Government Quote of the Day
[Guest post by DRJ]
My address did not get a Census Form so I clicked on this story in the Houston Chronicle to see why it happened and what I need to do now:
“On the day when all Americans were supposed to be counted, the Census Bureau’s regional director offered reassurance to people who haven’t received their questionnaires in the mail.
“When you mail 138 million forms, there are bound to be issues,” Gabriel Sanchez said during a news conference in Houston on Thursday. “We are unfortunately at the mercy of the Postal Service.”
So true … and at the mercy of government, too.
— DRJ
But all will be ACCOUNTED for….
Also the perfect (re)distribution of medical resources will be handled by the same entity
EricPWJohnson (95a477) — 4/1/2010 @ 11:59 pmi posted this at Michelle’s place the other day in one of her senseless threads…
i still haven’t been contacted.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 4/2/2010 @ 12:03 amgovernment run health care:
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 4/2/2010 @ 12:25 amthe speed and customer service of the post office.
the cost control and efficiency of the defense department.the care and compassion of the IRS.what’s not to love? 😀
red,
You’re A+ in a Pass/Fail world.
DRJ (daa62a) — 4/2/2010 @ 12:28 ami’m guessing this is where a modest person would blush….
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 4/2/2010 @ 12:41 amgood thing i’m not modest, eh? 😀
Lordy, the tea party/small government candidates’ campaign ads are totally writing themselves these days.
elissa (e23c47) — 4/2/2010 @ 3:29 amI got one last week, filled it out and returned it. Just got another one today, warning me that if I didn’t complete and mail it in, a Census worker would phone me. My tax dollars at work..
Leigh (6db274) — 4/2/2010 @ 6:15 amI’m in the military stationed at Ft. Drum. I did not receiver a census form either at my home of record (Georgia) or here at my current duty station.
Does this mean that the American military are not going to be counted?
mike (23e9f8) — 4/2/2010 @ 6:56 am#8 Mike
It means as much to this administration as your absentee ballot did.
Virtual Insanity (1d2640) — 4/2/2010 @ 7:07 am“We are unfortunately at the mercy of the Postal Service.”
Why on earth would this be unfortunate? I mean, did they really expect to get over 100 million census forms back by 1 April, regardless of how good the Post Office performed?
Just say “We understand that this is a huge process and are confident that the census counting procedures will be properly executed in a timely manner.” It’s less hyperbolic and doesn’t make you look like helpless babes in the face of a brief uptick in mail volume.
Another Chris (2d8013) — 4/2/2010 @ 7:28 amI also received a second form after mailing one in last week.
PatAZ (0a77dd) — 4/2/2010 @ 7:30 amWe received a second form as well. Too bad we threw away the postcard notifying us the Census was coming. I’d have mailed that back instead.
X_LA_Native (c9b943) — 4/2/2010 @ 8:07 amJust write on the 2nd form that you plead the 5th amendment against self-incrimination. They can’t touch you then.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 4/2/2010 @ 11:40 amLOL, X_LA_Native
That would be hilarious.
dustin (b54cdc) — 4/2/2010 @ 11:57 amAnother Chris:
According to the article, he was replying to numerous complaints from citizens that they never received their Census forms, including reports that entire apartment complexes didn’t receive anything.
DRJ (daa62a) — 4/2/2010 @ 12:28 pmI have yet to send it back.
I know, in the end, it’s probably against my self interest, but the warm fuzzies I get from being a little bit of a rebel makes up for that.
I’ll get to it when I’ve got nothing else going on. As a mother of two small children, well, we shall see…
em (017d3c) — 4/2/2010 @ 12:35 pmI think it’s fair to blame Obama for giving Americans the impression that the Census would be handled in an extremely dishonest and partisan manner.
Obama knows what ACORN is, and I know he wasn’t surprised by the video proof that shocked me. Nor was he surprised that dozens of ACORN workers have pled guilty to various election fraud crimes. Obama knows that ACORN is founded by an SDS member (SDS branched into the Weathermen), and he knows it’s a strictly partisan outfit with the goal of electing as many democrats as possible by breaking the rules.
And Obama knows that ACORN is simply not trusted by vast numbers of conservatives.
While ACORN was eventually kicked out of the Census, the implication of its initial affiliation was that this Census would be twisted to give democrats a huge advantage. The fact that this might lead some conservatives to fail to cooperate is obviously icing on the cake.
If Bush handled such a simple and core duty this way, I can only imagine the outrage.
dustin (b54cdc) — 4/2/2010 @ 12:35 pm> So true … and at the mercy of government, too.
As long as taxpayers keep underwriting cost overruns at the USPS, all the while the government acts to restrict competition and alternatives, the difference between the USPS and the government is the distinction between a fresh turd and a lump of shit — with much the same utility as either.
[note: released from moderation. –Stashiu]
IgotBupkis (79d71d) — 4/3/2010 @ 10:15 am.
.
.
What really struck me as hilariously stupid is that the census mail declared that a response was “required by law” but had no instructions like “please return before xxxx, 2010”
These people are really, really stupid. They should have clearly stated on the envelope “please return by March 20th, 2010 or as soon as possible thereafter” or something.
IgotBupkis (79d71d) — 4/3/2010 @ 10:25 am> I have yet to send it back.
Oh, I sent it back. I didn’t answer every question, just the ones that actually has any business being a part of the census.
I answered how many people in residence, How old I am, and I filled out “other” in the “race” column, since I’m not one of the “special” races that gets their own box. I’m one of the lumpen proles classed as “white” (though according to my Iowa WASP grandfather I was an “n-baby” for being half Italian… does that mean I get to be a black person and get special attention?)
I ignored the snoopy and irrelevant request for my name and phone number, and replaced the question if I was latino with a return question about why latinos get special treatment in the census (I suppose that suggests that I’m not latino, but I suspect that can’t be reliably inferred for statistical purposes)
IgotBupkis (79d71d) — 4/3/2010 @ 10:33 amReading between the lines I believe there really is some method to their madness, but as it is done without informing us it is more of a manipulative ploy.
It appears they purposefully did not put a “must return by” date because there is no actual cut-off to get the information. The idea was, I believe, to get the April 1 date in everyone’s mind to shoot for that. But if you didn’t turn it in by the 1st, they still want you to turn it in, not say, “oops, I missed it”. They overdid the mailings because they figured spending “extra” on postage would in the end save on the cost of sending filed workers out.
From one newspaper article I read where they take no action until the mid of April, when they start calling households that have not turned their’s in. In May they start sending people out.
So, some of it seems to make sense, but in another way it is manipulative and purposefully opaque.
Still, the quote by a government official suggesting the ineptness of government agencies is rich, right after giving them the additional job of health care. So, I guess he would say, “We are unfortunately at the mercy of the US Health Service.”
MD in Philly (59a3ad) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:01 am