New Idiocy from Conservatard Blogs...

[AMT]

What I don't understand is why we need a small army of Census Bureau workers. Just make the Census Bureau a division of the post-office and have the letter carriers slip in the census questionnares and randomly talk to people on their route. The Postman is far more trusted than a random schmuck.

THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT WILL BE BACK.

Because we do a lot more than questionnares?
For instance, do you really have the time to update maps, create them, go to prisons, mental hospitals, rv parks, homeless shelters, homeless areas out on the streets, hotels, motels, farms, etc.?

In addition, can you do so and be legally required to not report any illegal activity that may occur there? (This includes, but is not limited to, illegal immigrants, animal farms, dog fighting rings, pot farms?)

It's one reason we can't hire police officers. They are required to report and stop such actions by law. By law, we are required to not report such things we see, to protect our ability to report such actions.

Oh, and you also have to do all this within a 2-3 month period, come hell or high water.

Well Broomstick does.
I stay in the office and do paperwork and IT troubleshooting

[Raxmei]

It's funny how some people massively overstate the importance of ACORN. During the election they managed to turn a registration drive into a conspiracy to steal the election, and now a volunteer drive turns into some sinister plot to do... something. Having a network of community organizers drop JDAMs on people, perhaps.

[AMT]

It's funny how some people massively overstate the importance of ACORN. During the election they managed to turn a registration drive into a conspiracy to steal the election, and now a volunteer drive turns into some sinister plot to do... something. Having a network of community organizers drop JDAMs on people, perhaps.

ACORN= Cobra obviously.

[Beowulf]

Frankly, it would be nice if one tenth of the raving paranoid fears of these assholes DID materialize, because then they'd be dead, and we'd be rid of them.

I LOLed at his argument -- because there already IS a GPS grid of residences. You can buy one at the store, either from Magellan Garmin, or whatever GPS units.

Generally, those addresses are only interpolated. They actually only store the addresses at the end points of the street segments, and assume that the addresses are linearly spaced in between. Which normally works, but sometimes there's gaps in addresses. They do this because you normally don't have to worry too much if you're given an address which doesn't exist, and it saves a tremendous amount of space to do so.

[General Zod]

It's funny how some people massively overstate the importance of ACORN. During the election they managed to turn a registration drive into a conspiracy to steal the election, and now a volunteer drive turns into some sinister plot to do... something. Having a network of community organizers drop JDAMs on people, perhaps.

ACORN= Cobra obviously.

Didn't you know? Obama's a cocaine-snorting, gay atheist Muslim who's in league with the Jews. Using Jewish drug money he's funding people like Acorn to spread the homosexual agenda and oppress God-fearing Christians, which of course is his ultimate goal while he's in the White House.

[AMT]

It's funny how some people massively overstate the importance of ACORN. During the election they managed to turn a registration drive into a conspiracy to steal the election, and now a volunteer drive turns into some sinister plot to do... something. Having a network of community organizers drop JDAMs on people, perhaps.

ACORN= Cobra obviously.

Didn't you know? Obama's a cocaine-snorting, gay atheist Muslim who's in league with the Jews. Using Jewish drug money he's funding people like Acorn to spread the homosexual agenda and oppress God-fearing Christians, which of course is his ultimate goal while he's in the White House.

The sad thing is... there are likely people who believe exactly that...

[Broomstick]

What I don't understand is why we need a small army of Census Bureau workers. Just make the Census Bureau a division of the post-office and have the letter carriers slip in the census questionnares and randomly talk to people on their route. The Postman is far more trusted than a random schmuck.

The problem is, as AMT pointed out, that it's more than what the post office does. I mean, will the mail carriers seek out the homeless? Will you note down uninhabitable homes? If people don't respond to the questionnaires will you knock on their doors and ask them the questions in person? Are the mailcarriers going to go into nursing homes and prisons and hotels and campgrounds and marinas? Because the Census goes all those places, or tries to. The idea is not to get a "random sample" but to get everyone. Of course, that doesn't actually happen and statistical techniques are used to fill in the gaps.

And, yes, we are also updating maps this time. I note that in my area that the mail boxes are frequently clustered in groups along the road, sometimes a quarter mile from the actual residence the mail goes to, so it's quite different from actually going to the front door now isn't it?

Oh, and you also have to do all this within a 2-3 month period, come hell or high water.

Well Broomstick does.

No I don't! Not anymore!

Just finished my final Census block on this team this afternoon. I did say I'd be willing to transfer to another team that needs help, but no word yet on whether that's gone through. For now, it's back to drywall and housepainting.

[Terralthra]

Same "source"

Gov't Attempting to Seize Smith & Wesson
Gov't Attempting to Seize Smith & Wesson
Marie Llosander
4/29/2009

Seemingly in line with other corporate seizures, the United States government appears to be attempting to gain a majority stake in prominent firearms company Smith & Wesson.

Smith & Wesson, one of the oldest weapons company in the United States, is currently on sound economic footing. However, a clause in the 2009 Stimulus Bill calls for the federal government to seize industries and companies that are essential to the economy or 'government function.'

The Treasury Department contacted the company in March 2009, asking to buy shares at $10 above market price. However, this offer was sharply rebuffed. Similar offers have been made to Remington.

After this rejection, the Treasury Department has declared that it will use mechanisms in the Stimulus Bill in order to override the corporate decision. Smith & Wesson's board of executives have also been informed that this decision by the Treasury Department could not be appealed to any superior court.

Which brings us to the very interesting part of this story while I wait for confirmation from Smith & Wesson.

"Similar offers have been made to Remington."

That statement is very interesting since Cerberus owns Remington and bought the gun manufacturer on April 5, 2007.

As usual, attempts to confirm this via reputable sources have turned up nil.