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what the Two-Party Party propagandists preach - the spectrum of political thought is far more colorful and dynamic than simple black & white ideologies.<br><br>Many of us terrible original intent folks have long since grown weary of the neo-Conservative Religious right that long-ago hi-jacked the Republican Party.I was already wavering from George HW Bush's 1000 Points of Light New World Order crap, and left for good when Newt's crew gutted the last traces of the Party Lincoln knew.<br><br>Remember labels are bad.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-05_16:07:56", "killed": false, "user_key": "3574a41ab4d8c957b63e49832e853efe", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13977958, "depth": 2, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14464776": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Dear lady, as for the Annenbergs (publishers of the strongly left-leaning <i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i> and <i>Philadelphia Daily News</i>) protestations of personal membership in and support of the Republican Party are not points which you can offer in argument against the overwhelmingly left-\"Liberal\" activities of their legacy Foundation.<br><br>To the \"Liberal\" left, in addition, their activities, policies, and politics are always \"mainstream.\" Some of them - hard to tell how many, but probably most - literally cannot see their own prejudices and bigotries for what they are.  They are not significantly introspective, never objective, and never seriously consider any opinions other then their own as morally, intellectually, or even factually robust.  To disagree with the \"Liberal\" orthodoxy is, to them, odiously heretical, alien, \"fringe,\" and even unthinkable.<br><br>This is not an attitude conducive to honest discourse, and, indeed, of \"Liberals\" honest discourse cannot truly be gotten.  <br><br>This understood, your praises of the Annenberg Foundation and its various excrescences - the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, the Annenberg Center for Public Policy, FactCheck, et alia, are moot. Thank you for your effort, but nobody's buying it.<br><br>Moreover, as I've written elsewhere, the simple fallacy implicit in your assumption that \"if the Republicans approve, it's fine!\" fails when it is understood that the true line of political demarcation is not drawn between the Republican and the National Socialist (formerly \"Democrat\") wings of the great, bipartisan, permanently incumbent Boot-On-Your-Neck Party but rather between the principles of individual rights and the practices of authoritarianism.<br><br>Instead of the false \"left-right spectrum,\" consider the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Chart\" rel=\"nofollow\">Nolan diagram</a>.<br><br>The U.S. Constitution is not the property - indeed, its defense is not the priority - of either the \"Red Party\" or the \"Blue Party\" in these United States today.  The functionaries of both wings of the BOYN Party violate that charter of civil government as a matter of course, deliberately, callously, and without respect either for the structure and protections it was designed to impose or for the rights of the individual citizen living under the government these career politicians exercise to commit their daily crimes.<br><br>So given that I repose no trust in the Republicans whatsoever, an appeal to me on the basis of supposed Republican allegiance is also wasted.<br><br>Now, on to the issue of no court officer having requested that Mr. Soetoro tender a physical, certified copy of his COLB (owing to Fancy Lawyer Tricks that have thus far cost Mr. Soetoro upwards of a million dollars - one observer estimates $1.3 million as of this month - to play in quashing \"birther\" lawsuits), let's turn this around.<br><br>If Barry Soetoro has a true and verified certification of live birth - or, better yet, a birth certificate - which states that he <u>had</u>, in fact, been born in Honolulu, each of these \"birther\" lawsuits offered him a golden opportunity.<br><br>Instead of expensively resisting, Barry could simply have tendered that physical copy of his 2007 COLB to the judge involved in any one of those cases, said: \"Here y'go, your honor,\" and been done with it.<br><br>Nothing more would've been necessary.  Bye-bye \"birther\":controversy.<br><br>But - hatefully, arrogantly, pehaps desperately - Barry Soetoro has avoided every such opportunity.<br><br>Now, given that Barry Soetoro is acting hatefully in this matter - evasively, contemptuously, scornfully - can you wonder at the \"sort of ugly hatred\" he is engendering, and not admit that what he is doing will \"serve to destroy our nation more surely than any [honorable, decent, responsible] leader could ever do\"?", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-08_00:02:41", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 4, "is_first_child": true, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14462558, "depth": 1, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14288511": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "I just can't help asking: if a child of two Mexicans comes across the border for the day, either by design or happenstance and the wife gives birth to a \"Mexican\" in the US on US soil, the child, is by all preceding jurisprudence in US History considered, and deemed, a US citizen, or......... <br><br>Are you saying, that because said hypothetical child's parents are not US Citizens, he/she is NOT a \"natural born citizen\"? Do we have natural and unnatural citizens? <br><br>The US Constitution was created in the late 1700's with and after many attempts to create a union and a nation with a coherent set of laws that would fairly apply to all--even the slaves many held. (they put a hold on dealing with those however). <br><br>But do you think they foresaw test tube babies? In vitro, donor eggs, sperm donors,  heart transplants, not to mention DNA et al? Do you really think they had any idea what a \"natural born\" citizen could or might include in the new millenium. <br><br>I agree, there needs to be clarification........but not because of Obama, but because of McCain! In all seriousness, I am well aware of his many years of service to our nation, of the service his forebears gave, but does that mean Obama's sodbusting ancestors gave less, and are entitled to less for their descendant, Mr. Obama?<br><br>The truth hurts sometimes, and while I know some........some people can't understand why he won't release or allow his \"long form\" birth certificate........this whole thing is really about a black man, with heaven forbid an AFRICAN, a real genuine to goodness AFRICAN who dared give us a son, who became President. <br><br>I wonder if the same people are going to give back their health care cards when they get them. Are they going to give back their extended unemployment? Will they refuse to drive over newer and safer bridges, are they going to burn their Medicare cards?They should. Why the hypocrisy? Evil old healthcare for all! How could he?<br><br>Why not bomb the living daylights out of a country that had nothing whatsoever to do with the 9-11 bombing, while Osama bin Laden gets away with murder on a grand scale. Only small minded little undereducated coward and all around creep Tim McVeigh wrought such terror on US soil, even he didn't get away with it. <br><br>Are you going to say that mypothetical Mexican is ineligible and is an unnatural citizen? <br><br>I say, quite honestly, that despite McCain's service which I never underestimate, he is actually the one who was NOT naturally born. If they expected him to be a Presidential candidate they should have sent Roberta back home to give birth. So yes, there is room for improvement in the clarification, but this, this craziness, is not about that, it's about that doggoned fear of retribution from those who were kidnapped, and who slaved without reward for centuries before calmer heads prevailed and decided to make some basic attempts at decency and reconciliation with their overwhelming majority religion. There were economic reasons too, but at core, it was a festering blister that kept eating away at the nation, and postponing dealing with it, only made it worse.<br><br>It really helps if we *don't* feed the crazy, or irrational fear. There really is crazy here.........just look into who some of these people are. It's not about reason, or logic, or the failings of the clarity of a nearly 250 yr old statute. It's about base fear, and delusion, and probably not a small amount of projection particularly on the part of those like Ms. Taitz, whose legal status I am very interested in exploring. <br><br>Sometimes it's good very good to look at who your bedfellows are.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-06_06:16:42", "killed": false, "user_key": "amy334", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": false, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13863964, "depth": 3, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13869527": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Afer some more research, I've found that you're right at least in the sense that it's never been very clear in US law what constitutes a \"natural born\" US citizen, so my contention that it's been clear for a long time, isn't accurate, and I apologize for the tone of my post (especially since you're one of the few birthers posting here who's trying to maintain some degree of civility, and thanks for not flaming me in return).  However, I still disagree with your interpretation of Wong Kim Ark and how it relates to Obama's eligibility to be President--can you examine my reasoning further below in this comment?<br><br>Before going into that, I do know some history, including that some of the founding fathers agreed amongst themselves that merely being born on US soil or territories shouldn't make someone a natural-born US citizen; written communications amongst themselves that I've read, shows they were more concerned about usurpation by foreign governments, and not so much by the Law of Nations (as you state, \"The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens\").  But either way, unfortunately a specific statement on the definition for purposes of the Constitution, didn't make it into the Constitution, either explicitly or implicitly.  They may have left it deliberately vague, to allow for some flexibility in the future, being a new country, or they may have assumed that the other signers of the Constitution agreed with their position, and that they all had a single definition of what \"natural-born\" meant to them.  I doubt that, but whether or not any of the other founding fathers didn't agree with this definition, nobody clarified it in the text of the Constitution.  That determination was left up to others later (whether deliberately or accidentally).  As you say, the case you cite, of Wong Kim Ark, states (pretty much) that anyone born on US soil or territories is a NATIVE-born US citizen, but not a NATURAL-born US citizen, but my interpretation of Justice Gray's majority opinion, which also states that such native-born US citizens are \"as much a citizen as the natural-born child of a citizen\", means they're entitled to all the rights held by natural-born US citizens--and, ipso facto, \"all\" would have to include the right to be President of the US, regardless of the existence of two terms, \"native\" vs \"natural\".<br><br>The justices in the cases of Wong Kim Ark, and Minor (1873, a case which Justice Gray relied on during the Wong Kim Ark case), didn't clarify whether anyone born on US soil or territory was a natural-born US citizen, regardless of their parents' citizenry--they restricted themselves to clarifying what constituted a \"mere\" US citizen, leaving the decision on natural-born for another day (since it wasn't relevant to the case at hand), and simply saying that issue had also been debated in the past without resolution, and further stating specifically that Wong Kim Ark and Minor were not to be interpreted as a decision that anyone born on US soil or territories was natural-born, as well as being a US citizen.  For some reason, this has been distorted by some to mean the justices felt that such persons are NOT natural-born US citizens (sort of a different version of the phrase \"absence of evidence is not evidence of absence\"), simply because the justices had \"the chance\" to clarify the issue.  But they didn't clarify that issue, since they didn't have to, so nothing can really be relied on, in either of these cases, to determine anything about whether someone born on US soil or territories, with one or the other, or both, parents not being US citizens, is natural-born or not.  An absence of a clearly-stated position doesn't constitute advocacy of any particular position, and certainly doesn't make it established law.<br><br>Here again, as you've quoted, is Justice Gray's statement comparing a child born on US soil or territories, one or both of whose parents aren't US citizens, with another child born on US soil or territories, both of whose parents are US citizens:<br><br>\"\u2026Every citizen or subject of another country, while domiciled here, is within the allegiance and the protection, and consequently subject to the jurisdiction, of the United States.  His allegiance to the United States is direct and immediate\u2026and his child, as said by Mr. Binney in his essay before quoted, \u2018If born in the country, is as much a citizen as the natural-born child of a citizen\u2026\"<br><br>I know this can be interpreted in at least two different, and opposite ways, but to me, this is a roundabout way of saying both children have all the same rights, including Presidential eligibility, even if the child born of one or two non-US citizens, is not technically 100% US natural-born (but rather, native-born).  If the child born on US soil or territories, of non-US citizens, didn't have the right to be President of the US, then they would NOT, ipso facto, be \"as much a citizen as the natural-born child of a citizen\u2026\", and the entire flavor and intent of Justice Gray's statement would be negated.  It may (or may not) be as simple as that, but it seems that's been the position that's generally been relied upon when the question has come up afterwards.<br><br>It's true that Gray was appointed by Chester Arthur, and as such may have been Arthur's \"man\", some say, and so he may have been trying to insert language approving of the right of even native-born US citizens to be President, in order to reduce the heat on Arthur (being otherwise a British subject).  But though this might have been undue influence by Arthur, it was the opinion of Gray's court, and hasn't been really challenged, ever since he made the statement.  But since his statement wasn't technically part of his court's ruling, it could still be interpreted as making the issue unclear.  I agree clarity is required, but it's been taken since then to mean a child born on US soil or its territories, though they may be \"just\" a native-born US citizen, have the same rights as a natural-born US citizen, including eligibility for the US Presidency.<br><br>It's true that the US Constitution doesn't contain any statements that equate native-born, or this concept of \"entitled to all the same rights\" with its phrase \"natural-born\", but that's one thing the Supreme Court is meant to help with, and in Wong Kim Ark, it seems it did, however clumsily.  Until that's successfully challenged by the Supreme Court, or by Congress, it still stands.<br><br>Some people argue that the rights enjoyed by being a \"mere\" US citizen, don't automatically include being able to run for US President, and though that's true (otherwise people born outside the US, to two non-US citizens, could run for President, as long as they were \"merely\" US citizens), Justice Gray's majority statement in Wong Kim Ark, though it's not a part of the court's official position, says that the one category of non-100% natural-born US citizens that (in Gray's opinion, and thus presumably the majority of the court) DOES enjoy all the same rights as a 100% natural-born US citizen (and by definition, \"all\" must include being able to be President), are those born on US soil, regardless of the citizenship of the parents.<br><br>I'd enjoy your analysis of my remarks.", "is_last_child": true, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-04_02:35:22", "killed": false, "user_key": "johnsawyer", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": false, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13863964, "depth": 3, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14611727": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "No, what you people are whining about is he won't do backflips and jump through hoops to let you personally see the documents that had to be approved by several US government agencies just so he could run for president. He doesn't owe you squat, he already proved his citizenship to the appropriate legal authorities. You, however, now have to prove he wasn't born in the US, which you can't", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-10_22:42:10", "killed": false, "user_key": "8b802e0ea39c248f7cad7ea25a2db771", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 6, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14417245, "depth": 2, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13100691": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Apologies for the accidental double posting.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-07-22_03:50:41", "killed": false, "user_key": "e055786a0242f6015aaf40399d1af504", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14399252": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Tuci78: No offense, but it's bad enough the Democrats and Obamaphiles alike are attaching race to this issue because the seed has been planted in their heads by left leaning mediacrats who got caught with their pants down on the real issue that led us to this uncomfortable point in history (That issue being the 50 SOTS who didn't do their job last election cycle, and it was exposed by bloggers, then many of those same bloggers made idiots of themselves by adding in all kinds of amateur analysis and conspiracy theories, which gave the MSM the out they needed), but to have you then make a statement like: \"I'm supposed to have \"fear\" of a guy who's about as \"black\" as Pat Boone?\" positions you at best an ignorant bigot. Now perhaps you aren't, but that statement doesn't leave much room for people who don't know you to interpret. It's, in fact, completely irrelevant whether Obama is black or whited or both.<br><br>What is relevant is that we have a vetting process which is completely broken. Let's leave McCain and Obama out of it. How the hell did a Nicaraguan born and raised naturalized US citizen, not once BUT TWICE get on the presidential ballot in some states? This past election I believe it was 7 States, including my home State of Connecticut? And when SOTS Bysiewicz was called out on it and sued, the Atty General filed a motion to dismiss on her behalf! I happen to like our Atty General (Blumenthal) but he was way outside of his Constitutional authority to be acting on behalf of another elected official, especially being from the same party.<br><br>Additionally, you can have all the misdirected hate you want Tuci, but it doesn't win you or me or anyone who wants to see better accountability win any support. Especially since there still is not a shred of credible evidence that Obama did anything illegal. The issue of what constitutes a natural born citizen is unresolved. I have my position, Obamaphiles have theirs - but your words are self-defeating and just plain ugly.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-06_18:42:06", "killed": false, "user_key": "3574a41ab4d8c957b63e49832e853efe", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14293784, "depth": 3, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14699287": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Here's my personal scorecard for evaluating statements by Republicans, Democrats, and anybody else (including whatever the hell YOU are): (1) points off if one can't spell, or construct a simple sentence, (2) points off for USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS ONLY, and (3) no credibility whatsoever if one's pronouncements are so bereft of any factual content that they can only be communicated by \"common vulgarities.\"  But, that's just me.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-12_02:19:22", "killed": false, "user_key": "3881558ca9a5b45690482ca9fb5adaa6", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 1, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14620616, "depth": 6, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14293784": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Tsk. I'm supposed to have \"fear\" of a guy who's about as \"black\" as Pat Boone?<br><br>Little amy, don't mistake for \"fear\" what is better explained by <b><u>hatred</u></b>, as in \"I hate socialists,\" and \"I hate public servants who shovel out megatons of counterfeit currency,\" and \"I hate elected officials who set up email conduits so people suspicious of Obamacare can be ratted-out by their 'Liberal' neighbors.\"<br><br>That's \"hate,\" amy, not \"fear.\"  A healthy, happy, all-American regard of the slimy sonsofbitches who ooze mendaciously into positions of public trust and then abuse the powers associated (constitutionally and especially <u>un</u>constitutionally) with those offices to violate the rights of U.S. citizens.<br><br>And I don't want Barry deported, amy.<br><br>At least, not until after he's served out his prison sentences.  He gets parole twenty or thirty years from now, and I don't mind if I&N buys him a ticket back to Mombasa.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-06_06:20:24", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 1, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14245989, "depth": 2, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13968559": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Why not? If it works, and Barry Soetoro gets perp-walked out of the White House live on CNN by a squad of federal marshals, who've packaged him in handcuffs and ankle fetters, and those neat belly chains, while the Secret Service guys look all nervous and pale behind their sunglasses and the Marine guards are high-five-ing each other, wouldn't that be just <b><i>spectacular?</i></b><br><br>I mean, what better way to get that criminal sonofabitch out of our misery?  At the same time, there would be a <b><u>MASSIVE</u></b> slap-down of the institution of the imperial presidency, hopefully degrading if not destroying the image of this \"Man on a White Horse\" bullshit post that it became in the administration of that earlier criminal shitwad, FDR.<br><br>It's diseased, evil, rotten, <b><i>wrong</i></b> for the citizens of a representative republic like these United States to vest not only so much power and responsibility but so much docile, ovine, abject <i>worship</i> of any man in any public office in any part of our civil government.<br><br>Sending Barry Soetoro (alias \"Barack Hussein Obama II\") to spend the rest of his life getting folded over a bunk somewhere in the federal prison system, his \"Hope\" for \"Change\" this time being pertinent to the prospect of Vaseline somewhere in the next few minutes would be a consummation devoutly to be wished.<br><br>Good for the nation, good for our people, and good for Barry's cellmate, who's gonna have such <b><i>fun</i></b> with the new fish!", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-05_03:58:24", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 1, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13968226, "depth": 1, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13863964": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Mr Sawyer,<br><br>The mistake you and your fellow revisionists continue to make is this absurd claim that somehow the 14th Amendment, Wong Kim Ark and subsequent cases related to citizenship has anything to do with the natural born citizen clause. I've yet to see any logical argument that attaches the two.<br><br>If you knew your history you'd be aware that the concept of 'natural born citizen' was not a new one to the Framers. In fact, one of the influential contemporary political texts of the time was the Law of Nations (published in 1752) which stated the ancient common law of 'natural born citizen'. If the specific issue of Article II, Paragraph 5 of the Constitution ever comes before the Supreme Court as it pertains to a candidates eligibility (which to date, it has not), they will undoubtedly start with the origin of the term and why the Framers included it. Well, in Law of Nations, Vattel defined it clearly: \"The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens.\"<br><br>In fact, Mr. Sawyer, if you go back and research the birth record of each President and Vice-President you will find that each one from Martin Van Buren to present day was born on US soil to two US citizen parents, with two exceptions: Chester Arthur & Barack Obama. It has recently been revealed that Chester Arthur not only was born of one US Citizen and one Canadian citizen (his Father), but that he lied on his candidate filings that his Father had been a naturalized citizen at the time of Arthurs birth. Why would Arthur have lied about such a thing under penalty of perjury if all that mattered was he was born in the US? Because Arthur just like every President and VP before and after him right up until Barack Obama knows that the natural born citizen clause has nothing to do with the 14th Amendment or any subsequent rulings on citizenship. This is the question that all you living Constitution struggle with: how can someone be born with dual citizenship and be a natural born citizen of either country? The answer, of course, is you can't be. Barack Obama is unquestionably a native born citizen - just as his campaign tacitly states on his <a href=\"http://FighttheSmears.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">FighttheSmears.com</a> website. He is not, however, a natural born citizen.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-03_23:33:40", "killed": false, "user_key": "3574a41ab4d8c957b63e49832e853efe", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 2, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13858331, "depth": 2, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13858331": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Congratulations, Mr. Fleming, for posting a completely schizophrenic comment.  Your first paragraph states a complete (deliberate?) misunderstanding of citizenship vs natural-born, and how it relates to eligibility for the US Presidency, and your second paragraph, which you cite in an attempt to back up your first paragraph, actually states why your first paragraph is wrong.<br><br>Here are the facts, as established in US courts: everyone born on US soil, or territories, is a US natural-born citizen, not \"just\" a citizen.  The citizenship of the child's parents are considered irrelevant.  And, there is nothing in the Constitution that states anything about dual citizenship as disqualifying someone for the Presidency, so there's nothing in the Constitution that states someone with dual citizenship (especially granted only by virtue of the fact that one of one's parents is not a US citizen) has \"dual loyalties\", and no law, court case, etc. has ever ruled that a natural-born US citizen, with dual citizenship granted by one or the other parents' citizenship in another country, has his natural-born status annulled.  Certainly, your second paragraph doesn't cite anything like that, and in fact affirms what I've just said.<br><br>Your comment that this non-issue is \"prolonging resolution of the the legit Constitutional issue that Obama has and continues to face\", is just your attempt to be a birther by taking a different approach, one that's easily shown to be phony.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-03_20:59:12", "killed": false, "user_key": "johnsawyer", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": false, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 4, "is_first_child": true, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13781337, "depth": 1, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13534501": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "These people \"who will say anything\", are American citizens who watch carefully and guard the highest laws of the nation. You act like they're foreign spies or something.<br>In addition, not everyone who you label as \"birthers\" (sounds suspiciously like names Bush and Cheney thought up to call anyone who disagreed with their policies) are anti-Obama. I like Obama and sincerely hope he can extricate us from the numerous inherited pits we've fallen into, but I take strong exception to your labeling anyone seeking answers by what you and many others consider a derogatory nickname. How would you like it if I called you by one of the many derogatory labels  that fly to mind?<br>Anyway, the simple solution to this is that the original vetting committee that validated Obama's citizenship data in the first place, obtains the exact same documentation that it received from McCain; then the whole matter can be put to bed.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-07-29_10:41:07", "killed": false, "user_key": "TerrifiedCitizen", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": false, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 8, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14467622": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Sorry. Gotta call 'em as I see 'em.  <br><br>Do you see yourself as a \"Liberal,\" madam?  Are you prepared to take the proverbial red pill and look into the difference between authoritarianism - of the right, of the left - and honest commitment to the protection of the individual rights (to life, to liberty, and to property) of your neighbors, your family members, and yourself?<br><br><br><br>--<br><i>Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a punisher.</i><br><br>-- Thomas Paine, <i>Common Sense</i> (1776)", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-08_03:21:01", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 2, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14466221, "depth": 3, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14391209": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Okay; thanks for the information. I truly don't have a guy; I think Obama is a better choice than McCain though. My interest is purely from the standpoint of law, and that any constitutional requirements are met by every candidate. The highest laws of our land were ignored during the last administration to our lasting injury, and we will be paying for such losses for many generations.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-06_16:11:34", "killed": false, "user_key": "TerrifiedCitizen", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": false, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14245989, "depth": 2, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14466221": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "I'm glad you explained about dem Liberals with their lack of introspection, objectivity, etc. from whom \"honest discourse cannot truly be gotten.\" Since I gather you think I am one, then no further point in trying here, I'm flawed. From my total lack of objectivity, however, I'd say you don't seem so long on introspection yourself.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-08_01:30:44", "killed": false, "user_key": "3881558ca9a5b45690482ca9fb5adaa6", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 3, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14464776, "depth": 2, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14417245": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Well, Carol, here's one thing you might take into consideration.<br><br>Back in June 2008, some anonymous flunky at the Obama campaign allegedly scanned a Hawaii state Certification of Live Birth (COLB) supposedly issued to one \"Barack Hussein Obama II\" and said flunky emailed it to the operators of two Obamaphile Web sites, DailyKos and FactCheck.<br><br>Note that FactCheck, for all its overt claims of \"impartial\" status, is the wholly-owned creature of the same Annenberg Foundation that funded the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, from which Barry Soetoro and William Ayers distributed tens of millions of dollars to predominantly leftist organizations.  In other words, Barry used to be on the Annenberg Foundation payroll, just like the FactCheck people.  Keep this in mind, because it demonstrates why no honest person accepts any FactCheck assertions as <i>ipso facto</i> valid in discussions of this issue. They're inextricably conflicted.  <br><br>Besides, anybody who openly calls him/herself \"impartial\" is simply denying prejudices and predispositions that no human being can escape.  Such a person or group is merely trying to avoid stipulating those biases, and therefore must immediately be assumed to intend deceit, and should not be trusted. <br><br>My slant? I'm a moral and methodological individualist.  Inasmuch as Barry Soetoro is not only an explicit and well-trained socialist - indeed, a third-generation \"red diaper baby\" of a socialist - you can see my view of him as hostile in the extreme, and understand my opposition to him and his partisans.<br><br>Now, of that \"short-form\" COLB supposedly generated in 2007 and allegedly used in June 2008 to make those <b><i>images</i></b> for dissemination on the Web, nobody outside the Obama campaign and the office of FactCheck has ever claimed - not testified under oath, but merely claimed - to have examined that physical, print-on-paper, signed and stamped legal document.<br><br>Nobody hostile to Barry Soetoro.  No impartial observer.  No officer of any court.  No trained, experienced, qualified forensic documents examiners, any of whom might be expected to testify as an expert witness - under oath - as to that document's contents, validity, freedom from unlawful alterations, provenance, and (as one such examiner put it in her sworn affidavit of recommendation) it's \"genuineness or non-genuineness.\"<br><br>You understand that? What we have of Barry's \"birth certificate\" is a couple of computer graphic images.<br><br>The image of a thing is not the thing itself.<br><br>So, while many of the \"birthers\" are merely screaming in rage and hoping to tear down our Fraudulence-in-Chief, who appears to be usurping an office he is not in law qualified to occupy, the fundamental question called is simply one that any citizen can and should demand of any public servant, high or low.<br><br>Barry Soetoro (also known as \"Barack Hussein Obama II,\" though he appears never to have legally reclaimed his birth name after returning to these United States as a youngster from Indonesia, where he had been legally adopted as \"Barry Soetoro\" by his mother's second husband, Lolo Soetoro) is being asked to prove he <u>is</u> qualified as a natural born citizen of these United States.<br><br>If he had a genuine COLB from the state of Hawaii in June 2008, stipulating that he had been born in Honolulu, that might go very far to set this whole \"birther\" issue to rest.<br><br>But though he apparently had it in June 2008, he hasn't put it into the hands of a court officer of any kind.  Doing so would render this matter <i>res adjudicata</i> - \"a thing adjudicated\" - in courts all over America.  It would be easy, simple, expedient, and immediately productive of happy results for everyone except those of us who really, really, hate Barry.<br><br>Myself included, I proudly admit.  Not because of his albedo deficiency, for I could care less about that, but for his socialism.  You want me to make that plain?  I would <b><u>MUCH</u></b> rather see either Thomas Sowell or Walter Williams - both of them black men, both born in these United States - serving as President than any Republican, black or white, male or female, I have ever known or of whom I have ever heard.  <br><br>It's the quality of the person, not the color of his/her skin that matters to me.<br><br>Barry Soetoro is just a thoroughly rotten, evil, malignant excuse for a human being, and a clear and present danger to the U.S. Constitution itself.<br><br>And, fortunately, because he cannot bring forth documentary proof of his nonexistent <i>bona fides</i> as to his \"natural born citizen\" status, it looks as if this nation will soon be relieved of the suffering Barry has inflicted upon us.<br><br>This little thing, this trivial thing, something that the average American simply grumbles and produces upon demand when he has to renew his driver's license in a great many American states - this is going to bring down Barry Soetoro.<br><br>Speed the day.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-07_01:46:01", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 7, "is_first_child": true, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14407104, "depth": 1, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14022152": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "I dispute that the statute was originated in 1982.", "is_last_child": true, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-06_01:23:49", "killed": false, "user_key": "45c052cefb8f1af1e5f503d8673785a0", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13977706, "depth": 2, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14390843": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Okay; thanks for the information. I truly don't have a guy; I think Obama is a better choice than McCain though. My interest is purely from the standpoint of law, and that any constitutional requirements are met by every candidate. The highest laws of our land were ignored during the last administration to our lasting injury, and we will be paying for such losses for many generations.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-06_16:04:41", "killed": false, "user_key": "TerrifiedCitizen", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": false, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14245989, "depth": 2, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13649471": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Uh, Terrified?  That's not what the Obamaphiles want.  They are <i>fellahin</I> (\"the faithful\"), and they want their Mahdi's ascendency accepted by us Nazrany dogs on faith and faith alone.  <br><br>You haven't got that yet?</i>", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-07-30_02:43:13", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 2, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13534501, "depth": 1, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14407104": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "OK, all you dipsticks... Government entities don't release the ORIGINAL copy of vital records!  Even if you go down to your county public records office to get your birth certificate, you get a COPY. It will be on nice paper - and if you pay a little more (in our state) they will stamp it with a seal and notarize it. It's still a copy. And if you lose it, next week you can go down, pay more money, and get another copy. I surely would hope that the State of Hawaii wouldn't just give over an original birth certificate - even to the President, or maybe ESPECIALLY to the President. It's their job to keep that original safe. Even if Obama did choose to request, and release, a copy of his long-form certificate, all you doubters wouldn't accept that, either. You'd say it looked like the wrong kind of paper, or ink, or a funny-looking seal or whatever. And I don't think that Hawaii is going to allow each of you to travel there and take a look for yourself (especially since they're all involved in this massive conspiracy to lie to us). Or if by some miracle you grudgingly accepted the certificate's validity, it would be on to the next thing. Now a demand for \"adoption records\" is floating around the internet (difficult to produce when you're not adopted, but hey, anything to make trouble). Really, President Obama has a country to run. Ours. We should probably figure out how to pitch in and help fix our many national problems instead of looking like we're all a bunch of doofuses (racist or otherwise). (And by the way, I was born way before Obama - in Podunk Center - and my birth certificate is typed.)", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-06_21:05:14", "killed": false, "user_key": "3881558ca9a5b45690482ca9fb5adaa6", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 8, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14613057": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "What \"backflips,\" Sherrill?  The arrogant piece of shit is refusing to <b><i>put his fucking birth certificate on a judge's bench</i></b> as proof of his contention that he ws born where he claims he was born, and is who he says he is.  <br><br>If you've got a kid ready to enter school, Sherrill, in most districts you've got to show up with the kid's birth certificate to get him enrolled.  If you've got a child trying to enter Little League, you've got to show a birth certificate as proof that he's not older (and therefore stronger, more mature) than the kids against whom he will be competing.  <br><br><b><i>Every goddam American expects to be required to show his birth certificate</i></b> - the physical, print-on-paper legal document itself, not a computer graphic image allegedly scanned from that birth certificate - <b><i>on demand</i></b>.  <br><br>Hell, in some states, that signed and sealed birth certificate is one of the key points of identification needed for renewing your driver's license.  That's been so since the Beltway Sniper used a phony address to gull the New Jersey state DMV into registering the car he used as a shooter's blind to kill and wound all those people.<br><br>If you consider it a \"jump through hoops\" exaction for a government employee - and that's all Barry's been since 2005, a <i><b>public servant</b></i> - to show nothing more exceptional than his birth certificate as support of his qualification to hold his job, then you are well and truly fucked up beyond all recovery.<br><br>The plain fact of the matter is that he <b><u>didn't</u></b> get any sort of approval by <b><i>any</i></b> \"US government agencies just so he could run for president,\" because none of these cement-heads considered it their duty to look for any such proof.  They took his word for it.<br><br>In other words, the personnel of those \"several US government agencies\" didn't exert the diligence required of a clerk at the DMV or the lady signing up kids for Little League.  <br><br>Okay, so now we're trying to correct that omission. And what is your Mombasa Messiah's response?  Arrogant refusal to cough up the fucking birth certificate.  <br><br>Arrogant.  Imperious.  \"I don't have to give you 'civilians' <b><i>anything</i></b>. I'm the President.\"<br><br>Not if he's not qualified to hold the office.  And if he entered that office <b><i>knowing</i></b> that he wasn't qualified - remember, he's a lawyer specializing in constitutional law (you ever wondered about that?) - he entered that office with full criminal <i>mens rea</i>.<br><br>From the White House to the Big House.  The next chapter in Barry Soetoro's biography.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-10_23:12:52", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 4, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14611727, "depth": 3, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14891331": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Uh no, I haven't - but that could be simply because I'm not imagining things. <br><br>Obama is certainly a person who has a Socialist leaning agenda and Democrats need to stop drinking the Kool-Aid and wake up to the fact that we have been in the process of gutting our Constitution for the last 100 years in the name of a Daddy State. Nearly every President in the 20th century has had some Socialist leaning programs that they have championed. Socialism is great for re-election: you can claim you made some monumental change, but the fallout and the holes in the plan don't start falling apart until 10-20 years after you are long out of office.<br><br>So that all said, I suggest you take a step back HoochyTuci and see things for the way they really are . . . our Republic's foundation document being chiseled away at by banking  and corporate profiteers who want a borderless market, errrr uh, I mean world. This concept of course, ignores the human inclination to find and settle within a tribe. The United States once was the greatest of all Tribes, but now it's a falling fallacy at the hands of globalists who use our treasury like a hedge fund.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-15_18:16:37", "killed": false, "user_key": "3574a41ab4d8c957b63e49832e853efe", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 1, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13649471, "depth": 2, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14503876": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Oh, it's about a lot more than that. Why (do you think) are the Obamaphiles - \"Liberals\" / socialists / progressives / \"velvet fascists\" one and all - so frantic to keep their Marxist Mahdi in the Oval Office, wrecking the economy and generally shredding the Constitution into confetti?