Any of you Morons get one of these in the mail recently?  My dad got one, and while I was recently house sitting for him and my mom, he started getting calls (with the number blocked...hmmmm) from people asking if he'd completed it.  I said I didn't know.  After a while, they were calling nearly every day (the 'rents  were out of town for two weeks) and, get this, threatening that he could be fined between $100 and $5000 if he didn't send it back!  They can do that?

He let me take a look at it when he got back, and it had some pretty damn intrusive questions.  They ask for the income of everyone in the household, where they work and how long it takes them to get there, and the race of everyone in the home, including the primary countries of origin of their ancestors.  And I got the impression that writing in "Fuck off, that's none of your goddamn business" was not an option.

That's our federal government at work, threatening people and demanding to know what their skin tone looks like.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm moving to a cabin in the woods.

Posted by: Sean M. at 11:30 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Not by our choice - because there's no way in hell Bozeman would ever hire any of us.

According to the city officials, employee applicants must sign a waiver giving the city permission to conduct an investigation into the person's background, which includes handing over social networking login credentials to city administrators.

The application form requests that prospective employees submit information on current personal or business Web sites, Web pages or memberships in chat rooms and social networking sites, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com and MySpace, among others, according to a report on the Web site of CBS affiliate KZBK in Bozeman.

Posted by: Alice H at 08:42 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Figures they'd try and do something like this, given that recent attempts to take away firearms have been shut down, the Democrats have to ban something.  (h/t)

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 09:37 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Biggest threats?

Terror? No.

Nukes? No.

Zombie/Robot Alliance? Nope.

Strawberries? Yup.

In addition to increased inspections, the Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket) also plans on utilizing isotope analysis to expose suspected cases of strawberry fraud.

In recent years, there have been an increasing number of reports in the Swedish press about imported strawberries being packaged and sold as authentic Swedish strawberries.

While the Board of Agriculture has never come across a confirmed case of the alleged strawberry fraud, the agency is taking no chances in its efforts to protect Swedish consumers.

The agriculture board announced on Tuesday it plans to dispatch more than 20 inspectors tasked with taking a closer look at the strawberries lining the shelves in stores, street markets, and roadside stands all across the country.

After inspecting the berries’ packaging and invoices, inspectors then call up growers to confirm that appropriate prices are being charged.

Suspicious strawberries are confiscated, then sent to a lab in Germany which in turn performs an isotope analysis to determine the origins of the berries by cross-referencing them with samples of guaranteed Swedish strawberries.

“Customers are faithful in their purchases and buy Swedish. The consumer has the right to make an informed choice,” said Susanne Görsberg from the Agriculture Board’s trade and marketing division, to the TT news agency.

Posted by: eddiebear at 11:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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