I've done genealogy research for decades but I've never before bothered to assemble my own personal documentation.

I have a certificate of birth from the hospital in which I was born.
I have a certified birth certificate from the state in which I was born (Missouri).
When I applied for a recent passport, I didn't locate the birth certificate previously issued so I ordered a new one.

Ok, so far so good. But what is a puzzle is a half-page document entitled The United States of America, Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Notification of Birth Registration. It was issued by Jasper County Health Officer,. Special Agent, Bureau of the Census, Webb City Missouri (not the town I was born in).

It appears to be an original document, the stamped signature ink appears to be slightly purple. My personal information (name date, parents, DOB) are typed in and all other text on the document appears to be printed in black ink. At the bottom is a line that identifies the form as "U.S. Government Printing Office: 1944 - O- 601714.

So, my question is, what is this? I've never seen one before in all my years of research. Why would this have been issued? What is the purpose? Since I wasn't born in a census year, why would the Bureau of the Census be involved?

Any hints would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Reading the news will do that to you.

Today was a special day for me. I got to participate in a "rite of passage" for my granddaughter. It was her Senior Ball tonight. I had to hem her formal (after the tailor shop said they wanted $200 for the job). She had her nails done and was spray-tanned yesterday. Today is was a facial and makeup and her hair done. When she was dressed and ready to go, she looked absolutely divine. I loaned her a small black beaded evening bag. We (her mother, father and I) took her to the beach where her boyfriend and his parents were waiting. We all stood around like paparazzi taking pictures of both of them, individually and together. Passers-by stopped to watch her in her fabulous formal and him in his Vera Wang tuxedo. They each wore white roses. And then the kids left for their dinner at a fancy restaurant downtown Seattle and then to the Prom which is being held at EMP at the Seattle Center. We all reminisced about our Senior Proms.

But each road not taken also gave me something I appreciated.

For example, I should never have married my first husband. We were never emotionally suited to each other. I spent five of the loneliest years of my life as that man's wife. HOWEVER, by beautiful, intelligent daughter was the product of that marriage and I wouldn't exchange her for anything.

receptionist in a real estate office -- 8 hrs Saturdays and 4 hours Sundays. I don't recall how much I made. Records indicate I made a grand and munificent total of $1,571 taxable dollars in 1964 but I worked part-time half the year and then took a full-time job after that. The education I received at the real estate office was worth even more.

I worked in a real estate office during a time when real estate offices were being accused of colluding to keep black families from purchasing properties in white neighborhoods (and this was in the Seattle area). The office I worked at was cited by the NAACP as one of those offices. It, of course, made the local TV news when the black test-couple reported on their experiences with the office. The office was a neighborhood office, right next to the community pool. One Saturday, a nice car drove into the parking lot and two well dressed black people came into the office. I welcomed them and went to the back room where the salesmen were congregated over coffee. The back door was standing open and there was no one around. I went back into the reception area, told the couple that there didn't appear to be any sales people in the office at the moment but there were a number of open houses in the area they could visit. I gave them a brochure and a map of the neighborhood showing the open houses. The man smiled at me and said he understood what just happened. He said he appreciated my help. I was 17 and had a mouth. When the couple left and the salesmen returned, I gave them a piece of my mind. I'm still amazed I wasn't fired for telling them what I thought of what they were doing. I nearly lost my job one time because my mother's best friend (a real estate agent) sold a house in this white neighborhood to a black family. They were furious but had no where to vent but on me. My mother intervened and I wasn't fired. I remember a debate at my school early in 1964 between the Seattle Real Estate Board and the NAACP regarding open housing. It was an interesting time.

Those on Medicare (the "takers" to some) will die for lack of care while cancer care will continue to be available to those with money. That's why they don't want to get to the point of the business closing down. When no hospital, clinic, physician will take Medicare payments, the GOP can point to the general failure of the program and eliminate it completely. Congress is not concerned because THEY will never be denied care.

We may as well get used to it. We are considered a pustule on the ass of the wealthy that needs to be lanced and drained.

When I was about 12, we obtained a Boxer. The neighbor who owned it was a violent man, beat his wife and kids and did the same to the dog. So one could say we "rescued" her. There wasn't much we could do about their family life as this was before domestic violence became a situation requiring legal protection. I think my parents thought that if we took the dog, one source of irritation would be gone.

