USDA Launches Webpage Highlighting Resources to Help Rural Communities Bridge the Broadband e-Connectivity Infrastructure Gap
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2018 – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today unveiled a new webpage featuring information about the importance of rural e-Connectivity and the ways the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing to help deploy high-speed broadband infrastructure in rural America.
“Rural high-speed broadband e-Connectivity is as important for economic development as rail, roads, bridges and airports – and as vital as the buildouts of rural telephone networks were decades ago,” Perdue said. “USDA is committed to being a strong partner with rural leaders in deploying this essential infrastructure.”
Reliable and affordable high-speed internet e-Connectivity acts as a catalyst for rural prosperity by enabling efficient, modern communications between rural American households, farms, ranches, businesses, schools and health care centers. Yet, according to the Federal Communications Commission, 80 percent of the 24 million Americans who lack broadband access live in rural areas and on tribal lands.
USDA plays an important role in helping rural communities bridge this infrastructure gap through program investment, strategic partnerships and best practice implementation by investing in rural telecommunications infrastructure. This new website will provide direct access to information on our decades-long programs that offer more than $700 million per year for modern broadband e-Connectivity in rural communities. In the coming months, USDA will almost double these longstanding programs with an additional $600 million to expand rural broadband infrastructure in unserved rural areas and tribal lands.
As we are working to set up the new pilot program, USDA wants to hear the thoughts and needs of Americans living and doing business in rural communities. The new website includes a feedback form for the general public and interested stakeholders to provide input on the design and requirements of the new pilot program.
In April 2017, President Donald J. Trump established the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to identify legislative, regulatory and policy changes that could promote agriculture and prosperity in rural communities. In January 2018, Secretary Perdue presented the Task Force’s findings to President Trump, which included 31 recommendations to align the federal government with state, local and tribal governments to take advantage of opportunities that exist in rural America.
To view the report in its entirety, please view the Report to the President of the United States from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity (PDF, 5.4 MB). In addition, to view the categories of the recommendations, please view the Rural Prosperity infographic (PDF, 190 KB).
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community services such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.
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REVIVING THE SPIRIT OF ’68
By Robert C. Koehler
1115 Words
I was a hippie/bicycle delivery boy living in San Francisco when the Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago 50 years ago, so I absorbed the chaos, the police riot, from half a continent away, but I knew with absolute certainty that the nation was changing and I was part of it.
We were in the violent spasm of transition. How long would it last? MLK and RFK, as they called for peace and sanity and civil rights for all, had just been assassinated. This was the God of War, turning its vengeance inward.
A year earlier I had been part of the march on the Pentagon. At one point a group of soldiers charged us as we stood on the grounds next to the building and I got clonked in the head by a rifle butt. Later, as we sat in, I felt with sudden certainty that Lyndon Johnson was going to emerge from the Pentagon and declare an end to the Vietnam War. Uh . . . that didn’t happen.
Instead, I eventually just got up and left. When I returned to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where I was in college, the first thing I did was drop out. Apparently I wanted to remove myself entirely from the infrastructure or normal, middle-class existence and join others in creating something new.
As I read about the chaos in Chicago at the convention — the thousands of cops and National Guardsmen and U.S. troops storming the protesters, whacking them with their batons, throwing them into paddy wagons, as the pro-war consensus (epitomized by the grimace on the face of Chicago’s mayor, Richard J. Daley) held tight to the reins of power — I felt myself quietly retreat back into my own life. The “movement” wasn’t going to remake America. Or rather, idealism all by itself wasn’t going to bring about the world I had envisioned with such certainty as I sat on the steps of the Pentagon.
I didn’t surrender my idealism; I didn’t turn into a cynic. But I shifted my focus to my own life and returned to school. Half a century later . . .
I gape in awe at how little has changed.
“The reality is that the war has created the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe today,” Moustafa Bayoumi wrote recently in The Guardian. “Three-quarters of the population, some 22 million Yemenis, require humanitarian assistance and protection. About 8.4 million people hang on the brink of starvation and another 7 million lie malnourished. Since 2015, more than 28,000 thousand people have been killed or injured, and many thousands more have died from causes exacerbated by war, such as a cholera epidemic that has afflicted more than a million people and claimed over 2,300 lives. At least one child dies every 10 minutes from causes linked to the war, according to the United Nations.”
