Government
1940 Census Questions: If unmarried, are you a virgin? Are you a blonde or brunette? Do you own a Bible?
The 1940 Census is a unique Census in our history — the first to include questions that were asked only of a subset of the population, chosen through a near-random scheme. In addition to the questions on age, sex, race, and relationship to the householder were questions about the value of the home, living on a farm, marital status, attending school, highest grade of school completed, place of birth, and citizenship. For persons 14 years and older, there were additionally seven different questions on working status, current occupation and industry, number of weeks worked, and income. more »
Consumers Have a Right to Know What is in Their Products: House Panel Focuses on Cosmetics Industry Regulation
"Cosmetics firms are responsible for substantiating the safety of their products and ingredients before marketing. However, they are not required to submit safety substantiation data to the agency, nor make it available to the agency." more »
House Committee Passes Interstate Abortion Bill
The Judiciary Committee defeated amendments to the Act that would: Exempt from the prohibition situations where the minor becomes pregnant as a result of incest or rape; where the minor received an abortion to protect her health; waive the parental notification requirement if informing the parent of the pregnancy or abortion would endanger the safety of the minor more »
New Deal Numerology: A Bad Prognosis
10 million ... is a pushy number. That’s how many people the ACA would add to Medicaid rolls, with the federal government covering most of the costs. But opponents claim offering all that money, even as a gift, would be “coercive” -- unless it went to a Super PAC, which would make it a triumph for democracy more »
