Citizen of the World

I got an email from my brother last week, which inspired me to respond. Initially, because my knee-jerk responses don't always convey clearly what I mean, I hadn't responded.  But I'm really glad I went ahead and addressed some of his points.  I also inserted support links within this "article".  I have also changed some of my brother's initial questions and/or statements because, well, it just sounds and flows better. My youngest sister also mentioned to me that most of my Facebook posts relate to gay topics and equal rights, which is true. I found this whole exercise beneficial to understanding more thoroughly elements about our current political, economic, social, and legal stance.

Q: Explain why Obama won't make his birth certificate available for review [Many believe that what was published has not been verified - despite what people may believe]?

A: Obama, the State of Hawaii, and the US government have provided a copy of the original birth certificate online.  The US Library of Congress put the copy online simply because they were expending too much time and money on sending out 1000s of copies to people, like my brother, who want to see the "actual" birth certificate.  Interestingly enough, McCain wasn't born actually IN the US, rather in US-controlled territory. BUT, in McCain's case, because his parents were American, he's still an American-born citizen. Same rules apply to Obama; Obama's mother is an American citizen.

How does one verify a birth certificate beyond the notarized copy from the county courthouse. In order to get a US passport or (in most states) a driver's license, the notarized copy of the original is sufficient; shouldn't we trust that the document provided is, in fact, the verified copy? My birth certificate doesn't have my little foot prints on it, and I can get a notarized copy of mine from Raleigh, NC, where I wasn't born.

Q: Why won't he make his Harvard transcript available for review?

A: He graduated Cum Laude from Harvard. 'Nuff said. Not everyone in the Senate or House can say that.  You cannot make that kind of claim without Harvard coming after you to make sure it's correctly represented.

Q: Why can’t we see his school records from Indonesia?

A: Matthew (my partner) can't get property records of property he owns from Italy! You try getting school records from Indonesia. However, in order for Obama to have been admitted to any US college, he would have had to provide those records to the school for admission. <a href=" http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/applications/transfer_admin-finaid.php " target="_blank">Columbia requires each transfer student</a> to provide more than you're demanding our president provide you. That should really and truly be end of story.

Q: One does not have to be an American-born person to run for any office except President!

A: Exactly; i.e. Barack Obama is an American-born president. Do [the birthers] seriously think that Dick Cheney (let alone Bush) would have allowed Obama to even run for president if Obama didn't have his papers in order? Seriously?  Also, as pointed out before, whether the birthers like it or not, his mother is a US Citizen; therefore, he's a US-born citizen.

It is not my job (even as an American) to pull all this stuff together, but links I listed above should suffice. I've never seen other presidents' school records made as public as folks expect this president to do. I find it interesting that a Wall Street Journal article in 2008 says about his time at Columbia, "Maybe that's what most pains a young memoirist and an ambitious politician who strains to make his life anything but unremarkable."

Thing is, Barack Hussein Obama is our president. And that's that. There's no going back.

Q: This individual who is occupying the White House is the most incompetent, poorly prepared, inadequately equipped, narcissistic fraud that has been so unfortunately elected to the office.  The only good thing about this socialist being there is that now Jimmy Carter is no longer the country’s worst president.

A: I happen to believe that Jimmy Carter (in my limited memory of his "reign of terror on the nation" - also a Nobel Peace Prize Winner - I was 10 years old when he was in power) was a good president. He was a strong supporter of human rights, created the Departments of Energy and Education, and established a national energy policy. That energy policy included conservation, price control, and new technology. He also returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama, which is still lauded as a massive accomplishment.

I find it interesting that you call Obama a socialist because on the books and publicly, he's a member of the Democratic Party.  I suppose you chose "socialist" because he has been presented as advocating state ownership of industry, which is totally untrue.

Our president (and his people) bailed out the auto industry (yes, financially) when they needed it, but it was in no way meant to make the auto industry state-owned.  The auto industry is paying back the loans given to them.  If Obama had NOT bailed them out financially, the auto industry would have collapsed. That would have had a major ripple effect throughout the US economy and industries, one which we cannot even begin to imagine. Obama in that regard staved off a worse economic depression than Dad lived through.

If one deems Obama a socialist because he supports social and economic equality (so that more than the current 2% of our population hold the wealth in the country and so that we have a stronger middle class - as in the 50s), and because he supports bi-partisan involvement in decision making (i.e. collective decision-making), then maybe you're onto something! But, don't forget to point out in the same breath that Republicans during the Bush era were becoming more and more tyrannical, and dominionist in their workings. Bush made sure (via the US PATRIOT Act of 2001) that law enforcement agencies were able to invade US citizens' privacy (phone tapping without announcement made legal - VERY Big Brother and Big Government), for which there is no evidence that I can find these expansions have proven successful in bringing a terrorist to justice in our country. More and more, Republicans and Tea Partiers (becoming more dominionist) are stating falsely that our forefathers founded this nation upon Christian principles. This country was formed from the colonists because of high, exorbitant taxation from England. The colonists were tired of paying the high taxes - hence, the Tea Party in Boston Harbor, which destroyed highly taxed tea. Columbus in 1492 was hoping to find trade routes to India that went quicker (business prospect) than going across the continent of Asia; he wasn't expecting to find a place to start a Christian nation! 

