The movement may surprise you…the South and West have had their expansion in population slow…..and the Northeastern states holding their own….

This from the New York Times……

States in the South and the West that grew by exceptional leaps and bounds during the real estate boom of just a few years ago are now experiencing sharply slower growth in population, the Census Bureau said Wednesday.

Many of those states are still projected to gain seats in Congress after the 2010 census, however, while industrial states in the Northeast and the Midwest will most likely see their delegations shrink.

But in a sign of the recession’s power to reshape established demographic trends, the new census figures show that growth has slowed substantially in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, while in Florida, Nevada and California, more Americans moved out than in.

As a corollary, the new data show that several states in the Northeast — like New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts — are holding on to more residents.

One of the more salient data points is that between July 2008 and July 2009, Texas added more people from home and abroad than any other state — 231,539. That is more than Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida and Nevada, combined.*

Added from mydd.com…….

(Their agenda is about political power for themselves and liberal Democrats and also money for themselves that Washington doesn’t have. )

Earn $18 to $20 an hour working for the 2010 Census. The US Census Bureau is recruiting NOW for temporary jobs in Westchester County. The positions offer good pay, flexible hours and the convenience of working close to home. Bilingual skills are a plus! To qualify, applicants are asked to take a multiple-choice test. Call (866) 861-2010 or (914) 705-5290 to register for the test, which is now being offered in and around White Plains. There is no charge for the test.

Last Call on Reforming Health Reform Bill

I recently sat in on the daily meeting of a palliative care team at a hospital — doctors, nurses, a social worker, a chaplain and others, all working with seriously ill patients in extreme pain. One of the patients was a middle-aged man whose advanced cancer had destroyed a major bone in his leg. His wife had already done heroic work caring for him, and more was going to be needed in the months ahead.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/business/economy/23leonhardt.html

Health Care Bill Could Face String of Legal Challenges

Organizations and lawmakers opposed to the health care reform package are getting their legal briefs in a bunch, threatening to challenge the constitutionality of the sweeping overhaul should it make its way to President Obama’s desk.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/22/health-care-face-string-legal-challenges/

Pain before gain in health care overhaul

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR (AP) – 5 hours ago

WASHINGTON — The costs of health care reform being pushed through Congress by Democrats will be felt long before the benefits.

Proposed taxes and fees on upper-income earners, insurers, even tanning parlors, take effect quickly. So would Medicare cuts.

Benefits, such as subsidies for lower middle-income households, consumer protections for all, and eliminating the prescription coverage gap for seniors, come gradually.

“There’s going to be an expectations gap, no question about that,” said Drew Altman, president of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “People are going to see their premiums and out-of-pocket costs go up before the tangible benefits kick in.”

Most of the 30 million uninsured helped by the bill won’t get coverage until 2013 at the earliest, well after the next presidential election.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYgWjNDSjwAo-nyO-TSW-LWEHkHAD9COSVM80

The Grinch who stole immigration reform

Just in time for Christmas, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has given Latino voters a valuable gift: clarity.So much of politics is masked in smoke and mirrors. If you convince Latino constituents that the other party is out to get them, you’ll become their BAF — best amigo forever.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20091223/OPINION12/912230310/1002/OPINION/The-Grinch-who-stole-immigration-reform

Obama and Congress: At the Crossroads of Immigration Reform

Is it ever “the right time” to pass immigration reform and a path to legalization? Using the issue merely to score political points has been the norm for decades, among detractors and some proponents alike.

President Barack Obama is the latest political figure to attempt a comprehensive fix to the immigration system — or at least, he promised to do so in 2008, in the heat of the presidential campaign.

