Anyone familiar with Michele Bachmann (Batshit Crazy, MN-06) knows that she has been known to say some crazy things. Among the worst was her claim that she intends to break the law by not participating in the 2010 Census.
Here's one version of the story from CBS last year:
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann told the Washington Times that she and her family will not be fully filling out the 2010 census forms.
Bachmann, a Republican, said her family will only be indicating the number of people in the household, because "the Constitution doesn't require any information beyond that."
Maybe she didn't fill out the 2000 Census herself, but it has become really simple to complete. In fact, there are only 10 questions for the first resident of a household, and 7 or so regarding the remaining occupants. There is no longer a "long form" version that asks several much more questions. You can get a glimpse of the census form and why this is important here.
Well, we got our 2010 Census form in the mail yesterday. My wife and I had discussed it with our 5-year-old son Ian. He's pretty inquisitive and asked about one of the commercials, so we compared it with the Christmas story, something he could relate to (Bachmann seems to have forgotten that the idea of a census is not a new phenomenon).
We opened the Census form and completed it as a family, and it was a great discussion. Ian provided all of the responses for our family of four, except for our middle initials. We also had to explain what it meant to be a biological son as compared to the other choices, so it was quite educational as well. My daughter Annika (who turns 2 today - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, girl) was not as much help, as she was more into eating her applesauce.
OH - we live in Minnesota, so at least one family here is quite capable of completing the census and will not be going to jail with the Bachmanns! For someone who should be worried about whether there will be enough residents in the state to justify our 8 congressional districts (especially since hers is the most geographically gerry-mandered), you would think that she would be working overtime to ensure all Minnesotans complete their 2010 census! And since my 5-year-old is capable enough to complete our form, Michele should be able to do hers quite easily. I am pretty sure she has provided enough personal data on her own website for pretty much anyone to be able to assist her if she would only ask!