Obama Birth Certificate Issue Will Never Go Away—“Test The Ink On It And See How Old It Is”

President Obama has released his birth certificate. 

The President was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.

(Above—Honolulu from space. Many on the right persist in the far out view that President Obama was born outside the U.S.) 

I’m not sure why the birth certificate was released. Why not take the political gain offered by folks who never let up on the birth certificate issue?

With Donald Trump taking the credit for the release, maybe the intent is to enhance Mr. Trump among Republican primary voters.

Maybe the Obama folks know exactly what they are doing. When you are dealing with folks who are not rational, facts are not going to matter. Let them be seen for what they are.

What they are at this point is the mainstream of the Republican Party. Two-thirds of registered Republicans believe that President Obama was born outside the country or are not sure.

Among these not so rational people are Republican elected officials. Already this morning Republican Texas State Representative Leo Berman has said he is still not convinced that Mr. Obama was born in the United States.

From the Texas Tribune–

State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, has checked out the birth certificate President Barack Obama released this morning — and he’s not satisfied. Berman, who has raised persistent questions about Obama’s birthplace, said he has many more questions and that it will take “someone like a Donald Trump” to really determine whether the president has “pulled the greatest swindle, the greatest hoax, in the history of the United States.”  Berman, who has filed a “birther” bill this session that would force future presidential and vice presidential candidates to show their birth certificate in order to get on the Texas ballot, said he’s got several key questions with Obama’s birth certificate: Why did it take the president so long, amid a conservative firestorm, to release it? Why does it look “brand new,” he said, when it’s supposed to be five decades old? Why doesn’t the hospital listed on the birth certificate have a “plaque on the door” commemorating Obama’s birth there? And has anyone checked with the delivery room doctor listed on the birth certificate (whose name Berman says is curiously difficult to make out)?

I’m hesitant to write about this silly issue at all, but the matter is an insight into the nature of American conservatives. Are these the people you want running our nation? Are they grounded in day-to-day reality?

On the Facebook page of Houston right-wing talk radio station KTRH, a posting was made about the release of the birth certificate.

Below is a sampling of what people had to say at the KTRH page —

If you believe that, I have 40 acres of swamp land to sell you !!! He did not produce it till TRUMP put the pressure on him. Test the ink on it and see how old it is!!

Took a while to get it doctored I see !

Ok and as has been discussed before a cert of live birth is very diff from a birth cert…. Just saying….

About time…he probably had to find somebody to do it under the table. I highly doubt that is real and genuine. That cert is about as real as Pam Andersons Boobs.

Question: 1) Why does this one look VERY different than the one released years ago? 2) Why is he just now releasing this one if the one released years ago isn’t the real one? 3) How can be believer this one is real if there has already been a fake one released in the past?

But its the same old COLB. NOT a certified copy of his birth certficate.

Wonder which flea market he purchased it from?

Is this a real one? or one the CIA made for him?

I’ll never believe it’s real!

“As long as an adult can walk into Hawaii’s version of the Department of Records and provide proof that they are a legal resident of Hawaii, the document is issued. The child, on the other hand, could have been born in Hawaii, Kenya, or a back-alley in Budapest.”

Throughout Kenya, people will chant “You Lie”

If You Are Born In The United States Then You Are A Citizen Of The United States—14th Amendment In Spanish

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina says the Constitution should be changed so that the children of persons in the country illegally do not automatically become U.S. citizens if they are born on American soil.

(Above–George W. Bush celebrating Cinco De Mayo at the White House.)

Here is what the 14th Amendment of the Constitution says on this subject—

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Here are those words in Spanish—

“Toda persona nacida o naturalizada en los Estados Unidos, y sujeta por ello a tal jurisdicción, es ciudadana de los Estados Unidos y del Estado en que resida. Ningún Estado podrá crear o implementar leyes que limiten los privilegios o inmunidades de los ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos; tampoco podrá ningún Estado privar a una persona de su vida, libertad o propiedad, sin un debido proceso legal; ni negar a persona alguna dentro de su jurisdicción la protección legal igualitaria.”

You can translate the Constitution into Spanish and the Republic does not collapse.

Here is the full text of the 14th Amendment.

Here is the full text in Spanish.

Here is some basic history of the 14th Amendment and an assessment of its impact.

Should we change the fact that if you are born in America you become a citizen?

No.

This is a proposal to make sure that people of a certain color and ethnicity don’t become citizens. This is not about immigration. This is about what it means to be an American.

I stand with our Constitution of the United States of America that says if you are born here, then you are an American.

(Below–The Constitution of the United States of America.)

We The People.

Not—We The People Who Have Parents That Conservatives Think Are Okay.

