News Should religious beliefs determine military duties?

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A U.S. Army colonel is refusing to fulfill his military duties unless provided with proof of Barack Obama's birthplace, sparking discussions about insubordination and potential motivations behind his actions. Critics label his stance as a publicity stunt, questioning the rationale behind such a refusal and its implications for military discipline. The conversation touches on the broader "birther" movement, suggesting that this behavior may stem from xenophobia or political bias. Some participants argue that his actions could be seen as principled, while others view them as self-serving. The situation raises questions about the consequences of his refusal and the legitimacy of the claims surrounding Obama's citizenship.
  • #51
turbo-1 said:
http://obamatrueandfalse.com/2010/04/16/true-1961-birth-announcements-reported-by-hawaii-bureau-of-health-statistics/
The newspapers (both of them published the date of Obama's birth) were publishing records of the Health Bureau under that header. The idea that Obama's mother could have pulled off such a coup (getting fake records inserted in Health Bureau records) should have qualified her as a top operative for the CIA or other such organization.
turbo, the newspapaer article is dated August 16th, she filed for the birth certificate on Aug 4th, the birth announcements are not from the hospital birth records, they are from the Health Bureau, they would have come from the birth certificate she requested based on the information she gave them.
 
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  • #52
Evo said:
turbo, the newspapaer article is dated August 16th, she filed for the birth certificate on Aug 4th, the birth announcements are not from the hospital birth records, they are from the Health Bureau, they would have come from the birth certificate she requested based on the information she gave them.
In that case, the need for "Big Conspiracy" evaporates, once again..

Assuming there WAS no birth record, a perfectly credible (probable?) scenario can still be for Mr. Obama having been born at an American hospital:

1. For some reason, the hospital didn't deign to issue a witnessed birth record (a white woman giving birth to a negro child might well have been regarded as a disgrace best passed over in silence&forgotten)

2. Mrs. Obama, however, perfectly well understanding the probable future hazards for a son born in a mixed marriage, with arbitrary exclusions being done if papers of formality were lacking, is determined to get as much as she can hope for, namely a birth certificate, at the very least.

Since such a scenario does not seem out-of-place in the early 60's, there really is little reason to disbelieve it, unless strong evidence to the contrary turns up (such as: that Mrs. Obama was nowhere near Hawaii close to giving birth to her son)
 
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  • #53
arildno said:
Since Mr. and Mrs. Obama hardly had sinister designs upon the US presidency back in 1961, the complete lack of contextual motivation for the newspaper advertisement does, indeed, speak volumes against the rationality in the birthers' position.

What do you mean? Obama is a trained operative from Kenya of course they had plans back then for him to run for presidency. He was born... no: He was designed in a test tube, specifically to infiltrate and gain a great amount of control over the American government. It's been his life long mission and they prepared him well for it (making fake birth announcements 50 years prior to him running for instance)

Anyways, I don't really see the point in continuing arguing or discussing this position. Obama is president, he was VOTED IN by the American public so there you go.

This Colonel should be dealt with by the military.
 
  • #54
zomgwtf said:
Anyways, I don't really see the point in continuing arguing or discussing this position.
What position would that be? :smile:

Obama is president, he was VOTED IN by the American public so there you go.
What relevance does that have, if it had been proven it happened on false premises?
This Colonel should be dealt with by the military.

In what way?

Like the admirable way the army deals with the Nidal Hassans in their midst?
 
  • #55
zomgwtf said:
Obama is a trained operative from Kenya of course they had plans back then for him to run for presidency. He was born... no: He was designed in a test tube, specifically to infiltrate and gain a great amount of control over the American government. It's been his life long mission and they prepared him well for it (making fake birth announcements 50 years prior to him running for instance)

Manchurian Candidate 2.0?
 
  • #56
arildno said:
What position would that be? :smile:
The let the nutcases continue to be nutcases on their own let's not fuel the fire.

What relevance does that have, if it had been proven it happened on false premises?
While I highly doubt it will ever be proven to have happened on false premises if it does then Obama those involved will be dealt with according to the law of the land... OR The constituition might change... probably will be the latter in my opinion. At some point at least.

