County Commissioner Candidate Declares 2010 Census Unconstitutional Tue, 02 Mar 2010, 06:59:05 EST
FRANKLIN, Tenn. (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- County Commissioner candidate and former U.S. Marine, Trinity Persful, sparked some controversy this weekend at a Rise & Shine Conservative Breakfast at Dotson's Cafe when he warned Williamson County residents against the federal usurpation of local government by means of the 2010 census. A constitutional conservative, Mr. Persful puts forth that although citizens have an obligation to be rightfully counted for purposes of representation, any demand from the federal government to provide further information is an invasion of privacy.
Mr. Persful believes the 2010 census will challenge residents to refuse to answer questions regarding ethnicity, place of residence, income level, age or any other question not directly related to the number of persons living in the household.
"Our founding fathers designed the country to have very, very limited power," explains Mr. Persful, candidate for the 3rd District's Spring Hill, Thompson Station area. "The power was to rest at the state level. In regards to the census, the federal government has no constitutional authority to ask citizens anything but the number of persons living in their home. When the federal government acts outside their enumerated powers, they have abandoned the 'rule of law' - that is, The Constitution - and they have embraced the 'rule of men.' They have, quite simply, broken the law."
Having taken an oath to "support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic," Mr. Persful believes his duty to his country extends beyond any tour of duty he had as a Marine Captain.
"When I took that oath, I agreed to fight for the citizens of my country and their rights," explains Mr. Persful. "As a County Commissioner, I would fight just as hard for my fellow citizen's rights within the local government as I would on the battlefield."
As a fiscal conservative with an M.B.A. from Drexel University, Mr. Persful also has a strong belief that the county should operate in surplus, not debt.
In a county consisting of mostly republican candidates, Mr. Persful believes his standing as a husband, father, constitutional conservative and U.S. Marine is the strongest foundation for a County Commissioner who will defend the city, county and state rights of his fellow citizens honorably, no matter the opponent.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
when they ask anything more than a number from us, it makes one more equal than another and sets up a 'lordship' over us......and it removes the spirit of survival and personal responsibility.... if the government is showing commercials about how to fill out the census so that one can get what they need for 'their area' it removes the personal spirit of responsibility and individual humaness and gives partial thought over to some other entity,,,,that is what the dark ages and kings/queens did.......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
SCHENECTADY Critics complain census too brief BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.
The 10-question census is so short that some city residents are wishing it was a bit more intrusive. There are no questions about income or disability, as on previous forms. Disability advocate Jason Planck was among the many who were disturbed by the briefness of the census. “We fought to get that question [about disability] on the 1990 and 2000 census,” he said. “Why should we even bother filling this out?” The new forms main questions are about age, type of residence, race or country of origin and Hispanic ethnicity. It has led to some concerns at City Hall over how the city will determine the local poverty level — which is necessary not only to determine the need for services but also to apply for state and federal grants. That information will not be gathered through the census this year. But the census department will extrapolate Schenectady’s poverty level by asking a few people about their income in a much longer questionnaire. That form, called the American Community Survey, will be sent out to 3 million addresses throughout the country each year. Every three years, the census will gather enough local data to make estimates about Schenectady’s poverty, percentage of people with disabilities and other important issues. “It’s an excellent modification,” said Jesmarie Soto, chair of the city’s Complete Count Committee. “Having a three-year estimate will allow us to better plan and allocate our resources — in the past they only sent that out every 10 years.” ................................>>>>...................>>>>...........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00802&AppName=1
A week ago here there was mention of the government wasting money sending out a stupid letter advising that a census form would arrive in a future mailing.
I received several e-mails and some phone calls from people who also feel the mailing was a costly move by a debtor nation.
Being a good soldier, I completed and mailed the form the same day it arrived. Lo and behold, several days later in the mail comes a first-class postcard urging me to return the form.
The two advisory mailings cost taxpayers a combined $80 million. You have to wonder how many parks, ice rinks and swimming pools closed or scheduled for closure could have been spared with the wasted funds.
One reader was upset because besides the federal mailings, he received a postcard from state Sen. Neil Breslin duplicating the request to complete the form.
"I was enraged to see the indicia stated New York Senate so I called Breslin's office to complain about the waste of my money,'' one e-mailer wrote. He said Breslin aides did not know how much the mailing cost. Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspS.....Page=2#ixzz0jf8AiL8y
I sit on the complete count committee in Albany. I think one mailer should have done it. But you definitely need to let people know. Lots ride on an accurate count.
CNSNews.com IT Problems Put Accuracy of Census at Risk, Say Government Auditors Monday, March 29, 2010 By Edwin Mora
Seal of the U.S. Census Bureau Washington D.C. (CNSNews.com) – Information Technology (IT) problems at the U.S. Census Bureau could cause inaccuracies in this year's constitutionally mandated decennial tabulation of the U.S. population, according to government auditors.
“IT problems place the efficiency and accuracy of Non-Response Follow-Up at risk and final decennial costs remain uncertain,” testified Judith Gordon, the principal assistant inspector general for Audit and Evaluation at the Department of Commerce, which runs the Census Bureau.
The NRFU is the census’ largest operation and involves personally interviewing millions of people nationwide who did not respond to the mailed Census questionnaire.
Robert Goldenkoff, the director of strategic issues for the Government Accountability Office (GAO), told CNSNews.com that “an estimated 50 million housing units out of a mail-out universe of about 120 million” will be non-respondents that will require an in-person follow-up to count.
