23 March 2010

JDRF Walk, 2010

Breakfast (why the breakfast for a diabetes event is all-carb is beyond me):
A nice sand-sculpture:
Devin and Grandpa, starting the walk:
Devin and (her) Mom, continuing the walk (she outpaced G'pa and I for the first time):
There's always something oceany to take pictures of (washed up jellyfish):
A couple of pictures to kind of show the line of people:

The End:
A Self-Portrait:
Deving, playing after the walk:

17 March 2010

We got our census form...

...and promptly looked up the sections of the constitution which applied to the situation.

From the U.S. Constitution:
Article 1 Section 2:
"Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.
Amendment 14:
"Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed."

These are the constitutional guidelines for our federal census, therefore question 1 on my census form is constitutional.

From my 2010 census form:
"1. How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010?" Pretty simple, quite constitutional.
"2. Were there any additional people staying here April 1, 2010 that you did not include in Question 1?" ??? If I answer the first question correctly, do I really need the second one?
Now that we've satisfied the census provisions in the Constitution, the part that pisses me off:
3 wants to know if we rent, have a mortgage, or own outright our home.
4 requests our phone number.
5 asks for first name, middle initial, and last name for each person living here. This might be ok, just to help eliminate fraud, but it's not technically in the constitution.
6 is sexist. Can the government not count us without segregating us by our private parts?
7 is ageist. Can the government not count us without segregating us by our age?
8 is racist. Can the government not count us without segregating Hispanics, Latinos, and Spanish origin folks?
9 is racist. By definition. "What is Person 1's race?" Can the government not count us without segregating us by race?
10 is about whether people in this home live or stay somewhere else sometimes. I don't even know what to say about this one. Does it really make a difference?
There's room on the form for 12 people.

Do I need to point out that the only reason the government needs this information is so that they can redistribute wealth (in theory) from those they see as having it to those ages, colors, and sexes that it sees as not having it?

I'm sure there's a regulation or code somewhere that makes this all legal, but it doesn't make it right.

I think I'll get a big fat red marker and write a "5" on the front page and return it.

06 March 2010