Bart Gordon's Retirement From Congress a Victory for the Tea Party Movement

Bart Gordon, a 13 term Democrat from Tennessee's Sixth Congressional District, announced his retirement yesterday.

Gordon, whose main accomplishment during his career has been to maintain the title of the fastest runner in Congress (he literally beat former world champion Jim Ryun in 10k road races), was in big trouble politically.

Recent polls put him slightly behind Tennessee Republican State Senator Jim Tracy, the latest Republican challenger in the race, and certainly the most well known.

Credit for Mr. Gordon's surprise announcement of his retirement, however, must go to the Tea Party insurgents who showed his weaknesses.

First among these was retired Major General Dave Evans, who launched his campaign for Congress at the first Nashville Tea Party held on February 27, 2009 as part of the "Nationwide Chicago Tea Party."

The theme of the "Nationwide Chicago Tea Party", which was held simultaneously in fifty cities and attended by over 30,000 of the first tea party activists, was "Repeal the Pork or Retire."



When Evans spoke that day, he suggested that Bart Gordon do just that--repeal the pork or retire. As Gordon was unwilling and unable to repeal the pork, he took the only course of action available to him--he retired.

Dave Evans at the Nashville, TN Tea Party on February 27, 2009


Gordon's retirement now brings the count of Democratic Congressmen who are retiring rather than face a tough re-election battle to seven, who've made the announcement so far. Look for that number to continue growing.

Evans was a prolific tea party speaker at events throughout the Sixth Congressional District, and was soon joined by Lou Ann Zelenik, organizer of the April 15th Tax Day Tea Party held in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The Republican Primary for the Sixth Congressional District looks to be a wide open contest now between Tracy, Zelenik, Evans, and several others.

Tracy has the advantage of name recognition, Zelenik has the advantage of a big campaign fund (said to be around $340,000), and Evans has the advantage of being the first in the race.

The challenge now is to make sure that a true conservative wins the primary, one who can best carry the banner of limited government against whomever the Democrats nominate.

New York State Board of Elections Statement Today Raises Questions About Legitimacy of House Health Care Vote on Saturday

On Saturday night, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the Nancy Pelosi backed health care takeover bill, 220-215.

News today from a spokesperson for the New York State Board of Election that it's still too close to certify the victor in last week's special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District now calls into question the moral legitimacy of that vote, if not the actual legal legitimacy.

Bill Owens, the Democrat, held about a 5,000 vote lead with 93% of the vote when Conservative Doug Hoffman conceded at about midnight on election night. Now, due to certain voting irregularities exposed during the re-canvas, the raw vote total differential has declined to about 3,000. In addition, about 10,000 absentee ballots have not been counted.

The New York State Board of Election will not be able to certify a victor in that race until mid-December now, apparently.

How then, was Bill Owens able to cast one of the 220 votes in favor of the 1,900 page Pelosi health care travesty on Saturday?

It turns out that Hoffman's early concession allowed Owens to be sworn in.

And while the odds are very long indeed against a reversal of the final results when all votes are tallied by the New York State Board of Elections in mid-December, it seems highly quesitonable that the outcome of such a critical piece of legislation appears to have been influenced by a vote cast by a candidate who we're not 100 per cent certain was elected by the voters in the 23rd Congressional District.

It all just smells a little too much of dirty Chicago politics and banana republic antics.

Hope and change indeed.

In NY-23, Newly Elected Democrat Bill Owens' 11th Hour Conversion in Support of Pelosi's Health Care Bill Raises Cries of Foul Play

From his nomination as the Democratic candidate for Congress in New York’s 23rd Congressional District on August 10 until October 30, barely 84 hours before the polls opened in the special election, newly elected Democratic Congressman Bill Owens was adamantly opposed to health care reform bills that included the "public option."

In his first formal interview as a candidate on August 11 with the New York Observer, Owens clearly stated his opposition to the public option:

"Owens took a decidedly moderate line on health care restructuring, saying he does not support a public option available to anyone--the crux of the restructuring put forward by President Obama."

You can read more of the August 11, 2009 New York Observer article here.

Owens maintained this position of strong opposition to the public option for the next two and a half months, until the final debate of the campaign, held in Plattsburgh on Friday October 30, just 84 hours before the polls opened for the special election.

The previous day, on October 29, Speaker of the House Pelosi had introduced the massive 1,900 page HR 3962 Health Care bill that included elements that were far more Left wing than any of the previous House bills.

The next day, Owens apparently latched on to the talking points about HR 3962 provided to him by Speaker Pelosi that allowed him to change his public opposition to the public option components of the bill.

Since the public introduction of HR 3962 on October 29, additional changes have apparently been made, and it is unknown if any of those changes effect the language of the revised public option. For that matter, it is unclear if Owens is even aware of any of the changes made to HR 3962 since October 29.

It's difficult to know, because Speaker Pelosi has refused to publicly post the details of the final version of HR 3962 on which Owens and the other members of the House of Representatives will be voting this afternoon. Both Speaker Pelosi and President Obama had promised "transparency" for all bills, stating they would be available for viewing by the public on the internet in their final form for 72 hours before any votes were held. This promise has been broken repeatedly, and is being broken today on HR 3962.

Owens, then, is left in a position where he has switched to support the Pelosi Health Care bill at the last minute, and now will be voting in favor of something the full details of which he is ignorant.

You can read the rest of this article, a combined effort by Michael Patrick Leahy of The TCOT Report and Nathan Barker of The Gouverneur Times here at The TCOT Report.

The Day After, Newt Gingrich Gets the Facts About NY-23 Wrong Again

It's getting to be a pattern with Newt Gingrich.

He can't get the facts right. Yet he insists upon repeating his errors again and again, perhaps thinking that mere repetition will make it true.

The day after Democrat Bill Owens beat Conservative Doug Hoffman in the NY 23 Special Congressional Election, thanks largely to the treachery of Dede Scozzafava, the very liberal RINO Newt Gingrich endorsed, the former Speaker once again falsely characterizes the nomination process that gave Scozzafava the nod:


"I certainly heard from enough friends to know that my decision to support the unanimous vote of the 11 New York county chairs was very unpopular with conservative activists."


As I've documented in several articles, both here and here, this is a factually untrue statement.

Of the 11 county chairs who participated in the selection process that resulted in the Scozzafava fiasco, only 4 supported Scozzafava on the first ballot, and only 9 of the 11 ended up "voting" for her.

Fulton County Chairman Susan McNeil pointedly refused to ever sign a document supporting Scozzafava's nomination.

And though Franklin County Chairman Jim Ellis signed a documenting supporting the nominee ultimately selected by the other chairmen in the tainted process, he did not endorse Scozzafava.

You can read the rest of the former Speaker's statement on his web site here.

Huckabee a Day Late, a Dollar Short, and a Dial Tone Off in NY 23

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee had been on a roll, but he's stumbled badly in his very very late endorsement of Conservative Doug Hoffman in NY 23. After a series of very savvy moves over the last year, the most recent 2012 Presidential horse race poll had Huckabee in first place over rivals Palin, Romney, and Pawlenty. From his weekend Fox TV show to his aw-shucks well received daily radio updates, Huckabee had been doing all the right things.

Until NY 23.

While Sarah Palin was the first major Presidential candidate to endorse Hoffman, Huck held his endorsement back until after Scozzafava withdrew on Saturday. Her subsequent treachery and endorsement of the Democrat in the race makes Palin look like the brave visionary, and Huckabee and Romney look like....well, Huckabee and Romney.

To compound matters, today in the email in-box comes this little gift from Huckabee:

Today I am emailing to ask if you will take a moment now to make phone calls to voters. We have set up phone banks for Bob McDonnell, Doug Hoffman and David Harmer and you can begin calling voters immediately. Even if you can only make a call or two, you will help make a positive difference in the final hours before votes are cast TOMORROW. Also, if you know friends or family who will have a chance to vote on Tuesday for one of these candidates please make sure they do. Huck PAC volunteers have already made over 20,000 calls in Virginia and helped Bob immensely. I know if we make these final calls today we can do more of the same.

Mike Huckabee

You can read the rest of the story at The TCOT Report.

The Gingrich-Scozzafava-Duprey RINO Branch of the Republican Party Keeps Getting it Wrong

Having documented repeatedly and in great detail at The TCOT Report the self serving cronyism of Clinton County RINO Assemblywoman Janet Duprey, the woman who threw the NY 23 Republican Congressional nomination to fellow RINO Dede Scozzafava, I am getting very tired of hearing former "smartest guy in the room" Newt Gingrich repeatedly and shrilly misrepresent the facts of the nomination process in NY 23.

