Friday, May 28, 2010

NonCensus

I have been a little flabbergasted at some of the rumors and myths regarding the census over the last couple of months, and they continue to crawl out from under inside the rocks occupying the right's cranial spaces. From FactCheck.org:
  • It’s not true that Census workers can demand that your landlord let Census workers into your apartment when you are absent, as claimed by a conservative former House member.
  • And it’s also not true that the Census Bureau is artificially inflating official employment figures by causing temporary hires to be counted multiple times, as claimed by a newspaper columnist.
The sources of those two lies are former Representative Bob Barr (R-Ga) and New York Post columnist John Crudele, respectively.

And to proactively avert some other misleading "facts" about the census, I offer the following:
  • You are not required to provide sexual sevices to Census workers on demand.
  • Census workers are not authorized to remove children or belongings from your home.
  • Census workers are not expected to take nude photographs of you or other residents in your domicile "for the permanent record."
  • You are not required to allow Census workers to take your vehicle for a test drive.
  • Census workers will not ask to install cameras in rooms around your dwelling, nor are you encouraged to allow them to do so.
  • Finally, Census workers are not creating a visible record of their visit by drawing, in permanent black marker, Hitler mustaches on you and other residents of your home. If someone wearing such a mustache tells you that's what happened to them, it's either Hitler or Glenn Beck. Run.
Hope that clarifies everything.

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