From the diaries by Erick

While conductiong a bit of research on the current report that federal investigators have discovered extensive waste of taxpayer dollars in the preparation stage for the 2010 Census I have learned some interesting things.

First, in testimony before the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security, the Committe on Homeland Security and Government Affairs and the United States Senate, the United States Government Accountability Office observed and reported that the Bureau (in its developmental stage) had not yet developed a comprehensive plan necessary to allow the Bureau to manage the operations and cost, nor had it updated the 2010 life-cycle cost estimate to reflect current information from testing.

In addition, the GAO observed technical problems with the handheld computing devices used by the staff during canvassing to varify addresses. and the LUCA had not yet fully tested the software tools intended to reduce burdens on the participants. It was also the opinion of the GAO that such overwhelming reliance on automation and technology made effective contractor oversight and risk management imparative in order to prevent costly budget over-runs. Officials say these problems could add as much as another $2 billion to the cost census and jeopardize the accuracy of the survey. According to an assessment by the GAO  the accuracy of the 2010 Census still remains threatened by these problems and thus far, I have found nothing to settle whether or not these issues have been rectified.

The CAO also reported that the first phases of the Census had already begun. “Address canvasing”, a field operation during which workers go door-to-door to verify and correct addresses for all householdsin order to build a complete and accurate address list, would begin in April of 2009. Clearly, according to the current report by federal investigators, the matter of locating and hiring “dependable” field workers should have been addressed as well.

So, just who are these slackers who collect checks (consisting of taxpayer dollars) for doing no work? Well, we know it isn’t ACORN. They were dropped from the privilege after the unfortunate Pimp Cam Incident. So we are safe from scammers… right? Ehhhhh… no. According to Kyle Olson on BigGovernment.com, a partial list of workers include such upstanding/bi-partisan groups as:

• AARP
• AFL-CIO
• American Federation of Government Employees
• American Federation of Teachers
• Coalition of Labor Union Women
• Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
• Community Action Partnership
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters
• Labor Council for the Latin American Advancement*
• National Council of La Raza*
• Service International Employees Union
• Southern Coalition for Social Justice
• United Workers
• Workforce Aliance

*From the website – About.com: Immigration Issues:

Do I Have to Reveal My Citizenship Status For the 2010 Census?

No. The 2010 census does not ask about your citizenship status. You do not need to reveal your residency status, what visa you hold or even if your status in the U.S. is undocumented. The form is only 10 questions long. You can view them at the U.S. Census 2010 website.

Kyle also included a link to the website where he found this partial list… “2010.census.gov”… but, unfortunately, if you want to go and see it for yourself you will be met with… “Sorry, the page you requested has either been moved or is no longer available on this server“. More of that “transparency”, I’m sure… or, perhaps they plan on moving the list to a page on C-SPAN. And, as Kyle so brilliantly points out…

What would stop them from zapping off one copy of personal information for themselves as they submit it to the Census Bureau?  The federal government We will essentially be paying organized labor and “social justice” organizations to recruit new members.

Back in October of 2009, Republicans urged the Census Bureau to cut its ties with SEIU due to its symbiotic relationship with ACORN. Of course, union officials say they’ve done nothing wrong and are not (in spite of their inclusion on the above list previously posted on the Census website), helping recruit field workers for the census but are simply encouraging low-income people to be counted and instructing them how to fill out census forms… Yeah… and, in spite of the under-cover video clips of ACORN workers assisting a pimp and a prostitute establish a brothel, achild-sex business and to cheat on taxes… they did nothing wrong either. In spite of how much they loath capitalism, they were simply trying to help a couple of young entrepeneurs realize their dream of owning their own business.

Republican Representatives Mark Steven Kirk and Peter Roskam of Illinois and Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina, wrote to the Census Bureau saying, “There’s simply no place for a group so closely connected to Acorn to be part of something of such national importance as the U.S. Census.”

The Census Bureau have declined to comment.

If you ask me, an ACORN wearing any other shell is still a nut.