As January 20, 2010 rolls around — marking the end of his first year in office — Obama has not passed immigration reform, but his defenders predict that by that time the stirrings of the immigration debate will have started in the Senate.

http://www.alternet.org/politics/144725/obama_and_congress:_at_the_crossroads_of_immigration_reform/

Report shows ‘dramatic’ rise in number of Latinos using Internet

Latino adult use of the Internet nationwide gained 10 percentage points from 2006 to 2008, surpassing the rate for black adults and closing the gap with whites, according to a report released Tuesday by the Pew Hispanic Center.

The leap for Latinos is “pretty dramatic,” said Gretchen Livingston, senior researcher for the Washington, D.C.-based research organization focused on Latino issues. “They’re still lagging behind whites, but I was stunned by the increase.”

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/ptech/stories/DN-latinointernet_23bus.ART.State.Edition1.3cf469a.html

Pennsylvania: Not Guilty Plea in Hate Crime

Two teenagers have pleaded not guilty in federal court to a hate crime in the death of an illegal immigrant from Mexico. The two — Brandon Piekarsky, 18, and Derrick Donchak, 19 — were arraigned in Wilkes-Barre on charges stemming from the July 2008 beating death of the immigrant, Luís Ramírez, 25, in Shenandoah.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/us/23brfs-PLEAINHATECR_BRF.html

Texas and Wyoming were the big winners in the Census Bureau's annual population estimates, which were released on Wednesday.

New York (CNNMoney.com) — Americans, it seems, still have a love affair with the West.

Texas and Wyoming were the big winners in the Census Bureau’s annual population estimates, which were released on Wednesday.

In the year ended July 1, Texas added more people than any other state, and Wyoming had the highest growth rate in the nation.

The population of the United States has grown more than 9% to 307,006,550 since the 2000 census. The population grew 0.86% since last year’s estimates.

Just three states shrank during the year. Michigan’s population fell by 0.33%, Maine dropped 0.11%, and Rhode Island lost 0.03%.

The report is a kind of sneak preview of the next big 10-year census, which will be released in December 2010.

The 10-year census determines congressional representation and federal aid, among other things.

“The census counts will not only determine how many U.S. House seats each state will have but will also be used as the benchmark for future population estimates,” said Census Bureau Director Robert Groves.

In Nevada, for example, the population has risen 32.27% since the 2000 Census, more than any other state in the past decade. Nevada currently has three seats in the House and will almost certainly pick up another as a result of its population growth.

On the other hand, large states that are growing slowly such as Ohio (1.67%), Pennsylvania (2.64%), New York (2.98%) and Michigan (3.13%) could lose at least one seat each.

The future of the so-called Sand States – California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida – is still in question, though. The rapid rise of many of these states through the early part of the decade has been curtailed by the housing crisis.

In Florida, which averaged about 2% a year in population growth from 2001 through 2005, residential numbers inched up only 0.62% during the 12 months ended July 1. In the previous 12 months, the state recorded only a 0.71% gain.

A similar dynamic played out in Nevada. Its average population increase
was 3.6% per year in the five years through 2005, but it grew only 1% this time. And the growth was due to the birth rate, not people actually moving in.

Both Nevada and Florida actually had more people leave the states than arrive.

Many communities in these bubble states now have long lists of homes for sale. New construction has slowed, idling workers and hurting local economies.

Some of the once-booming cities in the Central Valley of California, such as Stockton, Modesto, Fresno, Merced and Visalia, are now plagued by job losses. Seven out of the 10 metro areas with the highest unemployment rates are in California.

Other Sun Belt states have fared much better. Texas, for example, never went through the boom-and-bust housing cycle that devastated the Sand States.

Home prices remained affordable, and the state’s unemployment rate was 8% in October, a full two percentage points below the national average.

So, it’s no surprise that Texas added more than 3.9 million residents during the 2000s. Its population also grew by the greatest number of people (478,000) during the 12 months ended July 1. California was second with 381,000 followed by North Carolina with 134,000.