The former Speaker is rapidly turning into an intellectually lazy talking head who doesn't do his homework, and keeps repeating his foolish "Big Tent" mantra.

For the thousandth time, Mr. Speaker, here are the facts:

1. The majority of the Republican County committee members in NY 23 wanted to nominate a conservative candidate. They did not want Dede Scozzafava. Scozzafava was nominated only because her Republican establishment pal and fellow RINO Janet Duprey, who is likely to be challenged by a real Republican in the 2010 Assembly primary in her district, IGNORED THE WISHES of virtually every Clinton County Republican committee member who attended the Plattsburgh, NY candidate forum that immediately preceeded the nomination.

2. NY 23 is not Maine, where a RINO such as Susan Collins might actually reflect the desires of the populace. Almost 60% of the 2008 Maine vote went for Obama. Only 52% of the 2008 NY 23 vote went for Obama, one of the few times in history a Democrat has taken the district. NY 23 has much more in common with Ohio than it has with Maine.

Mr. Speaker you are doing a real disservice to the Republican Party and the conservative movement by constantly misrepresenting the facts. Time for a heart felt mea culpa. Or better yet, time to stop talking about matters on which you are completely uninformed.

Local Republicans Charge Corruption in NY-23 Scozzafava Fiasco

Local Republicans in NY-23 are publicly wondering if the Obama White House promised Dede Scozzafava, the former Republican nominee, a plum job to endorse Democratic candidate Bill Owens.


"In my opinion, you've got a corrupt deal going on between the Obama White House and Dede Scozzafava. It's Chicago politics in the 23rd NY Congressional District."
Jim Ellis, Franklin County New York Republican Chairman


"I don't think that Dede Scozzafava's endorsement of Bill Owens will influence one vote other than maybe hers. This whole process after her selection has been sickening. What she's doing is sad, other than it shows what kind of a person she is, and what her true allegiance is."
Paul Mauron, the NY-23 Congressional Candidate who lost the nomination to Dede in a process that has subsequently been documented to have been tainted

"Is she that mad? I thought she was a patriot. She is just turning her back on a lot of the values of her constituency in this district."
Sam Villanti, Lewis County New York Republican Chairman

"There was something that I felt was wrong with Dede Scozzafava all along anyway after we went through the nomination process. She's showing her true colors now. If she was a true Republican, she would not be doing this, endorsing the Democrat Bill Owens who will support Nancy Pelosi."
Susan McNeil, Fulton County New York Republican Chairman

You can read the rest of the story at The TCOT Report.

Local Paper in NY 23 Reports Scozzafava Encouraging Supporters to Back Democrat Owens

The Watertown Daily Times this morning reported that Dede Scozzafava is encouraging her supporters to back Democrat Bill Owens.

"During the day Saturday, [Dede Scozzafava] began to quietly and thoughtfully encourage her supporters to vote for Democrat William L. Owens," the paper said.

When contacted this morning by The TCOT Report, former Scozzafava Campaign spokesperson Matt Burns was unable to confirm the Watertown Daily Times Report.

"That's a question you should be asking DeDe," he said. "As of yesterday, I am no longer affiliated with Dede Scozzafava or her campaign."


Meanwhile....as this story was breaking Sunday morning,
Newt Gingrich was on Fox News stating Scozzafava was supporting Hoffman.....

You can read the rest of the story at The TCOT Report.

Who Lied to Newt Gingrich?

"Newt Gingrich is either lying, or he's being misled by someone," says Bob Dugan, current Fulton County, New York Republican Committee Man. Until he resigned last week in protest of the tainted process by which liberal Dede Scozzafava secured the Republican nomination for Congress in New York's 23rd Congressional District,Mr. Dugan was the Vice Chairman of the Fulton County, New York Republican Committee.

Newt Gingrich's FALSE ASSERTION on how Dede Scozzafava secured the Republican nomination:

"There were four Republican meetings. In all four meetings, State Representative Dede Scozzafava came in first."

(Source: Transcript of Fox TV's On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Monday, October 26, 2009

The FACTS as verified by numerous interviews with participants in the four candidate forums:

In three of the four Republican meetings, the majority of those attending supported conservative candidates, not Dede Scozzafava.

You can read the rest of the story here.

Newt Gingrich's Endorsement of RINO in NY 23 One of the Biggest Blunders of His Career

Newt Gingrich’s decision to endorse the very liberal Dede Scozzafava over the very conservative Doug Hoffman in the New York 23rd Congressional District special election will probably be seen as one of the biggest political blunders of his career. In one ill informed decision, he has destroyed all the political capital he built up among the grassroots through his early public support for the Tax Day Tea Party. Every single person I’ve talked to in the Tea Party Movement is strongly supporting Doug Hoffman and simply can’t comprehend the former Speaker’s reasoning. His chances of securing support for a 2012 Presidential bid from the Tea Party Movement have turned to dust.

It’s ironic that a respected historian and student of military history like the Speaker has made exactly the kind of error many failed generals have made: He’s fighting today’s war based on the tactics that succeeded in the last war. He seems to think that the “big tent” philosophy he used to craft the majority that won the House for Republicans in 1994 and gave him the Speakership is the right strategy for 2009, fifteen years later. It’s clearly not. There wasn’t much of an internet back then, and there was certainly no Tea Party Movement.

More disturbingly, the Speaker failed to do his homework on how Ms. Scozzafava secured the nomination. It’s a tainted nomination, and if he had taken the time to return any of the several phone calls I made to him, or the direct messages I sent to him on Twitter, I could have given him the first hand information of the cronyism that lead to Ms. Scozzafava’s nomination. I documented this in great detail in my article at The TCOT Report last week.

The Speaker has repeatedly claimed that Ms. Scozzafava received the majority of the votes of the committeemen at the four candidate forums conducted throughout the district. This is factually untrue. In fact, the liberal Clinton County Chairwoman who cast the deciding vote for Ms. Scozzafava when the eleven county chairmen convened to select the nominee has publicly acknowledged that the majority of the Clinton County committee members who attended the Plattsburgh, New York forum voted for a conservative candidate, not Ms. Scozzafava. The Republican rank and file of the 23rd Congressional District are clearly conservative, and do not support the liberal Ms. Scozzafava in this special election, and if the nomination process had not been tainted, the Republican Party would have nominated a conservative.

The election is a week away, and the Speaker still has an opportunity to redeem himself in the eyes of the Tea Party Movement. He could do the Republican Party and fiscal conservatives around the country a great service by calling Dede Scozzafava today and asking her to withdraw from the race. But I’m certainly not holding my breath for that to happen.

No One Can Confirm Scozzafava Account of Why Cops Were Called on Weekly Standard Reporter

In an exclusive interview with the TCOT Report, Sam Villanti, the GOP County Chairman for Lewis County, one of the eleven counties in the 23rd Congressional District, who was present at the event last night in Lowville, New York after which the Scozzafava Campaign called the cops to interrogate a reporter for the Weekly Standard, today said that he could not confirm the events as decribed by Scozzafava Campaign spokesperson Matt Burns. Lowville is a village in in Lewis County. As county chairman, Villanti officiated at the evening's dinner.

"I called for questions after the dinner, and no one really had any. Then afterwards, all of a sudden there was a police officer there."

The Politico today reported that Scozzafava spokesman Matt Burns described the incident as follows:

“This self-described reporter repeatedly screamed questions (in-your-face-style) while our candidate was doing what she is supposed to be doing: speaking with voters (remember, those who will decide this election?). And then he followed the candidate to her car, continuing to carry on in a manner that would make the National Enquirer blush. I have no doubt he intended to follow her home, too. His actions were reprehensible. Those are the facts.”

Burns came to his understanding of what he calls the facts by some means other than first hand knowledge. Villanti, who was there, said "Matt Burns was not there. I think only Mike Backus was there from Dede's campaign."

Villanti also confirmed that no one was screaming questions at Scozzafava while she was speaking with voters during the dinner itself. In fact, the appearance of the police officer baffled him.

"We had finished dinner and the party was breaking up. There were perhaps 25 people left in the room [out of about 100 who attended] and a police officer walked in. She told us she was responding to a 911 call, and was looking for someone named McDonald. We thought she was looking for the McDonald's restaurant, which is on the other side of town. She hung around, she was pretty persistent. I was the second or third last to leave. When I got in my car she was still parked in the lot."

You can read the rest of the story on the TCOT Report, at www.tcotreport.com.

GOP Chairman in NY 23rd Slams Scozzafava, Says He's Written Off Election

In an exclusive interview with the TCOT Report, George Joseph, Republican Party Chairman of Oneida County, one of the eleven counties in New York's 23rd Congressional District, today slammed Republican Party nominee Dede Scozzafava. This damaging news comes on the heels of Scozzafava’s ill advised attempt to intimidate a reporter from The Weekly Standard by calling the cops on him after he asked persistent questions about her position on card check legislation at a meeting held last night in Lowville, New York. Lowville is located in Lewis County, immediately to the north of Oneida County.

