![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
patgund(Crossposted from my post at Yes to Democracy)
Now you're thinking "wait a minute, he was born in Hawaii, Hawaii is a state, so he's a US Citizen. What's the problem??" Yes, but you're not thinking like a PUMA.
25 July - The return of "Judah Benjamin", and part one of "Divided Loyalties". Since the COLB horse can't be flogged further, the attack is now on supposed dual citizenship. The argument is that someone who has by birth one than one citizenship is ineligible to be POTUS due to "divided loyalties". Again, this argument is a load of tripe, since up until recently US law didn't even recognize dual citizenship, and only started to because other countries do. Basically Mr. Benjamin states that the operative qualification to be President is Article II of the US Constitution, which states:
The argument he makes is that a dual citizen is the same as a naturalized citizen and is therefore NOT a "Natural Born Citizen", even if they were born on US soil. There's a lot of US citizens who hold dual nationalities. Is "Judah Benjamin" trying to say NONE of them should be allowed to be President even though they were born in the US??? What a load of garbage.
26 July - Part two of "Divided Loyalties"
At this point he claims that:
Sen. McCain - was born in the US Canal Zone and has possible Panamanian citizenship which was voided when he joined the US Navy.
Gov. Richardson - was born in the US of Mexican parents and thus has duel US/Mexican citizenship. Quote: "Governor Richardson probably is Eligible to be President of Mexico but not POTUS" (does this kinda smack of racism to anyone other than me??)
Sen. Obama - The smoking gun he claims here is from the "fight the smears" website, which cites the 14th amendment to prove Sen. Obama's citizenship. That post-Civil War amendment was originally used to first intended to secure rights for former slaves, and it says:
Mr. Benjamin claims that either Sen. Obama is either "A UK and Colonies Subject", a "Kenyan Citizen", an "Indonesian Citizen", or otherwise "born outside the United States, for example in Canada?" In any case, he believes that Sen. Obama, like Gov. Richardson, doesn't meet the qualifications in Article II.
(Note: I fully expect that when Sen. Obama wins the election in November, there will be an attempt by PUMAs and their allies to make this claim in front of the Supreme Court.)
(Note #2: And isn't it funny that the two half-white / half-minorities are the only ones that "Judah Benjamin" down-checks as "ineligible")
At this point, Mr. Benjamin makes the following demands:
Let me point out something here. It doesn't matter if Sen. Obama presents these things or not. Why? Because it will NEVER be enough Even if he were to do all these things, the PUMAs and their allies would just find something else more and more and more unreasonable to demand. That in a nutshell is what PUMA is trying to do here - set the bar higher and higher, make more and more unreasonable and outrageous remands, and then claim "proof" when they're not met. It's a very typical "moving the goalposts" tactic.
As an example - fall of 2007, the oilman T. Boone Pickens, who funded the Swift Boat liars in 2004, stated publically he would donate $1 million dollars to anyone who could prove the Swift Boat liars wrong. Sen. John Kerry took him up on that bet - and Pickens immediately changed the bet, demanding more and more information until it was obvious he had no intention of honouring his bet. Pickens did the same thing in the middle of 2008 when a Swift Boat veterans group attempted to take the bet as well. This is a very common tactic when one has an indefensible positon - keep changing the terms and goals, then claim victory when the other side decides not to play your game.
28 July - "Judah Benjamin" explains his "nom de puma". Yep, not his real name. He says he took it because the "original Judah Phillip Benjamin was the most complex case of Multiple Nationality and Allegiance I could think of.". So the person who's making claims about Sen. Obama's citizenship and right to be President has indeed taken the name of the former Attorney General, Secretary of War and Secretary of State for the Confederate States of America.
There are some days that the snark writes itself.
29 July - TexasDarlin and "Judah Benjamin" latest claim?
30 July - In a cross-post to "NoQuarter", TexasDarlin claims that the "mystery" about the COLB is "solved — at least in (her) mind". And the solution is a doozy, combining all the past info into one big fritatta of wingnut lunacy. She's managed to claim that the COLB IS forged, his original name is Barry, there are at least three birth certificates, he has dual-citizenship though his father, Indonesian citizenship though Lolo Soetoro, (she manages to work in the famous "went to school as a Muslim" slur into that one as well), he changed his name at 18 to Barack, oh, and he STILL might have been born in Canada after all.
