A birther petition at the White House petition site. Think about that for a minute.

We petition the Obama Administration to:

Petition To Retroactively Abrogate The Illegal Elections Of A Constitutionally Ineligible Individual To The Presidency.

Petition to retroactively abrogate the two illegal elections of Barack H. Obama to the presidency of the U.S.A. on the basis that the man fraudulently represented himself as constitutionally eligible to be president while knowingly not so.

Mr. Obama/Soetoro publicized himself as having been born in what is now called Kenya for over 16 years through his literary agent before being illegally elected to the presidency.

His illegal and illegitimate administration has published a fraudulent electronic file on the official White House website as purported authentication of his constitutional eligibility to be president.

The electronic file that he claims is a true representation of his original birth certificate is a proven manufactured forgery as is his Selective Service Registration card.

Created: Dec 11, 2013

Issues: Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement, Defense, Government Reform

Signatures needed by January 10, 2014 to reach goal of 100,000 99,539

Total signatures on this petition 461

So there.

The Huffington Post has a nice piece on the ways that Missouri House speaker, Republican Tim Jones, is trying to have his cake and eat it too when it comes to his past ties to looneytunes birther Orly Taitz. On the one hand, he rather ambiguously implies that he disavows his past birther activism, the result, he declares, of being importuned by a “very personal constituent of mine.” (Huh? What could he be trying to tell us – a “very personal” constituent?) On the other hand, he’s currently trying to raise money off the fact that his past stupidity has been roundly mocked in various, putatively liberal venues. The telling passage:

George Connor, a political science professor at Missouri State University, said he does not believe that Jones’s involvement in the birther movement will cause the lawmaker long-term harm, at least in state Republican circles. Connor said as Republican primaries become increasingly conservative, Jones’s ties to birtherism could in fact help his electoral chances.

“If Tim Jones would have any political trouble from this issue, it would be distancing himself from it,” Connor said of the birther movement. “The challenge to Republicans in Missouri is from the right. I don’t see the birther issue or his stance on it becoming an issue. For the most part, everyone is past that.”

On the topic of the Republican party’s current effort to paint itself out of the “crazy, old, white dudes” corner it now seems to occupy, one commentator, I can’t remember who, noted that while national level GOPers were at least trying to be more circumspect in their self-presentation, if not in actual policies, there are still plenty of “wild things” at large at the state level. This particular Tim Jones dilemma, to be a birther or not to be, might just offer a heaping serving of the pudding that proves that particular observation.

Addenda:  Steve Benen weighs in on the GOP dilemma mirrored in Tim Jone’s effort to find a comfortable equilibrium between the respectable and The Crazy:

We talked last week about the new Republican effort to “marginalize” the “cranks, haters, and bigots,” but as we’re reminded regularly, it’s extremely difficult for a political party to ostracize such a significant chunk of its own membership.

[…] the problem isn’t that Republicans have some “cranks, haters, and bigots”; the problem is that Republicans are a radicalized party in which “cranks, haters, and bigots” routinely dominate.

If the GOP intends to stop being, in Bobby Jindal’s words, the “stupid party,” they have a long way to go.

Thursday, at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals [pdf]:

FILED

DEC 22 2011

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

No. 09-56827

D.C. No. 8:09-cv-00082-DOC-AN

OPINION

[….] Representative CYNTHIA DAVIS, Missouri [….] State Representative TIMOTHY

JONES, Esq., Missouri [….]

Plaintiffs,

v.

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA; MICHELLE L.R. OBAMA; HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, Secretary of State; ROBERT M. GATES, Secretary of Defense; JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Vice President and President of the Senate [….]

Defendants – Appellees.

Appellate cases are always an interesting read because there’s usually a succinct summary of what’s what:

Plaintiffs-Appellants contend that Barack Obama is constitutionally ineligible to be President of the United States. United States District Court Judge David O. Carter dismissed Plaintiffs’ constitutional claims, as well as their claims for declaratory and injunctive relief, for lack of standing. We affirm the dismissal for lack of standing, albeit on somewhat different reasoning than that of the District Court.

[….]

[emphasis added]

Well, that was short and to the point.

[….]

A.

CONSTITUTIONAL CLAIMS: STANDING

[….]

3. State Representatives

Plaintiffs allege that state representatives have “unique standing” because they have a “special non-delegable constitutional right and responsibility to verify the qualifications of the Chief Executive Officer of the United States of America who is responsible for allocating large sums of [federal] funds, since receipt of funds from any officer without legal authority would be complicity in theft or conversion.”

In South Lake Tahoe, we rejected as insufficient to establish standing a similar contention that a public official could conceivably be exposed to civil liability while carrying out his official duties. 625 F.2d at 238-39. We noted that whether the officials could in fact be subject to civil liability was dependent on “multiple contingencies,” including the likelihood of any civil suit and the question whether the official would be immune from any such suit. Id. at 239. The alleged harm to the state representatives in this case is just as speculative and conjectural as in South Lake Tahoe, for similar reasons. This group of plaintiffs therefore fails to establish standing. See Lujan, 504 U.S. at 560-61.