Wyoming boasted the fastest growth rate for the 12-month period: 2.12% to a total of 544,270. The Cowboy State was followed by Utah (2.1%), Texas (1.97%) and Colorado (1.81%).

by Terri Ann Lowenthal

Census Day is 100 days away. Do we rejoice or hit the panic button?

The Census Bureau hopes that by April 1, 2010, millions of American households will have checked off the answers to ten questions (ten minutes!) and mailed off “the shortest form in our lifetimes” (Census Director Robert Groves, 12/14/09) in its postage-paid envelope, each one percent of them saving taxpayers $90 million in door-knocking costs.

As the bureau moves from preparation to implementation in the next month, the specter of things going wrong always looms. From the operational (will the new system to manage workload and workforce perform as intended during peak operations?) to the psychological (will the populace be in the mood to cooperate?) to the diabolical (any more proposals out there to change the questionnaires before they go in the mail?), unwelcome or unforeseen events could derail the best-laid plans. Dr. Groves confessed at his press briefing last week that he is a worrier by nature. That’s probably a helpful trait for someone in charge of the nation’s largest peacetime activity.

And then there’s the legal: I am on high alert for a stealth lawsuit, accusing census partners of aiding and abetting fraud in the count. The allegations don’t have to stick or even have any basis in fact; high profile controversy is enough to throw the enumeration’s rhythm off balance. (One of my favorite comics from the legally-challenged 1990 decennial shows a census-taker carefully enumerating a sea of people … and a bespectacled Supreme Court justice off to the side scolding, “No sampling, no counting by two’s … oh gee, I didn’t make you lose count, did I?”)

But there’s also reason for hope. I am amazed (and heartened) by the tremendous commitment of national advocacy and grassroots organizations, and a loyal coalition of foundation supporters, who are serving as “trusted voices” — carrying the Census Bureau’s plea to neighborhoods and populations that are historically reluctant to take part. Their campaigns are creative and bold: While a Christmas-themed poster celebrating Mary and Joseph’s journey to be counted in an ancient census drew scorn from anti-census quarters and caution from a few academics, community faith leaders eagerly embraced the striking depiction and message. The mountain is high and the challenge is vast. The diversity of 21st century America makes a long-ago idea to base representation on population more difficult to ensure in theory and practice. Alone, the Census Bureau of 2010 would be hard-pressed to fulfill its constitutional obligation well; with the help of civic and faith leaders, social icons, and activist grassroots networks, it has a fighting chance.

So we gear up for a massive outreach and promotion effort. We slog in the trenches to convince skeptical, fearful or apathetic Americans – one by one, if necessary – that filling out their census forms is in the best interests of their families and communities. We keep our radar tuned for intentional distractions that could undermine the message of inclusive participation. In the end, we keep our eye on the ball and do the best we can. 308,206,709 … 308,206,710 … (as of 12:16PM EST on 12/22/09!).

# # #

Happy holidays and a successful Census Year, from your friends at The Census Project! We’ll be off next week and will return with our regular weekly blog on January 5.

I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m a big proponent of filling out your Census form.  Governor Riley agrees with me – last week he signed Executive Order 48, which establishes the Alabama Complete Count Committee.  The mission of the Committee “shall be to recommend, develop and implement policies and methods to facilitate the most complete and accurate census count in 2010″ and “effectively coordinate Alabama’s preparation for the census and to take steps to inform and educate all Alabamians as to the importance of participating in the census.”

If you haven’t already, you should check out the Census2010 website, which continues to expand and currently includes information about the Census in over 50 languages. There are also sections for Students and Teachers, as well as Job Seekers (thousands of temporary workers are hired to help conduct the Census).   The site also includes a database of questions asked – and an opportunity for you to ask your own question if it’s not in the database.  If you’re worried about privacy and confidentiality, there’s a special section devoted to those topics.

Less than four months until we get to fill out the form!

Sunrise vote nudges health care bill forward

WASHINGTON — Exhausted but happy Democratic leaders began nudging their painstakingly crafted health care compromise a step closer to pre-Christmas passage with three votes that started as the sun rose Tuesday.