According to the Census Bureau: “As a part of the decennial census operations, the U.S. Census Bureau creates an address list of housing units in the United States, and mails out census forms to most of those housing units. People who do not mail back their census forms are visited by a census interviewer who comes to record their data during a personal interview. This visit is a part of the Non-Response Follow-Up (NRFU) operation.”
Goldenkoff, Gordon, and Arnold Jackson, the associate director for the decennial count at the Census Bureau, testified at a March 25 hearing on the 2010 Census. The hearing was held by the subcommittee on the Census of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The Census Bureau is specifically having problems with two IT systems. One is the Paper-Based Operational Control System (PBOC), which is an computer system used to manage the information collected during field operations such as NRFU.
The second is Decennial Applicant Personnel and Payroll System (DAPPS), which is the system used to keep track of, and pay, the more than 600,000 temporary federal workers who help conduct the Census’s NFRU field operations.
Last Thursday, the Government Accountability Office released a report authored by Goldenkoff on the Census Bureau’s IT problems entitle, “Data Collection is Under Way, But Reliability of Key Information Technology Systems Remains a Risk.” The report indicated that the government has known about the problem for some time.
The report said that last February, the GAO had testified that “key IT systems -- most notably an automated system used to manage field data collection known as the Paper-Based Operations Control System (PBOCS) and a personnel and payroll processing system called the Decennial Applicant Personnel and Payroll System (DAPPS) -- were experiencing significant performance issues.” The report documents Goldenkoff's testimony before the House subcommittee.
The Bureau has been in the process of hiring an estimated 600,000 people to conduct the NRFU operation from May through July 2010 -- the interviewers will be trained in April.
During the hearing, Goldenkoff warned that “little time is left” to correct the IT problems that affect NRFU.
The IT component used to “manage Non-Response Follow-Up, the largest Census field operation, is still being tested and it’s scheduled to be released in mid-April,” explained Goldenkoff.
“This is about three weeks later than planned and barely ahead of when the Non-Response Follow-Up is scheduled to begin in early May,” he added. “As a result, little time will be left to resolve any problems identified during testing.”
Nevertheless, the Census Bureau's Jackson was optimistic that the bureau would be successful in its count despite the highlighted IT problems.
“We feel that we are more than prepared to do a successful Non-Response Follow-Up at a range of response estimates on time and within the budget we have,” testified Jackson.
The operating budget for NRFU is $2.7 billion, according to Goldenkoff’s written testimony.
As a result of the IT deficiencies, it is difficult to accurately provide a final cost for the 2010 Census, which is currently estimated at around $14.7 billion.
Key information technology systems continue to experience performance functionality shortfalls and these systems can affect the ultimate scheduled cost and success of the Census,” said Gordon.
Goldenkoff pointed out that not addressing the IT problems could result in the Census costing more than the ballpark $14.7 billion figure.
“It certainly will affect cost if you want to be totally precise about it,” Goldenkoff told CNSNews.com.
“If the automated processes aren’t working properly, if there are shortcomings with that, then one work around is bringing more people to do the job manually and obviously more people, more staff time, and it could increase costs that way,” he explained.
Gordon and Goldenkoff acknowledged that the Census is working towards resolving its IT problems.
“While our testimony today discusses serious IT system challenges, we are mindful of the extraordinary efforts being made by a very dedicated Census staff to achieve a successful outcome,” said Gordon.
Americans are expected to use April 1, the National Census Day, as a reference point for mailing back their Census questionnaire.
Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution calls for a decennial enumeration of the American people to be used for allocating U.S. House seats among the states.
Oh give me a break. http://2010.census.gov/2010census/how/interactive-form.php Yeah, that is real intrusive! Big whoop, name age, birth date, gender and race. Had SSN been requested, I would agree but it wasn't so get over yourselves with this unconstitutional nonsense.
pdh825--you are right. The survey is only ten questions! It is far less than what was required. Agreed--this is not unconstitutional..maybe a nuisance but not unconstitutional.
I sit on the complete count committee in Albany. I think one mailer should have done it. But you definitely need to let people know. Lots ride on an accurate count.
yeah,,,,like your quota for Depends undergarments and the peri-wash to clean you with....BTW---English or do you prefer some other language...survival of the fittest keeps us moving.....civil keeps it smooth......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Weak response to census troubles NY, other states BY HOPE YEN The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Five states — New York, California, Texas, Arizona and Florida — are perilously close to losing out on congressional seats because of lackluster participation in the U.S. census. The five were average or below average in mailing back 10-question census forms when compared to other states, trailing by as many as 5 percentage points, according to the final census mail-in tally released Wednesday. Based on recent population trends, New York, California and Texas had been estimated to fall just above the cutoff for the last House seats when they are redistributed next year. Waiting behind them in hopes of picking up additional seats are Arizona and Florida, which are already expected to gain one seat apiece. Responses from these states also raise a red flag because of their higher shares of residents who are Latinos. The Census Bureau has said one of its main concerns is whether tensions over immigration will discourage Latinos, and particularly illegal immigrants, from participating in the government count. That issue returned to the forefront after Arizona passed a tough immigration enforcement bill. Latino residents represent a predominant share of the population growth in New York, California, Texas, Arizona and Florida, making up more than 50 percent of total growth since 2000. As a result, those states could face big losses if there isn’t full cooperation when the Census Bureau on Saturday begins knocking on the doors of those who did not respond by mail. Of the five states on the cusp, the biggest potential losers are California and New York, which could have a net loss of one and two House seats, respectively. Texas may end up gaining just three House seats instead of four. ...................>>>>........................>>>>................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01800&AppName=1
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