Birther legislator: What's a long form birth certificate?

[ck4829]

Last month, Tennessee state Sen. Mae Beavers introduced SB 1091, a bill that would require presidential candidates to present a long-form birth certificate in order to qualify for the ballot in the Volunteer State. Beavers, a Republican, is in good company: Nearly a dozen states have now introduced similar legislation—part of national campaign mounted by the birthers, those conservatives who believe that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. To date they haven't had much luck; a bill proposed in Arizona looked the most promising but was scuttled in committee; on Wednesday, New Hampshire GOPers knocked down a similar proposal.

It's a far-fetched goal, and it turns out that Beavers, who recently discussed her bill on Reality Check, a radio show devoted to debunking birther legislation, still has some research to do. From the transcript:

RC: What are the specific requirements in the bill?

MB: That they have to have the long form birth certificate.

RC: What is the long form birth certificate?

MB: Now, you're asking me to get into a lot of things that I haven't really looked into yet.

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/03/birther-bill-author-not-sure-what-bill-does

[sharesunited]

1. Do states even have the constitutional authority to set these standards or requirements?

When the U.S. Constitution was ratified, persons born in rural and frontier areas were pretty much undocumented. Maybe a notation in a church registry was about all.

[baldguy]

7. Art. IV, Sec 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Four_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Section_1:_Full_faith_and_credit

[sharesunited]

8. That looks like mandatory reciprocity and federal preemption mooting the entire question.

When Hawaii says He Was Born Here, that is the end of it.

[baldguy]

9. Yep.

But Teabaggers don't let little things like facts or the Constitution get in the way of a good steaming heap of vile, bigoted hatred.

[rucky]

2. Beavers wins teh stupid of the day!

and there's a lot of competition for that title.

[Courtesy Flush]

3. Here in Louisiana, long-form birth certificates were destroyed by Katrina

Some genius decided that original records should be stored in the basement of a building that was below sea level. Anyone born before the 1980s, when electronic records began, no longer has a long form bc on file.

When i got my passport I learned that the federal government makes an exception for Louisiana residents, allowing us to apply using only the short form.

I guess we can't run for office.

[The Doctor.]

4. The hilarity when Mike Huckabee and others

fail to provide such documents.

Even better; when they've been found to submit forgeries.

[Ilsa]

6. Even David Vitter can run now! LoL nt

[baldguy]

5. Tennesee doesn't get to tell Hawaii which of their public records are "real".

Why do GOPrs in general - and Teabaggers in particular - hate the Constitution so much?

[spanone]

10. there are racists at all levels of government

[Veruca Salt]

11. Not this shit again... okay fine the difference:

If a state provides a long form BC then it is the book record that includes details like the hospital one was born in, parents address, doctors signature, original registrars signature, time of birth. That sort of crap.

The short form is just a trimmed down version that contains only the most important information which is parents names, child's date of birth (sometimes time as well, NY has this on their short form), town of birth.

Now, not all states carry the book record anymore. Pennsylvania is one such state that only one version is available and that version is what other states would consider a short form. You can't get any other version in PA.

The only reason I know this is when I had my Italian citizenship recognized I had to go around collecting certificates for my family and the consulate wanted long form if available because these documents were being recorded in Italy and sometimes showed details to help provide further proof of lineage. They were fully aware of what PA provides now and that BC was accepted without issue. Furthermore, when I got my US passport my short form birth certificate was all I needed and really that's all I would ever need as it is just as valid as the long form.

Semi recently I had to show a birther relative of mine two birth certificates from CT (one was short form and the other long form because they sent the wrong one at first. Interestingly enough, CT's short form contains almost all the information from the book record. It's their wallet sized BC that has minimal information) because they were complaining that the phrasing: 'Certificate of Live Birth' means it's not a BC. Boy did that shut them the hell up when they saw the same damn phrasing on the CT short form. It got even better when I pulled out my memento footprint document and proved to them that it wasn't a BC and the fact it even says it right on the document.

Morons.

[theothersnippywshrub]

12. The Actual True Birther Truth of Baby Obama's Birth.

Barrack Hussein Obama was born in a jet propelled hot air balloon sometime between January 1959 and October 1964. It is possible that he was born in August of 1961. The attending physician was from Papua New Guinea. The identity of the physician has caused leading Republicans to ask the question: "Which Doctor?" This has caused the Republican party some embarrassment probably due to the Republican doctrinal hatred of, and institutional bias against, homophones.

Obama's mother may have been his younger half-sister and his father may have been Sun Yat-sen, neither of whom was born in Hawaii although both have Hawaiian Certificates of Live Birth, as not explained below. It also is possible that Obama's father was his grandfather. Or maybe Malcolm X. Or maybe Ronald Reagan (this would cause Republicans' heads to explode resulting in massive rectal trauma.)
As for the location of baby Obama's birth, the baby's head emerged from the mother's birth canal while the hot air balloon was in Hawaiian airspace. The balloon then traveled to Indonesian airspace where the baby's torso emerged, and from there the balloon went to Kenyan airspace where the baby's legs and feet were delivered. Because of the protracted time lapse during baby Obama'a birth, the other occupants of the balloon were heard to exclaim: BIRTH! . . Er . . . . BIRTH! . . Er . . . . BIRTH! . . Er. Oddly enough, this chant was destined to become part of the Republican Party orthodoxy many years later.

