Bachmann links Census to 1940s Japanese internment

Thanks, MN Indy, for my daily laugh. With you getting a Bachmann story every day, I have no need to subscribe to “Joke of the Day”.

Michelle Bachmann = Batsh*t Crazy.

ZNOFOB: our comment policy is here: http://minnesotaindependent.com/policies

How on Earth does this woman have this job?
She is insane.

The line “Apparently Bachmann’s comfort is more important to her than personally abiding by the law.” indicates a bias in the writer, and this article can only be considered commentary.

You are hiding and obfuscating. The FACTS are that Rep. Bachmann’s assertions are CORRECT. She is TELLING THE TRUTH. Get it??! TRUTH. Yes, the Census of 1940 was used to intern Americans illegally. The Census takers who trained to tell us “Census data has never been misused” are LYING. They are falsifying history.

It seems to totally escape you that obeying the law isn’t always the right thing to do. The Census bureau people who gave information to FDR for his internment were obeying the law. So were the Japanese people who filled out ancestry / ethnicity questions. We don’t even know if the law around the long form census is Constitutional. The Census is happy to threated people with the “$5,000 fine” but reluctant to test their law in court.

Finally what of the liberal ideal of the ‘right to privacy’ enshrined, according to liberal hero Justice William O Douglas, in the ‘pnumbras and emanations’ of the Constitution. Does not my right to privacy (which doesn’t include embryo destruction) include a right NOT to fill out forms just because some government thugs insist I do so? Or is privacy as a Constituional right confined to the womb?

Michele Bachmann is a hero to me and many other Americans. We are tired of your immoral, unconstitional laws and we will no longer be intimidated or embarrased to tell off TV reporterettes, news writers, liberal politicians or nosy census workers with their obnoxious little GPS tacking devices.

“No! I won’t. Now get off my doorstep.” is hopefully a response the ACORN volunteers the Census bureau is employing will hear loud and often.

I agree with Michelle Bachmann. Comply with the Constitution in all matters and that’s it. Our rights come from God, not man. My #$@ does not belong to the U.S. government!

What the article fails to mention is the Census information was indeed used to find Japanese citizens. Did they give the names and addresses, no. What they did do was advise the FBI which neighborhoods had high concentrations of Japanese which they then targeted for surveillance.

As for Bachmann fears about ACORN and Obama youth camps, she has history on her side. When you “worship” your leader, you turn a blind eye to almost anything. Already Americans are willing to turn over the choice of which car they will be able to buy, how much energy they will be allowed to use, which doctors they will be able to see and how prosperous they can become to whatever The One says is “fair”.

Ask the Germans who followed Hitler to allow his “youth camps” and the Holocaust. If you had asked the Germans in 1935 could it happen in their country they would sound like many here who think it is not possible, yet the “groupthink” expressed by the Left is historically familiar.

Glad someone is watching the wolves.
And, what’s up with the women in the political arena having more balls than the so called men these days?

I was under the impression that the US Census didn’t ask about national origin information until the 1970 Census or somewhere thereabouts. Did the government go on Japanese sounding name data? What?

Does anybody have a credible source they can recommend so I can learn more about Census abuse during World War II? (Sorry, referrals to Representative Bachmann don’t count… not veridical enough a source.)

“As for Bachmann fears about ACORN and Obama youth camps, she has history on her side.” posted by Vinnster

Neither Mr. Obama nor ACORN have any history of the sorts of stuff you accuse them of. Our government is NOT going to dictate what car you drive, how you use and abuse energy resources, what doctor you see, how rich you become. No one is suggesting anything of the kind.

That’s truly crazy talk.

That fascists in history have done things like Nazi Hitler Youth has no connection – none whatsoever – with President Obama or ACORN. Just pairing Nazi and Obama in the same paragraph is not proof of an association or commonality in approach.