<br><br>And why would a constitutionalist like me - a moral and methodological individualist, whose number-one political priority is the defense of the individual human being's rights to life, to liberty, and to property - be taking such great delight in the prospect of seeing that sad sack third-generation \"red diaper baby\" socialist sonofabitch perp-walked out of the White House in chains while CNN covers it live and in color?<br><br>This manifest of Barry's life of duplicity and criminal intent - his inability to demonstrate his qualification as a \"natural born citizen\" (Article II, Section 1, U.S. Constitution) with something as simple and commonplace as a <b><i>birth certificate</i></b> - is just <u>wonderful</u>.<br><br>Think of it as a live, drive-by-media-denied, Civics lesson.<br><br>Or, if you're younger than I am, a live lesson in \"Social Studies.\"<br><br>The average American - more and more of them (even the ones who voted against Crash Test Johnnie and the Republicans by casting their ballots in a spirit of \"What the hell? He says we need 'Change'\" for Barry Soetoro) - are deciding that this conniving, power-grabbing bastard is totally fucking <b><i>awful</i></b>, and we need to get rid of him.<br><br>And here's the \"birth certificate.\"  Or, rather, there it <b><u>isn't</u></b>.<br><br>And suddenly Article II, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution turns out to be an \"escape clause.\"  A beautiful, big, \"Do Over\" button.<br><br>And we're hitting that button as hard and as repeatedly as we can.<br><br>Ain't that neat?", "is_last_child": true, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-08_21:10:17", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14503666, "depth": 5, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14620616": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Shit, I know. Ain't it jusf fucking awful? You'd think the stupid bastards could find some other way to express themselves.  But no, the sons of bitches just <b><i>gotta</i></b> use them common vulgarities in their discourse. <br><br>The American language being rich in invective - including emphatic Anglo-Saxonisms condemned by the hypocritical in their pretenses of delicacy as \"4-letter words\" - the use of the total linguistic package (pungencies included) is rather a mark of greater literacy than lesser, for it cavils not at false sensibilities in the quest for effective conveyance of thoughts and sentiments.<br><br>The very essence of what a language is devised to do.  <br><br>Would it be more to your taste if I used the antique term \"aroint\" instead of telling you simply, parsimoniously, and with heartfelt sincerity to go fuck yourself? <br><br>Ah, what a clustercopulation is the Obamaphile, each in his own little puddle of excrement, finger-flipping his filth in slack-jawed fascination from one spasmodic cluster of digits to another....", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-11_03:41:55", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 2, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14620499, "depth": 5, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14400330": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "His  Republican masters has TAuci78 under their thumb.  And you are so pathetic and mean.  Bet you call yourself a christian.   I dare you to show this vicious rant to the people at your church and the mayor of your town.  Unless you live in Alabama or S.C., then it might speak for a lot of people.  I had the pleasure (?)of meeting a few of you nauseating people while I was an Air Force Nurse.  Turned me into a liberal.", "is_last_child": true, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-06_19:07:00", "killed": false, "user_key": "joyfuljoy", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": false, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13968559, "depth": 2, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14885836": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Tuci-<br><br>You are such a fucking racist idiot.  At least this president was elected by a substantial majority, not imposed on us by the Supreme Court on a totally partisan basis like the last mass-murderer in chief.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-15_15:50:32", "killed": false, "user_key": "d7de995a84615c521400f5f9963da5f1", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 1, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14613352, "depth": 3, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14620499": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Most of the time when people don't seem able to converse without usin' them 4-letter words in every sentence, it's because they are so borderline illiterate they have no other vocabulary.  But, you know words (Latin 'n stuff). So what's the excuse for your potty mouth?", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-11_03:31:08", "killed": false, "user_key": "3881558ca9a5b45690482ca9fb5adaa6", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 3, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14613057, "depth": 4, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14897291": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Well, I'd say that the \"Daddy State\" is more the model for the \"Stern Father\" faction among the Republicans - the ones who feel that the great mass of us civilians are contrary, irresponsible, wear our hair outrageously, dress disgracefully, read naughty books, look at filthy pictures, listen to debauched music, <i>et tedium</i> - who conceive themselves to be the \"favored few, booted and spurred, ready to ride us legitimately by the grace of God.\"<br><br>The National Socialist (formerly \"Democrat\") Party is a helluva lot more \"Mommy Dearest,\" don'tcha think?  \"Nurturing Mother\" image.<br><br>\"Now, little civilian dearest, put on your sweater and wear your galoshes, and if you insist on smoking, Mommy's going to tax your cigarettes until you bleed from your eyeballs.  And - surprise! - you're not allowed to buy foods with any of those nasty trans-fats in them.  Isn't that nice?  Oh, yes.  Mommy's going to be tracking the thermostat in your house to make sure you don't run the air conditioner too much in the summer or the heater too much in the winter.  It's all to save the planet, so Mommy knows you'll be a good boy.  Or Mommy will be <i>terribly</i> disappointed, and she'll kill you with a bullet right there at the back of your naughty little head.  All righty?\"<br><br>As for \"nearly every President in the 20th Century [having] had some Socialist leaning programs\"... I'd exempt Taft, Harding, and Coolidge from that list.  Corruption, yes, and the usual-and-customary mercantilism that's been a universal failing of the Republicans from time out of memory, but not socialism.<br><br>It's not always socialism (\"government as Santa Claus\") that's been the incumbent's way to permanence in office, but rather graft plain and simple.  Doesn't have to be \"you stupid voters are <b><u>entitled</u></b> to this cash I've screwed out of your neighbors for you!\" but the old American System of Henry Clay back in the early 19th Century.<br><br>You should look it up. The fundamentals were (and always have been) currency inflation, protectionist tariffs that horribly screw the consuming American, and pork projects to \"redistribute the wealth.\"<br><br>Y'know. The way Senator Byrd has been redistributing other states' taxpayers' wealth into West Virginia for decades.  <br><br>(( Richard Byrd dies and the whole state of West Virginia goes bankrupt.  Watch for it on CNN. ))<br><br>The banksters (\"bankers\" plus \"gangsters\") and the \"corporate profiteers\" (like if they fail to earn profits they're not out of business? - I mean, unless some politician decides they're \"too big to fail\"?) aren't what you should be focused upon if you've got reality in mind, putzie.<br><br>It's government getting into everything.<br><br>Y'know the old saying.<br><br>\"Politicians are like rats. What they take for themselves is nothing compared to the damage they do in getting it.\"", "is_last_child": true, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-15_23:15:45", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14891331, "depth": 3, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14020210": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "John,<br><br>All of this would go away in a New York minute if Obama just requested and released the original long-form document.  <br><br>'Mr. Transparency' apparently can't walk the talk.  So great is his sense of entitlement.  He thinks he is above the law.  He uses the word 'rule' when he refers to his administration. I'm quite sure he uses that word in the way he intends.<br><br>Never been a more arrogant SOB in the White House ever!", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-06_00:05:36", "killed": false, "user_key": "45c052cefb8f1af1e5f503d8673785a0", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13858331, "depth": 2, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14612823": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Uhhhhm - see that's part of the problem. All most State's election officials really ask for is the standard candidate affidavit after the nomination that any party that has ballot access does on behalf of it's nominee. So the Party does the 'vetting' as far as verifying qualifications for the office of President. That's what happened here in Connecticut. Also here in Connecticut our scrupulous Secretary of the State allowed a Nicaraguan born and raised naturalized US Citizen on the ballot as a Presidential Candidate . . . . one of 7 States to do so. That should never happen. And if that could happen then whats to say those same SOTS didn't do their job with McCain and Obama?! In my opinion and many others the only legal legit candidates of any legitimacy that were on the 2008 ballot were Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin and Cynthia McKinney.", "is_last_child": true, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-10_23:03:49", "killed": false, "user_key": "3574a41ab4d8c957b63e49832e853efe", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14611727, "depth": 3, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14611928": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "A Certification of Live Birth is the best and only real proof of where he was born. States do not give out \"original\" birth certificates, they hand out Certifications of Live Birth.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-10_22:48:36", "killed": false, "user_key": "8b802e0ea39c248f7cad7ea25a2db771", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 3, "is_first_child": true, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14334072, "depth": 1, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13781337": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Mr. Weigel:<br><br>Here is the problem. The so-called 'birther' movement (defined by various individuals and news outlets as people who believe that Barrack Obama was born outside the United States and has a forged birth certificate or something to that effect) are causing confusion, consternation and prolonging resolution of the the legit Constitutional issue that Obama has and continues to face. That is, while President Obama was DEFINITELY born in Hawaii, and thus a native United States citizen, he was born to one US Citizen parent and one Kenyan/British citizen, and thus was born to with dual loyalties whether born on US soil or not. Because Obama has dual loyalties, he is NOT a natural born citizen, and thus should have never been nominated by the Democratic Party because he is ineligible to even run for the office of President as clearly stated in Article II, Section 1: \"No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President\" and re-affirmed in 1898 in the King Wong Ark Supreme Court case which as Justice Horace Gray stated in the majority opinion:<br><br>\"The foregoing considerations and authorities irresistibly lead us to these conclusions: The fourteenth amendment affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and under the protection of the country, including all children here born of resident aliens\u2026Every citizen or subject of another country, while domiciled here, is within the allegiance and the protection, and consequently subject to the jurisdiction, of the United States.  His allegiance to the United States is direct and immediate\u2026and his child, as said by Mr. Binney in his essay before quoted, \u2018If born in the country, is as much a citizen as the natural-born child of a citizen\u2026\" <br><br>Please read more about this case in the excellent research and detail that Leo Donofrio has presented here: <a href=\"http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/2009/07/30/justice-horace-gray-clearly-indicated-wong-kim-ark-was-not-a-natural-born-citizen/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/2009/07...</a>", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-01_10:12:11", "killed": false, "user_key": "3574a41ab4d8c957b63e49832e853efe", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 5, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14896911": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Shows as \"a substantial majority\" in the Electoral College, but not in the popular vote.  Sorry, Steve, but your Mombasa Messiah simply isn't as popular as you'd like to delude yourself into thinking. Take a look at a county-by-county map tracking the 2008 presidential voting, and the swaths of \"red\" are overwhelming.<br><br>Barry took the \"grasshopper\" vote.  The \"ant\" vote went all to hellangone against him, in spite of the fact that the productive portion of the population had nothing to vote for but Crash Test Johnnie, probably the most \"National Socialist\" of the whole damned RINO caucus.<br><br>Eventually, as more and more of the \"Liberals\" get mugged by Barry and his little ACORN compadres, they're turning against him.  Already underway.<br><br>Hey, you know what the definition of a conservative is, don'tcha?  A \"Liberal\" who's just been mugged.<br><br>And watch your Anglo-Saxon. Mr. Wiener - Associate Editor - has emailed me to announce his intention to start throwing people who use \"pungent language\" off these <i>TWI</i> threads.  <br><br>Nice try on the \"racist\" card, by the way.  Messiah Central still pushing that bullpuckey to you \"left-wing bloggers\" or are you just stuck without anything better to say?", "is_last_child": true, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-15_22:51:50", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14885836, "depth": 4, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14400477": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Native born? Natural born? does that mean every person born in the US without two US citizens as parents at the time of his/her birth are automatically barred from becoming President? <br><br>There is no jurisprudence for this. The long history of this nation has always been about the struggle to meet the premise that all of us are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights--but also equal under the law, entitled to common rights and priviledges as US citizens, the right to run for President being one. It is not explicit, that is why there is jurisprudence, but........we fought the Civil War to right the wrong of kidnap, sale and slavery, of humans.  We added the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments in the Bill of Rights to protect the ideal of equality under the law. <br><br>Are you now telling me we have indeed TWO classes of citizenry, one natural, one native? That would be an interesting argument to make in court. You are equal, in all ways except one. Try that on women, artificially transferred embryos who turn out to grow up and want to become President or any other \"unnaturally created citizen\" and see what happens. <br><br>Reality time: the US like it or not, perfect or not at the time of conception was dedicated to equality of opportunity....even in the right to bear arms, it's about equal access, we do it all the time. No one puts a caveat in fine print on the birth certificates and passports of those born here without two US citizen parents that says, oh by the way, you're 'native' NOT 'natural born' so don't go getting any fancy ideas. People are born here everyday, without *ANY* US parent and are fully recognized as \"natural born\" citizens.<br><br>Do you have plans for them, better get out a notice to them ALL right now, and you might start with John McCain, and he certainly isn't natural born, as he was born in PANAMA!! Not natural born! Or is it ok, to let him in, but not those actually born on US soil??<br><br>There is NO proof, and no argument that will quell this hullabaloo, that is why Obama is not providing anything more than the legally binding COLB, that everyone else in the country is required to give, and by the way was approved by the US Election committees and recently accepted and pointed out by Congress in it's declaration of Hawaii's 50 anniversary of admittance to the Union. The argument if you *somehow* managed to miss it, is a moving target.<br><br>Allegations include: <br>1) He was not born in Hawaii<br>2) He was not born of two US Citizen<br>3) His father was a British subject-ergo so was he, whether born on US soil or not<br>4) His mother with a long ancestry in this nation's history was not qualified to transmit citizenship, because she was not old enough AND he wasn't born in the US<br>5) He hasn't disproved that he wasn't born in Africa--do you have to disprove you weren't born in your most recent immigrant parents last known \"old country\" even though there is *NOT * a shred of evidence he was born there. <br><br>Let's see: <br><br>1)He presented and made public the very self same COLB that I and MOST americans have that is good enough to be presented for passport, drivers license, etc and oh, for presentation to election committees! Gee let me see......I think your birth certificate is a forgery, and that the governor of the state where you were born was paid off and the whole US Congress is in on it!!<br><br>Sounds funny doesn't it? <br><br>Especially when it comes from a woman who Is MOST certainly not a natural born citizen, and barely speaks English. Ms. Taitz certainly doesn't understand the language or the law well enough to quote it correctly or the most recent precendents, (lets' try to discount the ones that are Pre-Civil War). She didn't even understand the language well enough to understand Steven Colbert playing her for the clown she is, and she is not a member of the Calif. Bar, apart from her incoherent ramblings. As a Jew it would behoove her to be more careful of who she accuses of being a \"brown shirt\" and Nazi as she did when speaking with David Shuster, who obviously was disturbed by the remark and acknowledged that he himself lost relatives in the Holocaust. <br><br>The hyperbole is interesting, as projection of the collectictively agreed upon sins of others (Nazis, \"racists\") seems to be the only things they can hurl at Obama and his supporters. They have *NO* FACTS--only delusions and fear. <br><br>I wish  we could let them opt of of citizenry as they seek to opt out the legitimacy of those who are fully entitled to all and full benefits of citizenship. Unfortunately it is the price we pay for our democracy and our freedoms, but the frustration of these malcontents and screwballs is equally the price they pay for living in a democracy. Let that be a lesson to them, they are about to get even more discontented as healthcare, economic improvement, and retooling the American educational system to create a bigger and better, healthier poplulace comes to fruition. Bring on the meds!", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-06_19:11:54", "killed": false, "user_key": "amy334", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": false, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 2, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14462558": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Jeez, Tuci 78, I seem to have stepped on your tail.  Re your Annenberg Foundation/FactCheck assertions, you should know as well as I that the Annenberg Foundation, which started the Chicago Annenberg Challenge education project that included Barack Obama and William Ayers (now professor of education at the University of Illinois) on its board, was established by publisher Walter Annenberg, a prominent Republican (and whose widow contributed to the McCain campaign). The publication Education Week said the Chicago Annenberg Challenge \"reflected mainstream thinking among education reformers\" and had bipartisan support. The project was backed by letters of support from Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, a Republican, the superintendent of the Chicago public schools, etc. Also included on the board was Arnold R. Weber, a former president of Northwestern University, who had received appointments from Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. The list of mainstream board members goes on. <br><br>FactCheck came into existence long after the Annenberg Challenge project was finished. It\u2019s your right to disbelieve anything they have to say, of course \u2013 but don\u2019t cherry-pick your facts. FactCheck has aimed some tough criticisms at Obama also.<br><br>Regarding \u201che [Obama] hasn't put it [birth certificate] into the hands of a court officer\u2026\u201d, which court, exactly, has REQUESTED it?? To my knowledge, all these frivolous and time-wasting court filings have been dismissed by the various courts. But maybe Obama should take time out of his busy day to run down to the nearest courthouse and hand them a copy just to try to please, well, people like you\u2026 <br><br>You also are aware, I\u2019m sure, that the ONLY shred of evidence that Obama was ever tagged with his stepfather\u2019s name was when Mr. Soetoro apparently passed him off as his own in order to get him into Indonesian grade school. (One thing that puzzles me is why anybody thinks we should believe that Obama\u2019s father \u2013 still alive in Kenya, and still in touch with his son, a proud tribal leader whose son bore his name \u2013 would have consented to an Indonesian man adopting Obama in the first place. They DO ask the other parent, you know.)<br><br>At any rate, I realize I will never convince you of anything. I\u2019m a skeptic in many respects myself, and we surely have the right/obligation to ask questions of our candidates and officials. But what most concerns me about this stubborn witchhunt is not its incredible stupidity, but the vicious and vile hatred of those perpetuating it \u2013 yourself included. I hated George Bush, I will freely admit. He was incompetent, disengaged, not qualified for the job, and furthermore, he sent our young relative to die in Iraq. However, he was the President, we elected him (sort of), and I NEVER would have referred to him as \u201ca thoroughly rotten, evil, malignant excuse for a human being\u201d (which could be considered a kind description compared to many others out there). I thought the poor guy probably couldn\u2019t do any better. <br><br>This sort of ugly hatred will serve to destroy our nation more surely than any leader could ever do.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-07_22:16:05", "killed": false, "user_key": "3881558ca9a5b45690482ca9fb5adaa6", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 5, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13968226": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "\"no person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President.\" Jeez, taken literally, there is no one eligible to be President, as we, long ago, ran out of citizens, natural-born or otherwise, alive \"at the time of the adoption of this Constitution.\"  (Either that, or, there is, as usual, an excess of commas in the Constitution, as in this posting.)  I trust that all you hair-splitters willing to twist yourselves into pretzels in order to (you dream) get rid of Obama in the White House plan to do the same diligence in the future when a Presidential candidate is born of a single mom (father unknown), a product of in vitro fertilization, of a sperm donor, or maybe a surrogate mother. Should keep you busy, it's a whole new world.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-05_03:34:52", "killed": false, "user_key": "709a4f1414a0ec1793d1f272b1289339", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 4, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14245989": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "McCain was NOT a natural born citizen!! Hello?? Or did you miss that. And PANAMA, not a US territory or a base, or a diplomatic oupost! NOT.........soooo, what does that mean? Your non citizen was allowed to beat my US BORN citizen, because he was..........hmmmm, white ??? <br><br>That is where all this goes, you know it does.....look at Tuci78, and Mark, all about their fear of the big bad black man. Maybe it has something to do with turnabout being fairplay? or you reap what you sow?? Hmmm???scared are ya, that he'll do something nasty to ya? <br><br>Oh, by the way, when you get that new Healthcare card, or the nasty old vicious Medicare card, remember evil people brought that you! Don't go using it or I'll have to report you to the proper authorities......so YOU can be deported. Maybe you and Ms. Taitz the ignorant Israeli hideout can give you a place to stay, in the Middle East. You'll like it there, there's ever so many more Arabs there than in the Whitehouse :)", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-06_05:45:22", "killed": false, "user_key": "amy334", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": false, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 4, "is_first_child": true, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13534501, "depth": 1, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13977958": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Nah, if it's Republican sperm, they'll be fine. They've been trained to bark at Democrats, but their true masters have the leash well in hand.<br><br>I doubt any of these \"Constitutionalists\" lost a wink of sleep as the 4th Amendment was being gutted. granddaddy GOP told them it was all good, and so it was.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-05_10:23:31", "killed": false, "user_key": "Darkmoth", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": false, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 1, "is_first_child": true, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13968226, "depth": 1, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14613352": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Not even under the state laws of Hawaii - until they were revised (surprise!) just recently.  For certain government benefits granted only to native Polynesian Hawaiians (not for <i>haoles</i>, the caucasian and black and oriental immigrants and descendants of such immigrants), <b><i>only</i></b> the \"long-form\" birth <u><b>certificate</b></u> could be accepted as proof of entitlement. <br><br>Sherill, you're swallowing Obamaphile bullshit.  In the state of Hawaii, the \"short-form\" <u>Certification</u> of Live Birth had been - right up to this year - nothing more than a \"make-do\" to serve the needs of Hawaiians who had no \"long-form\" birth certificate information on file in the state government's archives.  <br><br>Barry Soetoro is well and truly fucked.  It's just a matter of shoving it all the way up until it finally emerges from the back of his throat and chokes him.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-10_23:23:58", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 2, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14611928, "depth": 2, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13977706": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Erm, Obama was born in 1961. That statute was originated in 1982. Since that was your \"biggest point\",  I guess it's all hunky dory now.<br><br>Protip: Try to understand the debate before claiming someone else doesn't.<br><br>You're welcome.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-05_10:19:09", "killed": false, "user_key": "Darkmoth", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": false, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 1, "is_first_child": true, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 13843578, "depth": 1, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13843952": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "It's amusing - and pathetically sad at the same time - that there are so many delusional Americans, incapable of rational thought.  Such people will ultimately destroy any semblance of democracy. <br><br>They are ecstatically thrilled to spout inane nonsense for which there is exactly and precisely ZERO evidence, while claiming that the ONLY evidence which the state of Hawaii will EVER produce regarding someone's birth is obviously false when it is obviously and OFFICIALLY correct, true and valid as well as being corroborated by copies of birth announcements in two Honolulu newspapers and by every sane person with any direct involvement.  Oh, and BTW, no other state will produce anything more than what Hawaii has released.  <br><br>For the benefit of those who are completely and utterly clueless, the entirely fragmented system of personal identification in the U.S. prior to 9/11/01 has been streamlined and updated by federal law in order to produce exactly what the braindead are whining, sniveling, stamping their feet and otherwise throwing childish tantrums about.  Original identification documents are no longer being copied and handed out, precisely in order to prevent the kind of fraud which is being perpetrated by the birther lunatics.  Oh, and if you want to place blame for that, talk to the Republicans who wrote and passed the legislation...one of the very few things they did during the last 8 years which was not completely irresponsible.<br><br>Thank you, Ronnie RayGun, for de-funding psychiatric care in the U.S.  I know he preferred mental patients in his professional circle, but the result will eventually be a death sentence for the republic.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-03_14:13:50", "killed": false, "user_key": "b350b9051ce02addc1a7e69a69dffc0e", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14503666": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Sorry, thought this site was about proof (or lack of) that our President was born in the U.S.  Anyway, it's been interesting...", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-08_20:57:41", "killed": false, "user_key": "3881558ca9a5b45690482ca9fb5adaa6", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 1, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14467622, "depth": 4, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14334072": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Well, it's getting out in the drive-by media now.<br><br>From <a href=\"http://nebraska.statepaper.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2009/08/05/4a79c4716da39\" rel=\"nofollow\">David Hahn</a>, \"Publisher <a href=\"http://StatePaper.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">StatePaper.com</a> \" August 5, 2009.<br><br><b>Publisher: Obama Should Produce Original Birth Certificate</b><br><br><i>At <a href=\"http://StatePaper.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">StatePaper.com</a>, we know by making this statement we will be instantly tagged as \"racist,\" \"birther,\" or other pejorative terms by those who defend the President of the United States.  We often defend the President and the job he is doing and are regularly lambasted for being \"too liberal\" or an \"Obama lover\" by some of our most prolific critics.  <br><br>But, here is the issue:<br><br>The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of our country.  Article II of the Constitution requires the President to be a natural born citizen.  Without reciting them here, there appears to be some serious questions raised about whether President Obama was born in the United States or Kenya.  We have not checked sources, but there are reports that some witnessed his birth in Kenya.<br><br>The President's campaign staff and then his administration have released and placed on the internet a \"Certificate of Live Birth.\"  We do not dispute the validity or correctness of that document as others have tried to do, suggesting the use of computers to alter seals and names.  By releasing this document the President agrees that the claims about his status as a natural born citizen is an open, important, public issue.<br><br>But, this \"Certificate of Live Birth\" is simply not the best evidence that the President and his administration could offer to lay to rest any doubt about his status as a natural born citizen. <br><br>Barack Obama is a lawyer and a graduate of Harvard Law School.  All law students study the body of law we call \"Evidence.\"  One of the core tenets of American law is the \"best evidence rule\" which requires the production of original, or certified copies, of original document to prove a fact.   Abstracts and summaries are not original documents. <br><br>The President has offered an abstract (Certificate) of his birth, but not an original birth certificate which would be the best evidence of his birth.   We need the best evidence so that it can do what the best evidence is meant to do; dispel the doubts about a fact.  We need to see the Birth Certificate. That's the one that is often handwritten and signed by the doctor. <br><br>Lawyers and legal thinkers will, obviously, argue the finer points of the \"Best Evidence Rule\" and its applicability to this matter. But, that misses the point. The notion of \"Best Evidence\" is solidly-grounded in law.  This is an important public matter and it seems now that the President has started down the path of offering some evidence (Certificate of Live Birth), he should offer the \"best evidence\" (Original Birth Certificate) which is the source document for his birth.  The document behind the document which has been released. This is what is needed now in the court of public knowledge.<br><br>The fact in question here is the constitutional qualification of the President of the United States to hold office.  With a simple nod, the President could offer the American people the best evidence, the source document(s), as he learned about at Harvard, and dispel those who question his birth as a natural born citizen.  His failure to provide this best evidence, when it could be so easily done, raises only more questions, which fuels an ugly public debate.</i><br><br>I guess there are some things that not even a journalism school graduate can stomach.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-06_07:13:06", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 4, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14611885": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Oh, how the political parties have flip flopped. But please cite to me where in the US Constitution it defines natural born citizen and requires both parents be US citizens?<br>P.S.  The Constitution allows the Federal government to magically print money, check Article I, Section 8", "is_last_child": true, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-10_22:46:55", "killed": false, "user_key": "8b802e0ea39c248f7cad7ea25a2db771", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14418303, "depth": 2, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13843578": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "This writer misses the biggest point.The statute allows the issuance of Hawaiian birth certificates for children born out of the state.  Does it really matter so much who applies for it?<br>I award David Weigel the annual \"Missing The Forest For The Trees Award.\"<br><br>[\u00a7338-17.8]  Certificates for children born out of State.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-03_14:04:59", "killed": false, "user_key": "45c052cefb8f1af1e5f503d8673785a0", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 2, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13823487": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "You are WRONG. I read that section of the law & it confirms that someone could be born in a foreign country & then you could claim you were residents for at least one year & then obtain a birth certificate. Thuis is a huge loophole for fraud.<br>I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU READ, BUT THATS WHAT I READ !", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-02_22:17:29", "killed": false, "user_key": "6e1e6558b13958396af4537a0f3e9c15", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "13488764": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "CQ Politics: Somehow, the House got [158] Republicans \u2014 Including Nearly All Members of the Leadership \u2014 to vote for a resolution last night that declares President Obama was born in Hawaii. But it appears that the resolution wasn\u2019t intentionally aimed at the fringe movement plaguing the Republican Party these days: the people who insist Obama isn\u2019t actually a citizen of the United States.<br><br>Instead, aides to Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii \u2014 the sponsor of the resolution \u2014 say the impact on the \u201cbirther\u201d movement was just an amusing sideshow to a resolution that was just supposed to be a simple celebration of the 50th anniversary of Hawaii\u2019s statehood.<br><br>\u201cWhen we realized that it might stir them up, we just kind of smiled,\u201d said Abercrombie spokesman Dave Helfert.<br><br>The resolution, adopted last night on a vote of 378-0, notes that \u201cthe 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.\u201d To Abercrombie, who was friends with Obama\u2019s father and knew the president when he was a toddler, any resolution celebrating Hawaii\u2019s anniversary would naturally mention Obama because \u201cit is a matter of great pride in Hawaii that Barack Obama is a native son,\u201d Helfert said.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-07-28_20:46:07", "killed": false, "user_key": "Omaar", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": false, "votable": true, "date": "4 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14897406": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Tsk. Spelling and grammar snarks are passe upon these comments threads, squeekster.  <br><br>By the bye, you post something of substance instead of a whining complaint about someone \"usin' them 4-letter words in every sentence,\" and I'll try to give you substantive response in return.<br><br>But if all you've got is kvetching about nasty language, orthography, sentence construction, punctuation and the like, then don't be surprised if you get a figurative wedgie along those lines that's designed to express the contempt you've earned.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-15_23:22:15", "killed": false, "user_key": "bd16099fe5e5d131033ec29a954db19a", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14699287, "depth": 7, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "14418303": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "Amy,<br><br>I have some on my hands, but I certainly don't have the time to teach US History and Politics. <br><br>First and foremost, this notion that natural born = native born as it pertains to the Presidency has emerged in the last 24 months. Why AREN'T the Republicans sounding the alarm bells so much? Because they have a vested interest in the Obama Rule and his name is Bobby Jindal. <br>That's part of the reason why the Two-Party Party is such a joke. It's like Coke versus Pepsi. It used to be like Sprite versus 7-Up but that might be a little too deep a metaphor for some of you. You can come to the market with your own brand of soft-drink, but don't encroach on that shelf space or you'll bought or locked out.<br><br>There are certainly some very creative lawyers and academics (Obama included) that believe somehow the 14th Amendment rewrote Article II, Paragraph V. They also somehow have drawn the conclusion that subsequent lawsuits pertaining to citizenship somehow altered the qualifications to be President. However, neither the 14th Amendment nor the various lawsuits however had anything to do with someone making the claim that they should be eligible to be President.<br><br>As for the notion that Article II somehow creating two classes of citizens is bordering on the absurd. There are more than 300 million people who are citizens of the United States, and only 1 gets to be President every 4 years. You have a statistically better chance of winning multiple Powerball lotteries than you do of becoming President. If you really want to point fingers, point it at the media and big business - they pick our candidates for us. There is the working class and then there is the white collar/Ivy League class. We all have the same rights and privileges, but we don't all have the same level of access. If you want to be pissed about a perceived caste system - that's the one to focus your energy on. Personally I don't see Obama's ethnicity: I see a guy who certainly worked hard to get where he is, but I also see the liberal professor and corporate attorney who snapped in line towards the end of his campaign by the deep pockets of the Democratic Party. Their largely the same check writers the GOP has and their agenda has nothing to do with you and me. Obama has flipped on so many campaign PROMISES in his first six months its become hard to keep up. Why? Because you can say whatever the voters want to hear on the campaign trail and hold a big feel good rock concert at the end of the trail - but the second you get sworn in you are a puppet of the multi-national corporate check-writers. And at the other end of the multi-national corporate purse strings there are a group of people who would love to see a hand-picked foreign born CEO someday ascend to the Presidency, someone who really understands the unique problems of a global economy.  And if you don't see this coming on the track we are currently on, than I beg you to take a step back, set aside your Demoplican loyalties and ask yourself why the Federal government has grown so large over the last 100 years and it doesn't begin with FDR. Ask yourself if our currency system, that allows the Federal government to magically print money to pay off debts jibes with your own personal budgeting experiences. Ask yourself WHY we are doing business with a country like China. <br><br>But back to the natural born issue. Here's some precedent for you: since Martin Van Buren (the first President born on US soil after the previous 7 were European born and grandfathered in as citizens at the time of adoption of the Constitution) every single President has had TWO US CITIZEN PARENTS AND BEEN BORN ON US SOIL, with two exceptions: Chester Arthur and Barack Obama. It is a historical fact that Chester Arthur covered up and hid the fact that his Father was a British subject at the time of his birth in Vermont. Arthur's Father eventually became a naturalized US citizen but not until Chester was about 14 years old. The 14th Amendment was adopted before Arthur became VP and while he was the Republican State Chairman, so why would Arthur lie about his Father's naturalization record? Because he knew that if the truth about his Father's naturalization got out he would not have been eligible to serve as VP or President. Interestingly enough, shortly into Garfield's Presidency he was assasinated by a rabid Arthur supporter. Shortly after Arthur took office as President, the Democrats sent an operative to Vermont and Canada to dig up dirt on Arthur. The dirt was published in the form of a book entitled \"How A British Subject Became President\u201d. Just like Barack Obama, Chester Arthur was a dual citizen at birth. Except it was the Democrats making the charges of Arthur not being a  natural born citizen. Oh my, how times change, huh?!", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-08-07_02:55:46", "killed": false, "user_key": "3574a41ab4d8c957b63e49832e853efe", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "3 months ago", "approved": true, "num_replies": 1, "is_first_child": true, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 14400477, "depth": 1, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}}, "integration": {"receiver_url": "", "theme": 1, "reply_position": false, "disqus_logo": false}, "timer": {"timer_url": "http://localhost:8005", "thread_id": "25896826", "user_id": "anonymous", "forum_id": "34441", "hash": -3536328369916344758}, "thread": {"days_alive": 0, "slug": "some_more_clarity_on_hawaiian_birth_certificates", "paginate": true, "num_pages": 6, "num_posts": 50, "per_page": 50, "total_posts": 275, "realtime_paused": true, "id": 25896826, "queued": false}, "reactions_limit": 10, "context": {"show_reply": true, "use_fb_connect": false, "forum_facebook_key": "", "use_yahoo": false, "subscribed": false, "use_twitter_signin": false, "use_openid": false, "realtime_speed": 5000}, "reactions_start": 0, "settings": {"debug": false, "disqus_url": "http://disqus.com", "media_url": "http://media.disqus.com"}, "media_url": "http://media.disqus.com"};
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};

