Hey, US Government?

[agilebrit]

I get that it's Very Very Important that I fill the census thing out and send it back to you.

In fact, I did it the day the thing arrived in the mail.

However, I'm quite miffed that you're spending my hard-earned tax dollars that could be better spent elsewhere to send me not ONE, but TWO letters letting me know, first of all, that the cursed thing was coming, and then an ADDITIONAL postcard telling me How Very Important it is that I fill it out and send it back. When I've already done so.

Also, I don't like your incessant TV ads. How many of my tax dollars were spent on those?

And you're the people we're supposed to trust with our health care?

Yeah, RIGHT.

Sincerely,

agilebrit, who is skeptical that you will ever do anything right ever again

Comments

[modernelegance.livejournal.com]

MY THOUGHT EXACTLY! They even had a freakin' DORA THE EXPLORER ONE FOR THE KIDS! Starting the Propaganda early are we?

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

I'm ready to drive to Washington and smack a bitch, seriously. Because not only are they filling my mailbox with this crap, they're paying someone to do it AND come up with the ideas for their idiotic ads too.

I'm just glad I got the basic one this time, because if we'd gotten the really intrusive one, I'm not sure what we would have done, it being a crime to not fill it out and all...

[paulasj.livejournal.com]

It's not only the numerous letters that I'm getting, but the tv ads for available jobs as a 2010 census worker.

In regards to the questionnaire itself, I got mind a few days ago. Then I read questions 1 and 2. I'm still scratching my head.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

I...don't remember what those questions were. I just filled the damb thing out and sent it back like a Good Little Drone. I was sorely tempted, however, to check "Other" under "race" and put "American."

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

That's what I did. I'm of mixed heritage and sure, I could have "checked all that applied" but honestly? I don't see why they need to know that information in order to determine apportionment for elections.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Why does it matter, exactly?

[hitchhiker-42.livejournal.com]

Here in the South at least, they want that info so they can draw districts such that they have people of all one race in them, insofar as possible. They say that down here, people are represented better by congresscritters that look like them, but that doesn't apply in the more enlightened North, so they get square districts, or broken down by party, like would make sense.

Thus saith my gov't professor, though perhaps not quite as sarcastically as I have related here.

[zilly14.livejournal.com]

I was tempted to put "human."

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Hee, that too.

[foxybrownsgc.livejournal.com]

That is EXACTLY what I did. Of course, after laughing hysterically at the 'Black, African-American, Negro' line.

Even further, I didn't provide my phone number. And if some Census worker comes to my house, I will tactfully tell them (unless they piss me off) that since I used to work for 'Fujikawa', and held a security clearance, I'm one their retired 'courtesans' so the US Govt knows all they need to know about me.

[paulasj.livejournal.com]

Question #1: How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010?

Questions #2: Were there any additional people staying here April 1, 2010 that you did not include in Question 1?

I answered "refer back to question 1".

[zilly14.livejournal.com]

I totally agree. When I got the first letter, I was like "oh, the census already?" and was confused why they'd send a letter a week early telling me to fill out the census (when the census form already says to fill it out...) Apparently the idea behind it is that it's cheaper to send multiple letters than to have a census taker come to your door? That may be the case, but getting JUST the census would've been enough for me. I would've gotten the importance with just that. And then I get that postcard today! Totally bad approach.

I was pissed when they spent $2.5 million for that dumb Super Bowl ad.

The way to get people to fill out the census is to reinforce the fact that it affects how much money the federal gov't gives to your community. Maybe do a pamphlet with the census that explains it, I don't know (I'm not into advertising/marketing) but the way they're doing it is awful. People who weren't going to fill it out probably still won't. Stupid ads won't convince them. Multiple letters? Hah. They'll probably be MORE likely to throw it away!

After working for the government for nearly 3 years, I have come to realize - the people making the rules, the laws, the ads, everything... they don't know what it's like on the ground actually doing the stuff, and what works and what doesn't. If I was running the VBA, for example, there would be changes that would make SENSE for veterans and SENSE for employees. But it's the government, and they don't have SENSE!

Sorry kinda on a tangent there... lol.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Seriously, just give me the 2.5mil and I'll go door-to-door and grab people by the scruff of the neck and make them fill it out.

And government wonks have no idea what it's like at the pointy end of the stick or how real people in the real world think. What happened to them? I'm sure they used to be real people, once upon a time...

Trusting the U.S. Government

[the-gimlet-eye.livejournal.com]

You are right not to trust them. One must be agin' government. Things have always been like that. Why? Because they lie about everything. They are so out of control. They spend our money as if it were their own. They are bankrupting us, getting drunk on our dime, and reducing us to serfs. Some big, big, changes are in order.

Re: Trusting the U.S. Government

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

I trust the government as far as I can throw it, no matter who's in power. Rat bastards, the bunch of them.

Re: Trusting the U.S. Government

[the-gimlet-eye.livejournal.com]

Don't get me wrong. We can't do without government. But we can and must do without a DESPOTIC government.

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

Those commercials! How idiotic were they?

I had to laugh at the 'Black, African-American, Negro' designation, while it was plain old 'White' without any other designations. My son told me that people would be too stupid to check 'Caucasian.'

[trkkergrl.livejournal.com]

They are wasting tons of money on these ads and sending out stuff. I've lost all faith in the government.

I hated to fill out that thing, but meh, it was no different then the one I filled out in 2000. And I want the right number of reps. to rep. Dunno why cause not like my thoughts and my parties thoughts matter anymore. lol My bbf and her bf burnt their form. She got Oy.mad at me when I questioned why. Oy.

[trkkergrl.livejournal.com]

Damn touchpad mouse! *She got mad at me when I questioned why. Oy There. Fixed it. =[

[gates-end.livejournal.com]

Amen sister!

[roseaponi.livejournal.com]

Hey, I think they forgot to send me one of the preliminary letters. I've had one letter, one form, and one postcard. Honestly, I had to remind myself that my county is already rather poor and needs all the help it can get before I could convince myself to go ahead and fill out the thing.

As far as the health care... um, I have mixed feelings. A lot of what I've read in summary doesn't sound half as bad as it could have been, at least on the surface, but I don't understand how they're justifying what looks like a deliberate move to flush Medicare down the toilet.

First, they flood the system with lots of newly qualified people, and then they open a big gaping void in Medicare reimbursements to doctors and hospitals? Isn't that the basic mechanism of a toilet? My parents are on Medicare (and VA, which is going to be flooded too, since we are at war and acquiring new veterans at a steady rate)and now, Medicare is going to be worthless. And there aren't enough medical professionals to go around.

Somebody needs to invent a vaccine against stupid.