<p>I am not a Michelle Bachmann fan by why should she give any information beyond the number of people living in the household. Does the census require more than that?</p>
<p>Now I am very public and will tell anyone basically anything but I understand people who do not want to share more than is required.</p>
<p>I would think the murder was most likely suicide or because the worker stumbled into a meth lab.</p>
<p>I’m retired from the Census Bureau, and very saddened by this death. But I wanted to shed a bit of light on the mandatory nature of the Census and the American Community Survey. People are required to answer the Decennial Census, taken every 10 years to determine apportionment and provide a host of information. Earlier this decade, the “long form” sent to a sample of the population every 10 years was “detached” from the every-10-year data collection, which will only ask some very basic information in 2010. In the meantime, the “long form” type detailed information is now collected on a continuing basis in the American Community Survey, which now provides data more flexibly especially for smaller geographic areas throughout the decade. However, even though the “long form” and “short form” are decoupled, they are both part of the same data collection effort which is mandatory. I am appalled at the position of the MN rep–not answering either is clearly illegal.</p>
<p>By the way, the Census worker who died was working on other Census Bureau programs, not the decennial. There are interviewers out all the time collecting data about employment, housing and other topics for the CB and other federal agencies.</p>
<p>smudr- thanks for the information.</p>
<p>No, Zoosermom, she was talking about the 2010 census.</p>
<p>[Rep</a>. Bachmann Refuses To Fill Out 2010 Census - Political Hotsheet - CBS News](<a href=“http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/06/18/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5095844.shtml]Rep”>http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/06/18/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5095844.shtml)</p>
<p>Rep. Bachmann is an idjit.</p>
<p>And re the death of the census worker–this morning’s paper reported they think he might have been mistaken for a fed searching for meth labs or marijuana fields. This is harvest time for the latter.</p>
<p>This is pretty nasty stuff. Although I know law enforcement officials sometimes withhold crime scene information to help them catch the criminals when there are details only the person who committed the crime would know, I have a hard time seeing how officials can continue to speculate that it could be a suicide or an accident. Is this a case of local officials trying to avoid a reputation hit for their county? Although the FBI is also involved now, and it doesn’t seem like they would care about that.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/25/us/AP-US-Census-Worker-Hanged.html?hp[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/25/us/AP-US-Census-Worker-Hanged.html?hp</a></p>
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<p>Especially since in that latest article it says he was naked, gagged, and bound with duct tape. </p>
<p>I feel so sorry for the census worker, his family, and the family who discovered him (a couple and their daughter.) Imagine your college aged daughter seeing that gruesome sight.</p>
<p>smdur1970, Thanks for the info. I was unaware of the mandatory long form and I would bet many Americans are as ignorant as me. The US Census Bureau needs to do more to educate the public. Especially, when we frequently hear of people being plagued by identity theft .having some stranger come to your door or being sent a questionnaire eliciting specific personal and household information is going to be viewed negatively with a high percent of non-compliance.</p>
<p>That would make sense - that he was mistaken for some kind of a narc. Anything is possilbe, ie there are plenty of crazy psychos out there, but it is hard to imagine taking such hostility out on a census worker.</p>
<p>There’s a whole subculture that’s deeply suspicious of everything that the govt does, the black-helicopter folks who do indeed look up to the likes of Rep Bachman. (BTW, she’s the one who said on national TV that Pres. Obama is anti-American.) It’s an article of faith among these people that the census is a sinister tool of the federal govt, which may be used to round up citizens and send them to concentration camps, or to give unwarranted assistance to minorities/illegals/Jews/homosexuals, or to advance one-world government, etc etc. Think Timothy McVey.</p>
<p>Government entities leak like sieves. If the federal government were truly and intentionally clandestinely sinister, the public would be the first to know! Sigh… Crazy people make me crazy.</p>
<p>Update: [Police</a> Eye Dead Census Worker’s Insurance](<a href=“News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines - AOL.com”>News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines - AOL.com)</p>
<p>I can’t decide which would be worse for the son to deal with–suicide or murder. Man, poor kid.</p>