Hawaii Legislature OKs measure to ignore requests for disclosure of Barack Obama's birth certificate

A brand-new chapter dawns in the birther controversy over President Obama's hidden birth certificate.

The Hawaii legislature has now officially passed a measure that would allow state officials to legally ignore each month's dozens of repeated requests by persons or organizations seeking to see the infant Obama's actual birth certificate.

For personal privacy reasons the certificate resides under government lock and key in Hawaii and, as is his right, Obama has never authorized its release.

That's a refusal that has only inflamed conspiracy theorists who theorize that if it's really legit, what's Obama's problem with disclosing it? The repeated non-response of spokesmen has been that's a silly issue.

Nearly three years ago at The Ticket's request, the presidential campaign of Barack Hussein Obama released a copy of his Certificate of Live Birth, which we promptly published right here.

In the ensuing months, however, that proved insufficient evidence for those who believe the twice-sworn 44th president might possibly maybe could have been born in Kenya, which could mean that he wasn't born an American even though his Kansas-born mother was American, which then still conceivably might possibly mean that Obama is an illegitimate president, as is, then, everything he's done since Jan. 20, 2009, they hope.

They want to see the real document.

Twice since then (click here to see Ticket proof) the director of Hawaii's State Department of Health, Chiyome Fukino, has issued official statements that she has personally and with....

...her very own official eyes seen the "original vital records" regarding Obama's birth in Honolulu's Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital on Aug. 4, 1961.

And that Obama was born to a Kenyan father and an American mother, making him a natural-born citizen, as the U.S. Constitution requires of any president.

Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, has also sought to dismiss the issue as "fictional nonsense," suggesting the so-called birthers would never be happy with any evidence. Numerous courts have also rejected suits seeking to challenge Obama and force the certificate's disclosure.

Tuesday Hawaii's Legislature approved a bill that would allow state officials to make a surgical exception in the state's public records law allowing the state to ignore any such repeated requests, meaning, of course, those for the sitting Democratic president. Since not too many other Hawaiian babies have been involved in such stubborn situations.

The exception measure now goes to the state's first female governor, Linda Lingle who was -- she has proof -- born in St. Louis.

And -- oh look! -- Lingle is a Republican.

Who is -- oh, look again! -- term-limited this year. Meaning, what's she got to lose by vetoing the bill? And letting the useless controversy roll on.

Or signing it. And letting it roll on anyway.

-- Andrew Malcolm

We don't care where you were born. An unverified click here is good enough to receive Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot  And our Facebook FAN page is right here.

Photos: Associated Press (Lingle); Obama and his mother (Obama family).

Comments

[Anothony]

Those who have disbelief in Obama's natural born citizenship don't "want to see the real document." They are looking for any way to suggest that the fact of Obama's Constitutional eligibility to be president is false. That is it. This entire issue should have ended with the state of Hawaii confirming the existence of the presidents birth records and that he is a natural-born citizen.

[Larry Friend]

i thought his name was barry

[Jobe]

Isn't it funny how the obamans keep attacking the "birthers", whom they refer to as loonies? Lost in their scornful replies to the question about obama's birth is the ever present fact that obama and his minions are spending wads of cash and effort to keep the information about his birth hidden. I guess that all those intrepid Clark Kents in the mainstream media will get on this right away.

[Northeast Elizabeth]

Chiyome Fukino, has issued official statements that she has personally and with....her very own official eyes seen the "original vital records" regarding Obama's birth in Honolulu's Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital on Aug. 4, 1961.

Highly misleading. Fukino has never said anything about seeing documents that name the actual hospital. Neither has the Los Angeles Times, or anyone for that matter. Why do you insist it was Kapio'lani? Do you have some documentation no one else does?

It's also misleading to say that the "birth certificate" is under lock and key. All that Fukino has confirmed is that there are some "vital records" which she has interpreted. Those could be an affidavit from an relative, rather than a certificate. The public should be entitled to examine the basis for Fukino's claim of Obama's citizenship.

