Given the anti-democratic and closed nature of Illinois politics Jim is skeptical of Mairi's petition drive. But stranger things have been successful. Barack Obama should hang his head in shame at his overt contempt for democracy.
Jim writes:
> I have exchanged emails with Mairia already. She is trying to collect signatures. God bless her for doing that.
> I have tried calling the RNC, but no one is picking up. You may not be familiar with Illinois, but the politics here are all run by the Chicago machine and the state combine. It is difficult to explain to an outsider how tightly controlled and inbred politics here really are. I am, at best, skeptical that a petition will produce results.
> I have called my state rep who is a democrat, but a decent guy. I will call Durbin just for yuks.
> I am open to other ideas to move this along.
>ContrairiMairi Writes:
>I am writing to request permission to circulate petitions at local Dominick's Grocery Store entrances. I am enclosing a copy of the petition being circulated. Please be certain that this petition is open to all adult residents of Illinois. It is not partisan, nor does it exclude people who are not registered voters.
>The petition requests that the State of Illinois verify that Barack Obama meets all legal requirements to hold the office of Senator of Illinois. This petition is a public service open to adults in our State. Illinois law mandates American citizenship in order to serve. Barack Obama has produced a certificate at his campaign website which is not valid. The certificate states clearly that any alteration of it renders it invalid. The certificate number has been removed, an alteration of the document, thereby rendering it invalid.
>The citizens of Illinois, by law, may request information to verify compliance with State Election guidelines and laws, and that is the sole motivation behind this petition drive.
>I am hoping you will grant us permission to circulate our petitions at your entrances. We shop frequently at Dominick's, and I feel that shoppers at your stores reflect an Illinois public that matches exactly what we hope to represent with our petition. We are striving to capture the feelings of residents who adequately reflect the total population of our great State. I feel that your shoppers meet and exceed our hope!
Sincerely,
Monday, August 4, 2008
The Progressives' Sleight of Hand
In the nineteenth century, "progress" meant technological and economic progress. Whig economists like Henry Carey believed in progress and were optimistic as opposed to the pessimism of Malthus and the Manchester school. However, by "progress" Carey meant technological and economic progress. He did not see politics as important. The idea that progress ought to occur through the political system was introduced in the late nineteenth century in several ways. First, the Mugwumps argued that rationalization of public administration through Civil Service laws meant progress. Populists argued that large scale industry must be broken up by government edict. Americans such as Henry Carter Adams, Richard T. Ely and John R. Commons, educated in Germany began to argue for social democratic intervention. Thus, the Progressives identified progress with governmental reform. Which is more important: breakthrough technologies and better management methods that increase wealth, or government policies that rationalize government operations and redistribute wealth? The Progressives seem to not have realized that there was a trade off. In particular, the policies that implement redistribution and regulation forestall entrepreneurship because their costs rest most heavily on small business entrepreneurs. The result is that the Progressives adopted an anti-progressive attitude toward technological and market progress, which was carried forward through the New Deal. The twentieth century saw a slowing of technological progress because of monetary, regulatory and redistributive reforms of the Progressive and New Deal era.
Suspicions About Obama Birth Certificate Grow
Thelma from Florida has written the following snail mail letter to my West Shokan PO Box. Her suggestion is that some good Republican in Hawaii go to all the hospitals in Honolulu to see if Obama's birth certificate can be found, and also to investigate Kenyan records. An interesting idea. Anyone up for a Hawaiian vacation in August? Or a trip to Kenya?
>Dear Sir:
I enjoyed reading your blog about your attempts to obtain Barack Hussein Obama's birth certificate.
Since Obama has dual citizenship, might it be possible to obtain information about his place of birth from Kenya records?
And Stanley Ann Dunham was on Mercer Island visiting friends with an approximately month old Obama in August 1961. The friend states that Dunham was on her way from Hawaii to visit Barack, Sr. at Harvard. But Barack Sr. didn't go to Harvard until 1963 (or late '62?) Is it possible to check records in Vancouver, Canada to determine if Dunham might have hidden out with friends in Canada while pregnant and had the child there?
At least one hospital in Honolulu that Wikipedia claims Obama was born in can find no record of his birth. Could records be checked in all hospitals in Honolulu?
I appreciate your efforts in attempting to obtain the birth certificate
Sincerely,
Thelma
>Dear Sir:
I enjoyed reading your blog about your attempts to obtain Barack Hussein Obama's birth certificate.
Since Obama has dual citizenship, might it be possible to obtain information about his place of birth from Kenya records?
