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Bachmann: Census Will Lead to Internment
Did you know that the U.S. Census is really a secret plot for mass imprisonment? Well, if not, you haven’t been paying enough attention to Michele Bachmann. The crazy congresswoman from Minnesota was on Fox News on Thursday, and said that that Americans should not comply with the census because it allowed the internment of the Japanese during WWII. “If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947,” she said, “the data that was collected by the census bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations, at the request of President Roosevelt, and that’s how the Japanese were rounded up and put into the internment camps. I’m not saying that’s what the Administration is planning to do. But I am saying that private, personal information that was given to the census bureau in the 1940s was used against Americans to round them up.”
Progressive2
bauhahaahahahaha
Palin/Bachmann 2012!!!
rapierwits
Ha!
pr54321
1) Crazy Republicans refuse to comply with Census.
2) Areas with lots of crazy Republicans appear to lose population.
3) Congressional representation (and electoral votes) are reapportioned accordingly.
Yup. Good luck with that.
neo0071
Really, really, really! Why does it have to be about a political point of view.
$1bn for a census is justice for concern
Centrist
My understanding is that Federal law prohibits census data on individual persons from being shared with anyone. Only the aggregrate statistics are public information. Perhaps another poster can supply the exact statute that governs census data. As far as Fox News reporting or opinion goes I doubt that mere facts will discourage their promulgation of such inflammatory stories. I think the Daily Beast should refrain, as a matter of journalistic policy, from using anything said on Fox News as a first source.
cuppajo
Yeah OK.....who would you go with MSNBC? CNN? NYT? LOL
Progressive2
Any of those is better then the disgraced faux news but I would pick BBC world news.
cuppajo
You would b/c you are in some kind of bizarre bubble of progressiveness.
Progressive2
geee I wonder in what kind of bubble you must be? LOL
cuppajo
I am in the small govt, stay out of my business (economically and morally) bubble.
Rdschenkel
I've seen BBC, it's more slanted than even Fox.
Progressive2
Sounds lonely Cup.
whipmawhopma
The Daily Show.
jibjoe
What is wrong with you? A sitting US congresswoman is promoting the defiance of a government requirement and all you care about is who reported it? How did this person get elected or re-elected to Congress? The number of instances where she has shown very little education and plenty of ignorance of this country are growing by the day. We need serious people to help this country and this is the best MN has to offer!???
Ritarita
One news source can not suffice.
shortcourse
I love it...a few boneheads pick on Fox and in the meantime their ratings are throught the roof. Maybe there are more millions more intelligent people out there than the few stuck in this crap box.
connie47
People watch Fox News the way they watch WWW or slow down to drive by an auto accident.
kc8911
Not everything is from Fox News.
Check out this link:
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads/SQuest09.pdf
monkeymuggs
I think Michelle is deeply, (not slightly) but deeply mentally inadequate in every sense of the word. She's a TV movie of he weed on Comedy Central at best.
Centrist
By suggesting not using Fox News as a first source, as this article did, I did not mean to imply that any other medial outlet would be worthy of such usage. I meant actually reading Federal law relating to allowable usage of census data and confirming that Bachman is full of BS, which I'm reasonably certain is the case.
StormAZ
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_cens.html
This is a pretty good link to learn about the census. It's spelled out in Title 13 of the US Code. If I thought Bachmann could read, I'd send her the link.
leomarka
My questions for the critics of Michelle Bachman are these: would you voluntarily give the Federal Government all of the information it asked of you without any limit at all? Would you voluntarily submit if asked an essay detailing all of your personal historical and medical information without limit? If you had children would you do the same detailed and thorough submission on your analysis of their lives? Would you report on your wife? If not why not? If you do not totally trust the government to handle all of your personal data confidentially, why not?
If you have any doubts at all concerning the government's designs on you and your family, why do you?
If you do not have any doubts at all, why do you?
If you think there should be "limits" on what is collected from you and your family, do you think the idea of what is allowable is universally held? That is, do you think each of us here in the USA thinks like you do regarding what can be expected from the government in regards to confidentiality of personal information? Do you think what is allowable should be set by the government? If not why not?
Progressive2
I wonder who'll answer all your strawmen questions.
More importantly I wonder what's your point?
You could try this too btw
Would you voluntarily pay more taxes? do you trust it will be used well? lol.
Too bad I'm not into fearmongering.
rapierwits
your arguments are ridiculous and your style rambling, sir or madam
essay section on the census?
Centrist
I wouldn't have any problem at all answering those questions if the law forbade my individual response from being shared with any other agency, as I believe it does.
