Janice Okubo had stated that she believed the Obama birth certificate was accurate on June 13 and June 27 according to Politifact, a website of the St. Petersburg Times. On June 13, Janice Okubo stated that the Certificate of Live Birth that Politifact sent her was real:
"'It's a valid Hawaii state birth certificate,' spokesman Janice Okubo said June 13, 2008, after we e-mailed her our copy."
Then, on June 27 Politifact repeated this narrative.
It is not clear that Ms. Okubo's statements conflict with Pamela Geller's claim that the certificate is a forgery. There is a big question and three small questions. The big question is why is there no administrative body handling this instead of a St. Petersburg journalist?
One small question is whether the copy that the Obama campaign sent to Poltifact has the same problems that the copy on the Obama website has. Ms. Okubo does not state that she sent the birth certificate to Mr. Obama, which was the impression I had initially from her statement to the Hawaii newspaper.
Hence, the second small question is whether Dan Nakaso of the Hawaii newspaper exaggerated the extent of her verification.
The third small question is that I wonder if the St. Petersburg newspaper would be willing to permit a forensics expert to review their copy.
I have written the following to Amy Hollyfield of Politifact:
I appreciate your work on the Obama birth certificate. After your article's publication, questions about it's being a forgery were raised at http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/07/atlas-exclusive.html. The key problem for me with respect to this issue is why the United States administrates an elections system without requiring identification and background information as part of the public record, to include not only birth certificates but also fingerprinting, criminal record, marriage certificate, etc. We live in an age of identity theft, yet there is no administration of verification of candidates' credentials. I have inquired with the Federal Elections Commission, my state's (and other states') board of elections, my state's secretary of state, the IRS (which administrates campaign funding) and my Congressman. We have a sorely mismanaged election system that could use professionalization of its administration, as in requiring birth certificates and the like from all candidates. Is anyone sure that of all the state legislatures, Congressmen, Senators and local elected officials that there is not one or even a few who have relied on stolen identities?
To this end, I have developed a petition to the FEC at
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Federal-Elections-Commssion/
http://mitchell-langbert.blogspot.com/2008/08/petition-to-request-federal-elections.html
Several of the 5,200 people who have signed it have wondered why candidates run without ID verification while someone like you is the one to attempt to verify Mr. Obama's birth certificate.
I would like to make an inquiry. Since you have a hard copy of the purported certificate, would you make it available to a forensics expert to verify? Ms. Okubo did not confirm that she actually sent you the certificate. Rather, she confirmed that it looked like a real certificate. Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs states that a forensics expert determined that the certificate posted on the website is a forgery. Would your newspaper be willing to allow or commission an independent forensics expert to further document your story?
Best wishes,
Mitchell Langbert
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Comments on Janice Okubo's Story Switch
Phil writes:
>"Any shots of Obama wining and dining Janice Okubo on his vacation in Hawaii?"
I respond:
You can't help but wonder. She certainly did NOT write to me that she had given the campaign a certificate and that the one posted was accurate. Instead, she wrote to me that the freedom of information act does not apply to Hawaii. She saved this other information for later. I do not know the reason for the difference.
Mairi writes:
>"SHEESH! Do you believe these guys? They have no respect for us at all. Just label everyone out there a "crackpot" and have done with it. NOT!
I have written to Dan, but don't expect to hear from him any more than I expect to hear from Dan White......Maybe it goes with the name? LOL!
Janice is a REAL disappointment. Typical, "say one thing one day, and something different the next". I must applaud your efforts. Dealing with this as much as you have must be very aggravating.
Sincerely,
Mairi
I respond:
Not so aggravating, just tiring as I should be working on other things. I got the traffic up on my blog so I'm happy about that. I do not expect that I will single handedly reform the system, so I expect little. The one who irritates me is that reporter Dan Nakaso from the Hawaii newspaper. He ran a story without speaking to the other side. That's sleazy.
>"Any shots of Obama wining and dining Janice Okubo on his vacation in Hawaii?"
I respond:
You can't help but wonder. She certainly did NOT write to me that she had given the campaign a certificate and that the one posted was accurate. Instead, she wrote to me that the freedom of information act does not apply to Hawaii. She saved this other information for later. I do not know the reason for the difference.
Mairi writes:
>"SHEESH! Do you believe these guys? They have no respect for us at all. Just label everyone out there a "crackpot" and have done with it. NOT!
I have written to Dan, but don't expect to hear from him any more than I expect to hear from Dan White......Maybe it goes with the name? LOL!
Janice is a REAL disappointment. Typical, "say one thing one day, and something different the next". I must applaud your efforts. Dealing with this as much as you have must be very aggravating.
Sincerely,
Mairi
I respond:
Not so aggravating, just tiring as I should be working on other things. I got the traffic up on my blog so I'm happy about that. I do not expect that I will single handedly reform the system, so I expect little. The one who irritates me is that reporter Dan Nakaso from the Hawaii newspaper. He ran a story without speaking to the other side. That's sleazy.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Does Jack Cafferty Suffer From Old Age Dementia?
