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POLITICAL power is rarely ceded without good reason. So eyebrows were raised last week when the US Department of Commerce decided to relax its grip on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body responsible for the naming system that ensures that when you type a web address, your browser knows where to go. In future, governments and other international organisations will be able to nominate staff to sit on one of ICANN's three newly created steering committees, something the DoC had resisted for years. "What it really means," says ICANN's chief executive Rod Beckstrom, "is that...

It's official. The United States is mired in its worst economic downturn in half a century, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Data released by the department show that the U.S. economy shrank by 6.1 percent during the first three months of the year – a full percentage point worse than what analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had been predicting.

FRIDAY, APRIL 03, 2009 Team Obama Announces It Will Use Community Organizations Like ACORN For Census Count Change! Team Obama confirmed today that they will use community organizations like ACORN for the census count. ACORN will help count the illegal immigrants, or as Speaker Pelosi calls them, the "American patriots." CNS News reported, via Mere Rhetoric: 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...

Census Bureau: We’ll Work with ‘Community Organizations’ to Count All Illegal Aliens in 2010 Thursday, April 02, 2009 By Nicholas Ballasy, Video Reporter (CNSNews.com) - 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...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama has chosen Robert M. Groves to be the next census director, turning to a professor who has clashed with Republicans over the use of statistical sampling to lead the high-stakes head count. The White House will announce the selection of Groves on Thursday, a Commerce Department official told The Associated Press. The official demanded anonymity because the individual was not authorized to speak before the announcement.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is urging census volunteers to reach out to hard-to-count communities, where Hispanic and Asian immigrants often mistake the workers as law enforcement officials or tax collectors. In his first public appearance as secretary, Locke spoke at a training conference Monday held by the Census Bureau for partnership groups ranging from AFL-CIO to the NAACP and Vote Latino. He stressed that personal information submitted on the census form will be kept absolutely confidential.

It was good in the seventies and if anything the "certified angry militant" gig has only gotten sweeter over the years. Just look at the growing budget of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, otherwise known as ACORN. In one city alone -- Baltimore -- ACORN gets $50,000 a year to provide "housing counseling [to] low and moderate income people" -- and it has 1,200 local chapters in 110 American cities. ACORN has had a busy year. Last year it threw itself into the task of getting new voters registered in time for the presidential election. But the...

When we last discussed ACORN they were engaging in criminal breaking and entering of foreclosed homes. Before that, ACORN ran the largest voter fraud in American History, they were convicted of, or being investigated for voter fraud in 14 states (marked in red above-Map from Rottenacorn). Now the Democrat’s favorite voter fraud group, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has a new opportunity to destroy the constitutional right of “one man-one vote.” They have been contracted by the Census department to hire local census workers. That’s right, the same group that registered Mickey Mouse to vote in...

The U.S. Census is supposed to be free of politics, but one group with a history of voter fraud, ACORN, is participating in next year's count, raising concerns about the politicization of the decennial survey. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now signed on as a national partner with the U.S. Census Bureau in February 2009 to assist with the recruitment of the 1.4 million temporary workers needed to go door-to-door to count every person in the United States -- currently believed to be more than 306 million people. A U.S. Census "sell sheet," an advertisement used to recruit...

Republicans had been opposing President Obama's plan to have the next Census Bureau director report to both the commerce secretary and White House senior officials. The White House this week suggested a subtle shift in its plans for overseeing the next year's national head count following Republican criticisms over past administration comments. "The president

This is excellent news, and proof Americans can pull together to stop even the liberal democrats in DC from going overboard: 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.  Fearless Leader just showed some fear. Someone send a dead fish to poor Rahm - he just lost his plan for world domination (so what are you going...

Liberal media outlets are doing their best to boost former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, President Obama's third pick for the beleaguered Commerce Secretary job. "Obama's New Commerce Pick Has Clean Reputation," declared National Public Radio's Tom Banse. The Democrat possesses "a largely scandal-free resume" reported The New York Times. He is a "safe choice," the Washington Post asserted, because of his "strait-laced reputation." But repeating the Mr. Clean claim doesn't make it so. Those in his home state who know Locke best paint a far grimier picture of a crony politician with a serial habit of skirting campaign finance laws...

