Obama Birth Certificate Bill Advances, Would Allow Hawaii To Ignore Requests

HONOLULU — Hawaii lawmakers are moving closer to passing a measure allowing the state to ignore repeated requests for President Barack Obama's birth certificate.

A conference committee unanimously voted Tuesday to advance the bill to final votes in the House and Senate.

The proposal allows state government agencies not to respond to follow-up requests for information if they determine that the subsequent request is duplicative or substantially similar to a previous request.

The bill is aimed at so-called "birthers," who claim Obama is ineligible to be president. They say he was actually born outside the United States, and therefore doesn't meet a constitutional requirement for being president.

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The bill is SB2937.

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Information from: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, http://www.starbulletin.com

Comments

[D0ntTread0nMe]

12:56 PM on 04/30/2010

MR. OBAMA YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, YOU HAVE NOT BEEN FAITHFUL TO YOUR PRESIDENTIAL OATH, YOU HAVE NOT PRESERVED THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, YOU HAVE NOT PROTECTED THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, YOU HAVE NOT DEFENDED THE UNITED STATES CONTITUTUION, YOU ARE TRYING TO DISMANTAL OUR CONSTITUTION, YOU HAVE AND ARE ATTACKING THE UNITED STATES CONTITUTION, YOU HAVE AND ARE LYING AND MOCKING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DAILY. YOU ARE NOT EVEN QUALIFIED TO BE THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. YOU ARE A COWARD, SIR. YOU ARE A LIAR, SIR, AND YOUR MASTER IS THE FATHER OF LIES. YOU CANNOT SPEAK WITHOUT A TELEPROMPTER. YOU CANNOT GO TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY WITHOUT DISGRACEFULLY BOWING AND OR APOLOGIZING. YOUR MEDIA HAS MADE YOU OUT TO BE THE “SMARTEST” PRESIDENT EVER. THEN RELEASE YOUR SCHOOL RECORDS SIR! So I ask you Mr. Obama: WHERE IS YOUR ORIGINAL CERTIFIED BIRTH CERTIFICATE? “LET ME BE CLEAR” THAT IS THE ONE WITH THE DOCTOR’S SIGNATURE, HOSPITAL NAME AND YOUR FOOTPRINT

[D0ntTread0nMe]

12:56 PM on 04/30/2010

We have let the seemingly small things go and look where that has taken us. I want to talk about it because they are COVERING UP. It would be such an easy thing for any one of us to show our BIRTH CERTIFICATE. Why is it so difficult for Mr. Obama? Why does he treat this country as if he is ashamed of it? Why does he treat our allies as if they are enemies? Why does he encourage Congress to ignore AND PATRONIZE the AMERICAN people? Why did his wife refer to his home country as Kenya? Why do people in Kenya claim he was born there? Why will he not release his own school records? Why does he disgracefully bow to the leaders of other countries? Why does he admire dictators from other countries? THIS IS OBAMA’S WATERGATE. WILL THE NEW WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN PLEASE STAND UP! There is no need to impeach someone who is NOT QUALIFIED to be president. Everything he has signed, ordered, or acted upon is illegal.

[D0ntTread0nMe]

12:56 PM on 04/30/2010

That's it, keep covering up.

OBAMA QUOTE:
“If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost.”

LOST LIKE YOUR ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE?

The time has come for the President to perform his duty to THIS country and show the AMERICAN people his birth certificate. No certificate? Then all of these constitutional crimes go away; the czars, healthcare, all of it. There are too many questions, too many doubts and he has been dodging far too long. Where there is smoke there is fire. The more AMERICAN people that begin asking for the proof, the less he and the major ANTI-AMERICAN broadcast networks will be able to ignore the AMERICAN people as they have done with so many other issues. If there is the slightest doubt in your AMERICAN mind then you too need to be asking “WHERE IS YOUR CERTIFIED ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE?

[IWantTofu]

09:23 PM on 04/28/2010

Dumb haoles!

[rhomsky]

09:10 PM on 04/26/2010

If by some horrible miracle Mc cane had won would Panama be facing this same dilemma?

[CessnaDriver]

06:00 PM on 04/23/2010

This was posted elsewhere, but I decided to throw it on top.

The way my know-everything Con Law professor put it, There are two ways to become a American Citizen.:

Natural Born

Naturalized.

So, if you get your American citizenship by birth, you are Natural Born. Period.

There is such a thing as "American National" but it's rare.