Actually, something has changed — the opposite of what I had anticipated in 1967, as I sat on the steps of the Pentagon, or in 1968, as I silently cheered the protesters demanding that the Democratic Party become a party of peace.
The war in Yemen, which the U.S. is making possible with billions of dollars in weapons sales to the Saudi coalition, is barely even news. Neither are the wars — at least seven of them — in which the U.S. is directly participating, including Iraq (15 years and counting) and Afghanistan (17 years and counting). I fear the forces the antiwar protesters were confronting 50 years ago have made a shift in keeping with their deepest interests: not to “win” the wars but simply to make sure they continue.
Even Donald Trump was shocked by this: “When Trump announced . . . that he was ordering a new approach to the war,” the Associated Press reported last March about Afghanistan, “he said he realized ‘the American people are weary of war without victory.’ He said his instinct was to pull out, but that after consulting with aides, he decided to seek ‘an honorable and enduring outcome.’ He said that meant committing more resources to the war, giving commanders in the field more authority and staying in Afghanistan for as long as it takes.”
In other words, he was pulled back into line — that is, back into lyin’. Glory, glory, hallelujah. In America, clichés rule. We may bomb children, and (even more to the point) manufacture and sell the bombs that take out school buses, etc., etc., etc., but we still pull out our clichés about freedom and honor and such, stale as they may be, on a moment’s notice.
America’s journey to its Orwellian present-day reality, in which wars are endlessly expanding background noise (as opposed to news), essentially began in the tumultuous late ’60s, when peace consciousness had seized much of the nation. While LBJ did not declare the end of the Vietnam War, the war eventually did end — in defeat, dishonor and disgrace, leaving behind a shattered country (more than million dead, an environment despoiled with Agent Orange and unexploded ordnance) and countless U.S. vets spiritually and physically wounded. The American public was weary not of war without victory but of war itself. This was called Vietnam Syndrome, and it was profoundly troubling to the political status quo.
It took several decades, but Militarized America did achieve its one and only post-World War II victory. It defeated Vietnam Syndrome. Step one was eliminating the draft, which freed the public from any personal risk — and thus, any real stake — in future wars, leaving only a poverty draft to fill the ranks, and who cares about them?
Ronald Reagan was forced to fight proxy wars against the commies in Central America, but his successor, George H.W. Bush, declared a victory over Vietnam Syndrome after Gulf War I. A decade later, his son, as we know, launched wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which, having accomplished none of their alleged aims, nonetheless continue with no end in sight, two presidents later. Victory no longer matters. A seemingly rational mission no longer matters. Clichés and a bloated military budget are enough.
Fifty years ago, the country was in tumult about the war in Vietnam and millions of people wanted to reshape the Democratic Party into a party of peace. The War Machine, which owned (owns) both parties, held fast and tough. Billy clubs won. The media surrendered.
But we the people have not surrendered. We were outmaneuvered, gerrymandered, removed from the voting roster, but we have not surrendered. Is the spirit of ’68 coming back to life in the Trump era, as evinced by an upsurge in progressive electoral victories? The War God is ruthless and clever and will not give up. Neither should we.
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Robert Koehler, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a Chicago award-winning journalist and editor.
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Hemp, Inc. CEO Bruce Perlowin to Speak at Carolina Hemp Festival in North Carolina
Spring Hope, NC, Aug. 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP), a global leader in the industrial hemp industry with the largest multipurpose industrial hemp processing facility in the western hemisphere, announced today that the company’s CEO Bruce Perlowin will be featured as a speaker at the Southeast Region Industrial Hemp Expo & Festival (Carolina Hemp Festival) event on Aug. 30– Sept. 1, 2018 at Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley event center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Perlowin is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 1, during the Hemp Festival taking place from 1 to 5 p.m. Click here to view the three-day event schedule. Perlowin is expected to discuss Hemp, Inc.’s mission and offerings with industrial hemp farmers, professionals, innovators, enthusiasts and advocates from the Southeast Region.
The timing for a hemp event in the region is ideal, as the U.S. is poised to lift its 80 year ban on hemp as the Senate has decided to conference on the historic 2018 Farm Bill in order to work out disparities between the Senate and the House’s versions of the bill. The Senate’s version of the Farm Bill contains the Hemp Farming Act, which would remove industrial hemp from the federal government’s schedule of controlled substances.
