President Barack Obama is evidently making a bold attempt to politicize the decennial census,
in an effort to manipulate the boundaries of congressional districts and guarantee a
permanent Democrat majority in the Congress. In other words, he is paving the way
for someone else to engage in gerrymandering.
Constitutional Topic: The Census.
The Constitution includes the phrase "[An] Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first
Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as
they shall by Law direct." Congress first met in 1789, and the first national census was held
in 1790.
Tweaking the Census:
Republicans, adhering to their strict-constructionist tradition, say the word "enumeration" (in Article I of the
Constitution) shows that the Founders wanted an actual count. Furthermore, since sampling is likely to target
minority and urban populations — traditional Democratic voters — conservatives worry that
apportionment of representatives would be unfairly adjusted to favor Democrats.
The Coming Battle of
Reapportionment and Redistricting. The number of representatives each state gets depends upon
the number of people in each state, as counted by the census every ten years. Because there are a fixed
number of House seats to be divided among the states — 435 House seats — reapportionment
is a zero sum game: a state can only gain House seats if another state loses House seats. The Left
wants to replace the census count with a census "guess" based upon a formula. Any formula will be based
on politically charged assumptions, like assuming that ten percent of Hispanics do not respond to census
workers, so the number of Hispanics in a canvassed area is "assumed" to be ten percent higher than the actual
count.
Crime,
Census and Censorship. Americans have good reason to be wary of the stranger's knock on the
door. ... According to a new General Accounting Office report, botched fingerprinting by ill-trained employees
led to the hiring of some 36,000 census workers with insufficient background checks. "More than 200" of
those workers may have had serious criminal records, according to the GAO.
2010 Census
Still a Boondoggle for the Left. While there may have been a collective sigh of relief across
America after the news that the Census Bureau severed ties with ACORN, it made me wonder who other Census
partners were. In short, ACORN or not, the 2010 census will be an organizing tool for the American Left.
Liberals
Hijacking U.S. Census. For many, many years the function of counting the number of US citizens
and residents living in the US and its territories was non-political and free from manipulation by any
political party. However, according to critics of the President Barak Obama Administration, the
Democrat Party is taking advantage of its capture of the White House and both houses of Congress to take
a "more active role" in the US Census process including oversight of the information gathering by Obama
appointees.
Criminals
may have been hired for census. Errors by Census Bureau employees may have resulted in 200 people with
criminal records being hired to conduct door-to-door canvassing. The Census Bureau typically takes fingerprints
and performs background checks on workers hired to interact with the public. But a report by the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) found that tens of thousands of workers were improperly fingerprinted by bureau employees.
ACORN Involvement Undermines Confidence in Census.
The U.S. Constitution doesn't specify many duties that the federal government absolutely must carry out.
For as long as our republic lasts, Americans will debate the meaning and intentions of the Constitution, but on
requiring a decennial census, the Framers wrote with such clarity that no analysis is needed. Today our
nation has 100 times as many people as it did at our founding. Though much has changed, the
headcount of Americans remains an essential function of our federal government. It's how we apportion
representatives in Congress and direct spending.
Census Bureau Severs Ties With
ACORN. The Census Director has sent a letter to the National Headquarters of ACORN notifying the group that
the Census Bureau is severing all ties with the community organizing group for all work having to do with the 2010
census.
Census Cutting Ties With
ACORN Due to Videotaped Prostitution-Enabling. The decision comes on the heels of Andrew Breitbart's release
of two undercover video investigations, which found ACORN employees in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. more than happy to aid
and abet underaged prostitution with advice on tax status, getting grants, and avoiding notice by law enforcement.
The Big Fix: Obama's
Rigged Census (Part Two). Last month, when asked, "What will be this White House's role in the Census?" Mr.
Locke responded by saying (in part): "I serve at the pleasure of the president." Proof that control of
the head counting remains within the Oval Office came with Mr. Obama's recent appointment of Robert M. Groves
as Census Chief. "With the nomination of Robert Groves, President Obama has made clear that he intends to employ
the political manipulation of census data for partisan gain," North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry quipped.
Other lawmakers called Groves an "incredibly troubling selection" who must be watched for "statistical sleight of hand."
