2010 Census

So I open the 2010 Census, look at the questions and think, "Why are they asking me all these questions?"

How many people live in my home...that I get...used to decide on congressional districting.

The second question, "Were there any additional people staying here April 1, 2010 that you did not include in Question 1?"  At first I figured they thought that somebody might have answered with "-1" for question 1 as an April Fools joke or not counted their cyclops inbred daughter in the basement.  If the second scenario is you, I think there is a section of the new health-care bill that will pay for special cyclops eye glasses.  So anyway, after I called the help number on the back and pressed 1 for English, they told me neither of my ideas were right, but the health-care bill does cover contact lenses for inbred cyclops (the fact that they only need one contact was seen as cost savings that helped justify the bill).

So then they move on to a question about whether your home is a house, apartment, or a mobile home.  This got me thinking again (scary huh?), when they say mobile home, are they talking about a Winnebago, a singlewide, or maybe a cardboard box in a shopping cart?  Either way I don't see why the government needs to know.  I didn't call the help line about this one.

Next they asked for my telephone number so they can call me if they don't understand my answers.  I don't see why that would be necessary.  Anyone reading this can see how thorough I am in my communication, why would they need to call me?

Now here is where it gets complicated.  They ask seven questions about every person in the home.  In my home this is a big deal because there are seven of us, so that makes their estimate of "10 minutes to complete, including the time for reviewing the instructions and answers." completely unrealistic for me not even counting the call about the cyclops (talk about something they couldn't understand).

Here are the remaining questions:

5. Name (seems like it should have been first to me)
6. Sex (as in male or female)
7. Age and date of birth (seems redundant)
8. Are you Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?
9. Race (uh...human last time I checked)
10. Do you sometimes stay somewhere else (doesn't everybody?  I mean, unless you are an inbred cyclops)

All kidding aside, questions 6 through 10 seem totally inappropriate for the government to be asking.  The census is about determining population based representation (or at least it should be).  I know, I know, I have seen the ads that talk about roads, bridges, and hospitols being based on census numbers.  That is the carrot.  The stick is up to a $5000.00 fine if you don't answer all the questions. 

I am pretty sure that the data is used to qualify areas for their "fair share" of federal funding for projects.  I would love to know why they are so concerned with race, Hispanic/Latino roots, and sex of citizens.