Birthers - those who believe that President Obama isn't a natural born US citizen and have been demanding to see a physical copy of his birth certificate for the past three years - refuse to go away. For a while they appear to disappear, only to rear their ugly heads again.
This time around, they have been fighting their cause in Arizona where they have just gotten a Birther Bill through the Arizona House of Representatives. That bill - which still needs the approval of the state Senate - requires that candidates who wish to get onto the ballot in Arizona prove that they are natural born citizens, meaning that President Obama would be required to do that in 2012. This is the latest desperate attempt by the birther conspiracy theorists to prove that President Obama is not a natural born American.
The fervor with which these people operate is stunning. I only wish they would put this much effort into helping the economy, or education system. The president has shown his birth certificate already. Hawaii has verified his birth, yet they are still not satisfied. In fact, Hawaii are so tired of these inane requests that it is working on its own legislation to allow it to ignore requests for the president's birth certificate. What more do the birthers want?
That Arizona would support these people is also laughable, although Arizona is a state with a questionable history when it comes to matters that involve people of color. They have just introduced controversial immigration legislation which has been described by leading Cardinal Roger Mahoney as reminiscent of Nazi and communist tactics and will no doubt lead to racial profiling, as law enforcement officials are given powers to round up people who they suspect may be undocumented immigrants. It is also the state that refused to recognize Martin Luther King day some 20 years ago. These are just a couple of examples.
Birthers are entitled to their opinions, no matter how far fetched. But once again, what we have here is Republicans backing groups on the fringe of the party. Has the Republican party gotten so desperate for votes that it is now comfortable aligning itself with conspiracy theorists who many believe are only pressing this issue because of the president's race.
I'm not simplistic enough to believe that all Republicans are extreme right wingers because they aren't. In fact, four Republicans voted against the birther bill in Arizona. But the question has to be asked: where are the sensible people in the Republican party? Where are the moderate voices, the voices of reason? And why are they allowing their fellow party members to make them look so ridiculous?
Listen to Dr Boyce Watkins and I talk about this issue and let us know what you think.
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The term jus sanguinis describes a person born of parents who are citizens and jus soli describes a person born in the country. There was no "Unity of Citizenship" at the time of his birth to make him a NATURAL BORN CITIZEN. This is a specific category of citizenship UNDER OUR FUNDEMENTAL LAW. One must be natural born to be President. Dual citizens cannot be natural born. Such has been a requirement of the U.S. Constitution since the beginning of the Republic.
Our Founding Fathers placed this requirement for (only) the President to be a natural born citizen to protect our country from foreign influence. There are some out here who feel a strong foreign influence in the words and actions of this "radical president." Some days it seems like Barack Obama shows a lot more devotion to foreign ideas, such as Marxian Socialism, Islam and world government, than to our Founders' American ideals of individual liberty, private property and limited government. That is why the examination of Obama's most untransparent past is so compelling.
Amazing how the media never brings up this fact.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/2004-12-02-schwarzenegger-amendment_x.htm
Just for fun, they should put ome of those electric shock dog collars on all of our politicians, connect it to a computer and give them a good jolt every time they break a campaign promise!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3XsO9I6swg
or this from the Kenyan Parliament:
http://www.thepostemail.com/2010/04/11/kenyan-parliament-claims-obama-born-in-kenya/
or the Kenyan Ambassador talking about Obama's birth place in Kenyan being well known:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH4GX3Otf14
And there is plenty more - but the point is there is more than enough doubt, COMBINED with his refusal to release any of his personal documents from his past to fuel this movement. What is amazing to me is, that the liberal left, main stream media, the white house and everybody else that wants to wish this away is so surprised that it is still going - News flash, not only is it still going it is gaining traction.
Let's give it to Iran. They run their government the same way.
We'll have to make sure Iran understands, though: they can't give it back.
Come on folks: let's start a bill in Congress to throw Arizona out of the Union.
I'll tell you how bad it is; this is the first time this year I've been almost glad I'm a Texan. Arizona makes Texas look a state chock full of East Coast University grads.
That said, Obama has produced a certified copy from the State of Hawaii, and that should end the controversy.
Do you think Abraham Lincoln had a birth certificate in the modern sense? If so, you need to study up on the documentation procedures that surrounded log cabin births in Kentucky in 1809. We might have a notation in the family Bible, but that would be about it.
And what does a birth certificate prove? John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, and Mitt Romney's father, George, who ran for President in 1968, was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, but both McCain and Romney were treated as natural born citizens. A person with a birth certificate showing birth in the United States might have renounced his citizenship, and thus no longer be qualified to serve as President of the United States.
The problem with Arizona's birther bill is that it is blatantly unconstitutional and reflects the sponsors' colossal ignorance. When we vote, we cast our ballots for the Presidential electors, not for the candidates. The electors then elect the President. The Constitution imposes no qualifications for electors, and only one disqualification: that they not be federal office holders. It is up to the electors, not us, to determine who is qualified to be elected to the office of President.
Where is John McCain's documents? Sarah Palin's? I frankly don't care. Except that McCain was born outside of the U.S. So McCain therefore should be the one we're talking about not Obama. Not that I agree but oh well. We got haters in this world.
Hey Lola, maybe for your next article you can write about all the Black politicians you've got over in the bastion of racial harmony that is the UK.
I do find it curious that we can't access his thesis and other documents from Columbia/Occidental that are usually public information.... Wasn't this supposed to be the most transparent administration ever?
Never heard of it.
I have no problem with Obama's proof from Hawaii that he was born "here." However, the fact that he is "a person of color" should not disuade anyone from demanding that candidates running for president meet the requirements. For the press, for example, that ought to be the first order of business - verifying a candidates eligibility. Why wouldn't they?
Obama's being black makes it easy to claim racism is involved (and with some of the "Birthers," it may well be), but requiring that ALL candidates prove they meet the Constitutional requirements is not a descriminatory policy. It's a common sense policy that applies to ALL.
If there was something amiss with verification of his birth, it would have surfaced. This would be too large a conspiracy that someone wouldn't crack out of either some honor code, some level of anger at President Obama or for the fortune their testimony would garner from the various media.
The fact is President Obama was born here. But, that does not stop the irrational among us. Just read their comments here or elsewhere. Well, if he would only show this or that additional document. Why is he refusing to show this or that document? All he has to do is thus and so. They are all lies. They are all rational sounding questions to an irrational conclusion that they have already made. If I told you I had a large invisible rabbit friend who spoke to me and tried to introduce you to him, you would either steer clear of me or tell me to seek help. Not a bad set of options for those of us who encounter birthers.
I would not vote Republican even if they offered money to do so - they are so faux!
McCain was also not born in the US, but no one put up a fuss about that. Could that have something to do with his all-over chalk-whiteness?
The fact that Obama's birth certificate issue exist only sheds light on a future potential problem that this bill may be designed to curtail.