Inspecting the Berth (certification)

So after some comments were posted to my last entry, I decided I would start doing some detective work on my own. This is primarily to see if there is anything that smells fishy at this port - other than the fish. So far this is what I have learned:

• Apparently Hawaii does not readily release copies of the original Birth Certificates any longer, but instead - for most purposes - issues these Certifications, basically stating that this is the correct information as stated on the birth certificate. Other states may be doing this as well now - it has been a while since I have requested a copy of my own certificate. Also, I do not know whether that includes any addendums/ammendments to the birth certificate or not.
• If the image is correct, and the information contained on it is correct, then there should be no question as to Obama's origin. It clearly states that he was born on Oahu in Honolulu.
• Having one parent not be a natural born citizen would not be an issue, nor would they even have to be a citizen, I believe. (Sorry to "Ted" who posted the comment). Illegal aliens give birth in the United States every day, and it is often stated that they could become president one day. Whether there is a legal problem here or not I am not sure, but I do not believe that there is. If anyone has any information to refute this, please let me know.

So, with that out of the way, there are only two possible problems with Obama's birth.

1. The document is a forgery. There are many claming this. I will need to do some more research on this. It is hard to tell because it is a low-resolution JPEG that is posted on Obama's Fight the Smears site. JPEG images are netorious for introducing "artificats" that make it harder to tell what is clear and look for signs of digital manipulation.
2. Someone in Hawaii was complicit in forging the information. Since a Certification such as this is simply a computer printout that is stamped with the date requested, etc. then you would just need to have the wrong information in the computer or someone change it to change the printout.

Now, I do not believe either of these to be the truth, and tend to believe that Obama was born in Hawaii as it says on the document (as opposed to Krypton as Obama stated in jest). It does raise the question as to why one would not just simply release a copy and put this issue to bed.

There have been a number of possibilites suggested other than his elegibility. One that actually sounds plausible is that he is trying to hide a family secret, such as he had a different father listed at birth. It would be possible to make an ammendement to the certificate without altering it. In this case it would then, theoretically, also be reflected in a certification document.

The reason is not really that important, unless it does show dishonesty in meeting the threshold of "Natural Born Citizen". I think I am only smelling fish at this berth, but I am going to do a little more checking before I close this case.

As always, however, I reserve the right to change my mind at any time. I am the captain here, and it goes how I say it goes.

Obama's Berth Certificate/Certification

I do not have an opinion one way or another on this issue, but there is a new blogger named Hank Rand that did a very detailed post on the raised issues regarding Obama's birth.

If you have not been following this, there have been questions as to whether or not President-Elect Obama qualifies as a "Natural Born Citizen" to qualify to be President of the United States. Most articles I have seen do not address the actual questions, and Hank lays out the questions pretty clearly -- if everything he states is true.

The most interesting thing I learned was that Hawaii has/had both a Certificate of Live Birth and a Certification of Live Birth. The former is what we would know as a birth certificate. The second basically validates a birth certificate and is not nearly as official or contain as much information. The latter is what Obama posted on his website. The interesting point is that in the past Hawaii would issue the Certifications based on certificates elsewhere if the parent was a resident the previous year. In other words, you could live in Hawaii, move out of the state or country temporarily, send back you certificate and still receive a Hawaiian certification.

Whether this means anything or not might be a moot point, but it is still interesting.

The full post is here.

Presidential debates in the future(ama)

Seem like the candidates say the same thing? I have thought this clip from the animated series Futurama (set in the year 3000) hit a little too close to home at times. We definately don't want to end up with "new coke" like this.

Futurama

C-SPAN9 Debate

"Republicans Need a Navigator" or "How to Stop Being New Coke"

I have heard a lot of talk from Republicans lately from print, radio, and in-person sources that talk about where the Republican party needs to go from here. How they need to identify themselves, or "brand" themselves, etc.

Some are suggesting a complete change. Others are suggesting that we try to become more open to specific groups. Still others mention that we need to be more center or liberal.

Well, I don't care what they say. This is my boat, and I want to look at this a different way.

In this time of self-evaluation, the Republican party has a rare opportunity to really evaluate itself, decide what it wants to become, and how to best present that. In otherwords, what product do you have and how are you going to market it.

Basic marketing tells you that you need to

1. Have a product (or service) to sell
2. Your product must fill a need
3. You must be able to tell people why your product is better or different from your competitors
   

Well, since we know we are recreating our product, let us take a look at items two and three to better figure out what our product should be.

Most Americans see the need for political parties, or at least accept them. Third parties have failed because they haven't had a good, marketable product to gather enough attention. That could change if the Republicans do not end up with a good product.

So now that we meet item 2 simply by existing, how do we tell ourselves why we are better than the other products?

Lets take a (simplified) look at an infamous decision. Coca-Cola created the Cola drink. They have a standard and recognizable brand. Pepsi Cola was a late-comer to the game. Pepsi had a great marketing strategy. They would get people to do blind taste tests on the street and call it the "Pepsi Challenge". During this people would famously pick Pepsi over Coke.

In the 1980s, the Coca-Cola Company decided that they would capitalize on this and change their recipe, thereby introducing "New Coke" that tasted more like Pepsi. Well, what happened? I still remember the video on TV of people in San Francisco dumping their New Coke into the gutter in protest.

