Census Worker Hanged

What the fuck is wrong with people?
I was planning on working for the census this spring, but not anymore.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090924/ap_on_re_us/us_census_worker_hanged

 

I did canvassing for Greenpeace, once upon a time.
I can understand why folk get their nose outta joint but DAMN...hanging a poor old census dude is ...well it's hurting my brain so much that words fail me.

 

Census is a crock, and it wouldnt surprise me if there were more backlash over the demands for info the government makes in them. That poor guy, I had just been complaining about how the census was being organized.



we got a community survey recently.... I was very unhappy at the questions they asked and the answers they were looking for. Some surveys are MANDATORY - and nothing pisses folks off than having to tell "The Man" everything about themselves and everyone they live with... or face prosecution. I was annoyed by it, and can totally see how some backwoods loon would take it as a way for the feds to snoop around.

Our survey said if we dont fill out the survey, and maybe even if we do, they will send someone to our place... if i had a grow patch or grandads old moonshine still working in the backyard I would be even less happy to have government employees lurking around.

Not that I condone what happened to that guy, just saying that the census can make folks nervous, and who knows what they will do! I would never work for that kind of thing, it sounds like a good way to get mugged or killed.

 

How the fuck is the census a crock, knowing how many people live in a district, the average income, ect is actually pretty damn important to helping the government distribute funds, projects ect, especially when it comes to that little thing known as congressional appointment. Exactly what question on the census do you disagree with? The framers of the constitution realized this was important even 225 years ago hence why it's a federal requirement every year

The only people who are against the census are those who think Obama is going to turn us into a socialist country yet were fine with the Homeland security and Patriot acts back a few years ago. Paranoid people enough? Did he the murder really have to write FED on his chest to add insult to injury

OH GOD THE GOVERNMENT KNOWS I"M WHITE AND MARRIED, TOO MUCH INFORMATION!

Just about everything asked on the census the government already knows, it's generally either public information to begin with, or the IRS knows through tax receipts, the census is just a way to make all the information current and get a better feel on the country.

 

"Just about everything asked on the census the government already knows"
and this makes it NOT a crock?

You already know the answer, but are requiring me to answer the question?

I will be visited by a census agent if I dont answer what the government already knows?

Why do they send someone to my house when they can go to the County Records and get the same info?

because its a crock, a useless waste of time and money for little or no new information


and i hate to rock your whole theory, but I think obama is okay AND i think the census is a crock.


Othern that, we're tight, right? lol

 

Well yes, I don't agree with Obama on economics, but I think he's okay too. Because you know him and his socialism, just like Eisenhower and him building tons of interstate highways, DAMN EISENHOWER AND HIS SOCIALISM!

But no, I think the census is a good thing

Though you can see my point, many people actually think the census is some kind of all out campaign by the government to collect every piece of information about you despite the fact most of what the census asks can be already be found in public records if you go around and look.

Even though Connecticut lost a seat in the house because of the 2000 census

Nobody loves Connecticut

 

it's not quite a waste of money YET.

it will be soon, but not quite yet.

the thing is, that right now, it will cost more to centralize all government data into one database, than it does to have all these agencies perform separately.

Once we reach a break-even point, THEN the census is a "waste of money"

and even then, it's employing americans, and right now, we NEED jobs, so.

I think we should be in favor of employment that still makes a little bit of fiscal sense, even if not much

And even you should realize, some people don't have to file a tax return

some people don't have addresses.

census people have to make sure of those, keep accurate address records (which keep maps accurate) help prevent gerrymandering, it is, for the time being, a worthwhile service

when it no longer is, awesome.

but right now, your position is insane, and indefensible.

 

insane maybe, indefensible - NEVER! lol


First, lets get together on the fact that a poor guy was out there and got hurt. Thats just wrong, hes a human being and in no way am I saying its okay. The guy had friends and family and was just trying to do the best he could - I hope they figger out who and put them away before anyone else gets hurt.


as for the census....

I am all for jobs, in fact I think the census folks do a pretty smackin job. I dont have to agree with sending agents out to canvass the countryside to think that.

I do think that its a job that would involve meeting people, which has its upside AND its downside. Folks can be rude or mean, and it sounds like the kind of gig that can lead to being met with a shotgun and "git off my land!"



The crock if it comes where I have been threatened by some unknown punishment to give yet another government agency my information. Have you received a survey? I think you might find it a little more prying than one would think.