var disqus_popup_reference = null;

if(typeof DsqLocal == 'undefined') {
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}



/**
 * Dsq.Strings: UI strings
 */
Dsq.Strings = new function() {
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	this.SHARING_OPTIONS = "Sharing options";
	this.SHARE_ON = "Share on";
	this.TWEET_THIS_COMMENT = "Tweet this comment";
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	this.SUBSCRIBE_BY_RSS = "Subscribe by RSS";
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	this.NEWEST_FIRST = "Newest first";
	this.OLDEST_FIRST = "Oldest first";
	this.HIGHLIGHTED = "Highlighted";
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	this.ENABLED = "enabled";
	this.PAUSED = "paused";
	this.PAUSE = "Pause";
	this.RESUME = "Resume";
	this.SHOW = "Show";
	this.JUST_NOW = "Just now";
	this.REPLY = "Reply";
	this.EDIT = "Edit";
	this.FLAG = "Flag";
	this.MODERATE = "Moderate";
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	this.REPLYING_TO = "Replying to";
	this.REPORT_MISSING_REACTIONS = "Report missing reactions";
	this.POST_A_COMMENT = "Post a comment";
	this.FLAG_INAPPROPRIATE_COMMENT = "Flag inappropriate comment";
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	this.NO = "No";
	this.YES = "Yes";
	this.NEVER_MIND = "Never mind";
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	this.THIS_WILL_FLAG_COMMENTS_FOR_MODERATORS_TO_TAKE_ACTION = "This will flag comments for moderators to take action";
	this.TO_RATE_PLEASE_LOG_IN = "To rate, please log in";
	this.JUST_A_MOMENT = "Just a moment...";
	this.GUEST = "Guest";
	this.NAME = "Name";
	this.EMAIL = "Email";
  this.WEBSITE = "Website";
  this.SETTINGS = "Settings";
  this.MODERATOR_OPTIONS = "Moderator options: ";
};
// Dsq.Strings

/**
 * Dsq.FmtStrings: functions that return interpolated UI strings
 */
Dsq.FmtStrings = new function() {
	// Seems we have to use named interpolation for Django to translate. Investigate more.
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	this.LOGOUT_FROM = function(disqus) {
		return Dsq.Utils.interpolate('Logout from %(disqus)s', {disqus:disqus});
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	this.SHOWING_COMMENTS_FULL = function(total, num) {
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			return Dsq.Utils.interpolate("Showing <span id='dsq-num-posts'>%(num)s</span> of <span id='dsq-total-posts'>%(total)s</span> comment", {num:num, total:total});
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			return Dsq.Utils.interpolate("Showing <span id='dsq-num-posts'>%(num)s</span> of <span id='dsq-total-posts'>%(total)s</span> comments", {num:num, total:total});
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	};

	this.SHOWING_COMMENTS_WITHOUT_PAGINATION = function(num) {
		if (num === 1) {
			return Dsq.Utils.interpolate("Showing <span id='dsq-num-posts'>%(num)s</span> comment", {num:num});
		} else {
			return Dsq.Utils.interpolate("Showing <span id='dsq-num-posts'>%(num)s</span> comments", {num:num});
		}
	};

	this.NUMBER_OF_COMMENTS = function(num) {
		return Dsq.Utils.interpolate(
			(num == 1
				? '%(num)s comment'
				: '%(num)s comments'
			), {num:num});
	};

	this.NUMBER_OF_LIKES = function(num) {
		return Dsq.Utils.interpolate(
			(num == 1
				? '%(num)s like'
				: '%(num)s likes'
			), {num:num});
	};

	this.NUMBER_OF_POINTS = function(num) {
		return Dsq.Utils.interpolate(
			(num == 1
				? '%(num)s point'
				: '%(num)s points'
			), {num:num});
	};
};
// Dsq.FmtStrings





Dsq.CSRF_TOKEN = '21bc467119200cb06806902fa8e2f5b0';
Dsq.COMMENTS_RE = /(<li.*?id="?dsq-comment-(\d+)"?.*?>)((?:.|\s)*?)(<\/li>)/gim;
Dsq.POST_RE = /(<div.*?id="?dsq-comment-header-(\d+)"?.*?>)((?:.|\s)*?)(<\/div>)\s*(<div.*?class="?dsq-comment-body"?.*?>)((?:.|\s)*)(<\/div>)/gim;
Dsq.POST_BODY_RE = /\s*(<div.*?id="?dsq-comment-message-(\d+)"?.*?>)((?:.|\s)*)(<\/div>)/gim;
// HACK: Safari ends with "-->" while other browsers end with "--&gt;" as expected.
Dsq.MEDIA_POST_RE = /&lt;!--\[(.*?)\]--(?:>|&gt;)/gim;



// TODO: It might be faster to use string methods to find all <li (...) </li> blocks and pass to Dsq.PostHandler manually.
Dsq.CommentsHandler = function(str, head, post_id, content, tail, offset, s) {
	var prepend_post = Dsq.Templates.prependPost(post_id);
	var append_post = Dsq.Templates.appendPost(post_id);

	content = content.replace(Dsq.POST_RE, Dsq.PostHandler);
	Dsq.Templates.postLoopCounter++;
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};

Dsq.PostHandler = function(str, h_head, post_id, h_content, h_tail, b_head, b_content, b_tail, offset, s) {
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	var append_footer = Dsq.Templates.postFooter(post_id);

	b_content = b_content.replace(Dsq.POST_BODY_RE, Dsq.PostBodyHandler);
	return h_head + prepend_header + h_content + append_header + h_tail + b_head + prepend_body + b_content + append_body + b_tail + append_footer;
};

Dsq.PostBodyHandler = function(str, head, post_id, content, tail, offset, s) {
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};

Dsq.MediaPostHandler = function(str, args, offset, s) {
	args = args.split(' ');
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		return '<br />' + Dsq.Templates.mediaSeesmic(args[1], args[2]);
	}
	return '';
};


/**
 * Shorcuts
 */
Dsq.$ = function(element) { return document.getElementById(element); };
Dsq.$b = document.body || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0];


/**
 * Dsq.Debug: Logging functions.
 */

Dsq.Debug = new function() {this.log=function(s){};this.profile=function(f){if(typeof f == 'function')return f();else return eval(f);};};


/**
 * Dsq.Urls: URL paths
 */
Dsq.Urls = new function() {
	this.LOGIN = '/profile/login/';
	this.LOGOUT = '/logout/';
	this.REPLY = 'http://disqus.com/forums/washingtonindependent/some_more_clarity_on_hawaiian_birth_certificates/reply.html';
	this.REQUEST_USER_PROFILE = '/AnonymousUser/';
	this.REQUEST_USER_AVATAR = 'http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png';
};
// Dsq.Urls

/**
 * Dsq.Validators: Validation for form fields
 */
Dsq.Validators = new function() {
	this.VALID_EMAIL_RE = /^[a-z0-9\-\_\+]+(\.[a-z0-9\-\_\+]+)*\@(([a-z0-9\-\_\+]+(\.[a-z0-9\-\_\+]+)*)+\.[a-z]{2,}|([0-9]+\.){3}[0-9]+)$/i;
	this.name = function(name) {
		var error = false;

		if(typeof Dsq.Templates.placeholder !== 'undefined' &&
		   name == Dsq.Templates.placeholder.name) {
			error = true;
		}
		if(name.length <= 1) {
			error = true;
		}

		if(error) {
			return "Please enter a name to comment.";
		} else {
			return true;
		}
	};
	this.email = function(addr) {
		if(Dsq.Validators.VALID_EMAIL_RE.test(addr)) {
			return true;
		} else {
			return "Please enter a valid email to comment.";
		}
	};
	this.url = function(addr) {
		if(!addr || addr.indexOf('.') != -1) {
			return true;
		} else {
			return "Please check your website URL (this field is optional).";
		}
	};

	this.validate = function(bulk_validation, failure_callback) {
		failure_callback = failure_callback || function(e){ alert(e); };

		for(var i = 0; i < bulk_validation.length; i++) {
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			ret = v.validator(v.value);
			if(ret !== true) {
				failure_callback(ret);
				return false;
			}
		}
		return true;
	};
};

/**
 * Dsq.Utils: Generic utility functions.
 */
Dsq.Utils = new function() {
	this.ie = /msie/i.test(navigator.userAgent) && !/opera/i.test(navigator.userAgent);
	this.ie7 = (document.all && !window.opera && window.XMLHttpRequest) ? true : false;
	this.ie6 = (!window.XMLHttpRequest) ? true: false;
	this.webkit = navigator.userAgent.indexOf('AppleWebKit/') >= 0;
	this.gebiFromElementCollectionCache = {};
	this._styleSheet = null;

	this.gebiFromElement = function(el, id, tag) {
		// This only method only helps IE.
		if(!this.ie) {
			return Dsq.$(id);
		} else {
			var cacheKey = el.id + '-' + tag;
			tag = tag || 'div';
			if(typeof this.gebiFromElementCollectionCache[cacheKey] != 'undefined') {
				collection = this.gebiFromElementCollectionCache[cacheKey];
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				collection = el.getElementsByTagName(tag);
				this.gebiFromElementCollectionCache[cacheKey] = collection;
			}

			for(var i = 0; i < collection.length; i++) {
				if(collection[i].id == id) {
					return collection[i];
				}
			}
			return null;
		}
	};

	this.execOnReady = function(func) {
		var node = document.createElement('document:ready');
		try {
			node.doScroll('left');
			func();
			node = null;
		} catch(err) {
			setTimeout(function() { Dsq.Utils.execOnReady(func); }, 10);
		}
	};


	// Courtesy of http://www.quirksmode.org/js/cookies.html
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		if (days) {
			var date = new Date();
			date.setTime(date.getTime()+(days*24*60*60*1000));
			var expires = "; expires="+date.toGMTString();
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		else var expires = "";
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	this.readCookie = function(name) {
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			if (c.indexOf(nameEQ) == 0) return c.substring(nameEQ.length,c.length);
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	};

	this.eraseCookie = function(name) {
		Dsq.Utils.createCookie(name,"",-1);
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	this.deleteNode = function(node) {
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			this.deleteChildren(node);
			if(typeof node.outerHTML != 'undefined') { node.outerHTML = ''; }
			else if(node.parentNode) { node.parentNode.removeChild(node); }
			delete node;
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	};

	this.deleteChildren = function(node) {
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				var childNode = node.childNodes[x];
				if(childNode.hasChildNodes()) { this.deleteChildren(childNode); }
				if(typeof childNode.outerHTML != 'undefined') { childNode.outerHTML = ''; }
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	};

	this.findPos = function(obj) {
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		var curtop = 0;
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				curleft += obj.offsetLeft;
				curtop += obj.offsetTop;
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	this.getWindowSize = function() {
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		var windowHeight = -1;

		if(typeof(window.innerWidth) == 'number') { //Non-IE
			windowWidth = window.innerWidth;
			windowHeight = window.innerHeight;
		} else if(document.documentElement) { // IE 6+ in 'standards compliant mode'
			windowWidth = document.documentElement.clientWidth || document.body.clientWidth;
			windowHeight = document.documentElement.clientHeight || document.body.clientHeight;
		}

		return [windowWidth, windowHeight];
	}

	this.getScrollPos = function() {
		var scrollWidth, scrollTop;

		if(document.documentElement && (document.documentElement.scrollTop || document.documentElement.scrollWidth)) {
			scrollWidth = document.documentElement.scrollWidth;
			// IE is weird here.  If no doctype is provided, document.body.scrollTop is 0,
			// otherwise document.documentElement.scrollTop is 0.
			scrollTop = document.documentElement.scrollTop || document.body.scrollTop;
		} else if(document.body.scrollTop && document.body.scrollWidth) {
			scrollWidth = document.body.scrollWidth;
			scrollTop = document.body.scrollTop;
		}

		return [scrollWidth, scrollTop];
	}

	this.addEventListener = function(instance, eventName, listener) {
		var listenerFn = listener;
		if (instance.addEventListener) {
			instance.addEventListener(eventName, listenerFn, false);
		} else if (instance.attachEvent) {
			listenerFn = function() {
				listener(window.event);
			};
			instance.attachEvent("on" + eventName, listenerFn);
		} else {
			throw new Error("Event registration not supported");
		}
		return {
			instance: instance,
			name: eventName,
			listener: listenerFn
		};
	};

	this.removeEventListener = function(event) {
		var instance = event.instance;
		if (instance.removeEventListener) {
			instance.removeEventListener(event.name, event.listener, false);
		} else if (instance.detachEvent) {
			instance.detachEvent("on" + event.name, event.listener);
		}
	};

	this.fixIframesIE = function(id) {
		var disqusThread = Dsq.$(disqus_container_id);
		var iframes = disqusThread.getElementsByTagName('iframe');

		if(id) {
			var container = Dsq.$(id);
		} else {
			var container = Dsq.$('dsq-content');
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		for(i = 0; i < iframes.length; i++) {
			if (container) {
				iframes[i].style.width = container.offsetWidth;
			}
		}
	};

	this.getElementsByClassName = function(oElm, strTagName, strClassName) {
	/* Credit: Jonathan Snook [http://www.snook.ca/jonathan], Robert Nyman [http://www.robertnyman.com] */
		var arrElements = (strTagName == "*" && oElm.all)? oElm.all : oElm.getElementsByTagName(strTagName);
		var arrReturnElements = new Array();
		strClassName = strClassName.replace(/\-/g, "\\-");
		var oRegExp = new RegExp("(^|\\s)" + strClassName + "(\\s|$)");
		var oElement;
		for(var i = 0; i < arrElements.length; i++) {
			oElement = arrElements[i];
			if(oRegExp.test(oElement.className)) {
				arrReturnElements.push(oElement);
			}
		}
		return (arrReturnElements);
	};

	this.postToUrl = function(url, post_data, opt_redirect) {
		var form = document.createElement('form');
		var iframe_container = document.createElement('div');
		var id = 'dsq-temp-iframe-' + (new Date()).getTime();

		form.method = 'POST';
		form.action = url;
		if (!opt_redirect) {
			form.target = id;
		}
		iframe_container.innerHTML = '<iframe style="display:none" name="' + id + '" id="' + id + '"></iframe>';

		for(var key in post_data) {
			if(post_data.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
				var input = document.createElement('input');
				input.name = key;
				input.type = 'hidden';
				input.value = post_data[key];

				form.appendChild(input);
			}
		}

		Dsq.$b.appendChild(iframe_container);
		Dsq.$b.appendChild(form);
		form.submit();
	};

	// Strips integer id from id of element in the form ('some-id-###')
	this.extractId = function(e) {
		var chunks = e.id.split('-');
		if(chunks.length <= 1) {
			return 0;
		} else {
			return parseInt(chunks[chunks.length-1]);
		}
	};

	this.getStyle = function(el, styleProp) {
		if(el.currentStyle) {
			var y = el.currentStyle[styleProp];
		} else if(window.getComputedStyle) {
			var y = document.defaultView.getComputedStyle(el, null).getPropertyValue(styleProp);
		}

		if(y == 'transparent' || y == '') {
			this.getStyle(el.parentNode, styleProp);
		} else {
			return y;
		}
	};

	this.execScript = function(url, append_qs, container) {
		var script = document.createElement('script');
		append_qs = typeof append_qs == 'undefined' ? true : append_qs;
		container = container || Dsq.container;

		if(append_qs) {
			var j = (url.indexOf('?') >= 0) ? '&' : '?';
			url += j + (new Date()).getTime();
		}
		script.type = 'text/javascript';
		script.charset = 'UTF-8';
		script.src = url;
		container.appendChild(script);
		return script;
	};

	this.pluralize = function(num, singular, plural) {
		return (num != 1) ? plural || 's' : singular || '';
	};

	this.getRequestParams = function(queryString /* optional */) {
		var pairs, tuple;
		var params = {};

		queryString = queryString || window.location.search.substring(1);
		pairs = queryString.split('&');

		for (var i = 0, pair; pair = pairs[i]; i++) {
			tuple = pair.split('=');
			params[tuple[0]] = (tuple[1] || true);
		}

		return params;
	};

	this.addCssRule = function(selector, styleText, index) {
		var stylesheet;
		index = index || 0;

		if(!this._styleSheet) {
			var styleEl = document.createElement('style');
			document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(styleEl);
			this._styleSheet = styleEl.sheet;
			if(!this._styleSheet) {
				// IE does not like our newly created stylesheet.
				this._styleSheet = document.styleSheets[document.styleSheets.length-1];
			}
		}
		stylesheet = this._styleSheet;

		if(stylesheet.insertRule) {
			var ruleText = selector + ' { ' + styleText + ' }';
			if(index == -1) {
				index = stylesheet.cssRules.length;
			}
			stylesheet.insertRule(ruleText, index);
		} else if(stylesheet.addRule) {
			stylesheet.addRule(selector, styleText, index);
		}
	};

	this.forEachIn = function(obj, callback) {
		for(var key in obj) {
			if(obj.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
				callback(key, obj[key]);
			}
		}
	};

	this._interpolateGlobalContext = {
		// values that get used a lot and are global to the request
		'profile_url': Dsq.Urls.REQUEST_USER_PROFILE,

		'disqus_url': Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url,
		'media_url': Dsq.jsonData.settings.media_url,
		'request_username': Dsq.jsonData.request.username,
		'request_display_username': Dsq.jsonData.request.display_username,
		'forum_name': Dsq.jsonData.forum.name
	};

	this.renderFromContextStack = function(key, contexts) {
		// Returns the first instance of `key` in the array of objects `contexts` or else ''
		for (var i=0; i<contexts.length; i++) {
			if (contexts[i][key] !== undefined) {
				return String(contexts[i][key]);
			}
		}
		throw new Error('key ' + key + ' not found in context');
	};

	var that = this;
	this.interpolate = function(fmt, opt_localContext) {
		// Interpolate `fmt` named-format string with an assumed global context.
		// Based on `interpolate` in django.views.i18n
		var contextStack = [opt_localContext || {}, that._interpolateGlobalContext];
		return fmt.replace(/%\(\w+\)s/g, function(match){
			return that.renderFromContextStack(match.slice(2,-2), contextStack);
		});
	};

	this.stripTags = function(s) {
		// Removes HTML tags from `s`
		return s.replace(/(<([^>]+)>)/g,"");