This amendment is being proposed by a man who comes from a state–South Carolina– that profited for many years by denying full citizenship to people of color.

(Below–Loyal Americans.)

This amendment is being offered by a man who is a member of a political party that has become a subsidiary of the extreme right-wing so-called Tea Party movement.

This is not about the future of our nation. If Republicans and the Tea Party cared about the future, they would care about global warming and care about people getting health insurance.

Instead, what  Tea Party seems to care about is where our President was born and about the fact that his middle name is Hussein.

I care about the fact anybody born here is my fellow American.

(Below–Hawaii in photo taken by mbz1. Hawaii is where our President was born. It is also one of four majority-minority states in the union. The other three are California, New Mexico and Texas.)

We cannot have a Republican Senator from South Carolina and a bunch of far right-wing government haters telling us who is acceptable for citizenship.

Instead, we must treat all our fellow Americans as……..Fellow Americans!

Obama Press Conference On BP Spill And Other Topics—Full Texas Liberal Coverage!

President Obama is holding a press conference today at 11:45 Central Time.  I’m going to watch that conference on C-Span.org and blog about it as it is taking place.

Above is the famous press conference where a man tossed a shoe at former President George W. Bush.

11:40—Watching the CNN coverage leading up the press conference.  Blah. Blah. Blah.

11:49—The press conference has begun.

11:52–The President is saying that the Federal Government has been been strongly involved in addressing the spill and that BP is under the direction of the government. This may be so, but why are we hearing this strong assertion of the government’s role 35 days into the crisis. Why does Mr. Obama seem to wait until political trouble has begun to say tough things?

11:56—Mr. Obama says that the Gulf Coast is still a good place to visit. He says that only a small number of beaches in Louisiana are impacted by oil. I’d encourage  you to visit Galveston, Texas on the Gulf Coast. It is a great place to take a walk and have dinner.

12:00—President Obama is making the case for regulation of the oil industry. By extension, he is making the case for government regulation in a number of regards. How can people look at this disaster and feel that private firms can be left to regulate themselves?

12:02–Mr. Obama says that this spill is a clear call for new sources of energy. But what about conservation? Don’t the people themselves bear some fault for our need for all this oil?

12:06—Just got up to get some macaroni salad for lunch. The macaroni salad package was open and I had to e-mail my wife to make sure that she was the one who had opened it rather than some crazy person at the supermarket.  She replied and said that she had indeed opened the package.

12:09—Question asking if all possible has really been done when many are saying this is not the case. The President says our response has not been perfect, but does reflect the fact that all that can be done in a realistic sense has been done. I suppose you could say that about just about anything in life.

12:15–Question is about calls that the government take command of the spill response from BP. By that logic, which I have no problem with, the government could take over a number things that the private sector can’t seem to get right. Health care would be a good start.

12:18–The Texas Observer has a great story about how the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is a friend of industry rather than a friend of the people of Texas. Some people in Texas live in a kind of oil slick of bad air each day. These folks need a disaster response plan as well.

12:22—The President is again saying that oil companies have not been well-regulated for offshore drilling. The next thing the President could better regulate is overfishing in the Gulf of Mexico that is being conducted by some of the very same people now upset that they can’t fish.

12:25–A question was asked if “heads should roll” over this spill. Below is Francisco de Goya‘s The French Penalty.

12:32–Helen Thomas wants to know when we are going to get out of Afghanistan. I was wondering a few days ago why opposition to our two wars seems to have become silent with Mr. Obama in office. It could have to do with the fact that the Iraq War is winding down. It could also be that some of the opposition was politically motivated and left-of-center political groups don’t want to criticize Mr. Obama. Helen Thomas is 89! Good for her.

12:38–Questions now about how Mr. Obama could have ever thought that the oil companies would do the right thing in the Gulf. Yeah–I agree. I don’t know how he could have thought that at anytime before or after the spill.

12:41—The President just referred  to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina by his first name. I bet the Tea Party in South Carolina already has a press release up calling Senator Graham a socialist for being buddy-buddy with Mr. Obama.

12:46—Question about immigration and the Arizona immigration law. I think that the border of Texas with other states should be policed to make sure our ignorant textbooks don’t crossover to dumb down students in these other states.

12:50—The President says that the spill is what he thinks about when he goes to bed at night. He also says that he comes from Hawaii “where the ocean is sacred.”  Here is how the sacred ocean in Hawaii is being treated in regard to health of coral reefs in that state.

12:55—Over and out. Here is a NY Times report on the conference.

(Below–Gerald Ford holds a press conference in the Oval Office.  You see Helen Thomas dressed in black and taking notes, and a smirking Dick Cheney leaning on the President’s chair.)

