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Ezra Taft Benson was right. We've been ignorant of our constitutional rights for decades, at our own peril.
Jerry Day came up with some great questions about the census that the Census Bureau Media Relations Department refused to answer. Setting aside my dropped jaw over the fact that we are paying the Census Bureau to staff a media relations department in the first place, they are great questions that deserve a response. But they won't be forthcoming, because there are no good answers.
As for our home, when we are served with the census in whatever form our answer will be the number of people living in our home. Period. End of discussion. Then I will read/enclose Jerry's questions and wait. And wait. And wait.
- The Constitution authorizes the government to count people, but it does not authorize the taking of private information or even the names of individuals. From where does the Census Bureau derive authority to demand private information?
- Is there any limit to the amount and type of private information that the Census Bureau may demand and collect?
- Under what Constitutional authority does the Census Bureau collect information now from 250,000 people every month of every year?
- The fourth amendment to the Constitution prohibits government search and seizure of private information without a court warrant based on probable cause. Current census policies violate that amendment, do they not?
- By what Constitutional authority does the Census Bureau threaten penalties for failure to provide personal information?
- The Census Bureau claims it maintains privacy of personal information. Are there any circumstances under which law enforcement or spy agencies can access census information?
- Since presumably census data may be subpoenaed by law enforcement, may individuals refuse to answer questions according to the fifth amendment?
- Why has the Census Bureau decided to collect GPS coordinates for every home?
- Virtually every government database has been either lost, hacked, or compromised. Would the Census Bureau's claim of data security not be an outright lie or at best, highly improbable?
How would the Census Bureau locate, protect, and compensate those individuals whose data becomes compromised?
Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.
I’m guessing you didn’t send a link to this post to your sis-in-law? 🙂
I’m just really irritated by the dishonesty in the way they’re promoting this whole thing. Your SIL was telling me that her whole JOB with the Census Bureau is to “educate” people on it, train community leaders etc, explain to them how important and necessary it is etc– in other words, they’re trying to get as many people as possible to fill it out, and make them believe it’s perfectly legitimate and safe, not an invasion of privacy etc and make them believe that it’s NECESSARY for the “betterment” of society. I’ve seen commercials on TV that scare people into thinking there won’t be enough money for schools if they don’t fill it out completely– that you’re somehow going to hurt the education of America’s children if you don’t fill it out. All sorts of nonsense.
And part of what makes the propaganda so dishonest is EXACTLY what she said — that the government isn’t MAKING you answer all the questions, that she teaches people that you don’t have to answer anything you don’t feel comfortable answering. But underneath all the questions they explain why they want the info, and under the one that asks for your phone number it says, (in so many words, I don’t remember the exact wording) “so we can call you and find out any info from where you didn’t fill it out completely) So how many million people out there are going to feel like they HAVE to fill out the form entirely, otherwise “the government’s” gonna come-a callin’ to find out what you didn’t want to tell in the first place.
It’s simply unconstitutional. They have the right to NUMBER the citizens. That’s it. Period. End of story.
And the threat is, “you won’t get the free goodies you’re ENTITLED to, if you don’t tell us the rest.” Not to mention that they are counting illegal aliens and using the numbers to create “representation.” Since when do non-residents and illegal residents get representation?
this may be a double post. if so, my apologies. however, it appears that the courts have already ruled on this issue and this is settled law.
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/why/constitutional.php
Hogwash. Watch this begin to fly.
I am not questioning your privacy arguments – it’s clearly from the perspective of what is important to you. However, I just want to add. Census data is the ONLY way my mother has been able to do temple work for over 3,000 names in the last 5 years on her family lines. It has been critical and she is devastated at the changes coming to census data in the countries she researches. I’m just sayin’ … there’s a bigger plan and it’s not always the big bad government’s one!
I understand your point Chrysula– I myself have used Census records to find names, get approximate ages, etc. And of course, I’m glad to have the info. But as you know, Heavenly Father can make good out of bad.
An unwed girl letting things get carried away with her boyfriend and ending up pregnant is a bad thing.
The opportunities that gives others to show unconditional love and charity is a good thing.
If Heavenly Father wants us to have the information we need for genealogy work, He’ll get it to us. He doesn’t need the Census to do it.