	};

	this.assert = function(b) {
		if (!b) {
			throw new Error('Assertion error.');
		}
	};

};
// Dsq.Utils

/**
 * Dsq.Popup: Popup helper functions.
 */
Dsq.Popup = new function() {
	this.timeHide = new Array();
	this.timeShow = new Array();
	this.activePopup = {};
	this.profileCache = {};
	this.statusCache = {};

	this.showTimer = function(post_id) {
		// clear the hide timer
		clearTimeout(this.timeHide[post_id]);

		// start the timer
		if(!Dsq.Popup.profileIsOn && !Dsq.Thread.adminIsOn) {
			this.timeShow[post_id] = setTimeout("Dsq.Popup.popProfile(\"" + post_id + "\")", 400);
		}
	};

	this.hideTimer = function(post_id) {
		// clear the show timer
		clearTimeout(this.timeShow[post_id]);
	};

	this.updateProfile = function(username) {
		// Callback from /embed/profile.js
		if (this.statusCache[username]) {
			var statusEl = Dsq.$('dsq-profile-status-' + username);
			statusEl.innerHTML = this.statusCache[username];
			statusEl.style.display = 'block';
		}

		if (this.profileCache[username]) {
			var _cache = this.profileCache[username];

			var _genhtml = function(text) { return '<span><big>' + text + '</big></span>'; };
			var _no_comments = _genhtml(Dsq.FmtStrings.NUMBER_OF_COMMENTS(_cache.comments_count));
			var _no_likes = _genhtml(Dsq.FmtStrings.NUMBER_OF_LIKES(_cache.likes_count));
			var _no_points = _genhtml(Dsq.FmtStrings.NUMBER_OF_POINTS(_cache.points));

			var statsEl = Dsq.$('dsq-popup-profile-user-stats-' + username);
			statsEl.innerHTML = '';

			if (Dsq.jsonData.users[username].registered) {
				statsEl.innerHTML = _no_comments + _no_likes;
			}
			statsEl.innerHTML += _no_points;

			var activeSites = '';
			for (var i = 0; i < _cache.active_sites.length; i++) {
				var site = _cache.active_sites[i];
				activeSites += '<li><a href="' + site.url + '"> \
					<img src="' + site.favicon + '"/ width="16" height="16"/></a>\
					<a href="' + site.url + '">' + site.name + '</a></li>';
			}
			if (activeSites !== '') {
				Dsq.$('dsq-popup-profile-active-sites-' + username).innerHTML = activeSites;
			} else {
				Dsq.$('dsq-popup-profile-active-sites-' + username).innerHTML = 'This site.';
			}

			var moderatedSites = '';
			for (var i = 0; i < _cache.moderated_sites.length; i++) {
				var site = _cache.moderated_sites[i];
				moderatedSites += '<li><a href="' + site.url + '"> \
					<img src="' + site.favicon + '"/ width="16" height="16"/></a>\
					<a href="' + site.url + '">' + site.name + '</a></li>';
			}
			if (moderatedSites !== '') {
				Dsq.$('dsq-popup-profile-moderated-' + username).innerHTML = moderatedSites;
			} else {
				Dsq.$('dsq-popup-profile-moderated-wrapper-' + username).innerHTML = '';
			}
		}

		// Reposition popup after full HTML is rendered
		if(Dsq.Popup.activePopup && Dsq.Popup.activePopup.el) {
			Dsq.Popup.initPopup(Dsq.Popup.activePopup.el, Dsq.Popup.activePopup.id, Dsq.Popup.activePopup.type);
		}

	};

	this.showCookieMsgs = function() {
		var title = '';
		var message = '';
		var numAlerts = 0;

		Dsq.Utils.forEachIn(Dsq.jsonData.cookie_messages, function(k, v) {
			if (!v) return;

			switch(k) {
				// Cookie: Twitter
				case 'post_twitter':
					if (v === 'error') {
						title = 'Twitter Error!';
						message += '<li id="dsq-msg-twitter-error">Oops, we couldn\'t tweet this comment. Please check your <a href="http://disqus.com/account/services">account settings</a>.</li>';
					} else {
						var _msg = v.split(':');
						title = 'Tweeted!';
						message += '<li id="dsq-msg-twitter-success">Your comment was successfully tweeted. <a href="http://twitter.com/' + _msg[0] + '/status/' + _msg[1] + '">Click here to view the tweet</a>.</li>';
					}
					break;
				// Cookie: Unapproved Post
				case 'post_not_approved':
					title = 'Comment awaiting approval by a moderator';
					message += '<li id="dsq-msg-post-not-approved">Your comment must be approved by a moderator before appearing here.</li>';
					break;
				// Cookie: Profile Found
				case 'post_has_profile':
					title = 'Use your existing commenter profile';
					message += '<li id="dsq-msg-post-has-profile">You have just posted your commment as a <span class="dsq-badge-guest">Guest</span>, but you may already have a <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span> Profile.<br /><br /><a href="http://disqus.com/claim">Log in and claim this comment!</a></li>';
					break;
				case 'user_created':
					var _data = v.split(':');
					title = 'Profile created!';
					message += '<li id="dsq-msg-user-created">You have just created a <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span> Profile, the best way to claim, manage, and track your comments all over the web. \
					<br /><br />A confirmation is being sent to <strong>' + _data[1] + '</strong>. Please check for this email in order to verify your profile. \
					<ul class="dsq-list-tick"> \
						<li>Your username is <strong>' + _data[0] +'</strong>. <a href="http://disqus.com/people/' + _data[0] + '/" target="_blank">Click here to view your public profile</a>.</li> \
						<li>Be sure to set your profile picture, as well as connect your <span class="dsq-badge-facebook">Facebook</span> and <span class="dsq-badge-twitter">Twitter</span> accounts. <a href="http://disqus.com/account/" target="_blank">Click here for account settings</a>.</li> \
					</ul> \
					</li>'
					break;
				default:
					break;
			}
			numAlerts++;
		});

		if(numAlerts > 1) {
			message = '<ul class="dsq-list-bluebullet">' + message;
			message += '</ul>';
			title = 'Thanks for posting!';
		}
		if(numAlerts > 0) {
			if(typeof(disqus_cookie_msgs) == 'function') {
				disqus_cookie_msgs(message, title);
			} else {
				Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, title);
			}
		}
	};

	this.helpBadges = function(post_id) {
		var html = ' \
			<ul class="dsq-popup-help"> \
				<li><span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-verified">Verified</span> has a <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span> Profile with a confirmed email address.</li> \
				<li><span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-registered">Registered</span> has a <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span> Profile, but has not yet confirmed his or her email address.</li> \
				<li><span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-guest">Guest</span> is not logged in with any account and has not claimed his or her comments.</li> \
				<li class="dsq-help-otheraccts">Other accounts</li> \
				<li><span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-facebook">Facebook</span> is using his or her Facebook profile via Facebook Connect.</li> \
				<li><span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-twitter">Twitter</span> is using his or her Twitter profile via Twitter Sign-in.</li> \
				<li><span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-openid">OpenID</span> is using his or her OpenID.</li> \
			</ul> \
		';

		this.popModal(html, 'Help: Types of Commenters', post_id);
		return;
	};

	this.permalink = function(post_id) {
		var header = 'Link to this comment';
		var body = '<strong>You are anchored to</strong>:<br />' + document.location.protocol + '//' + document.location.host + document.location.pathname + document.location.search + '#comment-' + post_id;

		this.popModal(body, header, post_id);
	};

	this.login = function(header, body) {
		var h = header || 'Login or Register';
		var b = body || '';
		b += Dsq.Templates.frameLogin({id: 'dsq-popup-login'});
		b += '</iframe>'; // HACK: Sometimes there is something funky with the IFRAME SRC that causes no end tag
		this.popModal(b, h, null, true, 'dsq-popup-login');
	};

	this.blacklist = function(id) {
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[id];
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][_meta.user_key];
		var title = 'Add to Blacklist';
		var message = ' \
		Adding this person to the blacklist will block him or her from commenting on this site. Check the following types that you would like to add to the blacklist:'
		+ (userData['registered'] ?
			'<div class="dsq-blacklist-option"> \
				<input id="dsq-blacklist-username" type="checkbox" checked> \
				<label for="dsq-blacklist-username"><strong>Username</strong>: ' + userData['username'] + '</label> \
			</div>'
			: '')
		+ (_meta.email ?
			'<div class="dsq-blacklist-option"> \
				<input id="dsq-blacklist-email" type="checkbox" checked> \
				<label for="dsq-blacklist-email"><strong>Email address</strong>: ' + _meta.email + '</label> \
			</div>'
			: '')
		+ '<div class="dsq-blacklist-option"> \
			<input id="dsq-blacklist-ip" type="checkbox" onclick="Dsq.$(\'dsq-blacklist-ip-warning\').style.display=\'block\'"> \
			<label for="dsq-blacklist-ip"><strong>IP address</strong>: ' + _meta.ip + '</label> \
		</div> \
		';

		message += ' \
			<p id="dsq-blacklist-ip-warning" style="display:none">	\
				Note: Blocking this person\'s IP address may also unintentionally prevent others, who share his/her IP address, from commenting on this site. \
				This may include people who are sharing the same computer, living in the same house, or using the same Internet provider. Only block an IP address as a last resort. \
			</p> \
		';

		message += ' \
			<p style="text-align:center"><button onclick="Dsq.Post.blockUser(' + id + '); this.disabled=true; this.innerHTML=\'Just one moment...\'">Add to Blacklist</button></p> \
		';

		Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, title);
	};

	this.remoteAccountSettings = function() {
		var body = '';
		// Set up IFrame.
		var params = {};
		var base_url = 'http://disqus.com/forums/washingtonindependent/_auth/embed/remote_settings/';
		var attributes = {id: 'dsq-popup-account-settings'};
		if (typeof disqus_frame_theme != 'undefined') {
			params['theme'] = disqus_frame_theme;
		}

		body = Dsq.Templates._frameGeneric(base_url, params, attributes);
		this.popModal(body, 'Account Settings', null, true, 'dsq-popup-account-settings');
	};

	this.popModal = function(message, title, post_id, use_listener, extra_classes) {
		var container = document.createElement('div');
		var header, body;

		Dsq.Popup._closePopup(null, true);

		if(typeof(title) == 'undefined') { title = ''; }
		if(typeof(use_listener) == 'undefined') { use_listener = true; }

		if(post_id) {
			container.id = 'dsq-popup-message-' + post_id;
		} else {
			container.id = 'dsq-popup-message';
		}

		header = title;
		body = message;

		container.innerHTML = Dsq.Templates.popupModal(header, body);
		Dsq.Popup.initPopup(container, post_id, 'message', extra_classes);
		if(use_listener) {
			Dsq.Popup.popupListener = Dsq.Utils.addEventListener(document, 'mouseup', Dsq.Popup._closePopup);
		}
	};

	this.popAlert = this.popModal;

	this.loading = function(post_id) {
		var title = Dsq.Strings.JUST_A_MOMENT;
		var body = '<div style="text-align:center; padding: 5px 0 10px 0"><img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/loading.gif" alt="" /></div>'
		Dsq.Popup.lightbox(body, title, post_id);
	};

	this.lightbox = function(message, title, post_id) {
		// Wraps Dsq.Popup.popModal

		var overlay = document.createElement('div');
		overlay.id = 'dsq-overlay';
		overlay.className = 'dsq-overlay';
		Dsq.$b.appendChild(overlay);
		
		Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, title, post_id, false, 'dsq-lightbox');
	};

	this.popProfile = function(post_id, userKey) {
		var post = Dsq.jsonData['posts'][post_id];
		if (post && post.has_been_anonymized) {
			Dsq.Popup.popModal('This message was anonymized by its previous owner.', 'Anonymized', post_id);
			return;
		}

		if(post_id) {
			userKey = Dsq.jsonData['posts'][post_id].user_key;	
		}
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][userKey];
		var elId = 'dsq-popup-profile-' + userKey;
		var container = document.createElement('div');

		if(this.activePopup.el) {
			this._closePopup(null, true);
			if(this.activePopup.linkClicked) {
				this.activePopup.linkClicked = false;
				return;
			}
		}

		container.id = elId;
		container.innerHTML = Dsq.Templates.popupProfile(userKey);

		this.initPopup(container, post_id, 'profile');
		this.popupListener = Dsq.Utils.addEventListener(document, 'mouseup', this._closePopup);

		if(!this.profileCache[userKey]) {
			Dsq.Utils.execScript('http://disqus.com/embed/profile.js'
				+ '?username=' + userKey
				+ '&anon=' + (userData['registered'] ? 0 : 1)
				+ '&f=' + Dsq.jsonData['request'].forum);
		} else {
			this.updateProfile(userKey);
		}
	};

	this._closePopup = function(e, force) {
		var activePopup = Dsq.Popup.activePopup.el;
		var id = Dsq.Popup.activePopup.id;
		var link = 'dsq-avatar-' + id; // HACK: Specific to profile toggle target

		// HACK: This event should be gone if there is no active popup.
		if(!activePopup) {
			return;
		}
		if(force || !Dsq.Popup.isClicked(e, activePopup.id)) {
			// TODO: This is breaking iE?
			if(Dsq.Popup.popupListener) {
				Dsq.Utils.removeEventListener(Dsq.Popup.popupListener);
			}
			
			// Kill overlay
			var overlay = Dsq.$('dsq-overlay');
			if(overlay) { Dsq.Utils.deleteNode(overlay); }
			
			try {
				Dsq.Utils.deleteNode(activePopup);
			} catch(e) {
				// HACK: IE6 throws an error when using deleteNode() with a node containing a <table> in the html.
				activePopup.parentNode.removeChild(activePopup);
			}
			Dsq.Popup.activePopup = {};
		}

		if(!force && Dsq.Popup.isClicked(e, link)) {
 			Dsq.Popup.activePopup.linkClicked = true;
		}

	};

	this.initPopup = function(popup, post_id, type, extra_classes) {
		popup.className = 'dsq-popup dsq-popup-' + type + ' ' + (extra_classes ? extra_classes : '');
		if(Dsq.Utils.ie6 || Dsq.Utils.ie7) {
			// HACK: We can't modify the body before it's ready, so we need
			//       to use an IE-safe "DOMReady" workaround before loading
			//       our popup.
			Dsq.Utils.execOnReady(function() {Dsq.$b.appendChild(popup); });
		} else {
			Dsq.$b.appendChild(popup);
		}

		popup.style.display = 'block';

		var xPos = (Dsq.Utils.getWindowSize()[0] - popup.offsetWidth) / 2;
		var yPos = (Dsq.Utils.getWindowSize()[1] - popup.offsetHeight) / 2;

		if(Dsq.Utils.ie6) {
			yPos += Dsq.Utils.getScrollPos()[1];
		}

		popup.style.left = xPos + 'px';
		popup.style.top = yPos + 'px';

		Dsq.Popup.activePopup = {
			'el' : popup,
			'id' : post_id,
			'type': type,
			'linkClicked' : false
		};
	};

	this.isClicked = function(e, id) {
		var t = e.target || e.srcElement;
		while(t && t.parentNode) {
			if(t.id == id) {
				return true;
			}

			t = t.parentNode;
		}
		return false;
	};
};
// Dsq.Popup

/**
 * Dsq.Templates
 */
Dsq.Templates = new function() {
	/*
	 * Counter keeping track of the number of posts iterated over.
	 */
	this.postLoopCounter = 0;
	this.filters = {};
	this.addPostContainer = 'dsq-post-add';
	this.textareaContainer = 'dsq-post-add';

	this.registerTemplate = function(name, func) {
		this['$$_' + name] = func;

		if(typeof DsqLocal.Filters != 'undefined'
		&& typeof DsqLocal.Filters[name] == 'function') {
			// Push filters to this.filters to unify code.
			this.filters[name] = this.filters[name] || [];
			this.filters[name].push(DsqLocal.Filters[name]);
		}

		this[name] = function() {
			var ret;

			if(typeof DsqLocal.Templates != 'undefined'
			&& typeof DsqLocal.Templates[name] == 'function') {
				ret = DsqLocal.Templates[name].apply(this, arguments);
			}

			if(ret === undefined) {
				ret = this['$$_' + name].apply(this, arguments);
			}

			if(this.filters[name]) {
				var args = [ret];

				args.push.apply(args, arguments);
				for(var i = 0; i < this.filters[name].length; i++) {
					ret = this.filters[name][i].apply(this, args);
				}
			}

			return ret;
		};
	};

	this.registerFilter = function(name, func) {
		this.filters[name] = this.filters[name] || [];
		this.filters[name].push(func);
	};

	/**
	 * Dsq.Templates.Filters
	 */
	this.Filters = new function() {
		this.commentContainer = function(post_id, s) {
			var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
			var classes = [];
			if(Dsq.jsonData.request.page > 1) {
				classes.push('dsq-append');
			}

			//
			// Extra classes used for custom themes
			//

			if(_meta.depth) {
				classes.push('dsq-comment-child', 'dsq-depth-' + _meta.depth, 'dsq-parent-is-' + _meta.parent_post_id);
			}


			//

			if(_meta.author_is_creator) {
				// TODO: We need to deprecate the "special" class since it is not properly prefixed.
				classes.push('special', 'dsq-special');
			}
			if(_meta.author_is_moderator) {
				classes.push('dsq-moderator');
			}
			classes.push(['dsq-odd', 'dsq-even'][Dsq.Templates.postLoopCounter % 2]);

			s = s.substring(0, s.lastIndexOf('>'));
			return s + ' class="dsq-comment ' + classes.join(' ') + '" style="margin-left:' + _meta.depth*30 + 'px">';
		};

		this.commentContent = function(post_id, s) {
			var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
			if (_meta.killed) {
				return '<em>Comment removed.</em>';
			} else if (!_meta.approved) {
				return '<em>This comment was flagged for review.</em>';
			}

			s = s.replace(Dsq.MEDIA_POST_RE, Dsq.MediaPostHandler);
			return s;
		};
	};

	//
	// Thread
	//
	// TODO: These need to be stripped of all Django template tags.

	this.authPost = function() {
		if (!Dsq.jsonData.context.show_reply) {
			return '';
		}
		var result = [];
		result = result.concat([
				'<div id="dsq-auth"',
						Dsq.jsonData.integration.reply_position ? 'class="dsq-auth-bottom"' : '',
						'>',
					'<div class="dsq-by">',
						'<a href="http://disqus.com" target="_blank">',
							(Dsq.jsonData.integration.disqus_logo ?
								Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<img src="%(media_url)s/images/embed/by-disqus.png" alt="discussion by DISQUS">') :
								Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<img src="%(media_url)s/images/embed/dsq-button-120x19.png" alt="discussion by DISQUS">')
							),
						'</a>',
					'</div>',
					'<div class="dsq-auth-header">',
						'<h3 id="dsq-add-new-comment" class="dsq-h3-addcomment">',
								Dsq.Strings.ADD_NEW_COMMENT,
						'</h3>',
						'<div id="dsq-login">',
						(!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated && Dsq.jsonData.forum.allow_anon_post
								? '<p class="dsq-login-message" id="dsq-login-message">You are commenting as a <a class="dsq-help" title="Click for more information" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Popup.helpBadges(); return false">Guest</a>. You may log into:</p>'
								: '')
		]);
		if (!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated) {
			result = result.concat([
							Dsq.Utils.interpolate(
								'<a id="dsq-login-toggle" href="%(disqus_url)s%(login_url)s?next=article:%(thread_id)s" onclick="Dsq.Popup.login(); return false"><img class="dsq-login-icon" src="%(media_url)s/images/dsq-profile-btn.png" title="%(log_into)s" alt="%(log_into)s"/></a>',
								{login_url: Dsq.Urls.LOGIN, thread_id: Dsq.jsonData.thread.id, log_into: Dsq.Strings.LOG_INTO_DISQUS}
								),
							'&nbsp; ',
							(Dsq.jsonData.context.use_fb_connect ?
								'<div id="dsq-fbc-login" onlogin="DisqusFbcParentController.onLogin()" size="medium" background="light" length="short" style="display:inline; margin-right:7px"></div>' :
								''
							),
							(Dsq.jsonData.context.use_twitter_signin ?
								Dsq.Utils.interpolate(
									'<div id="dsq-twitter-login" class="dsq-twitter-login" onclick="Dsq.Twitter.startTwitterConnect();" style="display:inline; cursor: pointer"><img src="%(media_url)s/images/twitter-signin-short.png" style="margin-right:7px" /></div>', {}) : ''),
							(Dsq.jsonData.context.use_openid ?
								Dsq.Utils.interpolate(
									'<div id="dsq-openid-login" class="dsq-openid-login" onclick="Dsq.OpenID.requestURL();" style="display:inline; cursor:pointer;"><img src="%(media_url)s/images/openid-login-button.png"/></div>', {}
								) : '')
			]);
		}
		result = result.concat([
						'</div>', // dsq-login
					'</div>', // dsq-auth-header
					'<div id="dsq-authenticated" class="dsq-authenticated" ',
						Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated ? 'style="display:block"' : '',
						'>',
						'<div class="dsq-authenticated-pic">',
								Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<a href="%(url)s" title="%(request_display_username)s">' +
																			'<img class="dsq-post-avatar" src="%(avatar_url)s" alt="" /></a>',
																			{avatar_url: Dsq.Urls.REQUEST_USER_AVATAR,
																			url: (Dsq.jsonData.request.is_remote
																					 ? Dsq.jsonData.request.url
																					 : Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url + Dsq.Urls.REQUEST_USER_PROFILE) }),
						'</div>',
						'<div class="dsq-authenticated-info">',
							'<ul>',
								'<li>',
									(Dsq.jsonData.request.is_remote
										? Dsq.FmtStrings.LOGGED_IN_AS(
												Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<a href="%(url)s" title="%(request_display_username)s">%(request_display_username)s</a>', {url:Dsq.jsonData.request.url})
										  )
										: Dsq.FmtStrings.LOGGED_IN_AS(
												Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<a href="%(disqus_url)s%(profile_url)s" title="%(request_display_username)s">%(request_display_username)s</a>')
											)
									),
								'</li>',
								'<li class="logout">',
									(!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_remote
										? Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<img class="dsq-login-icon" src="%(media_url)s/images/dsqicon12.png" alt="%(logged_in_as)s"/>&nbsp',
											{logged_in_as: Dsq.FmtStrings.LOGGED_IN_AS(Dsq.jsonData.request.display_username)})
										: ''),

									(!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_remote
										? Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<a href="%(disqus_url)s%(logout_url)s?ctkn=%(csrf_token)s" title="%(logout_from_disqus)s">',
											{logout_url: Dsq.Urls.LOGOUT, csrf_token: Dsq.CSRF_TOKEN, logout_from_disqus: Dsq.FmtStrings.LOGOUT_FROM('DISQUS')})
										: ((Dsq.jsonData.request.remote_domain == 'twitter')
												? Dsq.Utils.interpolate('using Twitter (<a href="%(disqus_url)s%(logout_url)s?ctkn=%(csrf_token)s" title="Logout">Logout</a>)',
												 {logout_url: Dsq.Urls.LOGOUT, csrf_token: Dsq.CSRF_TOKEN})
												: ((Dsq.jsonData.request.remote_domain == 'openid')
													 ? Dsq.Utils.interpolate('using OpenID (<a href="%(disqus_url)s%(logout_url)s?ctkn=%(csrf_token)s" title="Logout">Logout</a>)',
													 {logout_url: Dsq.Urls.LOGOUT, csrf_token: Dsq.CSRF_TOKEN})
													 : ''
													)
											)
									),

									(!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_remote ? Dsq.FmtStrings.LOGOUT_FROM('<span class="logo-disqus">DISQUS</span>') : ''),
									'</a>',
								'</li>',
							'</ul>',
						'</div>',
					'</div>'
		]);
		if (Dsq.jsonData.context.use_fb_connect) {
			result = result.concat([
					'<div id="dsq-fbc-authenticated" class="dsq-authenticated">',
						'<div id="dsq-fbc-profilepic" class="dsq-authenticated-pic" uid="loggedinuser" type="FB.XFBML.ProfilePic" size="square" facebook-logo="true"></div>',
						'<div class="dsq-authenticated-info">',
							'<ul>',
								'<li>',
									'Logged in as <span id="dsq-fbc-name" uid="loggedinuser" type="FB.XFBML.Name" linked="true" useyou="false"></span>',
								'</li>',
								'<li class="logout">using Facebook Connect <a href="#" onclick="javascript:DisqusFbcParentController.logout();return false;">(Logout)</a></li>',
							'</ul>',
						'</div>',
					'</div>'
			]);
		}
		result = result.concat([
				'</div>', // dsq-auth
				'<div id="dsq-toolbar-items">',
				'</div>'
		]);
		result = result.concat([
					//
					//
					//
				((!Dsq.jsonData.forum.allow_anon_post && !Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated) ?
					// Needs to be translated:
					('<p id="dsq-no-anon-msg">Required: Please log into <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span> ' +
					(Dsq.jsonData.context.use_fb_connect ? 'or connect with Facebook ' : '') +
					(Dsq.jsonData.context.use_twitter_signin ? 'or sign in with Twitter ' : '') +
					(Dsq.jsonData.context.use_openid ? 'or sign in using OpenID ' : '') +
					Dsq.Utils.interpolate('to comment on <strong>%(forum_name)s</strong>.</p>')) :
					''
				),
				'<div id="dsq-post-add"></div>',
				'<div style="margin:10px 0">',
				((Dsq.jsonData.forum.use_media) ?
						'<a href="#" id="dsq-media-link" onclick="Dsq.Post.showMenu(this, false, \'media\'); return false">' + Dsq.Strings.USE_MEDIA + ' <small>&#9660;</small></a>' :
						''),
				'</div>'
		]);
		return result.join('');
	};


	this.header = function() {

		var html = '\<h3 id="dsq-comments-count" class="dsq-h3-commentcount">\
	 Showing <span id="dsq-num-posts">50</span> of <span id="dsq-total-posts">275</span> Comments\
	 &nbsp;\
	 <span class="dsq-item-feed">\
	 <a href="http://disqus.com/forums/washingtonindependent/some_more_clarity_on_hawaiian_birth_certificates/latest.rss"><img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/embed/bullet-feed.png"></a>\
	 </span>\
	 </h3>\
	 <div id="dsq-options" style="margin:15px 0">\
	 <span class="dsq-item-sort">\
	 Sort by\
	 <select id="dsq-sort-select" onchange="Dsq.Thread.sortBy(this.value);">\
	 <option value="hot" >Popular now</option>\
	 <option value="best" >Best Rating</option>\
	 <option value="newest" selected="selected">Newest first</option>\
	 <option value="oldest" >Oldest first</option>\
	 </select>\
	 &nbsp;\
	 </span>\
	 <span class="dsq-item-cp"><a href="http://disqus.com/forums/washingtonindependent/some_more_clarity_on_hawaiian_birth_certificates/">Community Page</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>\
	 <span class="dsq-item-subscribe">\
	 <img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/embed/email.png" style="width:12px;height:12px;vertical-align:middle">\
	 <span id="dsq-subscribe">\
	 <a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Thread.subscribe(1); return false">Subscribe by email</a>\
	 </span>\
	 </span>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-alerts">\
	 </div>\
		';

		
			html = Dsq.Templates.authPost() + html;
		

		
		if (Dsq.jsonData.request.is_moderator) { 
			html = ' \
			<div class="dsq-alert-message dsq-upgrade-message"> \
				<strong>Disqus upgrade available.</strong> Hi ' + Dsq.jsonData.request.display_username + ', this message is being displayed to you because you are a moderator of this site. <a href="#" onclick="Dsq.$(\'dsq-upgrade-message\').style.display=\'block\';this.style.display=\'none\';return false">Click here for details.</a> \
				<div style="display:none; margin-top:10px;" id="dsq-upgrade-message"> \
					A new theme is available with added features. <a href="http://disqus.com/comments/settings/' + Dsq.jsonData.forum.url + '/?p=customize">To change your theme, click here</a> and choose the theme Narcissus. \
					If you do not upgrade, you are missing out on features such as: real-time commenting, new sign-in integrations, and an upgrade interface. \
					<strong>This message will automatically go away in one week.</strong> \
				</div> \
			</div> \
			' + html; 
		}
		return html;
	};

	this.footer = function() {
		var html = Dsq.Templates.pagination();

		

		html += Dsq.Templates.reactions();

