Where are all the court employee’s that handle official documents?

In all the birther nonsense I keep wondering where are all the court employee’s, the Department of Health employee’s, the Notary Public’s, the Genealogists, the historian’s? The ones that handle official documents. The ones who know what qualifies a document as being valid or not? Why are they not speaking up about the birther claims? Why are they not being listened to? They have facts on their side, not magical thinking, as the birthers do.

Why are so many people so very willing to pay attention to people like Joe Arpaio?  Donald Trump? Why isn’t Romney stating clearly that what they are doing is wrong, and that Obama was born in Hawaii? It is a fact, and it has been verified. Many times. And it has never been proven that he wasn’t.

Federal and State users are able to verify, electronically, whether a birth or death certificate is valid or not.  It is a system called The National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS).  The State or Federal workers who are authorized to use the system can log on to the system, input the information they want to verify and get either a “Verify” or “Deny” answer. There is no reason for the grandstanding of Sheriff Arpaio, or anyone else. So, why isn’t it being done? And why aren’t people asking them, publicly, why they aren’t using it? The majority of states use it, including Arizona and Hawaii.

RCW 70.58.104

“The state registrar may prepare typewritten, photographic, electronic or other reproductions of records of birth, death, fetal death, marriage, or decrees of divorce, annulment, or legal separation registered under law or that portion of the record of any birth which shows the child’s full name, sex, date of birth, and date of filing of the certificate. Such reproductions, when certified by the state registrar, shall be considered for all purposes the same as the original and shall be prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein.”

This is, specifically, from the State of Washington. This is, basically, the same law in every single state, and territory, of the US.

Each state, past the basic information that the US Government requires, decides what will, and what will not, go on the official birth certificates. They decide what the certificate will look like and what will go on the certificate.

Replacement certificates are big business for states.  I’ve had 3 in my life. I am 53. They get lost, destroyed, whatever. {{shrug}}

The paper that your parents got from the hospital, with your foot prints on it, is not a legal birth certificate. And it cannot be used to verify your identity. It hasn’t been since the mid-to-late 1970’s.

If you were born 50 years ago and you requested a replacement birth certificate, you would get one that was laser printed on the current form that the state legislature has decided to use. This form changes periodically. It will have the State Seal on it and usually stamped with the stamp of the State Registrar. If those are not on it, it is not a legal document. If it does have them on it, it is a legal document. Period. No leeway.

Plus, each state decides, independently, how long vital records will be private. In Hawaii, the State of Hawaii decided that vital records are not public for 75 years. Which means that when President Obama turns 75, you have the right to request a copy of his birth certificate, non-certified (since it’s not your birth record, or your ancestors’ record), and printed on what ever form the State of Hawaii is then choosing to print it on.

I just had a Grand Nephew that was born this last Friday, in New Jersey. When his birth certificate is sent to his parents it will be on the same form, in the same format, as what someone will receive if they request a replacement birth certificate at this time. The replacement will not be a certified copy of the original hospital paper that was sent to the Department of Health. US States haven’t done that for quite a while. It will be a laser printed documented with information in the state database. That information is taken straight from the Department of Health documents.  Nowhere else.

So, lets start talking about real issues, instead of magical thinking. The fact is that President Barack Hussein Obama (a name his parents gave him, he didn’t choose it) was born in Hawaii, on 4 August 1961, and is a US Citizen.  And has been since the day of his birth.

Educational Privacy Laws, and how they apply to the demands for Obama’s school records

At one time in this country, anyone could walk up to any teacher or school and request the records, or conversation, about someone else’s academic records. That time has long been gone. Starting in the early 1970’s, school records (as well as some other records) became private, and were no longer public. Not even the parents of adult students could get them if they requested them.

This push for Obama to release his school records makes no sense, other than as a desperate act to try and bolster their argument that Obama is not eligible to be President. The only thing that I can think is that the people demanding these records are assuming that the name “Occidental”(as in Occidental College, the President’s 1st mainland college) is, somehow, suspect and they are hoping to find something to condemn our duly elected President.

The fact that it wouldn’t have any impact on Obama’s Presidency doesn’t seem to have any impact on them whatsoever.

Below is part of an explanation of what the laws are. The site where I got it is listed after the quote.

“In the United States, public opinion polls have shown a high level of concern about personal privacy since the early 1970s. Increased computerization has led to extensive collection and dissemination of sensitive personal information for a variety of reasons. The federal and state governments have responded by passing a variety of statutes and regulations in many areas to prevent dissemination of personal information. Education records are protected by a number of federal and state statutes and regulations. Generally, school records can not be released without the prior permission of the student.

The Federal Education Records and Privacy Act (FERPA), commonly known as the Buckley Amendment, requires that any school or institution that receives federal funds for education may not release school records or any other personally identifiable information without the prior consent of the student, with a few specific exceptions. This law creates a minimum standard for the protection of records which may be increased by either state or local law or regulations.

Records may also be protected by the federal Privacy Act of 1974, and state implementations, the Freedom of Information Act and state open records laws.”

http://epic.org/privacy/education/school.html