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(Wall Street Journal) Obvious From the GOP: It's official, Michele Bachmann has gone full retard   (blogs.wsj.com) divider line 386
More: Obvious  
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elchip [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:28:20 AM  
rastjr: I see a day when the Democrats are the moderate right party and the U.S. finally has a real Liberal party. Then we can vote for a party that will support gay marriage, gun restrictions, and a government with the power to regulate business.

I'm young so I hope to see that one day.


Aha -- so you're a troll.

 
Zeppelininthesky [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:28:29 AM  
what_now: Hender: I'd pay you $50 to wear a uniform and an armband with Obama's picture on it if you did so.

mofroe: I'm good for another $20 on that if you wear a badly airbrushed Obama shirt like this one:

Oh. Oh yes. I would totally do this.

Anyone wanna put another $20 on me rocking a hijab?


I would throw in a few bucks as well..

 
PurplePimpSaber [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:28:42 AM  
sepuku2: How many of these Full Retard threads are gonna get greenlighted?

As many as are needed to point out all of the instances of political stupidity...so expect to see them for the next few millenia.

 
Antimatter 2009-07-02 10:29:56 AM  
Zeppelininthesky: what_now: Hender: I'd pay you $50 to wear a uniform and an armband with Obama's picture on it if you did so.

mofroe: I'm good for another $20 on that if you wear a badly airbrushed Obama shirt like this one:

Oh. Oh yes. I would totally do this.

Anyone wanna put another $20 on me rocking a hijab?

I would throw in a few bucks as well..


Wearing all that, who's going to pitch in the $10k for the body armor he's gonna have to wear under this stuff?

 
what_now [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:31:13 AM  
Antimatter: Wearing all that, who's going to pitch in the $10k for the body armor he's gonna have to wear under this stuff?

Well, I'm a girl, hence the hijab, and I'd take a crew of scary looking black people (re: any black people) behind me.

 
rastjr [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:31:19 AM  
elchip: rastjr: I see a day when the Democrats are the moderate right party and the U.S. finally has a real Liberal party. Then we can vote for a party that will support gay marriage, gun restrictions, and a government with the power to regulate business.

I'm young so I hope to see that one day.

Aha -- so you're a troll.


Wow, the troll comment happened quick today.

It doesn't bother me anymore. People with little to say are little people.

If you don't like what I believe, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I'm perfectly capable of moving on without elchip in my life.

 
Galen_Rasputin 2009-07-02 10:32:00 AM  
Mr. Coffee Nerves: Life must be very tough for a moderate Republican Libertarian these days.

Fixed that for you.

 
TwistedFark 2009-07-02 10:32:38 AM  
what_now: oldfarthenry: Unfortunately, governments work best with a viable opposition to keep things in line. Let's hope the GOP can shake some of its bats from the belfry.

Agreed. But at this point, I think the GOP has outlived it's usefulness, and the sooner they burn to the ground, the sooner something else can rise in it's place. I'd like to see a third party pop up with actual conservatives in it.


What will happen is that eventually the dems will split and instead of having a two party paradigm of "moderate" and "bat shiat crazy right", we will have "somewhat moderate" and "kinda liberal".

If you look at the elected democrats these days, they are a really diverse lot. The only thing that really keeps them together is that the GOP is farking off their rocker. If you take away that pressure on them, then they'd be more than happy to give harry reid/nancy pelosi the finger.

 
Noam Chimpsky 2009-07-02 10:34:39 AM  
Diogenes: Noam Chimpsky: More proof that Bachmann is right! I'm surprised these jerks could take the time to peak out of their Argentine love nests to make a comment about a Republican who is actually working on behalf of the people.

She is a legislator. If she doesn't like the question, then work to have them changed.

Committing and encouraging sedition is NOT working on behalf of the people.


Looks to me like she is the only one who is working to end this unconstitutional census insanity.

You seem to believe that a Japanese person who wouldn't fill out his census form back in 1940 so that he could be rounded up and sent to a concentration camp by FDR was committing sedition.

 
Galen_Rasputin 2009-07-02 10:34:57 AM  
Sygerrik: I am sick unto death of hearing that the Census is "unconstitutional." The Constitution says that it's up the legislature to determine which questions are on it. They could ask for your blood type, work schedule and a list of your greatest fears and it would STILL be constitutional.

By definition, anything the legislature puts on the Census is constitutional. The only unconstitutional questions would be ones the census taker makes up on the fly. ZAZ, you may have a valid point that the questions are intrusive, but they ARE constitutional. You have NO leg to stand on claiming that they are not.


