The census as controlled by the marxist democrats will achieve two goals. Immediately, the democrats will reduce the majority to a minority, have found more victims to use against the few they will force to pay for everything and buy votes from preferred minorities they "help" with someone else's money.
In the long run the democrats will have the information they need to do what the Soviets did for years. They will declare that people with houses that are too big, mist have people move in. People with incomes unfairly too large(except their own millionaire incomes) will pay for everyone they need necessary.
They will know who and where you are to imprison you if you protest what they do.
What is sad is the racism in this document. They government does not need to know my race. Latinos should not have a separate section. No one is "White" or "Black" two terms though should have died with segregation or perhaps segregation is not yet dead in the US government. |
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I told them how many we were, our names, ages, and sexes. Nothing else. I never heard back from them.
I intend to do the same thing this time around.
The American Community Survey is outrageous. A six-pack of Sam Adams says that the results of the survey are "weighted" to account for the "traditionally undercounted". And of course, conservatives and libertarians who'd simply throw the survey into the trash won't be among the "traditionally undercounted".
If I'm correct Rep Bachmann, I'll hold you to that six-pack, even if I have to come up to MN to get it. |
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When talking about "the Census" please keep in mind that the Census Bureau has dual functions. One is the constitutionally required task of enumerating the population every ten years. The other is to carry out a number of legally mandated and funded data collection projects, some of which are done by contract from other agencies. For example, the monthly unemployment statistics reported by the Dept of Labor are based on a monthly survey carried out by the Census Bureau.
Census short form data are used not only for congressional apportionment, but also for redistricting. They're used by local governments for planning. They're used by people in the private sector and academia for all kinds of research. One could well argue that the short form goes beyond what is constitutionally required. But one should consider the societal value of the data, whether it makes sense for the Census Bureau to collect them, and if not, what we would do in lieu of the short form.
The American Community Survey is not part of the decennial census. But the data are used to produce intercensal population estimates and for many other purposes. They are valuable to society in many respects. Businesses use them all the time. Cities use them for planning. The data are a national resource, provided to users at essentially no cost. One could argue that this service is not worth the money spent on it. One could argue that someone other than the Census Bureau could collect it. But there are strong technical and logistical reasons why it makes sense to do this within the Bureau.
Before jumping to conclusions about the worthiness of the short form and the ACS, I would urge people to educate themselves about how the data are used and by whom. They need to know the value of these data before deciding if it's worthwhile to continue to collect them. Simplifying the short form and eliminating the ACS would have lots of unintended consequences. |
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and look at what the government has done for years.
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To provide context for my earlier comments:
I am a conservative. I am personally familiar with the inner workings of the Bureau. The Census Bureau, like many federal agencies, is a huge lumbering institution that changes slowly and surely does not work as efficiently as it should. But the people who are carrying out the decennsial census and various surveys are not marxists. They are the same folks who have been doing it year in and year out through the administrations of Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43 and now Obama. The director is a political appointee. But the people who actually do the work are not ideologues. They act in a very professional manner. They do not talk politics on the job. There is no overall climate of political ideology that I could detect. I'm an advocate of small government. But please don't assume the worst about what goes on in the Bureau; it's simply not accurate. |
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Joe is absolutely correct. The Census Bureau is not a bunch of bureaucrats sitting around dreaming up questions for people. The Census Bureau is required by Congress and by the courts to gather different types of information. It's also a federal violation to refuse to answer questions, as the Republican congresswoman Bachmann has said she will do.
The other thing you "free market/no government" folks should know is that the census bureau makes their information available at no cost. This is data that many marketing organizations would pay millions for, literally, and the government hands it to them for free.
What do you think it would cost Google or a GPS company to determine the latitude and longitude of every street intersection in the country? Free from the government. |
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I'll send it in, but I bet it gets lost in the mail :) |
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EVERYTHING govt does is with the best of intentions.
Name, Age, Sex, and Number of Residents. That's all they need for apportionment, redistricting, and then some.
They can jam the rest of it up their A**. And I really, really hope that the Census Bureau sends an ACORN to my door to force me to comply. Oh please!
