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talkpoliticsHoly cow Batman! Interesting this is the first many of us have heard of the 'twist' on the census.
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Census goes too far with children
by Bob Barr
as published in The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Tuesday, September 08, 2009 at 9:00 AM
Child labor has been officially illegal in the United States since the late 1930s; that is, except for the U.S. Census Bureau. The bureau is embarking on a massive, well-funded plan to use schoolchildren in grades k-12 across the country to serve as salespersons for the 2010 census.
In recent decades, the census has become more than the counting of people the Constitution envisioned. It has morphed into a multibillion-dollar project, backed by thousands of bureaucrats and designed to gather for Uncle Sam as much information on as many people as possible.
In one respect, this phenomenon is a not-unexpected outgrowth of the natural tendency of government to increase and retain power. As the amount of taxpayer dollars flowing into and out of the federal government has expanded exponentially in recent years, so also has the carrot-and-stick the feds employ to pressure states and local communities to do its bidding. Thus, the census is now marketed to states, counties, cities, families and even individuals as a way for the benevolent government to make sure everyone gets their “fair share” of federal largesse.
Viewed thusly, it is perhaps understandable the government has decided that limiting itself to a single, decennial census is inadequate. Enter the perennial census. Now, in addition to the required decennial census, we have the “American Community Survey,” which includes page after page of probing questions about income, employment, driving habits, household appliances and much more.
Apparently the process of gathering all this “vital” information is just too much for the overburdened government to handle, so the Census Bureau brainiacs have decided to tap into America’s vast labor reserve — our schoolchildren.
While the government used schools to a limited extent in the 2000 census, the bureau’s new program, called “2010 Census: It’s about us,” takes “us” to a new level. Students in all grades would study the census using government-provided materials. They would discover the “value” of the census to their families and to their communities. They would engage in “celebrations” about the census; and would be given take-home materials with which to “encourage census-related conversations at home.”
Public schools will be easy to reach and enlist in this program; but the bureau recognizes that for maximum impact, private schools and even home-schooling parents need to be brought on board. Therefore, the official Web site includes in its plan getting materials to all private schools and even home schoolers via the Internet. Parent-teacher associations are encouraged to become “official partners.”
The government says it wants to “encourage students to collect data on their own,” but under this program it will be teaching young children how to be government collectors of information. The bureau even has plans to enlist Sesame Street characters to enhance the learning experience of becoming a government snoop.
The feds increase the likelihood of squeezing every bit of information possible out of everyone filling out the census form by reminding us that failure to comply can be considered a criminal offense. With this in mind, perhaps the administration will be deputizing the new cadre of junior bureaucrats.
This truly is no laughing matter, and parents across the country should stop this thinly veiled effort to teach their children the fun of gathering information for the government. At a minimum, parents should keep their children home from school during “Census in Schools Week” (to occur sometime between January and March 2010, according to the “It’s about us” Web site). There are any number of conversations that ought to occur around the family dinner table that are far more important than why government-funded programs are so vital and why we should happily give to the government all the private information it wants.
Check out the BARR CODE Monday and Friday’s at http://blogs.ajc.com/bob-barr-blog/
---------
Census goes too far with children
by Bob Barr
as published in The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Tuesday, September 08, 2009 at 9:00 AM
Child labor has been officially illegal in the United States since the late 1930s; that is, except for the U.S. Census Bureau. The bureau is embarking on a massive, well-funded plan to use schoolchildren in grades k-12 across the country to serve as salespersons for the 2010 census.
In recent decades, the census has become more than the counting of people the Constitution envisioned. It has morphed into a multibillion-dollar project, backed by thousands of bureaucrats and designed to gather for Uncle Sam as much information on as many people as possible.
In one respect, this phenomenon is a not-unexpected outgrowth of the natural tendency of government to increase and retain power. As the amount of taxpayer dollars flowing into and out of the federal government has expanded exponentially in recent years, so also has the carrot-and-stick the feds employ to pressure states and local communities to do its bidding. Thus, the census is now marketed to states, counties, cities, families and even individuals as a way for the benevolent government to make sure everyone gets their “fair share” of federal largesse.
Viewed thusly, it is perhaps understandable the government has decided that limiting itself to a single, decennial census is inadequate. Enter the perennial census. Now, in addition to the required decennial census, we have the “American Community Survey,” which includes page after page of probing questions about income, employment, driving habits, household appliances and much more.
Apparently the process of gathering all this “vital” information is just too much for the overburdened government to handle, so the Census Bureau brainiacs have decided to tap into America’s vast labor reserve — our schoolchildren.