According to Joseph,

"I wasn’t sold on Dede from the beginning. That race represents 8% of Oneida County. Throughout the nomination process, I would have thought there would have been more sensitivity, in light of what happened with Tedisco in NY 20, who was the annointed front runner. [Republican Tedisco was defeated in a special election for an open Congresssional seat earlier this year]. Just with [Dede] coming out of Albany — any legislator in Albany is so tarnished why would we nominate them ? We acted very tone deaf in how we selected this nominee.”

Joseph also took a shot at Clinton County Chairman and Assemblywoman Janet Duprey, who threw the nomination to Scozzafava despite the fact that the majority of the Clinton County committee members who attended a candidate forum voted for the ideologically conservative Paul Maroun, and not for the ideologically liberal Scozzafava.

“I would be as much offended if I was a resident or committee person of that county. This process, that started in an honorable fashion has turned into a tainted runaway election.”

Joseph conceded that because of this, Scozzafava is almost certain to lose the election.

For the rest of the story, go to The TCOT Report website at www.tcotreport.com.

Nomination of Liberal Republican in New York 23rd, Dede Scozzafava, Tainted by Breach of Trust

Liberal Republican Assemblywoman Janet Duprey threw the nomination to her friend and fellow Liberal Republican Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava despite the wishes of the majority of Republicans in the County she serves as Chairman

When John McHugh, Republican Congressman from New York’s 23rd District, accepted President Obama’s nomination to become the Secretary of the Army on June 2, no one could have predicted that less than three weeks before the special election to replace him on November 3 a Democrat would be leading in the polls. But that’s exactly what has happened. A Siena Institute Poll released on October 15 shows Democrat Bill Owens leading in this rural upstate district that stretches north from the suburbs of Syracuse to the Canadian border with 33
% of the vote, followed by Republican Dede Scozzafava with 29%, and Conservative Doug Hoffman with 23%. If Owens wins in November 3 it will mark the first time a Democrat has represented the district since the Civil War.

This debacle has occurred despite the most open and transparent process for the selection of a Congressional candidate in a special election in the history of the New York State Republican Party. The nomination of Scozzafava was orchestrated by two powerful liberal members of the local Republican Party organization, and was aided and abetted by several politically inexperienced local county leaders who failed to grasp the tactical significance of shunning the Conservative Party and did not fully understand the details of their nominee’s record, or her potential vulnerabilities.

Click here to read the rest of the story at The TCOT Report

Poll in New York's 23rd Special Election Will Show Support for RINO Plummeting, Conservative Fast Rising

A poll from the Siena Institute on the 23rd Congressional District Special Election to be released this morning will show that the Republican RINO candidate is falling fast, while the Conservative is on the rise.

Details at www.tcotreport.com

The election will be held on November 3.

Nationwide Tea Party Leaders Ask President Obama to Answer the Top Ten Unanswered Health Care Questions Before Senate Finance Committee Vote Tomorrow

The 38 Great States That Will Stop the March to Socialism in the United States

Nationwide Tea Party Leaders Launch TopTenHealthCareQuestions.com to Rank Unanswered Health Care Questions

Nashville -- September 24, 2009/ ( http://www.myprgenie.com) -- The national leadership team of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, in conjunction with the Common Sense Citizens’ Network, today launched the website www.toptenhealthcarequestions.com , inviting all Americans to help develop a list of top ten unanswered health care questions for President Obama.

Ken Emanuelson, a leader of the Common Sense Citizens’ Network, said “Over the next week, we’re asking our fellow American citizens to visit the site and vote for the ten questions they'd most like President Obama to answer. The following week, we’ll submit this list to the White House and we’ll see if they provide any answers.”

President Obama has repeatedly told the American people that he seeks a serious, good faith dialogue with his critics about his health care ideas, but so far the conversation has been more of a Presidential monologue than an honest two-way discussion. Not only has the President failed to reveal the details of his health care plan, he has also failed to respond to serious questions about the broad concepts he’s mentioned in his many speeches. The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition and the Common Sense Citizens’ Network hope to use these questions from the American people to move this dialogue forward.

Michael Johns, an expert on health care policy who has spoken at tea parties in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and many other cities, said, “Like many Americans, we see a disturbing pattern of behavior that has developed at this White House. Yet promises of transparency and open doors are followed by highly partisan back room politics that exclude opposing views. This past April 29th, for instance, President Obama said at an Arnold, Missouri rally that he was ‘happy to have a serious conversation’ with the Tea Party Movement about health care and other policy challenges. The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition accepted the invitation in a May 1st letter to the White House, yet to this day no one has responded.”

National spokesperson for the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition Michael Patrick Leahy echoed this theme. “At a town hall meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina on July 29, President Obama said ‘I will be available to answer any question that members of Congress have. If they want to come over to the White House to go over line by line what’s going on, I will be happy to do that.’ Last month, Congressman Phil Roe sent the President two letters asking him to set a time and place to conduct such a line by line review. As with our own earlier letter, President Obama has failed to respond to Congressman Roe. This leaves us wondering whether any of the President’s promises are genuine, or if they are all merely cynical acts of political theater that he never intends to honor.”

Voting on the top ten unanswered health care questions for President Obama begins today at www.toptenhealthcarequestions.com and continues until next Wednesday, September 30. Anyone who wants to submit a new question can do so on the site. Based on the votes, the top ten questions will be submitted to the White House on Thursday morning, October 1. Any responses from the White House will be posted on the following Monday. The sponsoring groups also plan to share the results with all members of Congress.

For more information, visit www.toptenhealthcarequestions.com or contact Nationwide Tea Party Coalition www.nationwideteapartycoalition.com.

Conservative Radical University Launches Two Successfull Classes in Tyler, Texas and Memphis, Tennessee

Thanks to Kevin Hard, certified instructor at Conservative Radical University who conducted a class on "An Overview of the Rules for Conservative Radicals" this past Saturday in Tyler, Texas. I participated via skype, but Kevin ran the show. Fifteen attendees and fifteen grades of "Excellent." Good job Kevin.

Three attendees have started the process to become certified instructors on their own!

Today, I taught the same class to twenty-five attendees in Memphis, Tennessee. The reviews were also "excellent," and we added another four to the list of those interested in becoming certified instructors.

Speaking at Tomorrow's 9-12 Event in Quincy, Illinois

I will be speaking at the 9-12 Event in Quincy, Illinois tomorrow. The event starts at 1 pm Central, and ends around 6 pm Central. It's a great lineup of speakers that includes:

Andrew Breitbart
Glenn Reynolds (instapundit)
Jim Hoft (Gateway Pundit)
Dana Loesch
Bill Hennessy
Michael Johns
Warren Mosler
and yours truly

Fox News will be covering the Quincy event, held at the site of one of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas events.

This will be a true grassroots events, with no major corporate sponsorships or any involvement from various Washington DC based organizations.

Inside the Beltway Covers "Rules for Conservative Radicals"

Here's a great article in Jennifer Harper's Inside the Beltway Column (Washington Times) on my new book Rules for Conservative Radicals.

The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition Launches Grassroots Leadership Training at Conservative Radical University

The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition today announced the launch of a nationwide program for grassroots leadership training instruction at Conservative Radical University. The first classes will be held on September 12, 2009 in conjunction with events planned that day in Quincy, Illinois, Bremerton, Washington, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Orlando, Florida. Subsequent classes will be held in Memphis, Los Angeles, and Tyler, Texas. Over the next year,we anticipate offering local classes in every state of the country.

Students can sign up for classes online at either www.conservativeradicaluniversity or www.commonsensecitizens.net. Common Sense Citizens is the online portal used by all conservatives to connect with each other quickly and to share information about projects and events. Most leadership training will be delivered in local classes, but some will be available for delivery online.

Along with other members of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition leadership team, I will be one of the class instructors. Conservative Radical University will also certify additional instructors who are experienced tea party organizers and are familiar with the curriculum, which will be based on Rules for Conservative Radicals, mynewly released book, the Constitution, and other books on leadership and conservative principles.

Courses will be offered in:

Assessment of Personal Skills and Time Planning

Overview of Rules for Conservative Radicals

How to be an Effective Project Colleague

How to be an Effective Servant-Leader

How to Organize and Lead a “Buy-cott”

How to Organize and Lead a Local Event and Generate Local Voter Enthusiasm and Turnout

How to Create a Sustainable Conservative Organization

The idea behind Conservative Radical University is to train local leaders about how to achieve locally the kind of success that we’ve seen nationally at tea parties, buy-cotts, and the Hall Pass on That program. People ask me all the time, what can I do? Here’s the answer—get trained now on local grassroots leadership.

