It turns out Barack Obama is . . . is . . . a citizen. The White House has released President Obama’s long-form birth certificate to put the growing controversy to rest over his birth. Many of us have been critical of the birther conspiracy theories. However, I am not sure why the White House did not do this earlier since it addresses the allegations fully. It will be interesting to see that, now that Obama has produced the certificate, if the movement for state ballot laws declines. While it has been repeatedly stated that the laws are not about Obama, but we will see.
The long-form clearly states the date and other information. It also includes the name of Obama’s father — a focus of recent suggestions that the reason for withholding the document was the name of a different man or the inclusion of Muslim for religion.
Donald Trump immediately took credit for the disclosure stating, “Today, I’m very proud of myself, because I’ve accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish,” Trump told reporters. “Why he didn’t do it when everybody else was asking for it, I don’t know. But I am really honored, frankly, to have played such a big role in hopefully, hopefully getting rid of this issue.”
I am not sure why the White House held on to the document. One theory could be that they knew it would blow up in the faces of Obama’s critics. However, it has served to rally critics for years. Those critics are not likely to register with the DNC now. They are likely to move on to other claims against Obama.
Perhaps now that he clearly was born in Hawaii, they will now claim that his is part of the Hawaiian royalty and thus making him ineligible as the holder of a foreign ennoblement.
Here are the two pages: Obama_birth_certificate and birth-certificate-long-form
Jonathan Turley
I was behind a curtain when I announced that your day of troll reckoning was coming beforehand. Uh huh. Pst! That’s not ‘xactly hiding now, is it, sunshine?
Really and just how has the day of reckoning worked out?
What have you learned since your announcement about me?
Nada Libatard HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!
Even the cat thought your self-laudatory silliness in the face of manifest failure was funny.
Badtroll,
I was behind a curtain when I announced that your day of troll reckoning was coming beforehand. Uh huh. Pst! That’s not ‘xactly hiding now, is it, sunshine? That’s more like Babe Ruth calling his home run in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the 1932 World Series.
Do you often fabricate curtains and other drapery?
You seem to have a distinct fondness for fabrication, bdabirther.
Before you break your arm patting yourself on the back, you should realize the only person you played was your fellow troll Jim. How’d that work out for you? With your trollish lot on a defensive retreat is how.
What was that about victory again?
Yeah.
____________
FFLEO/OS/AY,
Chrome is also currently the most secure browser. It operates in a sandboxed environment that prevents execution of malicious code from reading and manipulating your data. Firefox 4 was supposed to come with this feature as well (a project called “Electrolysis”) but it didn’t make it into the final release of 4. My understanding is that Mozilla is having isolation problems related to the tabbed browsing feature and they won’t be able to fix them and implement sandboxing until Firefox 5. You can make Firefox more secure by using add-ons like NoScript, but some of them (like NoScript) requite a fair amount of “training”. I’m even considering making Chrome my primary browser until Firefox 5, but I just really hate to use Google products.
http://www.alternet.org/news/150791/10_ways_that_the_birthers_are_an_object_lesson_in_white_privilege_/
The Death Of Birtherism
Think Progress, 4/29/2011
http://pr.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/pr20110429/index.html
Excerpt:
HOW DID WE GET HERE: If the endurance of the birther myth teaches us anything, it’s the power of repetition. Any claim, no matter how outrageous, can take hold over time if it gets enough media exposure. A recent New York Times/CBS News poll found that nearly 25 percent of Americans, and 45 percent of Republicans, believed Mr. Obama was born in another country. The shocking fact that a quarter of all Americans now believe the lie — and an additional 18 percent say they don’t know where he was born — illustrates just how successful birther conspiracists have been at sowing doubt and attracting attention from mainstream news outlets. While the exact origins of birtherism are fuzzy, it has certainly been pursued most vigorously by the far right. Early proponents included California dentist Orly Taitz and the conservative website World Net Daily. They insisted that the birth certificate produced by Obama was a forgery, and Taitz even claimed — twice — to have a copy of the “real” Kenyan birth certificate proving Obama was not American-born. A string of specious lawsuits claiming the president wasn’t qualified to hold office were all dismissed by the courts, and some of the filers, including Taitz, had to pay fines. However, by then mainstream figures, including then-CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, had begun weighing in and giving extremists the attention they so desperately sought, which allowed other networks and publications to “cover the coverage.” In fact, in his statement Obama gently admonished the media for being complicit in promoting birtherism. The story entered deeper into the political bloodstream when several GOP politicians realized it would be politically advantageous to play up the issue to their base. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R), Sen. David Vitter, (R- LA), and Alan Keyes all jumped on the bandwagon, while other Republicans, including Sarah Palin, simply flirted with birtherism by making leading statements like, “I think it’s a fair question” to investigate Obama’s birthplace. In March 2009, Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) and 11 House co-sponsors introduced legislation requiring presidential candidates to provide a copy of their original birth certificate. More “birther bills” would soon follow. This year alone, bills have cropped up in more than a dozen legislatures to force presidential candidates to prove their citizenship. A few Republican leaders, however, recognized that embracing the theory would be toxic for the party, and distanced themselves from the birthers. Erick Erickson, the editor of the popular RedState blog, publicly purged birthers from his site in 2010.