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This is a liberty issue. It is a symptom of our ever-accelerating descent into socialism. What about the right to privacy? We can have privacy to create a life and then abort it, but we can't have privacy as to our personal everyday lives and the details thereof. I will resist filling out any forms that ask for information other than number of people, names, ages, and sexes. |
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if they can stand to read the answers I give! |
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I worked on the Census collection in 1990. And, really it was an eye opener. Door-to-door to complete it. I too, think that it should be as simple as the ages, names, occupations, income ranges. Nothing else. Nothing.
Ancestry.com is a good place to see how it was done even in the early 1900's. It's actually how I documented the birth order of my 14 great aunts and uncles. Hand-written, as well. It took the dedication of citizens back then to collect data on the populous. |
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Then let the people decide to fill out the ACS on their own and let a margin of error fill in the blanks. I see how much the data is used, too. But, if a taxpayer feels infringed upon, then they have the right to reject it. The involvement of the Gov't in all aspects of our lives is out of hand. |
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Response to the short form is legally required but in practice not enforced. I'm not sure whether response to the ACS is legally required, but if so it's certainly not enforced. No matter what you or I or the Bureau says, people will respond or not as they wish.
As nonresponse rates go up, margins of error
(which account for sampling, not nonresponse) become less and less accurate. And the results become more skewed. If people who value freedom and liberty decide en masse to not respond, the net result will be that people who value freedom and liberty will be omitted from the results. Population counts in areas where they live will be artificially depressed. And federal, stste and local entities will be directed away from those areas. If you're ok with that, fine. But beware of those darned unitended consequences.
My hope and prayer is that on this issue and all other issues of national importance, conservatives will think clearly and decide fairly based on truth and principles, not gut reactions and prejudice. Let the people think.
God bless. |
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"I suggest you go to ancestry,com
and look at what the government has done for years."
I thought that was the Mormons.
;)
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Uh, *somebody* had to pay, Blathermir. |
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"I'm mohhbiiile!!"
The census takers missed me in 1990 or 2000, I can't quite remember. Sent me questionaires when they couldn't track us down, which we refused to answer.
Now, I don't have any issue with the constitionally required census, as originally intended. But did you know 1940 census information was used to round up Japanese Americans for internment? And the Feds have only gotten more statist since then.
If I decide to submit census information next year, I will give them the constitutionally-required mininum. And I will tell them they can stick their ACS questionaire up their keister. |
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I never would have pegged you for a Who fan..... |
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The census will be used against us, regardless how many conservative/libertarians comply.
Get it? WE HAVE NO FAITH IN GOVERNMENT.
There is only one recourse for liberty lovers: RESISTANCE.
This is going to get ugly, gird your loins. |
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"I never would have pegged you for a Who fan....."
IMHO, best Rock'n Roll band ever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp6-wG5LLqE
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about the upcoming census????
Ask ACORN......
I'm quite sure these crooked thugs have ODummer's blessings AND financing in implementing the census.
Heck, they probably have already "tallied their results" ahead of time and already have the numbers to reflect EXACTLY the outcome His Highness desires.
sheesh.......... |
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I recieved my ACS filled out number of people in household sent it in. Census people called & I told them I was'nt going to give them anymore info. They then sent me a Dept of Justice letter with the so call "tyranical" law. Michelle Bachmann is a Patriot! We need about 400 more reps like her. This country is going in the wrong direction Fast, she knows it, & she gets ridiculed for speaking the TRUTH! Speaking for her PEOPLE! Wake up America, this lady knows there is something rotton in DC.
GODSPEED.
INFOWARS.COM |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dlN55SoF4Q&feature=player_e mbedded
They're all a little long in the tooth in this one. Moon's gone by now, but watch it. Townsend has actually gotten more sophisticated as a guitarist in his old age. Daltry can belt it out as ever. And Entwistle. . . the shots up the fretboard of his bass are priceless. |
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..and the funny thing is, you all think you are a bunch of rugged, non-conforming individualists. what you are, though, is a bunch of self-insistent freaks, gathering courage and "insights" at the hands of stupid agitators. ever hear of rabble-rousers? you guys are the rabble. squawking about the census. i never heard anything so idiotic.
back when i was a boy, the silent majority was center-right and the loud, clamorous, nasty, self-insistent minority was on the left. today, the reverse is true. we are the great silent majority. you guys are the functional equivalent of those indecent radicals back in the 60s.