And Stanley Ann Dunham was on Mercer Island visiting friends with an approximately month old Obama in August 1961. The friend states that Dunham was on her way from Hawaii to visit Barack, Sr. at Harvard. But Barack Sr. didn't go to Harvard until 1963 (or late '62?) Is it possible to check records in Vancouver, Canada to determine if Dunham might have hidden out with friends in Canada while pregnant and had the child there?
At least one hospital in Honolulu that Wikipedia claims Obama was born in can find no record of his birth. Could records be checked in all hospitals in Honolulu?
I appreciate your efforts in attempting to obtain the birth certificate
Sincerely,
Thelma
E-Mail From Reader: No Response from Hawaii Health Department
>Good afternoon.
I have been following the small drama surrounding Mr. Obama’s birth certificate.
The whole affair is odd. As a parent, I have to supply our schools with official, notarized, and authentic birth certificates for each of my children to attend school. So I write, pay my fee, and a few weeks later… viola! No big deal for me, so why such a fuss and all the foot dragging on Mr. Obama’s part?
Have you received any response yet from Hawaii? It has been a month.
--Jim
Dear Jim: The Hawaii Health Department has an odd interpretation of social responsibility. On the one hand, it views the records of a major party presidential candidate as confidential despite a Hawaii open records policy. On the other, when I contacted them, Director Chiyome L. Fukino's and Communications Officer Janice Okubo's response has been to clam up.
I have been following the small drama surrounding Mr. Obama’s birth certificate.
The whole affair is odd. As a parent, I have to supply our schools with official, notarized, and authentic birth certificates for each of my children to attend school. So I write, pay my fee, and a few weeks later… viola! No big deal for me, so why such a fuss and all the foot dragging on Mr. Obama’s part?
Have you received any response yet from Hawaii? It has been a month.
--Jim
Dear Jim: The Hawaii Health Department has an odd interpretation of social responsibility. On the one hand, it views the records of a major party presidential candidate as confidential despite a Hawaii open records policy. On the other, when I contacted them, Director Chiyome L. Fukino's and Communications Officer Janice Okubo's response has been to clam up.
ContrairiMairi Demands Illinois Election Board Investigate Obama
ContrairiMarie of Illinois has written the following letter to Dan White, Executive Director of the Illinois Board of Elections.
>Dan White, Executive Director
Illinois Board of Elections
1020 S. Spring St.
Springfield, Illinois 62704
Dear Mr. White,
I am writing to respectfully demand the Board investigate the qualifications of Barack H. Obama. In light of the Certificate of Live Birth posted at the Campaign's internet site, I feel there needs to be a full investigation of his citizenship status. Illinois statutes require that he be a citizen, and I challenge that his claim is valid. The Certificate posted has been altered. The certificate number has been removed. The document states clearly, that any alteration of it makes it invalid. I believe that removal of the certificate number does alter the document, thereby rendering it invalid.
It is the duty of the Board to insure that all legal guidelines and qualifications of any candidate running for office in this State are adhered to. He is our State Senator. That is far too important a position to leave in a questionable state. He must be required to make public, a legal documentation of his citizenship status. It also now is stated that he holds citizenship in two other countries that do not recognize dual citizenship with the United States. I am also respectfully challenging that his ownership of citizenship in either of those countries negates his U.S citizenship. If he is in fact holding multiple passports issued by countries that do not recognize dual citizenship, his American citizenship cannot be valid.
It is imperative that the residents of this State are being represented by persons who meet all the legal qualifications as set forth by Illinois law. You cannot expect that we should be governed by laws passed by someone breaking the law. Please send verification with documented proof of his status to me at the address listed.
Sincerely,
ContrairiMairi
>Dan White, Executive Director
Illinois Board of Elections
1020 S. Spring St.
Springfield, Illinois 62704
Dear Mr. White,
I am writing to respectfully demand the Board investigate the qualifications of Barack H. Obama. In light of the Certificate of Live Birth posted at the Campaign's internet site, I feel there needs to be a full investigation of his citizenship status. Illinois statutes require that he be a citizen, and I challenge that his claim is valid. The Certificate posted has been altered. The certificate number has been removed. The document states clearly, that any alteration of it makes it invalid. I believe that removal of the certificate number does alter the document, thereby rendering it invalid.
It is the duty of the Board to insure that all legal guidelines and qualifications of any candidate running for office in this State are adhered to. He is our State Senator. That is far too important a position to leave in a questionable state. He must be required to make public, a legal documentation of his citizenship status. It also now is stated that he holds citizenship in two other countries that do not recognize dual citizenship with the United States. I am also respectfully challenging that his ownership of citizenship in either of those countries negates his U.S citizenship. If he is in fact holding multiple passports issued by countries that do not recognize dual citizenship, his American citizenship cannot be valid.