"Rules for Conservative Radicals" Shows How "Buycotts" and Tea Parties Can Change the Political Landscape

My new book, Rules for Conservative Radicals, which launches today, shows how "buycotts" and tea parties can change the political landscape. In it, I take the Alinsky viewpoints expressed in Rules for Radicals, and put a moral, ethical, conservative spin on them. The problem that conservatives have with Alinsky is that, for him, the ends justified the means. I’m suggesting that we take the successful Alinsky rules, we update them, apply them to new social networking technology, and implement them in the Judeo-Christian tradition.


The timing of today's book launch couldn't be more perfect, either. The recently publicized boycott of the Whole Foods grocery chain seems to have backfired. An attempt by left wing propagandists to punish Whole Foods for CEO John Mackey’s op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal championing free market health care reform has landed flat. The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition has gained the upper hand in the arena of public opinion by launching a nationwide “buycott” to support Whole Foods with consumer purchasing power. As national spokesperson for the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, I pointed out that we're taking the Alinsky boycott tactic and we're turning it on its head. We're making a positive statement of support, showing that fiscally conservative Americans have purchasing power, and we are more than willing to exercise it in support of great companies like Whole Foods and great CEOs like John Mackey.

The St. Louis and Dallas Tea Party organizations are sponsoring “buycott” events at Whole Foods stores in St. Louis, Missouri and Dallas, Texas this evening. You can watch live coverage from the St. Louis event on Fox News tonight. Greta Van Susteren will be interviewing Dana Loesch of the St. Louis Tea Party early in her program that starts at 10 pm Eastern Time.

Those of you interested in purchasing Rules for Conservative Radicals, can buy it on www.amazon.com now.

Tea Party "Buycott" This Tuesday to Support John Mackey and Whole Foods

The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition today announced that it will kick off a series of Tea Party "Buycott" events to support Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, who supports free market health care reform.

The first events will be held this Tuesday, September 1, 2009 in St. Louis, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas. You can read the story here.

Rules for Conservative Radicals Book Cover Unveiled

Here's the cover for my new book, Rules for Conservative Radicals, which will be published next week. Thanks to the very talented graphic designer Illustr8or. You can purchase it here now, and it will ship next week.

I had a great conversation yesterday with Sanford Horwitt, author of the definitive biography of Saul Alinsky, Let Them Call Me Rebel. Turns out Alinsky didn't think much of Martin Luther King, but had a surpringly good opinion of George Romney, Mitt's father. As Governor of Michigan, George Romney was an early supporter of the civil rights movement in 1963 and 1964.

I also discovered something very interesting about Hillary Clinton and her view of Alinsky. It's hidden in her 1969 thesis on Alinsky, which I've read.

Bill O'Reilly Agrees With Me: CBS was Dishonest In Its Reporting About Town Halls

Bill O'Reilly picked up on the dishonest reporting last night by Katie Couric and the CBS Evening News about the Town Halls.

His talking points tonight featured the offending CBS clip I objected to in my blog yesterday.

Here's the clip from the O'Reilly Factor Tonight. Just click on Talking Points.

Katie Couric and the CBS Evening News Dishonestly Report "Town Hall Outrage Tied to GOP"

CBS Correspondent Ben Tracy interviewed me for about three minutes yesterday on the topic of the grassroots nature of Town Hall Health Care Takeover protests.

Mr. Tracy's four minute report, "Town Hall Outrage Tied to GOP", ran on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric last night (Wednesday, August 12), and it included a seven second clip of my three minute interview. You can watch the full four minute clip here.

Most disturbingly, my seven seconds were followed by two factoids that implied the town hall protests against the Health Care Takeover Bill were orchestrated by some secret, well funded conservative cabal. I had debunked these factoids in my full interview, but Ms. Couric and Mr. Tracy chose not to include my remarks in their full report, because my remarks did not support their false narrative.

Indeed, the CBS News website contained the following subtitle to describe the clip:

"The outbursts at town hall meetings are supposedly spontaneous. But Ben Tracy reports there are indications these tirades are closely organized events by conservative groups."

Here's Mr. Tracy's set up comment and my seven second clip from the report as it aired:

TRACY: Those fighting the health care bill contend the outrage is not organized.

LEAHY: "It's a million or so independent individual voices exercising their right to free speech," said Michael Patrick Leahy of the National Tea Party Coalition.

Here are the two factoids that came next in Mr. Tracy's report:

TRACY: (1) Yet websites such as Recess Rally which is planning a nationwide health care protest, lists Freedom Works as part of its coalition. That's an organization headed by former Republican Congressman Dick Armey, whose lobbying firm works for the health care industry.

(2) Also, a conservative group in Connecticut posted an online memo called "Rocking the Town Halls." The playbook outlines tactics to give congressmen, "a reality check from we the people." The memo advises to "watch for an opportunity to yell out … the goal is to rattle him."

In the parts of my interview which Mr. Tracy and Ms. Couric chose to delete from the final broadcast, I easily debunked these factoids:

1. Freedom Works is one of about a dozen loosely knit groups supporting the nationwide Recess Rally to be held to voice opposition to the Health Care Takeover bill at noon local time on Saturday, August 22 at the local offices of the 435 members of the House of Representatives. The heavy lifting on all the local protests, as well as the planned Recess Rally, is being done independently by millions of individual Americans around the country. The listing of an organization on the Recess Rally web site means one thing: the group supports the goals of the event.

2. The "nefarious" Connecticut based website is a completely insignificant group within the grassroots movement to oppose the Health Care Takeover. It's just a few people. Their Facebook profile has a grand total of 5 Facebook friends.

Mr. Tracy then relied upon the assertions of a pro Health Care Takeover protester to hang his hat on the shiboleth that the Republican Party is sending out marching orders to the Health Care opponent protesters:


HEALTH CARE TAKEOVER SUPPORTER:"It seems like the Republicans have all these talking points that have been delivered through Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity, that's not true," said Pepper Mashay.

TRACY: Democrats are now trying to play defense by sending out health care fact check cards to supporters with their own talking points.

Here's the other part of my three minute interview that hit the CBS cutting room floor:

1. These protests are simply a nationwide self organizing project involving millions of independently acting Americans.

2. The only wealthy group or individual who is funding protesters at town hall meetings is George Soros, who just put $5 million into pro Health Care Takeover astroturfing efforts.

If the executives at CBS are wondering why their evening news ratings are in the tank, here's a clue:

People don't trust the integrity of the information that your reporters and your anchor Katie Couric present on the CBS Evening News every night.

Town Hall Protests are a Nationwide Self-Organizing Project of Average Americans

No surprise that the leaders of the Democratic Congress, whose last original thought came as they leafed through their well worn copies of the works of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin in those halcyon college days when they loved protests, are reduced to claiming that the effusive town hall protests of late are "manufactured."

It's embarassing to watch these disconnected, intellectually dishonest sound bites who now hold the levers of power try to concoct some fantasy about the nature of the opposition to the Health Care Takeover they've been trying to ram down America the past few weeks.

Every local town hall protest is comprised of a loosely knit group of American citizens who don't want a pointy headed bureaucrat in Washington telling them what they can and cannot do in managing their own health care.

That's it.

No big conspiracy.

And yes, protesters organizing in one city actually communicate with protesters organizing in other cities.

Call out the Brown Shirts !

Oh, wait, that's the other non-original thought the Washington based leadership of the Democratic Congress and White House have already acted on. Only now they're wearing the Purple Shirts of the Service Employees International Union, and beating up black conservatives in St. Louis.

Why is Congress Losing the Moral Authority to Govern?

Here's a start:

1. Tennessee Blue Dog Democrats Jim Cooper and Bart Gordon Refuse to Hold Town Hall Meetings OR Communicate Their Plans

2. Democrat Congressman Scott SCREAMS at a Constituent, a Doctor, Who Has the AUDACITY to Ask a Tough Question on Health Care

3. Congress Buys 3 Private Jets For Its Exclusive Use for $200 Million -- During Record Deficits

Send in your reasons why Congress is losing the moral authority to govern!

Hawaii Democratic State Senator Intends to Introduce Legislation That Would Allow Disclosure of 1961 Obama Certificate of Live Birth

Hawaii State Senator Will Espero, a Democrat, told The TCOT Report that he intends to introduce legislation to allow disclosure of President Obama's 1961 Certificate of Live Birth.

You can read the full story here.

