This is an exercise in How Government Works. And funny Sal goes to court
Boston resident Sal Esposito has been called to jury duty, but there’s one thing standing in the way of his ability to serve: He’s a cat.
Massachusetts couple Anna and Guy Esposito received a jury duty summons for their feline friend this month, who they had listed as a household resident on the 2010 Census.
“Sal is a member of the family so I listed him on the last Census form under pets but there has clearly been a mix-up,” Anna told local TV station WHDH. “I read the whole thing and I said, ‘Oh my God, how could he go, he’s a cat?'”
If you thought someone in government would say “hey, it’s a cat, maybe we should just let Sal out,” you’d be sadly mistaken. Sal is required to appear for jury duty. That should be fun at the security desk when the owners try and bring Sal through.
Note: that’s not Sal.
“Fine. Come arrest the cat for non-appearance, why don’t ya? Morons.”
This seems to be a story about governmental stupidity, which is clearly evident.
The Epositos’ listed the cat on the census form. This is the same census that is forbidden by law to make public the names of a household for 75 years.
http://www.census.gov/privacy/data_protection/title_13_-_protection_of_confidential_information.html
How did the local government get the name of the cat?
There are only two options. First is that the family supplied the name of the cat in a time and place other than the census, OR the Federal government gave the state of Massachusetts the names of residents.
If it is the former, than the Episotos are idiots.
If it is the Federal government that supplied the information, someone somewhere has a lot of explaining to do.
Gitarcarver: The People’s Republic is the only state that takes an annual census of it’s residents. Unlike what they have claimed, the Espositos listed the cat in the section for people [the section for pets does not have a space for names; they just ask for the number of dogs in the house]. The couple put down Sal’s occupation as ‘UNKNOWN’. They pulled this once before several years ago.
I live up here in New England and also have many friends in Massachusetts.
Whoa everyone, this cat may make more sense than a lot of people from Boston would. Let him serve!