Thursday, July 16, 2015

U.S. Program Will Connect Public Housing Residents to Web - The New York Times

Why doesn't everyone have and email address ending in@usps,com?
We have a constitutional right to postal service: the United States took on that duty. In June 1788, the ninth state ratified the Constitution, which gave Congress the power “To establish Post Offices and post Roads” in Article I, Section 8. A year later, the Act of September 22, 1789 (1 Stat. 70), continued the Post Office and made the Postmaster General subject to the direction of the President. Four days later, President Washington appointed Samuel Osgood as the first Postmaster General under the Constitution. A population of almost four million was served by 75 Post Offices and about 2,400 miles of post roads.

The Post Office received two one-year extensions by the Acts of August 4, 1790 (1 Stat. 178), and March 3, 1791 (1 Stat. 218). The Act of February 20, 1792 (1 Stat. 232), continued the Post Office for another two years and formally admitted newspapers to the mails, gave Congress the power to establish post routes, and prohibited postal officials from opening letters. Later legislation enlarged the duties of the Post Office, strengthened and unified its organization, and provided rules for its development. The Act of May 8, 1794 (1 Stat. 354), continued the Post Office indefinitely.
U.S. Program Will Connect Public Housing Residents to Web - The New York Times
The Obama administration on Wednesday announced a program to connect thousands of public housing residents across the nation to the Internet at low prices or free, part of a broader effort to close the so-called digital divide and help low-income Americans succeed in a technology-driven society.
Appearing at a school in Durant, Okla., in the heart of the Choctaw Nation, where 32 percent of children live in poverty, Mr. Obama said it was unacceptable for young people not to have access to the same technological resources in their homes that their wealthier counterparts do. Among them could be “the next Mark Zuckerberg, the next Bill Gates,” he said.
“If we don’t get these young people the access to what they need to achieve their potential, then it’s our loss; it’s not just their loss,” Mr. Obama told an audience of 900 at Durant High School that included women in colorful dresses and children with paper headdresses.


“They’ve got big dreams,” he added. “We’ve got to have an interest in making sure they can achieve those dreams.”
Over all, 275,000 households, including 200,000 children, will be eligible for free Internet connections or, in some areas, broadband hookups that cost as little as $9.95 a month.
Jeff Zients, director of the National Economic Council at the White House, called the program a major step in the president’s effort to provide every community in the nation with affordable Internet access.

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