"Birther" Attorney Orly Taitz Asks Court to Go on Kenyan Fishing Expedition Based on Unverified, Unsourced Digital Image

The internet was abuzz today as images of a "purported" Kenyan Birth Certificate of President Obama flew around the blogosphere. My public position before this little viral outbreak was that there is absolutely zero credible evidence to support the claim that President Obama was born in Kenya. After looking into the facts surrounding the origins and dissemination of this digital image, I see absolutely no reason to change my position.

Let's start with the originator of this little adventure in internet viral communications, Dr. Orly Taitz, Esquire. Ms. Taitz called me on the phone in late 2008, to follow up on an article I had written about the facts of President Obama's early life (which later became a few chapters in a book I wrote on the President). In that conversation, I tried to explain to her the factual elements surrounding his early life in a logical and thoughtful manner. Even at that early stage of her adventures, Ms. Taitz showed little interest in anything I told her. She kept pressing me for details and facts that might support his Kenyan birth. I told her I had investigated it thoroughly, and that there was absolutely no credibility in any claim that I had examined to date on that matter.

I give Ms. Taitz credit for persistence, because she hammered on that theme for much of the forty five minutes or so we spoke. I give her no credit for discernment, however, and that pattern appears to continue with the sudden appearance of this digital image that purports to be a photo of President Obama's birth certificate. I won't post a copy of the image here, because I don't attach any weight to its credibility. However, a quick google search will allow you to find the image on your own.

Let's examine how this image came into the public arena.

Ms. Taitz apparently filed this image as an exhibit to a Motion she filed with the Federal Court for something called "Rogatory Discovery." Attorneys probably can give a better definition of the term, but to me it looks like a legal term to authorize a fishing expedition. The motion was filed electronically by Ms. Taitz. with the court at about 10 pm Saturday night, August 1. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Taitz published the motion in its entirety, as well as a copy of the digital image in question on her web site. You can see this filing and the image here.

The most significant omission in Ms. Taitz filing is the following: she fails to indicate how this digital image came into her posession. Think about it for a moment. Ms. Taitz is asking a Federal Judge to authorize a fishing expedition for documents pertaining to President Obama's birth that might exist in the Governmental files of the Republic of Kenya, and she fails to offer any evidence as to the origin of the digital image upon which this request is based ? If I were the judge, that is the first of many questions I would ask Ms. Taitz when she comes before me next in court.

But the most telling aspect of all this little episode in modern viral communications is the following: Ms. Taitz filed the motion and then published the text of the motion and the accompanying image to her website over the weekend, a time when the court was not in session, knowing she would not have to immediately respond to the judge's inquiries as to the origin of the digital image.

She also knew that within seconds of the publishing of this digital image to her website, it would begin spreading virally throughout the internet.

This is, at the very least, an exercise in poor judgement on Ms. Taitz part. I think the judge presiding over her case may not be so charitable in his assessment of her actions.

What Demographic Data and Public Information Requests Might Reveal in the Obama Birth Certificate Transparency Issue

If my estimates are correct, there were approximately 195,000 live births in the state of Hawaii during the twelve years starting in 1960 and ending in 1971 (see table above). These were the twelve complete years subsequent to statehood in which the Certificate of Hawaiian Birth Program was in existence. That's the program that provides the theoretical loophole in which someone could have been born outside the state of Hawaii, yet still be in posession of a legally issued Certification of Live Birth.

If the State of Hawaii Department of Health maintains information on the source of the original documents used to create records in their data base of birth records, this information may be publicly available through a simple inquiry as provided by current state Freedom of Information act statutes.

Question 1 for the Department of Health: Do you keep information on the source of the original documents used to create records in the official data base.


Question 2: Can you provide a statistical diagnosis, by year, of the origin of all birth record documents by all the legally authorized methods ?

(Note: if the blogpost by Bob Owens below accurately describes all the options available in 1961, they would be as follows:)

(1) Hospital provided Certificate of Live Birth
(2) Born in Hawaii but not attended by a physician or midwife, parents sent in a birth certificate by mail, or provided in person to be filed
(3) "Delayed Certificate” filed with a statement before a government bureaucrat by one of the parents within the first year of the child’s life.
(4) Lieutenant Governor approved document based on testimony of an adult of child who had surpassed the age of one without a certificate, then a original certificate of Hawaiian birth could be issued upon testimony of an adult — including the adult child himself
(5) Under Act 182 H.B. NO. 3016-82, proof has been submitted to the director of health that the legal parents of such individual while living without the Territory or State of Hawaii had declared the Territory or State of Hawaii as their legal residence for at least one year immediately preceding the birth or adoption of such child.

Assuming such information is available, and assuming that the information requests would be honored by the State of Hawaii Department of Health, what would the results tell us ?

If 100% of the 195,000 official state records of births in Hawaii during these twelve years fit into Category 1 (Hospital Issued), then the case will be closed on the issue of President Obama's birth.

But what if some significant number -- as little as say 1% -- fit into the "other" categories ? Under such an assumption, in 1961, for instance, approximately 140 live births would have fit into this category.

Such results would merely serve to heighten the importance of birth certificate transparency on the part of President Obama.

The best solution, as Andrew Sullivan suggests, is to simply have the President release the 1961 Certificate of Live Birth, because it's easily done and it will put the matter to rest.

Bob Owens Offers Four Ways Those Born in Hawaii in 1961 Could Have Secured a "Certification of Live Birth"

Bob Owens, a blogger at Pajamas Media, offers new insights into the Obama Birth Certificate Transparency issue, below. You can read his full post here.

"There were four different ways to get an “original birth certificate” on record in 1961, and they varied greatly in their reliability as evidence. We’ll refer to these as BC1, BC2, BC3, and BC4.

BC1: The original birth certificate could be issued by the attending medical professional at the birth, typically a physician or midwife. They were required to certify to the Department of Health the infant’s name, birth date, identity of the parents if known, and other information. This is how most births were and are recorded, and by far the most likely way Barack Obama’s birth was documented.

BC2: In 1961, if a person was born in Hawaii but not attended by a physician or midwife, then all that was required was that one of the parents send in a birth certificate to be filed. The birth certificate could be filed by mail.

It would obviously be very unreliable and easy to falsify.

The attorney asked the Department of Health what they currently ask for (in 2008) to back up a parent’s claim that a child was born in Hawaii. He was told that all that was required was a proof of residence in Hawaii and pre-natal and post-natal certification by a physician. On follow-up the employee suggested that the pre-natal and post-natal certifications had probably not been in force in the 1960s. Quite literally, Obama’s “official birth certificate” could have been mailed in from anywhere on the planet if this was true.

BC3: In 1961, if a person was born in Hawaii but not attended by a physician or midwife, then, up to the first birthday of the child, a “Delayed Certificate” could be filed. It apparently required no more than a statement before a government bureaucrat by one of the parents within the first year of the child’s life.

BC4: If methods BC1, BC2, and BC3 were not used, and the child surpassed the age of one without a certificate, then a original certificate of Hawaiian birth could be issued upon testimony of an adult — including the adult child himself – if the office of the lieutenant governor was satisfied that a person was born in Hawaii.

If the four ways “official birth certificates” could be issued under 1955 isn’t arbitrary and confusing enough, a fifth way to claim an official birth certificate for a child that claims to have been born in Hawaii who is now an adult was added in 1982, at the time a young Barry Obama was in college.

BC5: Under Act 182 H.B. NO. 3016-82, “Upon application of an adult or the legal parents of a minor child, the director of health shall issue a birth certificate for such adult or minor, provided that the proof has been submitted to the director of health that the legal parents of such individual while living without the Territory or State of Hawaii had declared the Territory or State of Hawaii as their legal residence for at least one year immediately preceding the birth or adoption of such child.” In this way “state policies and procedures” accommodate even “children born out of State” (this is the actual language of Act 182) with an “original birth certificate on record.”

There are five ways to get an “official” birth certificate in Hawaii, a cadre of hardcore believers that are convinced that the president is not eligible to hold the office he occupies, and an executive that doesn’t seem to mind fighting these accusations in court, even as they seem to be winning some converts who are no doubt looking for a scapegoat to the problems facing America today.

These may not be the best theories, or the most tenable, but they are the theories on the rise, and there is little reason to suspect we’ll see the last of them any time soon."

Again, You can read his full post here.

Famous Stonewalling Statements from Nixon Press Secretary Ron Ziegler, Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, and Hawaii Secretary of Health Dr. Fukino

"This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative."

April 17, 1973

Ron Ziegler, Press Secretary to President Nixon



“Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai'i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the
Hawai'i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures."


Oct 31, 2008





Dr. Chiyome Fukino, State of Hawaii Secretary of Health



Kinsolving: "Good. In consideration of this very good promise of transparency, why can't the president respond to the petitioned requests of 400,000 American citizens by releasing a certified copy of his long form birth certificate listing hospital and physician?"

