Bachmann’s Latest Irrational Fear About The Census: It Was Used To Intern The Japanese
Bachmann’s Latest Irrational Fear About The Census: It Was Used To Intern The Japanese
Last week, Rep. Michele “I’m not a kook” Bachmann (R-MN) boasted about breaking the law in refusing to complete the 2010 Census. The Census is the perfect boogeyman for Bachmann in that it unites her conspiracy theories about the Obama administration with her monomaniacal determination to crush the community organizing group ACORN, which is one of over 30,000 partner organizations helping to promote the 2010 Census among the people it reaches.
On Fox News this morning, Bachmann repeated her determination to break the law. She also suggested that the Obama administration could use the Census data for nefarious purposes — including the imprisonment of Americans in concentration camps:
BACHMANN: If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, 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.
Watch it:
There are many things wrong with Bachmann and host Megyn Kelly’s so-called analysis: First, both women were shocked that the Census would ask for people’s telephone numbers. However, that information is not required by law, and is used only to contact recipients who have incomplete forms.
Second, Bachmann is confusing the 2010 Census and the American Community Survey (ACS), a long-form survey sent out to one in 40 households (0.0028 percent of the American public) each year. The Census, sent out once every ten years, asks only about one’s age, race, and the type of home one lives in. The ACS, started in 1996, collects more detailed data used to distribute more than $300 billion in federal funds to local communities.
Most importantly, the questions that Bachmann is so concerned about — questions she suggests might somehow lead to internment — are not new questions (not to mention they frequently overlap with information given to the IRS every year). Census questions on race have been asked since 1790; home language since 1890; rent since 1880; and income since 1940. The Census has asked what kind of heating fuel heats Americans’ homes since 1940.
Finally, it’s a federal crime for any Census worker to violate the confidentiality of the Census form, punishable by a federal prison sentence of up to five years, a fine of up to $250,000, or both.
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I hope the people of Minnesota are real proud of themselves for electing such a moron. This woman is more than embarassment, she is crazy and unintelligent. God job idiots!
June 25th, 2009 at 1:33 pmShe is afraid she will have to reveal her status as an illegal alien from another planet.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:35 pmWhat does it take to lock up someone this insane in the state of MN? This woman is certifiable…no doubt about it.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:36 pmPrivacy is a very important issue.
I was so relieved when I heard that Bachmann will be on the front lines of the fight against domestic wire-tapping…
Wait.
That never happened?
And she supports domestic wire-tapping without a warrant?
Voted NO on requiring FISA warrants for wiretaps in US, but not abroad. (Mar 2008)
Voted NO on Veto override: Congressional oversight of CIA interrogations. (Mar 2008)
Voted YES on removing need for FISA warrant for wiretapping abroad. (Aug 2007)
Well, that seems odd.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:36 pmWhen is she scheduled for Hardball again? Matthews can just ask her “How are you doing?” and let her bury herself in crazy.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:37 pmMichelle, you need this more than I do.
http://zapatopi.net/afdb/
June 25th, 2009 at 1:38 pmAnd her vote on telecom immunity? The government already has the means to invade citizen’s privacy and act on that information.
Her concern about the census involves redistricting.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:38 pmCrazy Eyes Bachmann strikes again.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:38 pmfEAR
FEAR
fEAR
FeAr
fEaR
No matter how you spell it, Bachmann excels at it.
A one trick mule.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:39 pmShe must be afraid the census takers will ask her about her favorite song and she’d have to tell them…
Glenn Miller’s String of Pearls.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:40 pmBachmann is a freak of gerrymandering. She represents the dumb redneck belt of Minnesota. 5 of 8 Minnesota representatives in the House are Democrats, including Keith Ellison.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:40 pmI thought K. Ellison represented a Michigan district…?
June 25th, 2009 at 1:41 pmHow did this woman ever survive re-election? Are the people who voted for her brain-dead? Is their drinking water tainted? Are they aliens from another planet? No. Scratch that last one. Aliens are smarter than that.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:41 pmShe’s got a real winner with this issue here. I hope that people in Republican areas all refuse to fill out their census, as a show of strength from the people to stand up to their tyrannical overlords…
June 25th, 2009 at 1:41 pm.
To be fair, in a “true” Democracy, even the wako’s get a representative…
… But if 70% of the population want a public option to health care, where’s that representation?
.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:42 pmRighties would just love it if we couldn’t collect the data that proves they’ve turned us into a country that’s sliding quickly toward 3rd world status.
We wouldn’t have to worry about the rapidly-increasing numbers of poor, homeless, and hungry if we just didn’t count them, and then Ms Bachmann and the rest of her slimy selfish ilk could be content in their fantasy bubble of “we’re number one-ism”.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:42 pmBachmann’s Latest Irrational Fear About The Census: It Was Used To Intern The Japanese
– - I highly recommend TalkingPointsMemo.com’s cartoon series on Michelle.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:43 pmCould SOMEBODY please give this woman some psychotic drugs?