While the government used schools to a limited extent in the 2000 census, the bureau’s new program, called “2010 Census: It’s about us,” takes “us” to a new level. Students in all grades would study the census using government-provided materials. They would discover the “value” of the census to their families and to their communities. They would engage in “celebrations” about the census; and would be given take-home materials with which to “encourage census-related conversations at home.”
Public schools will be easy to reach and enlist in this program; but the bureau recognizes that for maximum impact, private schools and even home-schooling parents need to be brought on board. Therefore, the official Web site includes in its plan getting materials to all private schools and even home schoolers via the Internet. Parent-teacher associations are encouraged to become “official partners.”
The government says it wants to “encourage students to collect data on their own,” but under this program it will be teaching young children how to be government collectors of information. The bureau even has plans to enlist Sesame Street characters to enhance the learning experience of becoming a government snoop.
The feds increase the likelihood of squeezing every bit of information possible out of everyone filling out the census form by reminding us that failure to comply can be considered a criminal offense. With this in mind, perhaps the administration will be deputizing the new cadre of junior bureaucrats.
This truly is no laughing matter, and parents across the country should stop this thinly veiled effort to teach their children the fun of gathering information for the government. At a minimum, parents should keep their children home from school during “Census in Schools Week” (to occur sometime between January and March 2010, according to the “It’s about us” Web site). There are any number of conversations that ought to occur around the family dinner table that are far more important than why government-funded programs are so vital and why we should happily give to the government all the private information it wants.
Check out the BARR CODE Monday and Friday’s at http://blogs.ajc.com/bob-barr-blog/
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 16:58 (UTC)Everything else is unconstitutional.
(That having been said, I'm not going to keep my kid home from school when he's learning about the Census.)
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 17:21 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 18:24 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 17:41 (UTC)Back then it was great. The head of the house received a paper form that asked who all lived at the residence, their age, race, and how you were connected to them. You then put what city, county, and state you were in and sent it off.
Nothing political or invasive. Just kept tabs on people for proper apportioning.
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 17:51 (UTC)Yeah, truancy is the answer. Brilliant, Babar. I wonder what the maximum would be.
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 17:53 (UTC)BS like this just makes truancy seem like good time management.
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 18:11 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 18:26 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 19:13 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 20:27 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 20:43 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/9/09 03:25 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 18:13 (UTC)The 2010 Census: because the secret troops on standby to invade your commnuity, murder your families and enslave your children need to know when you're home and if they're going to need anti-toaster gear.
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 21:59 (UTC)agree w/ earlier caller that the ol' fashioned simple is best. i'm also doing geneology and find it useful but much less intrusive to people's lives. if more info is needed, let neilsen ratings handle it and don't call it a flippin' census that's mandatory...
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 18:22 (UTC)/Okay, maybe not, but I remember that shit.
TIC
Date: 8/9/09 18:27 (UTC)I always remember reading what happened to Israel when David took the census.
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 18:43 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 18:51 (UTC)let your voice be heard and let your neighborhood be blank!
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 20:13 (UTC)EVERYONE BOYCOTT THE CENSUS!!
:makes eyes:
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 20:15 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/9/09 01:52 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 18:45 (UTC)Essentially, Bob Barr has absolutely no credibility with me.
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 21:53 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 22:22 (UTC)And there's also a difference between your average politician and those who preach moral values left and right, including going so far as to fight for the impeachment of a president for something they themselves have done. Political figures such as Bob Barr, David Vitter, Mark Sandford, Larry Craig and Bob Livingston that are so hell bent on "Family Values" and doing things like Bob Barr's authoring DOMA and his hardliner stance against abortion when he's secretly going against those tenets himself just make them have even less credibility than your average hypocritical politician.
Because face it; to make it in politics, you need to be somewhat hypocritical, or you'll never get elected. I accept that.
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 22:00 (UTC)like you've never made a mistake nor changed your mind when further info was presented? what do you do w/ new material?
hmm.... tsk tsk
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 22:30 (UTC)Can people change their minds on issues? Sure. I have over the years, and if I thought it was genuine I would take it seriously. But I can never take Bob Barr seriously because he has shown in the past to have serious moral and ethical flaws.
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 22:19 (UTC)He cray cray.
(no subject)
Date: 9/9/09 02:30 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 18:59 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 19:10 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 20:01 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 20:02 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/9/09 01:53 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 19:55 (UTC)This assertion is laughable. Since when has counting our population been given such a sinister connotation?
(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 21:53 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/9/09 02:13 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/9/09 05:24 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/9/09 06:17 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/9/09 18:25 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 20:00 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/9/09 01:16 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 21:12 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/9/09 22:02 (UTC)and as a former girlscount, those cookies don't earn us JACK! we ended up getting less than .50 per box when they were $3 a box then.
(no subject)
Date: 9/9/09 02:14 (UTC)