When Ginger came to us, in our house, she was loving, obedient and tolerant. She was a huge thing. When we would all sit on the couch to watch TV, she would lie across all of our laps. She loved tummy rubs and would flip on her back at the slightest hint that she might get one. My sister was just beginning to crawl at the time and Ginger was extraordinarily tolerant of being sat upon, poked in every manner, disrupted while she ate. Every night, just like clock-work, she would go down the hall, walk into each bedroom, sniff around the bed, checking on each of us kids.

HOWEVER,

She became so over-protective, we were unable to have people come to the house. She would growl, bare her teeth and lunge at anyone who came to the door. One time, I recall vividly, my mother had the Flu and was lying on the couch. The neighbor brought over a bowl of soup. When she knocked on the door, Mother called out "come in". When the neighbor opened the door, Ginger had her by the throat and on the ground until we could pull her off. Ginger went into a frenzy every time the garbage was picked up at the curb. One time, Mother got her a bone from the butcher. It was in the back yard which was fenced. Somehow, a little dog got in the back yard and had her bone. Ginger took a running start and blasted through the closed sliding glass door -- and didn't get hurt.

It was hard to know how to discipline her as she was such a good dog -- inside the house. I remember my parents discussing what was to be done about Ginger as she presented such a liability that one day someone would sue. Eventually, events resolved the issue before action could be taken about her. Whenever she was in the back yard, she was on a chain -- we found out early that she was able to take a six-foot fence in a single bound. One day, she took that leap, however, her chain got caught on her dog house and she was hung. It was the only time in my life I ever saw my father cry.

And I find it disturbing that at the end of the program, the host says a million people are stalked a year. Stalking is serious business.

My granddaughter was stalked by a 16-year old boy when she was about 10. He lived near the school she went to. It got so bad that she had an adult escort from the bus to the building and when she entered the building, the school went on lock-down. No one in or out except through the office and with proper documentation. She never went in the halls without an adult escort. She had an adult escort her to her bus and stay with her until the bus left the property. Fortunately, the boy didn't drive and wasn't able to follow her home. After a few weeks of this, we withdrew her from that school and enrolled her in another. Her parents had to prove a written reason for changing schools. Once she started at the new school, we never had any indication that the boy was around. It was an intense few weeks -- I don't know how people put up with it for years.

"winning Vietnam" and "giving them what they need" were code words for using tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam. Both before the war ended and certainly for a time afterwards, the war hawks bemoaned the lack of will to go nuclear. Thank heavens cooler heads prevailed and although napalm and defoliants were ecological disasters, nuclear carried with it international political risks that would have been even bigger disasters.

The corporatists believe the only good citizen is a working citizen and even then, not so much. They tailor their policies to deny government benefits (earned or not) to any non-working citizen (children, seniors, disabled) in an effort to deplete their numbers and absolve government's obligation to do anything for them. They work towards policies that deprive the working citizens of income, vacation time, sick leave, health care and retirement funds.

Their vision of a perfect world is the 1% owning everything (but performing no labor), workers getting enough to stay alive and work, and when their working days are done, rely on policies to deprive them of any assistance that stands in the way of their dieing and getting out of the way.

Most of the civilized world thought it repugnant Nazi Germany attempted to engineer the "master race" by denying rights, income and future of certain groups of people. The Republican plan uses this theory to create the "working class" with no rights, no money and no future.

one of the most compelling explanations of the Iraq invasion is based on Cheney's prior association with Halliburton. It seems that there was a company (forgot which state, but a northern state) that mined asbestos and marketed to various users causing health problems not only for the communities where the mines were located but also the plants where the asbestos was used. It appears that Cheney and his team did not do their due-diligence upon Halliburton's purchase of the company and failed to find that the small company had millions of dollars worth of lawsuits against it, liabilities that Halliburton acquired along with the company. The shareholders of Halliburton were ready to sue Cheney within an inch of his life when he came up with the idea that Halliburton could make a mountain of money being the main supplier of a new war -- and then set out to put himself in a position to find such a war. Remember, he headed the effort to find a suitable VP candidate for Bush and couldn't find anyone but himself. The rest is history: Halliburton didn't sue Cheney; Halliburton got huge multi-million dollar government contracts to provide sub-par goods and services to the military in Iraq. Iraq was a business plan. Not only for Cheney's Halliburton problem, but a business plan outlined by PNAC. All that was needed was a willing dupe to lead. And they found that willing dupe in G. W. Bush who was driven to prove to his father his dick was larger. And we, the citizens, taxpayers, troops of the US were nothing more than pawns in their game of wealth and power. So, tell me, just why aren't these people before the courts at The Hague?