The census this year and the (28) extra pages of questions

[paul.karen]

So the census use to be a fairly easy thing to fill out.  Or to answer questions to.  This year there are an additional 28 pages of supplemental questions.  Very private questions that truly have no place for the government to ask or know about.
A few are.

What time do you leave for work down to the hour and minute.
how long is your lunch break.
do you use birthcontrol
what medicines are you on
email address all of them
home phone cell phone
do you plan on having children
what is your source of income (all of them)
do you plan on going to school (college)
what courses will youtake
do you have a library card
and on and on. So many more invasive questions i just cant recall them all.

The one question they dont ask.
Are you an American citizen??    Seems this would be a big one?

If you dont answer anywhere from a $100 to a $5000 fine.
If you dont answer they will first go to your neighbor an your left and question them then the neighbor on the right then your job.  If they are still not satisfied they may revoke your gun permits (if you have one) or your driving privileges.  They say none of these answers will be used against you.  Yet if you recall after japan started a major world war the census was used to round up all Japanese people and place them in interment camps.

Just curious if your ok with this invasive means of collecting all the information they can on you.  To be used against you if they so choose to.
And are you OK if ACORN runs the census. 

[BigSky]

Trespassers will be shot, survivors will be prosecuted.


On the other hand answering in binary code might really piss them off.


010011100110010101110110011001010111001000100000011101000111001001110101011
100110111010000100000010000010100001101001111010100100100111000100001
(Never trust ACORN!)

[Rerun]

I applied to work part-time for the census bureau and took the test and passed with a 90% and they never called me.  I called them 4 times to check and they just said they are not hiring yet.  I guess they just blew me off.

           

[okarol]

Jenna and I applied for census positions too. They said the bulk of work will be in the fall. Who knows if they will actually call? I found this info online:

This is how it will work: Employees will visit each housing unit and knock on the door. If someone answers, they will identify themselves and state what they are doing. The Census employees will stand in front of the housing unit for several minutes while they capture the address and GPS coordinates in the hand-held computer.

If the unit's house number is not posted, they will attempt to interview someone about the address and the number of living units in the building. If that is not possible, they will enter the available information in the computer and move on.

Address canvassing will take place between April 20 and July 2.
 
2010 Census Timeline: Key Dates
 

    * Spring 2009: Census employees go door-to-door to update address lists nationwide.
    * Fall 2009: Recruitment begins for census takers to support peak workload.
    * February-March 2010: Census questionnaires are mailed or delivered to households.
    * April 1, 2010: Census Day.
    * May-July 2010: Census takers will visit households that did not return a questionnaire by mail.
    * December 2010: The Census Bureau delivers population counts to the President.

 
For more information on the Census in general and the 2010 Census in particular, please visit www.census.gov.

[Jean]

Wait, do you all live in the United States?

[Darthvadar]

Flipping heck, Folks..

TWENTY-EIGHT extra pages??.... I thought we were bad in Ireland... Out entire Census Form last time (2006) was 24 pages!...

It's not a watch you'll need to keep track of time when you're filling that in, it's a calender!...

Have fun!!!!...

Love...

Darth...

P.S.... John Denver's 'Annie's Song' is regarded as the anthem for Census Enumerators in Ireland... You know the first line?... Yep, 'You fill up my senses'... I know, it's a dreadful joke, but I never claimed to be funny!...

[YLGuy]

okarol has it right.  I was a Special Places Operation Supervisor and a Non-Response Follow-Up Supervisor in the last census.  I was actually impressed on how hard the government worked to get an accurate count.  There was 1 night that the Census Bureau sent us all out to count homeless people who slept outside. 

Darth, you just got lucky.  If I remember correctly for every certain amount of surveys sent out they have 1 that is much longer.   

[paul.karen]

YL,

An accurate count of people is one thing.  Getting every bit of personnel infomation is a totally different thing.

[Darthvadar]

You could be right, YL...

However, I think I recall complaints about the size of the 2006 Census, so I suspect that this was the larger one... I certainly hope so anyway!...