It is imperative that the residents of this State are being represented by persons who meet all the legal qualifications as set forth by Illinois law. You cannot expect that we should be governed by laws passed by someone breaking the law. Please send verification with documented proof of his status to me at the address listed.
Sincerely,
ContrairiMairi
E-mail Re Obama's Cover Up
Dear Mitchell,
Once again, MANY thanks. I nearly considered giving up the petition drive in the short run, in favor of the challenge to the FEC. I still believe that the State level IS going to be the far more effective challenge, after your mail.
But thinking over all of this has me really worried. One site claims that in a "gentlemanly process, we accept self certification", as the reason that Hussein got this far in the first place with no challenge. This is my worry....why would any opposing candidate in any election accept self certification from the opposition, unless that candidate also had something to hide.
For instance, Hilary....she has been the First Lady! One would think she would be savvy enough to challenge any opponent's qualifications. Why hasn't she? John McCain had his own citizenship challenged. Why hasn't he returned the favor? Why are these and many other candidates so accepting of the "gentlemanly process" that they accept "self certification" from an opponent so willingly? Do you find this as frightening as I now do?
Why are we at a point in Hussein's term as Senator from Illinois that ordinary citizens will be the only ones offering the challenge? And at this late date! This SHOULD have been dealt with much earlier on. I am now finding it a bit more interesting that so few "good candidates" seem to be running for office. We always seem to be choosing the lesser evil. I am not a person who believes in "conspiracy theories", but I am really wondering now what is going on behind the scenes. Why are these people granting self certification to opponents, if in fact this is what is happening?
Seems to me, if I were running a clean campaign, my first course of action would be to make sure MY OWN qualifications were airtight. I would then expect the same from my opponent. I'll bet most Americans who pay any attention at all to the political process would think that to be a fundamental of the campaign process. Aren't we getting our eyes opened the hard way with this election? We had so many candidates in the Democratic Primary, who would have thought that this close to the general election, no one knows if the Democratic Presumptive nominee is even legally qualified!
Guess Americans had best get busy setting their own rules for elections and the campaign process. Rather than leave the question of legal qualification to the opponents in an election, we need to start demanding proof of legal qualification each time someone tosses their hat into the ring! It needs to be done at every level of the election process.
Sincerely,
Mairi
Once again, MANY thanks. I nearly considered giving up the petition drive in the short run, in favor of the challenge to the FEC. I still believe that the State level IS going to be the far more effective challenge, after your mail.
But thinking over all of this has me really worried. One site claims that in a "gentlemanly process, we accept self certification", as the reason that Hussein got this far in the first place with no challenge. This is my worry....why would any opposing candidate in any election accept self certification from the opposition, unless that candidate also had something to hide.
For instance, Hilary....she has been the First Lady! One would think she would be savvy enough to challenge any opponent's qualifications. Why hasn't she? John McCain had his own citizenship challenged. Why hasn't he returned the favor? Why are these and many other candidates so accepting of the "gentlemanly process" that they accept "self certification" from an opponent so willingly? Do you find this as frightening as I now do?
Why are we at a point in Hussein's term as Senator from Illinois that ordinary citizens will be the only ones offering the challenge? And at this late date! This SHOULD have been dealt with much earlier on. I am now finding it a bit more interesting that so few "good candidates" seem to be running for office. We always seem to be choosing the lesser evil. I am not a person who believes in "conspiracy theories", but I am really wondering now what is going on behind the scenes. Why are these people granting self certification to opponents, if in fact this is what is happening?
Seems to me, if I were running a clean campaign, my first course of action would be to make sure MY OWN qualifications were airtight. I would then expect the same from my opponent. I'll bet most Americans who pay any attention at all to the political process would think that to be a fundamental of the campaign process. Aren't we getting our eyes opened the hard way with this election? We had so many candidates in the Democratic Primary, who would have thought that this close to the general election, no one knows if the Democratic Presumptive nominee is even legally qualified!
Guess Americans had best get busy setting their own rules for elections and the campaign process. Rather than leave the question of legal qualification to the opponents in an election, we need to start demanding proof of legal qualification each time someone tosses their hat into the ring! It needs to be done at every level of the election process.
Sincerely,
Mairi
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Phil Orenstein on the Obama Birth Certificate Cover Up
Phil Orenstein has written a fine blog on the Obama birth certificate cover up here.
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