ms. b's bonnet

Are the Race Questions in the 2010 Census Unconstitutional?

ms.b — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:07:43 +0000

Not that that would stop anyone in the current administration, but it would mean a lot to those of us who know this country is what it is because of that Constitution…

The first question of the Census is “How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010?” Curiously, it is enclosed in a shaded box all by itself and unlike any other question on the form. Then I found this letter floating around on facebook and elsewhere throughout the internet. Could there be a connection?

To Whom it May Concern,
Pursuant to Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution, the only information you are empowered to request is the total number of occupants at this address. My “name, sex, age, date of birth, race, ethnicity, telephone number, relationship and housing tenure” have absolutely nothing to do with apportioning direct taxes or determining the number of representatives in the House of Representatives. Therefore, neither Congress nor the Census Bureau have the constitutional authority to make that information request a component of the enumeration outlined in Article I, Section 2, Clause 3. In addition, I cannot be subject to a fine for basing my conduct on the Constitution because that document trumps laws passed by Congress.

Interstate Commerce Commission v. Brimson, 154 U.S. 447, 479 (May 26, 1894)

“Neither branch of the legislative department [House of Representatives or Senate], still less any merely administrative body [such as the Census Bureau], established by congress, possesses, or can be invested with, a general power of making inquiry into the private affairs of the citizen. Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 190. We said in Boyd v. U.S., 116 U. S. 616, 630, 6 Sup. Ct. 524,―and it cannot be too often repeated,―that the principles that embody the essence of constitutional liberty and security forbid all invasions on the part of government and it’s employees of the sanctity of a man’s home and the privacies of his life. As said by Mr. Justice Field in Re Pacific Ry. Commission, 32 Fed. 241, 250, ‘of all the rights of the citizen, few are of greater importance or more essential to his peace and happiness than the right of personal security, and that involves, not merely protection of his person from assault, but exemption of his private affairs, books, and papers from inspection and scrutiny of others. Without the enjoyment of this right, all others would lose half their value.’”

Note: This United States Supreme Court case has never been overturned.

Respectfully,
A Citizen of the United States of America

I’m investigating the validity of this letter. If you know anything about it, please share!

2010 Census: What I want to know is why isn’t Hispanic considered a race?

ms.b — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:03:42 +0000

Why isn’t Hispanic considered a race on the 2010 Census form? They call it an origin and have a whole separate question for it. The form says “For this census, Hispanic origins are not races.” What do they mean by that??? Everything else on the form is a race. If a person says he is of Hispanic origin, he is also supposed to identify his race in the next question. What would a Hispanic person choose? White, Black, American Indian, Alaskan Native, Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian, Chamorro, Samoan, or Other??? Those are the choices. Can someone explain this to me?

Sample letter about Health Care bill

ms.b — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:34:00 +0000

Feel free to copy and paste this to your Senator or Representative!

Dear…

I implore you to vote NO on the Health Care Bill that is being pushed through Congress at this time.

Voting NO on this bill does not mean that you are not caring for America’s health care needs. It only means that this is a poorly designed bill that will severely hurt America’s economy and relations between the people and Congress.

We the people do NOT want more government control over health care – we want the free-market FREEDOM to be able to offer health care to all people. The government’s job is to provide and ensure that freedom to create and invent and live to our greatest potential as business people and hard workers. More government control only stunts and oppresses our ability to to do such things. Congress persons are not the only people who care about their fellow Americans! We will easily take care of each other if given the chance and the government quits taking all our resources!

Yes, health care systems need to be revised – give the power back to the people to provide. Protect doctors from frivolous lawsuits. Keep all levels of health care as issues between doctors and their patients. Revamp Medicare/Medicaid to eliminate all the fraud that takes place.

There are ways to make health care affordable for all people – but it is not through *another* government program. Government control only makes things better for the government; it does NOT make things better for the rest of us.

Thank you for your time,

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Ed.Burke

ms.b — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:53:39 +0000

Calling the Senators listed below?

Here are some tips to make it easier:

1. Print this handy phone list.
2. Set aside 30 minutes for many phone calls, or 5 minutes every hour for one call at a time, or 15 minutes here, 15 minutes there, whatever you can do – it really doesn’t matter how. Just do!

EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS!

3. Dial the first number on the list – or start at the bottom and dial up.
4. This -or something like this- is all you have to say:

“Hello,
I am calling today to thank Senator _________ for his/her service to the American people and to let Senator ___________ know that I am strongly opposed to the Cap and Trade bill. It is very important to me that s/he votes NO on it when it comes time to do so… Thank you for taking my call.”

