it’s common census
so 10 years have passed and it’s census time. we mentioned a while back that the form itself had some controversy because it included the classification term “negro” for old people that may better identify with the term. certifiably crazy lady congresswoman michelle bachmann pictured here recommended that people don’t fill out the census because “during World War II, Census data was shared with the FBI “at the request of President Roosevelt, and that’s how the Japanese were rounded up” she followed up her comment with “I’m not saying that that’s what the Administration is planning to do” but encouraged peeps to fill out the minimum data (i.e., how many people live in your house).* before you believe what crazy says–here is some back story on the census:
- it’s old. back in the bible times, there’s a story that king david ordered a census to find the jews and it pissed off god so much that god made a plague that killed 70K peeps in 3 days.**
- the founding fathers made it an essential element to keeping a government run by the people–they figured states would misrepresent how many people they had in their states so that they could get more lawmakers in washington. the first census was in 1790 and “650 federal marshals on horseback began going house to house. It cost $45,000 and took a year and a half to count 3.9 million people.”
- the numbers determine how much federal aid your state gets (bridges, schools, other some such things). in fact, last time around it was tied to about $400B — that’s a lotta bones.
- it’s mandatory and you face a $5,000 fine if you don’t fill it out. don’t listen to that idiot from minnesota.
* now she’s for protecting the rights of minorities?
** you think with the god connection, bacchman would be all over it.
Similiar Stories:
Yesterday I was at a family gathering at my Mom’s house and my brother said he’d heard that there was something on the glue on the Census return envelopes that was making people sick. My sister chimed in saying she’d heard of people coming down with gastrointestinal problems after licking the Census envelope.
I am officially tired of crazy people now. Think I will go read a Bill Hemmer interview to bore myself into a better mood.