Blood type - ZE
Work Schedule - 00:00 - 32:00 9 days a week
Greatest Fear - Air

 
gustakooka [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:35:17 AM  
elchip: rastjr: I see a day when the Democrats are the moderate right party and the U.S. finally has a real Liberal party. Then we can vote for a party that will support gay marriage, gun restrictions, and a government with the power to regulate business.

I'm young so I hope to see that one day.

Aha -- so you're a troll.


The dude wants reparations paid...but not for him to pay them, for someone else. Really. I don't think he is a troll, I think he actually believes this.

 
Carth 2009-07-02 10:35:56 AM  
ZAZ: The Census web site says "This fine is changed by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 from $100 to not more than $5,000." The applicable law seems to be 18 USC 3571(b) saying that all federal infractions are punishable by a fine of $5,000. So not answering a census question is treated the same as not wearing a seat belt while driving on federal property. You probably won't get a ticket for it and if you do you probably won't get a $5,000 fine.

Most likely nothing will happen. But if enough people decide to "protest" it would be an easy and legal way for the government to make money off other's stupidity. 100,000 people time $5000 each. Half a billion?

 
Xerxes99 2009-07-02 10:36:05 AM  
The Onanist: sepuku2: Then be prepared to pay the $5000 fine.

Where did you get THAT number??

13 USC Sec. 221
TITLE 13 - CENSUS

CHAPTER 7 - OFFENSES AND PENALTIES

SUBCHAPTER II - OTHER PERSONS

Sec. 221. Refusal or neglect to answer questions; false answers

(a) Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the Secretary or authorized officer, to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census or survey provided for by subchapters I, II, IV, and V of chapter 5 of this title, applying to himself or to the family to which he belongs or is related, or to the farm or farms of which he or his family is the occupant, shall be fined not more than $100.

(b) Whoever, when answering questions described in subsection (a) of this section, and under the conditions or circumstances described in such subsection, willfully gives any answer that is false, shall be fined not more than $500.


/What's the fine for taking a Hand Held Degausser (new window) to the device they are using to record your houses GPS location to either wipe clean or corrupt the data stored on it? Census Bureau Adopts GPS to Find American Homes (new window)

 
what_now [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:36:09 AM  
TwistedFark: What will happen is that eventually the dems will split and instead of having a two party paradigm of "moderate" and "bat shiat crazy right", we will have "somewhat moderate" and "kinda liberal".

If you look at the elected democrats these days, they are a really diverse lot. The only thing that really keeps them together is that the GOP is farking off their rocker. If you take away that pressure on them, then they'd be more than happy to give harry reid/nancy pelosi the finger.


See, I'd be down with that. I think that we need a little bit of pie eyed hippy to keep people from being totally evil, but we also need a party that understands how to act decisively and viciously if needed. I could go for a *real* progressive party, and then the Democratic party. I can see myself voting for either of those parties.

But the GOP has pretty much lost me, and my generation, forever.

 
fernt 2009-07-02 10:36:32 AM  
I'm curious subby...

Why is it retarded not to want to let the government in on:

- the schedule of when you leave your house and when you return

- my ancestry

- my level of education

- if I have difficulty making decisions

- extensive personal income information

- how I get to work

- how much time off from work I took

- details about my house, how many rooms, bathrooms, etc.

- details of my utility bills

- details about my mortgage

...and so on.

I feel that the federal government is really "getting to know me" on an uncomfortable level. Michele Bachmann may be batshiat crazy, but the federal government should really only need to how many human beings inhabit the structure at that address, and leave the rest up to the states or to the citizens' discretion.

 
Sum Dum Gai 2009-07-02 10:36:37 AM  
ZAZ: So not answering a census question is treated the same as not wearing a seat belt while driving on federal property. You probably won't get a ticket for it and if you do you probably won't get a $5,000 fine.

Screw that, we should give the maximum fine to all the people who don't answer fully and correctly. Think of all the additional revenue we could get from all those loonies; it would be like a tax on stupid.

 
naviguesser 2009-07-02 10:36:39 AM  
Maybe some of you should do some research to see what she's talking about. The census survey is 28 pages, and asks very detailed information that is none of the government's business, and has nothing to do with census requirements. Why would they need to know what time you leave and get home from work? That's one of the questions. Some of you should check facts before attacking someone. Nobody cares how you feel.

 
elchip [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:37:38 AM  
gustakooka: The dude wants reparations paid...but not for him to pay them, for someone else. Really. I don't think he is a troll, I think he actually believes this.