Wow!! This goes way beyond grasping at straws into "certifiable insanity" mode.
30 July - "Polarik" tries to defend his work to Dr. Neal Krawetz. And gets his rear handed to him publically as Dr. Krawetz expains why he's wrong and ends with him telling "Polarik" that "Your theory and indisputable evidence is laughable and does not hold up to even a precursory glance." Real professional 1, Internet "professional" zero.
31 July - "TexasDarlin" claims a "breaking story" that Obama Hides Indonesian Identity: Fake Birth Certificate Explained. However, far from breaking news, it's more of a recap that seems to be intended to somehow shame the mainstream press into covering this increasing non-story.
The claims this time around are:
*He was or is an Indonesia citizen.
*He was at one point a Muslim
*His original Hawaiian Birth Certificate, with "Barack H. Obama II" was sealed and replaced with one for "Barry Soetoro". Which is why the COLB on "Fight the Smears" and "Daily Kos" is fake, because he doesn't want people to know about the Soetoro identity.
Oh, and I almost forgot, the claim in the comments that since there's no record of him changing his name back to Barack Obama, then he must STILL be "Barry Soetoro"! (OMGWTFBBQ! We don't even know his real name!!! Gak! What next??) "Judah Benjamin" also pops up in the comments, his current list of demands now includes Sen. Obama's Selective Service Register, his mother’s Legal Nationality at the time of her death, and where was his mother born?
Yes, they are now questioning if his MOTHER was born in the United States. Funny, last I heard, Kansas was a part of the United States.
Also showing his chops as a legal scholar, Mr. "Benjamin" claims:
REALLY now?? Seems like over 200 years of case law may just disagree with you on that. It's really hard to get around jus soli, especially when the child is born on US soil by a US citizen.
Yet another commenter throws out that "Obama should be proud to run as the 1st Arab-American presidential candidate". Ignoring the minor fact that Nader is Arab-American, Sen. Obama is Africian-American, as in his father was born in Kenya. This is a very lame attempt at the "Arab=Muslim / Muslim=Arab" slur.
"TexasDarlin" is claiming that "Two experts with combined experience of more than 60 years in document analysis and computer forensics are willing to testify if necessary" Fine, if that's the case, what are their names? If they're so serious about this "earth-shaking development", when they shouldn't have any problems with their real identities being known, right? Otherwise, we'll just have to assume the obvious, which is they're anonymous internet hacks pulling their facts out their butt.
She provides a whole batch of links at the end. All of which are links back to previous articles by her, "Judah Benjamin", "Techdude", "Polarik", and at "NoQuarter"
And so July pulls to a close, in a spun cloud of bigger and bigger and more wild-assed speculation. It would be hysterical if it wasn't so pathetic. Like a little kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar, the lie they spin grows bigger and bigger and wilder and wilder until it's obvious the only people willing to believe it are the other little kids who want to believe it.
Now you're thinking "wait a minute, he was born in Hawaii, Hawaii is a state, so he's a US Citizen. What's the problem??" Yes, but you're not thinking like a PUMA.
25 July - The return of "Judah Benjamin", and part one of "Divided Loyalties". Since the COLB horse can't be flogged further, the attack is now on supposed dual citizenship. The argument is that someone who has by birth one than one citizenship is ineligible to be POTUS due to "divided loyalties". Again, this argument is a load of tripe, since up until recently US law didn't even recognize dual citizenship, and only started to because other countries do. Basically Mr. Benjamin states that the operative qualification to be President is Article II of the US Constitution, which states:
"No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States"
The argument he makes is that a dual citizen is the same as a naturalized citizen and is therefore NOT a "Natural Born Citizen", even if they were born on US soil. There's a lot of US citizens who hold dual nationalities. Is "Judah Benjamin" trying to say NONE of them should be allowed to be President even though they were born in the US??? What a load of garbage.