[Jesse Flowinz]

So... he has the right to withhold his birth certificate... and Hawaii has issued this Certificate of Live Birth. But I've seen birth certificates from 1961, and they don't look like this. I want to see the original, the OG. If Barack Obama is OG, and being the first black president he is... he should show the true certificate. What kind of harming information is on there? An address from 1961 that no longer contains relatives of Mr Obama? I mean for real, I don't want to see some 2008 LASER print of a birth certificate like Obama was just born. I want to see the hand written, or hand typed 1961 version. There's always something about that old nostalgia (must be why I love old vinyl records)!

Here's the citizenship law in place at Obama's birth:

1. One of the person's parents was a U.S. citizen when the person in question was born
- His mother

2. The citizen parent lived at least ten years in the United States before the child's birth
- I'm assuming yes

3. A minimum of 5 of these 10 years in the United States were after the citizen parent's 14th birthday
- Which means as long as she lived in America until she was 19, Obama could have been born anywhere, to a father of any nationality, and he'd still be a US citizen... so please get over this issue all you "birthers."

And Ron Paul supporters can go home, because McCain being born to a father serving in the US navy, to a mother who was a US citizen, at a US naval base... which obviously makes him a citizen.

Let's focus more on the issues at hand people ")

[George]

Obama's mother was an American Citizen but his father was a subject of the United Kingdom, rendering Obama also a British Citizen. Since when has a person of dual citizenship been considered a "Natural Born Citizen" of the US?
Did Obama formally renounce British citizenship?
Did Obama formally take affirmative steps to claim U.S. Citizenship. He did neither and thus his U.S. citizenship is suspect. Check out the Chester Arthur case for how this can happen.

[Neil Sankey]

Stanley Anne Dunham was born 11/29/1942
BHO was born 8/06/1961
SUGGEST you re- take Math!!
It matters NOT, father WAS BRITISH,
So BHO could NEVER be Natural Born, at BEST a dual Citizen, sorry, wake up America, the beat goes on !!!

[Mike]

Maybe President Obama doesn't want us to see the original birth certificate because it might say he is white. Only the white mother was around for the birth, so they probably stamed the race with a "W".

[marcella]

Obama should end the mess by giving permission to release the original document.

This author is right. The refusal that has only inflamed conspiracy theorists. After all, it might end the controversy and what could it hurt??

[FiddlerBob]

Constitutional experts don't really care where Obama was born, either. However, they do care that he was born under British jurisdiction and that he has stipulated to this fact in writing.

A Natural Born Citizen is one who is born in the country of two citizen parents. Obama does not meet these criteria. Whether he was born in Hawaii or not merely determines if he has any claim to US citizenship at all. But the bar for President is higher. He must be Natural Born Citizen. He is not.

The only reason Obama has to prevent access to his birth certificate or lack thereof is to draw attention away from his British or dual citizenship at birth.

for more complete information see: http://puzo1.blogspot.com/

[marianne]

"For personal privacy reasons the certificate resides under government lock and key in Hawaii and, as is his right, Obama has never authorized its release."

Please don't post misinformation. President Obama cannot authorize the release of his original birth certificate. The State of Hawaii keeps that and no private individual can authorize its release. What the state now releases to individuals as proof of their birth is the COLB that President Obama requested and that has already been published.

[RedStateNerd]

The only evidence that Obama was born in Kenya is the fact that just under fifty years ago a village in Kenya reported their idiot missing. Now Obama is president. Coincidence? I think not.