Here's the bottom line: we live in a society. We have obligations to that society. That society is involved, in conjunction with other civilized people, in a death struggle with barbaric terrorists. to win this struggle and preserve a life worth living, we have to keep track of things. hell, we need international security arrangements. what do we need to do, wait for a nuke to go off in a city before we start keeping track of people? among other things, a census is invaluable in protecting the country our fathers built. and all your paranoid, anti-christ hoohah is preventing us grown-ups from doing the serious business of preserving civilization for our children and grandchildren.
this is a democracy. our government is legitimate. Jesus, lose a couple frigging elections and you guys think you can just opt out. what a bunch of babies. |
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sucking up to Paddy, eh? maybe they'll let you into the not-so-evil cabal yet.
The Who died with Keith Moon. They were a little tedious anyhow. The Stones were the best band from that era. Keith Richards is God.
oops. i guess that must be part of my "cafeteria Catholicism" bubbling to surface. Now you'll excuse me. I need to run away from you. i'm frightened of your wrath and the fierce, immutable logic of your, um, innocuousness. |
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who do you have faith in, private companies? maybe your fellow man--that wonderful and decent animal that does not need government.
now i really do have to run. Mrs. PL is yelping at me pretty loud.. |
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Otherwise you are going to make fellow Minnesotan Al Franken look like JFK by comparison. Either that, or you'll make Bullwinkle J. Moose look like Al Franken by comparison. Grow up and just take the census. I don't care who administers it, I only care about results. |
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If you don't care who administers the census you don't care about the results either. |
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And the Right falls in behind the crazy lady as if she still had a shred of credibility. Even Beck thinks this is silly.
Did you all know that the census went through a war amendment back in the forties, which is where Bachmann cites her claim of filling interment camps via the census? That amendment was also outlawed in 1948. If there were one person on this planet whom I would suspect to use the census in an illegal manner to create another interment camp, it would be the man who just left office and his allies. After all, he gave us Gitmo, and the toxic trailer parks in Louisiana to house Katrina victims.
Why is the rightwing such a lightning rod for these crazy notions and crazier leaders? Please, folks. It doesn't take long to read and educate yourselves. |
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is back in force in the GOP, it seems....
Yup, it's them Black Helicopters... The gummit wants to know about your toilet, Clem! Don't they knows youse gots an outhouse... |
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If the census proves that the white polpulation is now less than the black and hispanic will we be able to claim ourselves as the minority and now be eligible for things like affirmative action and other programs that are designed for the minorities. Just asking. |
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You might be eligible for affirmative action after you go through several decades of having to sit at the back of the bus, drink from a different water fountain, and use a different public restroom because the majority sees you as a second-class citizen and doesn't think you are worthy to be in the same room as them. Or if whoever is in the majority is in control of almost every industry and they won't hire you for anything except cleaning their houses and doing the most menial labor. Then perhaps you'll be eligible for affirmative action. |
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Please give me a figure on those that you know that have had to sit in the back of the bus, drink from another water fountain, etc. Please let me have a figure. Please let me know how many slaves that you know. Oh and by the way my cleaning woman is white. Don't play that game. It has been a long time and I am glad but now is time to make the playing field level. Now is the time that we are really all treated equally. No race just ability and hard work. You know competition. If anyone wants racism to end it is time for it to really end. Everyone equal in every way. |
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I'm from Virginia. I'm not even close to being in Michele Bachmann's district. But I consider her to be my "representative." Bobby Scott is supposed to be my representative. But he doesn't represent me... at all!
Congresswoman Bachmann's words compel me and draw me to her. I have become a fan and follow her on twitter now.
I call her Michelle the Awesome! |
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In 2000 we were promised by congress that they would stop this and it would never be done again. Now we find that the Long Form was only renamed.
We were lied to by congress.
Ever time since 1960 my family has been sent a long form I do not believe that it is random they are sending short forms to renters and people in small homes and they are sending long forms to people who own homes with land.
I would ask that you create a bill to modify the law that so that we are only required to answer the census count and that anything else the census dept is doing is made optional.
We need to end this once and for all now!
This information has already been abused as the names of the slaves our ancestors had has already been released by the census dept on the net. Making it easy for people to find and harass us.
The information being gathered today can and will be used against our children by enviormentist.