26 July - Part two of "Divided Loyalties"
At this point he claims that:
Sen. McCain - was born in the US Canal Zone and has possible Panamanian citizenship which was voided when he joined the US Navy.
Gov. Richardson - was born in the US of Mexican parents and thus has duel US/Mexican citizenship. Quote: "Governor Richardson probably is Eligible to be President of Mexico but not POTUS" (does this kinda smack of racism to anyone other than me??)
Sen. Obama - The smoking gun he claims here is from the "fight the smears" website, which cites the 14th amendment to prove Sen. Obama's citizenship. That post-Civil War amendment was originally used to first intended to secure rights for former slaves, and it says:
"Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Mr. Benjamin claims that either Sen. Obama is either "A UK and Colonies Subject", a "Kenyan Citizen", an "Indonesian Citizen", or otherwise "born outside the United States, for example in Canada?" In any case, he believes that Sen. Obama, like Gov. Richardson, doesn't meet the qualifications in Article II.
(Note: I fully expect that when Sen. Obama wins the election in November, there will be an attempt by PUMAs and their allies to make this claim in front of the Supreme Court.)
(Note #2: And isn't it funny that the two half-white / half-minorities are the only ones that "Judah Benjamin" down-checks as "ineligible")
At this point, Mr. Benjamin makes the following demands:
"Having said all of this I require, more importantly, that the Courts, the State Department and the INS determine whether or not the following Documents exist today, or existed formerly, in the Records of other countries and the USA (and if they no longer do, why they don’t):
a) A British Colonial Birth Certificate in the Kenyan, and or UK Records, in Kenya and London, with accompanying Documentation.
b) All Indonesian Identity Documents, Indonesian Adoption Papers and an Indonesian Passport, with all accompanying Documentation. Incidentally at least some of these Documents MUST have existed from 1966 to 1971. (this paragraph was revised)
c) A Canadian Birth Certificate, with all accompanying Documentation.
d) Documentation relevant to these papers in the appropriate US Consular Service Offices, the State Department and the Passport Office.
e) All Documentation in the US, Indonesia and, possibly Canada, relative to Stanley Ann Dunham and Maya Kassandra Soetoro-Ng, because their Records are relevant to, and intimately connected with the Senator.
f) A Public Appearance, on National TV, on Oath, before the Attorney General of the United States of America by Senator Barack Hussein Obama Jr, doing the following:
i)Swearing that he has, to the best of his knowledge and belief, never held any other Nationality or Citizenship than that of the USA.
ii) That he, at the same time, take The Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America, as taken by every Naturalized Citizen. If he is solely and has always been solely a US Citizen this should not give him any problems, whatsoever. If he has not been telling the truth and has held other Citizenships it would at least satisfy me that he has told the World that he is going to be Loyal in the Future."
Let me point out something here. It doesn't matter if Sen. Obama presents these things or not. Why? Because it will NEVER be enough Even if he were to do all these things, the PUMAs and their allies would just find something else more and more and more unreasonable to demand. That in a nutshell is what PUMA is trying to do here - set the bar higher and higher, make more and more unreasonable and outrageous remands, and then claim "proof" when they're not met. It's a very typical "moving the goalposts" tactic.
As an example - fall of 2007, the oilman T. Boone Pickens, who funded the Swift Boat liars in 2004, stated publically he would donate $1 million dollars to anyone who could prove the Swift Boat liars wrong. Sen. John Kerry took him up on that bet - and Pickens immediately changed the bet, demanding more and more information until it was obvious he had no intention of honouring his bet. Pickens did the same thing in the middle of 2008 when a Swift Boat veterans group attempted to take the bet as well. This is a very common tactic when one has an indefensible positon - keep changing the terms and goals, then claim victory when the other side decides not to play your game.
28 July - "Judah Benjamin" explains his "nom de puma". Yep, not his real name. He says he took it because the "original Judah Phillip Benjamin was the most complex case of Multiple Nationality and Allegiance I could think of.". So the person who's making claims about Sen. Obama's citizenship and right to be President has indeed taken the name of the former Attorney General, Secretary of War and Secretary of State for the Confederate States of America.