Only one requires the difficult tally of 60 senators, and the outcome of that vote — to overcome GOP opposition to the sweeping legislation — is preordained. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has herded 58 Democrats and two independents into line through a combination of wheedling, cajoling and dispensing special deals. The strategy has Republicans irate.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jlMpJGn28kqCcgU-aGcYE_ZHW-ywD9COC7O82

Obama naming Hispanics to top posts at record pace

MIAMI — President Barack Obama is on track to name more Hispanics to top posts than any of his predecessors, drawing appointees from a wide range of the nation’s Latino communities, including Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Colombians.

That won’t necessarily give the president a free pass on issues such as immigration, but it may ease Hispanics’ worries about whether Obama will continue reaching out to a group that was key to his winning the White House.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gJbh4PsFVPUS848CVMxdvbBrQINQD9CNU8303

Latinos Overwhelmingly Support Health Care Reform

Garcia Research and Santiago ROI, two long-standing leaders in the US Hispanic marketing community, launched LATINOMICS(SM), The Hispanic Market Index(TM), an ongoing tracking service to monitor consumer sentiment, economic activity, political perspectives and other issues of the day within the burgeoning US Hispanic community. The initial wave, a national representative survey of roughly 600 interviews was conducted, 400 by phone and 200 online, in December 2009 with a margin of error of + or – 4%.

Latinos close 2009 with the economy and jobs as the most important issue yet give overwhelming support to health care reform.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/latinos-overwhelmingly-support-health-care-reform-79865092.html

Immigration Enforcement Fuels Spike in U.S. Cases

Federal prosecutions reached a record high in the 2009 fiscal year, with the surge driven by a sharp increase in cases filed against immigration violators.

The 169,612 federal prosecutions were a jump of nearly 9 percent from the previous year, according to Department of Justice data analyzed by a research center at Syracuse University in a new report. Immigration prosecutions were up nearly 16 percent, and made up more than half of all criminal cases brought by the federal government, the report said….

…..The fact that immigration prosecutions remained high “shows that this administration is serious about enforcement to some degree,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a policy group in Washington that favors restricting immigration. “This administration understands that it needs to appear tough on enforcement if it’s going to make a credible case for legalization,” or amnesty programs, he said…..

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/us/22crime.html

Arizona Prisons Plan to Transfer Illegal Immigrants to Federal Custody

Desperate to save money, Arizona will transfer illegal immigrants who have been convicted of nonviolent crimes to federal custody for the last three months of their sentences, saving the state the cost of housing them.

Currently, prisoners who are not illegal immigrants are eligible to leave prison 90 days before their sentences end and begin community service. Under the new plan, which begins Jan. 1, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency will take custody of the illegal immigrants pending deportation. The Arizona Department of Corrections said that a total of more than 1,200 prisoners would be moved this fiscal year and next, saving about $5.7 million.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/us/22arizona.html

Archdiocese of Miami kicks off census campaign

A national coalition of civil rights organizations is teaming with the Archdiocese of Miami to encourage members of religious communities in South Florida to participate in the upcoming 2010 Census.

The Washington, D.C.-based group, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, kicked off its campaign Wednesday morning at the archdiocese’s Notre Dame d’Haiti Mission church in Miami by unveiling a poster that will be distributed to 113 Catholic churches and a handful of non-Catholic churches in South Florida during the Christmas season.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1393712.html

Today is the fourth, and last  Sunday of Advent.  Jesus is just about to arrive.  

O Antiphon:

O key of David, opening the gates of God’s eternal kingdom:  Come and free the prisoners of darkness!

Week "4" of Advent

4 days till the BIRTH of CHRIST, 
and this is the 22nd day of the ADVENT season.
“HO, HO, HO-ly God, We Praise Thy Name!”

Quote or Joke of the Day:

Some minds are like concrete: thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.

