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{As Prepared for Delivery}
Mississippi Rural Development Broadband Conference:“Is Your Community Missing Out on the Information Economy?”Oxford, MississippiMay 3, 2006Thomas C. DorrUnder Secretary for Rural DevelopmentKeynote AddressThank you. On behalf of President Bush, Secretary Johanns, and agreat team at Mississippi Rural Development, let me say that it is both aprivilege and a pleasure to be here today to discuss broadband and theinformation economy.I have to confess that it’s also a bit of a change -- a welcome change -- tobe visiting part of Mississippi that is still standing. Katrina hit about amonth after I was confirmed. I am reasonably sure there was noconnection, but don’t suggest that to my critics lest they get ideas.Since Katrina hit, however, I’ve been a regular visitor to the Gulf Coast.Outside of New Orleans, most of the heavily damaged areas are rural.
 
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USDA Rural Development – our field offices, our field staff – is a part of those communities. We live here. We were on the ground before thestorm hit, our people were here as the waves rolled in, and we will behere for the long haul as we put things back together.From that perspective, I’d like to take just a moment to publiclycommend Nick Walters and our entire Mississippi Rural Developmentstaff for the truly outstanding job they have done, and are continuing todo, to meet that emergency.Katrina, as you know, was the biggest and -- in terms of propertydamage -- by far the most destructive storm ever to hit the continentalUnited States. It is going to take years to put things right. I pledge toyou that USDA Rural Development will be here for as long as it takes.As we rebuild, however, it is important that we do so with an eye to thefuture, which brings us to our topic today.
 
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I am often accused of being an unabashed optimist about rural America– and I am. Obviously there are challenges. Every community is uniqueand some have a harder road than others. One size doesn’t fit all.Rural America includes everything from the north woods of Maine tonative villages in Alaska to corn belt counties in Iowa to the high desertsof the southwest.It includes areas that have been left behind and are struggling, as wellas many of the fastest growing towns and counties in the nation.But when one steps back and looks broadly at what is happening in theUnited States today … a robust economy … the growth of renewableenergy sources … the emergence of biobased products … and theinherent decentralizing potential of a knowledge based economy … Itruly believe that rural America is a place of remarkable opportunity.Let me begin with three examples that help illustrate what the internetand the information economy can mean to rural areas:
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