I seldom watch CNN, but when I am forced to watch it in my health club I often hear Jack Cafferty remarking about John McCain's age. Ageism is a form of bias, and the low, tasteless quality of the pro-Obama media exhibits itself in Cafferty. Problem solving ability peaks at about age 20, but knowledge of how to solve problems, i.e., experience, compensates for loss of mental acuity. There are few breakthroughs in math or physics made by those above age 30, but there are a large number of literary, artistic, philosophical, legal and business breakthroughs made by old people.
I looked up Jack Cafferty's age on Wikipedia. He was born in December 1942, while John McCain was born in August 1936. The difference between Cafferty and McCain is a tad over six years. Perhaps it is Cafferty, rather than John McCain, who suffers from senility.
Unlike Cafferty, I am not one to make ageist comments, but Mr. Cafferty lives in a glass house and has been throwing stones. So here goes. I wonder if Cafferty gets the news right since he might be suffering from old age dementia. Can we trust Cafferty to be a good newscaster? He seems illogical. He is past the age for ordinary onset Alzheimer's, and his lack of awareness and tastelessness suggests acceleration that condition.
I looked up Jack Cafferty's age on Wikipedia. He was born in December 1942, while John McCain was born in August 1936. The difference between Cafferty and McCain is a tad over six years. Perhaps it is Cafferty, rather than John McCain, who suffers from senility.
Unlike Cafferty, I am not one to make ageist comments, but Mr. Cafferty lives in a glass house and has been throwing stones. So here goes. I wonder if Cafferty gets the news right since he might be suffering from old age dementia. Can we trust Cafferty to be a good newscaster? He seems illogical. He is past the age for ordinary onset Alzheimer's, and his lack of awareness and tastelessness suggests acceleration that condition.
Janice Okubo Denies Impropriety with Posted Birth Certificate
Dan Nakaso of the Honolulu Advertiser writes an article about Janice Okubo and the Obama birth certificate (h/t Ray). First, I copy from the article, then my e-mailed response follows:
Birth certificate in high demand:
Hawai'i birth certificates — just as with death, marriage and certain divorce documents — are released only to people with a "tangible interest," such as the people themselves, their parents, spouses, grandparents or other relatives, Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said. (Requests for divorce decrees after 2002 go through the state judiciary.)
"'Our state law is very firm on information on vital records. ... You cannot receive someone else's birth certificate — to protect the person's confidential information,'" Okubo said
"'The Obama campaign said it has posted a copy of his birth certificate at www.fightthesm ears.com in response to Internet chatter that the Illinois senator is not a natural-born citizen. But the posting has done little to curb the nearly weekly requests to the Health Department for copies of the original', Okubo said.
"'Some skeptics point to the lack of an official state seal on the birth certificate posted on the Obama campaign Web site.'
"'But seals often are placed on the back of the birth certificate', Okubo said, 'and whether it shows through depends on how much force was put into it.'"
"'Others wonder why a large black rectangle appears next to the words, "CERTIFICATE NO'."
"'The thing that's redacted is just our file number," she said. "Potentially, if you have that number, you could break into the system.'"
"'Health officials contacted the Obama campaign a few months ago in response to the persistent inquiries "to see if they could try and resolve the issue with the people who were asking questions,' she said.
"'They responded and apparently it isn't good enough that he posted his birth certificate,'" Okubo said. "They say they want it because they claim he is not a citizen of the United States. It's pretty ridiculous."
My response to Dan Nakaso, the Advertiser reporter, via e-mail:
I am submitting a petition to the Federal Election Commission on Monday concerning the lack of an administrative system whereby identification and other information necessary to verify a candidate's eligibiligity are collected, reviewed and made available to the public as exemplified in the current questions about Mr. Barack H. Obama's birth certificate. At present, no state or federal agency, to include the state boards of election, the Federal Election Commission, the state Secretaries of State, the Internal Revenue Service (which oversees federal campaign money) or any other administrative body oversees collection of identification information, to include birth certificates, fingerprinting, drivers' licenses, criminal records and related information. In an age of identity theft, are we certain that no elected officials have made use of falsified identification? As a result, more than 5,100 people have signed the petition. Perhaps Ms. Okubo's story shifting and Mr. Obama's unresponsiveness to repeated inquiries have contributed to the public good by bringing the need for a comprehensive identification process for political candidates.
The petition is located at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Federal-Elections-Commssion/index.html
When I contacted Ms. Okubo in July to request a copy of Mr. Obama's birth certificate, she refused to provide it, but she did NOT indicate that there is a publicly available birth certificate nor did she indicate that she could verify the certificate as reflecting the true one. She could have mentioned that she had given a birth certificate to the Obama campaign but she did not. She could have verified that the one posted is the same one she gave them, but she did not do that either. Nor does she confirm this in your article.