I’m sure you realize, even if you disagree, that the concern many have with this isn’t necessarily giving this info out— it’s the WHO’s collecting it and WHY. If the church was asking these questions, I wouldn’t have an issue because I know I can TRUST that the Church doesn’t have any devious if not nefarious plans for USING the information.
And let’s be honest. If your mother’s relatives had computers and Facebook back then, she wouldn’t have bothered with a Census. 🙂
If you want my opinion (questionable!) I think genealogy is all about us serving and doing good and turning toward our ancestors. Do we really believe that if someone lived and died in a remote part of the world without written language, or they had records but they are long destroyed, or they had records but they were GIRLS and so weren’t deemed worthy of record, that they will be doomed to spirit prison eternally because we can’t “find” them? We’re dooming millions upon millions if we believe that.
And what about all those we HAVE records for, but the church has agreed not to do the work because it isn’t socially expedient? (Think Jewish community.)
I just think we’re left to do our best to do as we’ve asked and he’ll open the doors that need to be opened. For example, it is church doctrine that those on the earth during the millennium will be celestial/terrestrial humans and resurrected beings. I don’t know, but if we’ve got former spirits helping us out, couldn’t they just ASK the other spirits who they are? And, really, if you’ve got a spirit named Sally saying,”Hey, I want to be baptized.” do you need her mortal birth date and all that? Isn’t most of the record keeping just to keep things organized and to not confuse people?
I think using genealogy to support the government going well beyond appropriate bounds is a really tough spin to justify. You have to look further down the line to see the ramifications of justifying actions based on possible future benefit. We get genealogy information from slave records, too.
Who do you use to host your website? I just bought a domain, and am trying to figure out what to do with it and it mentions hosting, so I figured I would ask your opinion. I know you were doing those how to do a blog things, but this isn’t blogger, I wanted the dotcom name so easy to remember and to plug ( ha it is thestampdr.com and I have a whole slew of things I am going to be doing to get my Close to my Heart business up and running, like weekly videos/appts with the dr, teaching techniques and what nots… close to my heart offers a training academy where you earn a doctorate, so I figured play off that 🙂 ) anyhow, if ever you have time to chat, let me know, so I can pick your brain about how to make this thing work.
OK, so I already have the domain name, thestampdr.com and I have a blog one too thestampdr.blogspot.com, is that what you mean?
Either way, can I do that win with 1 still even if I already have the domain name? Will it still be 100 dollars or less to do since I already have some of it?
ps I also have thestampdr on twitter, so trying to cover everything, so that it is mine, that is good, right?
Personally, I wouldn’t use blogspot except to redirect to your real site. You don’t own that site and if you do anything they don’t like (such as too much commercialism, etc.) they can just pull your whole site and you lose everything. It’s not a place I’d invest much time, etc.
Yea, you can still use my package. Where is your domain registered? I can discount (about $6) if it’s somewhere I can point to hosting. Otherwise, I’ll have to transfer the domain — which is the same as rebuying as far as cost goes.
Yea, getting the Twitter is good. I’d also set up a fan page on FaceBook with the name. If you don’t know how to do that, let me know and I can write up a tutorial. I mostly use Twitter and FB, but you might want to look at LinkedIn. Part of my package includes an invite to BlogEngage (a closed blogger social network) which is a great traffic generator. But that is only after the site is established.
Let me know how/if you’d like to proceed.
oh no, did I mess it up already? I bought it at godaddy.com OK, so good to have the blogspot page, just so no one else takes it, but not the most reliable is what I am getting.
Yes, I think I want to do the whole package thing, I need to understand it more, and then next month I should be able to afford the 100 and get it going 🙂
Thanks Alison 😀
No, you didn’t mess up. I used to host all my stuff at godaddy, I just switched them all because I don’t like their skanky advertising and they had issues with domain scooping. I can probably point the godaddy site over to the hosting. Just have to figure out their method since I don’t use them.
Yea, it’s not really not reliable, it’s that you don’t own it. You have no control. That’s not a great place to build a business.
Let me know if I can answer any more questions. 🙂
so how does that work then, didn’t I have to buy it form godaddy.com or could I have bought it elsewhere?
There are hundreds of registrars besides godaddy. Most charge less. :/
dang it, wow, guess I am a newb, ugh
though 1.99 was pretty good, but that was only for this year. But yes, let me know if it is possible still with that domain, I think the end of the month is when I can sign up for the whole package deal, maybe within a week and a half.