Today’s Meditation:

Jesus’ Davidic background is noted in these verses.  Joseph had to go to his families ‘home’ city for the census.  Bethlehem is the city of David (and his home still stands, as I understand).  Interestingly, Bethlehem is translated into english as, “House of God!”  So, Jesus is coming into the world in the city known throughout the Roman empire as the “House of God!”  WOW!!!! 

Mary did not walk the many miles to Bethlehem.  She was VERY pregnant at this time, so she rode a donkey.  I have personally had the priviledge of riding a donkey; and it is in no way like riding a horse.  Donkeys are stubborn and very bony.  They have to be forced to move, and to go the way you want them to travel.  It is a lot of hard work! 

But that donkey carrying Mary to Bethlehem, carried Jesus.  A dumb and stubborn animal; carrying a young virgin, who carried God.   The donkeys bells were the first church bells, as Mary was the first Church, and her womb; the first tabernacle, holding the body of Christ.”  Tradition has it that all donkeys have a cross shape on their backs as a remembrance of this donkeys assistance and sacrifice in bringing Jesus to Bethlehem, and fulfilling Old Testament prophesies. 

Luke, combined Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, with a census under Quirinius, to signify Jesus’ birth for the whole Roman world.  Through Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, peace and salvation were to come not only to the empire, but to the entire world. 

Caesar Augustus was regarded in the Roman Empire as “savior” and “god,” and he was credited with establishing a time of peace throughout the Roman world during his long reign.  It is NOT by chance that Luke relates the birth of Jesus to the time of Caesar Augustus.  The real savior (Luke 2:11) and peace-bearer (Luke 2:14 & Luke 19:38) is the child Jesus, born in Bethlehem.  The earthly ’savior and peace maker’ is to be succeeded immensely by the heavenly ‘King, Savior, and Peace – Bearer, JESUS CHRIST!’  

Pax et Bonum

Dan Halley, SFO

*****

Secular Franciscan Order (SFO) Rule #20:

The Secular Franciscan Order is divided into fraternities of various levels — local, regional, national, and international. Each one has its own moral personality in the Church. These various fraternities are coordinated and united according to the norm of this rule and of the constitutions. 

In light of the fact that as many as 3 million African Americans may not have been counted in the last census many black leaders and groups are concerned. Read more here:

http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html

A coalition of African American leaders concerned about minorities being undercounted in the 2010 Census called Wednesday for inmates at federal and state prisons to be tallied in their home communities instead of the towns where they are incarcerated.

Carol Morello
The Washington Post

The US Constitution calls for a regular census to be taken. The original purpose of this census was equitably to distribute members of the House of Representatives among the various states. As the number of states increased, and as the population began moving south, west, and from farm to city, the census drove increases and decreases in the number and size of representative districts in each state.

The census always has been a contentious matter because of the political clout implied by census counts. In recent years the scope of, and the controversy surrounding, the census have expanded. The census is no longer a mere head count. The census now collects extensive ancillary data (e.g., indoor plumbing, household income, home ownership) that are used in a variety of government and commercial activities. Most census data are available to the public, including businesses.

Federal grants, handouts, and special programs are driven by census data. This is not just about the number of people who happen to live in a certain jurisdiction—it’s about votes, money, and power.

Now come Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, Jesse Jackson of Rainbow/PUSH, and Al Sharpton, head of the National Action Network.

And what do these guys want? They want the census to count the 1.2 million minority Americans who are in prison as residents of their “home towns” rather than as residents of the location of the prison in which they are incarcerated. This would direct more federal and local funds to the neighborhoods from which these inmates came.

Home, Sweet Home

I don’t really have an opinion on the census issue. Messrs Morial, Jackson, and Sharpton may well be right. Allocating these inmates to their “home towns” might be equitable. More votes and more money might be the fair and reasonable thing to do.