I'll pose a question back at you: What revelance does science have if sometime next year the world ends or apocalypse comes down on us? This is a pretty rediculous question IMO. It's the type of thing conspirators live off of. Being proven right about something huge, just that one time.

In what way?

Like the admirable way the army deals with the Nidal Hassans in their midst?

He should be court martialled and face military law based on his action (failure to go). As well isn't it a military offense to 'bad-talk' your superiors? This man is way out of line, regardless of if Obama was born in America or not, he is a military personell and he will do his job or face the consequences. Period.
 
  • #57
zomgwtf said:
The let the nutcases continue to be nutcases on their own let's not fuel the fire..

1.Where have I said one should not fuel the fire of the nutcases?

2.Or, in what way do I lend fuel to the nutcases?

3. Or, in what way is my position that of a nutcase?
 
  • #58
arildno said:
1.Where have I said one should not fuel the fire of the nutcases?

2.Or, in what way do I lend fuel to the nutcases?

3. Or, in what way is my position that of a nutcase?

This whole thread has spewed a discussion/"debate" about the validity of a conspiracy theory, namely the 'birther' arguement. No evidence has been submitted that I can see, just assumptions.

Continued talk of the 'birthers' position or debate against it will just fuel the fire. It should just be left alone, in my opinion. At least not discussed on these forums unless appropriate HARD evidence is brought up and I really don't see the relevance of the discussion to the OP.

The OP is about a Colonel refusing to do his duty, sure his position is about the whole birther argument but this thread isn't about the validity of that position it's about his failure to go and insubordination... neglect of duties... etc. etc.. Regardless of if his position is the correct position or not he is still breaking the law.

The OP also specifically asked if this has to do with xenophobia, or the fear of foreigners. I'm not sure if this specific Colonel has xenophobia but probably not. This is just how things work in America with their flawless constituition. Everyone wants to go out and debate about it and in this situation it appears that the Colonel is arguing from the position of the constituition and the constituition is what is xenophobic. (If that makes any sense to you... I'm not sure how to word this statement)
 
  • #59
cronxeh said:
The other thread is locked. If you have a problem understanding written English, ask the poster to rephrase. If you have a problem following hypothetical discussions and conjectures then confront the statements that look like factual ones. All statements I made were either supported by citations or presented as an argument on hypothetical scenarios. I can understand you feel a bit vulnerable on the Arizona issue since you are an immigrant and perhaps know somebody who is in this country illegally, nonetheless the discussion is made from a point of view of those who are here legally and feel burdened by the illegals. Attack the argument, not the arguer.

As for this thread, the statement was "that black woman" as referred to Obama's mother, who I pointed out was white. Speaking of unrighteous indignation, you said you could live with a "A persistent, pushy woman who knows what her son's rights OUGHT to have been (although, technically, he's not entitled to them), in order to maximize his life chances, will ALSO make headway through the bureaucracy." That is something I personally take an issue with. It makes my blood boil when people try to get things they don't deserve, and I will list a few that will speak to you directly: welfare, illegal immigration, affirmative action, loud mouthing in order to win an argument, muscle flexing, and overall obtuse behavior that merits a backhanded response.

Sounds like you need to learn how to control your temper. As for an argument, it is based in your personal outrage, not facts or merit. There is only the response to YOU, which I will refrain from going on now. You don't cite your generalizations, and you take things far too personally. Take issue with this all you like, I started this thread to ask a simple question which others have already answered. What this thread is turning into, I have little interest in. I wonder how much of what you have, you "deserve", such an interesting concept. I didn't realize that anyone deserved anything in particular. Some are lucky, some are not, and some can better themselves.
 
  • #60
zomgwtf said:
This whole thread has spewed a discussion/"debate" about the validity of a conspiracy theory, namely the 'birther' arguement. No evidence has been submitted that I can see, just assumptions.

No.
No such debate has taken place in this thread, except within YOUR brain.

What HAS been debated is a totally different issue:

Whether the birther's position necessarily implies a Big Conspiracy or not.

That is something totally different, since (I think) it is perfectly rational to hold the position:

a) The birther position does NOT imply a Big Conspiracy, involving a large number of complicit individuals

b) The birther argument is invalid/extremely spurious, nonetheless, and can be regarded as dismissable.