If you got it on their 1.99 special, that’s a good price. They just charge more than usual thereafter. I own about 100, so a few dollars matters. 🙂
But, yes, either way it’s possible! It’s your domain so you can either leave it there or transfer it. My suggestion is just to let me transfer it and work from the other registrar — since you’d only lose your $1.99, but it you want to leave it there, you would be responsible for renewal and any administration from the godaddy side.
Does transfering later work? I got it with the 2 years and then got like the privacy protection? So year one was 1.99, year two was 10 something and then the privacy protection was… or if you recommend transfering now, then it would be the full 100 dollars right? I should be able to do that, like I said in like a week and a half if not by the end of the month. I need to be better about asking my knowledgeable friends before jumping into things… ugh.
Personally, I don’t think it’s worth the savings to have the tradeoff of having to administer it yourself forever. 🙂 It might not be a huge deal, so maybe you won’t mind, but I can’t manage the URL from your account.
I would not pay for privacy protection. This is your BUSINESS site. People have to know who you are to do business with you. So why would you try to hide that you own your own site?
Weird, I just began working on a client site a few hours ago. It uses the clients full name as the URL (like ClerissaLewis.com) and yet she paid for privacy protection, too. I don’t know why these sites are selling this under these circumstances. You WANT people to know who you are. That’s the point of the site. 🙂
But look, if you transfer now you lost $12. No big. You’ll make it back. 🙂
Let me get this straight. The government just sent out a quintillion letters to everyone in the country telling them that they are going to get the census later?
I was SOOO irritated when I opened that. Really?? They’re warning us? Since the endless advertisements everywhere else aren’t enough. . .
I just got that letter yesterday!!! I thought the SAME THING!!!! I was like– you sent me a letter, to tell me, in esssence, that I’m getting a bigger letter? What a waste of time, money and trees. How much money did they spend on all that paper, on all the envelopes, on all the postage, on paying all the staff who did all this?
THIS ladies and gentlemen, is the epitome of government waste!
I got our last week…looked at it and in my head said “So just FREAKING send the census!!! What a waste of money.”
My bishop posted that he got his too and what a horrible excuse for “job stimulus” it is.
I’m ok with the main census. But the ACS is what I question. If my area gets it…hmm. Not so sure its getting filled out.
SALT LAKE CITY 12 March 2010 In a letter to be read in all U.S. congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the First Presidency urged Mormons to participate in the 2010 United States Census:
“The United States Constitution mandates that a census be counted every ten years. This census is used to determine the makeup of state legislatures, local school boards, and other government bodies and to determine how many seats each state will have in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Church also uses census data for planning purposes.
“The Census Bureau will soon deliver census questionnaires to every household in America. We urge all members to respond to them in an accurate and timely manner. It is an important obligation for all citizens to be counted in the census.”
——————————————————————————————————————
I put the words accurate & timely in bold print above. Note that it does not say completely. The Prophet & 1st Presidency has not made a statement about the ACS. Therefore…If I receive the ACS (not all areas will) I refuse to answer questions about my thermostat, number of toilets, property taxes, rooms in my home, the hours each person worked last week, commute to work, etc. Its NOT necessary. For genealogical purposes the names, ages and a few vital statistics don’t bother me. I like the 1920’s & 30’s census forms!
Then be prepared Delmar– because the government has plans for you if you don’t answer them. No kidding.
As sick and disturbing as it is, it’s “required by law”. From the Census site FAQ:
“Respondents are required to answer all questions on the American Community Survey (ACS) to the best of their ability. Response to this and other Census surveys is required by law (Section 221 of Title 13, Chapter 7, United States Code). This chapter also contains information regarding offenses and possible penalties. According to Section 221, persons who do not respond shall be fined not more than $100. Title 18 U.S.C. Section 3571 and Section 3559, in effect amends Title 13 U.S.C. Section 221 by changing the fine for anyone over 18 years old who refuses or willfully neglects to complete the questionnaire or answer questions posed by census takers from a fine of not more than $100 to not more than $5,000.”