He's to the left of czarangelus. I'm not sure that's possible.

 
rastjr [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:37:42 AM  
gustakooka: elchip: rastjr: I see a day when the Democrats are the moderate right party and the U.S. finally has a real Liberal party. Then we can vote for a party that will support gay marriage, gun restrictions, and a government with the power to regulate business.

I'm young so I hope to see that one day.

Aha -- so you're a troll.

The dude wants reparations paid...but not for him to pay them, for someone else. Really. I don't think he is a troll, I think he actually believes this.



Thanks for the support dude. I knew there were some cool guys on Fark.

Elchip will come around.

 
RevLovejoy 2009-07-02 10:38:05 AM  
I honestly believe that this nutbar had no clue what the census even was and, once she was informed that the government was going to ask her specific questions, went into deeper than usual freakout mode.

The few remaining GOP moderates must be pulling out what's left of their hair. They're easy to spot - look to the palm sized red marks on thier foreheads.

 
t3knomanser 2009-07-02 10:38:50 AM  
"[An] 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."

That, quite clearly, provides constitutional grounds for any question they wish to place on the census. While it still must operate in the bounds of the 4th & 5th Amendments (they can't ask you about crimes, and they can't prosecute you for your answers (and they can't discriminate against you for your answers under the 14th)), there's a great deal of leeway in there.

Anyone who says they aren't constitutionally obligated to answer every question on the census is a moron. They have the legal power to ask you near anything- and the very first census in 1790 asked questions about all sorts of things, because it was vital, at the time, to evaluate the available labor pool and industrial infrastructure.

 
Zeppelininthesky [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:39:06 AM  
Carth: ZAZ: The Census web site says "This fine is changed by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 from $100 to not more than $5,000." The applicable law seems to be 18 USC 3571(b) saying that all federal infractions are punishable by a fine of $5,000. So not answering a census question is treated the same as not wearing a seat belt while driving on federal property. You probably won't get a ticket for it and if you do you probably won't get a $5,000 fine.

Most likely nothing will happen. But if enough people decide to "protest" it would be an easy and legal way for the government to make money off other's stupidity. 100,000 people time $5000 each. Half a billion?


We could pump all that money into the economy!! Brilliant!!

 
aimtastic [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:40:35 AM  
naviguesser: Why would they need to know what time you leave and get home from work? That's one of the questions.

To determine if your local roads have more traffic at peak hours than they can readily handle, leading to construction projects that will alleviate traffic upon completion?

 
me_the_farker 2009-07-02 10:40:39 AM  
graggor: what_now: gothelder: Now if you could only do it while being an African American A GAY Mexican/Arabic man. that would be perfect.


FTFY


Frack I'll do it then. Not arabic though. I could pretend to speak nothing but broken english to her though.

 
t3knomanser 2009-07-02 10:40:59 AM  
naviguesser: and has nothing to do with census requirements.

Um, that's for Congress to decide. It's quite clearly laid out as one of their powers. They can decide any question is useful, and they're only constrained by things like the 5th Amendment, meaning they can't accuse you of a crime based on your responses.

 
aimtastic [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:41:59 AM  
aimtastic: naviguesser: Why would they need to know what time you leave and get home from work? That's one of the questions.

To determine if your local roads have more traffic at peak hours than they can readily handle, leading to construction projects that will alleviate traffic upon completion?


Oh wait. What was I thinking? It's so they know when no one is home so they can come in and steal your guns and bibles.

 
Mustakraken 2009-07-02 10:42:01 AM  
LordPomposity: Mr. Coffee Nerves: Life must be very tough for a moderate Republican unicorn these days.

FTFY. A moderate conservative is not a Republican.


pretty much this right here.

I was going to reply to the same post by saying 'yeah it is,' but stopped because I had the same thought as you do.

The Republican Party is no longer the party for most who consider themselves Republicans. Correction; who used to consider themselves Republicans. Switched to independent recently. Current repubs would probably say I'm like a rat fleeing a sinking ship, but as far as I see it, the rats took over the ship, are driving it onto the rocks, and the people are the ones fleeing.

 
MindStalker 2009-07-02 10:42:39 AM  
Mr. Coffee Nerves: Of course, given Bachmann's proven delusions and sociopathy, this action by these other lawmakers will only drive her to higher levels of drooling insanity and "justify" her belief that ACORN has infiltrated the Census process at the highest levels.

Which, gotta admit, is going to be even more entertaining.

