I don’t get much mail at my house, but yesterday I got a first class envelope addressed to “Resident” from the Census Bureau. Hmm, they’ve been talking a lot about the census coming up, so I guess here it is. Seems like a mighty slim envelope, though. Maybe it’s just some kind of short form. Nope, it’s a single sheet telling me that in about a week I’m going to be getting the census form and to be sure I complete it and return it? Huh?

Recently they have been talking about the postal service losing money and needing to do things like stopping Saturday deliveries. The only rationale I could come up with for sending a letter saying that I’m going to be getting a letter is to give the post office a financial boost. Otherwise, why in the hell would the government not just send the damn census form and tell me then to be sure to fill it out and return it?

This is just one more example of the stupidity and waste in our government. Not only was there the cost of postage, but the cost of the envelopes, paper and printing. Whose brilliant idea was it to waste this kind of money? It would be like me telephoning you to tell you that I’m going to be calling you in a few minutes. Who wouldn’t hang up the phone after that wondering what is wrong with me? Who thinks that sending two letters instead of one is any smarter?

Sometimes there are mysteries that have no answers. However, it does make you wonder who had the contract to send all those superfluous letters, and who received how much of a political contribution from that vendor.