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Broadband and me

So, today, this shows up in Gambit, the New Orleans alt-weekly. It’s an item about my broadband situation here in St. Francisville. The writer wants me to contact U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu about my woes: Enter the senator who has long been a proponent of using federal stimulus funds to expand high-speed Internet access in […]

So, today, this shows up in Gambit, the New Orleans alt-weekly. It’s an item about my broadband situation here in St. Francisville. The writer wants me to contact U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu about my woes:

Enter the senator who has long been a proponent of using federal stimulus funds to expand high-speed Internet access in rural Louisiana. Two years ago, Landrieu (who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee) steered $49 million to the state to help build broadband networks in St. Landry, St. Martin and Acadia parishes. Last November she railed against Gov. Bobby Jindal for rejecting an $80 million grant to continue extending broadband access to rural areas across the state.

Whether he realized it or not, Dreher — an advocate of bootstrap, do-it-yourself small-government conservatism and a Jindal admirer — seemed to be on Team Landrieu on this issue. “You don’t realize how much our modern way of economic life depends on reliable high-speed Internet service, until you don’t have it,” he told his readers. “Towns and places that don’t have it are going to get left behind, economically.”

I am a Jindal admirer, it’s true, though I don’t get why he rejected money for rural broadband, which is the same to me as building highways, in terms of economic development. It’s not quite right to say that I’m “an advocate of bootstrap, do it yourself small government conservatism,” but whatever. I would like to know more about why the Jindal Administration turned this stuff down. West Feliciana Parish, where I live, really needs economic development. This is such a cool place to live in so many ways; we need to give people the broadband infrastructure they need to do business here. As a tech-savvy friend in Philly snarked to me, about Louisiana, “You may not have your broadband, but you have your dignity.”

Anyway, I learned over breakfast at Bird Man this morning that people in my own neighborhood have broadband fast enough to stream video. The problem, said my friend, is likely in my own house. Julie’s on the phone with our very dear friends at AT&T right now. Will let you know the deal.

Sorry light blogging today. I’ve been out at my brother in law Mike’s interviewing him for the book. It was a hard morning, but, no kidding, a beautiful one. Headed to Baton Rouge now, where I’ll be on a panel the ISI group at LSU is doing on Place and Politics. It’s in the LSU Union building at 7. Come see us!

Later tonight: posts about Nietzsche, and American funeral trends.

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