas City, Missouri; Little Rock, Arkansas; Los Angeles; Macon, Georgia; Memphis, Tennessee; Meriden, Connecticut; Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans; New York; Newark, New Jersey; Philadelphia; Rockford, Illinois; San Antonio; Seattle; Springfield, Massachusetts; Tampa, Florida; and the District of Columbia.

Film at 11.....

Great. We already have poor people clogging up the highway system and now they're gonna clog up the internet.

Drafter, you know this means new Obama phones as well. They now have to be internet capable 4g lte.

Poor people have to keep buying dirty magazines only us wealthy rich folk get to look at boobs on the Internet. That's just how it is.

90 percent households headed by a crackhead have no computer or if they do have a computer, it's in the pawn shop.

Just saying.

Any parents that want to give their children a chance, will find a way to get an internet connection. There are relatively cheap plans available for low income families already, like $10 or less cheap.

All boils down to if the parents give a chit or not.

I vacillate on this one.
I can see how not having Internet at home will really cripple a student's ability to compete in the classroom. You essentially ensure that if someone's parents spend their money on crack and not paying the Internet bill, the kid is going to be poor and probably on the government handouts too when they get older.

And one can argue it is the parent's responsibility to care for their own damn kids. That if the parent doesn't care enough to pay for it, let the damn kid fail.

Then you can take into account the idea that sometimes the government needs to protect kids from their parent's bad decisions....

But in the end I realize I don't like kids and I don't give a rats azz either way.

Cool, sign me up.

Maybe the worst (read: criminal) bad decisions....not so sure I want the government doing any more 'protecting' kids or adults than they already are

I grew up in the 80's. No internet. I went to the public library.

They still have libraries, right? With free internet, now? Yes... yes, I believe they do.

You're missing the liberal agenda dude, the liberals want to make the poor lazier and MORE dependent.

Poor lazy people looking for even MORE handouts => MORE liberal voters.

Simple math.

MORE => (My Obama Reparation Entitlements)

Hey look, I made an acronym!

MACS, not I very carefully did not say they couldn't learn or look things up. I said they couldn't compete in the classroom. ie, the other students would have easier access to information when looking up homework than said student. Could they do it? Sure. They could go to the library or starbucks or whatever and do their homework (how are they getting to said location, walking? bus? is there even a starbucks in the ghetto?)... but that is making their life harder than the students they are competing with.

Again... I don't care. There has to be a strong base of poor people to keep me on top, so I'm cool with it. But it reduces class mobility (which many people have said is already very bad in this country). So, the poor will stay poor. The wealthy will stay wealthy. I mean, someone has to be the poor.... it may as well be people who already started out that way.

Was it uphill both ways? In the snow?

prolly.... and I heard they get two 24" monitors too...

Why not free crack? If crack were free they'd have more money to spend on sneakers, stolen guns, pimp chains, hoodies, and other (internet) chit. We can all benefit from a subsidized ghetto, not just the internet providers. I vote for free crack.

Valid argument. Can they apply for unemployment?

elRopo likes el dopo ?

There were small hills. I think the highest point in RI is 800 feet above sea level... and of course during the winter there was snow.

I was gonna go to class before I got high...
I coulda cheated and I coulda passed but I got high...
I am taking it next semester and I know why, (why man?) yea heyy,
- cause I got high.....

Drafter found a higher place.