Q: Any black person who voted for him solely because he appears to be black, cast a racist, uneducated vote. Any [other] person who voted for him should be ashamed and many are becoming more and more ashamed as time progresses and they see what he really is.

A: I agree that black voters of Obama basing their vote solely on his heritage and not educating themselves are myopic. In fact, no one should vote for any candidate solely based on their party affiliation, race, creed, or heritage. People casting a vote in this nation should educate themselves and know who and why they're voting for whom they're voting. Once that vote is cast, shame shouldn't be carried solely on who a person voted as president because a president isn't alone in his job; there are thousands of people who make the presidency, policies, our economy, and our nation what it is. A perspective that the president is the end-all-be-all of our nation's direction is myopic and uneducated, too.

Q: I can’t wait until he is sent back to the political cesspool that is Chicago and his absurd health care plan and his exorbitant, spend my money as fast as he can attitude are out of Washington.  He is costing seniors millions in Medicare that he stole to pay for bail outs. Obama promised to end entitlements but instead, allowed them to increase!

A: Right now, I was secured health insurance because of Obama's new health care program; I was informed by the health insurance company that my policy would not be canceled if I have (thank goodness I don't) any pre-existing conditions.  In 4 short years, anyone can have insurance.  Right now, your son can stay on your health insurance policy till he's 26, which will ultimately help him get on his feet before having to take care of himself fully at 18.  I think part of your anger about the health care bill is that you (and I) don't know fully what's in it, and I'm educating myself about it more and more. 

After today, Sep. 23, US females will be able to get breast cancer screenings and everyone cholesterol tests without paying deductibles or co-payments. "In addition, patients will be able to see obstetricians and pediatricians without getting prior authorizations. Recommended immunizations also must be provided at no cost." To learn more about the health care bill and the new laws around health insurance, check out the following video:

A: The unemployment rates we're now faced with started at the end of Bush's era.  Also, for the most part, the unemployed people have been tapping money they invested. Everyone has money extracted from their monthly paycheck in order to cover Unemployment Insurance!  Why criticize people for taking advantage of something that they paid for?

Obama saved our auto industry from failure (saving jobs).  As a result of the loan to the auto industry, previously closed auto plants are reopening and "last week, GM announced that it would rehire 483 workers"; i.e. (re)creation of jobs.  A Republican Congressman in TN had the audacity to attend a ceremony at an auto plant and take credit for Obama's financial bail out assistance!  Republicans (without ethics, integrity, or scruples) take credit on a regular basis for things that Obama does right that they did not support.

Baby Boomers (my brother included when he retires) will potentially and most likely bankrupt the Social Security funds, not Obama.  By the sheer numbers of BBs, Social Security will not be able to handle the money that will be gushing from its vaults.  Before my nephew (who is 3 yrs old) is of retirement age, he will most likely see the end of Social Security as we know it.  In fact, there will probably eventually be something much better conceived and implemented by the time Nathaniel retires (thank goodness!). 

Q: Democrats have looked into the backgrounds of Republicans and were not chastised.  Clinton pulled almost 1000 FBI files of political opponents before he was nabbed at it.

A: You're probably right that Democrats were not chastised about peering into current presidents' backgrounds.  The Republicans, in contrast to Democrats, run away from controversy and "bad lighting".  Sharron Angle (R-NV), Jan Brewer (R-AZ "Gov"), Joe Miller (R-AK), Christine O'Donnell (R-DE) are really good examples of this. They ignore the liberal media.  They ignore questions that they don't want to answer.  Jan Brewer to reporters is seen in videos as saying, "OK, thank you for coming everyone!" on the heels of hearing, "What did you mean about the headless bodies in the desert?"  Even though she's a liar and lied to her state for months about "headless bodies in the desert" to substantiate her state's need for immigration restrictions, she turned and walked away instead of addressing her state's concerns.  Sharron Angle actually jogged away from reporters who were from news agencies decidedly not Republican or Tea Party backers.

Q: Don’t get me started on Obama's lack of military understanding.  When it comes to the military, he’s a joke.

No president (even GW Bush) has as extensive knowledge of the military to be able to command the military the way a military leader would. That's why each president has advisers.  Obama has appointed and has relied upon the right people for their jobs to provide him excellent military advice.  If you're talking about the court-martial of Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, you should be ashamed of yourself.  Any US military personnel who disobeys an order can be legally court-marshaled. 

I sincerely didn't like Bush.  I hate that Bush and Cheney started wars that helped deplete the surplus that Clinton's era gave us (in FY 2000 was $237 billion—the third consecutive surplus and the largest surplus ever!!) and drove us into multiple trillion-dollar debt.  "Under the Clinton-Gore budget, we were on track to pay off the entire publicly held debt ... by 2009."  On the flip side, the national debt grew by more than $4 trillion during George W. Bush's presidency.  Under Presidents Reagan and Bush, the debt held by the public quadrupled.  Then Clinton fixed it.

Having those feelings toward a bad president doesn't make me less of an American or hate my country.  Hopefully, this post sheds some light on my perspectives as much as your email enlightened - and inspired - me!  I'm really glad I went through this and hopefully someone else will find my work here useful.