I would also ask you to change the law to provide a privacy opt-out to allow us to request that all information collected on our address for the years it was collected be erased. Or to just require the census to erase all names they have on all existing records.
I have had this problem for 50 years lets not wait any longer to stop this abuse of our 5th amendment rights.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA |
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Education - Michelle - is one cure for stupidity. I fully expect to see you one day on the history channel sandwiched between a show about the existence of big foot and UFO's. Conspiracy theories are for those still living in the dark ages - when the world was flat. Why not try and solve some real issues in MN - like liking St. Cloud to the cities via tram line? Or is that not enough in your fantasy world to really capture your imagination? Still hunting unicorns in your quest for the holy grail? |
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Did Ronna Prime get banned for being too crazy for Town Hall?
that's like being banned for being to slu tty for reality TV. |
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Careful with that axe, Eugene writes: Saturday, June, 27, 2009 10:46 PM
RonnaRonna
Did Ronna Prime get banned for being too crazy for Town Hall?
that's like being banned for being to slu tty for reality TV.
Arch says
At least if Ronna were ever to be banned, it would be for sticking it into a libtards eye and twirling! I can live with that! A hero's reward for those who do! |
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[[sucking up to Paddy, eh? maybe they'll let you into the not-so-evil cabal yet.
The Who died with Keith Moon. They were a little tedious anyhow. The Stones were the best band from that era. Keith Richards is God.
oops. i guess that must be part of my "cafeteria Catholicism" bubbling to surface. Now you'll excuse me. I need to run away from you. i'm frightened of your wrath and the fierce, immutable logic of your, um, innocuousness.]]
Get some rest. |
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Our job was to physically map living quarters on a handheld computer with a GPS program. The area our office was responsible for has seen enormous population growth since the 2000 census, including new streets, addresses, etc. so many of these had to be added to the available gps information. we were told that we were 'verifying' addresses and that no, the USPS would not bear part of this process as there was no info sharing with the Census Bureau. I found it strange that some homes that were new to the database had received the long form before the new-since-the-last-census information had been collected. Our office had not been informed of the existence of these forms, and when home-owners questioned me, my response was that if someone had sent them forms requesting financial information, I would not suggest returning them, and that no, the census was not going to be performed until Spring 2010. (we looked for anything on the form that said 2010 Census and were unsuccessful. These forms have been sent- and this blog post makes me wonder why was this done before the official 2010 census was begun? We took oaths to uphold and defend the Constitution, by the way.
sorry for the stream of consciousness style here... |
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Rural ranchers here in new mexico already have census takers coming to their doors. The census takers are using GPS devices surreptitiously to pinpoint each "dwelling". One rancher I know told me the gal on her ranch insisted on including a ramshackle house as a dwelling even though the place was uninhabited and was falling down. A trailer home used very occasionally by co-owners in Texas also was considered a dwelling even though no one lives there, and the owners are counted in the Texas census. She whined that she needed to count those because it was important to her job--sound familiar? ACORN canvassers were paid for the amount of votes they brought in. |
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Oops! sorry, have cap and trade on the brain! So disappointed in our Representative Lujan for disregarding our opposition and voting along with Pelosi. Hopefully, we boot him out next election.
Rural ranchers here in new mexico already have census takers coming to their doors. The census takers are using GPS devices surreptitiously to pinpoint each "dwelling". One rancher I know told me the gal on her ranch insisted on including a ramshackle house as a dwelling even though the place was uninhabited and was falling down. A trailer home used very occasionally by co-owners in Texas also was considered a dwelling even though no one lives there, and the owners are counted in the Texas census. She whined that she needed to count those because it was important to her job--sound familiar? ACORN canvassers were paid for the amount of votes they brought in. |
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Oops! sorry, have cap and trade on the brain! So disappointed in our Representative Lujan for disregarding our opposition and voting along with Pelosi. Hopefully, we boot him out next election.
Rural ranchers here in new mexico already have census takers coming to their doors. The census takers are using GPS devices surreptitiously to pinpoint each "dwelling". One rancher I know told me the gal on her ranch insisted on including a ramshackle house as a dwelling even though the place was uninhabited and was falling down. A trailer home used very occasionally by co-owners in Texas also was considered a dwelling even though no one lives there, and the owners are counted in the Texas census. She whined that she needed to count those because it was important to her job--sound familiar? ACORN canvassers were paid for the amount of votes they brought in. |
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Hi, my name is Michelle and golly, can you believe it--the LIBERALS have planted an alien in my brain! I tried to get rid of it by leaving my brain outside in -4o degree weather but all it did was kill my own brain!!!!!! WAAHHH!!!!!!