MadMatt35F
Even if there were a law forbidding them to share there could easily be another law forcing them to. How many times have people's personal data been disclosed through government mistakes? Or hackers? Everyone should protect their personal data. That is why they call it PERSONAL
shortcourse
Don't ya just love it...a few years ago you libs were screamin about the Patriot Act...now your willing to spread both cheeks to the Census Bureau....who by the way will be heavily infiltrated by ACORN...and we all know how fair they play.
pr54321
Really? You're making a boogeyman out of the Census? And you're comparing it to warrantless spying on American citizens? You've either lost all sense of proportion, to the point that you've become irrational, or you're blinded by ideology. Either way, I feel sorry for you and everyone who thinks like you.
Mauiboy
Actually the Dems are in favor of using some Bureau stats and using a sophisticated program to estimate populations around the US for setting districts and govt funding. That would be less intrusive. The GOP has been advocating accurate sampling in order to come up with Census data. The Dems worry about under reporting ethnic populations. It seems that the GOP may become another under reported demographic. I wonder what that could mean for future representation?
DemsDeBreaks
Hey, Buttcheek Shortcourse, I live in Bachmann's district, where she won by riding in a lot of festival parade floats, smiling pretty, and waving to crowds who thought she "looked like a nice lady" (that last quote came from my own mother). She does look like a soccer mom and can be articulate when she's filming a campaign commercial. Few of those folks have actully listened to things that come out of her mouth after the elections, because none of her shennanigans make the local news. She was also primarily financed by extremem right-wing groups that have NOTHING to do with our district but insured her commercials outstripped every other candidate's. When you're spending over $3 million on a campaign to get a 2-year job that pays less than $200,000 per year, -someone- has an unterior motive.
In reality, Michelle is every bit as religiously fanatical as her counterparts in the Middle East who feel they are in a Holy War against the godless Infidels. There is no room in her dictionary for tolerance. Rampant bigotry is her SOP. She is also the creature of her Svengali creator, her husband, Marcus, another devout born-again evangelical, who is the gasoline on Michelle's fire.
What worries me is that her views are as "out there" in conspiracy as the beliefs that led Timothy McVey to bomb Oklahoma City. Bachmann is in a position of authority yet continuously spouts 'misinformation' and downright lies to further her agenda, with no regard as to the affect of her rhetoric on the wing-nuts who fervently support her cause. I find it IRONIC that she has no clue that she actually inspires terrorism.
cuppajo
ACORN should NOT be hired for the census.
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--Liberal09cuppajo
No, a congressman is proposing that the postal service do it. The postal service needs the money. You really need to wash that mouth out with soap.
kc8911
Yup,
like JFK, John Edwards, Bill Clintons, Gary Hart etc...
Progressive2
why not?
(Oh yeah before you waste your time responding with fox news pathetic lies)
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/acorn_accusations.html
cuppajo
I think it is a matter of record and I would not count on fact check for anything. It is not reputable. Most of the people fact checking are liberals.
Progressive2
What record?
And so you rather believe disgraced fox news then factcheck.org ? LOL
JohnnyAces
Wow, that's actually hilarious. Sooooo the people collecting the facts are liberal, therefore they are not facts?? Do you hear yourself CUPPAJO?? I believe I have finally come across the most dillusional comment-poster at this site. You must live a VERY paranoid life.
pr54321
"Most of the people fact checking are liberals."
Of course. Because the only people you can "count on" are those who reinforce your bias. Isn't that right? Because the first step toward warping the truth is discrediting all possible opponents. That's why conservatives always attack the "liberal media." Because once they dismiss the "liberal media"--along with all the so-called "experts," who we all know are just egghead elitists--the demagogues can say whatever they want and there will be no one around to criticize them.
cuppajo
The point is that feack check should be independent. Duh!
cuppajo
Excuse me FACT. I love peole like JohnnyAcres, isn't this what the fringes like to do to people? Call them names....nice...
Progressive2
cuppajo factcheck.org is independent only place that thinks it's liberal is in your mind :)http://www.tdbimg.com/image/btn_submit_sm.gif?v=10.01
rapierwits
hey, sorry to yell, but the word is INTERNMENT
Interment means burial
STEP IT UP, BEAST!
cbeenthere
No, the correct word was used - it means like how the Japanese were held in in World War II, they were interred, i.e. put away in camps. Look up the more exact definition, I am too lazy. Internment does mean burial, but that does not apply here. Two different words.
cbeenthere
Wait, now I am mixed up you are correct. Sorry rapier wits. interment does mean burial My apologies. Internment does mean confined.
rapierwits
no sweat
cptjay
It would inure them to learn the word internment lest they suffer interment.
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--Liberal09cuppajo
How tolerant of you!\
rapierwits
okay, seriously, You're all over the Beast today with lot of stuff that's out of line.
