SCOTUS to hear Indiana voter ID case

The US Supreme Court will hear a case next month that that may have far-reaching ramifications in future elections.

Indiana has a tough voter ID law that was recently put on the books to prevent vote fraud.

From AP:

The mainly Republican backers of the law, including the Bush administration, say state-produced photo identification is a prudent measure to cut down on vote fraud--even though Indiana has never had a prosecution of the kind of fraud the law is supposed to prevent.

The opponents, mainly Democrats, view voter ID a modern-day poll tax that disproportionately affect poor, minority and elderly voters _ who tend to back Democrats. Yet, a federal judge found that opponents of the law were unable to produce evidence of a single Indiana resident who had been barred from voting because of the law.

Off the top of my head two Indiana vote fraud indidents come to mind. The Hoosier State is a reliable Republican stronghold, but the Democrats are the strongest in Northwest Indiana, particularly in Lake County. Guess where the biggest recent vote fraud scandal has occured?

From the Times of Munster:

The Vote Fraud Task Force has had a success rate of almost 90 percent and is winding down its work in the wake of the 2003 East Chicago mayoral (Democratic) primary.

The task force led to charges against 53 people. At a progress report last week, Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter was glad to say, "The bulk of these are behind us."

Of the 53 cases, 38 ended in convictions, three were dismissed, one was found not guilty by a jury, one defendant died, and 10 are pending.

That's good news, but with a dark side. The state of ethics in Lake County is sorry indeed.

This case involves just one guy, but it's a favorite of mine. A former Anderson, Indiana firefighter was found guilty of voting in a precinct where he didn't live.

From the Anderson Herald Bulletin, via FreeRepublic:

"The fact is the man lived in Pendleton and voted in the Anderson city election," (Chief Deputy Prosecutor Mike) Chambers said. "As a good Democrat, he felt the need to vote in the city election."

Below are some related vote fraud posts. All of them involve "good Democrats," except the ACORN entry--and they're a Leftist group.

Some people don't get it. The Daily Kos, the site that my senator, Barack Obama, called "left leaning," is calling the Indiana law part of a "GOP Vote Suppression Strategy."

Related posts:

Obama and the Laborers' Union Ed Smith
ACORN allegedly has some bad nuts
East St. Louis vote fraud update
E. St. Louis hires two ex-cons with vote buying convictions
East St. Louis vote fraudster found guilty of improper asbestos removal
Convicted vote thief joined by top local Dems at his pre-prison going away party
East St. Louis blues
21 month sentence in Kentucky vote-buying case
Another Democrat sentenced in Kentucky vote buying case
Kentucky vote buying update: Alleged jury tamperer accused of attempting to contact members of his own jury

Technorati tags: democrats elections Barack Obama Obama Politics Indiana SCOTUS law legal vote fraud election fraud crime Northwest Indiana ACORN

Cincinnati Post publishes final edition on New Year's Eve

Next year will arrive with one less major metropolitan daily: The 127 year-old Cincinnati Post, an afternoon paper published under a joint operating agreement with the Cincinnati Enquirer since 1977, will issue its last edition on New Year's Eve.

The Enquirer salutes the Post right here.

When I was a boy in the early 1970s, most big cities had at least one afternoon daily--Chicago had two, the Today and the Daily News. Neither survived the decade.

Evening news broadcasts on television, and a shift from a blue collar work force, killed afternoon newspapers.

Thanks for the link:

The Bench
Pajamas Media

Technorati tags: Media news newspapers MSM Cincinnati Ohio

Obama comparing Edwards to Kerry?

John Edwards was of course John Kerry's running mate in 2004. And it appears the indecisive legacy of John "Flipper" Kerry can be used as a weapon against him--by Barack Obama.

From ABC News' Political Punch blog:

"We are less likely also to win an election with somebody who had one set of positions four years ago and has almost entirely different positions four years later," Obama continued, speaking of Edwards. "We've been through that. It's a problem and so if you are concerned with electability having somebody who has been consistent, who has opposed the war from the start so the opponent can't say he was for the war just like I was. Having someone who did not support NAFTA, did not support the China trade deal, did not support a bankruptcy bill that would make it tougher for people to make ends meet. That will give me the ability to go strong in the general election. My intention is not just to have you elect a nominee, my intention is to have you elect a president."