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Can someone please provide an accurate reference that 1940 Census data were used to "round up the Japanese" during WWII? Can Congresswoman Bachmann? I am an amateur historian specializing in this time period and have never seen this in print anywhere. It's ridiculous and nutty; it was far easier to send out messages and troops to round up Japanese Americans then to somehow cross reference millions of Census forms with addresses. Thus, it is preposterous to think the innocuous questions on the ACS form would somehow be used to target anyone. There is no vast governmental conspiracy plotting ways to round up citizens. And if there was, presumably Congresswoman Bachmann would be part of that conspiracy since she is part of the government; seems like she is the pot calling the kettle black. If the Congresswoman doesn't like the information being asked - for legitimate planning purposes - then have her propose legislation to modify or eliminate what's being asked. Be part of the solution, not a paranoid conspiracy theorist. |
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Dems always claim the right to privacy exists in the Constitution although no one can find it written. What about this gross invasion of privacy?
Cut all the needless questions and just count the number of citizens AND illegal aliens so we can get some idea who is here -- the intended purpose of the census. |
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I agree with the Plummer. The last census, I gave all the information that is needed.
Than you Congresswoman Bachman for the stand you are taking for many Americans.
Ruby |
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If this was a REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION (example.say Bush)there would be all sorts of lawsuits from the ACLU and all sorts of flack from the far Left..they would be outraged at the invasion of privacy,they would be outraged about Acorns involvment in taking the census. We are not stupid--we know what this is about-Illegal aliens--Redistricting to stack the deck for the Statist--oh, sorry I meant Democrats.
I for one -will send it to the circular file. |
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The government is totally out of control. Our freedom's are being reduced daily. What do people think the government is going to do for them? The government is the problem. Have any of these people had to deal with the a DMV, SSN, or a VA Hospital not to mention the Post Office. I can not believe people want the government to control business, the automobiles industry, their health care etc. Are their lives so miserable that they do not mind dealing with government ineffectualness. It is mind boggling how inept these people must be. |
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1) Advertise and Promote the Fact that you are forming a Grand Jury in Blogs, Local Newspapers and Community Organizations.
2) Form the Grand Jury and select a Foreman.
3) Select a Private Attorney General to make Presentments to Grand Jury, if local DA refuses to make presentments.
4) Select a convenient Meeting Place.
5) Communicate with all Citizens who have criminal information to present.
6) Schedule presentments by said Citizens.
7) Subpoena documents from Government Offices and Officials.
8) Schedule presentment of said Documents to Grand Jury by Grand Jury Attorney General.
7. Have Grand Jury Attorney General present said Documents to Grand Jury.
8) After investigation and deliberation is completed, vote and issue a True Bill (Indictment) or No True Bill.
9) Announce all Indictments to the Press.
10) Serve the Indictment on the Judiciary for the Issuance of Arrest Warrants.
Leo Haffey
http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2009/04/before-i-closed-c omments.html
http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2009/04/important-grand-j uries-dont-need.html
http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2009/03/two-ideas-to-empo wer-patriots-by.html
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"If this was a REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION (example.say Bush)there would be all sorts of lawsuits from the ACLU and all sorts of flack from the far Left..they would be outraged at the invasion of privacy."
How is this census different from previous censuses? What questions are different? Did you protest in 2000? |
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We are collecting information because it's easily stored and retrieved and can be used for many more purposes than those mandated by the U. S. Constitution. Unfortunately, the information is intrusive and none of the business of the U.S. Government. I don't care who mandates information to be collected by the hard working folks in the Census Bureau. Information that is none of the government's business is still none of their business. I really doubt that even the socialist/marxist regime under which we now live would prosecute anyone for not returning an "anonymous" census form that doesn't contain your name. They'd have to admit that the bar code identifies the individual to whom the survey was sent. I'm not sending anything other than the actual name, age, and other demographic data. Prosecute me if you dare. |
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BTW, Congresswoman Bachmann,
When you sign up to post your thoughts on this site, you list as mandatory information, Name, E-mail address, complete address (HUH?), including City/State. I understand everything except why do you need my actual street address?
