Sunday, March 21, 2010

Thank Goodness for Nieces

My dear niece is going to help me with the photography stuff. Better pics on the way! Yay. 

In the meantime, I'm puzzling out what to put on the Census form. Where in the Constitution does it say we have to give our names for the census? (As if the gov't doesn't know exactly who lives here)

As far as I can tell, the mandated census is a COUNT, not a registry. So. No names.  They can make do with Mom, Dad, and Son.  Or nothing.

I actually don't have a problem with the questions about relationships and ages. Those are good, useful and non-controversial bits of data for providing services and assessing resources.  At least to me. Perhaps if I had three husbands instead of the just the one living here, I'd find those questions intrusive.

What is this about race? Hmmm. Okay, the professed goal of everyone is to have a color-blind society. No favoritism in any way for anyone, just merit-based hiring, firing, housing, schooling, healthcare, everything. 

So how does this come about if the major focus of the census is dividing us all into....counting...15 possible divisions? 

We generally put "Earthling" for this one. I used to put "Human" under race, but my husband convinced me this discriminates against all other species. Though I might count the cat and put her under "Feline-American."

It seems somehow entirely appropriate that the day to return the Census form is...April Fool's Day.

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