Later Saturday in Keokuk, Obama said of Edwards, "Part of the problem that John would have in the general election is that the issues that he's taking out now are not the issues or the things that he said four years ago, which always causes us problems in general elections."

Interesting.

More from that blog:

To me that sounds like Obama is alluding to Democrats being less likely to win with a nominee who can be tarred as flip-flopping. Looking at a roster of Democratic nominees over the last 30 years -- Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton, Gore, Kerry -- I can only see one, Kerry, who was tarred as a flip-flopper.

Barack Obama of course, as the Hillary machine likes to point out, had a habit of voting "present" during his legendary (to him) time as an Illinois state senator. Obama represented a liberal district on Chicago's South Side, and to get re-elected, all he had to do was vote the left-wing party line, and take "hard" stands like opposing the Iraq War and NAFTA. (Did those issues ever come up for a vote in the state legislature?) But clearly Obama had his sights on higher office as soon as he arrived in Springfield, which can be the only explanation on why Obama was so "present" there.

Technorati tags: democrats elections 2008 Hillary Clinton Hillary Obama John Edwards Barack Obama John Kerry NAFTA Iraq

One year ago today Saddam Hussein was executed

A vile and evil man, Saddam Hussein al-Majid al-Tikriti, finally saw justice shortly after walking up the steps of a basement gallows in Baghdad on this day one year ago.

Iraq and the world is a better place.

At this time last year Iraq seemed headed into civil war. Thanks to General David Petraeus and "the Surge," the situation is significantly better now. So much so that even Osama bin Laden has taken notice.

And he's not happy about it.

Technorati tags: military armed forces Iraq Saddam Hussein saddam Petraeus surge on this day

New England Patriots are a perfect 16-0

This evening I had the pleasure of watching the play-by-play coverage of the New England Patriots make history at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, as the Pats defeated the New York Giants 38-35.

The Giants gave the Patriots a spirited battle--at one time they held a 12-point lead, the largest any team held over them this year.

The Miami Dolphins were the last team to go undefeated in a season. Two teams had performed the feat earlier, the 1934 and 1942 Chicago Bears, but only the Dolphins were able to move on to win the league championship.

That's what the Patriots need to do if they expect anyone to rank them as one of the NFL's greatest teams.

Technorati tags: Chicago Bears NFL sports new england patriots New York Giants history current affairs

Chicago-New Orleans game brings back bad memories for Saints fans

Along with Chicago Marathon debacle, here's another sporting event from this year that the Chicago 2016 Olympics bid committee won't be touting to the world. The behavior of a few fans, most notoriously the pair in the picture, at January's NFC Championship game, embarrassed the city. A few days after the game, Mayor Richard M. Daley apologized on behalf of decent Chicagoans.

The Bears won the game and went on to the Super Bowl. The Saints fans who made the trip regretted it, as the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports:

Hannigan, like many Saints fans who endured the bitterly cold weather at Solider Field that Sunday afternoon, said she and her party of four were threatened and intimidated almost from the moment they walked into the stadium. One fan intentionally elbowed her husband and others taunted their friends with Katrina-related insults.

Other fans said Bears fans hurled snowballs and went out of their way to instigate confrontations. Others denigrated their hometown and even dropped the Katrina card. One Bears fan infamously carried a sign that read: "Bears Finishing What Katrina Started."

"I've never witnessed anything like that," said Hannigan, 53, a New Orleans native whose Broadmoor neighborhood was flooded with 7 feet of water. "They were hurling expletives at us, and everything was Katrina-related. It was a very personal attack. We never leave a Saints game early but we did this time because I was afraid. It was a spark away from an explosion.

"I'll never go to Chicago again," she added. "That city is not going to get another penny from me."

The Bears host the Saints tomorrow in the season finale for both teams. I'm assuming that few of their fans will make the trip. The game means nothing, both teams are out of playoff contention.

Related post:

A participant's view of the cancelled Chicago Marathon: UPDATED

Technorati tags: Chicago Bears New Orleans Saints New Orleans Katrina NFL sports