See also The
Big Fix: Obama's Rigged Census (Part One).
Using school kids as government pawns:
Students'
take-home assignment: Census kits. Anyone tempted to ignore the 2010 Census will have a
tough time doing it — especially if they have kids in school.
Obama's Census to castrate American
Caucasians. It's invasive. It's corrupt. It's rigged. It's unconstitutional. ... It is
biased and prejudicial. It serves to channel billions of dollars into bogus political action groups, such
as Acorn. ... It is President Barack Obama's 2010 Census Form. ... It asks if you have hot and cold running
water, a sink with a faucet, a frigerator, a bathtub or shower, a stove or range, and a flush toilet.
It asks if you use coal, gas, oil, electricity, or solar energy to heat your home or apartment, if you are
deaf or blind ... But infinitely more telling is what the new census form doesn't ask. It doesn't ask
if you are a citizen of the U.S.A., if you are an immigrant, or if you are a Muslim. Naturally, the
questions are in English and Spanish, lest anyone think that America is an Anglo nation.
Obama Census Bureau To Count Illegal Aliens in Census?
On the website of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) a press release from Obama's U.S. Census Bureau
Director, Robert Groves, can be found. That press release appears to make obvious that the Bureau plans to count
illegal aliens in our census. The press release was issued to America's Hispanic organizations to urge them to help
with the coming census.
Census survey has something
to rile everyone. Some advocacy groups demand that illegal immigrants not be counted.
Another urges a boycott. Others say they just won't answer some questions. Republican fundraisers
use it to attract donations. Some want criminals serving time elsewhere to be counted in their hometowns.
This intense special-interest brawl can mean only one thing: It's Census time.
Do Census Layoffs Clear the Way for
Hiring of ACORN Workers? If the administration hadn't tried a few months ago to move oversight of the
Census into the White House and then lied about ACORN and the Census, the news of the layoffs would not have caught
my attention. However, the Obama administration did attempt the Census power play and it did lie about ACORN's
involvement in the Census, so reasonable observers have every reason to be suspicious.
ACORN Alert. Remember the Obama
administration lying about ACORN's involvement in the 2010 Census? After the Census Bureau responded to a Freedom
of Information Act request, Judicial Watch reported that "...the Obama Commerce Department downplayed ACORN's participation
in the Census, and labeled "baseless" the notion that ACORN would be involved in any Census count ...[but]... offered ACORN
the opportunity to "recruit Census workers" who would participate in the count."
Former
organizer says ACORN will commit fraud in Census work. In all, the corrupt management of ACORN allegedly
forced its part- and full-time employees to stretch or break laws just to meet registration quotas to keep their jobs.
That's because ACORN gets paid by its sponsors and pressures employees to deliver unreasonable goals. There is no
reason to believe the problems of staff mistreatment or systematic fraud will be any different if and when the federal
government asks ACORN to take its show on the road to households across the country.
Acorn Role in Census Challenged. Acorn,
the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, signed up in February with the bureau to be a "2010 Census
Partner," which includes, among other things, identifying job candidates, encouraging its members to participate in the
count and distributing literature explaining the importance of the census. But in the wake of accusations that some
former Acorn employees engaged in voter registration fraud in the 2006 and 2008 elections, the partnership isn't sitting
well with some Republicans on Capitol Hill who worry that Acorn could skew results.
Minnesota
lawmaker vows not to complete Census. Outspoken Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann says she's so
worried that information from next year's national census will be abused that she will refuse to fill out
anything more than the number of people in her household. In an interview Wednesday morning with The
Washington Times "America's Morning News," Mrs Bachmann, Minnesota Republican, said the questions have become
"very intricate, very personal" and she also fears ACORN, the community organizing group that came under fire
for its voter registration efforts last year, will be part of the Census Bureau's door-to-door information
collection efforts.
Documents
Detailing ACORN Partnership for 2010 Census. Included among the 126 pages of documents,
obtained by Judicial Watch under threat of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, is ACORN's original Census
partnership application. The document describes 18 different areas of responsibility requested by
the community organization, which is under investigation in multiple states for illegal activity during the
2008 election, including voter registration fraud.