What went wrong? The polls... er... Pepsi Challenge showed that people preferred the taste of Pepsi. A lot of research went into the new formula.

Well, in my opinion, a few things happened. First of all, by making it taste like Pepsi, you have basically removed a choice from the market. Pepsi or Pepsi tasting Coke (RC is the third party here). Well, why buy the Coke that tastes like Pepsi when you go to the experts and just buy Pepsi itself.

Secondly, there is a large nostalgia factor with Coke. Look today at merchandising of Pepsi branded items vs Coke branded items. Yes, there are a lot of both, but I definately see more people passionate about the Coke brand than the Pepsi brand. Besides, Coke has Santa Claus.

Now, back to the republicans. If the republicans go and try to be more liberal, or weaken themselves while trying to be more inclusive, they are going to just be New Coke... why go Republican when you can get the real thing from the Democrats?

No. Republicans instead need to get back to the roots of this county. Teach and reemphasize the basic fundamentals of Life and Liberty. Focus on what this country and its people do best. Focus on empowerment, opportunity, and self-reliance.

I will talk more on these in the future, but now is the time to be pure, and be strong. People will come to strong, non-exclusive leadership. We don't need to try to convince people of that core, just teach what that core is and they will make their own decision to follow.

We don't need another New Coke.

How a year goes...

A year flies by so fast.. especially when others are steering your ship! The year isn't over yet, but I am tired of just sitting by.

There are things to be told! I want to tell the world -- or at least those who read this blog -- what I am feeling, how I think, etc. This is why I started this and I have let it go for far too long. No more.

With the way this country is acting these days, I have a lot to say. I no longer care if it is "politically correct", or what the others are saying. Sometimes, I may say the same thing, or completely agree with other bloggers. Other times, I may be the lone captain. In either case, this blog is entitled "How Hannon Sees the World" for a reason. I am not going to be apologetic for it any longer.

So I sail again. All passengers are welcome. Deckhands appreciated. Navigators need not apply.

There are predictions, and then...

It really irritates me when people predict things and then claim them as being fact. This seems to happen more and more with less and less data.

The best example of it is the recent trend on predicting the outcome of elections. It seems that every election prediction is less accurate than the one before it. Not only that, the news outlets seem to announce the winner before the votes are counted.

Now, we know this has always been the case, and it was shown in the presidential election in 2000. Here, was a great example. It was one of the first times that you could see real-time results from an election of the internet. If you looked at the actual numbers from Florida, you would have seen Bush in the lead when the news agencies declared Gore to be the winner. They then rescinded this. Later, they declared Bush to be the winner, but the real time counts were either showing Gore with a slight lead or it being way too close to tell. Yet, the media was relying on their own polling and prediction models to make these declarations.

I know there is always a race to be the first with the news story, but this is a bit ridiculous! Why would you want to put your own integrity at stake for the sake of a new headline? Yet, they seem to do it all of the time and are not learning from their lessons.

Now were are in Florida again for the 2008 primaries. Here again, if you look at the numbers and the remaining precincts to count, it seems to not be clear cut yet, but they are announcing McCain as the winner of the Florida Republican Primary. Not just the probably winner, or the likely winner, but the winner. Now, like most states, Florida will take a while to count all of the votes. There are also varied political leanings in different parts of the state. Why would you want to make this prediction early?

I attribute it to a more general problem with much of the media today. They trust themselves. In most business, if you see you customer base shift or even if you don't, you take a look at yourself occasionally and make sure that you are serving your customers the best that you can. Those that don't eventually fail if they don't make corrections. The media does not seem to do this. They see the market shift away from newspapers and they blame the internet, the radio, the video games, anything but themselves. They trust themselves that they know what the truth is, that their methods are best, and that they know what they should print. Whether it be intentional bias, pure narcissism, or simply that is "the way it has always been done", I don't know, but the news media that wakes itself up could end up pulling a lot of customers away from the others.

I hate to use it as an example, because they have their own faults, but Fox News does not get its high ratings because they do it the way it has always been done. No, they realized their was discontentment and went off on their own, their own way.

And, as a lesson, that is what we as voters need to do. Go our own way. It is obvious that all media has an agenda, even if it is in a minor way. What we need to do is take all of it with a grain of salt and form our own opinions.

America will fall when we give our freedom, and especially our minds, over to others to control for us. Whatever the intentions, let not reports or predictions prevent you from using your God-given gift of independent thought. Otherwise we won't need someone to predict the outcome, because we will no longer have control of it -- it will be disastrous.

A New Year and a New Course

Well, it is a new year, and I have decided to take control of this ship. After months of listening to various advisors, and other various captains trying to dictate where we should sail this ship, or what the current topic of discussion should be, I have told them all to fall in line or walk the plank.

That is right, I am the captain of this ship, and I will dictate which way this ship will go. From this point on, we will sail my way, and not be like the other ships.

Now, since I am captain and navigator (my navigator chose the plank), I have grabbed my sextant to plot the course. [Side note, I just had to throw another crew member off for snickering at the last sentence]. My personal favorite course would be to take the second star to the right and sail straight on until morning, but in this case, I don't want my next post to be from neverland. So, I will sail, you just sleep, and I will wake you when we get to our next stop.