I've said it before, but Bachmann doesn't scare me. What DOES scare me that there are hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans who look deep into her Manson Lamps, listen to her make outrageous statements and say "We need to send that woman back to Washington, D.C. for another term! You betcha!"


She only represents the 6th district of Minnesota (St. Cloud, Andover, and surrounding areas and lake). The rest of Minnesota sent Democrats and they did finally send Franken.

 
what_now [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:42:47 AM  
naviguesser: . The census survey is 28 pages, and asks very detailed information that is none of the government's business, and has nothing to do with census requirements.

1). The Census that everyone has to fill out is 10 TIMES SHORTER THAN THE LAST ONE!!!!

2). The American Community Survey will be mailed out to a small percentage of the population.

There are three new questions:
1) Health Insurance Coverage
2) Marital History
3) VA Service-Connected Disability Rating.

Which of these THREE NEW QUESTIONS, upset you people so much?

 
namatad [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:42:48 AM  
netweavr: The Republican guild leader really needs to gkick the fat and start opening up a recruitment drive.

I /lol at this posting.
but are you a raiding guild or do you all just troll in trade chat?

 
what_now [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:45:16 AM  
Here you go. Take a look at the Census and the "American Community Survey". It's sooooo scary that they ask me if I have a flush toilet.

Warning PDF

 
Koalaesq 2009-07-02 10:45:22 AM  
Hold on, I still want to know about the racial background of ZAZ's tarantulas...

 
Antimatter 2009-07-02 10:45:23 AM  
naviguesser: Maybe some of you should do some research to see what she's talking about. The census survey is 28 pages, and asks very detailed information that is none of the government's business, and has nothing to do with census requirements. Why would they need to know what time you leave and get home from work? That's one of the questions. Some of you should check facts before attacking someone. Nobody cares how you feel.

You do realize that, as a member of congress, she could just submit legislation to change the questions, right? I mean,that is kinda her job.

 
graggor 2009-07-02 10:45:29 AM  
Noam Chimpsky: Diogenes: Noam Chimpsky: More proof that Bachmann is right! I'm surprised these jerks could take the time to peak out of their Argentine love nests to make a comment about a Republican who is actually working on behalf of the people.

She is a legislator. If she doesn't like the question, then work to have them changed.

Committing and encouraging sedition is NOT working on behalf of the people.

Looks to me like she is the only one who is working to end this unconstitutional census insanity.

You seem to believe that a Japanese person who wouldn't fill out his census form back in 1940 so that he could be rounded up and sent to a concentration camp by FDR was committing sedition.


are you serious dude?
laws were passed to prevent any activity like this first of all. second they were put in internment camps because of the conflict of interest with fighting japan. people like mccarthy and people with similar mindsets as bachmann herself were the ones to perpetuate this kind of behavior.

bachmann isnt an idiot she is just politically safe to come up with strawmen all day and toss them around because she wont lose an election in her area.

its why hannity can banter her around on his show constantly.

they are entertainers and politically safe from removal.

the left has their politicallysafe people as well dont get me wrong.

they just do not have the same kind of media whores to push them around.

hannity beck and limbaugh make a ton of money off of the middle class and poor who listen in. I have often thought of repeating right wing talking points and making outrageous claims because iti s a great way to make cash. beck is cashing in nicely.

 
rastjr [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:46:11 AM  
elchip: gustakooka: The dude wants reparations paid...but not for him to pay them, for someone else. Really. I don't think he is a troll, I think he actually believes this.

He's to the left of czarangelus. I'm not sure that's possible.


Haven't come across that dude yet.

Yeah, I'm Liberal. It's still a free country?

 
xria 2009-07-02 10:47:48 AM  
Bored Horde: sepuku2: oldfarthenry: Now, we have minority governments that require elections every ten months but at least there's an attempt at tackling some legislation.

That every ten month thing would get tiresome.

It's more like every 2-3 years, and you guys have elections that are orgies of advertising every 2 years.


Plus every 4th year is nothing but an election campaign as far I could tell from Fark.

 
CrazyCracka420 2009-07-02 10:49:09 AM  
fernt: I'm curious subby...

Why is it retarded not to want to let the government in on:

- the schedule of when you leave your house and when you return

- my ancestry

- my level of education

- if I have difficulty making decisions

- extensive personal income information

- how I get to work

- how much time off from work I took

- details about my house, how many rooms, bathrooms, etc.

- details of my utility bills

- details about my mortgage

...and so on.

I feel that the federal government is really "getting to know me" on an uncomfortable level. Michele Bachmann may be batshiat crazy, but the federal government should really only need to how many human beings inhabit the structure at that address, and leave the rest up to the states or to the citizens' discretion.