And if anybody seems susceptible to Groupthink, it’d be the Republicans who seem able to say exactly the same things in interviews regardless of who is being interviewed. Liberals, by their independent critical thinking ways, tend to be less likely to fall into that trap in my opinion

Thanks again, MN Indy, for eliciting all the comments from Bachmann fans. It’s like a barrel full o’ monkeys and twice as funny. I laughed so hard I got the hiccups. Is it true that yelling “boo” at someone cures hiccups? Or does it just make conservatives run away like frightened children…..

How does Bachmann even breathe? She is that dumb.

The census gets more and more intrusive and invasive and nosey every time. Michelle’s right — draw the line somewhere and tell the clowns from the govt to stuff it. And yes, who knows what the Chicago gang of Rahm et al, with its close ties to ACORN, will do with so much personal info? Michelle’s a sole voice of courage.

A hero? More like a zero. Which war did she serve in? What fire did she ever extinguish? Which murderer did she apprehend?
Wing nuts use words like hero, and patriot. But the majority of them never served their country.
More like pussies and nutjobs.
She’s just a possible criminal. But we all know she’s just talking shit. She’ll fill out the entire census, but deny it, and the nutjobs will follow her like blind sheep.
BAAAAAA

1942-1947?? Jebus Michele, do you need a calendar? The war had ended before then, and most of the camps began clearing out in 1945. The very last one closed in 1946, but in Michele’s world they continued “rounding up” Japanese a year after the camps were closed. Oh and Michele, Africa is a continent, not a country, just in case you were wondering.

Funny how she is all concerned about privacy, yet she supported the Patriot Act and Bush’s warrantless wiretaps.

Actually this is all about re-districting, which is done by using the census numbers. She knows if they redraw the lines she will never get re-elected. I wish more of the media could sniff that fact out and talk about it a little more.

I don’t know who is funnier batsh*t Bachmann or her sheeple. Thanks for the laugh.

Good call Michele. Way to stand up for the rights of Americans. Let’s get rid of the IRS and the Fed next!

Actually Bachmann’s right, you should refrain from giving the government information about yourself unless absolutely necessary. My father made the mistake of loaning an old friend $6,000 to pay the IRS. Unfortunately the friend was forced by the government to name my father as the source of the loan. So while he was busy dying of pancreatic cancer he had to take the time to deal with an IRS audit. Two weeks after he died he recieved a letter from the IRS thanking him for his cooperation in explaining why he gave $6,000 to a friend.

Good to see I’m not the only Bachmann defender out there. She’s not perfect but she is better than my Democratic congressman in district 5.

Some of these comments are a bit strange. However a little research shows that census data was used in 1943. Here is a 2 page article in Scientific American http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=confirmed-the-us-census-b&page=2
By an act of Congress rights were suspended with passage of the Second War Powers Act of 1942 .Roosevelt (Actually the Secret Service) made the request in March of 1943. Repealed in March 1947

The only question required in the census is the number of people living at the address. That is for the apportionment of representatives in the House of Reps. No other questions need to be answered. This will be my 5th census. I’ve never answered any of the questions beyond the enumeration. The Federal Gov’t has no business asking, and Americans should not answer any other questions. To the beggars who are worried about their ‘programs’… try self reliance.

Can the redistricting be speeded up? Please.

She has taken a solemn oath to uphold the law. She is keeping with the great republican tradition of breaking oaths and vows. If she were a real leader, she would be changing the laws rather than breaking them. Gee, why did people vote for her. I assume they wanted laws changed and she is not doing that. Instead, she is a whiner with illogical arguments which make her appear nuts. It’s time for Minnesota to rid themselves of this whiner and elect a real leader.

ACORN is not doing any census collection. They are not going door to door. They are not receiving any money from the Census Bureau. The only information being asked in the 2010 census is name, sex, age, date of birth, race, ethnicity, relationship to HOH and how long you’ve lived at your current residence. Bachmann and the rw media machine are lying–again. Ancestry.com is a “partner” promoting the census. Are they communists/socialists/fascists (or whatever the right is spewing today)?