June 25th, 2009 at 1:43 pmThe entire form doesn’t have any identifying information – just the address because it has to be mailed somewhere – and doesn’t require any such information when you fill it out. The sense I got from the questions was that it could provide data to legislators at every level to help them draft legislation and realign programs so everyone could better benefit. It helps elected officials target limited resources for maximum returns. So, with that in mind, I did the math by pulling up payment history for electric, water, etc. and was as honest as I could on all else.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:43 pm.
EARTH TO BACHMANN:
The year is now 2009!
.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:44 pmwell there will always be a place for her in the Iranian public affairs ministry office……or Faux Noise. Same thing basically.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:44 pmStrange, but I didn’t hear Bachmann complain about the census during the Bush Reich.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:45 pmElBruce, LOL! The census has been around forever. Encouraging people to break the law is a no-brainer. Maybe the Repugs don’t want to face the fact that the white population is dwindling. In a few decades, WE will be the minority. I can accept it, so can you.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:46 pm.
Bachmann said:I’m not saying that’s what the Administration is planning to do.
So, then can we conclude that relationship you drew to the past was to fill dead air time, or to incite FEAR of the present?
Either Michelle is irrelevant, or a FEAR MONGER!
.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:46 pmWhy do the people of Minnesota allow her to keep her job?
Every day that she is still in office, I lose a little more respect for Minnesota voters. They are smarter than that and they deserve better than that!
June 25th, 2009 at 1:46 pmMATH ERROR ALERT:
FTA “the American Community Survey (ACS), a long-form survey sent out to one in 40 households (0.0028 percent of the American public)”
1 in 40 would be 2.5%
June 25th, 2009 at 1:47 pm1 in 35,714 would be .0028%
krystalview Says: Could SOMEBODY please give this woman some psychotic drugs?
I don’t know — seems to me that with that spacy look in her eyes, Bachnut has had way too many psychotic drugs already…or at least psychosis-inducing drugs…
June 25th, 2009 at 1:47 pmhttp://blog.buzzflash.com/analysis/832
This link to Buzzflash might very well show the real reason why this bat crap woman is afraid of the census. Didn’t the righties want to string up Obama for what they felt were his dealings with Tony Rezko?
June 25th, 2009 at 1:48 pmIsn’t the census used to divy up federal funding? Can it be used for congressional districts? If so, PLEASE michelle, convince all your fans to refuse to turn in their census data.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:49 pmBobwurst@29, Great idea! These people are major tea-baggers! I love to see how they react when they get NO federal money for anything.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:50 pmBACHMANN: 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.
That’s how rumors start, Ms. Bachmann, and that’s not what the people of Minnesota elected you to do. You’re there to establish law, not supposed law.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:52 pmBobwurst Says:
Isn’t the census used to divy up federal funding? Can it be used for congressional districts? If so, PLEASE michelle, convince all your fans to refuse to turn in their census data.
That’s what I was thinking. We should encourage her to show up on tv anyway, because she’s such a barking lunatic that only the 20 percenters will fail to see it.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:53 pmBACHMANN: If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the census bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations, at the request of President Roosevelt,
Yesterday President Obama was Hitler, and today he is Franklin Roosevelt.
I’m getting dizzy.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:54 pmSomeone needs to schedule an intervention STAT!!
June 25th, 2009 at 1:54 pmBIMBO WIT needs to be brought up on ethics charges for her willful intent to break the law. Indeed, she must be made to testify in an open hearing as to whether she ever spoke up against the request of information such as race (1790), home language (1890) and so forth on any previous occasion. She should be grilled as to whether or not her current position is based upon the party and race of the current president. Then she should be grilled on why it just now has become an issue for her. Hell, let us post her office e-mail and telephone number and let the games begin!
June 25th, 2009 at 1:55 pmWe had trouble in 2000 because of conservative leaning people refusing to comply with the census. Threats and intimidation assaults against census workers where fairly common. Goofy people like Bachmann holding elected office and making crazy comments will NOT help this potentially dangerous situation for 2010 census workers.
IMO what she is saying is a form of sedition that may cause someone to get hurt or killed taking the census.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:55 pmBachman and Jesus have coffee twice a week.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:56 pmI must say I’m really enjoying this latest boogeyman of the Right — the Census.
Yes, the eeeeeevilllllll Census.
I think this is the issue that will put Republicans back in power.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:57 pmI have a sneaking suspicion that if the census were actually going to be used to send certain groups (read ‘Middle Easterners’) to ‘detention centers’ Michelle (read ‘Wackjob Middle Westerner’) would be all for it…
June 25th, 2009 at 1:57 pmIsn’t what she is advocating illegal? Isn’t she breaking the law?
June 25th, 2009 at 1:58 pmHere is a typical Bachmann comment:
I’m not saying Obama eat’s babies, I’m just saying he like dijon and dijon makes baby meat taste better and his father came from africa which has a history of cannibalism so….well you can connect the dots”.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:58 pmshoeless Says:
——————————————————————————–
BACHMANN: If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the census bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations, at the request of President Roosevelt,
Yesterday President Obama was Hitler, and today he is Franklin Roosevelt.
I’m getting dizzy.