That is MY position.

Some further points:

c) To take a contrasting example:
There are those who hold that Neil Armstrong never was on the Moon.
This position NECESSARILY implies that many thousands of individuals, spread all across the world were complicit in the Huge Conspiracy.

d) For that reason alone, it is rationally invalidated.

e) In the Obama case, however, it wouldn't take more than the actions of Mama&Papa Obama to pull off the trick, i.e, a very tiny conspiracy[/size]

f) The world is full of tiny, trivial conspiracies, and, in contrast to the Huge Conspiracies, they do, on occasion, succeed in their extremely modest aims (for example, intriguing against a colleague in order to get the promotion you want)

g) Just because the world is full of tiny,trivial conspiracies, though, doesn't mean that Mama&Papa Obama engaged in any such activity. Very credible (and I would say, probable) narratives can be constructed to the contrary.

h) Just because it is SIMPLER to dismiss the birther position by regarding it as a conspiracy theory on par with that you need to postulate for the moon landing deniers, doesn't mean you have made a valid argument by doing so.


In short:

Some nonsense is less disprovable&improbable than other nonsense, the birther position is one of them.
 
  • #61
arildno said:
No.
No such debate has taken place in this thread, except within YOUR brain.

What HAS been debated is a totally different issue:

Whether the birther's position necessarily implies a Big Conspiracy or not.

That is something totally different, since (I think) it is perfectly rational to hold the position:

a) The birther position does NOT imply a Big Conspiracy, involving a large number of complicit individuals

b) The birther argument is invalid/extremely spurious, nonetheless, and can be regarded as dismissable.


That is MY position.

Some further points:

c) To take a contrasting example:
There are those who hold that Neil Armstrong never was on the Moon.
This position NECESSARILY implies that many thousands of individuals, spread all across the world were complicit in the Huge Conspiracy.

d) For that reason alone, it is rationally invalidated.

e) In the Obama case, however, it wouldn't take more than the actions of Mama&Papa Obama to pull off the trick, i.e, a very tiny conspiracy[/size]

f) The world is full of tiny, trivial conspiracies, and, in contrast to the Huge Conspiracies, they do, on occasion, succeed in their extremely modest aims (for example, intriguing against a colleague in order to get the promotion you want)

g) Just because the world is full of tiny,trivial conspiracies, though, doesn't mean that Mama&Papa Obama engaged in any such activity. Very credible (and I would say, probable) narratives can be constructed to the contrary.

h) Just because it is SIMPLER to dismiss the birther position by regarding it as a conspiracy theory in par with that you need to postulate for the moon landing deniers, doesn't mean you have made a valid argument by doing so.


In short:

Some nonsense is less disprovable&improbable than other, the birther position is one of them.

This may be a tangent, but do the actual birthers believe that this is a large conspiracy, or the act of mom and dad?
 
  • #62
arildno said:
In that case, it remains a mildly interesting speculation why the birth record has gone missing in the aftermath.
If you believe the director of Hawaii's Department of Health, the original birth certificate is NOT missing. She says that the original is in the archived records, and vouches for its authenticity, though she is forbidden by law from releasing it except under some very specific circumstances.

If I were required to produce my original birth certificate, I could not do that. I have a negative photostatic copy of the original that my parents saved and gave to me as an adult. When I was required to produce a birth certificate, I had to go to the town clerk in my birthplace and pay to have a certified copy typed up and notarized. It looks very much like the birth certificate that the Obama campaign released. It's printed on heavy paper with check-like security features, signed and then embossed with a seal. It's good enough to have gotten my passport and other ID. Guess I'll just never get to be president, though, if the birthers come after me.
 
  • #63
turbo-1 said:
If you believe the director of Hawaii's Department of Health, the original birth certificate is NOT missing. She says that the original is in the archived records, and vouches for its authenticity, though she is forbidden by law from releasing it except under some very specific circumstances.
But that is still the birth certificate requested by Mrs. Obama, right?

That is NOT the witnessed birth record that the hospital usually makes (and which was not made in Obama's case), if I understood Evo correctly.
 