Gibbs: "Are you looking for the president's birth certificate?"

Kinsolving: "Yes."

Gibbs: "It's on the Internet, Lester."

Kinsolving: "No, no, no — the long form listing his hospital and physician."

Gibbs: "Lester ... This question in many ways continues to astound me. The state of Hawaii provided a copy, with a seal, of the president's birth. I know there are apparently at least 400,000 people that continue to doubt the existence of and the certification by the state of Hawaii of the president's birth there, but it's on the Internet because we put it on the Internet for each of those 400,000 to download. I certainly hope by the fourth year of our administration that we'll have dealt with this burgeoning birth controversy."

May 28, 2009





Robert Gibbs, Press Secretary to President Obama





"I ... have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen. I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago."


July 27 2009


Dr. Chiyome Fukino, State of Hawaii Secretary of Health

Lou Dobbs vs. Bill O'Reilly on the Birth Certificate Transparency Issue: Take the Online Poll at the TCOT Report

You can take the Lou Dobbs vs. Bill O'Reilly online Poll on the Birth Certificate Transparency Issue at the TCOT Report here.

Meme Wars Part 2: "Birthers", "Transparency Dodgers", "Transparency Champions", and Left Wing Propagandist David Weigel of the Washington Independent

After my blogpost yesterday posing some legitimate questions in response to Dr. Chiyome Fukino's ambiguous restatement of the basis upon which the State of Hawaii issued President Obama's 2007 Certification of Live Birth, left wing propagandist David Weigel, who masquerades as a real journalist for the Washington Independent, made these false charges against me.

Weigel added another false charge later, claiming that I am trying to advance conspiracy theories.

To the contrary, I am simply calling upon President Obama to live up to his promise of transparency. That's it. Nothing more.

For the record, I will state again so that perhaps Mr. Weigel can accurately describe my position on this: there is no evidence whatsoever to support the "birther" claim that President Obama was born in Kenya. None.

Mr. Weigel is obviously a transparency dodger, however, because he refuses to exercise even an ounce of curiosity and follow up Dr. Chiyome Fukino's ambiguous statement of yesterday.

Here's a Journalism 101 question that makes Mr. Weigel and his fellow left wing propagandists quiver in their boots when they contemplate asking it of Dr. Fukino:

Dr. Fukino, you say you reviewed the vital records of the State of Hawaii in making your determination that the 2007 Certification of Live Birth was issued in accordance with Hawaii statutes. Did you review an actual physical hard copy of the 1961 Certificate of Live Birth, signed by the attending physician, or did you simply review the digital forensics of the process by which the record currently existing in the State of Hawaii Birth Record Database for President Obama was created?

And here's one Mr. Weigel ought to consider asking Press Secretary Gibbs:

Mr. Gibbs, why doesn't the President simply put this entire birth certificate issue to rest once and for all and authorize both the Kapiolani Medical Center and the State of Hawaii to release all original documents in their posession related to his 1961 birth?

The simple and transparent release of these records would end this issue.

As American citizens, we have a right to ask that a President who promised transparency be held accountable to that promise.

Dr. Chiyome Fukino Issues Another "Transparency Dodger" Statement on President Obama's Birth Certificate

Dr. Chiyome Fukino, Director of the Health Department of the State of Hawaii, issued another public statement yesterday, July 27, 2009, on the issue of the validity of the Certification of Live Birth the Hawaii Department of Health issued to President Obama in 2007, which has been displayed prominently throughout the internet. Here's the statement:

"I ... have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen," Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said in a brief statement. "I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago."

You can read the full story here, and the October 2008 statement here.

Dr. Fukino's statement adds no new information to the discussion, and is only slightly less finely parsed than her October 31, 2008 statement. It earns her the title of "transparency dodger" and will inevitably require a more detailed statement in the future because of what it fails to reveal.

Apparently, Dr. Fukino continues to refuse questions from the press on the topic, which does nothing but make skeptics want more answers.

Dr. Fukino could do us all a service by adding more information that will move this inquiry towards a final conclusion. Here are the questions Dr. Fukino needs to answer:

1. When you say you have "seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii Department of Health verifying Barack Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural born citizen" does that mean you viewed a physical hard copy of the original hospital issued 1961 Certificate of Live Birth or does it mean you have reviewed the electronic records upon which the 2007 issued Certification of Live Birth was based ?

2. Will you formally request of the President of the United States that he authorize you to reveal every detail of information included in the original vital records of his birth maintained by the State of Hawaii Department of Health ?

3. Can you name the hospital in which President Obama was born ?

4. Can you tell us the name of the attending physician at President Obama's birth according to the vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii Department of Health?

5. If you reviewed a physical hard copy of the original hospital issued 1961 Certificate of Live Birth, will you release that document to the public upon receipt of authorization by the President ?

6. If you viewed only the electronic records of the original 1961 hospital records of President Obama's birth, can you tell us what became of the original physical hard copy of that document ? Was it discarded and destroyed ? Is it stored in a warehouse ? If it is stored in a warehouse, can you authorize its release?

The issue of what Dr. Fukino actually viewed to make the determination that the President was in fact Hawaii born is quite relevant, since the State of Hawaii switched all of its birth records from hard copy to digital in 2001.

Almost all news commentators, including Chris Mathews of MSNBC recently, have assumed that Dr. Fukino's October 31, 2008 statement meant she had physically viewed the original hard copy of the President's 1961 birth certificate. Yesterday's statement seems to indicate it is more likely that Dr. Fukino viewed an electronic record and not a physical hard copy, but it is still not definitive.

The liberal blog TPM agrees with me that Dr. Fukino made a very serious public relations error when she failed (until last month) to disclose that the Department of Health went digital only in 2001. Here's what they said in a blogpost yesterday:



"A lot of time and effort could have been saved if Hawaiian officials had said from the beginning that the long
forms for every person born in Hawaii from 1908 to 2001 were discarded in 2001."

We can summarize the facts to date as follows:

There is absolutely no evidence to support the "birther" claim that Obama was born in Kenya.

There is significant secondary evidence (the 2007 Certification of Live Birth, Contemporaneous 1961 Newspaper birth announcements) to support the argument Obama was born in Hawaii.

However, though primary evidence of his birth in Hawaii is thought to exist in hard copy form in Kapiolani Hospital (which he claims as his birthplace) this data has not been released.

The State of Hawaii Department of Health Statements, rather than shedding light on the source of primary evidence in their possession, have fueled suspicions that information is being withheld. And, in fact, some relevant information has been withheld.

Meme Wars: "Birthers", "Transparency Dodgers", and "Transparency Champions"

Establishment Republicans tremble when the left attacks anyone who questions the facts surrounding Barack Obama's birth certificate by trotting out the "birther" meme.

As commonly used, a "birther" is a right wing nut case who believes that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, is not eligible to be President, and that a vast conspiracy exists to keep this evidence from the public. Orly Taitz and Philip Berg are the most prominent "birthers". Though this group has certainly been industrious in filing lawsuits on this issue, none of the lawsuits have gone anywhere. This is primarily the case because there is absolutely no credible evidence to support the contention that President Obama was born in Kenya. Not a stitch.

This doesn't mean that the President has answered all questions related to the documentation surrounding his birth. And it also doesn't mean that citizens, journalists, and politicians don't have the right to ask those legitimate questions.

There are three groups of people involved in the birth certificate discussion: "birthers", "transparency dodgers", and "transparency champions." Look for the left to start falsely labeling legitimate journalists and "transparency champions" as "birthers" very shortly.

And look for many Establishment Republicans to head for cover, intimidated by the false charges of the left, and making "political calculations" rather than simply seeking the truth.

Investigative journalism, anyone ?

Lou Dobbs, the "Birther" Meme, and the Death of Investigative Journalism in the Left Wing Traditional Media

CNN President Jon Klein wants CNN program host Lou Dobbs to drop any further investigations of the facts surrounding President Obama's failure to produce an original hard copy version of his birth certificate. Mr. Klein seems intent on labeling his own employee with the false and misleading "birther" meme.

A "meme" is a term used to describe a phrase or word, much like a bumper sticker, which can be spread virally in the interconnected world of the modern media that instantly communicates a message. A phrase by itself is not particularly significant, but when it is spread virally it can be used to stop political discourse.

Inserting "memes" into the flow of news information so they will go viral is a common tactic used by left wing propagandists employed as "hosts" at cable networks such as MSNBC and CNN. The term "teabagger", for instance, is a pejorative "meme" inserted into the political discourse by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, and spread by colleagues David Shuster and Keith Olbermann, as well as CNN's Anderson Cooper.