“I look forward to speaking at the Carolina Hemp Festival and discussing the potential of legalized hemp in the Southeast and beyond to revolutionize the agricultural and cannabidiol (CBD) industries,” said Hemp, Inc. CEO Bruce Perlowin. “We are proud to have seen this favorable shift in perception toward hemp coming years ago and recently celebrated the one-year milestone of our industrial hemp processing and manufacturing facility in Spring Hope, North Carolina being operational. With the U.S. positioned to lift its 80 year ban on hemp, we see this as a unique opportunity to connect with other hemp enthusiasts and industry leaders in our region.”
To learn more about the Carolina Hemp Festival or to RSVP, click here.
Hemp, Inc. is also helping to build the industrial hemp infrastructure that was basically non-existent in America. And five years later, it’s still in its infancy as our nation, gradually, embraces industrial hemp as a new emerging multi-trillion dollar industrial agricultural green revolution. Our focus has been on building five hemp infrastructures, Divisions One through Five.
Division One – The Industrial Hemp Infrastructure
Division Two – The Hemp Extraction Infrastructure
Division Three – The Hemp Farming Infrastructure
Division Four – The Hemp Educational Infrastructure
Division Five – The Hemp Marketing Infrastructure
Hemp, Inc.’s strategic hemp growing partner Veteran Village Kins Community Arizona, Inc. has a 500-acre Veteran Village Kins Community in Golden Valley, Arizona. The Veteran Village Kins Community is designed to grow hemp and produce cannabidiol (CBD) products to benefit veterans as well as generate revenue for Hemp, Inc., the Veteran Village, and individual veterans living in the community. Already a $100 million industry, the CBD market is expected to grow over 700% and balloon to $2.1 billion by 2020.
For a more complete description on the Veteran Village Kins Community, read the following, modified, October 24, 2017 press release, Hemp, Inc. Announces Strategic Hemp Growing Partner "Veteran Village Kins Community Arizona, Inc." Completes Final Site Plan Blueprints, below:
Hemp, Inc. has announced that its strategic growing partner, "Veteran Village Kins Community Arizona, Inc.," has completed its final site plan blueprints for its 500-acre site in Golden Valley, Arizona (20 miles north of Kingman, AZ and 90 minutes from Las Vegas, NV). The site plan was submitted to the Mohave County Building Department for final review. The Company is also in the final stages of completing the necessary infrastructure to support an off-grid, renewable, energy system. With the solar equipment in place, the site's solar power operation will be completed in the next days.
As soon as the live streaming video cameras are up and operational, the world can actually see the way the Veteran Village Kins Community is designed and watch it being built. According to Perlowin, the basic framework or overall plan of the Veteran Village Kins Communities is to create a holistic healing and learning center that is designed to educate and heal veterans with PSTD, alcoholism, meth addiction, opioid addiction, and other psychological conditions while at the same time training them on the numerous aspects of being part of the emerging multi-billion dollar hemp industry.
We will also be building hemp-growing communities for other groups such as "Abused" Women & Children Village Kins Communities, the "Orphaned" Children Village Kins Communities, "Homeless" Village Kins Communities and the "Healers" Village Kins Communities (the healers are professionals who are knowledgeable in the modalities to treat these traumatized groups). These particular communities are all synergistically aligned to work simultaneously supporting each other.
For example, the "Healers" heal the traumatized veterans and women & children; the women support orphan children and orphan children want to see people living in homes and not homeless. Thus, a portion of the hemp grown in each community goes to create and support another community, giving everybody a sense of giving back and helping others as they help themselves. This circles back to the healers who also work to heal the veterans and the other traumatized groups. This is the economic foundation on how the sale of the hemp products operates as a "quantum economic matrix" or an example of "symbiotic economics" which is more complex than this brief description allows.
Dwight Jory, the Project Manager for the "Veteran Village Kins Community Arizona, Inc.," said, "We are very happy with the progress. Our Kins Community is really beginning to come together." In anticipation of planting to begin during the spring, 300 acres have been fenced, 16 overnight trailer park sites are under construction, and six 40x40-ft organic vegetable gardens have been planted and are currently producing food and kenaf, according to Jory. These organic gardens double as experimental growing modules using an entire array of different growing technologies to see which modalities grow the best in a desert environment. As for the 6 geodesic domes mentioned in an earlier press release, 1 is structurally complete with only the electrical and plumbing to be completed. The rest are on site awaiting final site plan approval.
