Posted on 05/14/2010 1:21:30 PM PDT by Nachum
Just when we thought flag@whitehouse.gov–which appears to be alive and well when clicked–was scary and invasive–it seems the Obama administration’s Census Bureau has outdone itself. A US census worker, driving a metallic gray Ford Taurus-type car, has been reported to be combing through the Memphis, TN suburb of Germantown knocking on doors asking people for information on their neighbors.
(Excerpt) Read more at biggovernment.com ...
he said it was like being telmarketed by the government.
I told him it was the change he voted for.
1) Don't know if your co-worker had sent a form back or not, but a certain percentage of people that are interviewed by Census workers are later called by supervisors of the workers; the purpose of this is to make sure the census workers are in fact interviewing people and not making up responses (called "curbstoning" yes, it has happened, it's rare, and because of the phone checks anyone doing it will be caught fairly quickly and fired.)
This is the reason why, if you're interviewed in person, Census workers are instructed to make every effort to get a phone number. Which, of course, annoys people, and then annoys them more when they are called.
Then the same people annoyed by that will be the same people claiming Census workers run around making up data all the time, when it's the phone # and call that is the only way to prevent Census workers from making up data.
2) The only thing sillier than the paranoia that the Census is crewed entirely by ACORN members is the mind-bogglingly ill-informed idea that all evil and annoying procedures and aspects of the 2010 Census were personally put in place by Obama in the last year and a half.
Basic procedures haven't changed all that much since 2000 or 1990, as has been pointed out ad nauseum by a lot of posters.
Planning for a Decennial Census essentially begins the year after the previous Census. When things ARE changed those changes most likely were decided on about 6-8 years before the next Decennial.
I hate to horribly disappoint you, but, for example, the decision to take GPS coordinates of every housing unit, and buy the hardware to do so, was in the early George W. Bush Administration; they were already testing the hardware in 2004.
It did NOT happen as a result of a secret 12-hour Cabinet meeting Obama held on January 21, 2009 where as his first act in office, Obama laid out in detail the diabolical procedures that he had written himself and wanted implemented in the 2010 Census.
The Constitution requires the Census to count "the whole number of persons in each State." (14th Amendment, section 2). It is not limited to citizens.
I don't believe anyone is required to answer the questions, but this certainly isn't some vast left wing conspiracy to get neighbors to snitch on each other. It's been going on for decades.
Pass the aluminum foil....I'm all out.
There's also the question of whether the children have attended school within the last year and if anyone in the home is disabled (blind, mute, deaf, injured).
I don't recall the census this year asking me my relationship to my husband or children. I believe it just asked the names and ages of the people living here at the home. That sucks from a research POV because it's always nice to know if that "odd" person in the home is an extended family member giving you a clue to a new family name or confirming a family relationship. rofl The old census were definitely more probing than this last one.
“There’s also the question of whether the children have attended school within the last year and if anyone in the home is disabled (blind, mute, deaf, injured).”
Are you talking about this year’s census? The question isn’t if they attended school, it’s if they lived outside the house in college or the military or nursing home, etc... This is to prevent double counting if your college student’s residence is your house, but was counted at his dorm. Or if a spouse was in military housing in training or something.
And you are SO right about being clues. Those census records are invaluable to me. I don’t think others should be forced to participate because they are invaluable to me of course, but I just know how grateful I am for it.
At your door, yes...
They will go to your nieghbors and get the information they need on you...
I wouldn’t even try to tell your nieghbors to NOT say anything about you to a census worker...That would be like (in most cases) ringing the dinner bell...
There is no more trusting your nieghbors anymore these days...
you don’t disappoint me. Bush, on the other hand, disappointed me on a pretty regular basis.
Same here. I see a horrid waste of money and a bunch of self-important a$$holes, but so far the worst thing I have found is the counting of foreign nationals. I probably won't encounter this in my neck of the woods but I think it's wrong to count them and said so in training.
That was a HUGE discussion of discontent in training. The counting of illegals is a gross miscarraige of the intent of a census. By counting them, they are gaining representation that citizens will lose.
They want to know if you’re either a citizen or a green card carrying legal alien.
LOL! How stupid. The Census is a CONSTITUTIONAL mandate. First one was done in 1790. All they want to know is how many people lived in the house on April fools day. That is all anyone has to tell the government. Numbers. If you don’t like it, don’t answer the rest, but it is the law that you must answer the number question.
Census workers are charged with the getting the numbers. If you refuse, they ask your neighbors. And they are probably one of your neighbors anyway....
You are not on his list. If you answered the question of how many were in the house...you met your lawful duty.
I know! I said the same thing. I had to wait and see who was at my house on April fools day...great day to be “census day”! LOL. I might have brought in a homeless man....never know.
The census is just being done by local people who want the money. Our worker wore a “mickey mouse” sweatshirt because she said she was working for a mickey mouse outfit!
And by the way, I heard from one of them that the only way Obama is using the census is by getting the unemployment numbers up! Yep, they are hiring hoards of workers, staggering their start dates; paying them for a week of training, then not giving them any work! Scam.
Nothing. Your done. They may call on the phone, just refuse to answer. I did. Almost everyone of the people I know put the number only, and it is okay.
I actually put our names on the form. It is public knowledge from the tax roles anyway; and since I started doing genealogy, I see how great it is to be able to find your ancestors in the census...to see where everyone was staying every ten years. I gave the names, ages and race. I want my specific race: AMERICAN to get more representation.
People, we can’t move forward until you open your door to your census taker. It’s the only way we can get our fair share of beer, skittles and rainbows coming out the rear ends of unicorns.
BINGO! You are right. So, keep telling your friends who don’t like the government to answer the required question...get counted.
Number of people in the house on April 1
“I wouldn’t give any info but name, age and the fact that I lived here.”
Do you have to give your name? I only told the census girl how many people live in the house, and the genders, so when she left, her little booklet was about 95% blank. She asked about race, and I said, “Oh, I thought we’re all equal in America, so our race doesn’t really matter.”
No matter what the census figures are, Obama will cook the books to create the bottom-line results they’re looking for.
Oh... and she wouldn’t go to the neighbor’s house because there was a snake in the driveway. Rubber snakes can’t be all that expensive. I’ll have to pick up a couple before 2020.
I only answered the one constitutional question on the form. Can I expect a senseless worker? I’m looking forward to it.
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