But I am disturbed that the Three Amigos seem to have no sense of shame or irony about the underlying circumstances. Their constituents account for 12% of the US population but make up 40% of the inmates in our prisons.

Over the past half century trillions of dollars in public and private money have been transferred to minority individuals, neighborhoods, and organizations like the National Urban League, the National Action Network, and Rainbow/PUSH. We have yet to see any significant results from this massive transfer of wealth.

It is not the responsibility of the Bureau of the Census but someone ought to ask these gentlemen, “If, because of changes in the census rules, you win more votes, more money, more power, what will you do with them?” “What have you accomplished so far?” “What exactly will we get for our money?”

The National Association of Latino Elected Officials has an interesting poster and message they’d like to share with all of the hermonos y hermanas out there. Regarding the Census:

This is how Jesus was born,” the poster states. “Joseph and Mary participated in the Census. Don’t be afraid.”

Um, what? That’s certainly not our understanding of how babies — especially baby Jesus — are made. Kind of makes us not want to fill out the freakin’ Census.

Of course, that would just mean crazy-eyed Michele Bachmann would get what she wants, so we’re not about to do that. In fact, we intend to team with ACORN and Jesus and fill out at least 9 million Census forms, all of them for either illegal aliens or minorities, ensuring at least four more years of Obama! BOOGA BOOGA!

Needless to say, some Christians were totally infuriated by the poster, because as we all know, the likeness of Jesus is only to be used in endorsing wars and promoting capital punishment.

I saw this in WaPo:

A poster showing Mary and Joseph heading to Bethlehem for a census and the birth of Jesus is raising eyebrows among some evangelicals, who consider it an inappropriate use of Christian symbolism for the headcount the government will conduct next year.

The posters, created by the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), have been distributed to more than 7,000 churches in an effort to raise awareness of the census among Hispanics. Most were printed in Spanish.

Luke 2:1-4 says Jesus was born during a census ordered by Caesar Augustus. Although historians question the accuracy of the account, Luke stated that everyone had to return to his ancestral town to be registered for taxes and that Joseph and Mary left Nazareth for Bethlehem.

The NALEO poster depicts that journey with an outline of Joseph leading Mary, on a mule, down a hill in the direction of a large star. “This is how Jesus was born,” the poster says. “Joseph and Mary participated in the census.” In smaller letters to the side, it adds, “Don’t be afraid.”

A push to spread the gospel about the 2010 Census this Christmas is stoking controversy with a campaign that links the government count to events surrounding the birth of Jesus.

The National Association of Latino Elected Officials is leading the distribution to churches and clergy of thousands of posters that depict the arrival of Joseph and a pregnant Mary in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago. As chronicled in the Gospel of Luke, Joseph returned to be counted in a Roman census, but he and Mary found no room at an inn, and Jesus was born in a manger.

“This is how Jesus was born,” the poster states. “Joseph and Mary participated in the Census.”   [...continue reading the whole story at USAToday...]

It’s certainly not separation of church and state.   But it’s certainly not blasphemy, either, as some have suggested.   If anything, it ought to be flattering to Christians that the journey Joseph and Mary took to Bethlehem — Caesar’s census and head tax combo — is being used to promote the U.S. 2010 census.   Things could be worse.

It acknowledges a certain amount of respect for the historical accuracy of the Biblical narrative.   The idea is, if Joseph and Mary were willing to participate in the census, so should you.

The ‘you’ in this case, is Hispanic Americans.   And not everyone of Latin descent gets this message in their mailbox, either.   It’s just being distributed through Hispanic Evangelical churches.

The comments at USAToday’s religion page — currently closing in on 1,000 in only 24 hours — have been extensive.   Much of the objection has been from people outside the fold.   Anything to pick a fight, one suspects.   The ACLU is yet to weigh in.   They’d be hard-pressed to know where to begin on this one, since it’s inevitable that two people named Mary and Joseph were among the thousands who returned to their birthplaces for a census that other historians affirm.  (Though Mary was about to become a much more common name.)