Yeah he’s Joseph Hitler Roosevelt, the III, that’s the ticket
June 25th, 2009 at 1:58 pmIt is the census taker that goes to Bachmann’s home who should be afraid. Hannibal Lector had nothing on Batshit Bachmann! If the sale of fava beans and chianti goes up in Batshit’s district, I’d avoid her all together.
But I hope she succeeds in getting her constituents to refuse to participate in the 2010 census. Her district will disappear from the congressional map, as will their funding.
PEACE
June 25th, 2009 at 1:59 pmLast week, Rep. Michele “I’m not a kook” Bachmann (R-MN)
If you have to go around telling people you aren’t a kook, chances are…
June 25th, 2009 at 2:01 pmDon’t be so hard on poor little Shelley. She’s just trying to stake out a spot on the political spectrum . . . somewhere between bat-sh!t crazy and paranoid/delusional.
So far, she’s hitting a home-run!
June 25th, 2009 at 2:01 pmThe Dogfather Says:
krystalview Says: Could SOMEBODY please give this woman some psychotic drugs?
already…or at least psychosis-inducing
I don’t know — seems to me that with that spacy look in her eyes, Bachnut has had way too many psychotic drugs
LOL! Extra-strong sedatives, then?
June 25th, 2009 at 2:03 pmOh please Lord, I pray she has never had an affair and is forced to resign..She is the gift that just keeps giving!
June 25th, 2009 at 2:04 pmHe better invade Iran today, or by tomorrow he’ll be Neville Chamberlain.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:06 pmI guess the Repugs are running out of boogeymen.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:07 pmShe needs to read her buddy Michelle Malkin’s book “In Defense of Internment: The World War II Round-Up and What It Means For America’s War on Terror”. If we just had all those Muslims accounted for we can do we she and Michelle would like to do and round them up and put them in camps.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:07 pmwatchdog@49, Acorn? Again? Enough already. WE will be the minority is just a few decades. I can hadle it. Can you?
June 25th, 2009 at 2:09 pmBachmann we can just request your tax records to find out any personal information if we wanted too?
My gosh, Bachmann is ‘fubar’. No wonder why the rethuglians never support her, Bachmann’s another loser.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:10 pmMichele Bachmann has a fantasy she could follow in her hero Senator Joseph McCarthy’s footsteps and have hearings in which she could round up black people and ask “Are you now or have you ever been a member of ACORN????”
June 25th, 2009 at 2:10 pmwatchdung, didn’t you get the email from Free Republic? One of your Freeper terrorist pals just got busted by the FBI. All the other right-wing terrorists are lying low today.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:12 pmIf she don’t fill out the form they’ll just send a census worker to her door. I’d like to volunteer. I’ll take my megaphone.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:15 pmP.D. Says:
ElBruce, LOL! The census has been around forever. Encouraging people to break the law is a no-brainer
If Republicans don’t fill out their census form, then their Congressional districts get wiped off the map. They also get no federal expenditures for anything. No schools in their areas, nothing. After all, there aren’t any people there. So I’m all for wingnuts refusing to fill out their census form. The first thing that would happen would be Bachmann’s Congressional seat would disappear.
.
watchdog Says:
ACORN changes name in hopes to change image
There was never anything wrong with ACORN. There wasn’t anything wrong with them when wingnuts started demanding they be investigated, and there’s still nothing wrong with them now that you’ve managed to force political investigations on them in 14 states. ACORN’s just fine.
Interesting how you made it look like the FBI was making these claims. Ah, here’s the site you’re citing. The portions you’re quoting are from Steve King (R-IA).
June 25th, 2009 at 2:16 pmSome times when I’m in the sun…..my eyes are like… really squinty…..I’m scared!
June 25th, 2009 at 2:17 pmUh, 1 in 40 is 2.8 percent, not 0.0028 percent. Surely TP thinks more clearly than this.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:18 pm….
michelle,
marching off to bedlam!
:x
:0
:)
June 25th, 2009 at 2:19 pmwatchdog Says:
ACORN changes name in hopes to change image
Except they didn’t. That’s what happens when you rely on Fox and freepers for your news.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
….
doggie,
“It appears to be a criminal enterprise. They have 250 to 270 affiliates. It’s a spiderweb of a corporate entanglement,” he contends. “They produced over 400,000 fraudulent voter registration forms. They are under investigation in at least 14 states.”
– Steve King, (R-Iowa)
***
credit where credit is due, eh?
:)
June 25th, 2009 at 2:22 pmlol
watchpuppy has his spam debunked, yet again
too funny that he never learns to not pee on the rug
June 25th, 2009 at 2:23 pmI’m missing something here.
It was the repubs under the cries of 9/11 / terror / Patriot Act that instituted a national identity card (that is, each state’s drivers licenses had requirements to see birth certificate or passport and had to be entered into national database, etc.). The information collected for the driver’s licenses is much more complete.
It was also the repubs who keep trying to make it where you have to show your birth certificated to vote.
So after instituting national identity papers (which were proclaimed in the church of my youth to be the “666″ mark of the beast), is she worried about a census ?
