Often times I enjoy reading comments more than I enjoy reading actual news articles.  Today was no different with the persuasive article from The Courier Press.  Unfortunately this article focuses on guilting the reader into providing all the info the Census asks so that the city can get more funding from the government and hovers around political motivation for low population numbers.  Whatever the case, the comments are already being fired back about not wanting to provide personal information to the government.

A sample of comments:

The problem with the census is that Obama has illegally taken over the census. Plus our public funding is going to ACORN/COI to perform the counts. Tis was the group that registered Mickey Mouse

Never fear,C&P. MJR Inc. has been hired to get all the illegals in Evansville to fill out census forms. The population count will surely go up.

The only thing the government needs to know is the number of people living in my house. That is the all the law requires and that is all that they are getting.

And then of course there are comments firing back claiming all doom and gloom for not filling out the extra personal information.  Apologists, just wanting to give this administration anything they want, of course just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you.

From what I found there are fines associated with not completing a Census form, however I could not find where jail time was involved.  In the 2000 Census an individual could be fined up to $100 for not completing the form or up to $500 for providing false information.  However, I've seen reports from bloggers on the web that claim the maximum fine has been raised to $5,000 for not completing the form.  I've not found any proof or official documents verifying this.

As far as the US Constitution is involved it was only a way to keep a head count for legal residents within the United States.  The Census was not developed and written into the Constitution to keep track of any Social, Economic, or Housing Characteristics, which is exactly what the 2010 Census is designed to do.  According to the official Census website, 1 in 6 households will randomly be given a 2010 Census long form, which will contain a lot more specific and personal questions.

The 2010 Census Long Form is really what has people up in arms, at least those who value their privacy.  Questions pertaining to age of your home, amount of vehicles owned, type of kitchen facilities, and even fertility status are hardly any of the governments business.

So, will you be completing the long form if you are one of the lucky 1 in 6 choose?  Remember, the law requires you to fill out the Census as pertains to number of people living in your house, nothing more.

Has anyone else noticed how cruel and unusual most of the comments are over at CourierPress.com?  I mean, it's like the worst of Evansville comes out to leave obscure comments on horrible stories, that no doubt family members are reading.  Some of which I'm surprised pass a language filter, but others are just there to be rude.

The Evansville Courier should be taking steps to prevent 50% of those comments from even being published.  While automated scripts will catch the curse words, it looks like there needs to be a full time moderator of the site.  Someone to hang around and just keep the site professional and classy and not a melting pot of the city idiots.

I mean, aren't there other places on the net where people can be idiots and get away with anonymity?  Why should our local newspaper be subjected to this type of troll?