I guess I'm genuinely curious, does your name get attached to the census? I always sassumed it was "anonymous". If you're names not attached, then where's that irrational fear coming from?

 
PirateKing 2009-07-02 10:49:30 AM  
I often wonder how many of the people complaining about the census have actually taken the 30 seconds of Googling it took to find the questions that are going to be asked.

The Census Bureau has submitted its questions to Congress, and amazingly enough, they can be found at the Census website.

Or, because I'm a nice guy, you can read the PDF here. (new window)



PS. Also, there is no Long Form survey this year. Instead, the Long form questions are being moved to the American Community Survey which is done every year, but on a much smaller statistical sample.

 
The Homer Tax 2009-07-02 10:50:12 AM  
Antimatter: You do realize that, as a member of congress, she could just submit legislation to change the questions, right? I mean,that is kinda her job.

Pretty much this. I really wish someone would bring this up to Congresswoman Cuckoobananas here. Just be like "Representative Bachman, if only there were a way to change what questions were asked on the census, perhaps the people of MN's 6th district could elect someone every 2 years who had the power to do that?"

 
namatad [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:50:59 AM  
ZAZ: Bachmann has said she will answer only certain questions on the 2010 Census form

I will only answer certain questions. It's a common protest. The government has a constitutional need to know how many of me there are (one). It does not have a constitutional need to know the racial mix of my pet tarantulas.


sure, no problem
go ahead and skip the questions on race and whether you are a black gay muslim

cause you know that they are going to fill that data in to make sure that they can change the stats to fit their social-political agenda, right?

/wow, who knew that trolling could be this fun?

 
BergZ 2009-07-02 10:51:07 AM  
Sum Dum Gai [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:36:37 AM
"Screw that, we should give the maximum fine to all the people who don't answer fully and correctly. Think of all the additional revenue we could get from all those loonies; it would be like a tax on stupid."

We already have that: It's called the lottery.

 
elchip [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:51:13 AM  
rastjr: Haven't come across that dude yet.

I'm pretty sure he's made an ... involuntary departure from this site.

Yeah, I'm Liberal. It's still a free country?

Sure. But often you seem to act like a caricature of one.

 
Flatulent_Flea [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:53:26 AM  
The Census is taken every ten years, so there must be LOTS of examples where they used the information for evil purposes.

And there are hundreds of examples of ACORN voter fraud that stole elections.

Right? Right?

 
namatad [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:55:54 AM  
LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME asked 1890-1940, since 1960
other questions we really want you not to answer
cause clearly, if you skip this, you probably dont speak the engrish

 
bboy [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:56:05 AM  
Let me see if I've got this right... Republicans hate Acorn because they help the poor and disenfranchised participate in the American political system?

 
Sygerrik 2009-07-02 10:56:28 AM  
Flatulent_Flea: The Census is taken every ten years, so there must be LOTS of examples where they used the information for evil purposes.

And there are hundreds of examples of ACORN voter fraud that stole elections.

Right? Right?


There's one, the Japanese internment thing that keeps coming up. One example. And they passed a law shortly thereafter to prevent that ever happening again.

but forget all that, it's re-education camps for us

 
netweavr [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:56:48 AM  
namatad: netweavr: The Republican guild leader really needs to gkick the fat and start opening up a recruitment drive.

I /lol at this posting.
but are you a raiding guild or do you all just troll in trade chat?


They used to be a hardcore raiding guild but recently got weighed down by a bunch of under geared baddies with tunnel-vision. Those people like to wave the guild tag while making fun of other people.

 
keylock71 2009-07-02 10:57:27 AM  
Gone?

That boat sailed out to Retardville a long time ago...

 
elchip [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:57:30 AM  
bboy: Let me see if I've got this right... Republicans hate Acorn because they help the poor and disenfranchised participate in the American political system?

No, no, they stole elections by reporting to the government when one of their unscrupulous employees filled out voter registration forms for "Mickey Mouse".

 
Diogenes [TotalFark] 2009-07-02 10:57:54 AM  
Noam Chimpsky: Looks to me like she is the only one who is working to end this unconstitutional census insanity.

You seem to believe that a Japanese person who wouldn't fill out his census form back in 1940 so that he could be rounded up and sent to a concentration camp by FDR was committing sedition.


1) The Census is required by the Constitution. You seem to be saying the framers were wrong.

2) The Census wasn't the problem in regard the Japanese. The misuse of the information was.

 
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