[LarryG]

This from the Kenya Standard:

Big Issue | Financial Standard | Maddo | Pulse | Style | Society
Sunday, June 27, 2004

Kenyan-born Obama all set for US Senate
Kenyan-born US Senate hopeful, Barrack Obama, appeared set to take over the Illinois Senate seat after his main rival, Jack Ryan, dropped out of the race on Friday night amid a furor over lurid sex club allegations.
The allegations that horrified fellow Republicans and caused his once-promising candidacy to implode in four short days have given Obama a clear lead as Republicans struggled to fetch an alternative.
Ryan’s campaign began to crumble on Monday following the release of embarrassing records from his divorce. In the records, his ex-wife, Boston Public actress Jeri Ryan, said her former husband took her to kinky sex clubs in Paris, New York and New Orleans.
"It’s clear to me that a vigorous debate on the issues most likely could not take place if I remain in the race," Ryan, 44, said in a statement. "What would take place, rather, is a brutal, scorched-earth campaign – the kind of campaign that has turned off so many voters, the kind of politics I refuse to play."
Although Ryan disputed the allegations, saying he and his wife went to one ‘avant-garde’ club in Paris and left because they felt uncomfortable, lashed out at the media and said it was "truly outrageous" that the Chicago Tribune got a judge to unseal the records.
The Republican choice will become an instant underdog in the campaign for the seat of retiring Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald, since Obama held a wide lead even before the scandal broke.
"I feel for him actually," Obama told a Chicago TV station. "What he’s gone through over the last three days I think is something you wouldn’t wish on anybody."

The Republican state committee must now choose a replacement for Ryan, who had won in the primaries against seven contenders. Its task is complicated by the fact that Obama holds a comfortable lead in the polls and is widely regarded as a rising Democratic star.
The chairwoman of the Illinois Republican Party, Judy Topinka, said at a news conference, after Ryan withdrew, that Republicans would probably take several weeks to settle on a new candidate.
"Obviously, this is a bad week for our party and our state," she said.
As recently as Thursday, spokesmen for the Ryan campaign still insisted that Ryan would remain in the race. Ryan had defended himself saying, "There’s no breaking of any laws. There’s no breaking of any marriage laws. There’s no breaking of the Ten Commandments anywhere."

—AP

[Rhetorical Doc]

If Obama had nothing to hide, why would he not show his "original" birth certificates? If you answer that he wants to drive the birthers crazy, you are wrong! He knows his media buddies will cover for him and make anyone who questions him look like "loonies." Why has he not disclosed any of his college records? If he were so brilliant, as he would have us believe, why not share those college records? I would suggest that he was granted college scholarship money as a foreign student. Yet, the lazy, complacent, sycophant media do not investigate those curious facts. Why? Because they support his liberal ideology. Wonder if they will continue to support him when he provides money to keep them in business and then tells them what they can and cannot print. Oh, but they are already complying so things will be the same. The only difference will be their mental state. Now, they think they have free will! HA

[Cara C]

More lies and obfuscation by the media. Chiyome Fukino has never said anything about Honolulu's Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital or about the date August 4, 1961. She's made two very carefully crafted statements that she has refused to back up with paperwork, in violation of Hawaii's own freedom of information policies.

The "birthers" have found a number of inconsistencies and evasions in the responses they have gotten from Hawaiian officials, even with the limited amount of information they have been given. Thus, the law to stop the requests.

All we have seen are a few Photoshopped images of a short-form Certification of Live Birth that first appeared on DailyKos and that a number of experts believe is forged. We have the testimony of Obama's step-grandmother and several Kenyan officials that Obama was born in Kenya. We have numerous old newspaper articles referring to Obama as Kenyan born. We have a friend recalling he said he was born there. We have Obama telling someone he was born at a time different than the time shown on the COLB. We have Obama's sister reporting he was born at a different hospital, and both hospitals refusing to confirm. We have Michelle Obama on videotape calling Kenya Obama's "home country."

Let's see all the relevant documents, have a review of all the relevant laws, and have a Supreme Court decision about the definition of natural born citizen, which the framers understood to mean: born on US soil to two US citizen parents.

[Ian MacLure]

Anybody know when the Certificate of Live Birth was issued. I'm also curious as to what conditions need to be met before such a document can be issued.

[Zanne]

I must admit I am curious why everything about his past is sealed. Birth,education records/health records/college papers...why? Is this a normal standard for the leader of our country? Have others sealed all their records? Why?

[Huntingmoose]

The question is not if he was born in Hawaii. The question is what other information is on the original birth certificate that makes Obama want to hide it from us.

religion?

child name is actually 'Barry' and this would expose he deliberately changed his name to a muslim name?