Reading it put me right off the whole thing, and I was more tempted than ever to tell them I was Native Alaskan Indian and needed wheelchair ramps to my totem pole!


(okay, well I didnt tell them that, but I thought about it!)

 

I've never appreciated someone knocking on my door unannounced, let alone to ask me questions about my person.

The last time I was given a census form and it had choices of race; the only choice I had was "non-hispanic white". Screw that. What kind of quality control is that blanket definition? What does that possibly tell them about me being lilly white?

Therefore, my personal conclusion is, the census sucks. And Dave, I respect you completely - have read your posts for a long time now - but I disagree. They DO already have a ton of information on me. So someone coming knocking on my door for verfication of said information (which can't be needed at this point) are most unwelcome. I respect the individual but not the agency business.

 

In regard to the choice of race: while I know a few brothers who live in maine (I live in new hampshire)
for the most part it really is all lily white

Hotwater

 

I actually take surveys for fun because I know I am atypical, and know I fuck their numbers.

I also deconstruct the survey since I know how surveys work, and intentionally lie on some of the questions on informal (see political and ad surveys) to misdirect them.

as to punishing someone for not answering, well, guess what, we let people choose to vote, and very few people do, and people understand the value of voting

most people don't understand the value of the census (which is in some ways more critical) and would just be like "fuck it"

so our options are, a stick, or a carrot.

a carrot would cost too much, and would be less effective overall (not everyone likes "carrots")

a stick, well the people who like pain see it as a carrot, and everyone else hates sticks, so, win-win.

seems pretty damn simple.

 

I am glad I am not the only one that knows how they work and how to skew some numbers! Its usually a way to have fun, but this one seemed like MIB would show up if I didnt have it filled out fully.

And nothing makes me want to skew their numbers like the stick method - striking back at "The Man" for using the stick!

This survey I got sounded like a bad script Nazi interrogator demanding eeeenformation... vee haf ways of making you talk!

 

.

 

The lack of pragmatism on this forum bothers me, there's a disturbance in the force

 

begging your pardon

It's a terrible thing the man died a violent death

 

o.k. well ah.i'll just leave this pamphlet "dealing with census stress on your senses"and if dave gets back and he wants to contribute good,fine he can call us if he wants but if not that's fine too.thank you.

 

Conan O'Brian did a gig on his show when the new quarters first started being circulated. Here is what he coined (no pun intended) the Maine quarter:

"Maine. The deep south of the far north."

Now, I'm sorry - that's funny no matter who you are. Because it's so damn true. And you're speaking with a southern California raised gal here. So, I know diversity.

 

the politics forum is an array of more absurdity than can be easily quantified.

of course pragamatists are held at bay.

 

Dont Worry, If you fail to complete the form. they will just make it up.

 

Here's one census worker's story, from back in 1970, as reported in the LA Times...

The woman stared at me. "Whaddya want?" she asked. I stated my business and she laughed derisively. The two girls who were cooking joined in. "You want my name?" the redhead said. "I'm Greta Garbo. And that's Marilyn Monroe," she said, pointing.

The door opened, and the two surly cowboys came in. "She's from the census," the skinny woman told them, and then said to me: "This here's Humphrey Bogart."

I was happy to remember my instructions: "You don't have to get the names of all those hippies up there. Just the permanent ones." By now, Spahn had hung up the phone and I approached him.

"Mr. Spahn," I said, "I'm here to help you fill out your census form. I'll try to make it as brief as possible."

Spahn smiled and nodded, and I proceeded to ask him all the questions about himself and his living quarters. He answered willingly enough. The red-haired woman moved closer to him, fixing me with a cold stare.

While this was going on, more women and men entered the house. It was getting a bit crowded, not to mention fetid. I finished the questions about Spahn and his house and, having decided to narrow the other "permanent residents" down to one, I asked about the ranch hand.

Spahn didn't answer right away. The room was suddenly very still, except for the buzzing flies. I thought maybe he hadn't heard me.

"You have a ranch hand who lives here, don't you, Mr. Spahn? Is his name Shea?"

Something caused me to look up. The eyes of perhaps 10 people were all focused on me.

I had a sudden flash of what I represented to these people. Not the war-protesting, civil-rights-advocating liberal I believed myself to be, but a personification of the Enemy. I was someone of the generation from which they had cut all ties, a member of the Establishment and a person conducting a government survey who might just be a police spy. I thought of the Manson Family's epithet, PIG, written in blood at one of the murder sites, and I regretted my decision not to take a police escort...