I would appreciate it if you would try harder to elevate the level of discourse around here.
oliverckerr
In some of my posts, those with extensive remarks about michael stephen levinson who is, whether you like it or 'knot' the author of a giant "prophetic" work of art he characterizes a "spoken poem form all man kind," "written down to perform on world wide television, from dusk until dawn, for all the world peoples to participate in all at once, what would happen, not every time, but often enough, is two posters would come along and attack me and / or him.
Never a mention or discussion about any idea I raised. Just a bald faced attack on my person, or on the happy Lev. Really ugly stuff. Not one person. Two. Not the regular posters whom complain when I am lengthy, but strangers to the Beast.
I suspect we are talking Fascist Bureaucracy Ink. FBI. One of the things those folks have been doing for many years, is discrediting people they don't like. That is their style. So it isn't surprising. You should visit youtube.com/poetprophet and take a good look at the Lev. He is first class! FBI people despise him.
Ritarita
You're just making
Yourself look bad.
Wise up.
rapierwits
actually, rita, I think "liberal09" may be just the opposite and in disguise...
SlaveRevolt
I am with RapierWits, I think he or she is probably an agent provocateur here to tar genuine liberals in the eyes of unsuspecting readers. The name ("Liberal09") makes it obvious they want to be seen as a liberal. The comments this person has made seem to indicate they want to be seen to have nothing to offer but misogynistic slurs. I already saw someone respond in a different thread saying something like "Wow, how intolerant liberals are." It's almost certainly an act.
Ritarita
It's probably Banjo in
Another incarnation since it
Looks like he got banned.
MadMatt35F
No matter who it is beast should block their IP. What an idiot.
Progressive2
Come on I can get that she's dumb but the rest I don't see as necessary at all.
Andynhoboken
Cuppajo, is that a joke on Joe Scarborough? Michelle is bat-sh*t crazy. She's representing a tiny fraction of desturbed people in Minnesota. But then again that state has plenty of issues w/ electing members of congress...
cuppajo
I just find it funny (as a libertarian with no allegiance to any of these political scum bags) just how intolerant liberal minded people really are.
Progressive2
cuppajo Michele Bachmann is crazy liberal/progressives/moderates all knows she's crazy of course I'm sure you think otherwise.
Btw a real Libertarian like Ron Paul knows that Bachmann is insane.
Rdschenkel
Totally, so much hate...
cuppajo
There you go again, you cannot have a simple conversation w/out putdowns.
rapierwits
I think it is strange whenever people play the "intolerance" card when a laughable opinion or person is laughed at.
That said, we should strive for more civility in our laughter.
whipmawhopma
Who would the government use census data to round up these days? I guess Bachmann has a point, of sorts, but I'm not sure why she made it.
I do remember reading that the US Army Air Force used information held by American insurance companies on policies for German companies to locate bomber worthy targets for the 8th Air Force. So information can be used in surprising ways.
Even so, I don't get who would be rounded up and put in internment camps.
wbishop12
Bat Sh*t Crazy strikes again!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
angels81
For all the people out there who are worried the government is going to do something evil with the census data, stop worring. The government can get more data about you by looking up your credit info. Bought a car, house, took out a loan, used a credit card? This is so much of one crazy person trying to blow smoke up everybodys a**.
gtartar
Exactly! What information can we give to the government that they can't find out themselves?
MadMatt35F
That you are correct on. THe government already knows and will find out if they want to.
The thing you should be more concerned about is the people collecting and handling the data.
leomarka
progressive 2..they are called "hypotheticals", dear believer. And my point is to ask you to consider why on earth the government of the USA needs any more information on the people that live within these borders. And more importantly just how much information they feel they need and why should they be allowed to set that limit. Why not YOU? It is your life after all.
It is like asking the question: do you support illegal immigrants' rights to medical care? Of course believers say "sure, they're people...what are you, a racist?". But if you counter with the question, well, then do you support 30 million illegal immigrants rights? 150 million? " Well, of course not. That is excessive."
Not according to the illegal immigrants, its not.
Similarly, unlimited information on you, dear believer, seems perfectly reasonable to those who have unlimited power to collect it.
Progressive2
leomarka let's simply cut trough the bull and keep on the point.
If games are simply fearmongering that I eat for breakfast.
