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What does it mean to say that 46.2 million Americans live in “poverty”? Yesterday morning, the U.S. Bureau of the Census released its annual report on income and poverty, saying that some 46.2 million Americans –15 percent of the population — were poor in 2011. The poverty rate did not fall from the prior year but remained at a near record high, the agency said. The rise in poverty from 36.4 million in 2006 to 46.2 million in 2011 was due initially to the recession and now to the failure of the Obama administration to restore jobs in the economy....

Oh joy. We received our 2012 "American Community Survey" this week, the gazillion page long form that government experts assure me will take only 38 minutes to fill out. Below are the samples of the extremely obnoxious questions on the current form (courtesy of RyanUS at DemocratUnderground who complained about this government intrusion in his life!). I'm giving them the basics and expect to be harrassed the next six weeks until they finally go away.

Why are we getting a long-form census right NOW?? I filled out a census form two years ago. This thing is incredible! It's 28 pages long. It's asking some pretty invasive questions (how much my husband earns, to describe his duties at work, what time he leaves for work, how many times we've been married). The income section is as detailed as a tax return! If I used these figures, I could redo last year's tax return - and that is no exaggeration! Heck, I'd have to pull out last year's tax return to answer these questions. And why am...

With more than half the population being a non-white 55.2 percent, Texas joins New Mexico, California, Hawaii, and Washington D.C. with a "majority-minority" status, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Majority-minority is a legal term used to describe a U.S. state that has a racial composition of less than 50 percent white. The Census Bureau defines individuals who are considered 'white' as non-Hispanics who have family origins in Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.

A decennial census of U.S. religions in America was released Tuesday by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB). The results show a dramatic increase in the number of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, and Muslims, a modest increase in the number of evangelical Protestants, and a drop in the number of Catholics and mainline Protestants. Muslims saw the greatest growth rate among the five main religious groups studied. Their numbers increased by 66.7 percent in the 2010 census from a decade earlier. Latter-day Saints saw the next highest growth at 45.5 percent, followed by evangelical Protestants at only...

Several weeks ago I received a letter addressed to "Resident." Inside was a 28-page American Community Survey form in which I was supposed to reveal to the government every detail about my life. Today, "Resident" received it again along with a threatening letter requiring me to complete the survey. I intend to chuck this one, too. Has anyone else had this experience?

Census data from the past is really hot. When the National Archives posted details from 72 years ago — the 1940 census — online recently, millions of Americans stampeded the website to try to learn more about their past. But imagine how cool it would be if, by some twist of time, the National Archives were to make available detailed census information from nearly 70 years in the future — the 2080 census. We asked James Dator, director of the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies, what kind of information census takers will be soliciting seven decades in the future....

The 1940 census records were released this morning, and the National Archives website buckled under the load. About 1.9 million users hit the archives servers in the first four hours the data went public, but many of those users got no further than a screen that said “Preparing Image.”

Opening April 2, 2012 9:00 AM Eastern For more information please visit the National Archives

The 1940 census will be released online on April 2, 2012. Please bookmark this page: 1940census.archives.gov. This is where you will be able to access the digitized census records starting on April 2. The digital images will be accessible free of charge at NARA facilities nationwide through our public access computers as well as on personal computers via the internet. Part 1: General Information FAQs about the 1940 Census 1940 Census Forms Questions Asked on the 1940 Census Selected List of Codes 1940 Census Lectures by NARA staff nationwide Part 2: How to Start Your 1940 Census Research

Has anyone else gotten a survey from the Census Bureau entitled "The American Community Survey"?

"Your response to this survey is required by law (Title 13, U.S. Code, Sections 141 and 193). Title 13, as changed by Title 18, imposes a penalty for not responding. We estimate this survey will take about 38 minutes to complete."

Do I have to respond to the American Community Survey / Puerto Rico Community Survey? Yes. Respondents are required to answer all questions on the American Community Survey (ACS) to the best of their ability. Response to this and other Census surveys is required by law (Section 221 of Title 13, Chapter 7, United States Code). This chapter also contains information regarding offenses and possible penalties. According to Section 221, persons who do not respond shall be fined not more than $100. Title 18 U.S.C. Section 3571 and Section 3559, in effect amends Title 13 U.S.C. Section 221 by changing...

The Barack Obama administration is quietly in the process of rigging use of the US Census of 2010, which deliberately counted millions of illegal aliens, for the purpose of restructuring the apportionment of the US House of Representatives. Accordingly, as candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of one of the negatively affected states (Montana), Mr. Bob Fanning and I have joined with several others in becoming amici curiae in a pending federal lawsuit brought by the State of Louisiana against the US Secretary of Commerce, et al., which was filed January, 13, 2012 in the United States Supreme Court. What...

Madison - A Democratic group suing election officials over new election maps asked a federal court Monday to sanction the state for not telling it about inaccuracies with the maps. Once a decade, states must draw new boundaries for legislative and congressional districts to account for population changes recorded by the U.S. Census. Republicans who control Wisconsin's government were able to draw those lines last year to favor themselves. Even before the GOP maps were revealed, a group of Democratic citizens sued over them, arguing they violate the U.S. Constitution and federal Voting Rights Act. On Monday, the group said...

For years, the Left led by President Obama and aided by the robots in the media have continued to say there is a growing income gap in America. They say the rich are getting richer and the poor are being left behind. President Obama recently stated in his weekend address to the nation, “Over the past three decades, the middle class has lost ground while the wealthiest few have become even wealthier.” The recent flurry of news stories came as a result of a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report that concluded: “From 1979 to 2007, real (inflation-adjusted) average household...

What comes to mind when Mexican immigrant Elsa Garcia thinks of Baltimore's drawbacks? "Basura. O las drogas," said the East Baltimore resident. "Trash. Or drugs." Then, quickly, comes her list of Baltimore's pluses: Her husband has been able to find construction work. They have affordable housing. Police are not automatically suspicious of immigrants. (SNIP) At her inauguration, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake set the goal of increasing the city's population by 22,000 people — 3.5 percent — in 10 years. Drawing native-born people back from the suburbs and working to retain current residents will help stem the population decline but cannot alone...

TALLAHASSEE — Florida's new redistricting standards, coupled with the 10-year shift in population, have forced Republicans to do what is rarely done in politics — sacrifice incumbents — and that is not going over well with some Republicans. The possible casualties include U.S. Rep. Allen West, whose Broward to Palm Beach-based district would become more Democratic in every map proposed by both the state House and Senate. Broward Republicans have launched a website — "saveallenwest.com." — and are mounting a campaign to pressure legislators to revamp the maps to make them more in line with what they believe are the...

The population of the District of Columbia is growing faster than that of any state in the country, according to a new U.S. Census report that shows an acceleration of a trend in which largely skilled and educated workers have flocked to the city’s resilient local economy and its well-paying jobs connected to the federal government. The city added 16,000 residents between April 2010 and July of this year, more than half as many as it added in the entire previous decade, the report said. In all, the District has added more than 45,000 residents since 2000, the nadir of...

Interactive map, showing every US county. Just roll your cursor over a county to see the latest census data. From the article: "Browse population growth and decline, changes in racial and ethnic concentrations and patterns of housing development."