Perhaps a little consistency is in order? Just a suggestion. I'm a big fan. |
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I received the survey and I only filled out what I considered necessary to enumerate my household. Since mailing in I have been receiving phone calls over and over again to call a 800 number to discuss "My" case. Well I guess I am taking my chances but I do not trust giving information such as what time I am at home and what times I am not, and other questions that I feel is really not anyone's business. What if the person that gets my info isn't on the up & up and decides they want to rob my house? This survey is totally ridiculous. The "other" financial info they can get anyway from the irs if they want it that badly, I pay taxes every year and they have our w2's already. Something is not right when the government wants to know how many times I go to the restroom in my own house. Please Rep. Bachmann help us. Thank you for taking my post. |
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The bottom line for me is this: under other circumstances, without all the rush to poorly constructed, unread, force-fed legislation that has been foaming out of Washington in the last six months, most of us might not mind completing information for the Census Bureau. But, now I am absolutely not convinced that there aren't more sinister motives for the collection of such detailed data. What possible reason would the government need to know what time I leave my home to go to work? Besides this, the intrusive questions about mental health are quite disturbing to me--as a health care professional, I wonder about HIPAA violations? Only those with a "need to know" need to know! Why does the government need to know this information? For my husband and me, it will be the facts, ma'am, just the facts--and nothing else. |
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Listen folk I'm a retired lettercarrier and back in the old day when this goverment ran thing the Post Office use to fill out these Census Card, which is what they where back then, We knew who and how many people lived at each house. Then the Census was taken away from the Post Office and that when things went down hill for there. Census is a way that the Goverment determinds how much money the state will receive based on the amount of people it has living in there state. All there question that they are asking is alot of bull. Speaking of Bull _ _ _ _. I'm surprised they don't ask what kind of T-Paper we use. This is a real joke. |
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I can not find any requirement that it be filled out in English - or for any recognizable laguage, for that matter. So brush up on your Sanskrit, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Arameic, Cuneiform - and even Klingon. |
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U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is no stranger to the Truth-O-Meter. So far, her comments have decidedly bent the needle to the left and, on one occasion, set the meter on fire.
We swear we're not trying to pick on her, but we just couldn't let this latest one go. Recently, Bachmann went on record to declare that because of ACORN's involvement in the census and other privacy concerns, she would only tell 2010 census takers how many people are in her household -- and nothing more.
So let's count the ways Bachmann is wrong:
ACORN will not be "in charge" of going door-to-door and collecting data from the American public, as Bachmann said. The U.S. Census will be in charge of that. Some of the 1.4 million people who get Census-taking jobs may learn about the job through ACORN. Workers who apply to the Census through ACORN have no better shot at the job than those who apply through any of the 30,000 other partners. That's it.
And despite Bachmann's claim, ACORN gets no money for signing on as a partner.
Once again, she is making a scaremongering claim about ACORN with facts that are ridiculously wrong. So we have to set the meter on fire once again. She earns another Pants on Fire.
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Bachmann's claims that the Constitution only requires people to say how many people live in their household is "completely baseless," Gimbel said.
Bachmann stuck to her misguided guns in a Fox interview on June 25, this time backing up her concerns about privacy by noting that in the 1940s the Census Bureau handed over information used to round up Japanese people and put them in internment camps.
"I'm not saying that that's what the Administration is planning to do," Bachmann said, "but I am saying that private personal information that was given to the Census Bureau in the 1940s was used against Americans to round them up, in a violation of their constitutional rights, and put the Japanese in internment camps. I am just not comfortable with the way this census is being handled, with associating with ACORN, with the questions that are being asked, with Americans being compelled to give this information. How will this be cross-checked? Will it be held privately?"
Bachmann is right about how the Census was used to identify Japanese-Americans in the 1940s. Since then, however, Congress has passed laws to specifically to protect the information it collects. Census employees take those privacy laws very seriously, she said. Employees found to have violated laws to protect people's personal identity face up to five years in jail and fines of up to $250,000.