There have been allegations that the certificate posted on the Obama website is a forgery on the Atlas Shrugs and other blogs that I've partially compiled here:
http://www.showusthecertificate.blogspot.com/
In particular, note Pamela Geller's Atlas Shrugs blog here:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/07/atlas-exclusive.html
Ms. Okubo does not state in the article that the certificate posted on the website is the same as the one she provided to Mr. Obama. And why did she neglect to tell me in her letter in July that a certificate was posted?
In addition, as a reporter have you contacted Mr. Obama to request a copy of the certificate, or have you accepted a single source? In your article, you do not quote Pamela Geller, Larry Johnson, or other bloggers who have taken an interest in this. You only quote Ms. Okubo, whose story now is not the one that she wrote to me about last month.
The fact that the Hawaii Revised Statutes permit anyone with a "direct and tangible interest" in the birth certificate ought to mean that anyone can obtain Mr. Obama's birth certificate since we all have a direct and tangible interest in it.
More than 5,100 individuals from around the country have signed the petition requesting the FEC investigate the birth certificate. The matter is one of inept administration of elections at the state and federal level.
Birth certificate in high demand:
Hawai'i birth certificates — just as with death, marriage and certain divorce documents — are released only to people with a "tangible interest," such as the people themselves, their parents, spouses, grandparents or other relatives, Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said. (Requests for divorce decrees after 2002 go through the state judiciary.)
"'Our state law is very firm on information on vital records. ... You cannot receive someone else's birth certificate — to protect the person's confidential information,'" Okubo said
"'The Obama campaign said it has posted a copy of his birth certificate at www.fightthesm ears.com in response to Internet chatter that the Illinois senator is not a natural-born citizen. But the posting has done little to curb the nearly weekly requests to the Health Department for copies of the original', Okubo said.
"'Some skeptics point to the lack of an official state seal on the birth certificate posted on the Obama campaign Web site.'
"'But seals often are placed on the back of the birth certificate', Okubo said, 'and whether it shows through depends on how much force was put into it.'"
"'Others wonder why a large black rectangle appears next to the words, "CERTIFICATE NO'."
"'The thing that's redacted is just our file number," she said. "Potentially, if you have that number, you could break into the system.'"
"'Health officials contacted the Obama campaign a few months ago in response to the persistent inquiries "to see if they could try and resolve the issue with the people who were asking questions,' she said.
"'They responded and apparently it isn't good enough that he posted his birth certificate,'" Okubo said. "They say they want it because they claim he is not a citizen of the United States. It's pretty ridiculous."
My response to Dan Nakaso, the Advertiser reporter, via e-mail:
I am submitting a petition to the Federal Election Commission on Monday concerning the lack of an administrative system whereby identification and other information necessary to verify a candidate's eligibiligity are collected, reviewed and made available to the public as exemplified in the current questions about Mr. Barack H. Obama's birth certificate. At present, no state or federal agency, to include the state boards of election, the Federal Election Commission, the state Secretaries of State, the Internal Revenue Service (which oversees federal campaign money) or any other administrative body oversees collection of identification information, to include birth certificates, fingerprinting, drivers' licenses, criminal records and related information. In an age of identity theft, are we certain that no elected officials have made use of falsified identification? As a result, more than 5,100 people have signed the petition. Perhaps Ms. Okubo's story shifting and Mr. Obama's unresponsiveness to repeated inquiries have contributed to the public good by bringing the need for a comprehensive identification process for political candidates.
The petition is located at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Federal-Elections-Commssion/index.html
When I contacted Ms. Okubo in July to request a copy of Mr. Obama's birth certificate, she refused to provide it, but she did NOT indicate that there is a publicly available birth certificate nor did she indicate that she could verify the certificate as reflecting the true one. She could have mentioned that she had given a birth certificate to the Obama campaign but she did not. She could have verified that the one posted is the same one she gave them, but she did not do that either. Nor does she confirm this in your article.
There have been allegations that the certificate posted on the Obama website is a forgery on the Atlas Shrugs and other blogs that I've partially compiled here:
http://www.showusthecertificate.blogspot.com/
In particular, note Pamela Geller's Atlas Shrugs blog here:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/07/atlas-exclusive.html
Ms. Okubo does not state in the article that the certificate posted on the website is the same as the one she provided to Mr. Obama. And why did she neglect to tell me in her letter in July that a certificate was posted?
In addition, as a reporter have you contacted Mr. Obama to request a copy of the certificate, or have you accepted a single source? In your article, you do not quote Pamela Geller, Larry Johnson, or other bloggers who have taken an interest in this. You only quote Ms. Okubo, whose story now is not the one that she wrote to me about last month.
The fact that the Hawaii Revised Statutes permit anyone with a "direct and tangible interest" in the birth certificate ought to mean that anyone can obtain Mr. Obama's birth certificate since we all have a direct and tangible interest in it.
More than 5,100 individuals from around the country have signed the petition requesting the FEC investigate the birth certificate. The matter is one of inept administration of elections at the state and federal level.
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