Can America Come to
Its Census? Just in case this election has not been alarming enough, with Democrats selling
their phony tax cuts to a strangely gullible populace, I invite you to join me in absolute horror. My
Democrat sources have just revealed to me a plan to hijack the census in 2010 and to move vast amounts of
electoral votes from red to blue states.
GOP Blocks Census Nominee.
Senate Republicans are blocking a vote on the nomination of Robert Groves to be the Census Bureau's director,
leaving the agency without a leader less than a year before the 2010 nationwide head count. ... Dr. Groves,
director of the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center and a former Census Bureau official, has raised
concerns among mainly Republican lawmakers because he is an expert in sampling, the use of statistical
adjustments to compensate for undercounted populations. Dr. Groves has said he won't use the
practice for the 2010 count.
Uncle
Sam's Way-Too-Nosy Survey: Where's the outrage? With all the recent obsessing over the "rights" of terrorists
in Guantanamo, and the idea that President Obama's Supreme Court nominee should support "the constitutional right to
privacy," you'd expect the civil-liberties crowd to be inflamed by the federal government forcing Americans to disclose
sensitive information about their finances, health and lifestyles. You would be wrong.
Big Brother asks: 'Do you have a flush toilet?'
The 2009 American Community Survey, an annual supplement to the decennial Census, asks about residents' personal relationships
and whether a home has hot and cold running water, a flush toilet, bathing facilities, appliances and phone services. It
also asks how many rooms are in a home and what vehicles are used at each household. The new questionnaire asks
respondents what they pay for electricity, gas, water and sewer every month and whether residents receive food stamps.
Guess who Census banned as 'partners'. The
U.S. Census Bureau, reflecting what apparently is becoming a political position that involves more than one federal agency,
has listed "hate groups," "law enforcement" "and "anti-immigrant groups" among those that would be refused permission to
become a partner with the 2010 Census. The news comes in a series of documents obtained by Judicial Watch under the
Freedom of Information Act about the census operations.
ACORN, Soros and the Census.
ACORN's core work revolves around Census information and that information leads to funding. ... If such data is the core of
their programs, could their vested interest in the outcome cloud affect the impartiality?
Former organizer says ACORN will commit fraud in Census work.
Following calls by a reform group known as the "ACORN 8," many are rightly worried about the prospect of
taxpayer money flowing to the scandal-plagued Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
for the stated purpose of counting Americans in the 2010 U.S. census. After all, this is the same group
that couldn't count to "1" when registering voters during last year's election.
Obama's pick for census director moves ahead.
President Barack Obama's nominee to be the next census director moved closer to Senate confirmation on Wednesday
[5/20/2009], with approval all but assured after he ruled out the controversial use of statistical sampling in
the 2010 head count. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved Robert
Groves by voice vote without objections.
Obama's Census Nominee Likely to
Face Questions on ACORN in Confirmation Hearing. Changing the formula for the U.S. Census could
mean shifting up to two dozen congressional seats to the Democrats, a Republican congressman warned Tuesday
[5/12/2009], as the Senate prepared to consider the nomination of Robert Groves as director of the Census
Bureau.
Groves
rules out use of sampling in 2010 census. President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Census Bureau
is ruling out the use of statistical sampling in the 2010 head count, seeking to allay GOP concerns that he
might be prone to put politics over science.
Black Caucus Wants Obama Involved
in Census. Congressional Black Caucus members plan to press President Obama to keep the 2010
census under White House supervision even if Democrat Gary Locke is confirmed as Commerce secretary.
"They need to be hands-on, very much involved in selecting the new census director as well as being actively
involved and interested in the full and accurate count," said Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., the caucus'
leading voice on the census and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform panel with jurisdiction
over the decennial count.
From ACORN, a mighty GOP fight. Consider
the past week alone. In the House, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and other GOP lawmakers called on the Census Bureau
to sever ties with ACORN, one of several hundred organizations teaming up with the bureau to conduct the crucial Census
count in 2010. At the same time, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), one of ACORN's most vocal opponents in Congress,
tangled with Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) over an "ACORN amendment" she introduced that would have prohibited any
organization indicted for voter fraud from receiving certain federal housing grants.