This story has everything you need to extract comments from the widest number of people, since it touches on religious and Christian themes, but is also concerned with the census itself and the need for minority groups to get their people participating in order to secure funding for federal programs.

As the President of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, Dr. Juan Andrade, Jr. recognizes the many challenges that the Latino community faces.

Out of the three major demographic groups in the United States, Whites, Blacks, and Latinos, Latinos are the least educated, least likely to own their own homes, have the lowest annual income, and have less access to healthcare, Andrade’s told the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving’s Latino Endowment Fund last week.

All of these factors make Latinos less likely to vote or register to vote, Andrade said.

Also, among these problems, says Andrade, is the fact that Latinos represent 15 percent of the population of the United States but only one percent of elected officials. As the president of an organization that trains present and future leaders, as well as registers new voters, this is a very troubling statistic for him to hear…

…An accurate census, he says, will enable the Latino community to redefine the political landscape into one that will better represent their community and promote their needs.

“The census is the sole basis for the allocation of political power in this country and if we blow the census we blow the power. There is no need to have another discussion about the power of civic engagement if we blow the census” Andrade said.   [...continue reading this story at CT News Junkie...]

So what do you think?   Is the government “using” the Biblical narrative here?  (One comment reads: “…but don’t use our Jesus for your benefit…”) As a Christian does this make you feel “used?”   Or like me, are you okay with this?

by Terri Ann Lowenthal

I’m about to wade into potentially dangerous waters, but I feel compelled to have this conversation in the light of day.

Last week, in a Glenn Beck-worthy Washington Times op-ed, former Times intern Anthony Bowe charged that pro-amnesty “left wing extremist” groups (and 2010 census partners) — like the National Council of La Raza, National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, and SEIU – are poised to help shift the balance of political power by helping ensure an accurate count of all people living in the U.S. Their role as census “footsoldiers” will “undermine trust in the census among mainstream Americans,” Times blogger Bowe warned, ably using a self-fulfilling-prophecy scare tactic characteristic of, say, Rush Limbaugh.

Is the attack an aberration? Were it only so. Lawmakers spooked by the thought of an inclusive census dipped their toes in the water with a swift and cutting campaign against ACORN, suggesting (falsely) that census takers hired by the nonprofit advocacy group would overstate population counts to benefit liberal politicians (e.g. Democrats). The flurry of press coverage tying the enumeration to the specter of fraud was enough for the census chief to pull the plug on ACORN’s 2010 census “partnership,” even though the organization hadn’t so much as posted the 2010 logo on its web site.

In reality, ACORN’s only useful role would have been to encourage census participation among its core constituency: the poor. Emboldened by their success in pushing one hard-to-count community advocate out of the way, some conservatives are ready to take on civil and immigrant rights groups in the public arena and possibly in the courts.

Last summer, the chair of the Republican Census Task Force sent a fundraising appeal, warning that “radical” interest groups – like the NAACP and Hispanic Federation – were teaming up with President Obama to “rig” census results in favor of “liberals.” For whom was the Georgia lawmaker raising money? The Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF), which successfully challenged (all the way to the Supreme Court) the use of statistical sampling methods in the 2000 census. SLF – “THE EXPERTS in stopping liberals from manipulating the census,” according to Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) – know how to “advance our conservative agenda … in the ‘Court of Public Opinion’,” the plea for money assured.

The bogeyman of censuses past – statistical sampling – is dead and buried for 2010, removing one sure-fire way of reducing the disproportionate undercount of racial minorities and the poor. But with populations of color – especially Latinos — growing significantly over the past decade, lawmakers (how can I say this tactfully?) who are less likely to represent hard-to-count communities, have to find another way to keep the numbers in Democratic-leaning areas low. As the distinguished gentleman from Georgia helpfully observed, the census is “the alpha and omega of political power” (catchy!), whose constitutional integrity must be defended at all costs (or at least for as much money as they can raise!).

