You may notice this site has a new look. With a great new president and a new year, it’s time to spruce this place up a bit.
Hopefully in the coming months we’ll get some direction of where we want to go with this site and how better to keep it maintained.
The Boston Globe has an article that focuses on the sentiments of Hoosiers, particularly in northern Indiana, on the third anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War. Support for Bush appears to be eroding the heartland because of his incompetence in handling the Iraq War. Even the folks who still support the war and support Bush don’t seem that enthusiastic about it. They don’t like that the weapons of mass destruction never materialized. They don’t see an exit strategy. They’re willing to make excuses for Bush (e.g., it’s partisan politics, it’s the liberal media, he just got bad intelligence), but they don’t see how this will end well.
Hurricane Katrina didn’t help matters. Everybody saw the city of New Orleans destroyed, and it is not a great mental leap to substitute a terrorist attack for the hurricane to see how ineffectual the government response would apparently be in the event of a future attack on that scale.
Probably more relevant to White County was the discussion of Representative Chocola (IN-02) whose district goes through the northeastern corner of the county and his challenger Joe Donnelly:
“The mid-term elections are coming and it scares me to death, speaking as a partisan Republican,” [Chuck Sulok] said. ”There’s a difference between regular dissatisfaction and a dissent that will move an election. There’s that feeling in the air.”
Joe Donnelly hopes Sulok’s fears are well-founded. Donnelly, a local lawyer, is running for Congress against a Republican incumbent, Chris Chocola, in a rematch from 2004. He lost last time by 9 points — but that was when the Iraq War was still young.
Donnelly said the drop in support for Bush and his handling of the war could swing the election his way, accusing Chocola of being a ”rubber stamp” for the administration. Chocola, whose campaign netted $600,000 in a Bush-headlined fund-raiser in February, did not respond to an interview request.
”Truly, everyone out here wants the Iraq mission to succeed,” Donnelly said. ”But everyone is becoming more concerned and uncomfortable. What we need are Congress people who will ask President Bush tough questions, not be rubber stamps.”
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Amy and I were recently having a discussion about Indiana’s new Voter-ID law and what sort of identification was acceptable. She had understood from what she had heard at the last meeting that only state ID was acceptable whereas my recollection was that either state or federal was acceptable. So, I did some research.
Based on a review of the legislation passed by the General Assembly last year (SEA 483-2005) and the Secretary of State’s 2006 Voter Guide, my conclusion is that state and federal identification are both acceptable.
Specifically, SEA 483 defines “proof of identification” as documentation that 1) shows the name of the individual which conforms to the individual’s voter identification record; 2) shows a photograph of the individual; 3) includes an expiration date that is in the future or expired after the date of the most recent general election; and 4) was issued by the state of Indiana or the United States government.
The Secretary of State’s voter information guide says:
If you are voting in person at the polls, or voting an absentee ballot in your county clerk’s office, you will be asked to present proof of identification before voting. This ID must: (1) show you photograph; (2) include your name, which must conform your name on your voter registration record; (3) have an expiration date after November 2, 2004; and (4) be issued by the U.S. government or the State of Indiana.
If I’m missing something that negates the permissibility of voting with a federally issued identification, I would certainly be interested in knowing what I missed.
Thanks, everyone, for all the positive feedback and input on the site. It is truly a work in progress.
To those that registered over the weekend, the username and password created gives you priveleges to add your comments. If you’d like to be a contributer, please leave a comment here or send me an email and I will change your permission so that you will be able to post. I will also send instructions on how to create a post.
Also, a huge thank you goes out to Beth Westfall, who funded the administrative costs of this site for an entire year. Thanks Beth!
Thanks again! Keep checking back for more updates as time permits.
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