Comments on: The Texas broadband follies

CNET News.com's John Borland asks why a government-subsidized broadband program is spending big bucks for a "golf-themed" Houston suburb in Tom DeLay's backyard.

[bobtheman22]

Why is it...

...Liberal reporters feel the need to make political statements that have absolutely no bearing on the story as a whole. While this story focuses on a development in the Houston area you provide no additional information that leads back to either the president or house majority leader. So why do you feel it necessary make a totally useless statement in the story regarding both except to politicize a personal opinion.

If the same held true for Clinton or Pelosi would you have made the same comments about them in your story??? Probably not. Without actual facts to backup up unnecessary comments and since the story wasn't labeled as an editorial, report the story and leave your personal liberal bias out of it. Did they not teach you that in Journalism?

Turnabout

First, it is very dubious that the fact that this burb is in Delay's district went unnoticed. This application was vetted by the DOA, which is run by a hardened political operative. If this district had been a Democratic district, I'm quite certain the application would have been rejected.

Second, regarding the statement, "Liberal reporters feel the need to make political statements that have absolutely no bearing on the story as a whole. " You've got to be kidding. "Conservative reporters feel the need to make political statements that have absolutely no bearing on the story as a whole" -- and yet, you are silent when they do it.

Third, what is really important (and ignored) is that millions of dollars are being wasted providing millionaires with government subsidized, low-cost broadband internet access. In spite of this manifest "waste and abuse," the only thing you find of concern is that a possible link to porkbarrel corruption is pointed out.

And you can bet that Tom Delay will not be getting up on his legs to denounce this waste, either.

mp

Without actual facts... probably not.

"If the same held true for .... would you have made the same comments about them in your story??? Probably not. Without actual facts to backup up unnecessary comments..."

Why is it that reactionary fruitcakes always generalize into the abstactions of their own delusion. Without actual facts to refute the actual facts of the story and its implications: Shut Up.

[Earl Benser]

One More Vote....

..against unnecessary innuendo. The writer spun an unproven
claim and didn't even bother to say maybe. Bush and DeLay need
to figure thigs out????? Hell, the whole government needs to
figure things out. And there's a fat chance in hell that they will.

Maybe the write should have been glad that LBJ still wasn't in
office. The LBJ pork slice would be ten times as big, and the
writer would have been fed his own butt for writing aboout it.

[xraydude]

How is this bias?

How can you blow this off as a biased story when it illustrates
a pork barrel project that takes money, "our money", and gives it
to the wealthy. The company involved should not have been
given any money since they obviously are not following the
mandate the money was earmarked for. I'm sure(wink, wink,
nudge, nudge) DeLay had no influence at all. I would call it bias
that a congressional district benefits unfairly, because a senator
got big bucks from a campaign contributor and don't tell me he
got no money from that telecom.
If you're going to invest money in infrastructure, make sure
everybody benefits. I would love to see 100mbps for $38/
month, hell, give me 10mbps for $19/month and I'd be ecstatic,
but not exclusively in upperclass neighborhoods.

[il2rb]

Obviously don't know much about Houston

It is obvious that the author (and most of the supporters of this article) is unfamiliar with Houston and how it is laid out. First, there are no zoning laws in the Houston area, so you could have a $10 million mansion sitting next to a $30,000 shack with two low-income families living in it. There are many neighborhoods like that. Just drive down Memorial area and you will see a prime example of this.

I lived in the area they are talking about and had neighbors with $1 million mansions as well, but guess what; there are very poor folks that live right next door to those mansions. Just because my neighbors are millionaires does not mean that I am. Anyone who really knows this area, or has lived in Houston for long period knows exactly what I am talking about. It is not the same as living in a wealthy suburb of New York or Hollywood...

Therefore, unless you live in that area and know the area they are talking about, you do not have much right to criticize... If it were not for Tom's efforts, I would have still been using dial-up (and BTW, I am not rich) while I was living there. Those of us who actually live / lived there and are affected by all of this are VERY thankful for what they have done. It is hardly the way the author portrays it. It is not just a bunch of rich people that benefit from these efforts. There were a lot of poor and medium income families that also benefited from these efforts. I consider that fair, and more importantly, at least Tom isn?t sitting on his thumbs doing nothing about this problem. He saw that there were funds available and he used them. What?s wrong with that?!? Even the author indicates that much of the funds have not been used and no one is asking for help. Why is that??

Instead of bashing on Tom Delay and the good he has done with these funds, the author should have been asking all the other folks why they HAVEN?T been doing the same thing!! Why are they not asking for funds to help stimulate broadband in other areas??? That?s what I want to know?