[….]

[footnote] 6 Plaintiffs never filed a motion for leave of court to file a Second Amended Complaint and only mentioned in passing such a request in their motion for reconsideration, filed on November 9, 2009, after the District Court granted

Defendants’ motion to dismiss. [end footnote]

[….]

…noting that Plaintiffs had six months between the original complaint and the amended complaint to attempt to set forth civil RICO allegations. The District Court found Plaintiffs’ “failure to do so inexcusable.”

[….]

***

The District Court properly dismissed the plaintiffs’ constitutional claims for lack of Article III standing. Moreover, the District Court did not err in dismissing Plaintiffs’ quo warranto, FOIA, or RICO claims. Accordingly, the dismissal by the District Court is AFFIRMED.

Appellants’ emergency petition for writ of mandamus, filed November 8, 2011, is DENIED.

[….]

COUNSEL

Gary G. Kreep, Ramona, California, and Orly Taitz, Rancho Santa Margarita, California, for the plaintiffs-appellants.

[….]

[emphasis in original]

That reads a might testy.

It’s gonna be really interesting when Speker Elect Jones (r) takes over.

The birthers continue their cause in the Missouri General Assembly, courtesy of Representative Lyle Rowland (r):

SECOND REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 1046

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE ROWLAND.

4081L.01I                                                                                                  D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

To repeal sections 115.399 and 115.761, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to declarations of candidacy.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

Section A. Sections 115.399 and 115.761, RSMo, are repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 115.399 and 115.761, to read as follows:

115.399. 1. Not later than the twelfth Tuesday prior to each presidential election, or notwithstanding any prior laws to the contrary, in the year 1996 and thereafter, within seven working days after choosing its nominees for president and vice president of the United States, whichever is later, the state committee of each established political party shall certify in writing to the secretary of state the names of its nominees for president and vice president of the United States. Such certification shall provide verifiable evidence of identity and of proof of status as a natural born citizen of the United States for each nominee and the origins of such evidence. Such evidence shall be in the form of the most complete record of birth available by the controlling legal authority at the time of the nominee’s birth, and shall be kept and maintained by the secretary of state, and shall be deemed a public record under chapter 610. The burden of proof for such evidence shall lie solely upon each nominee. As used in this subsection, “natural born citizen” means having been declared a national and citizen of the United States at birth under 8 U.S.C. Sections 1401 to 1409, as amended, or having been declared a national and citizen of the United States under federal law as it existed at the time of the nominee’s birth.

[….]

4. Failure to provide the certification required under this section shall render any candidate ineligible to file a declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate for election to the office of president or vice president of the United States.

115.761. 1. The official list of presidential candidates for each established political party shall include the names of all constitutionally qualified candidates for whom, on or after 8:00 a.m. on the fifteenth Tuesday prior to the presidential primary, and on or before 5:00 p.m., on the eleventh Tuesday prior to the presidential primary, a written request to be included on the presidential primary ballot is filed with the secretary of state [along with] . Such written request shall provide verifiable evidence of identity and of proof of status as a natural born citizen of the United States for each candidate and the origins of such evidence. Such evidence shall be in the form of the most complete record of birth available by the controlling legal authority at the time of the candidate’s birth, and shall be kept and maintained by the secretary of state, and shall be deemed a public record under chapter 610. The burden of proof for such evidence shall lie solely upon each candidate. As used in this subsection, “natural born citizen” means having been declared a national and citizen of the United States at birth under 8 U.S.C. Sections 1401 to 1409, as amended, or having been declared a national and citizen of the United States under federal law as it existed at the time of the nominee’s birth. Each written request shall also include:

[….]

Idiocracy.

On the Birth Certificate Idiocracy

By James Fallows

Apr 27 2011, 12:56 PM ET

….Yesterday, about half of all Republicans thought Obama was foreign born, and therefore an illegal occupant of the White House. How many Republicans will think the same thing one week from now? My guess is: about half. We’ve reached that stage on just about everything….

Here we have a wonderful real-world test: if “actual knowledge” mattered, the number of people who thought Obama was foreign-born would approach zero by next week — with exceptions for illiterates, the mentally disabled, paranoid schizophrenics, etc. My guess is that the figures will barely change….

[emphasis added]

We rest our case.

A t-shirt at the Johnson County Democratic Club meeting in Warrensburg this evening:

the latest in Obama campaign wear, front and back (the long form birth certificate).

Yesterday, in the New York Times:

Editorial

A Certificate of Embarrassment

Published: April 27, 2011

….the birther question was never really about citizenship; it was simply a proxy for those who never accepted the president’s legitimacy, for a toxic mix of reasons involving ideology, deep political anger and, most insidious of all, race….

