I am always glad when people like Mayor Street and Greg Goldman open their mouths and reveal that they know nothing about poverty or poverty issues.  The story that the Digital Divide isn't closing shows how out of touch the City and WiFi Philly is with poor issues.  In a city where affordable housing has been shrinking, numbers have been going up in homeless shelters and murder rates are climbing; I don't think a laptop with WiFi is going to make a big difference in people's lives.

I work with a Housing Coalition in Philadelphia and we can tell you that the fact that many Philadelphians pay more than 80% of their income for housing and have trouble finding places to live in a city where Condo Mania has been escalating.  Even worse is how neighborhoods have been gentrifying off the hook, forcing people out of their homes and neighborhoods in the name of Eminent Domain.  Yet, real estate mogul Greg Goldman and the Mayor Street are acting surprised that the Digital Divide hasn't been closing. 

With our failing school system, the lack of sustainable employment that pays a decent living wage with Healthcare; Internet access is the least of people's worries.  But then, you could do better. 

Even then, you would think that the City could give access to the net away cheaper than $9.95 a month.  The City does offer "token" access to free WiFi around certain parts of the City.  Good luck getting on! I tried to access WiFi Philly's free Internet access today in Rittenhouse Square Park.  No go there.  I couldn't get a good connecting and then when I did, I got nada.  Zilch. 

I had bought myself a little iBook laptop and then got a cheap USB Dongle for getting WiFi which I saved up for, being on disability and all.  Going into B&N Bookstore, I was able to get connected right away, no problem there with their in-house WiFi which is AT&T.  I found out for $39.95 a month, I could hook up to it at any AT&T Hotspot.  For free, I could use there B&N Web Site and look for and purchase books online.  Cool.  At borders, the T-Mobile WiFi jumped right in and for a modest fee, I could connect there, too.  Yet, in any of the so called Free Zones, like the Art Museum, nada! JFK? Not!! Parkway? No! Is it me? Am I doing something wrong?

Hmm, then I read this. You have to wonder where the future of WiFi will be when Municipalities jump into bed with Big Corporations (Hello, Comcast!) who don't deliver the goods.  Houston and San Francisco are feeling the pinch.  So is Chicago.  New Orleans can forget it.

So far only 300 Families have signed up for the WiFi Service.  That is good although I don't think the Internet will be a great panacea for people.  There's always this Egalitarian view that the Great Unwashed Masses will all log onto the Internet and head straight for the Online Encyclopedias and such, in thirst of knowledge.  It is as if the answers to Life and The Universe can be found on Craig's List. 

You and I know that they, "the poor" (an 2/3 of Philadelphia makes less than $30,000 a year) will head to MySpace and look for the porn just like the rest of us.  (Some will blog and oh what tales they can tell about being poor in Philly!)

I hope I don't sound like a Luddite but, I think we have all lost the human touch.  Sometimes the Internet has put people further apart from each other than bring them closer together.  The solutions for poverty, ignorance and hunger won't be found on Google.  That will involve us all getting together, moving up and out from behind the keyboards and screens and turning to each other and doing something meaningful. 

(With some apology to some enlightened heterosexuals.)

Like the Neanderthal, dragging his knuckles through the primordial murk is the Pentecostal, Christ Worshiping, Beer Drinking, Nascar Loving, Republican Voting throwback from evolution: The Average White Heterosexual Male. Yes, after many a long struggle that we, the Homosexual, have struggled with, dragging these missing links forward to Western Civilization with art, music, literature and science; they remain trying to pull us back. They want to bring us back to an existence in some god forsaking trailer park, watching bland movies and television shows about the bible and huntin'.

Yea, my brethren! The time has come to declare the Heterosexual obsolete! The time has come, with genetic counseling and science to cut the cord on this most odious wretch!

Why do we need them? Breeding? Hah! With gay men willing to be sperm donors and lesbians willing to bear children, with the simple application of a turkey baster and a beaker, we can breed on our own! With genetics, we can weed out the trash and get rid of this most recessive primitive gene. If we could paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and come up with beautiful poetry about love of the feminine form, what do we need them for?

All they do is spread hate and filth. They rape and destroy our planet in the name of profit. They raise children to be dumber than the generation before. Each decade, they bring us closer to nuclear war and other global calamities. So why put up with them?

They can hardly cook worth a damn. They don't know anything about art and they don't want to know anything about science, except how they can be most hateful with it. They believe that some old man in the sky is a White Conservative Christian who Votes Republican. I swear, if their IQ's got any lower, we could water them!

Sure, some of them can be handsome to look at but at what cost? Believe me, we are better off in the long run to just breed them out of existence.

Imagine a kinder and gentler world, a world of taste and beauty. Imagine a world free of polyester, paintings of dogs playing poker on black velvet, Toby Keith and tacky vinyl handbags that ask "What Would Jesus Do?" Honey, I can tell you what he wouldn't do! Shop at WalMart!

What are we waiting for? Let's just do it! Let's give evolution a much needed boost so we can speed up our future development. Let's help the human race be all it could be!

*As originally posted on The Life of Pinky Bear!