And at the same time, wasn’t it the repubs who point out how easy it would be to forge a birth certificate and refuse to recognize birth certificates from Hawaii ?
June 25th, 2009 at 2:23 pmBachman has Crazy Eyes.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:23 pmCan we give bat$hit crazy Bachmann an injection of this?
And for blotchdog’s Bipolar disorder?
June 25th, 2009 at 2:23 pmThe eyes are windows to the soul
June 25th, 2009 at 2:24 pmMegyn Kelly obviously checks her brain at the door every day when she reports for duty at FIXED.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:24 pmYou don’t understand. The story is true in alternate reality.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:25 pmSomeone should consider looking into what effect Botox has on sanity.
Though the idea of Republican true believers hiding from the Census isn’t exactly a bad one.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:25 pmMaybe she misunderstood and drank the stuff?
June 25th, 2009 at 2:26 pm“Bachmann’s Latest Irrational Fear About The Census: It Was Used To Intern The Japanese”
As usual Bachmann, Queen of Planet Wingnuttia, gives today’s psycho talk. Pass the popcorn please…
June 25th, 2009 at 2:26 pm‘BACHMANN: If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, 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.’
Shorter Bachmann: ‘I’m not saying that the Darkie in the WH who I despise for not being a Republican White man, will imprison every White man in the US in order to make sex slaves of every Caucasian woman in America, I’m just saying that the Darkie in the WH who I despise for not being a Republican White man, will imprison every White man in the US in order to make sex slaves of every Caucasian woman in America; why can’t you people SEE that?’
June 25th, 2009 at 2:26 pmVerbalKint Says:
Bachmann is a freak of gerrymandering. She represents the dumb redneck belt of Minnesota. 5 of 8 Minnesota representatives in the House are Democrats, including Keith Ellison.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
______________
Wait wait wait – what are you suggesting? Are you suggesting that Bachmann’s opposition to the census might not be because she’s a half-witted lunatic operating from the tin-foil-hat wing of the wingnut party, but because she’s really just concerned about losing her seat after redistricting? You mean all this wild-eyed conspiracy theory bullguano is just cover for a thoroughly self-serving political scheme?
That’s crazy talk!
June 25th, 2009 at 2:28 pmOf course they don’t. Did you know that Hawaii is way out in the middle of the ocean? You don’t know what goes on out there. They could be doing all kinds of illegal things with birth certificates!
June 25th, 2009 at 2:28 pmThe answer is intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer…Shelly has the hots for Obama.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:29 pmblotchdog, you’ve been proved wrong time and time again.
You’ve been debunked time and time again.
You’ve been caught misleading with out of context, or full blown misquotes, time and time again.
Yet you repeat this behavior over and over.
You know what they say about an individual who continues to do the same thing, OVER AND OVER, hoping for a different result each time?
June 25th, 2009 at 2:30 pmWell, they say the same about Bachmann.
Bachmann’s Latest Irrational Fear
She’s worried she might be human …….I believe she’s got nothing to fret over…….
June 25th, 2009 at 2:31 pmJ@68, Why does Megan Kelly still have a job? Didn’t she tip off Ensign about the affair going public? I like how with the Sandford scandal, everyone basically forgot about Faux’s complicitiy in the whole Ensign affair.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:31 pm2 points:
1. Most all of MN is as anxious to derail Bachshit as you are. 6th District voters put her in. You know, the ones with the underwater mortgages, 4 cars, a boat and 3 ATVs.
2. Her first name is actually Maria. She just got back from Argentina for her latest botox injections.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:32 pmHmmmm, you might have something there. Bachman says that she is not a kook, she just says kooky things. So, if she is not a kook, she must have some ulterior motive for constantly saying kooky things.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:33 pmYou just answered your own question.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:35 pmshoeless@82. Touche!
June 25th, 2009 at 2:40 pmI have a legitimate question; How did this hose bag get elected?
June 25th, 2009 at 2:41 pmFML, are you a liar or a moron or both?
June 25th, 2009 at 2:42 pmDirty Hippie, Good question. I think the water is contaminated. Then again, Bush was elected twice(sort of).
June 25th, 2009 at 2:44 pmFreeMarketLiberal Says:
Why should a fraudulant ACORN who is under investigation be taking the Census. Why not the Postal Service? That would make more sense but I forgot…the Government has no common sense.
I see you’re letting FoxNews do your thinking for you.
From yesterday’s Glenn Beck show:
June 25th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Why not the Postal Service? That would make more sense but I forgot…the Government has no common
You mean the postal service that drops our community mail at a gang box down at the bottom of the street?
June 25th, 2009 at 2:46 pmYeah. Right. If I had a dog, it would be biting you right now…
It would somehow be fitting if her “conservative fundamentalist constituents” followed her lead and under-reported themselves to the Census; leading to redistricting causing her to lose her congressional seat. It would be even funnier if the new district was 25 to 1 liberal and elected an atheist, minority (your choice), lesbian that lost a leg during the war while serving in the military.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:50 pmMN can get rid of Bachmann
June 25th, 2009 at 2:50 pmgummble-bee-itch
June 25th, 2009 at 2:50 pmCan you tell if freefromsynapticactivityMuckitLardbarrell has ever had an original thought, ever?