[Hawaiiborn]

Nice spin Elizabeth.

1) you weren't born in Hawaii, so therefore anyone who comments on how the DOH in Hawaii works are speaking from their proverbial rear end

2) I, having been born in Hawaii, do not have my original Certificate of Live Birth (there is no such thing as a Long form, never HAS existed) as it was lost years ago, when I was a child. the "long form" you refer to is NO LONGER VALID. That means, even if Obama presents it, he could not use it as its no longer an accepted form to establish citizenship. Its a novelty form. He would, like EVERY Hawaii citizen, have to go to the DOH and request a copy. THAT is what he received. That is what my ColB looks like as I had to request a copy twice (one in 1990 so that I could apply for my passport, my drivers license, and get a job) and another in 2006 when I moved to the "US Mainland".

3) no "affidavits" are filed with the "vital records" - Vital records means all records dealing with the individual including: marriage certificates/licenses, vaccination records (especially if they are traveling abroad to countries that require inoculations), STD reports (especially for AIDS/HIV carriers), Certificates of Birth, hospital records, death certificates and health records. Having a aunt who worked for the DOH for 20+ years, I know how the DOH works and what they keep on record.

4) Qualifications for POTUS: 1) natural born citizen 2) must be 35 years of age 3) have lived in the US for at least 14 years (never was it ever defined as to if the 14 years must be consecutive or cumulative). Please point out in the US Constitution where it says that the Hospital name and doctor's name is needed to establish eligibility.

5) The COLB offered by Obama meets ALL requirements for getting a passport (which is the highest form of validation that one can achieve to establish citizenship).
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/first/first_830.html
A certified birth certificate has a registrar's raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal, registrar's signature, and the date the certificate was filed with the registrar's office, which must be within 1 year of your birth. Please note, some short (abstract) versions of birth certificates may not be acceptable for passport purposes.
---- All of these appear on Obama's COLB as verified by factcheck.com
An example of a NON accepted Short form would be New York's COLB (which is just a certificate with the child's name and date of birth - not even a hospital name)

5) its well established that Obama was born at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp

[Ron]

Why do people hide things?

And who had ever heard of a Certificate Of Live Birth before? Who else has one? Can you get a passport with it?

Then there's the theory about Stanley Senior's dalliance in the red light district of Honolulu, how he wanted a boy so badly and how his daughter saved the family's honor or the one about commie pedophile Frank Davis' dalliance with his good friend's daughter.

There's one way and only one way to end this madness.

[memomachine]

Hmmm

McCain had to show his birth certificate. In fact the media demanded it.

So. Where is Obama's?

[Memmm]

If there's nothing to hide why hide it?
That's all I've got to say

[Carey Warren]

It seems there are many on this board who are realizing the most valid point - not whether Obama was or was not born in the US, but that the Obama Administration is going through a lot of trouble and treasure to HIDE his original birth certificate, which we haven't seen (and the laser print version ain't it, folks - just look at your own copy and you'll see what I mean.)

The real question is, why let this linger? If he does want to dispel the rumors and blow dirt on the opposition, he could have released even select elements of the missing information - Punahoa records, Occidental College transcripts, Harvard Law school papers, for example - and move on with additional credibility. None of this has ever seen the light of day. And, since Harvard Law at least used to require law review editors to publish their papers, we should at least be able to have access... but we don't. What are they hiding?

Perkins & Coie, the law firm tasked with keeping all his records under lock and key, has been paid in excess of $1,000,000 for its efforts. Why does he need a law firm to hide his public record documents, or his school records, since he is the president of the US?

I'm sorry, but where there's smoke, there's fire. Those on either side who deny there's something wrong here are telling us to ignore the giant plumes of smoke rising out of the White House these days.

[sunny black]

What could possibly be on the original birth certificate that he doesn't want people to see?

I for one think he is an American citizen. I have no reason to doubt it any more than W Bush or McCain or Palin or WJ Clinton.

