1. How many people here have the birth certificate given to their parents at their birth? I don't. If you do, good for you. Now try to do something involving the federal government with it; you can't as it's a useless piece of paper with no legal force. The certification Obama has on his website DOES have legal force and anybody needing a birth certificate will get one exactly like that from any state.

2. Hawaii does not have a procedural mechanism for publicly releasing the "original" birth certificate. It's not some conspiracy theory to protect Obama; they just don't have a process for getting it. Why should they make Obama's case any different?

The conspiracy theorists are essentially demanding that Obama do MORE than anybody else in the US to prove his citizenship. And guess what? The conspiracy theorists will never be satisfied. Even if Obama released his "original long form" BC, they would still demand more. Once a conspiracy theorist is invested in his/her theory, they will NEVER let go, despite the facts.

Well put.

It does Obama no good to go down to the level of the conspiracy theorists because they will NEVER be satisfied with anything he provides. If he produces a "long form" birth certificate (which will be quite simply amazing as nobody else can produce one) they'll complain that since nobody else can produce one, how do we know the one he produces isn't fake? The State of Hawaii's explanations be damned!

He endorsed Blago in 2006! That must prove something, right??? He could have endorsed the Libertarian!

And he and Blago have connections to the convicted Rezko, that must prove something, too, right??

/sarcasm.

How does Judicial Watch get past standing? What is their particularized injury in fact? The only entities that may have standing in this issue are Congress and the Executive who, apparently, approve of Hillary's appointment. I guess they could get a career staffer from State to sue but who would want to torpedo their career that way?

Really, I don't understand the political calculus in them opposing the bailout. Most Americans will not ultimately care that much about the bailout but those that do are concentrated in a few states -- Michigan, Indiana, Ohio -- that the Republican NEED to be competitive in. It's simply political suicide. Do they need anymore disadvantages in those three states, in addition to the enormous problems they have in the Pacific West, Northeast, and much of the mid-Atlantic?

The two leaders taking the charge in opposing the bailout -- the Southerners McConnell and Shelby -- really don't seem to understand how these political decisions are only furthering their party's sequestration into the South.

Using TARP is probably a better idea all around. It's pretty much an "all use" fund and it's a better idea that throwing the money at the just as incompetent fools on Wall Street.

As for the "high" benefits UAW workers receive: The only reason those benefits could be hurting the Big Three is because Toyota/BMW/Mercedes don't have those benefits in their home countries; Japan and Europe are civilized enough to have universal healthcare for their citizens while, in the US of A, we force companies and/or employees to fend for themselves in a vicious and overpriced market-based healthcare system.

Further, the workers at the Toyota/etc. plants in Alabama are substantially worse off than their contemporaries in Michigan Big Three plants because they get cheap or no benefits, don't have a government backstop, and their "right to work" states (what a freaking Orwellian term) won't allow them to collectively negotiate for better healthcare (or a collective voice, for that matter, in anything). The Alabama state government abides with this raping of their citizens so that the politicians -- such as the arse Shelby -- can line their campaign coffers with Toyota money.

It's not just Prop 13 that has direly affected the finances of California. Most of the California budget is untouchable by politicians due to restrictions places upon it by various initiatives over the decades. One of the major reasons that there is a structural deficit in the state (or at least seems to be) is because they could only play around with about 35-40% of the budget.

There are probably 100s of projects in the other 60-65% of the budget which could afford to be cut (especially in lean times for the state) but those projects have been mandated to live on.

I am definitely looking forward to your analysis of the executive orders regarding Gitmo, interrogations, and detainee handling that Obama is supposed to sign today.

From the early reports, all three orders look promising but your critical eye will be needed.

There wouldn't be this huge fuss over Gitmo if the detainees were being court-martialed and not deprived of other basic human rights by their incarceration there.

The blatant ignorance of these right-wing "intellectuals" is amazing: why did Congress go through the trouble of drafting, "debating," and voting on the Commissions Act if the detainees were just going to be tried under the court martial system? A severe disconnect there.

Further, there are experienced military JAGs who have resigned over the military commission system. Wouldn't that be a small clue that, perhaps, these aren't trials under the military code?

The utter bankruptcy of the conservative intellectual movement actually saddens me; they are nothing more that Rush Limbaugh with "Professor" as their title.