		

		return html;
	};

	this.pagination = function() {
		var html = '';
		
		if (Dsq.$('dsq-pagination')) { Dsq.$('dsq-pagination').innerHTML = ''; }
		if (!Dsq.jsonData.thread.paginate) { return ''; }

		//
		// TODO: num_paginator still uses the template tag for pagination, 
		// 		while append_paginator does it all in JavaScript.
		//		This should all be in JavaScript.
		//

		if (Dsq.jsonData.thread.num_pages > 1 && Dsq.jsonData.request.page < Dsq.jsonData.thread.num_pages) {
			html = ' \<a class="dsq-paginate-append-text" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Thread.paginate(Dsq.jsonData.request.page + 1, this); return false">Show more comments...</a>\
	 <button class="dsq-button-small dsq-paginate-append-button" onclick="Dsq.Thread.paginate(Dsq.jsonData.request.page + 1, this);">Load more comments</button>\
			';
		}
		
		if (Dsq.$('dsq-pagination')) {
			Dsq.$('dsq-pagination').innerHTML = html;
			return '';
		} else {
			return '<div id="dsq-pagination" class="dsq-pagination">' + html + '</div>';
		}
	};

	this.trackbacks = function() {
		var html = '';

		if(typeof DsqLocal != 'undefined' && DsqLocal.trackback_url && DsqLocal.trackbacks) {
			var trackbacks = DsqLocal.trackbacks;
			var trackback_url = DsqLocal.trackback_url;
		} else {
			var trackbacks = [
			
			
			];
			var trackback_url = 'http://disqus.com/forums/washingtonindependent/some_more_clarity_on_hawaiian_birth_certificates/trackback/';
		}

		html += '<div class="dsq-item-trackback">Trackback URL&nbsp;&nbsp;<input class="dsq-trackback-url" onclick="this.select()" readonly="true" value="' + trackback_url + '"></div>';

		if(trackbacks.length) {
			html += '<ul id="dsq-references">'
			for(var i = 0; i < trackbacks.length; i++) {
				var trackback = trackbacks[i];
				html += '<li><cite><a href="' + trackback.author_url + '" rel="nofollow">' + trackback.author_name + '</a></cite> \
						<p class="dsq-meta">' + trackback.date + '</p> \
						<p class="dsq-content">' + trackback.excerpt + '</p></li>';
			}
			html += '</ul>';
			html = '<h3 class="dsq-h3-trackbacks">Trackbacks</h3>' + html;
		}

		return html;
	}

	this.showRetweets = function(id, limit, element_id /* Optional */) {
		var source, html = '';

		for (var i = 0, reaction; reaction = Dsq.jsonData.reactions[i]; i++) {
			if (reaction.id === id) {
				source = reaction.retweets;
			}
		}

		if (source) {
			if (limit === 0) {
				limit = source.length;
			}

			for (var j = 0; j < limit; j++) {
				var rt = source[j];
				html += '<a href="' + rt.url + '">' + rt.author_name + '</a>'	+ ((j === (limit - 1)) ? '.' : ', ');
			}
		}

		if (element_id === undefined) {
			return html;
		}

		var element = document.getElementById(element_id);
		element.innerHTML = html;
		return element;
	};

	this.showMoreReactions = function(reactions, has_more, start, limit) {
		var link = document.getElementById('dsq-show-more-reactions');
		var container = link.parentNode;
		container.removeChild(link);

		for (var i = 0, reaction; reaction = reactions[i]; i++) {
			var el = Dsq.Templates.generateReactionHTML(reaction);
			if (el) {
				container.innerHTML += el;
			}
		}

		if (has_more) {
			var d = Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url;
			var f = Dsq.jsonData.forum.url;
			var t = Dsq.jsonData.thread.id;
			var s = start;
			var l = limit;

			var handler = 'Dsq.Utils.execScript(\'' + d + '/forums/' + f + '/more_reactions.js?t=' + t + '&s=' + s + '&l=' + l + '\', true); return false;';
			container.innerHTML += '<li id="dsq-show-more-reactions"><a href="#" onclick="' + handler + '">Show more reactions</a></li>';
		}
	};

	this.generateReactionHTML = function(reaction) {
		if (reaction.body === null || reaction.body == '') {
			return;
		}

		if (reaction.author_name === '') {
			reaction.author_name = '&nbsp;';
		}

		if (reaction.url === '') {
			reaction.url = reaction.get_service_url;
		}

		/* Reaction HTML begins */
		var item = '<li class="dsq-reaction" id="dsq-reaction-' + reaction.id + '">'
			+ '<div class="dsq-reaction-header">'
			+ '<div class="dsq-header-avatar">';

		if (reaction.author_url && reaction.author_url !== '') {
			item += '<a target="_blank" href="' + reaction.author_url +'">';
		} else {
			item += '<a target="_blank" href="#" onclick="return false;">';
		}

		if (reaction.avatar_url && reaction.avatar_url !== '') {
			item += '<img src="' + reaction.avatar_url + '"/>';
		} else {
			item += '<img src="' + Dsq.jsonData.media_url + '/images/noavatar32.png"/>';
		}

		var service_icon = (reaction.get_service_name == 'trackback' || reaction.get_service_name == 'pingback' ? 'rss' : reaction.get_service_name.replace(' ', ''));
		item += '<img class="dsq-service-icon" src="' + Dsq.jsonData.media_url + '/images/reactions/services/' + service_icon + '.png"/>'
			+ '</a></div>'
			+ '<cite><span>' + reaction.author_name + '</span></cite>'
			+ '<span class="dsq-header-meta"><a class="dsq-header-time">' + reaction.date_created + '</a></span>'
			+ '</div><div class="dsq-reaction-body">'
			+ '<div class="dsq-reaction-message">' + reaction.body + '</div>'
			+ '<div class="dsq-reaction-footer">From <a class="dsq-service-name" target="_blank" href="' + reaction.url + '">' + reaction.get_service_name + '</a> '
			+ 'via ' + (reaction.source == 'backtype' ? '<a href="http://backtype.com/">BackType</a>' : '<a href="' + reaction.source_url + '">UberVU</a>')
			+ (Dsq.jsonData.request.is_moderator || Dsq.jsonData.request.is_global_moderator ? '&nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;<a class="dsq-hide-reaction" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Reaction.hide(' + reaction.id + '); return false;">Hide</a>' : '') + '</div></div>';

		if(reaction.retweets) {
			var num_retweets = reaction.retweets.length;
			if (num_retweets > 0) {
				item += '<div class="dsq-reaction-retweets">';
				if (num_retweets == 1) {
					item += 'One more retweet from <a href="' + reaction.retweets[0].url + '">'  + reaction.retweets[0].author_name + '</a>';
				} else {
					item += (num_retweets + ' more retweets from ');

					item += '<span id="dsq-reaction-retweets-' + reaction.id + '">';
					var n_tweets = (num_retweets > 15) ? 15 : num_retweets;
					item += Dsq.Templates.showRetweets(reaction.id, n_tweets);

					if (n_tweets != num_retweets) {
						item += '</span> <a onclick="Dsq.Templates.showRetweets(' + reaction.id + ', 0, \'dsq-reaction-retweets-' + reaction.id + '\');'
							+ 'this.parentNode.removeChild(this); return false;" href="#">Show all</a>';
					}
				}
				item += '</div>';
			}
		}

		item += '</li>'; /* Reaction HTML ends */
		return item;
	};

	this.reactions = function() {
		var html, reaction;

		if (Dsq.jsonData.reactions === undefined || Dsq.jsonData.reactions.length === 0) {
			return '';
		}

		html = '';
		for (var i = 0; reaction = Dsq.jsonData.reactions[i]; i++) {
			var item = Dsq.Templates.generateReactionHTML(reaction);
			if (item) {
				html += item;
			}
		}

		if (Dsq.jsonData.has_more_reactions) {
			var d = Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url;
			var f = Dsq.jsonData.forum.url;
			var t = Dsq.jsonData.thread.id;
			var s = Dsq.jsonData.reactions_start;
			var l = Dsq.jsonData.reactions_limit;

			var handler = 'Dsq.Utils.execScript(\'' + d + '/forums/' + f + '/more_reactions.js?t=' + t + '&s=' + s + '&l=' + l + '\', true); return false;';
			html += '<li id="dsq-show-more-reactions"><a href="#" onclick="' + handler + '">Show more reactions</a></li>';
		}

		return '<h3 class="dsq-h3-reactions">Reactions</h3><ul id="dsq-reactions" class="dsq-reactions">' + html + '</ul>';
	};
	
	this.missingPermissions = function() {
		return '';
	};

	//
	// Post
	//

	this.prependPost = function(post_id) {
		var html = '<div id="comment-' + post_id + '"></div>';
		return html;
	};

	this.appendPost = function(post_id) {
		var html = '<div id="dsq-comment-reply-' + post_id + '"></div>';
		return html;
	};

	this.postPrependHeader = function(post_id) {
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][_meta.user_key];

		var _includeServices = function() {
			var userServices = Dsq.Post.getUserServices(null, post_id);
			var html = '';
			var hiddenThreshold = 3; // Define # of services to show before stuffing them in hidden div

			for(var i = 0; i < userServices.length; i++) {
				html +=
				(i == hiddenThreshold
					? '<li id="dsq-drop-hidden-' + post_id +'" class="dsq-drop-hidden"><ul>'
					: '')
				+ '<li class="dsq-drop-services"> \
					<a class="dsq-service-' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '" href="' + userServices[i].url + '" target="_blank"> \
						<img src="' + Dsq.jsonData.media_url + '/images/embed/services/' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '.png" alt="' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '">'
					+ userServices[i].name
					+ '</a> \
				</li>';
			}

			if(i >= hiddenThreshold) {
				html += '</ul></li> \
				<li id="dsq-drop-more-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-drop-more"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.dropProfileMore(this, '+ post_id + '); return false"><small>&#9660;</small></a></li> \
				';
			}
			return html;
		};

		return ' \
			<div class="dsq-header-avatar" id="dsq-header-avatar-' + post_id + '" onmouseover="Dsq.Post.dropProfile(' + post_id + ')"> \
				<a id="dsq-avatar-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-avatar" href="' + userData.url + '" onclick="Dsq.Popup.popProfile(' + post_id + '); return false;">'
			+ (Dsq.jsonData.forum.show_avatar
				? '<img src="' + Dsq.jsonData.users[_meta.user_key].avatar + '" alt="" />'
				: '')
			+ '</a>'
			+ '</div> \
		';
	};

	this.postAppendHeader = function(post_id) {
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];

		return ''
			+ (_meta.author_is_moderator
				? '<img class="dsq-mod-star" src="http://media.disqus.com/images/bullet-star.png" title="Moderator" alt="" />'
				: '')
			+ '<span class="dsq-header-meta"> \
				<a id="dsq-time-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-header-time" href="#comment-' + post_id + '" title="Permalink">' + _meta.date + '</a> \
			</span>';
	};

	this.preBody = function(post_id) {
		return '';
	}

	this.postBody = function(post_id) {
		// TODO: Deprecate flagging conditional
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
		return ''
			+ (_meta.edited
				? '<p class="dsq-editedtxt">(Edited by a moderator)</p>'
				: '')
			;
	};

	this.postFooter = function(post_id) {
		// TODO: Use media should be conditional
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
		if(_meta.killed) { return ''; }

		return ' \
			<div class="dsq-comment-footer" id="dsq-comment-footer-' + post_id + '"> \
				<div id="dsq-points-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-likedtxt">'
				+ (_meta.points
					? _meta.points + Dsq.Utils.pluralize(_meta.points, ' person', ' people') + ' liked this comment.'
					: '')
				+ '</div>'
				+ '<ul class="dsq-comment-options dsq-list-style">'
				+ (_meta.votable
					? '<li class="dsq-list-first dsq-rate" id="dsq-rate-cont-' + post_id + '">'
					+ (!_meta.up_voted
						? '<a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.rate(this, ' + post_id + ', 1); return false;">Like</a>'
						: 'You liked this.') + '</li>'
					: '')
				+ '<li class="dsq-report' + (!_meta.votable ? ' dsq-list-first' : '') + '" id="dsq-post-report-' + post_id + '"><a href="#" class="dsq-post-report" onclick="Dsq.Post.report(' + post_id + ', false); return false;">Report</a></li> \
				</ul> \
				<ul class="dsq-list-style">'
				+ (_meta.can_reply
					? '<li class="dsq-list-first"><a href="#" id="dsq-reply-link-' + post_id +'" onclick="Dsq.Post.toggleReply(this, ' + post_id +'); return false;">Reply</a></li>'
					: '')
				+ (_meta.can_reply && !_meta.has_replies && _meta.from_request_user
					? '<li id="dsq-edit-el-' + post_id + '"><a id="dsq-edit-link-' + post_id + '" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.edit(this, ' + post_id + '); return false;">Edit</a></li>'
					: '')
				+ '<li class="' + (!_meta.can_reply ? 'dsq-list-first' : '') + '" id="dsq-more-el-' + post_id + '"><a id="dsq-more-link-' + post_id + '" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.showMenu(this, ' + post_id + ', \'more\'); return false">More <small>&#9660;</small></a></li>'
				+ (Dsq.jsonData.forum.use_media
					? '<li id="dsq-media-el-' + post_id +'" style="display:none"><a id="dsq-media-link-' + post_id + '" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.showMenu(this, ' + post_id + ', \'media\'); return false">Use Media <small>&#9660;</small></a></li>'
					: '')
				+ '</ul>'
				+ '<div id="dsq-reply-bar-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-reply-bar" style="display:none"> \
						<div id="dsq-reply-bar-items-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-reply-bar-items"> \
						</div> \
						<div id="dsq-reply-bar-auth-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-reply-bar-auth"> \
							 \
								 \
								 	<a href="#" class="dsq-help dsq-reply-req-opt" title="You are commenting as a Guest. You may choose to log into an existing DISQUS Profile, your Facebook, Twitter or OpenID account to comment on The Washington Independent" onclick="Dsq.Popup.helpBadges(); return false">Optional:</a> \
								 \
								<img class="dsq-login-icon" src="http://media.disqus.com/images/dsq-favicon-16x16.png" alt="" /> \
								<a id="dsq-reply-login-' + post_id + '" href="http://disqus.com/profile/login/?next=article:25896826" onclick="Dsq.Popup.login(); return false">Login</a> \
								 \
								 \
								 \
							 \
						</div> \
					</div> \
					<div id="dsq-reply-' + post_id + '"></div> \
			</div> \
		';
	};

	//
	// Iframes
	//

	this._makeAttributes = function(attributes) {
		// Makes a tag attributes string out of an object.
		// Caller is responsible for making sure nothing needs to be escaped.
		var result = [];
		for (key in attributes) {
			result.push(' ' + key + '="' + attributes[key] + '"');
		}
		result = result.join('');
		return result;
	};

	this._frameGeneric = function(base_url, params, attributes) {
		if(typeof(disqus_callback_params) == 'undefined') {
			disqus_callback_params = '';
		}

		var default_params = {
			// TODO: These should be moved to Dsq.jsonData.
			'f'				: 'washingtonindependent',
			't'				: 'some_more_clarity_on_hawaiian_birth_certificates',
			// Do we need encodeURIComponent here?
			'ifrs'			: encodeURIComponent(disqus_iframe_css),
			'to_redirect'	: encodeURIComponent(window.location),
			'cbp'			: disqus_callback_params,
			'ff'			: Dsq.Thread.ff,
			'fc'			: Dsq.Thread.fc,
			'ac'			: Dsq.Thread.ac,
			'default_text'	: disqus_default_text
		};

		base_url += '?' + (new Date()).getTime();
		// Add params to default_params.
		if(params) {
			for(var key in params) {
				if(params.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
					default_params[key] = encodeURIComponent(params[key]);
				}
			}
		}
		// Build querystring.
		for(var key in default_params) {
			if(default_params[key] && default_params.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
				base_url += '&' + key + '=' + default_params[key];
			}
		}

		return [
			'<iframe marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" frameborder="0"',
			(' allowtransparency="true" src="' + base_url + '"'),
			this._makeAttributes(attributes),
			'</iframe>'].join('');
	};

	this.frameLogin = function(opt_attributes) {
		var params = {};
		var base_url = 'http://disqus.com/embed/login.html';
		var attributes = opt_attributes || {};
		attributes['class'] = 'dsq-post-login';

		if(typeof disqus_frame_theme != 'undefined') {
			params['theme'] = disqus_frame_theme;
		}
		return this._frameGeneric(base_url, params, attributes);
	};

	this.frameReply = function(post_id, extra_params, attributes) {
		// Returns the HTML for a reply iframe. Called by Dsq.Iframes.setReplyIframeToContainer
		var _meta = (typeof post_id != 'undefined') ? Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id] : false;
		var base_url = Dsq.Urls.REPLY;
		var params = {
			'def_email'		: disqus_def_email,
			'def_name'		: disqus_def_name
		};
		if(extra_params) {
			for(var key in extra_params) {
				if(extra_params.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
					params[key] = extra_params[key];
				}
			}
		}
		if(_meta) {
			params['parent_post'] = post_id;
		}
		if(typeof disqus_per_page != 'undefined') {
			params['per_page'] = disqus_per_page;
		}
		if(typeof disqus_frame_theme != 'undefined') {
			params['theme'] = disqus_frame_theme;
		}
		if(Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated) {
			attributes['class'] += '-authenticated';
		}
		return this._frameGeneric(base_url, params, attributes);
	};

	this.frameEdit = function(post_id) {
		var _meta = (typeof post_id != 'undefined') ? Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id] : false;
		var base_url = 'http://disqus.com/embed/edit.html';
		var params = {
			'p' : post_id
		};
		return this._frameGeneric(base_url, params, {'class': 'dsq-post-edit', 'name': 'dsq-edit_' + post_id + '-frame'});
	};

	//
	// Menus
	//

	this.menuMore = function(post_id) {
		// TODO: "Remove post" button should hide menu.
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][_meta.user_key];
		return ' \
			<li><a href="#comment-' + post_id + '" onclick="Dsq.Popup.permalink(' + post_id + ')">Link</a></li> \
			<li><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Popup.popProfile(' + post_id + '); return false;">Profile</a></li>'
	+ (Dsq.jsonData.request.is_moderator || Dsq.jsonData.request.is_global_moderator
		? '	<li class="dsq-menu-sep"></li>' + (_meta.email ? '<li class="dsq-admin-email">' + _meta.email + '</li>' : '')
		+ '	<li class="dsq-admin-ip">' + _meta.ip + '</li> \
			<li class="dsq-menu-sep"></li>'
		+ (Dsq.jsonData.request.moderator_can_edit
			? ' <li class="dsq-admin-edit"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.edit(this, ' + post_id + '); return false;">Edit Comment</a></li>'
			: '')
		+ ' <li class="dsq-remove"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.removePost(' + post_id + ', 1); return false;">Remove Comment</a></li> \
			<li class="dsq-report-spam"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.reportSpam(' + post_id + '); return false;">Mark Spam</a></li> \
			<li class="dsq-block-user"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Popup.blacklist(' + post_id + '); return false">Block User</a></li>'
		: '');
	};

	this.menuMedia = function(post_id) {
		return ' \
			<li><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.toggleMediaReply(this, ' + post_id + ', \'seesmic\'); return false;">Record video</a></li> \
		';
	};

	this.dropProfile = function(post_id) {
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][_meta.user_key];

		var _includeServices = function() {
			var userServices = Dsq.Post.getUserServices(null, post_id);
			var html = '';
			var hiddenThreshold = 3; // Define # of services to show before stuffing them in hidden div

			for(var i = 0; i < userServices.length; i++) {
				html +=
				(i == hiddenThreshold
					? '<li id="dsq-drop-hidden-' + post_id +'" class="dsq-drop-hidden"><ul>'
					: '')
				+ '<li class="dsq-drop-services"> \
					<a class="dsq-service-' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '" href="' + userServices[i].url + '" target="_blank"> \
						<img src="' + Dsq.jsonData.media_url + '/images/embed/services/' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '.png" alt="' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '">'
					+ userServices[i].name
					+ '</a> \
				</li>';
			}

			if(i >= hiddenThreshold) {
				html += '</ul></li> \
				<li id="dsq-drop-more-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-drop-more"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.dropProfileMore(this, '+ post_id + '); return false"><small>&#9660;</small></a></li> \
				';
			}
			return html;
		};


		var menu = '<li class="dsq-drop-showlnk"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Popup.popProfile(' + post_id + '); return false;">Expand &#8663;</a></li>';
		var pointsMessage = '';
		if (userData['registered']) {
			pointsMessage = 'with ' + userData['points'] + ' points (more points are better).';
		}

		if (userData['is_remote']) {
			var domain = userData['remote_domain_name'];
			menu += '<li class="dsq-drop-badge" title="' + userData['display_name'] + ' is a ' + domain + ' user ' + pointsMessage + '" onclick="Dsq.Popup.helpBadges()">';
			menu += '<span class="dsq-badge-' + domain.toLowerCase() + '">' + domain + '</span></li>';
		} else if (userData['registered']) {
			if (userData['verified']) {
				menu += '<li class="dsq-drop-badge" title="' + userData['display_name'] + ' has a verified commenter profile ' + pointsMessage + '" onclick="Dsq.Popup.helpBadges()">';
				menu += '<span class="dsq-badge-verified">Verified</span></li>';
			} else {
				menu += '<li class="dsq-drop-badge" title="' + userData['display_name'] + ' has a registered, but unverified, commenter profile ' + pointsMessage + '" onclick="Dsq.Popup.helpBadges()">';
				menu += '<span class="dsq-badge-registered">Registered</span></li>';
			}
		} else {
			menu += '<li class="dsq-drop-badge" title="' + userData['display_name'] + ' has not claimed this commenter profile." onclick="Dsq.Popup.helpBadges()"><span class="dsq-badge-guest">Guest</span></li>';
		}

		menu += _includeServices();
		return menu;
	};

	//
	// Popups
	//

	this._popupGeneric = function(content) {
		return ' \
		<div class="dsq-popup-content"> \
			<div class="dsq-popup-top"></div> \
			<div class="dsq-popup-body" class="clearfix"> \
				<div class="dsq-popup-body-padding"> \
					<div class="dsq-popup-header"> \
						<a class="dsq-close-link" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Popup._closePopup(null, true); return false"><img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/modal-close.png" alt="" /></a>'
						+ content['header']
					+ '</div>'
					+ content['body']
					+ '<div class="powered-by"><a href="http://disqus.com/comments/">Powered by <img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/embed/disqus-logo.png" alt="Disqus Comments" style="margin-bottom:-5px" /></a></div> \
				</div> <!-- padding --> \
			</div> <!-- body --> \
			<div class="dsq-popup-bottom"></div> \
		</div> \
		';
	};

	this.popupProfile = function(user_key) {
		var userServices = Dsq.Post.getUserServices(user_key, null);
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][user_key];
		var headerHtml = '';
		var bodyHtml = '';
		var content = {};

		var _includeServices = function() {
			var html = '';
			for(var i = 0; i < userServices.length; i++) {
				html +=
				(i == 0
					? '<h4>Connections</h4><ul>'
					: '')
				+ '<li> \
					<img src="' + Dsq.jsonData.media_url + '/images/embed/services/' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '.png" alt="' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '" title="' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '" /> \
					<a class="dsq-service-' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '" href="' + userServices[i].url + '" target="_blank">'
					+ userServices[i].name
					+ '</a> \
				</li>'
				+ (i+1 == userServices.length ? '</ul>' : '');
			}
			return html;
		};

		headerHtml = ' \
			<table> \
				<tr> \
					<td> \
						<a class="dsq-profile-userurl" href="' + userData.url + '"><img class="dsq-popup-profile-avatar" src="' + userData['avatar'] + '" alt="" /></a> \
					</td> \
					<td> \
						<div class="dsq-popup-profile-user"> \
							<h3>' + userData['display_name'] + '</h3> \
							<div class="dsq-popup-profile-user-stats" id="dsq-popup-profile-user-stats-' + user_key + '">Loading...</div> \
						</div> \
					</td> \
				</tr> \
			</table> \
		';

		bodyHtml = ' \
			<div class="dsq-popup-profile-state"> \
				This is a&nbsp;<span class="'
					+ (userData['registered']
						? (userData['verified']
							? ' dsq-badge-verified'
							: (userData['is_remote']
								? ' dsq-badge-' + userData['remote_domain_name'].toLowerCase()
								: ' dsq-badge-registered')
							)
							: ' dsq-badge-guest') + '">'
			+ (userData['registered']
				? (userData['verified']
					? 'Verified'
					: (userData['is_remote']
						 ? userData['remote_domain_name']
						 : 'Registered')
					)
				: 'Guest')
			+ '</span>&nbsp;commenter profile.'
			+ '&nbsp;<a class="dsq-profile-userurl" href="' + userData.url + '"><strong>View more comments </strong></a>'
			+ (!userData['points']
				? '<p class="dsq-popup-notice">If this is you, <a href="http://disqus.com/profile" target="_blank">claim it now</a> to manage your comments.</p>'
				: '')
			+ ((userData['registered'] && !userData['verified'] && (Dsq.jsonData.request.username && (Dsq.jsonData.request.username == userData['username'])) && !userData['is_remote'])
				? '<p class="dsq-popup-notice"><strong>Alert</strong>: You have not verified this account. <a href="http://disqus.com/verify">Verify it now.</a></p>'
				: '')
			+ '</div> \
			<div id="dsq-profile-status-' + user_key + '" class="dsq-popup-profile-status" style="display:none"></div> \
			<div class="dsq-popup-profile-snapshot"> \
				<table> \
					<tr> \
						<td> \
							<div id="dsq-popup-profile-active-sites-wrapper-' + user_key + '"> \
								<h4>Most active sites</h4> \
								<ul id="dsq-popup-profile-active-sites-' + user_key + '"> \
									<li>Loading...</li> \
								</ul> \
							</div> \
						</td> \
						<td>'
							+ _includeServices()
							+ '<div id="dsq-popup-profile-moderated-wrapper-' + user_key + '"> \
								<h4>Moderator of</h4> \
								<ul id="dsq-popup-profile-moderated-' + user_key + '"> \
									<li>Loading...</li> \
								</ul> \
							</div> \
						</td> \
					</tr> \
				</table> \
			</div> \
			';

		content = {
			'header': headerHtml,
			'body': bodyHtml
		};

		return this._popupGeneric(content);
	};

	this.popupReblog = function() {
		var headerHtml = '';
		var bodyHtml = '';
		var content = {};

		headerHtml = ' \
			<cite><span>Reblog this comment</span></cite> \
		';

		bodyHtml = ' \
			<div id="dsq-reblog-form" class="dsq-reblog-form"> \
			</div> \
		';

		content = {
			'header': headerHtml,
			'body': bodyHtml
		};

		return this._popupGeneric(content);
	};

	this.popupModal = function(title, message) {
		var headerHtml = '';
		var bodyHtml = '';
		var content = {};

		headerHtml = ' \
			<h3>' + title + '</h3> \
		';

		bodyHtml = message;

		content = {
			'header': headerHtml,
			'body': bodyHtml
		};

		return this._popupGeneric(content);
	};

	this.alertContent = function(name, post_id) {
		var alert = {
			'post_not_approved': {
				'title': 'Comment awaiting approval by a moderator',
				'message': 'Thanks for posting. Your comment must be approved by a moderator before appearing here.'
			},
			'post_has_profile': {
				'title': 'Use your existing commenter profile',
				'message': 'You have just posted your commment as a <span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-guest">Guest</span>, but you may already have a <span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-registered">Registered</span> commenter profile.<br /><br /><a href="http://disqus.com/claim">Log in and claim this comment!</a>'
			}
		};
		return alert[name] || false;
	};

	//
	// Actions
	//

	this.voted = function(post_id, points, vote) {
		// Update number of points
		Dsq.$('dsq-points-' + post_id).innerHTML = points + Dsq.Utils.pluralize(points, ' person', ' people') + ' liked this comment.';

		// Update link text
		if(vote) {
			Dsq.$('dsq-rate-cont-' + post_id).innerHTML = 'You liked this.';
		}
	};

	this.subscribed = function(status) {
		var title, message;

		if(status) {
			title = 'Subscribed!';
			message = 'You have subscribed to this comment thread. New comments will be sent directly to your email inbox, where you may read and respond by email.';
			Dsq.$('dsq-subscribe').innerHTML = ' \
				<a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Thread.subscribe(0); return false">Unsubscribe</a> \
			';
		} else {
			title = 'Unsubscribed';
			message = 'You have unsubscribed to this comment thread. New comments will no longer be sent to your email inbox.';
			Dsq.$('dsq-subscribe').innerHTML = ' \
				<a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Thread.subscribe(1); return false">Subscribe by email</a> \
			';
		}

		Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, title);

	};
	
	this.highlighted = function() {
		Dsq.Popup.popModal('This comment has been highlighted.', 'Highlighted comment');
	};

	//
	// Media
	//

	this.mediaSeesmic = function(id, thumb) {
		return ' \
			<div id="dsq-seesmic-' + id + '_preview" class="dsq-seesmic-preview"><a href="http://www.seesmic.com/video/' + id + '" target="_blank" class="see_link">&nbsp;</a> \
				<div style="display:block;width:160px; height:120px; border:none; background-image:url(http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/' + thumb + ')"> \
					<div id="dsq-seesmic-' + id + '_hide" class="seePlayOverlay" style="display:none;"><img onclick="see_play_video(\'' + id + '\',false)" src="http://media.disqus.com/images/seesmic/stopOverlay.png" width="50" height="50" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand; padding-top: 30px; padding-left: 50px" alt="" /></div> \
					<div id="dsq-seesmic-' + id + '_show" class="seePlayOverlay"><img onclick="see_play_video(\'' + id + '\',true)" src="http://media.disqus.com/images/seesmic/playOverlay.png" width="50" height="50" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand; border:none; padding-top: 30px; padding-left: 50px" alt="" /></div> \
				</div> \
			</div> \
			<div id="' + id + '_content" style="display:block; width:100%; padding-top:5px"></div> \
		';
	};

	//
	// Callbacks
	//

	this.postComment_onSuccess = function(parent_post_id) {
		// Increment post count
		var num_posts = Dsq.$('dsq-num-posts');
		var total_posts = Dsq.$('dsq-total-posts');
		
		if (num_posts) { 
			num_posts.innerHTML = parseInt(num_posts.innerHTML) + 1;
		}
		if (total_posts) { 
			total_posts.innerHTML = parseInt(total_posts.innerHTML) + 1;
		}
	};
};
// Dsq.Templates


/**
 * Dsq.Post
 */
Dsq.Post = new function() {
	this.openedMenu = {};
	this.menuEventListener = null;
	this.stateReplyToggled = {};
	this.stateEditToggled = {};
	this.stateRecordLink = {};

	/**
	 * Inserts a new post into the document.
	 *
	 * @param after_id {Number}	Insert a post before specified id.  If after_id
	 *							evaluates to false, then post in the front.  If
	 *							after_id is -1, post at the end.
	 */
	this.insert = function(after_id, id, message, author) {
		// Skeleton template from thread_posts.html.
		var skeleton = ' \
			<li id="dsq-comment-%(id)s"> \
				<div id="dsq-comment-header-%(id)s" class="dsq-comment-header"> \
					<cite id="dsq-cite-%(id)s" class="dsq-comment-cite"> \
						<a id="dsq-author-user-%(id)s" href="%(author_url)s" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">%(author_name)s</a> \
					</cite> \
				</div> \
				<div id="dsq-comment-body-%(id)s" class="dsq-comment-body"> \
					<div id="dsq-comment-message-%(id)s" class="dsq-comment-message">%(message)s</div> \
				</div> \
			</li> \
		';
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[id];
		var _user_meta = Dsq.jsonData.users[_meta.user_key];
		var markup = Dsq.Utils.interpolate(skeleton, {
			id: id,
			message: message,
			author_url: _user_meta.blog,
			author_name: _user_meta.display_name
		});
		var div = document.createElement('div');
		markup = markup.replace(Dsq.COMMENTS_RE, Dsq.CommentsHandler);
		div.innerHTML = markup;

		if (after_id === -1) {
			Dsq.$('dsq-comments').appendChild(div);
		} else if (!after_id) {
			Dsq.$('dsq-comments').insertBefore(div, Dsq.$('dsq-comments').firstChild);
		} else if (Dsq.$('dsq-comment-' + after_id)) {
			// Get next node after "after_id", so we can insert before it.
			// If "after_id" is the last comment, the target node is the
			// last node.
			