There are some days that the snark writes itself.
29 July - TexasDarlin and "Judah Benjamin" latest claim?
"Barack Obama was adopted by Lolo Soetoro, his Indonesian step-father, and as a result of that adoption, his original Birth Certificate was modified to reflect his new name and the name of his new father. Obama may actually have at least TWO different Birth Certificates from Hawaii. Further, "Judah Benjamin" asserts that “Barry Soetoro” acquired Indonesian citizenship as a result of that adoption AND that he (Soetoro/Obama) may STILL hold Indonesian citizenship today."
30 July - In a cross-post to "NoQuarter", TexasDarlin claims that the "mystery" about the COLB is "solved — at least in (her) mind". And the solution is a doozy, combining all the past info into one big fritatta of wingnut lunacy. She's managed to claim that the COLB IS forged, his original name is Barry, there are at least three birth certificates, he has dual-citizenship though his father, Indonesian citizenship though Lolo Soetoro, (she manages to work in the famous "went to school as a Muslim" slur into that one as well), he changed his name at 18 to Barack, oh, and he STILL might have been born in Canada after all.
Wow!! This goes way beyond grasping at straws into "certifiable insanity" mode.
30 July - "Polarik" tries to defend his work to Dr. Neal Krawetz. And gets his rear handed to him publically as Dr. Krawetz expains why he's wrong and ends with him telling "Polarik" that "Your theory and indisputable evidence is laughable and does not hold up to even a precursory glance." Real professional 1, Internet "professional" zero.
31 July - "TexasDarlin" claims a "breaking story" that Obama Hides Indonesian Identity: Fake Birth Certificate Explained. However, far from breaking news, it's more of a recap that seems to be intended to somehow shame the mainstream press into covering this increasing non-story.
The claims this time around are:
*He was or is an Indonesia citizen.
*He was at one point a Muslim
*His original Hawaiian Birth Certificate, with "Barack H. Obama II" was sealed and replaced with one for "Barry Soetoro". Which is why the COLB on "Fight the Smears" and "Daily Kos" is fake, because he doesn't want people to know about the Soetoro identity.
Oh, and I almost forgot, the claim in the comments that since there's no record of him changing his name back to Barack Obama, then he must STILL be "Barry Soetoro"! (OMGWTFBBQ! We don't even know his real name!!! Gak! What next??) "Judah Benjamin" also pops up in the comments, his current list of demands now includes Sen. Obama's Selective Service Register, his mother’s Legal Nationality at the time of her death, and where was his mother born?
Yes, they are now questioning if his MOTHER was born in the United States. Funny, last I heard, Kansas was a part of the United States.
Also showing his chops as a legal scholar, Mr. "Benjamin" claims:
"I hate to break it to you, but where he was born isn’t the issue. It is legally possible to be born in the USA and never to be a US Citizen in your life."
REALLY now?? Seems like over 200 years of case law may just disagree with you on that. It's really hard to get around jus soli, especially when the child is born on US soil by a US citizen.
Yet another commenter throws out that "Obama should be proud to run as the 1st Arab-American presidential candidate". Ignoring the minor fact that Nader is Arab-American, Sen. Obama is Africian-American, as in his father was born in Kenya. This is a very lame attempt at the "Arab=Muslim / Muslim=Arab" slur.
"TexasDarlin" is claiming that "Two experts with combined experience of more than 60 years in document analysis and computer forensics are willing to testify if necessary" Fine, if that's the case, what are their names? If they're so serious about this "earth-shaking development", when they shouldn't have any problems with their real identities being known, right? Otherwise, we'll just have to assume the obvious, which is they're anonymous internet hacks pulling their facts out their butt.
She provides a whole batch of links at the end. All of which are links back to previous articles by her, "Judah Benjamin", "Techdude", "Polarik", and at "NoQuarter"
And so July pulls to a close, in a spun cloud of bigger and bigger and more wild-assed speculation. It would be hysterical if it wasn't so pathetic. Like a little kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar, the lie they spin grows bigger and bigger and wilder and wilder until it's obvious the only people willing to believe it are the other little kids who want to believe it.