I guess this is final proof of what massive over-dosing on Botox and Jay-zus can do to the brain.
Could the people of her District in MN be more proud????
June 25th, 2009 at 2:51 pmI guess my question is: What is this spokesperson for the ignorant among us, Ms Bachmann, doing about her concerns, other than getting on FOX to rant? By the way, does anyone other than FOX carry her ravings?
June 25th, 2009 at 2:54 pmhttp://www.bakeracttraining.org/
June 25th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
By the way, does anyone other than FOX carry her ravings?
Yes, heroic Olbermann makes fun of her all the time!
June 25th, 2009 at 3:01 pmIm pretty sure you mean ANTI-psychotic drugs. I think Im the only one on this blog that wants her to down psychotic drugs. I love the crazy, and wanna see how much more AWESOME it can get.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:07 pmGet back to me when she says something that actually makes sense…
June 25th, 2009 at 3:07 pmlabman57 Says:
——————————————————————————–
Get back to me when she says something that actually makes sense…
June 25th, 2009 at 3:07 pm Recommend (0) | Report Abuse
June 25th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
chiroptera toasterhead Says:
Are you suggesting that Bachmann’s opposition to the census might not be because she’s a half-witted lunatic operating from the tin-foil-hat wing of the wingnut party, but because she’s really just concerned about losing her seat after redistricting? You mean all this wild-eyed conspiracy theory bullguano is just cover for a thoroughly self-serving political scheme?
That’s crazy talk!
What’s crazy is unless she’s got some sneaky way of playing this, if the people in her cookie-cutter gated-community district listen to her and underreport, then they’re going to get broken up and lumped in with moderate or even liberal districts, which means she goes bye-bye with nowhere to come back from. Heck, that’ll probably happen anyways.
.
labman57 Says:
Get back to me when she says something that actually makes sense…
OK, it was nice knowing ya.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:22 pmNormally, I’d just write Bachmann off as being batsh!t crazy (I usually do), but she appears to have a point this time — and not just the one on top of her head.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-03/uow–sfc032307.php
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Census_identified_Japanese_American_03302007.html
Apparently, according to the links above, the Census Bureau really did provide confidential information on Japanese-Americans during WWII to the U.S. Treasury Department, the FBI, and the OEM (oops!). And this information was used to assist in the rounding up and internment of American people. We don’t know the exact level of detail of this information, but we do know at the very least the data was broken down into small demographic areas (comparable to today’s zip code areas), which would have made locating Japanese-Americans easier even if they didn’t have actual names and addresses to work with.
The agencies asking for this information were able to do so by the power of the Second War Powers Act of 1942, which (sort of like today’s Patriot Act) enabled pretty much anybody’s rights to be trampled in the name of national security.
The Census Bureau fought for (and got) re-established confidentiality for their records once the SWPA was repealed in 1947. And in 2000, the bureau director issued a formal apology for the breach in confidentiality.
So this would never, ever, ever happen again. We’ve learned our lesson. Right?
Um…except 9/11 happened. Bringing with it fear, bigotry, the Patriot Act, and the general willingness of Americans to hand over their rights on a silver platter. Reports have already surfaced that the Census Bureau has provided zip-code level data on Arab-Americans from the 2000 census to the Department of Homeland Security. So we may have deja vu all over again.
The problem seems to me not that the Census Bureau collects data (the actual data, when applied properly, has a great deal of value). The problem is when we allow legislation that permits the misuse of this data — especially when such legislation is passed by the use of fear instead of logic.
Yet Bachmann appears to support legislation that erodes freedom, chips away at privacy, and permits surveillance of American citizens. She has supported the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretapping, and every other tool employed by Bushco to trample on the rights of Americans — the rights she appears to champion now. It seems rather incongruent that she would rail about the misuse of census data while supporting the very devices that make such misuse possible.
So Bachmann has a point, even though her complete lack of credibility pretty much negates it. My recommendation to her — if she’s really serious about this issue and not just using it to bash ACORN any way she can — is to support the census and condemn laws that would allow the confidentiality of the information to be breached.
After all, the census isn’t the only way the government gets information on us — anybody who has a driver’s license, a passport, pays taxes, has served in the military, has registered with Selective Service, or has a Social Security number has provided the government with information that could be misused one way or another. Does Bachmann think we should give up all these things, too?
June 25th, 2009 at 3:25 pmCould this woman get anymore batsh!t crazy?! If there was ever an advertisement for anti psychotic drugs it’s Bachmann.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:26 pmJust imagine the damage she has done to that brood of children she has. I think it is either 5 or 7, and the 23 foster care kids she housed. Maybe there should be an investigation into how she ever passed the test to be allowed to have foster children.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:35 pmQuestion. If she’s so bound up in her personal data, what does she do about the IRS who she surely hates? Does she file personal income taxes? Might be interesting to ask her.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:37 pmBaaaaaatttsshhhittttttt Crrraaazzzyyyyy Shelleeeeyyyyyy:
We’re coming to get you and we’re going to use the census to do it. BWAHAHAHAHAHhahahahahahahaah
signed,
June 25th, 2009 at 3:45 pmthe evil libruls
deebaser Says: #98
Im pretty sure you mean ANTI-psychotic drugs.
