Welcome to your Monday open thread. I’m back in Canada this week so posting may be a little thin
Census takers have encountered double the number of threats than they did in 2000. I’m sure it has nothing to do with Glenn Beck or Michele Bachman trying to scare their gullible followers.
This is the scary season for the nation’s census takers.
Since they began making follow-up house calls in early May, census takers have encountered vitriol, menace and flashes of violence. They have been shot at with pellet guns and hit by baseball bats. They have been confronted with pickaxes, crossbows and hammers. They’ve had lawn mowers pushed menacingly toward them and patio tables thrown their way. They have been nibbled by ducks, bitten by pit bulls and chased by packs of snarling dogs.
Some days, being cursed at seems part of the job description.
So far, the Census Bureau has tallied 379 incidents involving assaults or threats on the nation’s 635,000 census workers, more than double the 181 recorded during the 2000 census. Weapons were used or threatened in a third of the cases.
Luckily, no one has been seriously hurt. I hope the good luck continues.
Probably one of the most embarrassed men in politics, Vic Rawl, conceded the Democratic Senate nomination in South Carolina to the hapless Alvin Greene:
Former South Carolina judge and ex-state legislator Vic Rawl has officially conceded the Democratic primary for Senate, after he had attempted to contest his upset loss to unemployed veteran Alvin Greene.
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In his statement, Rawl thanks his supporters, and announced that he will not further contest the result: “We hold our heads high, and know that the friendship of people like you is far more important in life that the outcome of any election.”
I think that’s it’s probably likely that there was a bit of funny business in the race (I’ll be really interested in learning where Greene got the $10,400) but even funny business can’t force people to vote. Rawl ignored campaigning and paid for it because no one knew his name when it came time to vote.