  • #64
IcedEcliptic said:
This may be a tangent, but do the actual birthers believe that this is a large conspiracy, or the act of mom and dad?
I have no idea, I haven't bothered to read birther arguments. :smile:
 
  • #65
arildno said:
But that is still the birth certificate requested by Mrs. Obama, right?

That is NOT the witnessed birth record that the hospital usually makes (and which was not made in Obama's case), if I understood Evo correctly.

Those are two different things I believe, but like you I am no lawyer.
 
  • #66
arildno said:
But that is still the birth certificate requested by Mrs. Obama, right?

That is NOT the witnessed birth record that the hospital usually makes (and which was not made in Obama's case), if I understood Evo correctly.

So this isn't a discussion about the validity of birther arguments? My english skills must be severly lacking.

Anyway any discussion of the birthers 'movement' I guess you could call it will definitely just feed fire. Especially in regard to validity of the arguments or validity of conspiracy theories that may be surrounding the whole movements fundametal ideas.

This is all TANGENTAL to the point of the thread. (as Iced had already indicated a few posts back)
 
  • #67
zomgwtf said:
So this isn't a discussion about the validity of birther arguments? My english skills must be severly lacking.
Yes, evidently so.
Anyway any discussion of the birthers 'movement' I guess you could call it will definitely just feed fire.
Even if that were the case, the immorality of which would consist in...?


This is all TANGENTAL to the point of the thread. (as Iced had already indicated a few posts back)

Only differentiable curves have unique tangents; points have many lines going through them. :smile:
 
  • #68
arildno said:
But that is still the birth certificate requested by Mrs. Obama, right?

That is NOT the witnessed birth record that the hospital usually makes (and which was not made in Obama's case), if I understood Evo correctly.
For my girls, I had a copy of the witnessed birth record given to me by the hospital, signed by the doctor. The hospital forwarded a copy to the clerk's office that issues the birth certificate. I received a copy of the birth certificate in the mail about 2 weeks later.

For home births or unwitnessed births, the mother can just go to the health department and swear out a birth certificate. Requirements vary some from state to state.
 
  • #69
Evo said:
For my girls, I had a copy of the witnessed birth record given to me by the hospital, signed by the doctor. The hospital forwarded a copy to the clerk's office that issues the birth certificate. I received a copy of the birth certificate in the mail about 2 weeks later.

For home births or unwitnessed births, the mother can just go to the health department and swear out a birth certificate. Requirements vary some from state to state.

So that, in the case of your youngest one, you COULD HAVE birthed her a dusty day at Winnipeg, and just sneaked over the border claiming her to have been American-born?

IF she hade been home-born, that is..
 
  • #70
arildno said:
But that is still the birth certificate requested by Mrs. Obama, right?

That is NOT the witnessed birth record that the hospital usually makes (and which was not made in Obama's case), if I understood Evo correctly.
There is NO indication that the birth certificate on file with the Department of Health is not a witnessed certificate of live birth. None. That's the kind of unsubstantiated speculation upon which the birthers base their unsubstantiated claims. Normally, when somebody makes outlandish claims, the burden of proof falls on them, but birthers are not exactly rational creatures.
 
  • #71
turbo-1 said:
There is NO indication that the birth certificate on file with the Department of Health is not a witnessed certificate of live birth. None. That's the kind of unsubstantiated speculation upon which the birthers base their unsubstantiated claims. Normally, when somebody makes outlandish claims, the burden of proof falls on them, but birthers are not exactly rational creatures.

1. Well, there isn't preserved a witnessed birth record, is there?

2. Did birth certificates in the 60s differ in form, whether the birth record came from the hospital directly to make the basis for the certificate, or that the mother came to the office personally to request a birth certificate?

3. How long are hospitals required to store birth records, if at all?
 
  • #72
arildno said:
1. Well, there isn't preserved a witnessed birth record, is there?

2. Did birth certificates in the 60s differ in form, whether the birth record came from the hospital directly to make the basis for the certificate, or that the mother came to the office personally to request a birth certificate?