Yeah, I did mean anti-psychotic…..but I like your point of view on this one better! hee hee
June 25th, 2009 at 4:02 pm101. El Bruce and commented upon Chiroptera Toasterhead :
I knew that you could gerrymander for republican and democrat. But I didn’t know that you could gerrymander for bat-you-know-what crazy !
June 25th, 2009 at 4:07 pmsbobker Says:
Question. If she’s so bound up in her personal data, what does she do about the IRS who she surely hates? Does she file personal income taxes? Might be interesting to ask her.
I would think that you’d want to avoid, say, running for Congress…
June 25th, 2009 at 4:08 pmPod people are always sensitive about personal info.
They also tend to like broccoli, have Botox faces and babble inane crap before they discover neat canvas coats with buckles.
June 25th, 2009 at 4:22 pmWe probably need an SAT type of test for politicians.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:03 pmWait! Wasn’t it Bachmann who wrote a book arguing that the internment of the Japanese was a “good” thing?!
Or was it some other wingnut woman?
June 25th, 2009 at 5:05 pmBachmann does have a point. Census data has been used to round up Americans that posed a terrorist threat to homeland security durring WW2.
The wingnuts are afraid of the census because they are the ones that are at risk of being rounded up because they are the ones that pose a terrorist threat to homeland security today.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:21 pmWhile giving Bachmann anti-psychotics might help her, I think it would be reasonable to also give her some psychoactives, to see if her mind can be expanded.
Bachmann needs her mind expanded a lot.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:23 pmIs she really that stupid.
/Snark on
June 25th, 2009 at 5:27 pmWho needs the census. When we are ready to lock up the Republicans all we have to do is check the voting records.
Why is she outraged now, and not 10 years ago or sooner. Obviously if we used this information back in the 40’s we should have been scared every 10 years since then.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:31 pmBachman is living proof that you can’t hide crazy…
June 25th, 2009 at 6:05 pmwhirlaway Says:
Wait! Wasn’t it Bachmann who wrote a book arguing that the internment of the Japanese was a “good” thing?!
Or was it some other wingnut woman?
Coulter. That’s the evil one who thinks she looks good in little black dresses. She can also unhinge her enormous jaw to swallow prey whole. She prefers to devour Mexican or Arab babies, if you’re thinking of sending a gift basket.
Bachmann is the screaming google-eyed muppet lady who rocks back and forth and shouts about conspiracies beamed into her cranium from dimension X, with an expression that suggests she just shot up a cocaine-lsd-botox cocktail three minutes ago.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:15 pmThe comments here says more about the people who write them than it does Bachmann. She has more brains than all of you name calling junveniles put together. I’d be willing to bet you are Huffington Post bloggers too — the most hate filled and vile blog I have ever read. Don’t go there anymore. I doubt the any group anywhere can top their hatred and ignorance. This is probably coming from all the people who voted for a clown aka Frankin for Congress. You go Bachmann. Whether I have a toilet in my house or not is not the govt’s business. I’m so sick of this.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:22 pmOh, and many of your juvenile comments show you know NOTHING about WWII history.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:24 pmWhat are junveniles?
By the way, I have heard of folks whose houses are like total toilets.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:47 pmcjcd Says:
She has more brains than all of you name calling junveniles put together.
Yes, she keeps them in tinfoil-wrapped formaldehyde jars in her bedroom closet.
.
cjcd Says:
I’d be willing to bet you are Huffington Post bloggers too — the most hate filled and vile blog I have ever read. Don’t go there anymore. I doubt the any group anywhere can top their hatred and ignorance.
We hope to match their achievement – that of having you go away and never come back. Congrats Huffpo!
.
cjcd Says:
You go Bachmann. Whether I have a toilet in my house or not is not the govt’s business. I’m so sick of this.
Wait, you “maybe” don’t have a toilet in your house? Wow. I mean never mind that that’s not a required question on the census form (if it’s a question at all), if you don’t have indoor plumbing in your trailer, then you’ve got worse problems than the gubmint finding out.
.
cjcd Says:
Oh, and many of your juvenile comments show you know NOTHING about WWII history.
What don’t we know? Gonna pull out some Holocaust-denial arguments for our edification?
June 25th, 2009 at 6:53 pmBy people like you…
June 25th, 2009 at 7:00 pmcjcd Says:
I’m so sick of this.
One more thing – the U.S. Census is established by Article I, section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. Obama didn’t invent it yesterday. If you don’t like the way the founding fathers set up this country to work as a stable democracy, then you can GTFO.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:20 pmthe only thing she should be worried about is a skanksus. there would be one at her address.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:25 pmOk, which one is dumber, the interviewer or the interviewee? DUMB AND DUMBER!!!