One of the birfers malfunctions is over illegal immigration.

Hypothetically, in 2052 a American-born son of Mexican illegal immigrants is a hot-shot Governor of Iowa, where he has lived his whole life becomes a viable Presidential candidate. They want to be able to say that he's not eligible because of the circumstances of his birth.

[hbhawaii]

04:06 PM on 04/23/2010

Easy enough:

First inquiry is free.

Subsequent inquiries by same person each require a $500 fee, to be paid immediately by credit card.

[IWantTofu]

09:37 PM on 04/28/2010

Probably too expensive. $20, buy two copies, get the third at half price.

[MsJoanne]

11:13 PM on 04/28/2010

HI should charge $20 for the first request and $50 for each thereafter. If the nirthers are fool enough to part ways with their $$, HI will have a budget surplus in no time.

Photocopied long forms: $200.00.

Go for it HI!

[Wolf Larsen]

01:50 PM on 04/23/2010

His birth certificate has been available for years. It has been fully vetted and documented. This is racism pure and simple. Even if he were born in another country.....his mother was an American citizen and so to is the child.....in this case President Obama.

Do these birthers think that an American citizen that is living or visiting outside of the country and gives birth denies the child U.S. citizenship? No it doesn't the child is an American citizen regardless where in the world it was born.

Jesus these people are dense..... ignorant and racist.

[Allison McFarlane]

10:25 AM on 04/23/2010

Let's play devil's advocate here: if the POTUS was born in Kenya he would still be a US citizen because his MOTHER is a US citizen and not Kenyan even if he Father is Kenyan. The US law states that any child born outside of the US to a US citizen, they are automatically considered a US citizen. These people have too much time on their hands in addition to unadulterated IGNORANCE.

[CessnaDriver]

06:03 PM on 04/23/2010

I refer you to the case of Simas Kudrika to support your point.

[BullhornJournal]

09:35 AM on 04/23/2010

How quickly, and for convenience, we all advocate for less open government. I can't stand the birthers, btw.

[CessnaDriver]

06:07 PM on 04/23/2010

What do you mean? If you are talking about the BC, it's been released, signed, sealed, and double verified.

There is no non-transparency in the case of the BC.

If these people, and apparently YOU won't accept absolute proof, why should we believe that you will accept OTHER absolute proof?

[BullhornJournal]

01:28 PM on 04/24/2010

What? The birthers are absurd. I merely suggest that allowing our government to set restrictions on information based on convenience is a bad thing. You might agree with me when the birthers are in control (I'm a pessimist and believe we're on the slide to fascism) and the birthers are deciding exactly what the government is going to allow the people to be privelidged too. What do you suspect the birthers will find inconvenient?

BTW, last I read they were getting two requests a week. I'm sorry, but that's hardly 'inundated'. FOIA allows the state to charge the requester a 'reasonable' fee.

[BullhornJournal]

03:26 PM on 04/29/2010

In reply, I can only say your assumptions are breathtaking. I'm not a birther, I'm not a conservative. Though creating black and white monsters to shoot down is enjoyable and makes for good comment fodder, it is no different from the prurient diatribes of Beck and Hannity and does nothing for the betterment of public discourse. But most annoying is your utter lack of understanding of what a legal precedent means.

YES! I think the government should be absolutely open. Every piece of information the government has should be open to public scrutiny. Perhaps that would keep those of your ilk a little more wary of intrusions into the personal lives of its citizens.

[Angel1999]

11:59 PM on 04/22/2010

Can you imagine the chaos if every doofus with an ax to grind decided that he had to see your original birth certificate? And a copy wouldn't do? Now multiply that time 100,000 for someone famous like the president. And of course, how many of these imbeciles would want to gum up the works by seeing it multiple times. The idea is preposterous.

[y p w]

01:53 AM on 04/23/2010

Yeah - one copy should be enough. It's good enough for the DOJ and the State Dept. Despite what some people have said about "long form" or "short form", a certified record that meets all legal requirements should be adequate. Someone earlier said that a "short form" wasn't acceptable for a passport application, but they actually say some short forms may not be acceptable. I've heard of some people who had "short form" birth certificate copies that were reduced images of the original that didn't come with an official seal. As long as it has the name, DOB, place of birth, parents' names, when the certificate was filed, an official seal, registrar's signature - it should be good for a passport application. Apparently some short forms leave out one or more of these, but Hawaii's has everything needed.