3. How long are hospitals required to store birth records, if at all?
1) You are making an unsubstantiated statement. The doctor who heads up the Department of Health and the director of the Bureau of Vital Statistics have both seen the original, and pronounced it genuine. The doctor happens to be a Republican. If she thought that there was some irregularity (not having been a witnessed live-birth certificate) she could have found a way to release relevant information without triggering the non-disclosure laws she operates under.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100219/NEWS01/2190362/Hawaii-gets-persistent-requests-for-Obama-birth-certificate
State Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino — a Republican — tried to put the issue of Obama's Honolulu birth to rest back in 2008 by declaring that she and Hawai'i's registrar of vital statistics had personally seen Obama's birth certificate.

"This has gotten ridiculous," Fukino told The Advertiser at the time. "There are plenty of other, important things to focus on, like the economy, taxes, energy. ... We need to get some work done."

2) You are asking the wrong person. All states have their rules for record-keeping.

3) Here, hospitals are not required to maintain birth records and provide public access to them. Such records go to the civil authorities. Like I said, I could not take possession of my own birth certificate. It is in the archives of the civil authorities, in a climate-controlled vault-room. Originals are never released, in order to maintain the integrity of the public record and (nowadays) prevent identity theft and fraud. My own access to my own birth certificate was limited to a notarized transcript typed on security paper.
 
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  • #73
turbo-1 said:
1) You are making an unsubstantiated statement. The doctor who heads up the Department of Health and the director of the Bureau of Vital Statistics have both seen the original, and pronounced it genuine.
No one is denying it's valid, but it did come out during the election that it was not signed by a doctor. It doesn't have to be if the mother herself applies for it.

When I asked for a copy of my birth certificate, I was sent a photo copy of the original. It depends on the city. That disappeared during my move ( all opf my filing cabinets "disappeared".

I just called a month ago to ask how to get a copy, and the lady had to go into the archives and she found the paper original. They aren't even scanned into a computer.
 
  • #74
Of course, evidence that Obama was not born here would be a foreign birth certificate, or a customs record showing that his mother entered the country with a new child. That no one can produce either doesn't seem to bother the birthers at all! However, the head of the birthers movement provided a Kenyan birth certificate for Obama, that was conclusively shown to be a fake.

Clearly these people are all irrational. They are grasping straws based on nothing more than wishful thinking.
 
  • #75
turbo-1 said:
1) You are making an unsubstantiated statement. The doctor who heads up the Department of Health and the director of the Bureau of Vital Statistics have both seen the original, and pronounced it genuine. The doctor happens to be a Republican. If she thought that there was some irregularity (not having been a witnessed live-birth certificate) she could have found a way to release relevant information without triggering the non-disclosure laws she operates under.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100219/NEWS01/2190362/Hawaii-gets-persistent-requests-for-Obama-birth-certificate .

The question has not been made whether the birth certificate is real or not.

It concerns the contention that
a) There was no witnessed birth record sent from the hospital to the registrar's office
b) As is ordinarily done with unwitnessed births/home-borns, the certificate was made after a personal visit of Mrs. Obama at the registrar's office.

b)-cases would spawn no less genuine, or valid, birth certificates, but by means of a slightly different method than the ordinary process.


That A) the birth certificate is fake, or non-existent necessarily implies a much larger conspiracy behind it, than B) the contention that Mrs. Obama lied at the registrar's office that her son had been born at the hospital.

The second contention does not necessitate more deception than from Papa&Mama Obama, and would rhus be a tiny, trivial conspiracy.

And again, it is no reason to believe in such a conspiracy either, even though it is a tiny one.
 
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  • #76
Ivan Seeking said:
Of course, evidence that Obama was not born here would be a foreign birth certificate, or a customs record showing that his mother entered the country with a new child.
WERE newly-borns regularly registered at the borders in the 60s?

If the mother was a US citizen (an officer's wife(?), no less!), wouldn't they just have been waved past the gates?

I don't know anything about the practices of border officials, but are they, in general, very diligent, or is there a lot of pointless paperwork they just don't ever find the time for doing?
 
  • #77
arildno said:
WERE newly-borns regularly registered at the borders in the 60s?

If the mother was a US citizen (an officer's wife(?), no less!), wouldn't they just have been waved past the gates?

Only if the child was already a citizen. You can't enter the country without a passport or proof of residency.
 
  • #78
Ivan Seeking said:
Only if the child was already a citizen. You can't enter the country without a passport or proof of residency.

