Sophia, even if you send back either questionnaire, you may get a visit anyway, because they'll want to have somebody verifying that there isn't a second apartment at that address.

However, don't worry about your odd hours. If a Census enumerator calls when you're not home, they'll leave a phone number, so call them and explain you won't be able to be home between those hours on a weekday. Then they can either choose to phone interview you (not preferred by the Census but acceptable if there's no other way), set up so that someone will come early or very late (hey, they're PAID for travel time, too, so they may not mind), or arrange for a weekend interview.

Mostly though, it should be at your convenience.

Gah, I'm so angry. This morning, NPR had a commentary by Frank Deford about Ben Roethlisberger, and how ridiculous it is to hold athletes to "higher standards" than the rest of society.

Um, asking him to NOT SEXUALLY ASSAULT women isn't actually a "higher standard." It's pretty much the bare minimum of human decency.

I'm seriously going to write them a letter. That's bullshit, man.

Um, asking him to NOT SEXUALLY ASSAULT women isn't actually a "higher standard." It's pretty much the bare minimum of human decency.

Yeah, seriously.

Shari, Britain and France are both dealing with the consequences of once being colonizers. The chickens are coming home to roost, so to speak.

So that makes rioting okay?

Okay, javachick has already responded, but her comment about Britain and France was in the context of your assertion that the situations there were analogous to immigration problems here. I know you may feel that negative responses to this statement reflect political differences, but Buffistas tend to come down hard on ad hominem arguments on any topic.

Shall we just give back Texas and California back then?

This is again a false analogy. California, Nevada, Utah, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and part of Colorado were ceded to the U.S. as a result of the Mexican-American War, a war justified by a lie ("Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil.") and pushed by the South as a way to expand territory for slavery. There was no colonization; people who had lived in Mexico for, in some cases, centuries, suddenly lived in the U.S.

The Mexican war is kind of a hot button for me. It's what I think of every time someone tries to claim the high moral ground for the U.S.

Huh, I kinda took that whole commentary as serious sarcasm, like society has its priorities in the wrong place. For a sports commentator, DeFord doesn't actually seem to like sports very much.

Um, asking him to NOT SEXUALLY ASSAULT women isn't actually a "higher standard." It's pretty much the bare minimum of human decency.

But he's an ATHLETE. And as an ATHLETE, he is entitled to any woman he wants, regardless of their feelings on the matter. It's written down right there. See? Where is says BENEFITS OF AN ATHLETE?

Huh, I kinda took that whole commentary as serious sarcasm, like society has its priorities in the wrong place.

Note: I did not hear the piece.

For a sports commentator, DeFord doesn't actually seem to like sports very much.

Actually, I think DeFord loves sports, which is why he is so incensed when it gets mired in dreadful behavior.

My father came to the U.S. in 1965 on a tourist visa and never left. He legalized his status around 1968, with assistance from his employer, and became a citizen five months after my birth in 1974.

My family has been in the US for a few generations, but my FIL is a naturalized citizen. I think about him a lot when I'm at work. He came here with nothing, worked hard, and now supports his own family here and much of his family back home. He has established businesses in his home country to provide the family living there with both jobs and income. His four children have all graduated from college. He and I have had issues in the past, but I wholly admire him for how he has provided for his family.

I think if it were my own parents, I would probably not be able to engage in calm immigration discussions with people who hold opposing views. Since I usually end up talking about my FIL it's a bit easier. I think most parents would do anything for their children or their own parents and so on. I just can't find it in myself to criticize people who are willing to do what it takes to provide for their families. I have met so many people who tell me that they know their lives will always be hard nad just on the edge, but they hope that their children will grow up "American", meaning they will have a semi-middle class life.

Huh, I kinda took that whole commentary as serious sarcasm, like society has its priorities in the wrong place.

I got that, from the way he was talking about "Why are athletes supposed to be 'good' role models?", and I agree with that, more or less.

But Deford talked about the fact that, since athletes *are* held up as role models, they are held to "higher standards," and he used Roethlisberger as an example. It was the wrong example, in my opinion, because that implies that expecting athletes to NOT commit sexual assault is a "higher standard."

Two different things were going on in that piece, and unfortunately, one of them all but excused sexual assault. And I am not okay with that.