I do understand that the State if Hawaii gave the conspiracy theorists ammo with a spokewoman stating that they no longer had the original copy of birth certificates and the Director of Health stating that they still had it somewhere. I'd chalk it up to an honest mistake from someone who generally deals only with "electronic records" (now that all records are as such and older ones certified and entered into a database), as I would think the person stating that she's seen it personally would know more about where the original paper record was filed.

[dpiyjrtmfr]

07:12 AM on 04/23/2010

I used my short form birth certificate to get my passport.

[IWantTofu]

09:15 PM on 04/28/2010

My "short form" birth certificate from Hawaii was good enough to get a passport. At the bottom of my birth certificate and upon the bottom of the copy that President Obama's birth certificate (that he released upon the internet) is the statement "This copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceeding."

BTW, I was born in the Territory of Hawaii.

[brabc1]

09:15 AM on 04/23/2010

I have tried to be fair, but have now concluded that I hate the current GOP. Notice I said "current":

Where are the GOP statesmen/women that could bring some sanity to the party?

A party comprised of all whites filled with hate for those unlike them will not be around for long. It may take a few more years, but they are on the road to ruin.

[y p w]

11:18 AM on 04/23/2010

To be fair, I remember that the Constitution specifically set up the qualifications for candidacy for the Presidency to include those who were British subjects who were considered residents of the United States at about the time of its founding. The founders put this in for people like Alexander Hamilton, who was born in the Caribbean.

I do understand that several Presidents who were born long after the founding of the United States had one or more parents who were British subjects at the time of their birth. Sounds a lot like Obama.

The fact is that there's never been a definitive ruling (there have been some minor rulings) on what "natural born citizen" means, and the Supreme Court doesn't seem to be interested in taking on the question right now.

[keepemhonest]

11:38 PM on 04/22/2010

Thomas Jefferson's mother was born & raised in England ... not America. UT OH!!!!! WHERE IS T.J'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE????

[dpiyjrtmfr]

07:13 AM on 04/23/2010

Rumor has it that George Washington was born a British subject! I am for posthumously prosecuting him for treason!

[pwd2008]

10:09 PM on 04/23/2010

Just curious - why does it matter where Thomas Jefferson's mother was born? She was not the President. Nothing in the constitution says one's mother or father need to be a natural born citizen.

TJ was born in Albemarle County, Va

[CessnaDriver]

03:16 PM on 04/24/2010

Of course it doesn't matter, that's the point. The poster was being sarcastic.

[pwd2008]

10:55 PM on 04/22/2010

I was just wondering. If President Bush was okay with letting everyone see his Birth Certificate, then what is the big issue with seeing President Obama's.

Seems like a lot of fuss over nothing which could easily be cleared up by just publishing it in the NY Times. It would end the entire controversy .

[shanghaislim]

11:05 PM on 04/22/2010

Wow.....

Simply amazing?

[CessnaDriver]

11:07 PM on 04/22/2010

It's been published since June, 2008.

What part of absolute proof don't you understand?

[y p w]

09:56 PM on 04/22/2010

The Hawaii government had taken an unprecedented step to clear the air on this since they're getting requests up to their eyeballs. As far as I can tell, they don't give anyone an option to request a copy of the original form any more. Maybe that was the norm before (and we've seen copies).

http://hawaii.gov/health/vital-records/obama.html
http://hawaii.gov/health/about/pr/2008/08-93.pdf

“Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai‘i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures."

http://hawaii.gov/health/about/pr/2009/09-063.pdf

“I, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, Director of the Hawai‛i State Department of Health, have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawai‘i State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawai‘i and is a natural-born American citizen. I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago.”

[amaycatbaker]

08:54 PM on 04/22/2010

OK no more birther requests. I know you won't listen, after repeatedly being told he was born in Hawaii, when Hawaii was a state.

[Angel1999]

12:00 AM on 04/23/2010

Everybody knows that Hawaii is not part of the US. They look different there and they don't grow corn.
;)

[CessnaDriver]

03:42 PM on 04/24/2010

Ya know, dem orientals dere dey scard da Sarah! How cin it be a state with all dem orientals?

[IWantTofu]

09:21 PM on 04/28/2010

You are wrong. They do grow corn. When I was a kid there, we used to buy corn at the roadside farmers stand. They just don't grow much corn. Also, we don't look different. The people on the mainland are who looks different. And the mainland people also talks with a funny accent.

Shaka Bra!