Well, if birthers had been rational, they would have made inquiries of ACTUAL practices at the time, and see if those were markedly different/sloppier than the ideal rules we call "the body of law".



That there might be such gaps between theory/practices is in itself no irrational idea (it is frequently true), but it needs to be substantiated in the particular type of relevant cases, in order to gain argumentative weight.
 
  • #79
Funny thing is, I have a whole chart from my birth. The pre-labor assessment of my mother, the date and time stamped entry of my birth and measurements of length and weight, the reflex assessments by doctor, and a nursing record of my feeding, sleeping, etc. All that from 1984 Russia :biggrin:

which does support the supposition that Obama was born in Kenya :smile:
 
  • #80
arildno said:
Well, if birthers had been rational, they would have made inquiries of ACTUAL practices at the time, and see if those were markedly different/sloppier than the ideal rules we call "the body of law".

I have no doubt that they have exhausted every rational and irrational avenue by now.

The REALLY silly thing is that were there anything to this, the Republicans in Congress would be the loudest voices of all. The power play of taking down the Dem nominee for President would have been one of the most impressive in US history. There were plenty of very powerful Republican US Senators that had the means to know if there was a legitimate issue. That alone is a dead giveaway that this is nothing but smoke and mirrors.

Not to mention that the most powerful Democrats in Washington at the time, the Clintons, had every reason to take Obama down! He did defeat Hillary, after all.
 
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  • #81
Ivan Seeking said:
I have no doubt that they have exhausted every rational and irrational avenue by now.

The REALLY silly thing is that were there anything to this, the Republicans in Congress would be the loudest voices of all. That alone is a dead giveaway that this is nothing but smoke and mirrors.

As I've said many times, I don't have any belief in the birther position.

My contention has just been that that position does not necessitate a belief in a Big Conspiracy.

Lazy border guards waving through US "white trash" with a n***er baby are hardly to regard as conspirators, but might well have existed in the early, rather racist 60s.
 
  • #82
Out of curiosity, I dug through the strong-box in our safe. My original hospital-issued birth certificate was signed by our family doctor and the RN who was the nurse supervisor at the hospital. The negative photostatic copy of the civil record is signed only by a municipal official and the "MD" box is checked to note that the attending doctor signed the hospital record. My wife's birth certificate was issued at the much larger hospital where she was born, and it was not signed by a birth witness, but by the hospital administrator. Her negative photostatic copy of the civil record does not indicate that a witness signed the hospital's certificate, which is entirely accurate.

One reason why original civil records might be closely-guarded is their fragility. I have thought about how these negative photostats might have been produced, and the most logical situation is that the originals were made on very thin translucent paper like onionskin, and duplication was done by overlaying the original on a piece of photo-paper in a glass photo-frame, flashing the combo with intense light and developing the contact print just like normal photography. Certainly, there were no photocopiers 58 years ago.
 
  • #83
arildno said:
Lazy border guards waving through US "white trash" with a n***er baby are hardly to regard as conspirators, but might well have existed in the early, rather racist 60s.

I don't even see that as reasonable. Even long before 911, us customs was serious business; even for a citizen reentering the country. In fact, when Tsu and I went to Europe, we noted that the most severe customs review was in our own country! Travel in Europe was nothing by comparison.

I understand that you aren't pushing the birthers agenda.
 
  • #84
turbo-1 said:
Out of curiosity, I dug through the strong-box in our safe. My original hospital-issued birth recordwas signed by our family doctor and the RN who was the nurse supervisor at the hospital. The negative photostatic copy of the civil certificate is signed only by a municipal official and the "MD" box is checked to note that the attending doctor signed the hospital record. My wife's birth record was issued at the much larger hospital where she was born, and it was not signed by a birth witness, but by the hospital administrator. Her negative photostatic copy of the civil certificate does not indicate that a witness signed the hospital's certificate, which is entirely accurate.

Changed to how have I used the terms, in accordance with Evo's description.

Very relevant, indeed, Turbo-1, that the civil birth certificate DOES note whether the birth was witnessed by medical personell or not.
 