You Never Know Who Will Link To Your Blog

A good thing about having a blog is that you never know who will link to one of your posts.

Earlier this week I was linked to by Mr. DeMink’s social studies class.  Mr. DeMink linked to a poem I ran on the blog by a Japanese immigrant who came to Hawaii to work on a sugar plantation.

Mr. DeMink’s class is a seventh grade class somewhere in Hawaii.

( Above–Hawaii.)

Here are Mr. DeMink’s grading policies—

• You Must Pass Both Semesters to Pass Seventh Grade:  Yes you heard that correctly, if you fail the first semester you have to repeat seventh grade–even if you get an “A” in the second semester.  You will earn a half a credit for each semester and if you don’t pass the first semester you will be half a credit short of moving on to the eight grade!

• All Projects Must Be Completed and receive a Passing Grade:  If you decide that you are not going to complete a project you will not receive a grade for social studies class.  YOU MUST DO AND COMPLETE ALL OF YOUR WORK AT A QUALITY LEVEL TO RECEIVE A GRADE!

• All Projects Turned in Must Be of Quality:  Every project that you turn in must first pass a quality checklist in order to be graded.  If it does not conform to the quality standard then it won’t even be graded.
• Parents Must Sign off and Explain why each Project is a Quality Piece:  One of the steps in each quality checklist is parent approval of the project.  For each project you must have a parent sign and explain why they think that your project meets the quality expectations required.

You see here that Mr. DeMink is not playing around. Parental approval is required of work before it is submitted.

Good for Mr. DeMink.

Last week Texas Liberal was linked to by blog called Awearness.  This is a blog run by fashion designer Kenneth Cole. It is written by Mr. Cole and a number of contributors. My post that was linked to was about the oldest candidates who have been nominated for President. The Awearness post considered the prospect of Hillary Clinton running for President in 2016 when she will be 69 years old.

Who knew I’d ever be linked to by a fashion designer. It really is not so likely. 

Below is the Kenneth Cole ” New York Hole Hearted Satchel.” This bag will run you $258.

I’m not sure I need one of those bags, but if it is your thing more power to you.

Best States For Obama & McCain

 

Barack Obama’s best state on Election Day was tropical Hawaii (Above–Hawaii). Mr. Obama won Hawaii with 72%. At one point in his life, Mr. Obama lived in Hawaii.

Also, Mr. Obama won 60% or more of the vote in California (61%), Connecticut (60%), Illinois (62%), Maryland (60%), Massachusetts (62%), New York (62%), Rhode Island (63%) and Vermont (67%). He won 93%  in the District of Columbia.

John McCain’s best state was dusty Oklahoma (Above–Oklahoma). The McCain/Palin ticket took 66% in Oklahoma.

Other 60% states for Senator McCain were Alabama (60%), Alaska (62%), Idaho (62%), Utah (63%) and Wyoming (65% ).

Overall Senator Obama won the popular vote with 52%.

I’m glad America followed the lead of Hawaii instead of that of Oklahoma.

Remote Yet Connected—I Want To Be Like The Hawaiian Islands

The Hawaiian Islands are both remote and connected.

2,400 miles from the nearest continent, the chain is the most remote group of islands in the world.

Yet the Hawaiian islands are also fully connected to the world.

I want to be like the Hawaiian Islands.

I like my space, but I want to be engaged with others as well.

Japanese Immigrant Poem About Working In Hawaii Canefields

 

Here is a poem from around 1905 by a Japanese immigrant who had come to Hawaii to work in a sugarcane plantation. (Photo above is of sugarcane in Hawaii.)

Hawaii, Hawaii

Like a dream

So I came

But my tears

Are flowing now

In the canefields.

Here is a history of Japanese immigration to Hawaii.

While the poem tells the story well enough, here is information about working in a sugar plantation in Hawaii.

Superferry In Hawaii Is Very Large

Above is a picture of the Superferry. It is based in Hawaii.

It is very big. It can hold 866 passengers and 200 cars and trucks.

It is meant to travel between various Hawaiian islands.

Some say it will ruin remaining undeveloped portions of Hawaii, that it is an environmental menace, and that it will hit whales.

Others say it will bring about economic development and jobs.

Odds are all this has a measure of truth. 

Here is a recent USA Today story on the Superferry. 

I suppose I should be instinctively against the Superferry, but I don’t have strong feelings on the matter.

I spent a week in Hawaii and the conflict between the jobs created by tourism, and the desire to keep the islands somewhat pristine is a very hard issue to resolve.

I have no solution to the matter. 