June 25th, 2009 at 9:30 pmIt is pitiful for a U.S. Representative to be carrying on this way about the census. As has been pointed out
Wikipedia is good for stuff you already know, but would rather cut and paste. She ought to know this.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:34 pmLet’s get a few things straight about MN politics shall we? First, despite a few lapses (most notably Sen Norm Coleman and Gov Tim Pawlenty and Ms Bachmann) Minnesotans have voted Democrat/Preogressive for most of the state’s history. (Let’s not forget Paul Wellstone, Hubert Hump[hrey, Walter Mondale, and other luminaries.) Second. we’re not all nuts; only those in the redneck/stupid/wingnut psyche ward, er, 6th Congressional District–Ms. Bachmann’s, are responsible for her. Third, Keith Ellison represents MN’s 5th Congressional District–where I live. Fourthly, as a part-time Census Bureau Field Rep I can honestly state that everything she has said about the Census is a damned lie! Lastly, instead of smearing MN in the same way she smears her opponents, put your shoe leather where your mouth is and come to MN and help us campaign against her. I agree: she’s got to go.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:35 pmThis reminds me of a really wonderful episode of “The West Wing” entitled, “Mr. Willis of Ohio“, where the Census is a central theme of the show.
It centers on “Mr Willis” who is the husband of a late congresswomen who assumes her office to help pass a vital census counting provision. The issue is over sampling as opposed to “head count”, the republicans wanting the head count because it tends to discriminate against minorities and working single moms, and the democrats of course wanting the “sampling” method which is vastly more accurate and ensures proper representation per district.
In the episode, C.J asks Sam Seaborn for help understanding the Census and it’s applicability to law and politics, and it’s just a great civics lesson for anyone who is interested, and its interesting even for those who already understand the census and it’s role in politics.
June 26th, 2009 at 12:08 amJune 26th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Bachmann will probably get a job at fauxnews when they finally get tired of being humiliated in Minnesota by her. She will fit in perfectly.
June 26th, 2009 at 12:47 amElbruce says (among his other 12-year old remarks)
“What don’t we know? Gonna pull out some Holocaust-denial arguments for our edification?”
My Jewish family and friends appreciate that remark. Shalom
June 26th, 2009 at 1:05 amcjcd Says:
My Jewish family and friends appreciate that remark. Shalom
I have Jewish family and friends too, including my own daughter. Your point?
You’re the one who walked in here accusing everyone of ignorance about WWII. You still haven’t clarified what you were talking about. Now, as far as I know the only people who claim to have “secret knowledge denied by the majority” regarding WWII are Holocaust deniers. So either you’re too stupid to use a computer keyboard, or you’re a neo-Nazi who is now trying to pull out the “lie about my personal situation” card to tap-dance your way back from the brink. I suppose you could be dictating from your straightjacket to someone else typing for you, but that scenario seems a bit far-fetched.
Shalom.
June 26th, 2009 at 3:14 am“Could SOMEBODY please give this woman some psychotic drugs?”
nice jokes :D
Colocation , Dedicated , Voip, SPLA, Datacenter, ISP
June 26th, 2009 at 4:34 amBACHMANN says, “That’s how the Japanese were rounded up and put into the internment camps.”
Bachman is a member of the “white people only party”, aka the GOP. It was people like Bachman who put the Japanese in internment camps during WWII.
She’s just another GOP hypocrite.
June 26th, 2009 at 6:36 ammplsstreetrwy Says:
——————————————————————————–
Let’s get a few things straight about MN politics shall we? First, despite a few lapses (most notably Sen Norm Coleman and Gov Tim Pawlenty and Ms Bachmann) Minnesotans have voted Democrat/Preogressive for most of the state’s history. (Let’s not forget Paul Wellstone, Hubert Hump[hrey, Walter Mondale, and other luminaries.)
June 26th, 2009 at 8:34 am—————————————
As a Minnesotan I thank you for getting a few things straight. People who condemn all Minnesotans for Bachmann are just as crazy as she is. Obviously they don’t understand that everyone in the state doesn’t vote for each representative. Bachmann represents a district that is particularly religious and conservative Republican and she won by a gnat’s eyelash in the last election.
As Tawdry pointed out in #136, the 2008 election was very close. Bachmann didn’t win by a majority vote – she won by a plurality. She received 46.41 percent of the vote to El Tinklenberg’s 43.43 percent and Bob Anderson’s 10.04 percent. The majority of us in MN6 didn’t vote for her!
June 26th, 2009 at 10:23 am“Palin-Bachmann 2012″ please, please,please!
June 26th, 2009 at 10:46 amThis Dipshit was Elected?
Check the drinking water in MN!
June 26th, 2009 at 12:24 pmHas anyone ever told this moon-bat that the U.S. has been conducting a census, every ten years since George Washington was President..? She probably wouldn’t hear..that symphony of voices in her head is just so distracting
June 26th, 2009 at 1:50 pmBut umm…..I still think Homeland security should have access to all the library books that we take out…cause that will really only bother those Demo-readers..us Republican’s own all our Rush, Ann and Billo books!
June 26th, 2009 at 5:14 pmYou idiot liberals wouldn’t know if your rights were being taken away if an official document written in first grade elementary writing was read to you.