  • #85
Ivan Seeking said:
I don't even see that as reasonable. Even long before 911, us customs was serious business; even for a citizen reentering the country. In fact, when Tsu and I went to Europe, we noted that the most severe customs review was in our own country! Travel in Europe was nothing by comparison.

.
Well, you know a lot more about that than me! (never been in the US, actually)

As I've said, IF the birthers were rational, they would need to make a probable scenario for how that baby entered the country.

It could, for example be, that army officers (wasn't Obama's Dad that?) had specially privileged positions, compared to civilians, being waved through the ordinary customs as a routine, in contrast to the civilian population.

Or, that if entry was gained at the military airports/bases, the rules were laxer there than at analogous civilian points of entry.

But again, such "possible scenarios" would have to be substantiated, in order to gain weight.
 
  • #86
Something else that is rather funny. When this first came up I did a fairly intensive review of the laws regarding citizenship for newborns. It was only a short period of time, just two or three years, IIRC, that citizenship was denied a baby having one parent that is a US citizen. It just happened to include the year 1961. So, even if the claim that he was born in Kenya, had been true, one would reasonably expect that the exclusion could be waived based on precedent. It has almost always been true that one US citizen as a parent is sufficient for the baby to automatically be granted citizenship.
 
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  • #87
Ivan Seeking said:
Something else that is rather funny. When this first came up I did a fairly intensive review of the laws regarding citizenship for newborns. It was only a short period of time, just two or three years, IIRC, that citizenship was denied a baby having one parent that is a US citizen. It just happened to include the year 1961. So, even if the claim had been true that he was born in Kenya, one would reasonably expect that the exclusion could be waived based on precedent. It has almost always been true that one US citizen as a parent is sufficient for the baby to automatically be granted citizenship.

I didn't know that!

Fascinating..
 
  • #88
arildno said:
Changed to how have I used the terms, in accordance with Evo's description.

Very relevant, indeed, Turbo-1, that the civil birth certificate DOES note whether the birth was witnessed by medical personell or not.
Relevant to people who were born in Maine in the early 1950's. There may be no relevance to Obama's situation, since such distinctions may or may not have been made in Hawaii. Also, the hospital in Honolulu was MUCH larger than any here in rural Maine, and the birth certificates may have been routinely signed and certified by administrative staff at the hospital, much like my wife's was.

There was a report from an older lady in Hawaii a couple of years back, who remembered Obama's birth, though it made little sense at the time. The attending Obstetrician was a close friend of her father's, and he was at supper with them that evening when her father casually asked if anything of interest happened that day. The doctor said something to the effect that "Stanley gave birth today. That's something to write home about." Stanley was Obama's mother's given name. I'd say that account is a pretty good indication that there was a doctor present at his birth.
 
  • #89
Found it, though I had the details a bit fuzzy. The woman was a college student at the time, having dinner with the obstetrician and the father of her college friend, and she asked the doctor if anything interesting had happened recently. He told her that a woman named Stanley had given birth. She actually did write home about it to her father, Stanley back in New York. She ended up bumping into the Obama name again. Obama's father was the first black student at the U of H, and ten years later when she was teaching at Punahou School, where Obama was enrolled and Obama's father (now a Kenyan official) was coming to speak.
 
  • #90
turbo-1 said:
There was a report from an older lady in Hawaii a couple of years back, who remembered Obama's birth, though it made little sense at the time. The attending Obstetrician was a close friend of her father's, and he was at supper with them that evening when her father casually asked if anything of interest happened that day. The doctor said something to the effect that "Stanley gave birth today. That's something to write home about." Stanley was Obama's mother's given name. I'd say that account is a pretty good indication that there was a doctor present at his birth.
To me that sounds completely bogus. Why would a routine birth be something of importance to bring up? And why on Earth would she remember something so trivial that had nothing to do with her about someone she didn't know? Bogus.
 
  • #91
arildno said:
I didn't know that!

Fascinating..

Do you know what I find stunning? You, who have never been to the US, have asked within 3 or 4 pages every relevant question in regards to the Birther issue. You have discussed them civily, and accepted reality when it was presented, and remained skeptical without being dismissive. So, what can be accomplished by a person without massive notions in their mind before the discussion, in 3 pages online, cannot be done by an army colonel with a medical doctorate. I know, you are not xenophobic and you do not believe this, so maybe that is the key, but it makes me wonder how much of "Birther" is honest, or just rabble rousing.
 
  • #92
Evo said:
To me that sounds completely bogus. Why would a routine birth be something of importance to bring up? And why on Earth would she remember something so trivial that had nothing to do with her about someone she didn't know? Bogus.

Mixed race child, father from Kenya, and a white mother, in Hawaii in the 60's? I don't claim this is instantly memorable, but there cannot have been many such births in this person's personal experience.
 
  • #93
IcedEcliptic said:
Mixed race child, father from Kenya, and a white mother, in Hawaii in the 60's? I don't claim this is instantly memorable, but there cannot have been many such births in this person's personal experience.
The key was the name Stanley - her father's name. Combined with the mixed-race angle, that would have stuck in her mind. I don't know any women named Stanley.
 
  • #94
Evo said:
To me that sounds completely bogus. Why would a routine birth be something of importance to bring up? And why on Earth would she remember something so trivial that had nothing to do with her about someone she didn't know? Bogus.

Methinks the old lady could have self-censored the ensuing dinner chat about cross-racial love affairs..

SUCH a conversation would very well be remembered by her, although she'd never admit today to have partaken in it. :smile:
 
  • #95
arildno said:
Methinks the old lady could have self-censored the ensuing dinner chat about cross-racial love affairs..

SUCH a conversation would very well be remembered by her, although she'd never admit today to have partaken in it. :smile:
In 1961, such a conversation would almost certainly ensued. Anywhere in the deep south and many places in the northern states, such a marriage would have been quite problematic, and perhaps fatal.
 
  • #96
IcedEcliptic said:
Do you know what I find stunning? You, who have never been to the US, have asked within 3 or 4 pages every relevant question in regards to the Birther issue. You have discussed them civily, and accepted reality when it was presented, and remained skeptical without being dismissive. So, what can be accomplished by a person without massive notions in their mind before the discussion, in 3 pages online, cannot be done by an army colonel with a medical doctorate. I know, you are not xenophobic and you do not believe this, so maybe that is the key, but it makes me wonder how much of "Birther" is honest, or just rabble rousing.

Well, as IvanSeeking and yourself has indicated, if we look at the motivation for taking the position of a birther, it might very well be due to "wishful thinking" and "grasping at straws".
 
  • #97
IcedEcliptic said:
Mixed race child, father from Kenya, and a white mother, in Hawaii in the 60's? I don't claim this is instantly memorable, but there cannot have been many such births in this person's personal experience.

turbo-1 said:
The key was the name Stanley - her father's name. Combined with the mixed-race angle, that would have stuck in her mind. I don't know any women named Stanley.
I don't think mixed races in Hawaii would be that unsual, many dark skinned polynesians mixed with whites. Did they discuss that they were shocked by a mixed race child? I just don't see this actually coming up as anything out of the ordinary and that it would be something she would remember. False memories are much more likely. Did she remember the name of the doctor that was her father's good friend? It should be easy to check if he was working at that hospital and if he was in delivery at the time of Obama's birth. Why aren't there billing records for the delivery, that was also something that came up. Did the hospital lose those records too?

Point is, he has a valid birth certificate.
 
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  • #98
Evo said:
I don't think mixed races in Hawaii would be that unsual, many dark skinned polynesians mixed with whites. Did they discuss that they were shocked by a mixed race child?

White males with black females is one thing, white FEMALES with black males..quite a different thing in those days.

Even a racist like Strom Thurmond had a black mistress, if I'm not mistaken..
 
  • #100
turbo-1 said:
Oops! Forgot to link to the Snopes article citing the teacher at Obama's school who remembered the obstetrician talking about a woman (Stanley Obama) giving birth. Here it is is (near bottom of the page).

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp
Two things, she didn't go by her first name, and second, she had been in Kenya for a long time up until his birth, so would have had no ongoing relationship with the obstetrician in Hawaii. I could see him saying "some white woman had a black baby". It's all anecdotal and makes a good story. Not very believable though. Certainly doesn't validate anything. And it doesn't need to. But it does allow people to blow holes in the story and give the birthers more to add to their conspiracy theory.
 

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