5. If you feel like saying more, do so, but that is really all there is to it!

Calling all phone users: Cap and Trade ACTION Alert!

ms.b — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:07:33 +0000

Yes, we need to care for the environment and be energy-source independent, but Cap and Trade is NOT the way to do it. The House Bill was 1800+ pages long and full of earmarks that will come out of our pockets. House Reps only read the parts that perked their lobbyist-loving ears – if even that much. Most didn’t read it at all. Who knows what nonsense and thievery lurks within all those pages???

We need everyone’s help, no matter what state you are in. It’s time to hold legislators on BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE accountable – they work for us and can’t just take our money in taxes for their every whim! We’ve let them get this far – no more! They’ve got to come up with a better way to save the environment or they shouldn’t be in office!

Here is an email that I received from the St. Paul Tea Party Organizers about how you can get involved and make a difference:

Call Senators to Vote Against Cap and Trade!

We must act NOW! The goal is to make 10,000+ calls to the Senators to vote against the Cap n Trade legislation. Contact everyone you know. Send out this information to everyone and start calling now, let’s light the phones on fire this week and next in DC! Make it clear to the Senate how American patriots feel about Cap n Trade. Our goal of course it to stop the legislation but also to keep track of how many calls were made.

Please call ALL the Senators on the committee list below even if they are not your Senator. Then email nocapntrade@gmail.com with a note letting us know how many calls you made and to which Senator.

This step is very important so we can keep a tally. Please ask all your contacts to do the same. We want to be able to show that the Senators who vote for this bill are acting against the majority of contacts they receive. This is a multi-state nationwide effort.

Majority members

Barbara Boxer, California, Chairwoman

(202) 224-3553 / (916) 448-2787

Max Baucus, Montana

(202) 224-2651 / (406) 657-6790

Tom Carper, Delaware

(202) 224-2441/ (302) 856-7690

Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey

(202) 224-3224/ (973) 639-8700

Ben Cardin, Maryland

(202) 224-4524/(410) 962-4436

Bernie Sanders, Vermont

(202) 224-5141/ (802) 862-0697

Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota

(202) 224-3244 / (612) 727-5220

Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island

(202) 224-2921 / (401) 453-5294

Tom Udall, New Mexico

(202) 224-6621/ (505) 346- 6791

Jeff Merkley, Oregon

(202) 224-3753/ (503)-326-3386

Kirsten Gillibrand, New York

(202) 224-4451/ (212) 688-6262

Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania

(202) 224-4254/ (215) 597-7200

Minority Members

Jim Inhofe, Oklahoma, Ranking Member

(202) 224-4721/ (405) 608-4381

George Voinovich, Ohio

(202) 224-3353 / (513) 684-3265

David Vitter, Louisiana

(202) 224-4623/ (225) 383-0331

John Barrasso, Wyoming

(202) 224-6441/ (307) 261-6413

Mike Crapo, Idaho

(202) 224-6142

Kit Bond, Missouri

(202) 224-5721

Lamar Alexander, Tennessee

(202) 224-4944

Here is the entire Senate Contact list with senators’ email/contact information as well.

Please remember to email nocapntrade@gmail.com with a list of the calls you made so we can keep a national tally.

Ayn Rand on the death of the media

ms.b — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:42:42 +0000

Ayn Rand published Atlas Shrugged in 1957. How did she know what the 21st century would be like?

“People said it because other people said it. They did not know why it was being said and heard everywhere. They did not give or ask for reasons. ‘Reason,’ Dr. Pritchett had told them, ‘is the most naive of all superstitions.’” -p228

“No space was given by the newspaper to the progress of the construction of the John Galt Line. No reporter was sent to look at the scene. The general policy of the press had been stated by a famous editor five years ago. ‘There are no objective facts,’ he had said. ‘Every report on facts is only somebody’s opinion. It is, therefore, useless to write about facts.’” – p229

“The reporters who came to the press conference in the office of the John Galt Line were young men who had been trained to think that their job consisted of concealing from the world the nature of its events. It was their daily duty to serve as audience for some public figure who made utterances about the public good, in phrases carefully chosen to convey no meaning. It was their daily job to sling words together in any combination they pleased, so long as the words did not fall into a sequence saying something specific.” – p233

The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want.

ms.b — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:41:58 +0000

I have never agreed with the “end poverty” campaign. It’s a nice idea, but I don’t think anybody else can solve a country’s poverty problems – change must come from within the one with the problem. I don’t know of any viable countries around the world that became productive members of the world by anyone else’s doing.

When a group of people sets out to solve other people’s problems by forcing another group of people to provide for it – it fertilizes national co-dependency – which is a mental illness – socialism, and worse.