If your illegal idiotic president told ACORN to include questions such as:
How many rolls of toilet paper do you use per week
What sexual positions do you use
……you would be happy to answer them because that idiot wanted to know.
Liberals are fanatics, crazy and belong in padded cells in FEMA camps. There, you can indoctrinate yourselves to death while standing in line to clip your president’s toenails.
FDR and Marx would be proud of you brain-damaged dumbbells.
June 26th, 2009 at 5:34 pmHaha how many sexual positions?…. ALL OF THEM!!!! :P I have issues giving out my phone number and I urge people to read the census online now.. just google 2010 census I mean gimme a break they ask race, race, race… my wife who is a mexican even pointed this out… race race race and why do they even need to know
June 26th, 2009 at 5:48 pmFireman09—–
Yep, they want to know if your wife is legal or not so they can send her to a FEMA camp when DHS and U.S. Northern Command hook up and start patrolling our streets to gather illegal aliens (and their new driver’s licenses).
The rest of us will be in FEMA camps for being DHS certified right-wing extremists, with the possibility of getting out IF you promise to donate half of your paycheck to the Chicago community organizers, commonly known as N.U.T.S.
All political dissidents will be incarcerated for 10 years or until they can repeat the phrase “Yes We Can!” 65 times in one breath.
In the meantime all prisoners will be working on a production line to create new Halos for President Big Ears that will stay in one position, instead of constantly sliding to the side, when he lies to the American people. Many halos will be required as most will fall to the floor and shatter as he speaks.
Prisoners will also be busy creating signs and letters with the Big “O” (and it ain’t Orgasm) on them that will be required of all young people to wear on their shirts when they go to their mandatory volunteering propaganda camps.
I’m going to be a census taker also. I may as well start out before the N.U.T.S. do. That way, I can go door-to-door and find out who was in agreement with the “spreading of the wealth” and if they go along with President Marx, I’m going to have my tin cup with me and get MY part of each of their paychecks before THEY do.
June 26th, 2009 at 10:57 pmFor what it’s worth, you need to understand that Bachmann is one of those fundamentalist Christianists, which explains her opposition to a census. Somewhere in the Old Testament there is a line about Satan telling one of the kings of Israel to have a census and the king suffered some sort of grievous harm when he did it. That is the basis for much of the right wing hissy fitting about the census.
Someone may suggest that Caesar Augustus calling for a worldwide census may have something to do with it, but that’s in the New Testament. Christianists don’t read the New Testament.
June 27th, 2009 at 12:05 amI fail to understand what a “fundamentalist Christianist” has to do with not answering personal Census questions.
“right wing hissy fitting” doesn’t have a damn thing to do with asking personal questions about a particular family and how they get to work and how many bathrooms they have their house!
This is NOT about religion and it’s NOT about “hissys”. It’s about asking personal questions. What will you do when they add other questions, which they definitely will, since the census will be done every year now rather than every 10 years:
What time do you retire in the evening?
June 27th, 2009 at 1:36 amDo you lock your bedroom door?
How many windows do your bedrooms have?
Do you have a security system?
Where are your weapons located?
How many times do you flush your toilet per week?
Has anyone ever had an abortion in your household?
As a Minnesotan, I would first like to say that I DID NOT VOTE FOR THIS WOMAN.
I agree that it is in varying degrees information that the IRS has required, insurance companies, Census Bureau (e.g. not exactly late-breaking news). She must not realize that cumulatively, we as a people have already given out all this information at various points and will continue to do so. If people really want to “hack” into our information, they already have the means and the info they need.
I hate how (it seems mostly Republicans) love to instill fear and doubt in people with “the system”. You know how the news tends to report mostly negative information…? Ever notice how often Republicans are reported on and interviewed…? Ah hell, maybe I’m just a paranoid, wingnut like the rest of em. Now there’s a paradox. Doesn’t exactly coincide with my bleeding heart liberal Woot shirt, though. Whatever.
But hey, if she can get away with breaking the law, that’s good news for me because I have some things I would really like to be expunged from my record. Maybe she should have been the one killed in Beijing during the Olympics, not Todd Bachman.
Stop worrying. If you’re worried, you aren’t resourceful enough to prevail in the face of adversity anyway. You’ve been doomed long before these crazy Democrats gained control and set the Earth on a collision course with the Sun. Did that come off as extreme? Sound familiar?
On a final note, if Republicans didn’t want a Democrat leader, why didn’t more Republicans vote and avert this travesty? Stop being typical, take responsibility for your actions and blame yourselves, no one else.
Did I mention I make the Hip Hops? Yeah, I make the Hip Hops.
June 27th, 2009 at 8:43 amThank you..
Sesli Chat
June 29th, 2009 at 11:18 amSesli Sohbet
Sesli Chat
Sesli Sohbet
Sesli kent
SesliChat
SesliSohbet
BACHMANN:” 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.”
Reminds me of what Jon Stewart said about previous right-nut comments…
June 29th, 2009 at 9:31 pm“I’m not saying your mother’s a whore, I’m just saying she’s got money…”