Once baby Obama's birth was complete, the balloon headed toward Canada. That's right ! Canada ! ! The umbilical cord was cut in international airspace. This bears repeating: the umbilical cord was cut in international airspace ! ! ! Under both state and federal law as it existed at the time, this means that Obama was not Constitutionally eligible to become president of the Harvard Law Review. However, since life begins at conception according to Republicans, and since baby Obama was conceived in Hawaii which nearly everyone concedes was then and still is part of this country, Obama is Constitutionally eligible to be President of the United States.
Upon arrival in Canada, the one day old baby Obama spent somewhere from 37 minutes to 42 minutes being indoctrinated into Socialism (he was highly intelligent and a quick learner with a remarkable APGAR score which has always infuriated Republicans, him being black and all.) There are no records or any evidence whatsoever indicating that baby Obama received any Socialist health care while in Canada, which can mean only one thing. Baby Obama must have received Socialist health care while in Canada and he vowed then and there that someday he would bring Socialist health care to some other unnamed country. And that is two things. The significance of this is both obvious and ominous. Also two things. Hence, this is doubling damning evidence of something.

The hot air balloon then headed to an undisclosed location in Washington state (in another country which shall remain unnamed for security reasons) where baby Obama went directly to the world famous Forged Birth Certificates and BBQ Bazaar. There baby Obama purchased three forged Hawaiian birth certificates (one each for himself, his mother and his father) in all the short form, long form, vault copy, balance beam copy, colby, swiss, and other variations which have been fully, though never clearly, described on the internets. (Probably because the tubes are clogged.) He got the Anti-Christ volume discount of course since his umbilical cord was cut in international airspace. He also purchased 139 different Social Security numbers for future nefarious use. He did not get the Lou Dobbs volume discount on this purchase since that requires a purchase of at least 144 Social Security numbers. While at the Forged Birth Certificates and BBQ Bazaar, baby Obama also had the ribs with a side of slaw (child's portion and price.)

The hot air balloon now began its triumphant return to Hawaii. Upon arrival in Honolulu, baby Obama immediately called Australia to arrange for the creation of certain documents which might become important to someone many years later. He also made arrangements with future Hawaiian government officials concerning statements they would make in 2008 and 2009 about his birth. Baby Obama then got jobs at two different Hawaiian newspapers. He was in charge of handling birth announcements and operating the printing presses. The printing press jobs were union, so this obviously is when Obama became a communist. He often would arrive home from work covered in black printer's ink, which left Oily Taintz in his bathwater. The printer's ink likely is the basis for leading Republicans later referring to Obama as a "little, black man-child" since such a reference could not possibly be due to Republican racism or bigotry.
Shortly thereafter, baby Obama began teething. While no definitive conclusions can be drawn from this fact, it is highly suspicious since it is well documented that some babies born in Africa, in the same year baby Obama was born, began teething at approximately the same age. It was also during this period of his life that he may have worn muslin diapers, which probably explains why some Republicans have accused him of being "muslin." Also, too, sometime either before or after his birth, or sometime since then too, Obama began hanging around with terriers also. As Obama grew older he attended some of the finest schools in the world, possibly including Hogwarts, which may explain why Republicans now call him the "Magic Negro."

The rest of the United States of America and the world call him Mr. President.

[hobbit709]

13. Best explanation of the birther bs so far.

[theothersnippywshrub]

17. I did a fair amount of research. n/t

[Buns_of_Fire]

14. I would have to assume she means "The Original"

When I requested a copy of my birth certificate 15 or so years ago, Virginia sent me what looked like a photocopy of the certificate as originally filled out by the attending physician back in yon times of yore.

Time passed, and Virginia went digital.

So I needed a new copy of my birth certificate a couple of years ago, and in return for my $20, Virginia sent me a nice, computer-generated, embossed-with-the-state-seal-and-everything document that basically says that this is an official abstract of the original document that Virginia has on file, and the Commonwealth of Virginia affirms it, and this is legal so far as they're concerned, and that's all you're gonna get anyway unless you want to shell out some BIG bucks for an original-records search, and so there.

[JHB]

15. On top of all of the above....

"So you're introducing legislation to require certain documentation, without defining what that documentation is. And haven't, by your own admission, 'really looked into' that definition prior to attempting to make it state law? How many other bills have you introduced or voted on without actually doing your job?"

I'd sign a recall petition just for that. Of course, not residing in Tennessee, I'll merely suggest such a course of action to Tennesseans.

[William769]

16. Unveiled! Hawaii's 1961 long-form birth certificates

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=105347

ON EDit: Just to be clear I am only posting this to answer the OP's question, just in case anyone tries to get any stupid ideas.