"We are now accepting volunteers who have expressed an interest in helping to build the first Kins Community for our veterans," said Jory. Those interested in making the first hemp growing CBD-producing "Veteran Village Kins Community" become a reality should contact Ms. Sandra Williams via email (swilliams@hempinc.com).
One thousand trees, on 36 of the 500-acres, have also been planted, with an additional 1,000 trees on order. The "Veteran Village Kins Community" will include a 100,000-square foot GMP compliant, central processing plant, a state-of-the-art testing laboratory, and various health and wellness centers to support veterans who may have psychological, emotional or health issues.
"As Hemp, Inc. positions itself on the forefront of America's industrial hemp revolution, we see our partnership with 'Veteran Village Kins Community Arizona, Inc.' being paramount in supporting the small family farm movement that we are confident will reshape the American landscape," said Perlowin. "As we work toward getting our eco-village up and running in Arizona, we are also aggressively scouting strategic locations in other states including North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. Giving veterans and other Americans a place to learn new skills and take part in this multi-billion-dollar hemp CBD market is very exciting. It's a big part of our mission to give back. Recently we have expanded our Kins Community concept internationally focusing, but not limited to, Israel, New Zealand, Canada, Africa, and Uruguay."
According to Perlowin, we hope to have 50 "master hemp growers" working on their first Veteran Village Kins Community in Arizona. To date, we have growers from Oregon, Colorado, California, Kentucky, North Carolina, Nevada and, Arizona who have expressed an interest in pursuing a joint venture with Hemp, Inc. to each grow industrial hemp on 5 of the 300 fenced acres in Arizona. Perlowin says he'll call this "The Great United American Hemp Project." Any grower having an interest in pursuing a joint venture on 5 of the 300 fenced in acres in Arizona should contact Project Manager Dwight Jory. Or, anyone interested in attending the 2 - 7-day hands-on hempcrete house building should contact Dwight Jory as well. (Dates to be determined.)
ABOUT HEMP, INC.
With a deep-rooted social and environmental mission at its core, Hemp, Inc. seeks to build a business constituency for the American small farmer, the American veteran, and other groups experiencing the ever-increasing disparity between tapering income and soaring expenses. As a leader in the industrial hemp industry with ownership of the largest commercial multi-purpose industrial hemp processing facility in North America, Hemp, Inc. believes there can be tangible benefits reaped from adhering to a corporate social responsibility plan.
SOCIAL NETWORKS
http://www.twitter.com/hempinc (Twitter)
http://www.facebook.com/hempinc (Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/KingOfPot (Bruce Perlowin's Facebook Page)
https://www.facebook.com/TheHempUniversity/ (The Hemp University's Facebook Page)
SUBSCRIBE TO HEMP, INC.'S VIDEO UPDATES
"Hemp, Inc. Presents" is capturing the historic, monumental re-creation of the hemp decorticator today as America begins to evolve into a cleaner, green, eco-friendly sustainable environment. What many see as the next American Industrial Revolution is actually the Industrial Hemp Revolution. Watch as Hemp, Inc., the No. 1 leader in the industrial hemp industry, engages its shareholders and the public through each step in bringing back the hemp decorticator as described in the "Freedom Leaf Magazine" article "The Return of the Hemp Decorticator" by Steve Bloom.
"Hemp, Inc. Presents" is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by visiting www.hempinc.com. To subscribe to the "Hemp, Inc. Presents" YouTube channel, be sure to click the subscribe button.
UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC EVENTS
Across the globe, the hemp industry is rising to astronomical levels. In the wake of the hemp industry projected to grow 700% and hit $1.8 billion by 2020, there has been more education and networking within the industry. That means more events and conferences, thus, Hemp, Inc. has started compiling an ongoing list of upcoming hemp events around the world. Check out the listing of international and domestic events here.
FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER AND DISCLOSURES
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties.
Hemp, Inc.
855-436-7688
ir@hempinc.com
Source: Hemp, Inc.
© 2018 GlobeNewswire, Inc.