			// var append_post_id = Dsq.Templates.appendPost(after_id).replace('<div id="','').replace('"></div>', '');
			var append_post_id = 'dsq-append-post-' + after_id;
			var node = Dsq.$(append_post_id);
			while (node = node.nextSibling) {
				if (!node || node.nodeType == 1) { // 1 == Node.ELEMENT_NODE
					break;
				}
			}
			if (!node) {
				node = Dsq.$(append_post_id);
			}
			node.parentNode.insertBefore(div, node);
		}
	};

	this.incrementPostCount = function() {
		
		var num_posts = Dsq.$('dsq-num-posts');
		var total_posts = Dsq.$('dsq-total-posts');

		if (num_posts) {
			num_posts.innerHTML = parseInt(num_posts.innerHTML, 10) + 1;
		}
		if (total_posts) {
			total_posts.innerHTML = parseInt(total_posts.innerHTML, 10) + 1;
		}
	}
	
	this.outlineComment = function(post_id) {
		Dsq.$('dsq-comment-' + post_id).className += ' dsq-comment-outline';
		setTimeout("(function () { Dsq.Post.clearOutlineComment(" + post_id + ") })()", 3000);
	};
	
	this.clearOutlineComment = function(post_id) {
		Dsq.$('dsq-comment-' + post_id).className = Dsq.$('dsq-comment-' + post_id).className.replace('dsq-comment-outline', '');
	};

	this.showMenu = function(el, id, name) {
		var anchorPos = Dsq.Utils.findPos(el);
		var menu = document.createElement('ul');

		if(this.openedMenu) {
			if(this.openedMenu.linkClicked) {
				this.openedMenu.linkClicked = false;
				return;
			}
		}

		switch(name) {
			case 'more':
				menu.innerHTML = Dsq.Templates.menuMore(id);
				break;
			case 'media':
				menu.innerHTML = Dsq.Templates.menuMedia(id);
				break;
			default:
				break;
		}

		// Add menu to document body
		menu.id = 'dsq-menu-' + id;
		menu.className = 'dsq-menu';
		Dsq.$b.appendChild(menu);

		// Position and show
		anchorPos[1] += 15;
		menu.style.left = anchorPos[0] + 'px';
		menu.style.top = anchorPos[1] + 'px';
		menu.style.display = 'block';

		// Set global reference
		this.openedMenu = {
			'el' : menu,
			'id' : id,
			'name' : name,
			'linkClicked' : false
		};

		// Set listener
		this.menuEventListener = Dsq.Utils.addEventListener(document, 'mouseup', this._hideMenu);
	};

	this._hideMenu = function(e) {
		var el = e.target || e.srcElement;
		var openedMenu = Dsq.Post.openedMenu.el;
		var id = Dsq.Post.openedMenu.id;

		if(!id) {
			var link = 'dsq-' + Dsq.Post.openedMenu.name + '-link';
		} else {
			var link = 'dsq-' + Dsq.Post.openedMenu.name + '-link-' + id;
		}

		if(!openedMenu) {
			return;
		}

		if(!Dsq.Popup.isClicked(e, openedMenu.id)) {
			openedMenu.style.display = 'none';
			Dsq.Utils.removeEventListener(Dsq.Post.menuEventListener);
			Dsq.Utils.deleteNode(openedMenu);

		} else {
			// Hide the menu if a link was clicked inside the menu.  We can't
			// completely remove the menu until the onclick event on the link
			// fires, but the menuEventListener will prevent multiple menus
			// from polluting the DOM.
			if(el && typeof el.href != 'undefined') {
				openedMenu.style.display = 'none';
				Dsq.Post.openedMenu.el = null;
			}
		}

		if(Dsq.Popup.isClicked(e, link)) {
 			Dsq.Post.openedMenu.linkClicked = true;
		}
	};


	this.getUserServices = function(user_key, id) {
		if(!user_key && id) {
			var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[id];
			user_key = _meta.user_key;
		}
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][user_key];
		var userServices = [];

		// Keep a full list of supported services. This is the order they will display in the drop-profile.
		// Each service must have a corresponding case in _buildServiceUrl()
		var supportedServices = ['blog', 'twitter', 'facebook', 'tumblr'];

		function _buildServiceUrl(serviceName) {
			var data = userData[serviceName];
			var services = {
				blog:		function(d) { return d; },
				twitter:	function(d) { return d; },
				facebook:	function(d) { return d; },
				tumblr:		function(d) { return 'http://' + d + '.tumblr.com'; }
			};
			return services[serviceName](data);
		}

		for(var i = 0; i < supportedServices.length; i++) {
			if(userData[supportedServices[i]]) {
				var serviceUrl = _buildServiceUrl(supportedServices[i]);
				userServices.push({'name' : supportedServices[i], 'url' : serviceUrl});
			}
		}
		return userServices;
	}

	this.dropProfile = function(id) {
		var dp = Dsq.$('dsq-drop-profile-' + id);

		// IE6 needs JS to display/hide. All other browsers use CSS.
		if(dp) {
			if(Dsq.Utils.ie6) dp.style.display = (dp.style.display == 'inline') ? 'none' : 'inline';
			return false;
		} else {
			dp = document.createElement('ul');
		}

		dp.id = 'dsq-drop-profile-' + id;
		dp.className = 'dsq-drop-profile';

		if(Dsq.Utils.ie6) { dp.style.display = 'inline'; }

		var container = Dsq.$('dsq-header-avatar-' + id);
		dp.innerHTML = Dsq.Templates.dropProfile(id);
		container.appendChild(dp);
	};

	this.dropProfileMore = function(el, id) {
		var hiddenItems = Dsq.$('dsq-drop-hidden-' + id);

		hiddenItems.style.display = 'inline';
		el.parentNode.style.display = 'none';
	};

	this._updateReplyLinks = function(el, id) {
		// Update "reply / cancel" links based on state.
		var displayDict = {};

		if(id) {
			if(this.stateReplyToggled[id]) {
				el.innerHTML = 'Cancel';
				displayDict['media'] = 'inline';
				displayDict['edit'] = 'none';
			} else {
				el.innerHTML = 'Reply';
				displayDict['media'] = 'none';
				displayDict['edit'] = 'inline';
			}
		}

		for(var key in displayDict) {
			if(displayDict.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
				var	linkEl = Dsq.$('dsq-' + key + '-el-' + id),
					spacer = Dsq.$('dsq-' + key + '-spacer-' + id);

				if(linkEl) {
					linkEl.style.display = displayDict[key];
					if(spacer) spacer.style.display = displayDict[key];
				}
			}
		}
	};

	this._updateMediaLinks = function(el, id) {
		// Update "use media / cancel" links based on state.
		var appendId = (id) ? ('-' + id) : '';
		var link = Dsq.$('dsq-media-link' + appendId);

		if(this.stateRecordLink[id]) {
			link.innerHTML = 'Cancel Media';
			link.onclick = function() { Dsq.Post.toggleMediaReply(link, id); return false; };
		} else {
			link.innerHTML = 'Use Media <small>&#9660;</small>';
			link.onclick = function() { Dsq.Post.showMenu(link, id, 'media'); return false; };
		}
	};

	this.toggleReply = function(el, id) {
		// Create reply IFrame
		if (window.disqus_use_postmessage) {
			if (!this.stateReplyToggled[id]) {
				Dsq.$('dsq-reply-' + id).style.display = 'block';
				Dsq.$('dsq-reply-bar-' + id).style.display = 'block';
				// Create IFrame if it doesn't exist.
				if (!Dsq.frames['reply_' + id]) {
					var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[id];
					Dsq.frames['reply_' + id] = new Dsq.ReplyFrame(Dsq.$('dsq-reply-frame-' + id), id);
					Dsq.frames['reply_' + id].init();
					Dsq.frames['reply_' + id].setState(id, _meta.depth);
				}
			} else {
				Dsq.$('dsq-reply-' + id).style.display = 'none';
				Dsq.$('dsq-reply-bar-' + id).style.display = 'none';
			}
		} else {
			// DEPRECATED
			if(!this.stateReplyToggled[id]) {
				// Reply toolbar
				Dsq.$('dsq-reply-bar-' + id).style.display = 'block';
				Dsq.Iframes.showReplyIframeInContainerIfAllowed(Dsq.$('dsq-reply-' + id), id);
			} else {
				Dsq.$('dsq-reply-bar-' + id).style.display = 'none';
				Dsq.Iframes.hideAllInContainer(Dsq.$('dsq-reply-' + id));
				if(this.stateRecordLink[id]) {
					// HACK: Cancel media before canceling self.
					this.toggleMediaReply(Dsq.$('dsq-media-link-' + id), id);
				}
			}
		}

		this.stateReplyToggled[id] = !this.stateReplyToggled[id];
		this._updateReplyLinks(el, id);

		if(Dsq.Utils.ie) { Dsq.Utils.fixIframesIE('dsq-reply-' + id); }

		Dsq.Events.fire(Dsq.Events.REPLY_IFRAME_TOGGLED, {
			postId: id,
			opened: this.stateReplyToggled[id]
		});
	};

	this.toggleMediaReply = function(el, id, xtype) {
		id = id || 0;
		if(id) {
			var container = Dsq.$('dsq-reply-' + id);
		} else {
			var container = Dsq.$('dsq-post-add');
		}

		if(!this.stateRecordLink[id]) {
			Dsq.Iframes.showReplyIframeInContainer(container, id, {xtype:xtype}, 'dsq-post-video');
		} else {
			Dsq.Iframes.showReplyIframeInContainer(container, id);
		}
		this.stateRecordLink[id] = !this.stateRecordLink[id];
		this._updateMediaLinks(el, id);

		if(Dsq.Utils.ie) { Dsq.Utils.fixIframesIE(); }
	};

	this.edit = function(el, id) {
		Dsq.$('dsq-comment-message-' + id).innerHTML = Dsq.Templates.frameEdit(id);
		el.parentNode.style.display = 'none';
		if(Dsq.Utils.ie) { Dsq.Utils.fixIframesIE('dsq-comment-message-' + id); }
	};

    this.rate = function(el, id, vote) {
		if(Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated || Dsq.jsonData.forum.allow_anon_votes) {
			if(vote == 1) {
                Dsq.$('dsq-rate-cont-' + id).innerHTML = '<img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/loading-small.gif">';
            }

            Dsq.Utils.execScript('http://disqus.com/forums/washingtonindependent/vote.js'
                + '?post_id='    + id
                + '&vote='        + vote);

		} else {
			Dsq.Popup.login(Dsq.Strings.TO_RATE_PLEASE_LOG_IN);
		}
    };

	this.report = function(id, confirmed) {
		if(confirmed) {
			Dsq.Utils.postToUrl('http://disqus.com/forums/washingtonindependent/some_more_clarity_on_hawaiian_birth_certificates/post_report/', {'post_id': id});
			Dsq.Popup.popModal('Thank you. This comment has been flagged for moderator attention.', 'Successfully flagged');
			Dsq.Utils.deleteNode(Dsq.$('dsq-post-report-' + id));
		} else {
			var title = Dsq.Strings.FLAG_INAPPROPRIATE_COMMENT;
			var message = Dsq.Strings.ARE_YOU_SURE_YOU_WOULD_LIKE_TO_REPORT_THIS_COMMENT_TO_A_MODERATOR + '? \
			<br /><br /> \
			<button onclick="Dsq.Popup._closePopup(null, true)"><strong>' + Dsq.Strings.NO + '</strong>, ' + Dsq.Strings.NEVER_MIND + '</button>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<button onclick="Dsq.Post.report(' + id + ', true);"><strong>' + Dsq.Strings.YES + '</strong>, ' + Dsq.Strings.FLAG_INAPPROPRIATE_COMMENT + '</button><br /><br />'
			+ Dsq.Strings.THIS_WILL_FLAG_COMMENTS_FOR_MODERATORS_TO_TAKE_ACTION + '. \
			';

			Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, title, id);
		}
	};



	this.showAlert = function(id, msg) {
		var msgEl = Dsq.$('dsq-comment-message-' + id);
		var alert = '<div class="dsq-comment-alert">' + msg + '</div>';

		msgEl.innerHTML = alert + msgEl.innerHTML;
	};

};
// Dsq.Post


/**
 * Dsq.Thread
 */
Dsq.Thread = new function() {
	this.fc = null;
	this.ff = null;
	this.ac = null;

	
	this.adminIsOn = false;

	
	
	

	this.hlComment = null;
	this.hlCommentClass = null;

	this.getNextComment = function(el) {
		var start_id = el.id;
		while(el = el.nextSibling) {
			if(el.id && el.id.indexOf('dsq-comment-') != -1 && el.id != start_id) {
				return el;
			}
		}
		return null;
	};

	this.getActiveCommentId = function() {
		if (document.URL.indexOf('#comment-') >= 0) {
			var anchor = document.URL.slice(document.URL.indexOf('#') + 1);
			return anchor.replace('comment-', '');
		}
		return null;
	};

	this.highlightAnchor = function() {
		var i = this.getActiveCommentId();
		if (i == null) return false;
		var id = 'dsq-comment-' + i;
		var hash = window.location.hash;

		// Toggle the hash incase the comment isn't available when the page loads
		// for WebKit-based browsers.
		if (Dsq.Utils.webkit) {
			window.location.hash = '';
			window.location.hash = hash;
		}

		this.hlComment = Dsq.$(id);
		// Adding this conditional guard pending #289
		if (!this.hlComment) {
			return;
		}
		this.hlCommentClass = this.hlComment.className;
		this.hlComment.className += ' dsq-hl-anchor';

		setTimeout("Dsq.Thread.highlightClear()", 3000);
	};

	this.highlightClear = function() {
		if (!this.hlComment) {
			return;
		}
		this.hlComment.className = this.hlCommentClass;
	};

	this.login = function(toggle) {
		// toggle id is #dsq-reply-login-[id]
		var postId;
		if(toggle.id.indexOf('dsq-reply-login') != -1) {
			postId = toggle.id.slice(16);
			var container = Dsq.$('dsq-reply-' + postId);
		} else {
			var container = Dsq.$('dsq-post-add');
		}

		if(toggle) {
			if(toggle.className == 'dsq-login-active') {
				Dsq.Iframes.showReplyIframeInContainerIfAllowed(container, postId);
				toggle.className = '';
			} else {
				Dsq.Iframes.showLoginIframeInContainer(container, postId);
				toggle.className = 'dsq-login-active';
			}
		} else {
			Dsq.Iframes.showLoginIframeInContainer(container, postId);
		}

		if(Dsq.Utils.ie) { Dsq.Utils.fixIframesIE(); }
	};


	this.paginate = function(page, el_clicked, per_page) {
		// Use extra_params to pass any override parameters that we need to persist.
		var extra_params = '';

		// "Per page" can either be overriden by providing it as an argument
		// (per-call) or setting the disqus_per_page override variable (global).
		if(typeof per_page == 'undefined') {
			per_page = null;
		}
		if(typeof disqus_per_page != 'undefined' && per_page === null) {
			per_page = disqus_per_page;
		}

		if(typeof disqus_sort != 'undefined') {
			extra_params += '&sort=' + disqus_sort;
		}
		if(per_page !== null) {
			extra_params += '&per_page=' + per_page;
		}

		Dsq.$('dsq-pagination').innerHTML += '<img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/loading-small.gif">';
		
		if(el_clicked) {
			el_clicked.style.display = 'none';
		}
		
		Dsq.Utils.execScript('http://disqus.com/forums/washingtonindependent/thread.js'
			+ '?slug='	+ 'some_more_clarity_on_hawaiian_birth_certificates'
			+ '&p='		+ page
			+ extra_params);
	};

	this.sortBy = function(sort) {
		var disqus_script = document.createElement('script');
		var disqus_date = new Date();

		if (location.hash != '') {
			location.hash = '#disqus_thread';
		}

		if(typeof(disqus_url) == 'undefined') {
			disqus_url = disqus_href;
		}
		disqus_script.type = 'text/javascript';
		disqus_script.src = 'http://disqus.com/forums/washingtonindependent/thread.js'
			+ '?slug='	+ 'some_more_clarity_on_hawaiian_birth_certificates'
			+ '&sort='	+ sort
			+ '&title='
			+ '&'		+ disqus_date.getTime();

		Dsq.$('dsq-comments').innerHTML = '<img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/loading.gif">';
		Dsq.container.appendChild(disqus_script);
	};

	this.subscribe = function(status, email) {
		// `status` is an int -- 1 to subscribe, 0 to unsubscribe
		if(Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated || email) {
			// If authenticated user OR anonymous email provided

			if(email) {
				Dsq.Popup._closePopup(null, true);
			}

			Dsq.Utils.execScript('http://disqus.com/forums/washingtonindependent/subscribe.js'
				+'?status=' 	+ status
				+ '&slug='		+ 'some_more_clarity_on_hawaiian_birth_certificates'
				+ '&email=' 	+ encodeURIComponent(email));

		} else if(!email) {
			// If anonymous user and no email has been provided yet, prompt for email

			var title = 'Subscribe to this comment thread';
			var message = ' \
				New comments will be sent directly to your email inbox! \
				<div class="dsq-subscribe-submit"> \
					<p><strong>Enter your email address below.</strong></p> \
					<input type="text" id="dsq-subscribe-email"> \
					<button onclick="Dsq.Thread.subscribe(1, Dsq.$(\'dsq-subscribe-email\').value)">Subscribe</button> \
				</div> \
			';

			Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, title);
		}
	};

	this.showSettings = function() {
		if (!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_moderator) {
			return;
		}

		/* The form has to be re-designed when more options will come out. */
		var html = 'Automatically close comments after <input size="3" id="dsq-thread-days-alive" value="' + Dsq.jsonData.thread.days_alive + '" type="text" /> days. Existing comments will still be displayed.<br /><br />(Using 0 days will disable this feature)<br /><br />'
								 + '<button onclick="Dsq.Thread.updateDaysAlive();" class="dsq-button-small"><span>Save</span></button>'
								 + '<span id="dsq-thread-settings-status" class="dsq-options-status"></span>';
		Dsq.Popup.popModal(html, 'Settings');
	};

	this.updateDaysAlive = function() {
		var days = Dsq.$('dsq-thread-days-alive').value;
		var status = Dsq.$('dsq-thread-settings-status');
		Dsq.Utils.postToUrl('http://disqus.com/forums/washingtonindependent/update_days_alive.js', {days:days,thread:Dsq.jsonData.thread.id});
		status.innerHTML = 'Saved!';
		window.setTimeout(function() { status.innerHTML = ''; }, 1000);
	};
};
// Dsq.Thread

Dsq.Events = function() {
	var obj = {};

	// Private
	var handlers = {};
	var getHandlers = function(event) {
		if (handlers[event] === undefined) {
			handlers[event] = [];
		}
		return handlers[event];
	};

	// Public
	// Value keys : postId, node, xtype
	obj.REPLY_IFRAME_CREATED = 1;
	// Value keys : postId, opened
	obj.REPLY_IFRAME_TOGGLED = 2;
	obj.fire = function(event, opt_value) {
		if (!event) {
			throw new Error('Unknown event');
		}
		var value = opt_value || {};
		for (var i=0; i<getHandlers(event).length; i++) {
			getHandlers(event)[i](value);
		}
	};
	obj.addHandler = function(event, callback) {
		getHandlers(event).push(callback);
	};

	return obj;
}();

/**
 * Dsq.Realtime
 */
Dsq.Realtime = new function() {
	var initialized = false;
	var interval = null;
	var last_checked = Dsq.jsonData.request.timestamp;
	var new_posts = [];
	var ongoing_request = false;
	var prev_script = null;

	function updateNewPostCount() {
		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-alert').style.display = new_posts.length ? 'block' : 'none';

		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-queued').innerHTML = new_posts.length
		+ ' new '
		+ Dsq.Utils.pluralize(new_posts.length, 'comment', 'comments')
		+ Dsq.Utils.pluralize(new_posts.length, ' was', ' were')
		+ ' just posted.';

		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-show').innerHTML = '(' + Dsq.Strings.SHOW + ')';
	}

	function insertNewPosts() {
		var post_id = null;
		var after_id = Dsq.$('dsq-sort-select').value === 'oldest' ? -1 : null;

		for (var i=0; i<new_posts.length; i++) {
			post_id = new_posts[i];
			Dsq.Post.insert(after_id, post_id, Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id].message);
			Dsq.Post.incrementPostCount();
			Dsq.Post.outlineComment(post_id);
		}
		new_posts = [];
	}

	this.enableInterval = function() {
		interval = setInterval(Dsq.Realtime.check, Dsq.jsonData.context.realtime_speed);
		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-status').innerHTML = Dsq.Strings.ENABLED;
		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-toggle').innerHTML = '(' + Dsq.Strings.PAUSE + ')';
	}

	this.disableInterval = function() {
		if (interval) {
			clearInterval(interval);
			interval = null;
		}
		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-status').innerHTML = Dsq.Strings.PAUSED;
		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-toggle').innerHTML = '(' + Dsq.Strings.RESUME + ')';
	}

	this.toggleInterval = function() {
		if (!interval) {
			Dsq.Realtime.enableInterval();
		} else {
			Dsq.Realtime.disableInterval();
		}
		return false;
	}

	this.initialize = function() {
		if (!initialized) {
			initialized = true;
			Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-toggle').onclick = this.toggleInterval;
			if (!Dsq.jsonData.forum.streaming_realtime) {
				Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-show').onclick = this.show;
				updateNewPostCount();
			}
			if (Dsq.jsonData.thread.realtime_paused) {
				Dsq.Realtime.disableInterval();
			} else {
				Dsq.Realtime.enableInterval();
			}
		}
	}

	this.show = function() {
		insertNewPosts();
		updateNewPostCount();
		return false;
	}

	this.check = function() {
		if (!ongoing_request && Dsq.jsonData.realtime_enabled) {
			if (prev_script) {
				prev_script.parentNode.removeChild(prev_script);
			}
			ongoing_request = true;
			prev_script = Dsq.Utils.execScript('http://disqus.com/forums/25896826/realtime.js?timestamp=' + last_checked);
		}
	};

	this.update = function(timestamp, posts, users) {
		ongoing_request = false;
		last_checked = timestamp;

		if (users) {
			for (var user_id in users) {
				if (users.hasOwnProperty(user_id)) {
					if (!Dsq.jsonData.users[user_id]) {
						Dsq.jsonData.users[user_id] = users[user_id];
					}
				}
			}
		}

		if (posts) {
			for (var post_id in posts) {
				if (posts.hasOwnProperty(post_id)) {
					if (!Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id]) {
						Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id] = posts[post_id];
						new_posts.push(post_id);
					}
				}
			}

			if (Dsq.jsonData.forum.streaming_realtime) {
				insertNewPosts();
			} else {
				updateNewPostCount();
			}
		}
	};

}();

// DEPRECATED
Dsq.Iframes = function() {
	// Different style of object from the above. Hoping to switch to this for some reason.
	var obj = {};

	// Private
	var showIframeInContainer = function(container, id, markup) {
		// Look through container for iframes, hiding them, except show one that matches id
		// If none of them matched id, create a new iframe using markup and insert it.
		// Returns the iframe node if and only if it was newly created.
		var found = false;
		for (var i=0; i<container.childNodes.length; i++) {
			var child = container.childNodes[i];
			if (child.nodeName == 'IFRAME') {
				if (child.id == id) {
					child.style.display = 'block';
					found = true;
				} else {
					child.style.display = 'none';
				}
			}
		}
		if (found) {
			return;
		}
		// The iframe wasn't found, so construct it and add it to the container.
		// Don't use innerHTML because it might reload iframes
		var div = document.createElement('div');
		div.innerHTML = markup;
		var iframe = div.childNodes[0];
		div.removeChild(iframe);
		container.appendChild(iframe);
		return iframe;
	};