What a bunch of garbage this site puts out. The constitution does not dictate that anything other than how many people reside in your home be given. The first law on the census read,”cause the number of the inhabitants within their respective districts to be taken; omitting in such enumeration Indians not taxed, and distinguishing free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, from all others; distinguishing also the sexes and colours of free persons, and the free males of sixteen years and upwards from those under that age.” This is what the framers of the constitution thought the census should ascertain. Not how many bathrooms or whether we have a cell phone.Everything other than how many people, gender and ages is an invasion of all our privacy. it is ridiculous that those that say stay out of our bedrooms think that we should should be required to tell all our private information to the government. I served 20 years in the Army to fight oppressive governments that interfere in the private lives of their citizens. God Bless.

The Constitution gives Congress the right to pass laws. If the Congress passes laws and the Supreme Court does not rule them unconstitutional when called upon, then by definition these laws ARE constitutional and have full force and effect. For people to get on here and say that if it isn’t in the Constitution it isn’t law is ridiculous and shows a complete ignorance of Constitutional Law. If you want to challenge the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress, file a lawsuit and run it up the court chain to the Supreme Court. THE CONSTITUTION GIVES CONGRESS THE RIGHT TO MAKE NEW LAW. PERIOD.

Unfortunately Congresswoman Bachmann did not tell the rest of the story… and that it that German Americans and Italian Americans were rounded up based upon the 1940 Census…

Need I point out to Bachman fans and others who hate the IRS that Congresswoman Bach was an IRS Enforcement Attorney prior to her being elected? She should know best about intrusiveness. Incidently, she also supported the Patriot Act which mirrors her concerns here regarding privacy protection. The Patriot removed privcacy protection for most Americans. Furthermore, if she is not going to answer Census questions does she really beieve that illegal residents would respond to any question(s) regarding their citizenship status. Of course, it might be implied that failure to answer means you are an illegal immigrant. Consequently hger status and that of household could be/would be called into qestion?

What would MLK Jr do? Seems to me he advocated breaking laws; remember civil disobedience? He is justly revered as a hero for so doing. Michelle Bachmann’s legacy will never be as great as MLK Jr’s but her civic engagement is entirely consistent with his.

As noted in the Scientific American article cited above,
“The law is very different today” than it was in 1943, says Christa Jones, chief of the Census Bureau’s Office of Analysis and Executive Support. “Anything that we release to any federal agency or any organization … all of those data are reviewed,” she says, to prevent disclosures of individual information.
Now, let’s deal with some other stuff raised:
“Does not my right to privacy (which doesn’t include embryo destruction) include a right NOT to fill out forms just because some government thugs insist I do so? Or is privacy as a Constituional right confined to the womb?”
Aren’t you saying, if you don’t want to be counted in the Census, that you don’t want proportional government representation? If the “government thugs” should ignore you, then so should the government benefit providers (forget about unemployment compensation, don’t think about using government-sponsored facilities like parks, and you shouldn’t accept Social Security, Medicare, etc.) and any government officials that represent the public. Need a pothole fixed? Do it yourself. Bridge falling down? Start swimming. Streetlights out? Buy a candle.
It’s easy to take the selfish tack, but democracy doesn’t work in a vacuum. We have individual duties that we must discharge in order to for democracy to work, like voting. Do you vote, or do you sit home and complain about how the “government thugs” mis-manage everything?
Let’s not forget, this is the same woman who advocated interrogating members of Congress for anti-American sentiments. She is on the record as stating that evolution is “unproven,” and that carbon dioxide is harmless to the environment. Upper-case typing doesn’t make her assertions THE TRUTH, or mean that everyone else is LYING.

Comparing Michele Bachmann with Martin Luther King Jr. is like comparing apples and oranges. Her legacy isn’t even a quarter as good as MLK. All she is good for is making me laugh and that is about it.

