Just got a call from the CENSUS Bureau-EVERYBODY has to fill out LONG form

[fed-up]

How much was paid by businesses lobbying the government to convince them to collect all this personal info on consumers??? (Not that they wouldn't have done it anyway) How much info should the gov have on us? Are corporations/big companies paying for this info?

I recently moved and kept the same phone number.

I just got off the phone with a worker that is trying to track down folks who have not yet turned in their census form. Since I moved and they do not forward them, I had not yet received nor filled one out.

For the last census (2000?) I got a long form, but refused to fill it out and finally was given the short form.

As I was speaking to the person and asking a few questions I learned that EVERYBODY will be getting the long form and mine will be in the mail to me at some near point in the future.

Way too much information for the government to have in my humble opinion.....


http://www.census.gov/acs/www/

American Community Survey is a new nationwide survey designed to provide communities a fresh look at how they are changing.

It will replace the long form in future censuses and is a critical element in the Census Bureau's reengineered 2010 census plan.


from a quote on their homepage:

"The ACS is vital to economic development, and for wise government and business decision making."
Joan Naymark
Target Corporation

"Accurate knowledge of the characteristics of people who live in Lower Manhattan neighborhoods helps planners make decisions on development that is suitable for future residents."
Joseph Salvo, City of New York
Department of City Planning





BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU

[kestrel91316]

1. Hmmmmmm...............If you don't need to sign the form attesting

to its truth under penalty of perjury, then..............

Just sayin' - maybe you could FAKE IT.

I don't believe for one minute everything in a census form can't and won't be used against a person it the government decides it wants to. The RW fascist dictatorship knows no limits and will do ANYTHING to destroy its enemies (i.e. US vocal liberals).

[fed-up]

2. apparently many aren't filling it out :)-req gov to pay workers $10 to call nt

[Jonathan50]

3. Census data were used to intern Japanese Americans in WWII

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/cens17.shtml

Census blamed in internment of Japanese
Scholars study wartime bureau

Friday, March 17, 2000

By STEVEN A. HOLMES
THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON -- Two scholars say in a new research paper that despite earlier denials, the Census Bureau was deeply involved in the roundup and internment of Japanese Americans at the onset of U.S. entry into World War II.

The academics say the Census Bureau's involvement included identifying concentrations of people of Japanese ancestry in geographic units as small as city blocks, lending a senior Census Bureau official to work with the War Department on the relocation program and a willingness to disclose names and address of Japanese Americans.

While it is common today for the Census Bureau to publish reports that detail the number of people of a given race living in an area as small as a city block, such information was generally not available in the 1940s. But the authors of the paper contend that the Census Bureau provided such detailed information as well as age, sex, citizenship and country of birth to the War Department, now the Defense Department, on only one group -- Japanese Americans.

[treestar]

4. I thought the idea was just to count the number of Americans

What is their excuse for needing any other data?

[msongs]

6. the constitution requires an "enumeration" every 10 years...that is,

the census is taken to count actual living human beings. the constitution does not give the government authorization to conduct a census for any other purpose, including data mining.

are you living in the USA on "X" date? yes

end of census questions allowed by the constitution.

Msongs
www.msongs.com

[Clark2008]

13. Exactly.

That's why I think we should only feel out the information pertinent to the enumeration clause of the Constitution, leave the rest blank and then send it in.

You've done your civic duty as required by law and no more.

[msongs]

5. use the Reagan defense - "I can't recall..."

or just say "I don't know"
or that it is against your religion to participate.

Msongs
www.msongs.com

[Bucky]

7. As a grant writer and as a market researcher, I loved thorough census data

Good in depth census data helps policy makers and program managers deliver reliable and needed government services to taxpayers.

[fed-up]

9. what programs and services?? they are all being cut???? n/t

[Merlot]

15. Agreed. EXCEPT that my name is attached to the information.

and have you seen the questions? they are somewhat personal.

[Bucky]

16. The law says it's private for 70 years.

I don't think they're gonna sneak any damaging info out of your census data that they can't get by other, easier, and more reliable means. I won't say that info won't be used, but I've heard nothing to ever suggest that (unlike "protected" IRS and FBI and phone service information) census data has ever been used for Big Brotherish purposes.

[Jonathan50]

20. I guess you didn't read my post #3 above

Census data were used to help round up Japanese Americans in the early days of WWII

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/cens17.shtml

Census blamed in internment of Japanese
Scholars study wartime bureau

Friday, March 17, 2000

By STEVEN A. HOLMES
THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON -- Two scholars say in a new research paper that despite earlier denials, the Census Bureau was deeply involved in the roundup and internment of Japanese Americans at the onset of U.S. entry into World War II.

The academics say the Census Bureau's involvement included identifying concentrations of people of Japanese ancestry in geographic units as small as city blocks, lending a senior Census Bureau official to work with the War Department on the relocation program and a willingness to disclose names and address of Japanese Americans.