The
2010 Decennial Census In Danger Again — A Church Boycott? Nowhere does the
Constitution, a statute or a judicial decision remotely hint, much less provide, that unlawful immigrants,
people who attend certain churches or both are to be excluded from the count. Tell that to an entity
known as the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, which may have some 20,000 members in
34 States. The leadership of that entity has denounced the Census, claiming that Latinos may be
scapegoats and a purpose of the Census may be to justify deportation of unlawful immigrants. Thus,
intermittent confusion, uncertainty and suspicion now give rise to a thinly veiled intercession of religious
freedom. A real purpose is clear — to avoid a realistically high illegal-immigrant count.
Little noted move
on census by Obama could spell GOP disaster. Trying to game the census for political purposes is
just about what we'd expect from this crew. They have talked so long about building a permanent majority,
manipulating numbers to perhaps overcount their core constituencies should not be put past them. If
Bush/Rove had dared to do something like this it would have been headline news nationally. As it is, we
hear barely a peep from the media and are not likely to in the future.
White House to Bypass Commerce on
Census. The director of the Census Bureau will report directly to the White House and not the
secretary of Commerce, according to a senior White House official. The decision came after black and
Hispanic leaders raised questions about Commerce Secretary nominee Judd Gregg 's commitment to funding
the census.
Political
Battle Brews Over 2010 Census. A political battle has erupted over next year's census with
Republican lawmakers protesting President Obama's decision to take a bigger role in supervising the
process. ... The White House says it is following a historical precedent and that this simply shows that the
census is a priority for the president. But Republicans say it looks like a political power grab.
GOP
Sounds Alarm Over Obama Decision to Move Census to White House. Utah's congressional delegation
is calling President Obama's decision to move the U.S. census into the White House a purely partisan move and
potentially dangerous to congressional redistricting around the country. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah,
told FOX News on Monday that he finds it hard to believe the Obama administration felt the need to place
re-evaluation of the inner workings of the census so high on his to-do list, just three weeks into his
presidency. "This is nothing more than a political land grab," Chaffetz said.
White
House Census Power Grab May Violate the Constitution. Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution
provides for an "actual enumeration" and a statute passed by Congress provides that the duties under this
clause are to be performed by the secretary of commerce. Article I (as Joseph Biden didn't know in
debate) is about the legislative, not the executive branch. Hence, it is argued, the president can't
substitute a sampling for the enumeration required to be done by the secretary. However, it is
undoubtedly true that the president can fire the secretary of commerce for any reason, including failure
to conduct the Census the way he wants the Census conducted.
Why Obama Wants Control of the Census:
President Obama said in his inaugural address that he planned to "restore science to its rightful place" in
government. That's a worthy goal. But statisticians at the Commerce Department didn't think it
would mean having the director of next year's Census report directly to the White House rather than to the
Commerce secretary, as is customary. "There's only one reason to have that high level of White House
involvement," a career professional at the Census Bureau tells me. "And it's called politics,
not science."
Flashback to 2006...
The census has
grown beyond its bounds. While the Patriot Act and National Security Agency wiretapping have
received enormous attention and criticism from the mainstream media, another federal agency has been quietly
gathering far more personal information about U.S. residents than those laws ever can. And this
unreported project affects thousands more people. Our inquisitive federal government has been
demanding that selected U.S. residents answer 73 nosy questions. They are threatened with a fine
of $5,000 for failure to respond.
The Editor says...
The invasive and unreasonably nosy questions on the census started under President Clinton and continued
under President Bush. It sounds like the census is getting more intrusive and less
precise.
GOP leaders criticize
White House role in census. Partisan bickering is complicating next year's high-stakes census count of the
nation's population. House GOP leaders on Thursday criticized plans for increased White House involvement in next
year's count, challenging the president to find a new nominee for commerce secretary if he has doubts about Sen. Judd Gregg,
R-N.H. "If President Obama doesn't trust Sen. Gregg to oversee a fair and accurate census, he should withdraw the
nomination," said GOP conference chairman Mike Pence, R-Ind.