Off topic, but has anyone followed up on Congresswoman Bachamann’s comment “Bachmann’s reply: “I think it is important that we are not a nation of law breakers.” regarding her failure to file her Personal Financial Disclosure Form that was due on May 15, 2009 ? This form is due annually, however Congresswoman Bachmann did not file her 2007 until it was past due for which a $200 penality may be assessed.

Politifact’s Truth-o-meter dismisses Congresswoman Bachmann’s
interpretation of the Constitution awarding her claim as “Pants on Fire” wrong.
”Bachmann is not only wrong here, she is engaging in fearmongering that encourages people to break the law. And in doing so, she’s falsely telling people that the Constitution would support them.”

There will be a massive defence fund for anyone charged with breaking the fascist census directives

The Second War Powers Act of 1942 forced the census data to be turned over for Japanese in Washington, D.C. The actual census laws do not allow it, so Congress can pass something like the Patriot Act again to abuse it but currently it’s not allowed. Of course Bachmann never fought the Patriot Act and it’s abuses so she has little credibility on this matter.

Where in the Constitution does the Census Bureau derive the authority to demand private information? The Constitution provides for the counting of people, not the taking of personal info or even names. The 4th amendment prohibits search and seizure of private info without the presentation of a court warrant based on probable cause–don’t current Census Bureau policies violate that prohibition? Especially with a threat of fines or incarceration, that seems to be the case! And why is the gov’t collecting GPS coordinates for every home? The V.A. had information about my business, including SS#, FEIN, etc., despite the fact I have never had a business interaction with them. I didn’t even know they had it until they notified me my information was among information that went missing on a hard drive at one of the offices. How does anyone believe with current reports of loss, hacking, and other compromises that personal info is really secure? Does the Census Bureau have policies to compensate the person whose info has been compromised? This is of even more concern on the American Community Survey long form. Any legislation passed in order to authorize collection of more than the number of people residing in a home, or more than every 10 years, remains unconstitutional without an amendment to the Constitution.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=confirmed-the-us-census-b

By the way, the Bureau of Census is no longer under Commerce. That’s why Judd didn’t take the position–the Bureau was being moved under Rahm Emanuel. Some of you might want to think for awhile about why Obama wanted this change before continuing on in your sheeple fashion.

Zero
Unfortunately, you repeat information that you have read and decide it must be true.
It is important to be your own source of information based on your own primary document research. In the meantime, you might check-out Politifact, on the Internet, to see just how many times Michele Bachmann lies and distorts the truth. Politifact is a non-partisan, investigative-reporting Website.

Although it is true that the census helped FDR to locate Japanese-Americans, there were clear and present dangers at the time that warranted this. The largest populations of Japanese were in California. There were Japanese ships off the coast of California and even a submarine that contained a small plane. Japan actually invaded parts of California. It is fortunate that both citizens and American reconnaissance specialists caught this and shored up the defense systems in California. Naturally, the U.S. became suspicious of the activities of American-Japanese citizens on U.S. soil.

The U.S. government stopped invasions in the State of Maine by German submarines who were signaled to land by German-Americans, even entering down Maine’s rivers, and the coast of Maine, This too, created a necessity for additional reconnaissance of coastal Maine. In addition, German-Americans were so sure they would be sought out for being of German ancestry, literally thousands of German Americans changed their last names–mainly to Irish names.

In 1941, when the U.S. government entered the war, 11,000 German-Americans were sent to internment camps, mainly at Ellis Island. So you, see, although it seems cruel now, war and the possibility of German and Japanese invading this country during World War II, was, indeed, a reality, and action needed to be taken.

It is certainly true that those who do not study history are doomed to repeat history.

While learning from history does not mean we will not repeat it, the interpretation and application to current events and contexts does not always follow. Although I live in Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District, Representative Bachmann does not represent me, nor my family.

This is a pretty scary book about American involvement: IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America’s Most Powerful Corporation Edwin Black