Contempt

So, a week before the official U.S. Decennial Census form goes into the mail one of our national political parties has sent out a fund-raising letter disguised as a push poll disguised as a survey disguised as a census form. Let's see if we can count the ways this is offensive.

* It shows contempt for the thousands of people who have been working for years (and spending millions of taxpayer dollars, by the way) to create the most accurate possible census.

* It shows comtempt for the U.S. Constitution which requires the census (Article 1, Section 2) as an important step in establishing Congressional districts.

* It shows comtempt for the party's own message, since it says in effect, "the best way to convince you we're right is to mislead you."

* It shows comtempt for the party's supporters, since it says, in effect, "We think you are too dumb to know the difference between a census form and an advertisement."

Apparently the party in question has been doing this sort of thing for years. That doesn't make it right, and doing it a week before the actual Census form goes out is disgraceful. To my mind, this is about two steps from claiming to be the Nigerian finance minister.

Shame on you, Republican National Committee.

Government: The Snapshot

Nothing to say here, except that this photograph with caption reminds me of the Census Bureau's jokey ads about taking a snapshot of America. The illustration comes courtesy of the City of Witchita, Kansas.

Oh, those wacky Census folks

So on April 1 of this year the U.S. Census Bureau will attempt to count every person in the United States and find out some information about them. As a librarian I can assure that government agencies will be using these figures to place roads, schools, senior centers, etc. and that in fifty or a hundred years people will still be using them to find out how we lived way back when.

To promote the Census the Bureau called in Christopher Guest, director of mockumentaries like BEST IN SHOW and A MIGHTY WIND. The results are, well, weird.

An amazing book, 3

People of "American Ancestry"
Originally uploaded by fifteeniguana

Third and last unofficial screen capture from the magnificent new Census Atlas of the United States. This is my salute to the rugged individualist. The Census form asks people to identify their ancestry and most people meekly admit to being Swedish, or Native-American, or Italian-English-Irish, etc.

But there will always be somebody who sets his/her jaw, folds his/her arms and says "I'm an American!" This table shows the percentage of people in each county who identified their ancestry as "United States, a state name, Southerner, American or Northern American." The darker the color, the higher the percentage. The darkest represents about 7% of the respondents.

An amazing book, 2

California Migration Waves
Originally uploaded by fifteeniguana

Another unofficial screen capture from the Census Atlas of the United States. The red arrow shows migration to California between 1955 and 1960. The blue arrows show the reverse trend between 1995 and 2000.

Everyone who lives in Washington knows that a lot of Calfornians moved up here in the late 1990s (60,000+). But how many know that 40,000 Washingtonians headed to the Golden State in the late fifties? I sure didn't.

An amazing book

Year of Maximum Population
Originally uploaded by fifteeniguana

Our library just received its federal depository copy of the Census Atlas of the United States. It is just a wonderful piece of work. You can see it on the web but I respectfully suggest you find a library that has the hardcover. That way you can stick your nose down into the details.

I'll put up a few unofficlal screen captures for your enlightenment. See this one? It shows the (census) year of maximum population for each county in the United States. The brightest yellow means the highest number is 2000 - the county is bigger now than it has ever been. That's true of my home, for example.

But the darkest colors are reserved for counties that reached their pop peak BEFORE 1860. Wow.