Darth....

[keefbeer]

During the last census here in the UK (2001) there was an internet campaign to list your religion as Jedi Knight, 390,000 people duly did just that. Apparently the size of the response means that future census forms will need to print a tick box for all the Star Wars nuts.
Coming very near the bottom of an official list of religions put out by the Statistics Office, Jedi Knight is known by the code 896. Heathen comes in at 897. Followed by Atheist at 898 and lastly None with 899.

[Darthvadar]

Did someone mention 'Jedi'?....

Don't like the sound of that!!!...

To the Death Star.... says she breathing heavily!!!!!!....

Darth...

[Bill Peckham]

So the census use to be a fairly easy thing to fill out.  Or to answer questions to.  This year there are an additional 28 pages of supplemental questions.  Very private questions that truly have no place for the government to ask or know about.
A few are.

What time do you leave for work down to the hour and minute.
how long is your lunch break.
do you use birthcontrol
what medicines are you on
email address all of them
home phone cell phone
do you plan on having children
what is your source of income (all of them)
do you plan on going to school (college)
what courses will youtake
do you have a library card
and on and on. So many more invasive questions i just cant recall them all.

The one question they dont ask.
Are you an American citizen??    Seems this would be a big one?

If you dont answer anywhere from a $100 to a $5000 fine.
If you dont answer they will first go to your neighbor an your left and question them then the neighbor on the right then your job.  If they are still not satisfied they may revoke your gun permits (if you have one) or your driving privileges.  They say none of these answers will be used against you.  Yet if you recall after japan started a major world war the census was used to round up all Japanese people and place them in interment camps.

Just curious if your ok with this invasive means of collecting all the information they can on you.  To be used against you if they so choose to.
And are you OK if ACORN runs the census.

Do you have any links?

After looking through this Census bureau pdf http://2010.census.gov/2010census/pdf/2010ACSnotebook.pdf I think you are conflating two things: the 2010 census which is required by the US Constitution to be done every 10 years and the annual "American Community Survey". The 2010 census will go to every household in America and ask 7 questions. It should take less than 10 minutes to fill out. In 2000 about 1 in 6 households received a "long form" census - this year everyone will fill out the seven question survey, this is a short form only census.

The American Community Survey is sent to people each year, some pretty small number (comparably) like 10,000 - it's a statistical sample. The American Community Survey has taken the place of “long form” census questionnaires. Participation in the the American Community Survey is not compelled by the Constitution. It is not the census. There are additional questions this year - I think mostly around housing.

ACORN has been hired to assist in recruiting census workers in low income areas - areas where ACORN has a presence. If you have concerns tell us what they are but I think hiring people who live in the area is the only way to successfully get people to answer the door and the seven questions. I would worry about someone from Seattle knocking on Bigsky's door but if it was one of his neighbors coming by to help him do his constitutional duty (in under 10 minutes) there is a chance it'll work.

[willowtreewren]

I agree with Bill.

Where did you get this information, Paul? And did you run it through Snopes? Or check out any links associated with it?

I tend to be skeptical of scare tactics info like this and do my best to track down how reliable it is before posting it to anyone. I got burned a couple times passing on erroneous information and getting called on it.

I belong to a political/philosophical listserv and one better have corroborating evidence before posting or others will quickly shoot you down! 

Aleta

[BigSky]

The only Constitution Duty is that belonging to the government to count the citizens and only allows the government to take a enumeration of the people for determining Representatives and how direct taxes shall be apportioned among the States.


After the recent corruption committed by ACORN in numerous states across this country its disturbing that Obama is even allowing them to be in on this.

[okarol]

This time there is not supposed to be any long forms used.

The 2010 Census will have one of the shortest census questionnaires in the history of the United States, dating back to the nation’s first census in 1790. The 2010 Census will ask for name, gender, age, race, ethnicity, relationship and whether the householder owns or rents their home. The census form will take only about 10 minutes on average to complete, and answers are protected by law and strictly confidential.

Here is a sample of the 2010 census
http://www.cranberrytownship.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=747