Scott Duncan
OK , fire up the little lump of protoplasm you laughingly call a brain:
The NSA collects PETABYTES of data EVERY YEAR. How do you think they query that much data?
...and If you had to query that much data, you would need to do it in a standardized manner; A STRUCTURED manner, as it were.
The best way to do that is with an interpenetrated LANGUAGE...
If such a LANGUAGE existed, it's reasonable to conclude that the data returned will be based on the LANGUAGE you use, and you can say ANYTHING.
But you're right about the CENSUS... that much data can't be "cooked", so there's no WAY the NSA's data could be "cooked"!
Good thing there's no STRUCTURED QUERY LANGUAGE like I describe! :D
...oh wait.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL