Don't get sucked in by the distraction. Worry about the birth certificate while Wall Street pockets $144 billion in bonuses.
Is Jerome Corsi of WND panicked right now at the thought of his great conspiracy collapsing and his website traffic along with it.
It's formally known as HB1116 and can be tracked here...
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Scroll down for Jon Stewart video on the birther controversy...
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Meanwhile on Wall Street...
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Hawaii Lawmakers Want Obama's Birth Certificate Public for a Price
Reprinted with permission.
HONOLULU – Hawaii's government would charge $100 for a copy of President Barack Obama's birth records under a bill introduced in the state Legislature by five Democrats.
The bill would change a privacy law barring the release of birth records unless the person requesting them has a tangible interest.
The measure hasn't been scheduled for a public hearing, and it can't move forward unless that happens.
But the idea behind it is to end skepticism over Obama's birthplace while raising a little money for a government with a projected budget deficit exceeding $800 million over the next two years.
"If it passes, it will calm the birthers down," said the bill's primary sponsor, Rep. Rida Cabanilla. "All these people are still doubting it because they don't want the birth certificate from Obama. They want it from our state office."
The Obama campaign issued a certification of live birth in 2008, an official document from the state showing the president's Aug. 4, 1961, birth date, his birth city and name, and his parents' names and races.
Hawaii's former health director also has said she verified Obama's original records, and notices were published in two newspapers within days of his birth at a Honolulu hospital.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who was a friend of Obama's parents and knew him as a child, said last month he wanted to release more of the state's birth information about Obama. But he ended the effort last week when the state attorney general told him that privacy laws bar disclosure of an individual's birth documentation without the person's consent.
The new legislation to release records may run into similar legal problems because of Hawaii's strong constitutional privacy protections, said Rep. John Mizuno, a co-sponsor of the bill.
"If people really want to confirm Barack Obama is born in Hawaii, that's fine," Mizuno said. "I don't have a problem with looking at innovative ways to bring revenue to the state. The taxpayers deserve a break."
The $100 fee would help offset the extra work by state employees who handle frequent phone calls and e-mails from people who believe Obama was born elsewhere, Cabanilla said.
But the number of birther requests has been declining from the 10 to 20 weekly inquiries received early last year, according to the Department of Health.
"Requests have decreased significantly over the years. Currently we receive anywhere from zero to five per week," said department spokeswoman Janice Okubo.
The Health Department is still reviewing the bill, Okubo said.
House Health Committee Chairman Ryan Yamane didn't immediately return messages seeking comment on whether he would hold a hearing on the bill.
Online:
HB1116, http://capitol.hawaii.gov/
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Local Hawaii coverage...
Lawmakers see fundraising through Obama birther doubts
Some Hawaii lawmakers see a way out of the state budget hole by capitalizing on doubts about President Obama's birth certificate.
Meanwhile, efforts to convince the so-called "birthers" that Obama's Hawaii birth is authentically documented have ended up backfiring in some recent cases.
In his campaign for president, then-Sen. Barack Obama submitted a short-form certification of live birth showing he was born in Hawaii. Doubters referred to as “birthers” questioned where's the original detailed certificate.
It's a matter that the previous state director of health, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, thought she put to rest more than two years ago before President Obama was elected when she said:
"I, as director of health for the state of Hawaii, along with the registrar of vital statistics… have personally seen and verified that the Hawaii State Department of Health has Sen. Obama's original birth certificate on record."
Yet to this day, birthers still want to see for themselves whether Obama is a natural born citizen, a constitutional standard of eligibility for the office. Questions still flood the governors office and the Health Department, and lawmakers say it's time to make some money off of that while, they say, proving his Hawaii birth to each and every inquiry.
“If the people are so concerned about Barack Obama and if he was actually born in Hawaii, born in the United States, let them pay a fee of 100 bucks,” said Rep. John Mizuno, one of the Democratic co-sponsors of the measure. “We can certainly use the money, and we don't need to hear their complaining anymore."
- "So if there's 1 million people on the mainland asking for his birth certificate, send over $100 check or money order, and we'll send you over something certifying that he was born in Hawaii. That's 1 million people -- that's $100 million to the state,” Mizuno said. “The president of the United States, the No. 1 person in our country, from Hawaii -- we need to capitalize. If we don't take advantage of it, we're out of our minds. This is a golden opportunity."
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Jon Stewart took on the birther controversy...
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Born Identity | ||||
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Meanwhile on Wall Street...
I chose these by hand so they're pretty decent...
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