	// Public
	obj.makeReplyIframeId = function(opt_postId, opt_xtype) {
		var id = 'dsq-post-add-iframe';
		if (opt_xtype) {
			id += '-' + opt_xtype;
		}
		if (opt_postId) {
			id += '-' + opt_postId;
		}
		return id;
	};
	obj.makeLoginIframeId = function(opt_postId) {
		if (!opt_postId) {
			return 'dsq-login-iframe';
		}
		return 'dsq-login-iframe-' + opt_postId;
	};
	obj.makeReplyIframeName = function(opt_postId, opt_xtype) {
		var name = 'dsq-reply-frame';
		if (opt_xtype) {
			name += '-' + opt_xtype;
		}
		if (opt_postId) {
			name += '-' + opt_postId;
		}
		return name;
	};
	obj.showReplyIframeInContainer = function(container, opt_postId, opt_extraParams, opt_className) {
		// Construct the id so we can check if it's already present.
		// Hide any other iframes we find, and show this one if it's found.
		var params = opt_extraParams || {};
		// use xtype in the id and name so we can distinguish media replies from text replies:
		var id = Dsq.Iframes.makeReplyIframeId(opt_postId, params.xtype);
		var name = Dsq.Iframes.makeReplyIframeName(opt_postId, params.xtype);
		var attributes = {
			'id': id,
			'name': name,
			'class': opt_className || 'dsq-post-reply'
			};
		var markup = Dsq.Templates.frameReply(opt_postId, opt_extraParams, attributes);
		var iframe = showIframeInContainer(container, id, markup);
		// It was newly created
		if (iframe) {
			Dsq.Events.fire(Dsq.Events.REPLY_IFRAME_CREATED, {
				postId: opt_postId,
				node: iframe,
				xtype: params.xtype
			});
		}
	};
	obj.showLoginIframeInContainer = function(container, opt_postId) {
		var id = Dsq.Iframes.makeLoginIframeId(opt_postId);
		var markup = Dsq.Templates.frameLogin({id: id});
		showIframeInContainer(container, id, markup);
	};
	obj.showReplyIframeInContainerIfAllowed = function(container, opt_postId) {
		if (Dsq.jsonData.context.show_reply) {
			obj.showReplyIframeInContainer(container, opt_postId);
		} else {
			obj.hideAllInContainer(container);
		}
	};
	obj.hideAllInContainer = function(container) {
		for (var i=0; i<container.childNodes.length; i++) {
			var child = container.childNodes[i];
			if (child.nodeName == 'IFRAME') {
				child.style.display = 'none';
			}
		}
	};

	return obj;
}();

Dsq.Twitter = new function() {
	var that = this;

	this.startTwitterConnect = function() {
		var popupParams = 'location=0,status=0,width=800,height=400';
		that._twitterWindow = window.open(Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url + '/_ax/twitter/begin/', 'twitterWindow', popupParams);
		that._twitterInterval = window.setInterval(that.completeTwitterConnect, 1000);
	};

	this.completeTwitterConnect = function() {
		if (that._twitterWindow.closed) {
			window.clearInterval(that._twitterInterval);
			window.location.reload();
		}
	};
};

Dsq.Yahoo = new function() {
	var that = this;

	this.startYahooConnect = function() {
		var popupParams = 'location=0,status=0,width=800,height=400';
		that._yahooWindow = window.open(Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url + '/_ax/yahoo/begin/', 'yahooWindow', popupParams);
		that._yahooInterval = window.setInterval(that.completeYahooConnect, 1000);
	};

	this.completeYahooConnect = function() {
		if (that._yahooWindow.closed) {
			window.clearInterval(that._yahooInterval);
			window.location.reload();
		}
	};
};

Dsq.OpenID = new function() {
	var that = this;

	this.requestURL = function() {
		var message = '<table class="dsq-openid-form"><tr><td style="vertical-align:top;" rowspan="2"><img src="' + Dsq.jsonData.settings.media_url + '/images/openid-icon-100x100.png" /></td>';
		message += '<td><label for="dsq-openid-url">OpenID URL:</label></td><td><input type="text" id="dsq-openid-url" /></td></tr>';
		message += '<tr><td><label for="dsq-openid-username">Display name:</label></td><td><input type="text" id="dsq-openid-username" /></td></tr>';
		message += '<tr><td class="dsq-openid-submit" colspan="3"><input type="button" value="Sign in" onclick="Dsq.OpenID.startConnect();" /></td></tr>';
		message += "</table>";

		Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, 'Sign in using OpenID');
	};

	this.startConnect = function() {
		var isblank = function(str) {
			return /^\s*$/.test(str);
		};

		var openid_url = Dsq.$('dsq-openid-url').value;
		var username = Dsq.$('dsq-openid-username').value;

		if (isblank(openid_url)) {
			return;
		}

		var popupParams = 'location=0,status=0,width=800,height=500';
		var url = Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url + '/_ax/openid/begin/' + '?url=' + encodeURIComponent(openid_url) + '&username=' + encodeURIComponent(username);
		that._openidWindow = window.open(url, 'openidWindow', popupParams);
		that._openidInterval = window.setInterval(that.completeConnect, 1000);
	};

	this.completeConnect = function() {
		if (that._openidWindow.closed) {
			window.clearInterval(that._openidInterval);
			window.location.reload();
		}
	};
};

Dsq.Reaction = new function() {
	var that = this;

	this.hide = function(id) {
		Dsq.Utils.execScript('http://disqus.com/forums/washingtonindependent/hidereaction.js?' + 'reaction_id=' + id);
	};

	this.reportMissingReactions = function() {
		if (!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_moderator || !Dsq.jsonData.forum.reactions_enabled) {
			return;
		}

		if (Dsq.jsonData.thread.queued) {
			Dsq.Popup.popModal('Your report has been received. The system will automatically search for new reactions; if any are found, they will be displayed on this comment thread.<br/><br/>Thank&nbsp;you.',
												 'Reported missing reactions');
			return;
		}

		Dsq.Utils.execScript(Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url + '/forums/washingtonindependent/queueurl.js');
	};
};

Dsq.CNN = function() {
	var obj = {};

	obj.authenticate = function() {
		var url = Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url + "/saml/cnn/try/";
		Dsq.Utils.postToUrl(url, {'target': document.location}, true);
	};

	return obj;
}();


if(Dsq.Utils.ie6) {
	(function() {
		DSQ_HEADER_AVATAR_RE = /<div class="dsq-header-avatar"(.*?)>/gim;
		Dsq.Templates.registerFilter('postPrependHeader', function(html, post_id) {
			// Add "onmouseout" for dsq-header-avatar for dropProfile
			// functionality since IE6 cannot use :hover.
			function _headerAvatarReplace(content, inner, _unused, html) {
				return '<div class="dsq-header-avatar" '
					+ inner
					+ ' onmouseout="Dsq.Post.dropProfile(' + post_id + ')">';
			}
			html = html.replace(DSQ_HEADER_AVATAR_RE, _headerAvatarReplace);
			return html;
		});
	})();
}









(function() {
	//
	// Load theme.  This overrides the base templates with template functions
	// from the respective themes.
	//
	if (Dsq.jsonData.integration.theme == 4) {
		var theme = 'narcissus';
		// HACK: Set variable on window to use post message.
		window.disqus_use_postmessage = true;

		
		for(var prop in Dsq.Themes[theme]) {
			if(Dsq.Themes[theme] && Dsq.Themes[theme].hasOwnProperty(prop)) {
				Dsq.Templates[prop] = Dsq.Themes[theme][prop];
			}
		}
		
		for(var prop in Dsq.Post) {
			if(Dsq.Themes[theme] && Dsq.Themes[theme].hasOwnProperty(prop)) {
				Dsq.Post[prop] = Dsq.Themes[theme][prop];
			}
		}
	}

	//
	// Register templates.  This must be done after all themes are loaded.
	//
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('authPost', Dsq.Templates.authPost);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('header', Dsq.Templates.header);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('footer', Dsq.Templates.footer);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('trackbacks', Dsq.Templates.trackbacks);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('reactions', Dsq.Templates.reactions);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('prependPost', Dsq.Templates.prependPost);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('appendPost', Dsq.Templates.appendPost);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('postPrependHeader', Dsq.Templates.postPrependHeader);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('postAppendHeader', Dsq.Templates.postAppendHeader);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('preBody', Dsq.Templates.preBody);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('postBody', Dsq.Templates.postBody);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('postFooter', Dsq.Templates.postFooter);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('_popupGeneric', Dsq.Templates._popupGeneric);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('voted', Dsq.Templates.voted);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('popupProfile', Dsq.Templates.popupProfile);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('postBox', Dsq.Templates.postBox);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('pagination', Dsq.Templates.pagination);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('postComment_onSuccess', Dsq.Templates.postComment_onSuccess);

})();

