Guest Editorial: By Warren Bonesteel
On ‘Birthers’
By Warren Bonesteel| August 5, 2009
So ... If we can't ask about Obama's birth certificate without being dismissed as nutjob, tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorists, can we ask a few other questions without being maligned solely through the use of childish name calling, silly syllogism and sorry sophistry??
Ok. So let's forget the birth certificate for a moment and ask Mr. Obama a couple of other questions ... or are we still allowed to do that?
• Kindergarten records.
(Not even a kindergarten record?)
• Punahou school records
• Occidental College records
• Columbia University records
• Columbia thesis
• Harvard Law School records
• Harvard Law Review articles
• Scholarly articles from the University of Chicago
• Passport
• Medical records
• Files from his years as an Illinois state senator
• Illinois State Bar Association records
• Baptism records, if any
• Adoption records
… All missing or otherwise unavailable.
There is no American birth certificate for Obama. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. A COLB is not an original, legal, birth certificate, nor is an ad in the lifestyle section of a local newspaper considered to be a legal birth certificate. Public statements by politicians and bureaucrats are not legal birth certificates. Although such things can be considered as evidence, they are not proof. They are hearsay evidence, only. (In fact, Mr. Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro, has a Hawaiian COLB and she was born in Indonesia.)
The COLB from Hawaii is the same document that journalists and activists from both sides, as well as bureaucrats and politicians across the nation, are offering as primary support of assertions that Mr. Obama is a natural born citizen of the U.S. If, in fact, he is a legal citizen, it does not necessarily follow that he is a natural-born citizen. There is a difference.
Follow-up question regarding his mother's citizenship status are also valid and do not require a tinfoil hat or a mental illness in order to ask them.
In view of other evidences, in view of his personal and business associations, and in view of Mr. Obama's apparently missing or hidden background and résumé, the question about his birth certificate remains valid. In fact, it is the most important question of all.
Assuming there is no legal birth certificate (and at this point in time and in view of the lack of an original birth certificate, it can only be assumed that there isn't one), this means that the Electoral College never verified his eligibility before they voted for him. It means that FEC never verified his eligibility. It means that the DNC never verified his eligibility. It means that the state legislatures and state governors who signed off on the results of the Electoral College never verified his eligibility. It means that the House and Senate never verified his eligibility. 'Eligibility' meaning, in this case, that no one has actually “seen” an original, legal, 'long form' American birth certificate for Mr. Obama.
In fact, those who have claimed to have seen his birth certificate sound an awful lot like UFO abductees. 'It's really, really, real and I saw it with my own eyes!' Public statements and blanket assertions are not an original document. Ads in old newspapers are not an original document. A COLB is not an original document. You're asking me to believe in UFOs when you wouldn't believe in UFOs even if they landed on the White House lawn.
In all, it means that The Constitution has been effectively nullified either through incompetence or by corruption at every step of the political process.
It means that American social and political contracts are completely broken down. This is why the question is so important.
The question remains valid. Where is the – original – birth certificate?
Conspiracy theories, tinfoil hats, mental illness and even racism are not a requirement for asking such questions. In fact, such accusations against innocent Americans who are simply asking questions of their leadership tell us something about American discourse and freedom that should send shivers down your spines.
See also http://obamaism.blogspot.com