Bachmann is not only wrong here, she is engaging in fearmongering that encourages people to break the law. And in doing so, she's falsely telling people that the Constitution would support them. In fact, the Washington Times reporter followed her answer by saying, "Well, I'm going to take your hint then and that'll save me some time." And so we feel it's necessary to rate this one Pants on Fire.
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Bachman is correct. Why does the gov need to know everything about myself and my family right down to the time I leave and get home from work.
Does George Orwell ring a bell. This gov is going in the wrong direction and I see the begining of the end of our freedoms as we have known them. They (freedoms), will be packaged and presented in a different light. WAIT and SEE if I'm not correct. Just look at ACORN. A new name with the same old players. God help us all. |
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vladimir estragon writes: Monday, June, 29, 2009 6:29 PM
Mary
"If this was a REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION (example.say Bush)there would be all sorts of lawsuits from the ACLU and all sorts of flack from the far Left..they would be outraged at the invasion of privacy."
How is this census different from previous censuses? What questions are different? Did you protest in 2000?
Arch says
Vlad. What about the right to remain silent as not to incriminate yourself? It is called pleading the fifth. How does that figure into your feeble mind? |
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Are you going to count the voices in your head Michelle? Keep it up - you have become quite the poster child. |
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They break Hispanics down into four or five distinctive nationalities (Puerto Rican, Cuban, etc), but NOT the Asians, Blacks or Caucasians. PANDERING.
Also, I think after looking over the long form that I will be filling out only the number of people living at our house. I hope other conservatives will do the same.
There is no good purpose to which this information will be put.
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A lot of us had to fill out the long form last time around. Ms. Bachman was it not a concern until you were required to do so. All of you in DC could give a rip until it happens to you. This includes my rep's from Kansas as well. You people still don't get it. We can't tell the difference between you R's and D's. You have forgotten that you are a tax payer too. Thr R's had 8 years to get it right but but acted like D's the whole time you had control. |
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Rep Bachmann's TV Appearance
Non Census
http://www.colbertnation.com/home
I wonder why I didn't receive an e-mail from her about this national appearance; I do if she is on FOX News
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Much like the now discontinued Census long form, many who recieve the American Community Survey are appalled by it's length and the intrusivenss of its questions.
In spite of multiple mailings identifying the Survey as "mandatory", only 50% fill it in an mail it back. That's about the same % as the 2000 Census Long Form.
The Census Bureau than begins a 30 day phone campaign calling those who did not return the survey attempting to get the answers that way. This significant effort gets another 10% to respond, leaving 40% who did not respond to either the mailings of the repeated phone calls.
So based on this evidence, I'd think that there are a whole lot of Americans who agree that this survey is a significant over reach. All Bachmann has to do is tap into that sentiment.
This leaves the Democrats defending the American Community Survey, further cementing into many minds their support of a Nanny state in which the Federal Government is involved in every aspect of American life. |
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Are you an American?
How many times has Rep. Bachmann said this on TV.
Oh, wait, that question is right there on page 7 of the ACS. hmmmmm
God help us all, indeed. |
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What possible reason would the government need to know what time I leave my home to go to work?
Because they are measuring the average commute for people around the country. This is how Congress determines how much money should go to each state for infrastructure. Sorry, too many syllables...infrastructure means roads, bridges, train lines, etc. |
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any of it. Plain and simple. The government is supposed to stay out of our private lives. Not further invade them. |
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Anyone wanna bet "Franklin" has some "identity theft" issues soon after the census? I mean, so free with information and all....
Wait, what am I saying?!?! ACORN/COI has no ties to fraud. Silly silly me... ;> |
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You said, "Because they are measuring the average commute for people around the country. This is how Congress determines how much money should go to each state for infrastructure. Sorry, too many syllables...infrastructure means roads, bridges, train lines, etc.".
How's that work? Do funds flow disproportionally to areas with the highest average commute?
Do you really think that's how roads and bridges are planned? And if so, why are the highway people always counting cars on roads?
That's laughable.
Although, to someone who thinks that the Federal Government has the (or any) answers, it might make sense. |
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This is an agency struggling for survival. Stung by the public reaction to the 2000 Census -- particularly the Long Form flap -- they sought to protect themselves.
So they eliminated the Long Form, and instituted the American Community Survey, which goes to 1 out of 480 households each month. The idea was that although people still wouldn't like the Long Form questions, that there wouldn't be the same sort of uproar there was in 2000.