Dems Downplay
Obama's Plan to Oversee 2010 Census. With Republicans increasingly critical of President Obama's decision to
step up White House oversight of next year's census, some Democrats are downplaying the move, saying it is not even official
yet. Obama's plan to have the Census director report to the White House in addition to the Commerce Department has
sparked protest from some Republicans, who accuse the president of a political power grab. One GOP lawmaker is pushing
for an investigation into the planned move.
In
Gregg Stories, Short Shrift to White House's Census Grab. ABC, CBS and NBC centered their Thursday night
stories, on Senator Judd Gregg's decision to withdraw as Commerce Secretary-nominee, around his disagreement with the Obama
administration's "stimulus" plan — with only passing mention, if any, of the administration's wish to move the
2010 census count from Commerce to the White House.
Perfecting The Theft Of Elections. Imagine an
Obama White House where they could be in charge of the numbers. What numbers, you ask? For example, the
population numbers that, among other things, determine how many congressional seats are allocated and to whom.
Who will
investigate the Obama administration? The census controversy brings the first test of accountability and
oversight in the new administration.
White House Denies
Meddling In Census. A White House spokesman denies Republican congressional charges that the White House
is "taking the unprecedented step of moving control of the Census Bureau" to "political operatives on the White House
staff." The charge is made in a letter House Republicans — including Minority Leader John
Boehner — sent yesterday President Obama — calling on him to "reconsider and reverse this
harmful course of action."
Census should be free from politics. The
Obama administration's recent actions regarding the census are outrageous and unprecedented. Commanding the census
director to report directly to the White House is a naked political power grab and transparently partisan. There is
only one possible reason for it — political interference in the 2010 census and partisan manipulation of the
results. This ill-conceived proposal undermines a constitutionally obligated process that speaks to the very heart
of our democracy.
Texas and the Sampling
Battle That Hasn't Happened Yet. Many people mistakenly believe that the battle over "sampling" has already
been fought and completely won. In 1998, a lawsuit was filed against the Census Bureau after it announced that it
would use statistical sampling in the 2000 Census. The Supreme Court ruled in Department of Commerce v. U.S. House
of Representatives that statistical sampling could not be used for congressional apportionment because federal
law barred its use — but that same law, 13 U.S.C. §195, allows sampling to be used for any
other purpose.
White House Claims No Plans to
Takeover Census, But Will 'Consult'. The census, done every 10 years, will determine how
congressional districts are apportioned, which Republicans fear could be threatening if it is politicized.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told a Republican gathering in Virginia Thursday that the White House
would seek to gerrymander districts for Democrats and count illegal immigrants. Obama never announced
any intention to move the Census Bureau into the White House; however, numerous media reports citing unnamed
administration officials said that was the goal.
A Chicago-Style
Census. The census is one of the most important functions performed by the federal government
because the integrity our representative democracy depends on it. Because both parties understand its
importance, the census has always been insulated from political corruption. That is why news of the
Obama Administration's plan to take the 2010 census away from the Commerce Department and run it out of the
White House is disturbing. This action will have enormous implications on the balance of political
power in the country.
One Party
Rule Forever! Because the mainstream press refuses to see anything wrong in the Obama administration, even
the most outrageous actions are given astonishingly gentle treatment — if they get any treatment at all. So of
course we hear almost nothing about the coup d'etat that is under way in the White House. People have been talking
about a "historic realignment," but of course that is nonsense. Most Americans report mostly conservative viewpoints
on most issues. That hasn't changed. What will change, apparently, is how many voters the Obama administration
can produce out of thin air to swing the next election. And as many elections as possible after that. How is
Obama going to accomplish this? He has just moved the constitutionally-required census from the Commerce Department
to the White House — specifically putting it under the thumb of his political strategist, Rahm Emanuel.
Census plan gets
counted out. The Obama administration has scrapped plans to have the Census Bureau director
report directly to the White House, assuaging the concerns of lawmakers. Commerce Secretary nominee
Gary Locke met with key senators Wednesday to reassure them that the 2010 census would be managed by the
Commerce Department, and not the White House.
