No, I want the public airwaves to be used in a manner that, at least by some reasonable measure, serves the public interest.
Well, I confess to being an idealist.
What would it matter? I mean, suppose I wanted to start WWIII - does it mean I can?? ACORN’s intent is irrelevant here: the Census just isn’t handing over the keys to the joint to their 80,000 ‘partners.’
Just because there’s no way of convincing a crazy person, doesn’t mean the crazy person has to be humored by the rest of society.
Speaking of which, gotta run, pleasure talking with you.
Just so I understand: why is the American right-wing opposed to censuses? It’s done in pretty much every country.
Never mind the drug dealers: what if you witnessed a man keeping underage sexual slaves, or something of the sort? And you’re not allowed to inform the police because of confidentiality reasons (which I definitely understand and support). What do you do in such a case? I guess this is the sort of work that’s not for everyone.
It has to do with the way Congressional districts are apportioned. Here’s a piece that explains some of it, and the reasoning behind Michele Bachmann’s fearmongering in particular.
I worked this area of the country back in 1990 as a census taker. It was sometimes very scary, and twice I had guns pointed at me and was ordered to “GIT!” dozens of times. Guess things got worse.
The extreme American right wing nucking futs, m’kay? They’re afraid someone is looking at them. The irony is, they’re also typically the ones wanting to regulate what people do in the bedroom - you know, looking at people during private and intimate moments.
In that case you would inform your supervisor that said activity was going on. I’m not sure what mechanism there is for relaying that information, but I do know there are liaisons with local law enforcement, politicians, and community groups to help facilitate the Census.
There is also the catch that you can’t divulge information obtain during Census work. If you observe such goings on during your off hours or before or after your Census assignment you are, of course, permitted to act as any other concerned citizen.
This seems a good place to link to this recent post, which seems to fit the bill pretty well. “You shouldn’t be watching me, because I know I’m okay. But we should be watching you, because I don’t think you’re okay.”
For some it is in doubt. He was hung, had Fed on his chest and duct taped his own feet and hands. The only conclusion possible was that it was a very determined suicide.
Interesting. Thing is, if there is any merit to the idea that eliminationism will make the leap from entertainment to reality in America, it’s proponents are deluded regarding their chances for success. I have brains enough to make ‘Never start a shooting-war’ one of my primary precepts. And eliminationism would never take hold in my neighborhood. If it broke out elsewhere, it’d be destroyed. Don’t kid yourself.
Any number of reasons come to mind. First of all, bringing your whole family to your oldest ancestor’s home town is a bitch, especially during the holidays.
And if another baby Jesus gets borned, you just know he’d be the AntiChrist.
Do you have a cite for that? If you saw a child rape in progress, and reported it, you’d face $250,000 plus jail time? I seriously doubt the that law is written the way you think it is.
It is. Title 13 of the United States Code specifically prohibits disclosure of personally identifiable information, which includes address. Here is the relevant cite. The Census Bureau takes that pretty seriously.
That being said, I am reasonably sure the government would decline to prosecute a census worker for reporting an emergent situation, such as an assault in progress, or a house fire. I can find out for sure and re-post. Non-emergent situations, such as seeing evidence of drugs in a house, would likely result in the worker being prosecuted. We’re census workers, not a branch of law enforcement. I’d give a cite, but I can’t cite a judgment call.
You’d be surprised. I’ve posted some of the things I heard upthread. A lot of it really is wingnuttery; these people really don’t understand that if the gubmint wants them, the gubmint already knows where they are. Hell, I’ve seen the 2010 questionnaire, and Americans are required to give more personal information on their tax return forms, yet that doesn’t occur to these people.
Maybe they don’t want to do their taxes, but Uncle Sam has ways of making them comply if they don’t.
Any way you slice it, a lot of the anti-Census sentiment is simply people repeating what they hear from the right-wing echo chamber. Most of the time, it’s mildly amusing. It’s sad that someone took it a little too seriously.