This is all starting to get a little ridiculous. Obama's first pick for Commerce Secretary, Bill Richardson, had to withdraw his name when it was discovered that he was the subject of a federal grand jury investigation concerning influence peddling. Obama's second choice, New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, first accepted and then rejected the nomination, citing irreconcilable policy differences (which included Gregg's objecting to the politicization of the Census by the Obama White House). Next up: Former Washington Democratic Governor Gary Locke. So is the third time the charm for the president? Or, as columnist Michelle Malkin put it, "Is...

Obama's New Commerce Secretary Nominee: Not So "Squeaky Clean" Michelle Malkin Friday, February 27, 2009 Liberal media outlets are doing their best to boost former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, President Obama's third pick for the beleaguered Commerce Secretary job. "Obama's New Commerce Pick Has Clean Reputation," declared National Public Radio's Tom Banse. The Democrat possesses "a largely scandal-free resume" reported The New York Times. He is a "safe choice," the Washington Post asserted, because of his "strait-laced reputation." But repeating the Mr. Clean claim doesn't make it so. Those in his home state who know Locke best paint a far...

WASHINGTON – Hoping the third time will be the charm, President Barack Obama named former Washington Gov. Gary Locke as his nominee for Commerce secretary Wednesday. "I'm sure it's not lost on anyone that we've tried this a couple of times. But I'm a big believer in keeping at something until you get it right," Obama said, standing with the fellow Democrat in the Indian Treaty Room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House.

(AP)President Barack Obama introduced former Washington Gov. Gary Locke as his nominee for Commerce secretary Wednesday, trying a third time to fill a key Cabinet post for a country in recession. "I'm sure it's not lost on anyone that we've tried this a couple of times. But I'm a big believer in keeping at something until you get it right. And Gary is the right man for this job," Obama said, standing with the fellow Democrat in the Indian Treaty Room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House. The president's two top earlier choices for the post...

Is it possible for Barack Obama to pick a Commerce Secretary nominee who’ll actually make it past first base? Bill Richardson withdrew in the midst of a pay-for-play scandal. Judd Gregg withdrew in the midst of a humiliating power play over the Census and porkulus bill. Now, former Democrat Gov. Gary Locke — a lawyer for international firm Davis, Wright, and Tremaine who specializes in China — is rumored to be the next nominee for the post. The MSM is pulling for him. WaPo writes: “Locke is regarded as a safe choice by senior officials in the Obama administration given...

The Chinagate/Buddhist temple cash skeletons in Gary Locke’s closet By Michelle Malkin  •  February 24, 2009 09:53 AM Is it possible for Barack Obama to pick a Commerce Secretary nominee who’ll actually make it past first base? Bill Richardson withdrew in the midst of a pay-for-play scandal. Judd Gregg withdrew in the midst of a humiliating power play over the Census and porkulus bill.Now, former Democrat Gov. Gary Locke — a lawyer for international firm Davis, Wright, and Tremaine who specializes in China — is rumored to be the next nominee for the post. The MSM is pulling for him. WaPo...

Is it possible for Barack Obama to pick a Commerce Secretary nominee who’ll actually make it past first base? Bill Richardson withdrew in the midst of a pay-for-play scandal. Judd Gregg withdrew in the midst of a humiliating power play over the Census and porkulus bill. Now, former Democrat Gov. Gary Locke — a lawyer for international firm Davis, Wright, and Tremaine who specializes in China — is rumored to be the next nominee for the post. The MSM is pulling for him. WaPo writes: “Locke is regarded as a safe choice by senior officials in the Obama administration given...

Republicans should begin to inform voters in swing states like New Hampshire, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, and Iowa just how much political clout and federal money a crassly partisan Obama census process would cost the people and politicians of those states. Republicans should encourage bipartisan state resolutions to demand a census free of theoretical projections and guessing. Reapportionment produces as many losers as winners. It is for just this reason that it must be fair. The losers are never happy. Republicans must, as soon as practicable, let voters in states which would be cheated with a partisan census count know...