Controversial Indiana Supreme Court Ruling Questions Voter Identification Standards

The Indiana Supreme Court upheld an Indiana state law that requires all voters must provide valid photo I.D. in order to vote in the upcoming Indiana Democratic Primaries. The issue brings many questions into play about the standards of preventing voter fraud, as well as how prevalent voter fraud really is. Many democrats, such an New York Senator Chuck Schumer, believe the law is unfair, especially to poor, minority voters who often do not have a driver's license or another form of proper photo identification. Many of these affected voters are democrats. The reverse side of the argument believes it is imperative to have tough standards to ensure fair elections, without the risk of voters being allowed to cast multiple ballots. Personally, I believe it is important to make sure no one can vote twice or any way attempt to defraud the system of democracy that our country is built upon. However, this should not be done at the cost of alienating poor voters who have never had a driver's license, yet still care to vote for the candidate of their choice, without the hassle of being turned down at the voting polls. This is an issue that is bigger than just the state of Indiana. The issue of removing the risk of voter fraud, while at the same time not discouraging potential low income voters should be a national issue that can be agreed upon by everyone. Future elections should allow every eligible citizen to vote, without imposing undue burdens on them to prove their identity. National Voter I.D. cards provided free to everyone is a solution, however it is not quite that simple, especially considering the potential costs of a system of that nature and the large amount debt our government is currently in. What is clear, however, is that something must be done. At the very least it means bringing this issue into the national spotlight. No one wants a repeat of the horrendous debacles in Florida and Ohio that helped cement the national disaster that is George W. Bush's presidency.

Disaster strikes the Democratic party in the form of delusional politician Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton's victory in the Pennsylvania primary is the worst possible outcome for the Democratic party. She is still no closer to catching Senator Obama's lead in the delegate count, the super-delegate count or the popular vote. Instead, she is keeping her party wrapped up in an intense, increasingly more and more self-defeating primary race that only serves to give Republicans and their nominee Senator McCain more ammunition to use in the general election. It is inevitable Mr.Obama will pull out the nomination, the question just becomes when? When will Hillary finally come back to earth and realize she has no realistic chance, short of an act of god, to win? When will she give in and admit defeat? It is already almost May, and democrats need to rally around one candidate and start preparing for the general election, which is only several short months away. The best case scenario will be a sweep for Obama in the next two primaries coming up in two weeks, which should serve as cold hard slap of reality to Senator Clinton. Being realistic however, is clearly not part of Clinton's political strategy or she would have thrown in the towel long ago when it became evident to everyone following the primary that her defeat was not a matter of if, but a matter of when.

Forums provide multiple levels of communication

After spending a solid week blogging on a Masslive Forum, I was surprised at the different levels of communication that can spring forth from the large assortment of bloggers. Forums can act as another form of Instant Messaging, if the party you are blogging with is online and reading and responding to your messages as they are posted. Also, it could be compared to another form of e-mail, in the sense that you can check it whenever convenient, respond back at your leisure, and then log off until the next time you feel like chatting or checking the comments of others. Overall, forums are an excellent way to learn the viewpoints of other bloggers on a wide variety of issues, from sports to politics, or in the case of my forum, relationships.

Stoking the Blog Flames Not a Success

My strategy for writing a blog that would solicit the most comments from outside users was to pick a topic that was current and also of great public interest. Considering that this is election time I decided to focus on the intense primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Since I am an Obama fan I decided to write something that would support my candidate. However, I thought it over and realized that a negative attack towards a political candidate is more likely to generate controversy than giving praise towards one, so I decided to try and use some arguments from Obama supporters and write a blog about Clinton's refusal to admit defeat and how it was tearing the democratic party apart in a time when they need to start coming together to try and prepare for the general election this fall. I generally do believe Clinton is in fact tearing the party apart and her tactics to try and win have been shameless, such as telling the public she thinks McCain is a stronger candidate than Obama, which breaks the unwritten rule that you are not supposed say or do anything in a primary that will damage your party's chances in the main election. The overall message in my blog was something I actually believed in. However, to make my comments just a little more controversial I added a few sentences I don't necessarily believe in an attempt to generate more of a response to my blog post. For example I don't necessarily agree with my statement that she is only trying to win to make up for the humiliation she received during her days as first lady. After reading over my blog I was pretty satisfied that it would be of interest to anyone who followed politics, especially those who were Clinton supporters and would want to defend her via a comment on my blog. The biggest surprise to me in this assignment was the level of difficulty in trying to get my blog noticed. After being told MassLive forums were a good medium to showcase my posts, I signed up for an account enabling me to post comments and I added a link to my blog. I wasn't necessarily expecting to become the next blogging sensation overnight, but I at least thought one or two curious bloggers might give me a chance and check out my link. Perhaps, the extra step of clicking on a link turned potential bloggers away, but whatever the reason I received no comments. This leads me to believe that however important it is to write something controversial, even more essential is the ability to market and advertise your blog. In the ever-populated world of internet bloggers you must find a way to separate yourself from the masses and achieve your own identity as an internet personality.

Politics the source of most controversy on Washingtonpost.com

All top 5 of the most commented stories on Washingtonpost.com revolve around politics, and more specifically the primary race between Senators Obama and Clinton. The nation as a whole is transfixed by the competitive race and readers in Washington, the political capital of the country, are no exception. There are many reasons why this is such a popular story. This is the first election where either a woman or an African-American will have a realistic chance at becoming president of the United States of America. Also, the fierceness of the close race has led to many controversial battles between the two candidates which has put a lot of pressure on the Democratic party as a whole. The longer the race continues the worse shape the party will be in for the general election, which is a major cause for concern among all democrats. After suffering through the last 8 years of George W. in the White House, the last thing most democrats want is the continued in fighting of the party, which will only serve to hurt the candidate who is able to pull out the democratic nomination. All these reasons contribute at least a little to the vast array of comments about what most consider the most unique primary race in U.S. history.

Hillary Clinton is a Selfish Woman

Presidential candidate not to be Hillary Clinton is a selfish, greedy and now approaching delusional person for not graciously accepting defeat and dropping out of the Democratic primary. Does she really think she can still win? Mathematics and anyone who has followed politics for less time than a Bill Clinton study session with his female intern would tell you, NO! So why is she still running? While many plea for Mrs. Clinton to give up the nomination to Senator Obama, which will soon be his anyways, she is refusing to give up. She is instead deciding to waste millions more of her supporters money, while at the same time reducing the Democratic party to petty in-fighting for at least several more months, giving them less of a chance to win the main election (the one that actually counts) in November. Not that it will be a very big deal or anything, it's just the one that decides if we stay in Iraq for 100 more years and give Republicans another term to build on all the many successes of George W. Clearly, the esteemed Senator Clinton's greed for power, along with her insatiable need to achieve success in the face of the humiliation she received during her days as first lady, have clouded her ability to decide what is best for her party, and more importantly, the country as a whole. She must accept defeat, reverse her endorsement of McCain over Obama and just hope it isn't already too late.