But there must be some reason he deployed a team of lawyers just for the birth certificate issue. Bob Bauer has been paid to protect the long-form birth certificate and the college records. Why??

What information is asked for on the long form birth certificate? Does anyone know? Religious preference? Is it at all possible that the certificate of live birth and the long-form could have different fathers listed?

Mmm'just sayin'...you don't spend this kind of effort to make sure a document never sees the light of day unless there's something on it that would make you look bad.

[Anti-Birther]

Hey did you know that Thomas Jefferson was a dual citizen of both France and the United States when he was president, which would make him a...dual citizen!!!!!!!!!!! ZOMG!!!!!! Conspiracy!!!! Every law since is not legal!!!!! Birthers need to go out and round up all those slaves who are running around in violation of federal law.

[B]

That's alright. In 2016, the same people will be begging for the law to be changed when they want The Governator to run.

[Host_durasic]

As a Brit who is really fascinated by American politics, this is one of the issues that quite frankly has me ROFL.

I'd like to ask which is the dumber consipracy; 'Trig is not Sarah Palin's son' or 'Obama was born in kenya/thailand/mars'

Both equally silly, but highly entertaining. I really do hope this 'controversy' goes on for a while, and maybe even get a President Palin elected!

[Hawaiiborn]

@ FiddlerBob - Mario Apuzo is not a Constitutional expert, and no constitutional lawyer has ever come out against Obama and his eligibility.

Orly Taitz, Phil Berg, Mario Apuzo and Kirchner are NOT constitutional lawyers; they are just plain lawyers, those with QUESTIONABLE understanding of the US Constitution as shown by their own postings, diatribes and constant fail at filing lawsuits.

Mario continues to CITE opinions from those who lost court cases concerning citizenship (his biggest is the DISSENTING opinion on Wong Kim Ark case) where he takes the "minority" opinion and says that was what was ruled in that case (when in actuality Wong Kim Ark goes to DEFINE Natural born citizen and has been affirmed in AKENY)

[Hawaiiborn]

@ memomachine - No, McCain has never produced or shown his Birth Certificate . The one that is "floating" on the net is another FORGERY. Its a fake.

McCain has never offered his birth certificate to anyone.

Please provide a reason why the first 42 presidents haven't had to shown their BC. Please require them to do so, before you demand anything of Obama.

[Hawaiiborn]

@Cara C - More spin on what the DOH officials have repeatedly stated. Notice that you almost say the exact same thing as a poster earlier than you.

The COLB is not photoshopped save for saving it to a format ot POST to the net.

Factcheck.org looked and REVIEWED teh actual COLB and posted their photos online. Its been up for more than year.

the COLB is real.

Obama is legally and rightfully elected our President

Deal with it.

[Hawaiiborn]

@ Huntingmoose - false. his real name is Barack Hussein Obama II . He has never been known by any other name.

"Barry" was a name used by his step-father to enroll him into a Indonesian public school. He was never called Barry in real life.

Nice to keep on spreading lies about Obama. all from the Birther playbook.

as for the "dual citizenship" again, false.

If you think a dual citizenship issue can cause the ineligibility of a person for POTUS, then you have to explain Thomas Jefferson, who as an adult, became a naturalized citizen of France (he did not give up his US Citizenship). Before he was a representative, before he was Vice President and BEFORE he became the 3rd President of the US.

So explain how our third president of the US, who held dual citizenship by his choice, is eligible, but Barack Obama who was afforded dual citizenship, not by his choice, at birth, and then NEVER took the oath to continue being a British Citizen (as required by their law for any child born overseas) at the age of majority, is not eligible?

[Hawaiiborn]

@ sunny black - he had "no teams" of lawyers to "protect/hide" his birth information. That is another BIRTHER lie.

Birthers always say he spent '1 million' (last i saw it was 2 million and as high as 6 million - birthers can't even keep their claims straight) was to his private lawyer that he used during his campaign to get elected.