Those same “corrupt” champions of liberal doctrine are now gearing up to encourage and facilitate census participation in historically undercounted communities across the country, employing traditional grassroots strategies to educate skeptical and fearful population groups about the importance of being counted. And I can picture the guardians of “conservative values” standing in the wings, waiting to gin up anti-Obama fury by insinuating manipulation of the numbers in low-income, minority, and immigrant neighborhoods. They don’t have to prove a thing – success can simply mean casting a shadow over the integrity of the count and tying up the Census Bureau and redistricting process in court for years.

Am I overreacting? I frankly hope so, but I’m uneasy. Does anyone else see clouds on the horizon?

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Clarification: Census Bureau officials have asked us to clarify a statement in the December 1, 2009, Census Project Blog, “Are Northern States Being Cheated? Counting Snowbirds in the Census,” regarding the policy for enumerating residents of northern states who do not return a questionnaire from their southern home and are later visited by a census taker at their northern address during Nonresponse Follow-Up (e.g. door-to-door visits to unresponsive homes). The Census Bureau will count people who have two residences “where they spend the majority of their time,” according to a Kansas City Regional Census Office official. People should decide where they spend the majority of their time and fill out the census form sent to that address. If a respondent tells a census taker that they consider their northern address to be their home, even if they happened to still be staying at their southern home on Census Day, the census taker will record the residents at their northern address.

…occasioned by Native American students in Idaho and an ‘08 MSNBC piece on the increasing profile of ‘mixed-race/multiracial’ folks, what with Obama and all.

Coral Spring residents who want to earn between $14 and $15 an hour may want to consider working for the U.S. Census. Candidates will be required to pass a multiple choice test that covers basic reading, math and clerical skills. They will also have to pass a criminal background check. These are flexible jobs that are short-term in nature and include paid training. Some involve going house to house and conducting interviews while other involve working in offices. Local unemployment offices have been helping people obtain these jobs.  They are happy to do so because Broward’s unemployment rate was 9.7 percent, less than the rest of the state which was 11.4 percent.

For more information, please call 866-861-2010.

U.S. Census Bureau is currently hiring across the country. The job pays around $10 to $14 an hour but you must pass an exam. Here’s a blog which provides some good information about the exam. Be sure to look through the comments, valuable information is provided there.

For more information, click here.

Since the Ludacris map got so many props, I thought I’d throw up another ArcMap GIS wonder. This one is a little more serious. The Spatial Information Design Lab from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation created what they call “Million Dollar Blocks“. Its simple, take prison expenditure data and overlay that information over a map showing the homes where these prisoners are coming from. You then get a map, block by block, showing the homes of prisoners and the cost it takes to incarcerate them. You end up getting “million dollar blocks”; neighborhoods in Brooklyn that get millions of dollars in investments from the government (through the prison system). Below is a map of Brooklyn showing the concentration of the prisoners’ neighborhoods and the amount invested through prison expenditures:

The lighter the red, the more $ invested per prisoner, based on their home residences.

Why is this map genius? For one, its easy as hell to make. The only inputs are a home address (down to the Census block or tract, which anyone can do with a computer, access to factfinder.census.gov, and uhhh, access to prison records) and how much in government dollar is invested on each prisoner. Second, this map, on the surface, is just a map showing the homes of prisoners, right? No, its a freaking map on where to invest in community empowerment and development programs. After-school programs, midnight basketball leagues, job placement programs, street beautification, etc. This map is so damn detailed, it goes down into detail, block by block in Brooklyn, of how much money is invested in a neighborhood:

This Lab is sick. Check out their other maps here, including one on Buzz in NYC (using GPS data from Getty Images’ photographs from fashion photographers) and one on worldwide migration using a video map.

Thanks Will, for this and the Luda map as well.