Too bad

It's too bad that Mr. Borland couldn't bring himself to research this more thoroughly, and provide real questions and answers. For example, the 22 million represents one tenth of one percent of this year's budget. Where is the other 99.9% going? 600 million is being spent well, but he coldn't be bothered to give some detailed examples. That stills leaves 96% of the expenditures he mentions going to good use--is that an example of a flawed government program? Mr. Borland also mentions that not enough people are applying for the program, but can't do the research to find out why. Is it because local agencies are too inept to apply? Is the program not advertised well? Are the application/co-payment requirements too steep? We'll never know, because Mr. Borland couldn't be bothered to find out before providing his opinion. Next time, do some real investigative reporting before blowing your top.

[jimsbotx]

walks like a duck, quacks like duck

So a big Houston company gets millions of dollars to supply broadband to the homes of people who are probably close to being millionaires. The company is not technically breaking any rules, although to anyone but lawyers (and maybe conservatives, since ya'll brought up politics), they appear to be violating the intent of the program.

The company happens to be located in Houston, DeLay's base, and the developments are in its suburbs, just like Sugerland, his home.

And most of you are calling out the writer because he's a "liberal" (in your opinion of course)???

This deal stinks and the excuses for doing it are pitiful. No one else had applied? Yeah, right. Then fix the process. But don't just give away the money.

Re: walks like a duck

Well spoken Jim, this echoes my sentiment exactly.
While the company got the money by the rules, it goes against the spirit of the program to award help to someone who doesn't need it.

I wish someone would fix the application process, the rules stipulate it is only for areas not currently served, and you have to provide 10 computer access points free. You also have to give away service to community centers (which we already do), but the majority of major players in this industry have already brokered deals to get on city water towers in exchange for the free service to libraries, police, etc.

This makes it even harder for the small business, like us, who has to pay big bucks every month to the Telco for a backbone to the net. We pay well over $1600 a month for 2 T1's, and since we already have our prices cut down to what the market can bear, there is little room to give away anything. Of course, if we were handed $22.7 million to operate, I could cover half of Texas with broadband. The fact is that while I have made arrangements to light up another 38 towers across the state, I will never see any help from the RUS. It is a shame that we cannot afford to do it ourselves, it is a bigger shame the RUS gives away the money that should go to making it happen.

Tom Johnson
802DSL.COM
Cat Spring Tx
979-865-8460

Time Warner Cable wants $25,000 to install

I hate this:
Areas that already have multiple broadband choices (between cable and DSL)
get additional choices while some of us in the USA are STUCK on dialup
with no end in site.

TWC wants to charge me over $25,000 (US dollars) just for CABLE installation.
They also cant get my address right, neither the town nor the zip code.
There is not another area left in the country with this problem!!
I live in Highland NY, with zip code 12528.
The houses with addresses on Swartekill Road numbered greater than 400 have
Time Warner Cable/ Road Runner. The houses with addresses under 200 have
Cablevision/Optimum online. Those of us between 100 and 400 on Swartekill Rd
have no CABLE TV (for 3 decades) and no chance of getting DSL either.
Survey's done by Time Warner are now over $25,000; but they are sent to wrong
address and list our town (100 - 400 Swartekill Road) incorrectly. TWC insist
we are in Town of Esopus at zipcode 12429. Our correct town is Highland NY
with zipcode 12528. Would you accept a survey result of $25,000 and hand over
that much money to a company that can't even straighten out their customer
database, and have the addresses correct?
Lastly, because our addresses are incorrect in their (TWC) database
our are requests are not being counted correctly - not being counted at all!
In fact, when I call TWC for service they insist that I am not in there area.
It takes several minutes to convince their rep that this is TWC area. I am sick
of this conversation. For 6 years I have been calling TWC every month and
getting no where. Everybody else can get high speed for free installation
or $59 installation charge, Why do I have to pay $25,000 installation charge?
and then have my address in the wrong town and zipcode yet.
I still on dialup - probably forever.

This is clearly a case of government regulation gone wrong.
Cablevision has informally told me over the phone
that they would like to build cable in my area
and absorb the cost (no mention of any money, not $25,000)
but that they cannot because they would need a franchise.
Who would create a franchise for 20 customers?

Before you suggest satellite internet with Directway or Starband:
I've considered satellite internet but I reject it as "fake" internet, for 2 reasons:
[1] VPN is required to access my employers corporate network
(in order to telecomute, work at home, whatever you call it).
VPN is a packet by packet encryption/decryption, which because it is
done per packet, slows down all traffic to dialup speed.
[2] The FAP (the terms and conditions) for both Directway and Starband
(current satellite internet providers) also restrict downloads to about
500 Megabytes in a 24 hour period, else they slow down the connection
to dialup speed. (500 Megabytes is less data than 1 CD)

Thus I feel, satellite internet is not for me, because I would usually (23 hours a day)
be slowed to down dialup speed. I already use 2 dialup lines at the same
time, so I'd probably be even slower than that.