This administrations spending is criminal. With completely incompetent foreign policy, and totally unconstitutional legislation, when can the impeachment start? The sooner the better, November can't come soon enough. It is evident to me, with all actions of Obama and company coming into focus, the goal of this administration is the colapse of America to enable a takeover for dictatorial statist power grab. They are generating a fiscal crisis that they won't let go to waste!

Which section of the Constitution calls for more than an enumeration of the people? Where does it ask how many toilets, how you get to work, income figures, etc? I would suggest people just fill in a number and send the form back. James Madison call your office.

I couldn't agree with you more, Howard. Just give them the number and mark every thing else N.O.Y.B (None of your business). My first inclination, at this point is to include an obscenity - But I won't.

First things first. It is in the Constitution, so the fact is, people need to do it. Second, only the short form is being sent out this year, due to the creation of another community oriented survey that is completely separate from this particular census.

Now, the reason questions like "how many toilets do you have in your home" are important is this: if the number of toilets increase drastically in a neighborhood, then it is necessary for the people responsible for the sewer lines to know that so they can properly allot funds and resources to those areas. It is the same for other personal questions on those forms. If the people in charge don't know how many people are in an area, then they can't properly distribute over $400 million in federal funds for hospitals, fire stations, and other necessary programs for our communities. In the 2000 census, one state lost a representative seat by only 800 people. So while everyone is complaining that the government doesn't listen and is not adhering to the wishes of the people, maybe this year you should all think about what you stand to lose if everyone is not correctly counted.

As for the money spent on these commercials... I found the video to be very entertaining .I'm also 21yrs old, which is exactly why the video was made; it was meant to target audiences such as myself and people in my age group to raise awareness, because otherwise most young adults would have no idea what this census meant for us. Yes, the form will be sent to our homes. But considering how vastly under-counted many communities were (in Balitmore city, the count was off by thousands), just banking on the presence of the form in our mailboxes to inspire us all to fill it out is a stretch.

I agree with the issue of the carbon footprint this will create, however, it is law to fill out these forms, and if we don't, someone has to come to your home and fill it out with you... think about how much of a carbon footprint THAT will create.

You are exactly right, Howard. Name, age, address, and how many live there. END OF CONSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

The government is not to be a "fact finding organization" for Realtors.

To Megan D. - Where did you go to school?????? It is not the business of the government "to be distributing Federal Funds to anybody." We are a Constitutional Republic not that form of government that participates in "redistributing our wealth." (Communism)

For God & Country

Ruth Ann Wilson

Ruth Ann...I would venture to say that Meghan D. is one of the "junior government enumerators" as mentioned in Michelle's column. The government has done a wonderful job of brainwashing our young by using the taxpayer funded school system. They took the page right out of V. Lenin's playbook..."get em' while they're young." Of course the brainwashing is way more important than actually learning about America's history and constitution and those dull and boring subjects like science, math and reading. That is why education in America is so pi$$ poor. But of course, in a government run America, all you will really need to know is how to push the button for Liberal Democrat in the voting booth; all other needs will be taken care of for you by the government Gods.

Meghan, you are the best example of why the 26th Amendment must be repealed. I am still trying to figure out why someone 18 years old is mature enough to vote but not mature enough to buy a beer.

Also the 24th amendment must be repealed. Why should people on relief (the common term before welfare) be able to vote. They are only voting to get more benefits stolen from taxpayers. What else would you call funds taken under duress. Don't pay your income tax and see what happens.

Getting back to the census, I was thinging of under race checking other and filling in Martian.

Umm... With all due respect to MeghanD, yes it IS in the Constitution but we can read just fine thankyouverymuch. The Constitution clearly calls for a head-count and NOTHING MORE.

Obviously a rationale can be made for all the other questions, but frankly lecturing us about "why asking how many toilets you have" is important totally misses the point: it's not the job of the federal census to ask how I get to work or how many potties my house has. Period. No amount of condescending explanations can get around the basic fact.

FWIW, your example betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how government works in the first place. Nobody at the federal level has the faintest idea how the sewers in my little town work, nor would have sterile figures GIVE them the slightest idea. Who knows best how to make the sewers in my town work? The people I elected IN MY TOWN, that's who. And guess what? They ALREADY KNOW how many potties I have in my house. So the feds asking is not only unconstitutional, it's also stupid.

Moreover, you seem to be laboring under the delusion that if it's not strictly forbidden by the Constitution the government can do it. That's not what the Constitution says. It says powers not specifically granted to the federal government by this Constitution shall remain the property of the States. Period.

Every single America has a sacred DUTY to take that federal census, fill out the head-count portion ONLY and send the rest back with a large "NYOB" written on it. Contrary to what Ms MeghanD seems to believe, that's not illegal; filling it out in its entirety would be. Rejecting the Socialist creep is exactly what our Founding Fathers would have wanted.

As for the massive waste and abuse, this census has been hijacked by the Democrats as a means of rigging the redistricting to insure that Democrats get more seats in Congress than Republicans do. They are putting Alinsky's tactics to work by doing "whatever it takes" to win. Even if that means totally shredding the Constitution.

WAKE UP!

To both the Census taker and the party who is being asked to answer the questions.