The "birther" meme has been around since before the 2008 election, and is used to create the impression that anyone who asks any questions about President Obama's failure to produce a "Certificate of Live Birth" is a right wing nutcase. And while it's true that several gadflies who follow the issue, such as Phillip Berg and Dr. Orly Taitz, have little credibility due to their insistence on presenting "evidence" of a Kenyan birth that is thoroughly unreliable, it is a great disservice to attach the pejorative "birther" meme to legitimate journalistic investigations, such as those conducted by Mr. Dobbs.

Earlier this week Klein sent Dobbs an email which, according to Talking Points Memo said the following:

"It seems this story is dead" Klein wrote, "because anyone who still is not convinced doesn't really have a legitimate beef."

You can read the full Talking Points Memo story here.

Klein's argument seems to follows this logic:

1. State of Hawaii Department of Health spokesperson Janice Okubo confirmed in a June 6, 2009 interview with the Honolulu Star Bulletin reporter June Watanabe that all hard copy originals were transferred to a paperless electronic record system in 2001. Watanabe's June 6 story stated the following:

Okubo explained that the Health Department went paperless in 2001.

"At that time, all information for births from 1908 (on) was put into electronic files for consistent reporting," she said.

Information about births is transferred electronically from hospitals to the department.

"The electronic record of the birth is what (the Health Department) now keeps on file in order to provide same-day certified copies at our help window for most requests," Okubo said.

You can read the full article here.

(Note: In his email to Dobbs, Klein states unequivocally that all hard copy birth certificates kept on file by the State of Hawaii were discarded in 2001 when the state went paperless. However, Watanabe's story does not address what became of these original records. While it is possible that the policy of the state of Hawaii was, in fact, to discard (and dispose of) the original hard copy birth certificates, Klein has no evidence to support that contention. While it is true that the old hard copies were no longer used as part of the official records of the state, Klein ASSUMES that the original documents were discarded. Perhaps so. But perhaps they were not discarded, and were instead stored in a physical warehouse.)

2. The hard copy document of Obama's "Certification of Live Birth" released by the campaign was an authentic document, verified by relevant state officials in an October 31, 2008 statement.
(Note that a "Certification of Live Birth" is quite different from a "Certificate of Live Birth". A "Certificate of Live Birth" is the original long form document signed by the attending physician at the time of birth. A "Certification of Birth" is a short form document produced, in theory based on the verification of the data provided in the original "Certificate of Live Birth".)

It's hard to say whether Klein's statement that the matter should therefore be closed is made out of bias, laziness, or a simple desire to obfuscate, but a myriad of investigative questions on the topic remain. If CNN were actually a legitimate journalistic organization, Mr. Klein would not be pressuring Mr. Dobbs to drop his investigation.

Here are several compelling reasons why Mr. Dobbs should continue his journalistic efforts on this topic:

On October 31, 2008, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, the Secretary of Health for the State of Hawaii, issued the following statement:

Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawaii, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures.

You can see a copy of that original statement here

On November 3, 2008, I emailed a list of twelve clarifying questions about that statement to Janice Okubo, spokesperson for the State of Hawaii Department of Health, and to Dr. Fukino. Neither Ms. Okubo nor Dr. Fukino ever responded to those questions, nine of which I've included below:

1. Did you personally view an actual physical copy of the long form original birth certificate from August 4, 1961 signed by the attending physician at a Honolulu hospital?

2. What was the name of the hospital ?

3. What was the name of the attending physician ?

4. Besides holding an actual hard copy of the original August 4, 1961 birth certificate signed by the attending physician at a specific hospital in Honolulu, are there any other means by which, as you say "the state of Hawaii can have Barack Obama's original birth certificate on record in accordance with the state's policies and procedures regarding maintaining "original birth certificates on record"?

5. Was the original birth certificate on record submitted as part of the 1911 Hawaii Birth Certificate program, which allowed parents of children residing in Hawaii who were over one year of age to submit alternate birth documentation to the Department of Health and still be called "an original birth certificate."?

6. On what date was the original birth certificate on file registered ?

7. Did Senator Obama personally authorize Dr. Fukino and Dr. Onaka to view his "original birth certificate on record." ? If so, when and how ?

8. Did Senator Obama personally authorize Dr. Fukino and Dr. Onaka to issue the statement of October 31, 2008 ? If so, when and how ?

9. Have Dr. Fukino and Dr. Onaka had any communication with Senator Obama or did they meet with him in person on any occasion in the last 30 days or in the last year ? If so, were those communications or meetings negotiations related to statements to be made about his birth certificate ?

Based on Ms. Okubo's June 6, 2009 interview with the Honolulu Star Bulletin, it would appear that the answer to Question 1 above is that no, Dr. Fukino did not view an actual physical copy of President Obama's long form original "Certificate of Live Birth" at any time. To my knowledge, this June 6, 2009 interview of Ms. Okubo was the first time that any spokesperson from the State of Hawaii Department of Health officially acknowledged that it no longer maintains hard copy records of original "Certificates of Live Birth" as part of its officially authorized records documentation, verification, and creation process.

The remaining eight original questions remain unanswered. I would add the following eight new questions to the list of questions I would like to see answered:


1. For the Hawaii Secretary of Health, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, who issued the finely parsed official statement of October 31, 2008 which left the impression that she had seen the hard copy of the original birth certificate: Why did you not simply and honestly declare in your October 31, 2008 statement that you had not seen the hard copy of the original birth certificate, and that your statement verifying the authenticity of the "Certification of Live Birth" was based upon a forensic review of the process by which the data about President Obama's birth in the State of Hawaii's birth records was included in the data base, and that this process was consistent with the state's policies and procedures?

I note that almost all contemporaneous news reports used the language of Dr. Fukino's statement to report incorrectly that she had actually seen a physical copy of the original "Certificate of Live Birth" as issued by the hospital and signed by the attending physician. Dr. Fukino did nothing to correct this widely reported false assumption.

2. For President Obama: You have publicly stated that you were born at what was then called Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital, these days known officially as Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children, in Honolulu. Officials at that hospital state that they maintain original hard copy and microfiche copies of all birth records back to the 1950's. In order to comply with your promises of "transparency" will you now authorize the hospital to release their copy of your original birth certificate?

3. For the Hawaii Secretary of Health, Dr. Chiyome Fukino: Can you make public all electronic records you used and the documentation process you went through to confirm that President Obama's birth records were kept in the State of Hawaii birth records data base in accordance with the state's policies and procedures?

4. For the Hawaii Secretary of Health, Dr. Chiyome Fukino: Will you request that officials at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children now transfer a copy of their original records related to the birth of President Obama to you, and will you publicly release those records?

5. For officials at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children: Will you send a letter to President Obama, requesting him to authorize you to publicly release his original birth records, as it is a matter in the public interest?

6. For the Hawaii Secretary of Health, Dr. Chiyome Fukino: Can you confirm with one hundred percent certainty that the original birth certificate of Barack Obama upon which your electronic records were based was in fact a "Certificate of Live Birth" issued by Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children, and not a substitute certificate submitted within a year of the actual birth, as allowed for by Hawaiian Statues which were in place from 1959 to 1978?

7. For the Hawaii Secretary of Health, Dr. Chiyome Fukino: Were the original documents of birth records held by the Department of Health discarded in 2001 or were they placed in a warehouse? If they were placed in a warehouse, can they be found and produced? If they can be found and produced, will you produce and make public the original "Certificate of Live Birth" of President Barack Obama?

8. For Maya Soetero-Ng, half-sister of President Obama: Is it factually true that you were born in Indonesia in 1970, and were subsequently issued a "Certification of Live Birth" by the State of Hawaii's Department of Health, and that this document is of exactly the same type and form as the "Certification of Live Birth" that the same department has issued to your half-brother, President Obama?

I, for one, would like to know the answers to these questions, and hope that Mr. Dobbs will continue his investigations until we all receive these answers. Mr. Dobbs does not deserve to be falsely labeled as a "birther". A more accurate description of him would be simply this: he's an investigative journalist and a transparency champion.

Obama's Wednesday Press Conference: One of the Most Self Destructive in American Political History

It looks like President Obama need not fear Republican members of Congress causing his "Waterloo". He seems to have accomplished that objective all by himself with his comments Wednesday, which were delivered at what may have been one of the most self destructive press conferences in American political history.

First, he called a highly respected Cambridge police officer stupid. No, wait, Press Secretary Gibbs yesterday said he didn't call the police officer stupid, he merely said he "acted stupidly."

This after he acknowledged he didn't have all the facts on the incident, but he did know that Professor Gates was one of his friends.