(Which sort of makes a liar out of your sis-in-law Alison– unless of course, she herself was lied TO in her training)
And for anyone not familiar with the American Community Survey that Delmar was speaking of– it’s a 48 question survey that millions of Americans will get in ADDITION to the Census.
Here’s just a sampling of the questions:
7a. How many separate rooms are in this house, apartment, or mobile home? (Rooms must be separated by built-in
archways or walls that extend out at least 6 inches and go from floor to ceiling.)
* INCLUDE bedrooms, kitchens, etc.
* EXCLUDE bathrooms, porches, balconies,
foyers, halls, or unfinished basements.
Number of rooms ______
b. How many of these rooms are bedrooms?
Number of bedrooms _______
8. Does this house, apartment, mobile home have:
a. hot and cold running water ____
b. a flush toilet ____
c. a bathtub or shower ____
d. a sink with a faucet ____
e. a stove or range ____
f. a refrigerator ____
g. telephone service from which you can both make and receive calls? include cell phones ____
8. How many automobiles, vans, and trucks of one-ton capacity or less are kept at home for use by members of this
household?
16. Is this person CURRENTLY covered by any of the
following types of health insurance or health coverage plans?
a. Insurance through a current orformer employer or union (of this person or another family member)
b. Insurance purchased directly from an insurance company (by this person or another family member)
c. Medicare, for people 65 and older,or people with certain disabilities
d. Medicaid, Medical Assistance, orany kind of government-assistance plan for those with low incomes or a disability
f. VA (including those who have ever used or enrolled for VA health care)
e. TRICARE or other military health care
g. Indian Health Service
18. c. Does this person have difficulty dressing or bathing?
Yes
No
22. How many times has this person been married?
Once
Two times
Three or more times
24. Has this person given birth to any children in
the past 12 months?
31. How did this person usually get to work LAST WEEK? If this person usually used more than one method of transportation during the trip, mark (X) the box of the one used for most of the distance.
Car, truck, or van
Bus or trolley bus
Streetcar or trolley car
Subway or elevated
Railroad
Ferryboat
Taxicab
Motorcycle
Bicycle
Walked
Worked at
home ? SKIP
to question 39a
Other method
32. How many people, including this person, usually rode to work in the car, truck, or van
LAST WEEK?
33. What time did this person usually leave home in order to get to work LAST WEEK?
42. For whom did this person work?
Name of business, company or other employer
48. What was this person ?s total income during the PAST 12 MONTHS?
Here’s the thing. This is ALL personal information. If they are “not going to share your personal information” with anyone as we’ve seen claimed repeatedly then WHAT IS THE POINT OF COLLECTING IT?
I will be filling out “in an accurate and timely manner” (thank you, delmar!) the number of people in my home, as the constitution allows.
I think n/a is a good answer on the others.
We will be accurate and timely, as well. : )
Did you notice that the first question, that ONLY asks the number of people in the house is shaded differently than the entire rest of the questionnaire, and is enclosed in a box? Maybe that’s the “hint” that it’s the only question we really HAVE to answer.
And look at the answers for additional people — when room runs out. They need minimal info.
You can choose your ethnicity — by law — and since I’m adopted I have no idea anyway. I marked every single box on all the hispanic and race questions.
–Thus showing your profound respect for the sacred cow of “diversity”. 🙂
I am diverse within myself.
MM is on my own server until I get it transferred…something long planned and still not done. Very involved because of the way I hacked it.
I use FatCow to host my client sites. Make sure you never host at the same place you bought the domain (very bad idea). Instead, point the domain to the hosting from a different service.
Yes, I set up new sites for people. I don’t do Blogger because the free hosting means you don’t own it — and it looks unprofessional to boot. What I do is set up sites using WordPress as the CMS, but many of the sites I set up are NOT blogs. For example, this site uses a blog on the back end for news, but static pages for the home page, the shopping cart, etc. I’m setting up a site for an author right now that will be somewhat similar. Some don’t use any blog posts, just all static pages like an “old-fashioned” site.
You can see what I do at Win with 1.
I suggest you set up a site that has a blog — honest, if you are going to add promotions, product ideas, offers, you WANT a blog on your site. It’s the best thing going for SEO — but you can headline what your site is about. My Win-with-1 site is set up like that, too. Look at the home page. Here is what I offer. But I use a blog in the back. That site got a PR rank of 2 after less than six weeks running.