At the same time they reached out to as many "partners" as they could and increased the number of questions to serve the interests of these new customers (including K-Mart, Wal-Mart, etc.)
What the Census Bureau doesn't want is visibility for the American Community Survey.
All of this was in an article in Science written by outgoing CB head, Kenneth Prewitt titled, "Supposed We Gave a Census and Nobody Came".
The American Community Survey is a fat target for anyone who wants to point to the excesses of the Federal Government. Every month thousands of new potential recruits th the cause are created when they open that envelope and get a gander at the question set. "Oh my goodness.", they'll say, "Now I see what she was talking about". |
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The legal basis for the American Community Survey (ACS) consists of a letter from a Government attorney saying that in his opinion the law governing the Census also applies to the American Community Survey.
Congress has passed no law authorizing the ACS. No court has ever ruled on its legality.
No one has ever been prosecuted for refusing to respond to the ACS questions.
Some feel that this is because if they did prosecute someone, it would give that person "standing" in court to challenge the legality of the ACS. |
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I was really frustrated to hear about this scuttle brought on by one of our congress members. I wonder how many bills she has signed or proposed based on information collected by the Census Bureau. Shame on Michelle Bachmann for her comments on the Census. She should do more homework and figure out why these questions are asked before she makes such outrageous comments and upsets the apple cart! |
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"Can someone please provide an accurate reference that 1940 Census data were used to "round up the Japanese" during WWII?"
A good friend of mine, Jim Sakoda, had the strongly-held belief that that ancient urban legend was NOT true. Jim was a prominent sociologist who spent much of his career working with census data and the Census Bureau; he was ALSO one of those Japanese-Americans who were rounded up, so it was a subject of some importance to him. His first major research as a sociologist was done in the camps, on their population.
He was also known for winning the Scientific American paper airplane contest and publishing several books on origami. |
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Inflation is calculated by looking at the cost of a basket of goods necessary for living a normal life in America. If a bag of flour, a pair of work shoes, a set of bed linen, and a refrigerator (and everything else in that basket) together cost $1,250 today, but only cost $1,000 50 years ago, then we say there has been 25% inflation over the last 50 years. Many people have pay increases that are tied to the cost of living, that is, the inflation rate. Your merit raise might be, for example, 2% + the urban cost of living increase, which is calculated by using this basket of goods.
How do we determine what is in this basket? How do we know what the normal American wants and needs?
Oh right. We ask them. We ask how many TV's they own, if they have broadband, if they bought a refrigerator in the last year, if they buy flour, if anybody in the house has new shoes. People who boycott the census write themselves out of this questioning. If everybody who has broadband refuses to fill out a census paper, then broadband will never be included in government calculations... and I will never get a pay rise that accounts for the fact that I ought to make enough money to afford broadband from one year to the next.
When the government tries to figure out future costs of welfare or medicare or medicaid, it uses census data. When it tries to project tax takings, it uses census data. When it tries to project savings due to welfare-to-work legislation or the affordability of tax cuts, it uses census data. When it wants to figure out correlations between income and education level, or gun ownership and gun violence, or unemployment and geography, it needs census data. Come on, people. This is the stuff of government. If you want to live in the wilds somewhere, go for it. If you'd prefer trash pickup and sewage treatment, and responsible, fact-informed democracy, it's foolish and self-undermining not to fill the thing out. |
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Once again, Michelle, you have shown your complete idiocy on this issue, and you make yourself a laughing stock. One wonders if your constituants are proud of your moronic babblings.
Case in point: you try to make the argument that the most important question "Are you a Citizen of the United States" is omitted.
Have you read the questionnaire? I guess not. Question 8 clearly asks, "Is this person a CITIZEN of the United States."
Pull your head out, Michelle. |
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He's got the Consumer Price Index and the Census confused. He's suggesting the Census or the American Community Survey collects information on televisions or gun ownership. Neither does.
If you love the "Nanny State" where the Federal Government is involved in every aspect of your life, you should love the American Community Survey.
If you distrust Government, even a little, or feel that Government solutions are inept and even harmful, then that leads you in another direction.
Just read the American Community Survey questionnaire. There's a link above.(Don't be like "S"). If it seems "intrusive" to you, act accordingly. |
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