Census data is currently protected by a 72-year blanket of anonymity. That means that the 1940 census is ready for public viewing. Of course, what makes this notable is that this is the first time census data has come out since the Internet became so widespread. I've just been over at the National Archive website, trying to track down my grandparents. Unfortunately, the thing seems to be a little glitchy - I couldn't get the site to spit out the actual census records yet. Since they've only been available for a matter of hours, I suppose there's a bit of a rush on at the moment.
Using the census would be tricky anyway, because it's not name-searchable yet. According to one article I saw, that'll be coming in a few months. However, it's supposed to be possible to locate someone's census record now as long as you have their 1940 street address.
I was really into genealogy as a kid, and the appearance of this new resource this morning has tickled that old fancy of mine. 1940 was such a transformative time; I would love to see the records for my family. My grandmother was still living in the same town I would be born in. My grandfather was already in the army by then, so he might be harder to track down. That's my father's side of the family; I confess I don't know where my mother's parents were at the time. I think it's time to talk to my parents and get some more info.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
So The New Black Panther Party Is Going After Zimmerman Itself …
The latest news in the Trayvon Martin case is all about the New Black Panthers. They went down to Sanford to protest the whole mess (again) this weekend, and yesterday they announced that they were offering a $10,000 reward for the capture of George Zimmerman. They said they were going to be looking for him themselves, too.
As far as I can tell, this kind of pot-stirring is what the New Black Panther Party is all about. They only seem to turn up around national-attention-drawing cases, and they seem to do their very best to get their own names into the papers. The founders of the original Black Panthers don’t like them. I don’t think I like them much either.
That being said, it’s hard to believe that George Zimmerman is out there right now, living free and easy. I definitely don’t know all of the facts about the Martin case, but nobody seems to be able to argue that Zimmerman did not shoot Trayvon Martin. To my mind, regardless of what sort of screwed-up self-defense laws Florida has, the man should have been arrested at the scene of the shooting.
It’s entirely possible that he really did have to shoot in self-defense. It’s possible that his reasons for following Martin that day weren’t racially motivated. (It feels untruthful to type that, though.) Whatever the facts of the matter are, they need to be decided in court, with careful deliberation and investigation. I don’t think any circumstances justify the police allowing a man to walk away after shooting a boy.
As far as I can tell, this kind of pot-stirring is what the New Black Panther Party is all about. They only seem to turn up around national-attention-drawing cases, and they seem to do their very best to get their own names into the papers. The founders of the original Black Panthers don’t like them. I don’t think I like them much either.
That being said, it’s hard to believe that George Zimmerman is out there right now, living free and easy. I definitely don’t know all of the facts about the Martin case, but nobody seems to be able to argue that Zimmerman did not shoot Trayvon Martin. To my mind, regardless of what sort of screwed-up self-defense laws Florida has, the man should have been arrested at the scene of the shooting.
It’s entirely possible that he really did have to shoot in self-defense. It’s possible that his reasons for following Martin that day weren’t racially motivated. (It feels untruthful to type that, though.) Whatever the facts of the matter are, they need to be decided in court, with careful deliberation and investigation. I don’t think any circumstances justify the police allowing a man to walk away after shooting a boy.
Friday, March 23, 2012
The Etch A Sketch Metaphor Is A Bit On-The-Nose, Isn't It?
Last night I finally woke up to the fact that it's an election year, and so I took a look at how the Republican primary is going. Right now the media attention seems to be dwelling on the way Eric Fehrnstrom, Mitt Romney’s aide, compared his candidate’s campaign to an Etch A Sketch on Wednesday. Gingrich and Santorum scented blood more or less instantly, and are busy making as much political hay as possible out of the comment.
Whether you’re inclined to read Fehrnstrom’s comment in a positive light or a negative one, I think the basic metaphor involved hits a bit too close to home for any candidate. He said that “you can kind of shake it [the campaign] up and start all over again.” That means that the primary campaign and the general election campaign of a presidential candidate can be two very different things.
The Romney campaign is desperate to spin this as meaning nothing more than that they have the opportunity to reorganize and regroup if they win the Republican nomination. The other candidates are having none of that, though! Both Santorum and Gingrich have hoisted up Etch A Sketches at press events, eager to turn the toys into symbols of a candidate that will say one thing to conservatives in the primaries and another thing to moderates in the general.
I don’t begrudge either Santorum or Gingrich the chance to score some easy points when their opponent hands them such a wonderfully vivid metaphor. If I were on their campaigns, though, I’d be careful not to press too hard. No matter who wins the nomination, the Republican candidate is going to moderate his conservatism once the general election is underway. If they harp on the Etch A Sketch too much now, it could return to haunt them a few months down the road.
Whether you’re inclined to read Fehrnstrom’s comment in a positive light or a negative one, I think the basic metaphor involved hits a bit too close to home for any candidate. He said that “you can kind of shake it [the campaign] up and start all over again.” That means that the primary campaign and the general election campaign of a presidential candidate can be two very different things.
The Romney campaign is desperate to spin this as meaning nothing more than that they have the opportunity to reorganize and regroup if they win the Republican nomination. The other candidates are having none of that, though! Both Santorum and Gingrich have hoisted up Etch A Sketches at press events, eager to turn the toys into symbols of a candidate that will say one thing to conservatives in the primaries and another thing to moderates in the general.
I don’t begrudge either Santorum or Gingrich the chance to score some easy points when their opponent hands them such a wonderfully vivid metaphor. If I were on their campaigns, though, I’d be careful not to press too hard. No matter who wins the nomination, the Republican candidate is going to moderate his conservatism once the general election is underway. If they harp on the Etch A Sketch too much now, it could return to haunt them a few months down the road.
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