Doubling Down on Deceit. The
Obama administration has already established that it wants to be intimately involved in the census. One of the
factors behind Senator Judd Gregg's withdrawal from the Secretary of Commerce position was his dissatisfaction with
the White House's planned incursion into the Commerce Department's oversight of the census. Now we have an even
more blatant intrusion into the census process: the Obama administration has decided to allow ACORN — the
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now! — to "help" recruit the roughly 1.4 million
temporary workers needed to count every American.
ACORN to count
heads for Census. First it was President Obama trying to break all precedent and run the
2010 census from within the White House. While the administration finally backed down from that
politicization of the census, it clearly hasn't learned its lesson. Now it is having ACORN officially
"partner" with the Census to help count the number of Americans in the country. It's like Santa
trusting a child to tell him how many times he or she has been good in the past year.
Foxes guarding the chicken coop — or having ACORN help with
the census. [Scroll down slowly] According to a US Census Bureau press release [ACORN]
will soon become an "official partner...help[ing] recruit workers" to bring in the 2010 census. Over
100,000 people are needed for the mammoth task of collecting the detailed data that is then used as a
blueprint to dispense federal money, redraw voting districts and allocate representatives to
congress. ... ACORN is entitled to have whatever political goals it likes and to use whatever
tactics it likes — as long as it doesn't hurt others, destroy property or prevent
people (as in legislative sessions) from being heard.
Did
someone mention ACORN?
Obama's Census Choice
Unsettles Republicans. Robert M. Groves, a former census official and now a sociology
professor at the University of Michigan, was nominated Thursday by President Obama to run the Census Bureau,
a choice that instantly made Republicans nervous. ... Even before the official White House announcement, rumors
about the choice drew criticism on Thursday from Republicans already anxious about the 2010 census, a
multibillion-dollar enterprise that will determine which states gains seats in Congress and which ones
lose them, as well as the allocation of federal dollars to states and cities based on population.
With 2010
Census Looming, Obama Chooses Survey Expert to Run Bureau. Next year's census will cost at
least $15 billion, more than any previous count. The bureau is under pressure from Congress and
advocacy groups to provide a more accurate tally of Hispanics and other minority groups than in the past.
The bureau received $1 billion in stimulus funding to help prepare for the census and will devote up
to $250 million for advertising and outreach programs to help boost participation levels among traditionally
undercounted groups, mostly minorities in urban areas. ... But some Republican lawmakers voiced concern
yesterday [4/2/2009] that Grove supported a statistical adjustment to the 1990 census to make up for undercounting
approximately 5 million people, including many minorities from urban areas who trended Democratic.
Statistical Voodoo Witch Doctor
Tapped for Census Post. A practitioner of the statistical voodoo known as "sampling" has been selected
by President Obama to head the Census Bureau, which is poised to carry out the decennial census next year with ACORN's
help. Liberal pressure groups and Democrats have long favored using statistical modeling, a practice
controversial because it's flagrantly unconstitutional and because it opens up the counting process to
political manipulation.
Obama
Census Plan: No Illegal Alien Left Behind. I have seen the electoral future, and it is
rigged. With fraud-prone, ideologically driven interest groups swarming the census-gathering process,
the left is solidifying its chances of a permanent ruling majority. Lax immigration enforcement is the
not-so-secret key to the Democrats' power grab. And the Obama administration is all too happy to aid
and abet.
Hispanic groups call for Census
boycott. Some Hispanic advocacy groups are calling for illegal immigrants to boycott the 2010 Census
unless immigration laws are changed. The move puts them at odds with leading immigrant rights advocates and
creates another hurdle in the Census Bureau's quest to count everyone in the USA.
Census Bureau: We'll Work with
'Community Organizations' to Count All Illegal Aliens in 2010. The acting director of the U.S. Census
Bureau, Thomas Mesenbourg, told CNSNews.com that the bureau intends to work with community organizations to make sure
every illegal alien in the United States is counted in the 2010 Census. The Census is used to apportion the
seats in the U.S. House of Representative. There are 435 House seats that are divided among the states in
proportion to their population, which is determined by the decennial census. States with more people get
more seats in the U.S. House. This means that a state harboring more illegal aliens can gain more House
seats as long as the Census Bureau finds the illegal aliens and counts them.