….mainstream Republican leaders allowed it to simmer to satisfy those who are inflamed by Mr. Obama’s presence in the White House….

….That signal was clearly received. Lawmakers in nearly a dozen states introduced bills requiring presidential candidates to release their full birth certificates.

It is inconceivable that this campaign to portray Mr. Obama as the insidious “other” would have been conducted against a white president…

Go. Read the whole thing.

Almost seven years ago:

Thursday, September 16, 2004 – Page updated at 12:00 A.M.

Amendment would drop requirement that president be U.S.-born

By Jim Puzzanghera

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON – Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, an Orange County, Calif., Republican and longtime friend of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, introduced a constitutional amendment yesterday to allow foreign-born Americans who have been citizens for 20 years to run for president….

What’s the difference for birthers?

Previously:

President Obama (D): The American President speech (April 27, 2011)

Where to start? – part 2 (December 1, 2010)

…ergo propter wingnut (October 28, 2009)

Your “mainstream” Missouri republican party in action: birthers! (June 30, 2009)

Do the sponsors of HJR34 believe in anti-Obama conspiracy theories? (March 4, 2009)

Birther Infomercial runs in Springfield (September 25, 2009)

You get the picture. There’s plenty more.

Last August we adopted two kittens, both female. Or at least, that’s what the people at the animal shelter claimed. And as far as Skitty goes, we believe them. But Molly–named after Molly Ivins because of her spirited nature (she’s pictured looking down at me from a six foot high cabinet)–is so determined and daring that she seems like the male cats we’ve had over the last 35 years. We’ve taken to calling her a shemale. My husband, Connie, has gone a step further. He insists that they got it wrong at the pound and that Molly is actually a male. And once he gets an idea in his head ….

Never mind that she’s been spayed and that the vet would probably have noticed if she hadn’t possessed a uterus. Connie waves that objection away.

“Of course, he’s been neutered. And some female cat was spayed at the same time, and they mixed up the paperwork.”

“They’d have both had to be long haired gray cats. What are the chances?” I respond.

Ignoring that, he insists that we need to take her to the vet to be sexed. “Fine,” I agree, “as long as I get to take my camcorder so that I can record the amusement on the vet’s face when he tells you you’re wrong.”

“No, no,” he says. “I’m holding the camcorder. I want to see your jaw drop when you find out that Molly is really Molly-Jake.” (He refers to a supposedly female stray his family took in when he was a kid. When Susie started mating with the local females and producing offspring, the family had to rename her Susie-Jake.)

Thursday morning, when we had that conversation one more time, I had just finished kvetching all the way through Maureen Dowd’s column about the insanity of Lt. Col. Terry Lakin, the birther who just got court martialed for refusing to obey orders from the usurper in chief. I kept moaning about how batshit crazy a large minority of this country is.

So when Connie insisted that he be the one holding the camcorder in the vet’s office, I nailed him: “You’re just like a birther. You live in fantasy land.”

He clutched both hands to his heart and allowed as how that was a low blow. I had to agree. At least when the vet informs him that Molly is a female, he’ll quit pretending otherwise.

Which is more than a birther does when presented with proof.

Ever wonder how Republicans (and Democrats like Claire McCaskill) get away with their stupidity and/or duplicity on the subject of the deficit, spending cuts and the stimulus? This video should give you an idea about what’s going on:

And you wonder why Americans can be so easily stampeded on economic issues that they’d return the folks to Washington who crashed our economy just because the clowns promised to do the same things they did before? Did I tell you, Roy Blunt is going to the Senate?  

We’ve been getting quite a bit of traffic from right wingnuttia over a reference at one of their sites (no, we’re not going to give them the linky goodness and ensuing traffic).

During the campaign, on July 10, 2008, Michelle Obama came to Kansas City for a town hall on the campus of the University of Missouri – Kansas City. We covered the event:

Michelle Obama in Kansas City – photos

(by the way, one of our photos from the event made its way to the Obama campaign web site)

Michelle Obama in Kansas City – remarks

Right wingnuttia is quite obsessed by this portion of the transcript, claiming that it’s proof that President Obama is illegitimate and this is further proof to be added to the convoluted birther pantheon of conspiracies:

…He understands them because he was raised by strong women. He is the product of two great women in his life. His mother and his grandmother. [applause] Barack saw his mother, who was very young and very single when she had him, and he saw her work hard to complete her education and try to raise he and his sister…

I kid you not. These are the kinds of people who memorize and obsess over every detail of The Brady Bunch as if the complete episodes were Shakespeare’s plays. They just haven’t figured out that there is a difference.

The Faux News Channel will pick this up in, three, two, one… And that’s the problem with political discourse in this country.

via Balloon Juice

By comparison John Ashcroft’s Let the Eagle Soar is a masterpiece of western civilization:

Don’t quit your day job…

Best comment at Balloon Juice?:

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