THE AFTERMATH: On Wednesday Obama finally gave birthers what they said they always wanted: the long-form version of his birth certificate that has been kept on file in Hawaii. It surprised no one that, despite being presented with even more incontrovertible evidence that the President is an American citizen, many of them remained unconvinced. Birther crusader Pamela Geller declared on Fox that the newly-released document was “suspect,” while her Fox hosts appeared to nod in agreement. Texas state representative Leo Berman (R), the author of a birther bill, complained that the certificate didn’t look old enough, and Orly Taitz questioned its authenticity based on the fact that the race of Obama’s father is listed as “African,” not “Negro.” However, several prominent voices on the right admitted that the issue seemed to be resolved. Some, including Rush Limbaugh, engaged in revisionist history by suggesting they never had any doubts about the President’s origins and had been on his side all along. Other GOP leaders, confronted with the error of their past claims, tried to blame the whole affair on Obama himself, suggesting the controversy was his fault for not releasing his birth certificate earlier. “All I would say is, why did it take so long?” said potential GOP contender Newt Gingrich. He was not alone in ascribing sinister motives to the President’s timing: Sarah Palin tweeted to her followers, “don’t let the WH distract you w/ the birth crt,” and insinuated the President was simply trying to keep attention away from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s statement later that day. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus chastised the president for not focusing on more important issues. “Unfortunately his campaign politics and talk about birth certificates is distracting him from our No. 1 priority–our economy.” In the wake of the document’s release, the dust seems to be settling exactly as you’d expect: some people have abandoned the cause while the die-hards fight on. But the President made it clear he wasn’t concerned about the fringe: “I know that there’s going to be a segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest,” he said. “But I’m speaking to the vast majority of the American people, as well as to the press.”
WHY IT STICKS: It is no coincidence that MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow titled her segments on the birther story “Birther of a Nation,” an allusion to the D.W. Griffith film long thought to glorify the rise of the KKK. Doubts about the President’s origins have persisted because they speak to underlying concerns and suspicions about his background, ethnicity, and race. For some, the very presence of an African-American in the Oval Office is so offensive that they simply cannot accept his authority. The birther angle conveniently allows this segment of the population to wrap up their hatred in the flag — or more accurately, the Constitution. By suggesting Obama wasn’t born in America, what they are really claiming is that he is not even legally the President. The Constitution is regarded as something close to a sacred document in conservative circles, and in the birther world, Obama’s tenure itself is a violation of the founding document. The spread of the birther conspiracy into the mainstream reveals a disturbingly pervasive racial animus. This insidious fear that the America of old is being contaminated by foreign radicals isn’t only manifested in the birther debate. It can be seen in hysteria about “anchor babies,” Islamophobia, and Republican attempts to end birthright citizenship or prevent renewal of the Voting Rights Act. And while birtherism may always thrive only at the margins, this unsettling broader trend is firmly established. It turns out that electing a black president did not suddenly allow the country to “transcend” its checkered history with race. If anything, it has put lingering tensions front and center, and forced us to confront them.
This is OT for this thread, but most everything else recently is as well, so here goes. The shadow hacker group Anonymous just dumped a massive file of Chamber of Commerce records into the wild. You will need BitTorrent or some other torrent program to download them and the download may take up to three hours. That gives an indication of the size of the data dump.
For those interested in rummaging around in the files of the Chamber of Commerce, follow the links posted in this DKos diary:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/30/971631/-BREAKING:-Anonymous-Hits-Chamber!
Oh one of the advantages of Chrome…it will save your windows that have been closed….if you close the search engine..it will keep fingernail/thumbnails for easy access….
The best part is the address bar is also the search bar…it uses natural language…….
Firefox 4 has just been released. It is faster than Firefox 3.x. Different appearance too. It is going to take some time for me to get used to it. I liked the “home” icon up on the top left and now it is a tiny icon over on the extreme right. I almost did not notice it. But, bottom line, Firefox 4 is noticeably faster.
FF LEO,
I use three different browsers….the last one I’d use is Internet Explorer….It jams for me, freezes and is slow…. Chrome seems to be the best for Windows 7….
As I understand it MAC is not much different from windows anymore….but you can set up a new computer to run bot MAC and Windows from a shell.