Obama and ACORN GPS Marking EVERY Front Door
in America? Republican Senator Judd Gregg was Obama's first choice for the Secretary of Commerce
post, and Gregg was actually considering joining the Obama team, until he found out that control of the US
Census was being stripped from the Commerce Department and placed under the direct control of White House
Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel.
Temp work covers up depth of unemployment.
For weeks, Greg Noel roamed the spine of the Green Mountains with a handheld GPS unit, walking dirt roads and
chatting with people as he helped create a map of every housing unit in the United States.
Last year's scandal:
Census to scrap handheld computers for
2010 count. The Census Bureau will tell a House panel today that it will drop plans to use
handheld computers to help count Americans for the 2010 census, contributing to the increase in cost for
the decennial census by as much as $3 billion, according to testimony the Commerce Department secretary
plans to give this afternoon [4/3/2008].
Billion-dollar IT failure at Census Bureau:
The US Census Bureau faces cost overruns up to $2 billion on an IT initiative replacing paper-based data collection
methods with specialized handheld devices for the upcoming 2010 census. The Bureau has not implemented longstanding
Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations and may therefore be forced to scrap the program.
Census Returns to Paper
Count. Technology problems will force the government to count all of the nation's 300 million
residents the old-fashioned way in the 2010 census — with paper and pencil. … Commerce
Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told a House subcommittee Thursday [4/3/2008] that the government will scrap plans
to use handheld computers to collect information from the millions of Americans who don't return census forms
mailed out by the government. The decision is part of a package of changes that will add as much as
$3 billion to the cost of the constitutionally mandated count, pushing the overall cost to more than
$14 billion. [That's $46.67 per capita.]
Remarks about the Census scrapping handheld
computers for 2010 count: What would be the likelihood that the handheld computers could be
re-used for the 2020 Census? Would the vendor still support the more than 10-year-old hardware at that
time? How many [of us] are still using 10+ year old computers? [The Census is] spending
gigantic wads of money on something that will be obsolete before it can be used even a second time.
The Editor says...
Excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but shouldn't a whole bunch of people lose their pencil-pushing
government jobs over this fiasco?
Earlier news and commentary about the census:
Longer census form
upsets some residents. The 2000 Census was comprised of two forms, one long and one short, but
this time the long form won't be required because of the ongoing American Community Survey, which began in
2003 and is distributed throughout the year. It provides more accurate, up-to-date profiles of America's
communities. The ACS takes about 38 minutes to complete, similar to the old long form, census
officials say. Some local residents, however, see the form as the government as being too intrusive
and forceful in retrieving personal information with the survey.
'Constitution is stupid,' argues
Census worker. When Michigan resident Kim Carey refused to answer questions about her neighbor
posed by a Census Bureau employee making follow-up visits, she cited her belief that the questions are
"unconstitutional," to which the enumerator retorted, "The Constitution is stupid."
Muslim census a
difficult count. A new census of Muslim congregations is reviving controversies over how
many Muslims are in the USA, how they are counted and why it matters. For minority religious groups,
particularly Muslims and Jews, higher numbers can mean enhanced social and political clout in the U.S.
public square.
Census Acknowledges
D.C. Undercount. After decades of losing residents to the suburbs, the nation's capital is
growing with its largest increase in population since 1950. The U.S. Census Bureau acknowledged on
Friday [7/21/2006] that it had underestimated the number of people living in the District of Columbia and
added more than 31,000 people to Washington's official population — increasing it to 582,049.
The Editor says...
They're supposed to count (enumerate) the population, not just estimate.
Flashback to 2000:
Firestorm Hits Capitol Hill As Americans Protest 2000
Census: Phone lines are ringing off the wall in Congressional Offices as Americans express their
outrage over the intrusive questions on the 2000 Census form. Even the short form's "eight simple
questions" invade personal privacy as it asks if the home is owned or rented, who owns it and what is the
telephone number. All of this information is already available to the government through federal, state
and local records. What does such information have to do with assuring an official count of the nation,
as called for in the Constitution?
Feds implement perpetual
census: Critics of [2000]'s decennial census "long form" may soon find a similar
questionnaire in their mailboxes as the U.S. Census Bureau begins implementing a revised version
of the American Community Survey.
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