I do know I’ve wanted to a run a picture of the Superferry in the blog for some time now.

An Explanation And A History Of Presidential Nominating Caucuses—With Pictures!

With the Iowa Presidential nominating caucuses due up on January 3, 2008, here is an explanation and a history of the modern caucus process. The source is the Congressional Quarterly Press Guide To U.S. Elections Volume I.

Does the caucus system exclude the public to the benefit of ideologically extreme and unrepresentative individuals? Or does the caucus system rightly allow for well-informed party activists to have a strong say in who will win Presidential nominations and help build strong parties after the caucus is completed?

Read the following and see what you think.

From the book—

In the current primary-dominated era of Presidential politics, which began three decades ago, caucuses have survived…The impact of caucuses decreased in the 1970’s as the number of primaries grew…Previously, a candidate sought to run well in primary states mainly to have a bargaining chip with which to deal with powerful leaders in the caucus states. Republicans Berry Goldwater ( photo above) in 1964 and Richard Nixon(photo below) in 1968 all built up solid majorities among caucus state delegates that carries them to their parties’ nomination. Hubert Humphrey did not compete in a single primary state in 1968. 

After 1968, candidates placed their principle emphasis on primaries…More recently, there has been an increase in the number of states employing caucuses…mostly in smaller states. The increase was slight among Democrats, but more extensive in 2004, when Republicans  saw little reason to spend money or time in an uncontested renomination… 

Compared with a primary, the caucus system is complicated. Instead of focusing on a single primary election ballot, the caucus system presents a multitiered  system that involves meetings scheduled over several weeks, even months. There is mass participation at the first level only, with meetings often lasting over several hours and attracting only the most enthusiastic and dedicated party members.

The operation of the caucus varies from state to state, and each party has its own set of rules. Most begin with precinct caucuses or some other type of local mass meeting open to all party voters. Participants, often publicly declaring their votes, elect delegates to the next stage of the process.

In smaller states, such as Delaware and Hawaii (photo above), delegates are elected directly to a state convention, where the national convention delegates are chosen. In larger states, such as Iowa, there is at least one more step, sometimes two. Delegates in Iowa are elected at the precinct caucuses to county conventions, which are followed by the state convention….

Participation, even at the first level of the caucus process, is much lower than in the primaries. Caucus participants usually are local party leaders and activists. many rank-and-file voters find the caucus complex, confusing or intimidating.

As a result, caucuses are usually considered tailor-made for a candidate with a cadre of passionately dedicated supporters. This was evident as long ago as 1972, when a surprisingly strong showing in the Iowa precinct caucuses helped propel Senator George McGovern (picture above) of South Dakota, an ardent foe of the Vietnam war, toward the Democratic nomination.

In a caucus state, the focus is on one-on-one campaigning. Time, not money, is usually the most valuable resource. Because organization and personal campaigning are so important, an early start is…crucial.

The lone exception is Iowa (Great Seal above). As the kick-off point…Iowa has recently become a more expensive stop…But the accent in Iowa…is still on grassroots organization.

Although the basic steps of the caucus process are the same for both parties, the rules that govern them are vastly different. Democratic rules have been revamped substantially since 1968, establishing national standards for grassroots participation. Republicans have remained largely unchanged, with the states given wide latitude in drawing up their delegate-selection plans.   

For both Republicans and democrats, the percentage of delegates elected from caucus states was on a sharp decline throughout the 1970’s. But the Democrats broke the downward trend and elected more delegates by the caucus process in 1980 than in 1976. Between 1980 and 1984, six states switched from a primary to a caucus system; none the other way.

A strong showing in the caucuses by Walter F. Mondale (bust above) in 1984 led many Democrats—and not only supporters of his rivals—to conclude that the caucuses are inherently unfair. The mainstream Democratic coalition of party activists, labor union members, and teachers dominated the caucuses on Mondale’s behalf.   

The major complaint about the caucus process is that it does not involve enough voters, and that the low turnouts are not so representative of voter sentiment as a higher-turnout primary.

Staunch defenders, however, believe a caucus has party-building attributes a primary cannot match. They note that several hours at a caucus can include voters in a way that quickly casting a primary ballot does not. Following caucus meetings, the state party comes away with lists of thousands of voters who can be tapped to volunteer time or money, or even run for local office. 

Here is a link to some more specific history of the Iowa caucus.

Here is a link to the State Historical Society of Iowa which has a new Iowa Caucus exhibit.

What do you think? A good way to go or not? I feel a mix of the primary and the caucus is as good as anything else. There is a place for party activists and a place for a broader electorate.

Though public funding would make it all a lot better.

Texas Liberal is leading the way in political history blogging in 2008.