Subject: Census

The questions most often asked are these:

Do I Ever Legally Have To Answer The Census?

On March 28, 2000, US District Judge Melinda Harmon has granted a temporary restraining order against prosecution of any American who chooses not to answer questions other than the number of people living at their address. So at this point in time you are fully within your legal rights to refuse to answer any question except for the number of people in your home.

This ruling means that you do not have to give your name, your ethnicity, your gender, your sexual orientation, or even whether or not you are a legal resident or citizen, or even whether you legally reside at the address.

My advice to you, should a census taker actually come to your door, is to inform them that asking any other question other than the number of people in the home may be grounds for personal contempt of court, citing Judge Harmon's ruling, and that if they persist they may be subject to fines and imprisonment.

Also inform a census taker that they are trespassing upon your property and must leave immediately or face arrest. They have no inherent right to be on your property, even though they are from the government.

What does the Constitution actually state about the Census?

The Constitution of the United States empowers Congress to conduct a census for the purpose of apportioning representation. There is nothing there which empowers them to demand answers to any questions they choose to ask.

They have no right to ask you to enumerate what weapons you own or what illicit substances you consume and pretend that this would not be a violation of your constitution rights just because they won't divulge any individual answers.

Legal Authority to Ask Intrusive Questions Not Present

This Constitution and the Laws made in Pursuance thereof... shall be the supreme Law of the Land...all Judges shall be bound thereby...any Thing...to the Contrary notwithstanding.

Article VI, Clause 2, of the Constitution of the United States of America (1789).

The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void.

Unconstitutional law bears no power to enforce, it purports to settle as if it never existed, for unconstitutionality dates from the enactment of such a law and not such time as branded in an open court of law.

It confers no rights; it imposes no duties; affords no protection; it creates no office; it is in legal contemplation, as inoperative as though it had never been passed. No courts are bound to uphold it and no persons are bound to obey it.

16 Am Jur 256.

The Fourth and Fifth Amendments were described in Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 630, as protection against all governmental invasions ``of the sanctity of a man's home and the privacies of life.'' We recently referred [381 U.S. 479, 485] in Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 656, to the Fourth Amendment as creating a ``right to privacy, no less important than any other right carefully and particularly reserved to the people.''

GRISWOLD v. CONNECTICUT, 381 U.S. 479 (1965)

So, if you need to then do the following

Declaration To Make To Census Takers:

"I hereby affirm that the provisions of Title 13 ``requiring'' me to disclose my race, personal financial data, birth date, or any other personal, private information to the Bureau of the Census, an agency of the United States government; constitutes an unreasonable, unwarranted search of my person, house, papers, and/or effects; and a governmental invasion of the sanctity of my home and the privacies of life.

As such, these provisions violate the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, and are thus wholly void and I am not bound to obey them.

I have completed the only those sections of the Census form pertaining to the Constitutionally-mandated actual enumeration, as follows:

1. The actual number of people living at the address printed on the form, excluding untaxed Native Americans;

2. Age of each person in accordance with US Const. Amendment XIV, Section 2.

3. Sex of each person, in accordance with US Const. Amendment XIV, Section 2.

I have thus fulfilled my obligation to the attainment of the actual enumeration of the populace of the United States.

Any fine or other sanction that is levied by any office or organization stemming from the unconstitutional provisions of Title 13 in connection with my response to this or any other Census-related questioning will be challenged in a court of law."

And remember to tell the census taker once again that they are trespassing upon your property and must leave immediately or face arrest.

They have no inherent right to be on your property, even though they are from the government.

Say it politely, but be firm and if they persist call 911 and make a citizens arrest.

The TV ad was a terrible waste of funds. But what really gets me are the radio ads. they are an insult to our inteligence making it sound like we have to have a census every year or we don't know what is going on.

Making people aware of the Constitutionally mandated Census is 1 thing, to make it a way of reminding us that it is used to disburse tax money that would be better used if the US government didn't take it in the 1st place is obscene.

This is just one ploy in a numerous collection of schemes designed by Obama and the Democrats to take control of the US through propaganda Communist style without firing a shot. If we do rise up against this building tyranny however shots will be fired as they try and keep us from taking back our country!

Wake up people!

Bill---thanks, thanks! A question, you seem able to answer; is there any method to impeach a sitting President (of US)other than via House and Senate?

Thanks; I really hate it; seeing my military effort wasted by---anyone!Term Limits, clean sweep down fore and aft, empty all residue over the fantail!

The fourteenth amendment jas been amended. Age may be still an issue but sex is not.

The comment by BILL is accurate and is the absolute truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. This whole Census Bureau with their long intrusive questions is nothing but Government snoop dogging into the lives of American citizens.

If the Census Bureau "CLAIMS" they have the authority to gather private information, ask them to show you in the US Constitution, WHERE they have the authority to violate American citizens 4th and 5th Amendment RIGHTS. The answer is "THEY CANNOT". So if you disclose any information other than "how many human being live in your home and their ages, then you are VOLUNTARILY waiving your 4th & 5th Amendment rights. As Bill stated earlier in his most excellent comment, remind them that they ARE ON PRIVATE PROPERTY.