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U.S. CITIES:
What the Census Will Get Wrong
Mary Sanchez
The 2010 U.S. Census will shortly be upon us, and by now you may have heard one of the patriotic pitches to comply.
Every breathing soul must be tallied during the massive federal endeavor, the national headcount taken every decade. The census is central to the functioning of our democracy, we're told. The data are used to distribute
More importantly, census data have a direct bearing on congressional districts and the electoral college. The information is crucial to help us uphold the constitutional principle of one person, one vote.
So why, then, is the federal government gearing up to distort this vital set of data by how it accounts for the nation's booming prison population? Prisoners are counted, not according to their home address but where they are incarcerated.
At a glance, this might not seem like a big deal -- until the details of our nation's 2 million inmates are broken down. Rural communities with large prison populations suddenly appear to be bastions of diversity, while those without prisons continue to see their population numbers slide.
On average, inmates serve for 34 months before returning to their original communities. They never shop, dine, attend school or otherwise become members of the towns and cities where they are warehoused while paying their debt to society.
One distortion this way of counting population causes is what some activists call "prison-based gerrymandering." Because population figures are used to determine legislative districts, voting power is diluted in some areas and falsely ramped up in others.
The
But it's actually rural communities, where prisons are often built, that suffer the most from the distortions.
Local officials in some parts of the country have responsibly attempted to eliminate the distortions. Bravo. The town of
With census-takers already completing the process of verifying addresses for the spring headcount, it's too late for the government to change how it plans to conduct the 2010 Census. Recording the true home address of inmates would be costly (an estimated
What the government can do to help rectify the situation is release the prison data earlier than planned, in time for states to take the information and delete those numbers for redistricting purposes.
Criminals forfeit a lot when they get locked up. They lose the right to vote, in all but two states. They lose daily interaction with loved ones and the chance to engage in meaningful work. What they shouldn't lose is the sense that their presence counts.
United States: Single-eyed Vision
Robert C. Koehler
The promise the United States once represented to the world has spent itself, and what we have to offer in terms of opportunity, or at least hope, is overshadowed by the spreading shadow of our hubris. And it's all coming home to roost.
Shock and Sadness After Fort Hood Shootings
Anna Mulrine
It was not a place they expected to be attacked. Soldiers tote their rifles with them everywhere when they are at war but generally not when they are in America. "As a matter of practice, we don't carry weapons here," said Army Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander of Fort Hood in Texas. "This is our home."
Jihadists in the Military - Fort Hood Shootings
Cal Thomas
No amount of evidence -- from Koran verses urging the killing of 'infidels,' to cries of 'God is great,' reportedly shouted by the alleged Ft. Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan -- will cure our self-deception. Sun Tzu famously wrote that all war is deception. But it takes two to deceive and the United States is behaving like a willing partner
Human Survival The Twin Brother of Nuclear Annihilation
Robert C. Koehler
Whether the underlying premise is faulty or valid, the nuclear weapons industry is here to stay as long as people believe in sufficient numbers that our survival is 'the twin brother of annihilation.'
Military Contractors and the Perils of Outsourcing War
Alex Kingsbury
Half the U.S. presence in Afghanistan and Iraq is made up not of soldiers, marines, and airmen but of private contractors. And although contractors are not combat troops, almost 1,800 of them have been killed since 9/11. Allison Stanger says this is a dangerous and unprecedented outsourcing of foreign policy that bodes ill for the future of the nation. Her latest book, One Nation Under Contract
Woman's Place Is at the Pentagon
Anna Mulrine
The ranks of American women in defense have grown over the years. Michele Flournoy, the under secretary of defense for policy, is the No. 3 civilian in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, outranking all of the U.S. military combatant commanders. Women now make up 37 percent of the Defense Department's civil labor force and about 12 percent of its active-duty military rank
Today's U.S. Army and Its Ambitions
William Pfaff
It is possible that the creation of an all-professional American army was the most dangerous decision ever taken by Congress. The nation now confronts a political crisis in which the issue has become an undeclared contest between Pentagon power and that of a newly elected president.
Viewing the Cost of War
Jules Witcover
President Obama's middle-of-the-night visit to Dover Air Force Base to view the return of 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan was a dignified recognition of their sacrifice. But it also was a reminder to him of the human stakes in his long deliberations on the course to take in the war triggered by the 9/11 terrorist attacks of eight years ago.
Voting Present on Illegal Immigration
Victor Davis Hanson
Immigration activists are demanding that President Obama deliver on his promised comprehensive package of immigration reform. However, expect the public to oppose any so-called comprehensive immigration reform even more vehemently than it did George Bush's 2007 doomed proposals. Here's why ...
What the Census Will Get Wrong | Mary Sanchez
(c) 2009 Mary Sanchez