While it is common today for the Census Bureau to publish reports that detail the number of people of a given race living in an area as small as a city block, such information was generally not available in the 1940s. But the authors of the paper contend that the Census Bureau provided such detailed information as well as age, sex, citizenship and country of birth to the War Department, now the Defense Department, on only one group -- Japanese Americans.

[Imalittleteapot]

8. Side note. Census sampling not the RIGHT thing to do.

Gore attacks Republicans on census
A little off subject.

Found this in my archives. I seem to remember GWB telling people not to fill out the census forms, but could be wrong.

NEW YORK (AP) - Vice President Al Gore today criticized Texas Gov. George W. Bush for not supporting a U.S. Census that would include estimates of undercounted populations and would probably lead to a reduced Republican political representation nationwide.

''I want to say to Governor Bush, if you really believe that every American counts, it's time to stand up to the operatives in your own party and support a census that counts every American,'' Gore said.

<snip>

Democrats want the U.S. Census Bureau to use so-called sampling to reach its final population count. Sampling is a statistical method of estimating the population in areas like inner cities and minority districts where traditionally large numbers of citizens have not filled out census forms.

It's estimated that 250,000 people in New York City and 500,000 in Bush's home state of Texas were missed in the 1990 census because sampling was not applied.

The Republican Party is opposed to the use of sampling.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/e1399.htm

[Ioo]

10. Sep 1 2006 - Bush Now Wants to Know Everything About You or fine you $72,000

http://speciousreasoning.com/node/1455


I think that you should know this, and be ready for it. I also think that if I get one, fill it out, burn it, and send in the ashes. Now the plan is to send this out all the time, not every 10 years as laid out in the United States Constitution.

From theInternational Society for Individual Liberty

The federal government has quietly begun using an incredibly intrusive new census form called "The American Community Survey." Up to 1 million households a year will receive this form.

This new "census" form is 24-pages long, and demands that you lay bare every detail of your life, including how much you earn, what your home is worth, details of your health, when you leave for work, previous addresses, pregnancies, monies received from government, and on and on.

I say demand because you can be fined up to $1,000 for each of the 72 questions you don�t answer or which you answer "incorrectly." However, so far no one has been fined for not answering, nor are they likely to be if public resistance is strong.

The ways the government could use this information to harm you are mind-boggling. For instance, any financial discrepancy with IRS or Social Security records could result in your criminal prosecution. Knowing when you leave for work could enable police, acting under the Patriot Act, to secretly enter your home.

The American Community Survey also demands that you to report on the activities of relatives, employers and roommates. Joseph Stalin could hardly ask for more surveillance powers. You can download the survey at www.census.gov/acs/www/

Article I of the Constitution allows the government to conduct a count of the American people once every ten years to determine voting districts. Nothing in the Constitution gives government the power to continuously spy on the people or probe every intimate detail of their lives.

As Congressman Ron Paul observes, questions on the American Community Survey are "both ludicrous and insulting," and this information is simply none of the government's business. I fervently hope that millions of Americans will burn their forms or accidentally lose them.

[Clark2008]

14. I smell lawsuit.

No one, especially the government, is "entitled" to this information. Hell, my doctors don't even ask half that stuff and I trust them far more than I do my government (afterall, my government isn't delivering my little girl - who, I'm happy to report is 7 inches long and weighs one pound at 22 weeks in-vitro! :) )

[fed-up]

19. thanks for your reply, this needs rec/kicks so others can read it thnx n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

22. !!

:wtf: What UnAmerican bullshit this is!

The American Community Survey demands that you to report on the activities of relatives, employers and roommates.

Are they freakin' kidding? I don't know any personal information on the aforementioned people and I don't want to know, either. Hey lurking FReeps, is this A-Okay with you?

[133724]

11. My Wife works for the Census Bureau

and there is a fine for failing to fill out the forms.

She also indicated that it was very rairly used or enforced.

keep a low profile & be very nice to the census worker... You would not like to meet the US Marshalls under unfavorable circumstances...

[jarab]

21. It's like a fifty dollar (?) fine ....

When they stop with all the prying, I'll cooperate with the CB (again).
...O...

[Clark2008]

12. I'll only fill out what I think they should know.

That I'm here. I'm white. I'm female and I have (by then) two kids and a husband.

Then I'll send it in.

Nothing else is any of their beeswax.

What would happen if you did that? Do you know?

[tnlefty]

17. I use the standard "nunya" and "sumoreofya"...

each is followed by "damned business".

[SoCalDem]

18. In Kansas (years ago) they sent people to your house and they

asked the questions, and counted the bathrooms, and listed the appliances etc.
(It was for property tax)

My grandfather was thoroughly pissed at the "intrusive snoops".

he would jokingly ask them if they wanted to know how many times a day he took a piss:)

[mainegreen]

23. Just answer financial questions with 'Reported: please reference 1040 submitted 200x'.

or 'Children: Please cross reference submitted SSN with children as listed in SSN database'. It's truthful. If the government wants to know, and they already have the data, let them do the fucking work.
Lazy bastards.