Then, he impugned the integrity of every doctor in the country by implying they were so craven they would improperly require tonsillectomies because they were so greedy. The Ear Nose and Throat Surgeons of America politely told the President they were "disappointed" by these comments.

You can read all the details at the TCOT Report here.

Great job, Mr. President, taking away any momentum that may have been developing for your proposed Federal Health Care Takeover.

MemeSNBC : The Place Where the Left Wing Media Creates and Inserts False Assertions into the Political Discourse

If you would like to find out where the Left Wing Media creates and inserts its false assertions (also known as "memes") into the political discourse, please visit www.MemeSNBC.com

The Religion of the Left and its Creed

The Left can best be understood by conservatives more as a religion than a political movement.

After a lifetime of observing the thoughts and tactics of the Left, I offer this draft summary of "The Creed of the Left". I would appreciate comments on the usefulness of this creed from any and all political perspectives, and will modify it based on suggestions made by readers of this blog.

The Creed of the Left

We believe in the highest truth that man’s destiny is to create heaven on earth in the form of a socially just society, in which “all citizens are granted an unconditional claim upon that society collectively to be accorded the minimum resources necessary for a life of dignity and a genuine sense of belonging”, and where "the needs of the disadvantaged" are given preference over the needs of the advantaged. (Source of quote: Professor Bernard Chazelle)

We believe in the dualistic nature of man, in which all men and women choose to be one or the other-either forces for good or forces for evil.

We believe that a just society is to be formed in the political contest between the good and the evil, and that we who are good will ultimately prevail because we are morally and intellectually superior to the evil.

We believe that the good, because we are good, have a responsibility to use any means necessary to destroy the evil, because a just soiciety can not be created until the evil are either destroyed or converted to the good.

We believe in the sacredness of our planet, Mother Earth, which the evil will attempt to harm by their every action, and that the good must prevent this harm through any means necessary. We believe that global warming is caused by man’s activity that produces too much carbon dioxide, and that any scientific evidence that shows a contrary position must be ignored and ridiculed.

We believe in the perfectability of man through the use of centralized government, which knows best how to accomplish this through the collective political process rather than through the exercise of individual rights .

We believe it is the duty of the good to contribute to the creation of the just society on earth, that it is the inevitable march of history, and that the use of any means to accomplish this end is morally justified.

We believe that heaven is not exclusively a spiritual state to be experienced by the individual after death, but is also the just society to be experienced by those living here on earth in the future, and that by our actions today on earth, we preserve our own claim for posterity to a position of honor in that just society.

We believe that there is no unique excellence within the Constitution and Government of the United States of America, and that the march towards the just society is led by international organizations such as the United Nations.

An Open Letter to Major Stefan Cook: Follow Your Lawful Orders

Dear Major Cook:

I read with great interest the news of your recent lawsuit, in which you argue that as a reservist in the United States Army you are not obligated to follow the lawful orders issued to you by your military commanders to be deployed to Afghanistan.

The news article on this topic is here.

Your attorney argues that since President Obama has not proven he is a natural born citizen he is not authorized to serve as President, and therefore none of his commands as Commander-in-Chief are legitimate.

Your attorney is completely wrong in this assertion, and is putting you in serious jeapordy. For the sake of the country, your personal future, and your family, please withdraw your suit and accept your legitimate orders to deploy.

While I agree that President Obama has not met the burden of proof necessary to prove that he is a natural born citizen, there are two methods to properly make this challenge. Disobedience of a lawful order is not one of those methods.

The first method for such a challenge was available to Congress when it convened in January, 2009 to count the electoral votes cast in the 2008 Presidential Election. Federal law clearly outlines a method for legitimate challenge to the President's eligibility to serve that could have been exercised at that time. Objections to the legitimacy of any electoral vote count from any state could have been voted on by the full joint session of Congress had at any time a single member of the House and a single Senator risen together to request such a vote.

As not a single Congressman or Senator raised such an objection at that time, no vote was taken, and upon the President's swearing in at the Inauguration, every action he took subsequently under the legitimate authority of the Constitution was valid.

This means, Major, that your orders are legitimate.

The second method of challenge is to go through the Federal Court, not for the purpose of challenging the legitimacy of a single act, but rather to challenge that the burden of proof to establish natural born status has not been met by the President.

Several such cases are lumbering through the courts now. While none of them have outstanding prospects for success, they are legitimately brought for consideration. Your case, in contrast, is not legitimately brought, and has no chance for success.

My suggestion to you is as follows: Get a new attorney, drop your case, and accept your orders.

Nine Ways Conservative Radicals Can Take Action Today to Restore our Republic

The average conservative citizen has a number of ways to help restore our republic. My suggestion: assess your strengths and weaknesses, determine where you can make the biggest contribution, and focus on a project in one of these nine areas.

Once you've picked a project, follow through. Stick with it until it achieves its objectives.

1. Melt the Phones

(a)Call your United States Senators to tell them you oppose the socialist "Cap and Tax" Legislation the House of Representatives barely passed.

Here's a particularly creative variant on the "melt the phones concept", courtesy of Phil Valentine: www.GiveTheSenateSomeBalls.com.

(b) Call your Congressman and Senators to tell them you oppose the Obama-Pelosi-Reid government takeover of our health care system.

2. Evangelize to the Under 30 Generation

(a) Join the Mustard Seed Project
(b) Become certified as a Conservative Radical Evangelist and instructor.

3. Organize Locally (City and County Level) to Stop Higher Taxes

(a) Example: Tucson, Arizona

4. Restore the Constitution

(a) Become active in The Bill of Federalism Project

5. Take Back Congress for Fiscal Conservatism in 2010

(a) Volunteer to work for a local fiscal conservative in the Republican and/or Democrat Primary in your district

(b) Join the organization www.fixcongress.org.

6. Boycott Advertisers Who Support Socialist-Statism and Conservative Bashing

(a) Join the www.FireDavidLetterman.com Project.

(b) Help develop and implement the plan to www.FightLeftWingMedia.com

7. Take Over Your Political Party Power Structure

(a) The Republican National Committee
(b) The Democrat National Committee

You can take the first step by signing up at www.ThePrecinctProject.com


8. Hold them to their own standards

(a) Blog and tweet about Obama Administration hypocrisy

9. Become a part time Conservative Investigative Journalist

(a) Sign up at The TCOT Report

Inspired by Letterman? Senator John Kerry Insults Governor Palin

For those of you wondering why many of us think that David Letterman's disgraceful comments of June 8, 2009 about Governor Palin and her daughter require more than a belated apology, consider this:

The failure of CBS to hold Mr. Letterman accountable for his comments in any way sends a signal to politicians and media figures everywhere: It's ok, apparently, to continue this onslaught of coarse and crude comments about Governor Palin.

Case in point:

Yesterday the ignoble Senator John Kerry hurled a gratuitous insult the Governor's way.

An Excerpt from the Website of Sue Hassett, the Self Published Author Suing Elisabeth Hasselbeck

Here's an excerpt from a website that purports to be of Sue Hassett, the woman suing Elisabeth Hasselbeck for plagiarism.

I am 45 years old I am from Cape Cod Massachusetts. I am almost a hundred percent Irish. I have been a self employed floor installer for 25 years. For the past 5 years I have been unable to work because of such a servere case of Celiac Disease that left me struggling for my life. My struggle did have to be this hard, I was misdiagnose for almost 20 years. My reason for writing this book is to help other people so their struggle does not have to be so hard or go on so long. Gluten free living can be a very healthy way to live. Cooking is a big passion in my life and I want to help others with that as well. The most important thing of all about the Down sydrome, Epeleptic, Autistic and children with Celiac Disease who I can help through this book as well as through my cooking.

A gold star to the blogreader who accurately identifies the total number of spelling and grammar errors in the paragraph above.

UPDATE:

Sandra Robins offers her analysis of the plagiarism claims here. Her conclusions: items cited as examples of plagiarism look much more like facts "in common knowledge".

CURIOUS FACTS

The attorney representing Ms. Hassett contributed $1,000 to Senator John Kerry in 2004, according to a search done at the Huffington Post FEC Records search site.

I'm beginning to wonder if this suit is just a case of a lone opportunist, or might be part of the pattern of ongoing left wing attacks against conservative women.

ADDITIONAL CURIOUS FACTS

The ISBN Book Number of the edition of Ms. Hassett's book, the one she claims to have sent to Ms. Hasselbeck in April of 2008, is different from the ISBN Book Number of the edition of Ms. Hassett's book currently available at Amazon, which lists a publication date of April 2009. The publisher, Xlibris, is a pay for service printer and publisher used by self publishing authors.

It does not appear that Ms. Hassett marketed the April 2008 edition of her book.