"And my point is to ask you to consider why on earth the government of the USA needs any more information on the people that live within these borders."
http://www.census.gov/aboutus/
What We Do
*
Our Mission
- To serve as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy. Full Mission Statement »
*
Our Authority
- The United States Census Bureau operates under Title 13 and Title 26, of the U.S. Code
*
Our Goal
- To provide the best mix of timeliness, relevancy, quality, and cost for the data we collect and services we provide
*
What Data We Collect & When
o Population & Housing Census - every 10 years
o Economic Census - every 5 years
o American Communtity Survey - annually
o Our many surveys -- both Demographic & Economic
o Economic Indicators - each indicator is released on a specific schedule, see the Economic Indicator Calendar
*
How Our Data are Used
o to determine the distribution of Congressional seats to states--
mandated by the U.S. Constitution
used to apportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives
used to define legislature districts, school district assignment areas and other important functional areas of government
Find out about the 2010 Census Redistricting Data Program.
o to make decisions about what community services to provide
Changes in your community are crucial to many planning decisions, such as where to:
provide services for the elderly
where to build new roads and schools
or where to locate job training centers
o to distribute $300 billion in federal funds to local, state and tribal governments each year
Census data affects how funding is allocated to communities for:
neighborhood improvements
public health
education
transportation
and much more
o to provide Age Search information for:
Qualifying for Social Security and other retirement benefits
Passport applications
Proving relationship in settling estates
Researching family history or a historical topic
*
Other Activities
o Census Event & Training Calendar
o Customer Information
o Respond to Requests
o Fellowship Programs
o International Programs
o Research Opportunities at the Census Bureau [PDF 531k]
I'm not sure who or what you call dear believer.
But the about page basically answers all your questions.
How the data will be used place a big role in efficiency.
"And more importantly just how much information they feel they need and why should they be allowed to set that limit. Why not YOU? It is your life after all."
Sorry I'm not scared of the government keeping track of the country's development/progress over the years.
SlaveRevolt
Well of course their website says that! You don't expect them to say they specialize in concertina wire and jackboots do you? I'm just giving you a hard time. No, I don't think the census is harmful especially if it isn't illegal to refuse to participate.
IT ISN'T ILLEGAL TO REFUSE TO PARTICIPATE IS IT ?????!!!!!
Oh good. OK.
Centrist
It isn't illegal to refuse to cooperate with the U.S. Census Bureau, but it is rather foolish since the aggregrate information and statistics are of great benefit to both individuals (e.g. helps to determine your Congressional representation) and to the nation as a whole(e.g. appropriate allocation of government resources) for policy and planning purposes. Making domestic policy blind, without any factual knowledge is a really bad idea.
MadMatt35F
{Shelly Lowe, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Census Bureau, said Mrs. Bachmann is "misreading" the law. She sent a portion of the U.S. legal code that says anyone over 18 years of age who refuses to answer "any of the questions" on the census can be fined up to $5,000.}
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/17/exclusive-minn-lawmaker- fears-census-abuse/
SlaveRevolt
Centrist:
Oh I wasn't saying participating in it is a bad idea, just that nobody should have to or else face charges. Like I was saying, I think it's basically benign but I wouldn't be in favor of it being mandatory.
roger37
I spent a number of years in my business career in the field of market research. We knew that the level of non-cooperation in a given study varied inversely with the socio-economic level of the respondent being asked to participate in the study. In other words, the less education and income, the larger the percentage of turn-downs.
The same thing is true with the Census. The lower the socio-economic class, the more people who can't seem to absorb the big picture and try to help the government collect accurate data.
Census data is not only used for adjusting representation levels in the House of Representatives, but also by businesses to do long term projections for the demand for their products---food, building materials, appliances, and thousands of other goods and services.
Also the production of black helicopters. BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
leomarka
To Andynhoboken
SAT* Scores
National average: 1,511
Rank nationally tied for 7th
7
Minnesota
1,746
7
South Dakota
1,746
Rank nationally
35
New Jersey
1,483
rapierwits
what an innocuous statistic!
Congratulations, you are getting your hands on actual data
as well as asking asinine, Rovian, push-poll questions!
And you can overgeneralize and engage in sectionalism!
kids grow up so fast these days!
aridtery
Hurray for Ms. Bachman for raising the alarm. My husband & I have been harassed by the American Community Survey since January, 2009; on April 16th, they sent, Fed Ex, a threat to fine us $1500 if we did not comply with their demand to fill out this lengthy, intrusive questionnaire. I filed a complaint with my senator, AZ Jon Kyle, and the response was lukewarm - to put it mildly. Bottom line - we will NOT comply, and if that means my husband & I end our days in a federal prison, so be it. If not for Glen Beck's airing of this situation (I had informed him of this situation) and the airing of Rep. Bachman's stance, I would feel very alone. No one I've told this story to can relate. The Census people say one in six residents receive this treatment, and I say, the American Community Survey should be canned completely. This is an Act of Congress I will disobey.
aridtery
okay, I'll try this one more time.
I have been harassed by the American Survey people since January; they have threatened me with a $1500 fine if I do not cooperate. They can go to hell. I filed a complaint with my AZ senator, Jon Kly; it was an unsatisfactory experience. If you fellow American citizens think this sort of heavy handed treatment by your government is honky-dorey, I feel sorry for you. Eventually, the German essay which details how first they came for so-and-so, and eventually came for you, will make sense. These people are thugs and you, who support them, are enablers of your own doom.
Thank you.
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