Back when I was in graduate school, one of my professors told me I needed to read Eric Hoffer’s The True Believer. I have not been able to forget it. It was written shortly after the end of WW-II, but now, post 9-11 and the rise of movements such as the tea party, it seems more relevant than ever.
True believers, indeed.
After Birtherism: More Silliness (And Worse)
Rolling Stone
APRIL 29, 1:54 PM ET | By JULIAN BROOKES
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/after-birtherism-more-silliness-and-worse-20110429
Excerpt:
They say that when the bottom falls out of a conspiracy theory, true believers don’t just slap their foreheads, roll their eyes, and embrace sweet reason; they up the crazy. Having seen the way Obama’s birth certificate rollout went down at the teeming, fevered wingnut community that is Freerepublic.com, I can confirm this. Clearly, even if this birther thing fades, the paranoid, spiteful, self-righteous impulse driving it won’t. It’ll find some other idiotic fantasy to latch onto soon enough.
Speaking of Coloradans, does anyone know if Gyges and his wife had the baby?
Tancredo: Obama held back birth certificate to make Republicans look nuts
By John Tomasic | 04.29.11
The Colorado Independent
http://coloradoindependent.com/86267/tancredo-obama-held-the-birth-certificate-to-make-republicans-look-nuts
**********
Note to Tom Tancredo: The Republicans didn’t need any help from Obama to make themselves look nuts!
Slartibartfast 1, April 30, 2011 at 12:08 am
You played your card… and it got trumped. NICE PLAY ON WORDS KEV!!!!
(Have you got the damn C-PAP yet?) NOT YET
NO, I GOT THE RESPONSE I WAS LOOKING FOR
Buddha Is Laughing 1, April 29, 2011 at 8:19 pm
The decision not to involve them was both purposeful and tactical. I should know. It was my idea to keep them out of it. Let me be crystal clear: Raff has given no one IP or e-mail information. I would swear to that in a court of law.
Now we know for sure who the man is behind the curtain. My decision to play the Trump card 🙂 was both purposeful and tactical. I should know. It was my idea. Let me be crystal clear and for the record again, I NEVER SAID ANYONE SPECIFICALLY and would swear to that in a court of law. 🙂
Larry posted:
Larry,
Why does anyone need to go to your site just to have you yell at them for proving you wrong when you clearly deliver that service elsewhere?
Some people latch on to the birther conspiracy because they are simply stupid.
Some people latch on to the birther conspiracy because they are paranoid.
Some people latch on to the birther conspiracy because they are racists.
Some people latch on to the birther conspiracy because they are paranoid racists.
Guess where you fall in those options, Larry?
Fart—eh…I mean Slart,
Your post PROVES you can’t read. You said:
“so I’ll not speculate on why you no longer choose to post, I’ll just be thankful I don’t have to debunk your misinformation any more. And I would point out that anyone who publicly admits to being a brither is ridiculed because the ARE a laughing stock. It’s such an irrational view that anyone who subscribes to it is rightly mocked and their judgement is clearly suspect.”
I said I would not post anymore on THIS thread, THIS thread—not on ALL Turley’s threads. THIS thread…THIS thread. See the words??? THIS thread. THIS thread.
How about coming to MY blog and attempting to refute my claims since you think I’m a nut? Oh, that’s right..I forgot. You have NO TIME. But you have PLENTY of time for posting just about everything else—EXCEPT for refuting me and answering my questions.
What’s a brither?
By the way, did you bother reading the post where I said I question McCAIN’S citizenship too????? OF COURSE NOT! That doesn’t mesh with your RACISM angle. YOU’RE the racist since your FIRST thought goes toward race! Obama is half white anyway!
Elaine,
Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger… and a good magician never reveals his secrets. But don’t worry, you’ll see more of my wizardry sooner or later…
Larry,
To tell the truth, I had forgotten about you. Professor Turley DOES tell the truth regarding President Obama’s eligibility [*SPOILER ALERT* he’s eligible] it’s you who spews your hate-filled lies here, so I’ll not speculate on why you no longer choose to post, I’ll just be thankful I don’t have to debunk your misinformation any more. And I would point out that anyone who publicly admits to being a brither is ridiculed because the ARE a laughing stock. It’s such an irrational view that anyone who subscribes to it is rightly mocked and their judgement is clearly suspect.
FFLEO,
Once you go Mac, you’ll never go back… I use Safari, but I plan to install Firefox if I ever have any problems – so far, so good (I’ve been using a Mac for about 5 years now).
Buddha,
I’m going to go and take a look at the train wreck… (someday I’d like to make a model of traffic flow that could accurately predict ‘gawker delay’).
FFLEO,
The two browsers is sound advice indeed. I keep MSIE, Chrome and multiple configurations of Firefox although I primarily use Firefox.