Archive for the ‘birthers’ Category

Secretary of State Brian Kemp has put to bed – finally, we hope — the birther challenge to Democratic incumbent Barack Obama’s place on the March 6 presidential primary ballot. From the just-issued press release:

Secretary Kemp stated, “After careful consideration of Administrative Law Judge Michael Malihi’s initial decision and all record evidence based on the criteria set forth in this process, I find that the Respondent, President Barack Obama, meets the State of Georgia’s eligibility requirements. President Barack Obama’s name shall remain on the Democratic Party’s 2012 Presidential Preference Primary ballot.”

It feels odd to congratulate Kemp for doing the sane and obvious thing, but there you go.

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

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Continue reading Brian Kemp rejects birthers, declares Barack Obama will remain on ballot »

My AJC colleague Bill Rankin has the details on an administrative judge’s decision today that President Barack Obama deserves a place on Georgia’s Democratic primary ballot on March 6.

But to read the judge’s 10-page decision yourself, click here.

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter, or connect with me on Facebook.

Continue reading Read Georgia judge’s decision shooting down ‘birther’ challenge to Barack Obama »

Below is the full text of the letter from President Barack Obama’s attorney, Michael Jablonski of Atlanta, declaring that he will no longer participate in administrative court hearings on a challenge to Obama’s spot on Georgia’s presidential primary ballot.

In essence, Jablonski is putting the onus on Secretary of State Brian Kemp, a Republican, to intervene and bring a halt to the circus. Jablonski includes a copy of Obama’s live birth certificate.

Click here to read Kemp’s reply to Jablonksi, which was also released this morning.It includes this line: “If you and your client choose to suspend your participation in the …proceedings, please understand that you do so at your own peril.”

Jablonski’s letter:

January 25, 2012

Hon. Brian P. Kemp

Georgia Secretary of State

214 State Capitol

Atlanta, Georgia 30334

Re: Georgia Presidential Preference Primary Hearings

Dear Secretary Kemp:

This is to advise you of serious problems that have developed in the conduct of …

Continue reading Brian Kemp to Barack Obama’s attorney: Skip ballot hearing ‘at your own peril’ »

Democrats, including the attorney representing President Barack Obama, have made a last-minute decision to boycott the Thursday hearing to consider a “birther” effort to remove Obama from the March 6 presidential primary ballot.

“They can tilt at windmills on their own,” said state Democratic spokesman Eric Gray on Wednesday night.

Last week, in a surprise ruling, a Georgia state administrative judge declined to quash a subpoena directing Obama to attend a hearing Thursday at the Fulton County courthouse on a challenge to strike him from the Georgia ballot this fall on claims he is not a natural born U.S. citizen. Read more background here from my AJC colleague Bill Rankin.

Among tomorrow’s no-shows will be Michael Jablonski, the Atlanta attorney serving as counsel to Obama. He’s written a letter to Secretary of State Brian Kemp, a Republican, asking him to intervene and bring the circus to a halt.

Among those pressing the action is state Rep. Mark Hatfield, R-Waycross. …

Continue reading Democrats to boycott effort to remove Barack Obama from Georgia ballot »

A world of campaign slogans come to mind, but few of them are printable. From the Associated Press:

A proposal to ban the circumcision of male children in San Francisco has been cleared to appear on the November ballot, setting the stage for the nation’s first public vote on what has long been considered a private family matter.

But even in a city with a long-held reputation for pushing boundaries, the measure is drawing heavy fire.

Opponents are lining up against it, saying a ban on a religious rite considered sacred by Jews and Muslims is a blatant violation of constitutional rights.

If the measure passes, circumcision would be prohibited among males under the age of 18. The practice would become a misdemeanor offense punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to one year in jail. There would be no religious exemptions.

The proposed ban appears to be the first in the country to make it this far, though a larger national debate over the health benefits of circumcision has …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: The first U.S. vote to ban male circumcision »

State Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Atlanta, chairman of the Legislature’s MARTA oversight committee, will hold a hearing next week on rider safety within the transit system.

State Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Atlanta, chairman of MARTOC. AJC file

The MARTOC chairman announced the hearings only days after a late-night gang attack of two Delta flight attendants in a train car on their way to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Jacobs told Denis O’Hayer of WABE (90.1 FM):

”Anecdotally, it wasn’t too, too long ago that you could ride a MARTA train and you were almost certain to see an officer walking back and forth, from the front of the train to the back, and then back again. These days, you’re much less likely to see officers on trains – although to be sure they can be found around the MARTA system.”

Mark your calendars for 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, in Room 406 of the CLOB.

Jacobs tantalized O’Hayer — and later, the Insider — with a possible deal that might be struck. The …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Hearing to examine rider safety on MARTA »

On ABC’s “Good Morning America” this morning, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachman, tea partyist and possible GOP presidential rival to Donald Trump, was shown a certified copy of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. She declared the matter “settled:”

The transcript at the 4:10″ mark:

George Stephanopoulos: Well, I have the president’s certificate right here. It’s certified, it’s got a certification number. It’s got the registrar of the state signed. It’s got a seal on it. And it says “this copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceeding.”

Bachmann: Well, then that should settle it.

Stephanopoulos: So it’s over?

Bachmann: That’s what should settle it. I take the president at his word and I think– again I would have no problem and apparently the president wouldn’t, either. Introduce that, we’re done. Move on.

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

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Continue reading Michele Bachmann trumps The Donald, declares birther dispute ‘settled’ »

Somewhere in the early ‘90s, Cobb became known as the litmus-test county. We do not know why. But here’s another example, courtesy of the Marietta Daily Journal:

The list of speakers is being finalized and the time is drawing near for the 27th annual Cobb County Prayer Breakfast.

But a small group of protesters from the Smyrna-based Atlanta Freethought Society and American Atheists say they will protest the event on the sidewalk outside of the Cobb Galleria Centre, where the event will be held, as they take issue with the fact that the phone number listed to call for more information is a Cobb County line.

Virgil Moon, Cobb County Support Services Agency director and president of the Cobb County Prayer Breakfast Committee, Inc., which puts on the breakfast every year, confirmed that the voicemail-only landline … is run out of his office, and that his administrative staff is in charge of answering messages requesting information.

***
In the hubbub of the end of the …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: No hot-cross buns for them — atheists target Cobb prayer breakfast »

State Rep. Mark Hatfield, R-Waycross, didn’t get his legislation requiring certain presidential candidate to show his birth certificates in order to be allowed on the Georgia ballot next year.

But the legislature in Arizona on Thursday night did just that. The Associated Press includes this line in its report:

The Arizona proposal would require political parties and presidential candidates to hand in affidavits stating a candidate’s citizenship and age and to provide the candidate’s birth certificate and a sworn statement saying where the candidate has lived for 14 years.

If candidates don’t have a copy of their birth certificates, they could meet the requirement by providing baptismal or circumcision certificates, hospital birth records and other documents.

Circumcision certificate? Now, there’s something every fellow in America keeps folded up in his wallet — although some might think it violates our constitutional ban on religious tests for high office.

And while …

Continue reading In Arizona, presidential candidates will have to provide proof of birth – or circumcision »

Apparently, politics within the birther movement are just as ruthless as politics anywhere.

On Thursday, state Rep. Mark Hatfield, R-Waycross, author of the bill to require President Barack Obama to provide certified proof of his U.S. birth if he wants to be on the Georgia ballot next year, was interviewed on an Internet program called “Reality Check Radio.”

Listen to a six-minute audio clip here.

In the interview, Hatfield announced that he’d made some changes to HB 401. The material applying to Obama has been stripped away, he said:

”The bill has undergone some change since it was originally introduced. We have a substitute that’s drawn up, but I’ll just tell you basically, as originally introduced, the bill would require that a presidential or vice presidential candidate submit an affidavit showing that he or she meets the requirements of natural-born citizenship, age and residency – 14 years residency in the United States…..

“The bill also, as to the …

Continue reading Mark Hatfield: Birth-certificate bill would no longer apply to Barack Obama »