Of course, birthers read into this as that was used to hide his birth certificate; that is farthest from the truth of reality.

the amount spent on his lawyers was for their time and work during HIS ENTIRE campaign run in 2008. With 50 states and 50 filings to do to get on each states' ballots, that's a LOT OF legal forms and filings that his lawyers had to draft, edit, and then submit. All that hours of work add up, and could easily add up to over 1 million dollars.

Obama has only been named in 4 court cases (out of the 68 filed thus far / 67 of which have been dismissed) - 1 was done by the State Attorney which amounted to less than a thousand dollars of tax payers money; 2 were private lawyers, 1 was pro bono, the other was there for only a motion to dismiss, which costed Obama a couple of hundred of dollars.

All of the other cases, were not against Obama, so no money was spent to "defend" him.

[Rick M.]

The colb you have posted is a fake. The Gov of Hawaii never admitted to Obama being born there. They are in fact hindering all those who try and confirm anything for seeing the proof. I cannot beleive that professional "journalists" are so "Stupid" and cannot see the truth here. We want to see the "Long Form" and the longer it takes to see it the more this story gains traction. Obama is lying and holding back something by not producing ANY records about himself. Get with it reporters.

[NanNJ]

Oh yeah, that posted BC does it for me. Case closed.....not. The fraud in chief will be found out, but it will take some mighty brave souls to bring down the UN-President. He doesn't even ACT remotely presidential. He is a no-good nick and we pay for it every day with is anti-American policies.

[Janet]

You people at the L.A. Times hold a good deal of the responsibility for getting this usurper, Obama, elected since you withheld knowledge and video of the Palestinian meeting he attended where he was laughing heartedly and ridiculing Jewish people that if gotten out could have cost him the election....You imbeciles also don't print any comment you don't agree with such as all of mine...You are the most rotten, anti-American group of left-wing scum that ever drew breath....You sit there fiddling where Rome is burning....

[JM Hanes]

So, the Hawaii legislature itself has just confirmed that, contra the fiercely defended conventional wisdom, Obama's real birth certificate has not, in fact, been released.

I'd call that a win for the birthers.

[h5mind]

OK, forget the birth certificate listing his father's race as "African" (a term not used in the US until years later). Let's look at the fact Obama has paid millions to lawyers to seal his school records, medical records, and any other historical document regarding his life prior to a few years before running for president. And as far as eligibility to hold office, his father was a British subject, making Obama one as well (English citizenship passes down from the father, not the mother as in the US). Obama himself has admitted relinquishing his British citizenship at age 18. Finally, for those who believe he "must have been vetted" to become a US senator, well, yes and no-- the Constitution does not require senators to be natural-born Americans, but DOES require those seeking the presidency to be.

[Attorney]

Andrew Malcolm is a very disgusting liar, not a journalist. No official of the State of Hawai'i has stated where BHO was born and you are well aware of that fact. Andrew Malcolm wrote, "Chiyome Fukino, has issued official statements that she has personally and with....
...her very own official eyes seen the "original vital records" regarding Obama's birth in Honolulu's Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital on Aug. 4, 1961." "original vital records" is the only part of the quote that is correct, all the rest was fabricated by Andrew Malcolm, it was NEVER spoken by Chiyome Fukino. Why do you find it necessary to fabricate a fairy tale, Andrew Malcolm - not everyone is ignorant of the situation and easily fooled by con games like you are trying to play. Your credibility is now "0".

(AM responds: Hey, good to see you back here again. Appreciate you reading us so often despite the missing credibility. Now, who hasn't got any? Thanks for reading and scrolling all the way down and bothering to leave a comment like so many others.)

[Hawaiiborn]

@ Rickm and NanJ- the COLB is real. Its a scanned copy posted by Obama (not required by any of the 42 presidents before him) . and that scan, was verified by Factcheck.org
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html

@Janet - you may want to look up the definition of Usurper - nowhere does the definition have "legally elected by the majority" - an usurper is someone who takes a position or leadership role by force. Please show us where Obama has held a gun to each of the Americans who voted for him, to their heads?