It’s a good thing when someone is giving from their own independent decision, it’s another thing when someone takes my money under penalty of law and demands more and shames me for my success over someone else’s struggle. I have a right to make money and keep it, and nobody else’s problems can dictate a right to take it. The UN’s millennium goals are a global manifestation of being “bent” into the creation (ala Leanne Payne) in order for those who are calling the shots to achieve a (false) sense of significance or sense of purpose. Poverty is not going to be wiped out by 2015 because Jesus said they’d always be with us, and that doesn’t mean I don’t care for them wherever I can, because I do – but that’s MY choice, not some global organization’s choice.

Quotes from Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

ms.b — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:14:53 +0000

“What is morality?” she asked.

“Judgment to distinguish right and wrong, vision to see the truth, courage to act upon it, dedication to that which is good, integrity to stand by the good at any price.” – p177

“It will be destroyed because it was the best and there were men who thought it expedient to seize a share of its wealth.” -p189

The definition of insanity or a “looter’s” mentality – his mother to Henry Reardon, successful steel producer:

“That’s your cruelty, that’s what’s mean and selfish about you. If you loved your brother, you’d give him a job he didn’t deserve, precisely because he didn’t deserve it – that would be true love and kindness and brotherhood. Else what’s love for? If a man deserves a job, there’s no virtue in giving it to him. Virtue is the giving of the undeserved.” – p209

“You know, Mr. Reardon, I don’t like people who talk too much about how everything they do is just for the sake of others. It’s not true, and I don’t think it would be right if it ever were true.” – p211

“It was… Destroyed at the whim of some men who sat and voted… Who knows by what minds?… Who knows whose will had placed them in power? – what motive moved them? – what was their knowledge? – which one of them unaided could bring a chunk of ore out of the earth?… Destroyed at the whim of men who he had never seen and who had never seen [his work]… Destroyed because they so decided. By what right?

He shook his head. There are things one much not contemplate, he thought. There is an obscenity of evil which contaminates the observer. There is a limit to what it is proper for a man to see. He must not think of this, or look within it, or try to learn the nature of its roots.” – p215

Atlas Shrugged

MsBeeeesTwitterMap

ms.b — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:42:21 +0000

I’m racing CristaHuff and TxSkirt to see who can mark all 50 states first by who we are following on Twitter. You can see my map by pushing the button below.

I’ll give you an agenda

ms.b — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:48:24 +0000

There is another way to look at the Nanny State concept. I feel like I am babysitting these yahoos who don’t know how to uphold the Constitution and do their jobs! I have to write them every week to teach them why they are there!

Here’s my weekly letter to one of my fine democratic representatives in Washington:

Issue: Government Reform (No matter what the topic, I ALWAYS pick Government Reform when I contact the dear idiots in office.)

Dear Mr. Representative,
I have recently received your form letter in response to the original compositions I earlier sent to you about the Stimulus Bill, the GIVE Act, the AIG Bruhaha, and the GM Takeover. Thank you for taking the time to respond to me.

However, I am concerned about your perception for why you are even serving in Washington. In your letter you tell me to rest assured that you are working hard and you say, “I am doing all that I can to further my agenda”.

“MY agenda” you say? YOUR agenda? Mr. Representative, YOU are not there to pursue your own political and career agenda. YOU are in office to pursue MY agenda, and my FAMILY’s agenda, and my NEIGHBORS’ agenda.

Our agenda is not bailouts and government takeovers of private companies.

Our agenda is not nationalized health care.

Our agenda is not forced “volunteerism” which is an oxymoron for sure.

Our agenda is not life terms and benefits for politicians.

Our agenda is not insane spending. Do you realize that you Democrats have authorized more spending of tax dollars THAN ALL OTHER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS COMBINED IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA???!!!

No sir, do not keep pursuing your agenda, for your agenda will be soon cut short.

Our agenda is to let capitalism do its thing. The reason “capitalism” supposedly “didn’t work” in recent years is that the government interfered and derailed the natural consequences of financial mismanagement and theft. If the government had left well-enough alone, the companies would have been forced into bankruptcy and bankruptcy rules and laws would have self-righted the industry! What’s more, dishonest businessmen would have been facing the consequences of their crimes! It would not destroy the nation, it would improve it!

You Dems holler and scream about the mistakes Bush made. Why in the world are you repeating them 10 times over??? Some change, I tell you!

Our agenda is affordable health care through private companies that are not subsidized out of the playing field by government bureaucracy and micro-management. With variety and choice comes competition. With competition come improved products and lower prices. With improved health care products and lower prices come healthier, happier consumers!

Healthier and happier consumers make a greater country!

Our agenda includes support for personal responsibility, freedom and independence, fiscal responsibility, excellence in industry, strength and honesty in a limited government, higher quality education through consumer driven choice, and much more than what you Democrats are socially pushing.

The days of the Democratic agenda are numbered, Mr. Representative. It’s high time that you and your fellow representatives remember WHO you really work for.