@JM Hanes - the Hawaii legislature did nothing of the sort. The DOH has issued many statements that confirm the information on the COLb as shown by Obama as being true (matching information found in their archives). The law is to prevent people who have NO right to see his PRIVATE information from abusing the process to try to do so.

@h5mind - nice to quote from the birther playbook. The race/nationality is on the COLB is defined by the parents. Barack Sr. stated he was African, so that is what the document shows. dual citizenship doesn't make a person ineligible, otherwise Thomas Jefferson wouldn't have been our VP and then 3rd president of the US. Having dual citizenship doesn't make you ineligible to the office of the POTUS. Please show us in the US Constitution (Article and section) where dual citizenship makes you ineligible.

finally @Attorney

http://hawaii.gov/health/vital-records/obama.html

http://hawaii.gov/health/about/pr/2009/09-063.pdf
“I, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, Director of the Hawai‛i State Department of Health, have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawai‘i State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawai‘i and is a natural-born American citizen. I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago.”

[KBB]

"...And...Lingle is a Republican...term-limited this year. Meaning, what's she got to lose by vetoing the bill?...And letting the useless controversy roll on...." ******* Here's what Lingle has to lose: revealing BO's bc will be to reveal HI registered him as a LEGAL resident, knowing he was not, and that will let the cat out of the bag that Lingle has been complicite in scamming the Feds for welfare monies. There are thousands of "obamas" in HI that have been declared legal, while in fact illegal, in order for HI to scam Fed dollars ostensibly for welfare programs, but really to line some political pockets. HI has been scamming welfare money for all their "legal" residents since 1959, when it became a State. Lingle would go down if this is revealed via BO's bc.

[mariehartsf]

Hah. I love how none of the birfers have responded to "Hawaiiborn's" posts. It really proves the point that none of them are interested in actual facts -- they don't have the balls to take on someone from the actual state of Hawaii who knows what the ^$#& they're talking about.

The funniest is "Ron" who writes:

"Why do people hide things?

And who had ever heard of a Certificate Of Live Birth before? Who else has one? Can you get a passport with it?"

Absolutely hysterical -- considering he's posting in the LA Times -- a newspaper located in the HUGE State of California which does NOT issue birth certificates, but ONLY issues Certificates Of Live Birth. So, to answer your question, Ron, there are 36 million people in the state of this paper that have not only HEARD of a birth certificate, it's what most of them will use to get a passport, Einstein.

These people are a source of endless entertainment.

[Kathleen]

I just used my own "Certificate of Live Birth" which has exactly the same set of information fields on it to get my own passport, so I can absolutely say that it is valid for that. Just for fun, I called the DOH and asked if I could get a "long form" and they just said "you asked for a birth certificate, and that's what you got." They don't issue anything called a "long form". If you still have the one your parents saved from your birth, good for you, but the official one is now the COLB.

There is one, and only one, way that a foreign-born individual can get a COLB from the state of Hawaii and that is if it is a child who was legally ADOPTED in Hawaii. If you are a Hawaiian adult who adopts a baby from China, for example, you can get a COLB for that child just like you can get birth records amended for a domestic adoption. I don't know what it says for "place of birth" when a certificate is produced for an adopted child, but no one is suggesting that Obama was adopted so it really doesn't matter. Obama's certificate, by the way, specifically states "Honolulu" as the location of birth.

So why doesn't Obama want to make a special request to have a microfiche of his original records published, as well as his high school and college records, etc? It seems to me that such a suggestion is invasive and demeaning, and it could lead to further and further demands for personal, private, information to which the public has no genuine right. Why should he play this game with people who will never respect the legitimacy of his election no matter what? No one else has ever had to endure this level of scrutiny, and I don't think it is appropriate to have the news media going through a president's childhood history, reporting on any high school infractions or notes sent home to mom or grandma. I can't imagine that there is anything on that long form that he really wants kept secret, he just doesn't want to open up the proverbial "can of worms" by giving in to this ridiculous witchhunt.

[Todd]

Is a Certificate of Live Birth the exact same thing as a Birth Certificate?