Dsq.container.className = "clearfix";
Dsq.container.innerHTML = ' \
<ul id="dsq-comments">\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14462558">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14462558" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14462558" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14462558">Carol</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14462558" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14462558" class="dsq-comment-message">Jeez, Tuci 78, I seem to have stepped on your tail.  Re your Annenberg Foundation/FactCheck assertions, you should know as well as I that the Annenberg Foundation, which started the Chicago Annenberg Challenge education project that included Barack Obama and William Ayers (now professor of education at the University of Illinois) on its board, was established by publisher Walter Annenberg, a prominent Republican (and whose widow contributed to the McCain campaign). The publication Education Week said the Chicago Annenberg Challenge "reflected mainstream thinking among education reformers" and had bipartisan support. The project was backed by letters of support from Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, a Republican, the superintendent of the Chicago public schools, etc. Also included on the board was Arnold R. Weber, a former president of Northwestern University, who had received appointments from Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. The list of mainstream board members goes on. <br><br>FactCheck came into existence long after the Annenberg Challenge project was finished. It’s your right to disbelieve anything they have to say, of course – but don’t cherry-pick your facts. FactCheck has aimed some tough criticisms at Obama also.<br><br>Regarding “he [Obama] hasn\'t put it [birth certificate] into the hands of a court officer…”, which court, exactly, has REQUESTED it?? To my knowledge, all these frivolous and time-wasting court filings have been dismissed by the various courts. But maybe Obama should take time out of his busy day to run down to the nearest courthouse and hand them a copy just to try to please, well, people like you… <br><br>You also are aware, I’m sure, that the ONLY shred of evidence that Obama was ever tagged with his stepfather’s name was when Mr. Soetoro apparently passed him off as his own in order to get him into Indonesian grade school. (One thing that puzzles me is why anybody thinks we should believe that Obama’s father – still alive in Kenya, and still in touch with his son, a proud tribal leader whose son bore his name – would have consented to an Indonesian man adopting Obama in the first place. They DO ask the other parent, you know.)<br><br>At any rate, I realize I will never convince you of anything. I’m a skeptic in many respects myself, and we surely have the right/obligation to ask questions of our candidates and officials. But what most concerns me about this stubborn witchhunt is not its incredible stupidity, but the vicious and vile hatred of those perpetuating it – yourself included. I hated George Bush, I will freely admit. He was incompetent, disengaged, not qualified for the job, and furthermore, he sent our young relative to die in Iraq. However, he was the President, we elected him (sort of), and I NEVER would have referred to him as “a thoroughly rotten, evil, malignant excuse for a human being” (which could be considered a kind description compared to many others out there). I thought the poor guy probably couldn’t do any better. <br><br>This sort of ugly hatred will serve to destroy our nation more surely than any leader could ever do.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14464776">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14464776" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14464776" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-14464776" href="http://www.colony14.net/id41.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tuci78</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14464776" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14464776" class="dsq-comment-message">Dear lady, as for the Annenbergs (publishers of the strongly left-leaning <i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i> and <i>Philadelphia Daily News</i>) protestations of personal membership in and support of the Republican Party are not points which you can offer in argument against the overwhelmingly left-"Liberal" activities of their legacy Foundation.<br><br>To the "Liberal" left, in addition, their activities, policies, and politics are always "mainstream." Some of them - hard to tell how many, but probably most - literally cannot see their own prejudices and bigotries for what they are.  They are not significantly introspective, never objective, and never seriously consider any opinions other then their own as morally, intellectually, or even factually robust.  To disagree with the "Liberal" orthodoxy is, to them, odiously heretical, alien, "fringe," and even unthinkable.<br><br>This is not an attitude conducive to honest discourse, and, indeed, of "Liberals" honest discourse cannot truly be gotten.  <br><br>This understood, your praises of the Annenberg Foundation and its various excrescences - the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, the Annenberg Center for Public Policy, FactCheck, et alia, are moot. Thank you for your effort, but nobody\'s buying it.<br><br>Moreover, as I\'ve written elsewhere, the simple fallacy implicit in your assumption that "if the Republicans approve, it\'s fine!" fails when it is understood that the true line of political demarcation is not drawn between the Republican and the National Socialist (formerly "Democrat") wings of the great, bipartisan, permanently incumbent Boot-On-Your-Neck Party but rather between the principles of individual rights and the practices of authoritarianism.<br><br>Instead of the false "left-right spectrum," consider the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Chart" rel="nofollow">Nolan diagram</a>.<br><br>The U.S. Constitution is not the property - indeed, its defense is not the priority - of either the "Red Party" or the "Blue Party" in these United States today.  The functionaries of both wings of the BOYN Party violate that charter of civil government as a matter of course, deliberately, callously, and without respect either for the structure and protections it was designed to impose or for the rights of the individual citizen living under the government these career politicians exercise to commit their daily crimes.<br><br>So given that I repose no trust in the Republicans whatsoever, an appeal to me on the basis of supposed Republican allegiance is also wasted.<br><br>Now, on to the issue of no court officer having requested that Mr. Soetoro tender a physical, certified copy of his COLB (owing to Fancy Lawyer Tricks that have thus far cost Mr. Soetoro upwards of a million dollars - one observer estimates $1.3 million as of this month - to play in quashing "birther" lawsuits), let\'s turn this around.<br><br>If Barry Soetoro has a true and verified certification of live birth - or, better yet, a birth certificate - which states that he <u>had</u>, in fact, been born in Honolulu, each of these "birther" lawsuits offered him a golden opportunity.<br><br>Instead of expensively resisting, Barry could simply have tendered that physical copy of his 2007 COLB to the judge involved in any one of those cases, said: "Here y\'go, your honor," and been done with it.<br><br>Nothing more would\'ve been necessary.  Bye-bye "birther":controversy.<br><br>But - hatefully, arrogantly, pehaps desperately - Barry Soetoro has avoided every such opportunity.<br><br>Now, given that Barry Soetoro is acting hatefully in this matter - evasively, contemptuously, scornfully - can you wonder at the "sort of ugly hatred" he is engendering, and not admit that what he is doing will "serve to destroy our nation more surely than any [honorable, decent, responsible] leader could ever do"?</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14466221">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14466221" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14466221" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14466221">Carol</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14466221" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14466221" class="dsq-comment-message">I\'m glad you explained about dem Liberals with their lack of introspection, objectivity, etc. from whom "honest discourse cannot truly be gotten." Since I gather you think I am one, then no further point in trying here, I\'m flawed. From my total lack of objectivity, however, I\'d say you don\'t seem so long on introspection yourself.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14467622">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14467622" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14467622" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-14467622" href="http://www.colony14.net/id41.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tuci78</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14467622" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14467622" class="dsq-comment-message">Sorry. Gotta call \'em as I see \'em.  <br><br>Do you see yourself as a "Liberal," madam?  Are you prepared to take the proverbial red pill and look into the difference between authoritarianism - of the right, of the left - and honest commitment to the protection of the individual rights (to life, to liberty, and to property) of your neighbors, your family members, and yourself?<br><br><br><br>--<br><i>Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a punisher.</i><br><br>-- Thomas Paine, <i>Common Sense</i> (1776)</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14503666">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14503666" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14503666" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14503666">Carol</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14503666" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14503666" class="dsq-comment-message">Sorry, thought this site was about proof (or lack of) that our President was born in the U.S.  Anyway, it\'s been interesting...</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14503876">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14503876" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14503876" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-14503876" href="http://www.colony14.net/id41.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tuci78</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14503876" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14503876" class="dsq-comment-message">Oh, it\'s about a lot more than that. Why (do you think) are the Obamaphiles - "Liberals" / socialists / progressives / "velvet fascists" one and all - so frantic to keep their Marxist Mahdi in the Oval Office, wrecking the economy and generally shredding the Constitution into confetti?<br><br>And why would a constitutionalist like me - a moral and methodological individualist, whose number-one political priority is the defense of the individual human being\'s rights to life, to liberty, and to property - be taking such great delight in the prospect of seeing that sad sack third-generation "red diaper baby" socialist sonofabitch perp-walked out of the White House in chains while CNN covers it live and in color?<br><br>This manifest of Barry\'s life of duplicity and criminal intent - his inability to demonstrate his qualification as a "natural born citizen" (Article II, Section 1, U.S. Constitution) with something as simple and commonplace as a <b><i>birth certificate</i></b> - is just <u>wonderful</u>.<br><br>Think of it as a live, drive-by-media-denied, Civics lesson.<br><br>Or, if you\'re younger than I am, a live lesson in "Social Studies."<br><br>The average American - more and more of them (even the ones who voted against Crash Test Johnnie and the Republicans by casting their ballots in a spirit of "What the hell? He says we need \'Change\'" for Barry Soetoro) - are deciding that this conniving, power-grabbing bastard is totally fucking <b><i>awful</i></b>, and we need to get rid of him.<br><br>And here\'s the "birth certificate."  Or, rather, there it <b><u>isn\'t</u></b>.<br><br>And suddenly Article II, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution turns out to be an "escape clause."  A beautiful, big, "Do Over" button.<br><br>And we\'re hitting that button as hard and as repeatedly as we can.<br><br>Ain\'t that neat?</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14407104">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14407104" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14407104" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14407104">Carol</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14407104" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14407104" class="dsq-comment-message">OK, all you dipsticks... Government entities don\'t release the ORIGINAL copy of vital records!  Even if you go down to your county public records office to get your birth certificate, you get a COPY. It will be on nice paper - and if you pay a little more (in our state) they will stamp it with a seal and notarize it. It\'s still a copy. And if you lose it, next week you can go down, pay more money, and get another copy. I surely would hope that the State of Hawaii wouldn\'t just give over an original birth certificate - even to the President, or maybe ESPECIALLY to the President. It\'s their job to keep that original safe. Even if Obama did choose to request, and release, a copy of his long-form certificate, all you doubters wouldn\'t accept that, either. You\'d say it looked like the wrong kind of paper, or ink, or a funny-looking seal or whatever. And I don\'t think that Hawaii is going to allow each of you to travel there and take a look for yourself (especially since they\'re all involved in this massive conspiracy to lie to us). Or if by some miracle you grudgingly accepted the certificate\'s validity, it would be on to the next thing. Now a demand for "adoption records" is floating around the internet (difficult to produce when you\'re not adopted, but hey, anything to make trouble). Really, President Obama has a country to run. Ours. We should probably figure out how to pitch in and help fix our many national problems instead of looking like we\'re all a bunch of doofuses (racist or otherwise). (And by the way, I was born way before Obama - in Podunk Center - and my birth certificate is typed.)</div>\
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	 <li id="dsq-comment-14417245">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14417245" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14417245" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14417245">Tuci78</span>\
	 </cite>\
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	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14417245" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14417245" class="dsq-comment-message">Well, Carol, here\'s one thing you might take into consideration.<br><br>Back in June 2008, some anonymous flunky at the Obama campaign allegedly scanned a Hawaii state Certification of Live Birth (COLB) supposedly issued to one "Barack Hussein Obama II" and said flunky emailed it to the operators of two Obamaphile Web sites, DailyKos and FactCheck.<br><br>Note that FactCheck, for all its overt claims of "impartial" status, is the wholly-owned creature of the same Annenberg Foundation that funded the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, from which Barry Soetoro and William Ayers distributed tens of millions of dollars to predominantly leftist organizations.  In other words, Barry used to be on the Annenberg Foundation payroll, just like the FactCheck people.  Keep this in mind, because it demonstrates why no honest person accepts any FactCheck assertions as <i>ipso facto</i> valid in discussions of this issue. They\'re inextricably conflicted.  <br><br>Besides, anybody who openly calls him/herself "impartial" is simply denying prejudices and predispositions that no human being can escape.  Such a person or group is merely trying to avoid stipulating those biases, and therefore must immediately be assumed to intend deceit, and should not be trusted. <br><br>My slant? I\'m a moral and methodological individualist.  Inasmuch as Barry Soetoro is not only an explicit and well-trained socialist - indeed, a third-generation "red diaper baby" of a socialist - you can see my view of him as hostile in the extreme, and understand my opposition to him and his partisans.<br><br>Now, of that "short-form" COLB supposedly generated in 2007 and allegedly used in June 2008 to make those <b><i>images</i></b> for dissemination on the Web, nobody outside the Obama campaign and the office of FactCheck has ever claimed - not testified under oath, but merely claimed - to have examined that physical, print-on-paper, signed and stamped legal document.<br><br>Nobody hostile to Barry Soetoro.  No impartial observer.  No officer of any court.  No trained, experienced, qualified forensic documents examiners, any of whom might be expected to testify as an expert witness - under oath - as to that document\'s contents, validity, freedom from unlawful alterations, provenance, and (as one such examiner put it in her sworn affidavit of recommendation) it\'s "genuineness or non-genuineness."<br><br>You understand that? What we have of Barry\'s "birth certificate" is a couple of computer graphic images.<br><br>The image of a thing is not the thing itself.<br><br>So, while many of the "birthers" are merely screaming in rage and hoping to tear down our Fraudulence-in-Chief, who appears to be usurping an office he is not in law qualified to occupy, the fundamental question called is simply one that any citizen can and should demand of any public servant, high or low.<br><br>Barry Soetoro (also known as "Barack Hussein Obama II," though he appears never to have legally reclaimed his birth name after returning to these United States as a youngster from Indonesia, where he had been legally adopted as "Barry Soetoro" by his mother\'s second husband, Lolo Soetoro) is being asked to prove he <u>is</u> qualified as a natural born citizen of these United States.<br><br>If he had a genuine COLB from the state of Hawaii in June 2008, stipulating that he had been born in Honolulu, that might go very far to set this whole "birther" issue to rest.<br><br>But though he apparently had it in June 2008, he hasn\'t put it into the hands of a court officer of any kind.  Doing so would render this matter <i>res adjudicata</i> - "a thing adjudicated" - in courts all over America.  It would be easy, simple, expedient, and immediately productive of happy results for everyone except those of us who really, really, hate Barry.<br><br>Myself included, I proudly admit.  Not because of his albedo deficiency, for I could care less about that, but for his socialism.  You want me to make that plain?  I would <b><u>MUCH</u></b> rather see either Thomas Sowell or Walter Williams - both of them black men, both born in these United States - serving as President than any Republican, black or white, male or female, I have ever known or of whom I have ever heard.  <br><br>It\'s the quality of the person, not the color of his/her skin that matters to me.<br><br>Barry Soetoro is just a thoroughly rotten, evil, malignant excuse for a human being, and a clear and present danger to the U.S. Constitution itself.<br><br>And, fortunately, because he cannot bring forth documentary proof of his nonexistent <i>bona fides</i> as to his "natural born citizen" status, it looks as if this nation will soon be relieved of the suffering Barry has inflicted upon us.<br><br>This little thing, this trivial thing, something that the average American simply grumbles and produces upon demand when he has to renew his driver\'s license in a great many American states - this is going to bring down Barry Soetoro.<br><br>Speed the day.</div>\
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	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14611727">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14611727" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14611727" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14611727">Sherrill</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14611727" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14611727" class="dsq-comment-message">No, what you people are whining about is he won\'t do backflips and jump through hoops to let you personally see the documents that had to be approved by several US government agencies just so he could run for president. He doesn\'t owe you squat, he already proved his citizenship to the appropriate legal authorities. You, however, now have to prove he wasn\'t born in the US, which you can\'t</div>\
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	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14613057">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14613057" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14613057" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-14613057" href="http://www.colony14.net/id41.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tuci78</a>\
	 </cite>\
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	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14613057" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14613057" class="dsq-comment-message">What "backflips," Sherrill?  The arrogant piece of shit is refusing to <b><i>put his fucking birth certificate on a judge\'s bench</i></b> as proof of his contention that he ws born where he claims he was born, and is who he says he is.  <br><br>If you\'ve got a kid ready to enter school, Sherrill, in most districts you\'ve got to show up with the kid\'s birth certificate to get him enrolled.  If you\'ve got a child trying to enter Little League, you\'ve got to show a birth certificate as proof that he\'s not older (and therefore stronger, more mature) than the kids against whom he will be competing.  <br><br><b><i>Every goddam American expects to be required to show his birth certificate</i></b> - the physical, print-on-paper legal document itself, not a computer graphic image allegedly scanned from that birth certificate - <b><i>on demand</i></b>.  <br><br>Hell, in some states, that signed and sealed birth certificate is one of the key points of identification needed for renewing your driver\'s license.  That\'s been so since the Beltway Sniper used a phony address to gull the New Jersey state DMV into registering the car he used as a shooter\'s blind to kill and wound all those people.<br><br>If you consider it a "jump through hoops" exaction for a government employee - and that\'s all Barry\'s been since 2005, a <i><b>public servant</b></i> - to show nothing more exceptional than his birth certificate as support of his qualification to hold his job, then you are well and truly fucked up beyond all recovery.<br><br>The plain fact of the matter is that he <b><u>didn\'t</u></b> get any sort of approval by <b><i>any</i></b> "US government agencies just so he could run for president," because none of these cement-heads considered it their duty to look for any such proof.  They took his word for it.<br><br>In other words, the personnel of those "several US government agencies" didn\'t exert the diligence required of a clerk at the DMV or the lady signing up kids for Little League.  <br><br>Okay, so now we\'re trying to correct that omission. And what is your Mombasa Messiah\'s response?  Arrogant refusal to cough up the fucking birth certificate.  <br><br>Arrogant.  Imperious.  "I don\'t have to give you \'civilians\' <b><i>anything</i></b>. I\'m the President."<br><br>Not if he\'s not qualified to hold the office.  And if he entered that office <b><i>knowing</i></b> that he wasn\'t qualified - remember, he\'s a lawyer specializing in constitutional law (you ever wondered about that?) - he entered that office with full criminal <i>mens rea</i>.<br><br>From the White House to the Big House.  The next chapter in Barry Soetoro\'s biography.</div>\
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	 <li id="dsq-comment-14620499">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14620499" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14620499" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14620499">Squeeky</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14620499" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14620499" class="dsq-comment-message">Most of the time when people don\'t seem able to converse without usin\' them 4-letter words in every sentence, it\'s because they are so borderline illiterate they have no other vocabulary.  But, you know words (Latin \'n stuff). So what\'s the excuse for your potty mouth?</div>\
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	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14620616">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14620616" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14620616" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-14620616" href="http://www.colony14.net/id41.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tuci78</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14620616" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14620616" class="dsq-comment-message">Shit, I know. Ain\'t it jusf fucking awful? You\'d think the stupid bastards could find some other way to express themselves.  But no, the sons of bitches just <b><i>gotta</i></b> use them common vulgarities in their discourse. <br><br>The American language being rich in invective - including emphatic Anglo-Saxonisms condemned by the hypocritical in their pretenses of delicacy as "4-letter words" - the use of the total linguistic package (pungencies included) is rather a mark of greater literacy than lesser, for it cavils not at false sensibilities in the quest for effective conveyance of thoughts and sentiments.<br><br>The very essence of what a language is devised to do.  <br><br>Would it be more to your taste if I used the antique term "aroint" instead of telling you simply, parsimoniously, and with heartfelt sincerity to go fuck yourself? <br><br>Ah, what a clustercopulation is the Obamaphile, each in his own little puddle of excrement, finger-flipping his filth in slack-jawed fascination from one spasmodic cluster of digits to another....</div>\
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	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14699287">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14699287" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14699287" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14699287">Squeeky</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14699287" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14699287" class="dsq-comment-message">Here\'s my personal scorecard for evaluating statements by Republicans, Democrats, and anybody else (including whatever the hell YOU are): (1) points off if one can\'t spell, or construct a simple sentence, (2) points off for USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS ONLY, and (3) no credibility whatsoever if one\'s pronouncements are so bereft of any factual content that they can only be communicated by "common vulgarities."  But, that\'s just me.</div>\
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	 <li id="dsq-comment-14897406">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14897406" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14897406" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-14897406" href="http://www.colony14.net/id41.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tuci78</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14897406" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14897406" class="dsq-comment-message">Tsk. Spelling and grammar snarks are passe upon these comments threads, squeekster.  <br><br>By the bye, you post something of substance instead of a whining complaint about someone "usin\' them 4-letter words in every sentence," and I\'ll try to give you substantive response in return.<br><br>But if all you\'ve got is kvetching about nasty language, orthography, sentence construction, punctuation and the like, then don\'t be surprised if you get a figurative wedgie along those lines that\'s designed to express the contempt you\'ve earned.</div>\
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	 <li id="dsq-comment-14612823">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14612823" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14612823" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14612823">John F.</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14612823" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14612823" class="dsq-comment-message">Uhhhhm - see that\'s part of the problem. All most State\'s election officials really ask for is the standard candidate affidavit after the nomination that any party that has ballot access does on behalf of it\'s nominee. So the Party does the \'vetting\' as far as verifying qualifications for the office of President. That\'s what happened here in Connecticut. Also here in Connecticut our scrupulous Secretary of the State allowed a Nicaraguan born and raised naturalized US Citizen on the ballot as a Presidential Candidate . . . . one of 7 States to do so. That should never happen. And if that could happen then whats to say those same SOTS didn\'t do their job with McCain and Obama?! In my opinion and many others the only legal legit candidates of any legitimacy that were on the 2008 ballot were Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin and Cynthia McKinney.</div>\
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	 <li id="dsq-comment-14400477">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14400477" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14400477" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14400477">amy334</span>\
	 </cite>\
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	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14400477" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14400477" class="dsq-comment-message">Native born? Natural born? does that mean every person born in the US without two US citizens as parents at the time of his/her birth are automatically barred from becoming President? <br><br>There is no jurisprudence for this. The long history of this nation has always been about the struggle to meet the premise that all of us are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights--but also equal under the law, entitled to common rights and priviledges as US citizens, the right to run for President being one. It is not explicit, that is why there is jurisprudence, but........we fought the Civil War to right the wrong of kidnap, sale and slavery, of humans.  We added the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments in the Bill of Rights to protect the ideal of equality under the law. <br><br>Are you now telling me we have indeed TWO classes of citizenry, one natural, one native? That would be an interesting argument to make in court. You are equal, in all ways except one. Try that on women, artificially transferred embryos who turn out to grow up and want to become President or any other "unnaturally created citizen" and see what happens. <br><br>Reality time: the US like it or not, perfect or not at the time of conception was dedicated to equality of opportunity....even in the right to bear arms, it\'s about equal access, we do it all the time. No one puts a caveat in fine print on the birth certificates and passports of those born here without two US citizen parents that says, oh by the way, you\'re \'native\' NOT \'natural born\' so don\'t go getting any fancy ideas. People are born here everyday, without *ANY* US parent and are fully recognized as "natural born" citizens.<br><br>Do you have plans for them, better get out a notice to them ALL right now, and you might start with John McCain, and he certainly isn\'t natural born, as he was born in PANAMA!! Not natural born! Or is it ok, to let him in, but not those actually born on US soil??<br><br>There is NO proof, and no argument that will quell this hullabaloo, that is why Obama is not providing anything more than the legally binding COLB, that everyone else in the country is required to give, and by the way was approved by the US Election committees and recently accepted and pointed out by Congress in it\'s declaration of Hawaii\'s 50 anniversary of admittance to the Union. The argument if you *somehow* managed to miss it, is a moving target.<br><br>Allegations include: <br>1) He was not born in Hawaii<br>2) He was not born of two US Citizen<br>3) His father was a British subject-ergo so was he, whether born on US soil or not<br>4) His mother with a long ancestry in this nation\'s history was not qualified to transmit citizenship, because she was not old enough AND he wasn\'t born in the US<br>5) He hasn\'t disproved that he wasn\'t born in Africa--do you have to disprove you weren\'t born in your most recent immigrant parents last known "old country" even though there is *NOT * a shred of evidence he was born there. <br><br>Let\'s see: <br><br>1)He presented and made public the very self same COLB that I and MOST americans have that is good enough to be presented for passport, drivers license, etc and oh, for presentation to election committees! Gee let me see......I think your birth certificate is a forgery, and that the governor of the state where you were born was paid off and the whole US Congress is in on it!!<br><br>Sounds funny doesn\'t it? <br><br>Especially when it comes from a woman who Is MOST certainly not a natural born citizen, and barely speaks English. Ms. Taitz certainly doesn\'t understand the language or the law well enough to quote it correctly or the most recent precendents, (lets\' try to discount the ones that are Pre-Civil War). She didn\'t even understand the language well enough to understand Steven Colbert playing her for the clown she is, and she is not a member of the Calif. Bar, apart from her incoherent ramblings. As a Jew it would behoove her to be more careful of who she accuses of being a "brown shirt" and Nazi as she did when speaking with David Shuster, who obviously was disturbed by the remark and acknowledged that he himself lost relatives in the Holocaust. <br><br>The hyperbole is interesting, as projection of the collectictively agreed upon sins of others (Nazis, "racists") seems to be the only things they can hurl at Obama and his supporters. They have *NO* FACTS--only delusions and fear. <br><br>I wish  we could let them opt of of citizenry as they seek to opt out the legitimacy of those who are fully entitled to all and full benefits of citizenship. Unfortunately it is the price we pay for our democracy and our freedoms, but the frustration of these malcontents and screwballs is equally the price they pay for living in a democracy. Let that be a lesson to them, they are about to get even more discontented as healthcare, economic improvement, and retooling the American educational system to create a bigger and better, healthier poplulace comes to fruition. Bring on the meds!</div>\
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	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14418303">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14418303" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14418303" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14418303">John Fleming</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14418303" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14418303" class="dsq-comment-message">Amy,<br><br>I have some on my hands, but I certainly don\'t have the time to teach US History and Politics. <br><br>First and foremost, this notion that natural born = native born as it pertains to the Presidency has emerged in the last 24 months. Why AREN\'T the Republicans sounding the alarm bells so much? Because they have a vested interest in the Obama Rule and his name is Bobby Jindal. <br>That\'s part of the reason why the Two-Party Party is such a joke. It\'s like Coke versus Pepsi. It used to be like Sprite versus 7-Up but that might be a little too deep a metaphor for some of you. You can come to the market with your own brand of soft-drink, but don\'t encroach on that shelf space or you\'ll bought or locked out.<br><br>There are certainly some very creative lawyers and academics (Obama included) that believe somehow the 14th Amendment rewrote Article II, Paragraph V. They also somehow have drawn the conclusion that subsequent lawsuits pertaining to citizenship somehow altered the qualifications to be President. However, neither the 14th Amendment nor the various lawsuits however had anything to do with someone making the claim that they should be eligible to be President.<br><br>As for the notion that Article II somehow creating two classes of citizens is bordering on the absurd. There are more than 300 million people who are citizens of the United States, and only 1 gets to be President every 4 years. You have a statistically better chance of winning multiple Powerball lotteries than you do of becoming President. If you really want to point fingers, point it at the media and big business - they pick our candidates for us. There is the working class and then there is the white collar/Ivy League class. We all have the same rights and privileges, but we don\'t all have the same level of access. If you want to be pissed about a perceived caste system - that\'s the one to focus your energy on. Personally I don\'t see Obama\'s ethnicity: I see a guy who certainly worked hard to get where he is, but I also see the liberal professor and corporate attorney who snapped in line towards the end of his campaign by the deep pockets of the Democratic Party. Their largely the same check writers the GOP has and their agenda has nothing to do with you and me. Obama has flipped on so many campaign PROMISES in his first six months its become hard to keep up. Why? Because you can say whatever the voters want to hear on the campaign trail and hold a big feel good rock concert at the end of the trail - but the second you get sworn in you are a puppet of the multi-national corporate check-writers. And at the other end of the multi-national corporate purse strings there are a group of people who would love to see a hand-picked foreign born CEO someday ascend to the Presidency, someone who really understands the unique problems of a global economy.  And if you don\'t see this coming on the track we are currently on, than I beg you to take a step back, set aside your Demoplican loyalties and ask yourself why the Federal government has grown so large over the last 100 years and it doesn\'t begin with FDR. Ask yourself if our currency system, that allows the Federal government to magically print money to pay off debts jibes with your own personal budgeting experiences. Ask yourself WHY we are doing business with a country like China. <br><br>But back to the natural born issue. Here\'s some precedent for you: since Martin Van Buren (the first President born on US soil after the previous 7 were European born and grandfathered in as citizens at the time of adoption of the Constitution) every single President has had TWO US CITIZEN PARENTS AND BEEN BORN ON US SOIL, with two exceptions: Chester Arthur and Barack Obama. It is a historical fact that Chester Arthur covered up and hid the fact that his Father was a British subject at the time of his birth in Vermont. Arthur\'s Father eventually became a naturalized US citizen but not until Chester was about 14 years old. The 14th Amendment was adopted before Arthur became VP and while he was the Republican State Chairman, so why would Arthur lie about his Father\'s naturalization record? Because he knew that if the truth about his Father\'s naturalization got out he would not have been eligible to serve as VP or President. Interestingly enough, shortly into Garfield\'s Presidency he was assasinated by a rabid Arthur supporter. Shortly after Arthur took office as President, the Democrats sent an operative to Vermont and Canada to dig up dirt on Arthur. The dirt was published in the form of a book entitled "How A British Subject Became President”. Just like Barack Obama, Chester Arthur was a dual citizen at birth. Except it was the Democrats making the charges of Arthur not being a  natural born citizen. Oh my, how times change, huh?!</div>\
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	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14611885">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14611885" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14611885" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14611885">Sherrill</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14611885" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14611885" class="dsq-comment-message">Oh, how the political parties have flip flopped. But please cite to me where in the US Constitution it defines natural born citizen and requires both parents be US citizens?<br>P.S.  The Constitution allows the Federal government to magically print money, check Article I, Section 8</div>\
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	 <li id="dsq-comment-14334072">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14334072" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14334072" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14334072">Tuci78</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14334072" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14334072" class="dsq-comment-message">Well, it\'s getting out in the drive-by media now.<br><br>From <a href="http://nebraska.statepaper.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2009/08/05/4a79c4716da39" rel="nofollow">David Hahn</a>, "Publisher <a href="http://StatePaper.com" rel="nofollow">StatePaper.com</a> " August 5, 2009.<br><br><b>Publisher: Obama Should Produce Original Birth Certificate</b><br><br><i>At <a href="http://StatePaper.com" rel="nofollow">StatePaper.com</a>, we know by making this statement we will be instantly tagged as "racist," "birther," or other pejorative terms by those who defend the President of the United States.  We often defend the President and the job he is doing and are regularly lambasted for being "too liberal" or an "Obama lover" by some of our most prolific critics.  <br><br>But, here is the issue:<br><br>The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of our country.  Article II of the Constitution requires the President to be a natural born citizen.  Without reciting them here, there appears to be some serious questions raised about whether President Obama was born in the United States or Kenya.  We have not checked sources, but there are reports that some witnessed his birth in Kenya.<br><br>The President\'s campaign staff and then his administration have released and placed on the internet a "Certificate of Live Birth."  We do not dispute the validity or correctness of that document as others have tried to do, suggesting the use of computers to alter seals and names.  By releasing this document the President agrees that the claims about his status as a natural born citizen is an open, important, public issue.<br><br>But, this "Certificate of Live Birth" is simply not the best evidence that the President and his administration could offer to lay to rest any doubt about his status as a natural born citizen. <br><br>Barack Obama is a lawyer and a graduate of Harvard Law School.  All law students study the body of law we call "Evidence."  One of the core tenets of American law is the "best evidence rule" which requires the production of original, or certified copies, of original document to prove a fact.   Abstracts and summaries are not original documents. <br><br>The President has offered an abstract (Certificate) of his birth, but not an original birth certificate which would be the best evidence of his birth.   We need the best evidence so that it can do what the best evidence is meant to do; dispel the doubts about a fact.  We need to see the Birth Certificate. That\'s the one that is often handwritten and signed by the doctor. <br><br>Lawyers and legal thinkers will, obviously, argue the finer points of the "Best Evidence Rule" and its applicability to this matter. But, that misses the point. The notion of "Best Evidence" is solidly-grounded in law.  This is an important public matter and it seems now that the President has started down the path of offering some evidence (Certificate of Live Birth), he should offer the "best evidence" (Original Birth Certificate) which is the source document for his birth.  The document behind the document which has been released. This is what is needed now in the court of public knowledge.<br><br>The fact in question here is the constitutional qualification of the President of the United States to hold office.  With a simple nod, the President could offer the American people the best evidence, the source document(s), as he learned about at Harvard, and dispel those who question his birth as a natural born citizen.  His failure to provide this best evidence, when it could be so easily done, raises only more questions, which fuels an ugly public debate.</i><br><br>I guess there are some things that not even a journalism school graduate can stomach.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14611928">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14611928" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14611928" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14611928">Sherrill</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14611928" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14611928" class="dsq-comment-message">A Certification of Live Birth is the best and only real proof of where he was born. States do not give out "original" birth certificates, they hand out Certifications of Live Birth.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14613352">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14613352" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14613352" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-14613352" href="http://www.colony14.net/id41.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tuci78</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14613352" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14613352" class="dsq-comment-message">Not even under the state laws of Hawaii - until they were revised (surprise!) just recently.  For certain government benefits granted only to native Polynesian Hawaiians (not for <i>haoles</i>, the caucasian and black and oriental immigrants and descendants of such immigrants), <b><i>only</i></b> the "long-form" birth <u><b>certificate</b></u> could be accepted as proof of entitlement. <br><br>Sherill, you\'re swallowing Obamaphile bullshit.  In the state of Hawaii, the "short-form" <u>Certification</u> of Live Birth had been - right up to this year - nothing more than a "make-do" to serve the needs of Hawaiians who had no "long-form" birth certificate information on file in the state government\'s archives.  <br><br>Barry Soetoro is well and truly fucked.  It\'s just a matter of shoving it all the way up until it finally emerges from the back of his throat and chokes him.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14885836">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14885836" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14885836" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14885836">Steven</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14885836" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14885836" class="dsq-comment-message">Tuci-<br><br>You are such a fucking racist idiot.  At least this president was elected by a substantial majority, not imposed on us by the Supreme Court on a totally partisan basis like the last mass-murderer in chief.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14896911">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14896911" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14896911" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-14896911" href="http://www.colony14.net/id41.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tuci78</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14896911" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14896911" class="dsq-comment-message">Shows as "a substantial majority" in the Electoral College, but not in the popular vote.  Sorry, Steve, but your Mombasa Messiah simply isn\'t as popular as you\'d like to delude yourself into thinking. Take a look at a county-by-county map tracking the 2008 presidential voting, and the swaths of "red" are overwhelming.<br><br>Barry took the "grasshopper" vote.  The "ant" vote went all to hellangone against him, in spite of the fact that the productive portion of the population had nothing to vote for but Crash Test Johnnie, probably the most "National Socialist" of the whole damned RINO caucus.<br><br>Eventually, as more and more of the "Liberals" get mugged by Barry and his little ACORN compadres, they\'re turning against him.  Already underway.<br><br>Hey, you know what the definition of a conservative is, don\'tcha?  A "Liberal" who\'s just been mugged.<br><br>And watch your Anglo-Saxon. Mr. Wiener - Associate Editor - has emailed me to announce his intention to start throwing people who use "pungent language" off these <i>TWI</i> threads.  <br><br>Nice try on the "racist" card, by the way.  Messiah Central still pushing that bullpuckey to you "left-wing bloggers" or are you just stuck without anything better to say?</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13968226">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13968226" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13968226" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13968226">Carol</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13968226" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13968226" class="dsq-comment-message">"no person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President." Jeez, taken literally, there is no one eligible to be President, as we, long ago, ran out of citizens, natural-born or otherwise, alive "at the time of the adoption of this Constitution."  (Either that, or, there is, as usual, an excess of commas in the Constitution, as in this posting.)  I trust that all you hair-splitters willing to twist yourselves into pretzels in order to (you dream) get rid of Obama in the White House plan to do the same diligence in the future when a Presidential candidate is born of a single mom (father unknown), a product of in vitro fertilization, of a sperm donor, or maybe a surrogate mother. Should keep you busy, it\'s a whole new world.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13977958">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13977958" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13977958" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13977958">Darkmoth</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13977958" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13977958" class="dsq-comment-message">Nah, if it\'s Republican sperm, they\'ll be fine. They\'ve been trained to bark at Democrats, but their true masters have the leash well in hand.<br><br>I doubt any of these "Constitutionalists" lost a wink of sleep as the 4th Amendment was being gutted. granddaddy GOP told them it was all good, and so it was.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13996167">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13996167" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13996167" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13996167">John Fleming</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13996167" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13996167" class="dsq-comment-message">It NEVER ceases to amaze me how tunnel visioned narrow-thought thinkers such as yourself, always assume that someone who doesn\'t agree with you MUST be a Republican or Conservative.<br><br>Despite what the Two-Party Party propagandists preach - the spectrum of political thought is far more colorful and dynamic than simple black & white ideologies.<br><br>Many of us terrible original intent folks have long since grown weary of the neo-Conservative Religious right that long-ago hi-jacked the Republican Party.I was already wavering from George HW Bush\'s 1000 Points of Light New World Order crap, and left for good when Newt\'s crew gutted the last traces of the Party Lincoln knew.<br><br>Remember labels are bad.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13968559">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13968559" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13968559" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13968559">Tuci78</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13968559" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13968559" class="dsq-comment-message">Why not? If it works, and Barry Soetoro gets perp-walked out of the White House live on CNN by a squad of federal marshals, who\'ve packaged him in handcuffs and ankle fetters, and those neat belly chains, while the Secret Service guys look all nervous and pale behind their sunglasses and the Marine guards are high-five-ing each other, wouldn\'t that be just <b><i>spectacular?</i></b><br><br>I mean, what better way to get that criminal sonofabitch out of our misery?  At the same time, there would be a <b><u>MASSIVE</u></b> slap-down of the institution of the imperial presidency, hopefully degrading if not destroying the image of this "Man on a White Horse" bullshit post that it became in the administration of that earlier criminal shitwad, FDR.<br><br>It\'s diseased, evil, rotten, <b><i>wrong</i></b> for the citizens of a representative republic like these United States to vest not only so much power and responsibility but so much docile, ovine, abject <i>worship</i> of any man in any public office in any part of our civil government.<br><br>Sending Barry Soetoro (alias "Barack Hussein Obama II") to spend the rest of his life getting folded over a bunk somewhere in the federal prison system, his "Hope" for "Change" this time being pertinent to the prospect of Vaseline somewhere in the next few minutes would be a consummation devoutly to be wished.<br><br>Good for the nation, good for our people, and good for Barry\'s cellmate, who\'s gonna have such <b><i>fun</i></b> with the new fish!</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14400330">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14400330" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14400330" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14400330">joyfuljoy</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14400330" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14400330" class="dsq-comment-message">His  Republican masters has TAuci78 under their thumb.  And you are so pathetic and mean.  Bet you call yourself a christian.   I dare you to show this vicious rant to the people at your church and the mayor of your town.  Unless you live in Alabama or S.C., then it might speak for a lot of people.  I had the pleasure (?)of meeting a few of you nauseating people while I was an Air Force Nurse.  Turned me into a liberal.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13843952">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13843952" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13843952" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13843952">Name</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13843952" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13843952" class="dsq-comment-message">It\'s amusing - and pathetically sad at the same time - that there are so many delusional Americans, incapable of rational thought.  Such people will ultimately destroy any semblance of democracy. <br><br>They are ecstatically thrilled to spout inane nonsense for which there is exactly and precisely ZERO evidence, while claiming that the ONLY evidence which the state of Hawaii will EVER produce regarding someone\'s birth is obviously false when it is obviously and OFFICIALLY correct, true and valid as well as being corroborated by copies of birth announcements in two Honolulu newspapers and by every sane person with any direct involvement.  Oh, and BTW, no other state will produce anything more than what Hawaii has released.  <br><br>For the benefit of those who are completely and utterly clueless, the entirely fragmented system of personal identification in the U.S. prior to 9/11/01 has been streamlined and updated by federal law in order to produce exactly what the braindead are whining, sniveling, stamping their feet and otherwise throwing childish tantrums about.  Original identification documents are no longer being copied and handed out, precisely in order to prevent the kind of fraud which is being perpetrated by the birther lunatics.  Oh, and if you want to place blame for that, talk to the Republicans who wrote and passed the legislation...one of the very few things they did during the last 8 years which was not completely irresponsible.<br><br>Thank you, Ronnie RayGun, for de-funding psychiatric care in the U.S.  I know he preferred mental patients in his professional circle, but the result will eventually be a death sentence for the republic.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13843578">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13843578" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13843578" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13843578">BM</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13843578" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13843578" class="dsq-comment-message">This writer misses the biggest point.The statute allows the issuance of Hawaiian birth certificates for children born out of the state.  Does it really matter so much who applies for it?<br>I award David Weigel the annual "Missing The Forest For The Trees Award."<br><br>[§338-17.8]  Certificates for children born out of State.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13977706">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13977706" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13977706" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13977706">Darkmoth</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13977706" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13977706" class="dsq-comment-message">Erm, Obama was born in 1961. That statute was originated in 1982. Since that was your "biggest point",  I guess it\'s all hunky dory now.<br><br>Protip: Try to understand the debate before claiming someone else doesn\'t.<br><br>You\'re welcome.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14022152">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14022152" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14022152" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14022152">BM</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14022152" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14022152" class="dsq-comment-message">I dispute that the statute was originated in 1982.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13823487">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13823487" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13823487" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13823487">MARK</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13823487" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13823487" class="dsq-comment-message">You are WRONG. I read that section of the law & it confirms that someone could be born in a foreign country & then you could claim you were residents for at least one year & then obtain a birth certificate. Thuis is a huge loophole for fraud.<br>I DON\'T KNOW WHAT YOU READ, BUT THATS WHAT I READ !</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13781337">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13781337" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13781337" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13781337">John Fleming</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13781337" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13781337" class="dsq-comment-message">Mr. Weigel:<br><br>Here is the problem. The so-called \'birther\' movement (defined by various individuals and news outlets as people who believe that Barrack Obama was born outside the United States and has a forged birth certificate or something to that effect) are causing confusion, consternation and prolonging resolution of the the legit Constitutional issue that Obama has and continues to face. That is, while President Obama was DEFINITELY born in Hawaii, and thus a native United States citizen, he was born to one US Citizen parent and one Kenyan/British citizen, and thus was born to with dual loyalties whether born on US soil or not. Because Obama has dual loyalties, he is NOT a natural born citizen, and thus should have never been nominated by the Democratic Party because he is ineligible to even run for the office of President as clearly stated in Article II, Section 1: "No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President" and re-affirmed in 1898 in the King Wong Ark Supreme Court case which as Justice Horace Gray stated in the majority opinion:<br><br>"The foregoing considerations and authorities irresistibly lead us to these conclusions: The fourteenth amendment affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and under the protection of the country, including all children here born of resident aliens…Every citizen or subject of another country, while domiciled here, is within the allegiance and the protection, and consequently subject to the jurisdiction, of the United States.  His allegiance to the United States is direct and immediate…and his child, as said by Mr. Binney in his essay before quoted, ‘If born in the country, is as much a citizen as the natural-born child of a citizen…" <br><br>Please read more about this case in the excellent research and detail that Leo Donofrio has presented here: <a href="http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/2009/07/30/justice-horace-gray-clearly-indicated-wong-kim-ark-was-not-a-natural-born-citizen/" rel="nofollow">http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/2009/07...</a></div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13858331">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13858331" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13858331" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13858331">johnsawyer</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13858331" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13858331" class="dsq-comment-message">Congratulations, Mr. Fleming, for posting a completely schizophrenic comment.  Your first paragraph states a complete (deliberate?) misunderstanding of citizenship vs natural-born, and how it relates to eligibility for the US Presidency, and your second paragraph, which you cite in an attempt to back up your first paragraph, actually states why your first paragraph is wrong.<br><br>Here are the facts, as established in US courts: everyone born on US soil, or territories, is a US natural-born citizen, not "just" a citizen.  The citizenship of the child\'s parents are considered irrelevant.  And, there is nothing in the Constitution that states anything about dual citizenship as disqualifying someone for the Presidency, so there\'s nothing in the Constitution that states someone with dual citizenship (especially granted only by virtue of the fact that one of one\'s parents is not a US citizen) has "dual loyalties", and no law, court case, etc. has ever ruled that a natural-born US citizen, with dual citizenship granted by one or the other parents\' citizenship in another country, has his natural-born status annulled.  Certainly, your second paragraph doesn\'t cite anything like that, and in fact affirms what I\'ve just said.<br><br>Your comment that this non-issue is "prolonging resolution of the the legit Constitutional issue that Obama has and continues to face", is just your attempt to be a birther by taking a different approach, one that\'s easily shown to be phony.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14020210">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14020210" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14020210" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14020210">BM</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14020210" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14020210" class="dsq-comment-message">John,<br><br>All of this would go away in a New York minute if Obama just requested and released the original long-form document.  <br><br>\'Mr. Transparency\' apparently can\'t walk the talk.  So great is his sense of entitlement.  He thinks he is above the law.  He uses the word \'rule\' when he refers to his administration. I\'m quite sure he uses that word in the way he intends.<br><br>Never been a more arrogant SOB in the White House ever!</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13863964">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13863964" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13863964" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13863964">John Fleming</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13863964" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13863964" class="dsq-comment-message">Mr Sawyer,<br><br>The mistake you and your fellow revisionists continue to make is this absurd claim that somehow the 14th Amendment, Wong Kim Ark and subsequent cases related to citizenship has anything to do with the natural born citizen clause. I\'ve yet to see any logical argument that attaches the two.<br><br>If you knew your history you\'d be aware that the concept of \'natural born citizen\' was not a new one to the Framers. In fact, one of the influential contemporary political texts of the time was the Law of Nations (published in 1752) which stated the ancient common law of \'natural born citizen\'. If the specific issue of Article II, Paragraph 5 of the Constitution ever comes before the Supreme Court as it pertains to a candidates eligibility (which to date, it has not), they will undoubtedly start with the origin of the term and why the Framers included it. Well, in Law of Nations, Vattel defined it clearly: "The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens."<br><br>In fact, Mr. Sawyer, if you go back and research the birth record of each President and Vice-President you will find that each one from Martin Van Buren to present day was born on US soil to two US citizen parents, with two exceptions: Chester Arthur & Barack Obama. It has recently been revealed that Chester Arthur not only was born of one US Citizen and one Canadian citizen (his Father), but that he lied on his candidate filings that his Father had been a naturalized citizen at the time of Arthurs birth. Why would Arthur have lied about such a thing under penalty of perjury if all that mattered was he was born in the US? Because Arthur just like every President and VP before and after him right up until Barack Obama knows that the natural born citizen clause has nothing to do with the 14th Amendment or any subsequent rulings on citizenship. This is the question that all you living Constitution struggle with: how can someone be born with dual citizenship and be a natural born citizen of either country? The answer, of course, is you can\'t be. Barack Obama is unquestionably a native born citizen - just as his campaign tacitly states on his <a href="http://FighttheSmears.com" rel="nofollow">FighttheSmears.com</a> website. He is not, however, a natural born citizen.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14288511">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14288511" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14288511" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14288511">amy334</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14288511" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14288511" class="dsq-comment-message">I just can\'t help asking: if a child of two Mexicans comes across the border for the day, either by design or happenstance and the wife gives birth to a "Mexican" in the US on US soil, the child, is by all preceding jurisprudence in US History considered, and deemed, a US citizen, or......... <br><br>Are you saying, that because said hypothetical child\'s parents are not US Citizens, he/she is NOT a "natural born citizen"? Do we have natural and unnatural citizens? <br><br>The US Constitution was created in the late 1700\'s with and after many attempts to create a union and a nation with a coherent set of laws that would fairly apply to all--even the slaves many held. (they put a hold on dealing with those however). <br><br>But do you think they foresaw test tube babies? In vitro, donor eggs, sperm donors,  heart transplants, not to mention DNA et al? Do you really think they had any idea what a "natural born" citizen could or might include in the new millenium. <br><br>I agree, there needs to be clarification........but not because of Obama, but because of McCain! In all seriousness, I am well aware of his many years of service to our nation, of the service his forebears gave, but does that mean Obama\'s sodbusting ancestors gave less, and are entitled to less for their descendant, Mr. Obama?<br><br>The truth hurts sometimes, and while I know some........some people can\'t understand why he won\'t release or allow his "long form" birth certificate........this whole thing is really about a black man, with heaven forbid an AFRICAN, a real genuine to goodness AFRICAN who dared give us a son, who became President. <br><br>I wonder if the same people are going to give back their health care cards when they get them. Are they going to give back their extended unemployment? Will they refuse to drive over newer and safer bridges, are they going to burn their Medicare cards?They should. Why the hypocrisy? Evil old healthcare for all! How could he?<br><br>Why not bomb the living daylights out of a country that had nothing whatsoever to do with the 9-11 bombing, while Osama bin Laden gets away with murder on a grand scale. Only small minded little undereducated coward and all around creep Tim McVeigh wrought such terror on US soil, even he didn\'t get away with it. <br><br>Are you going to say that mypothetical Mexican is ineligible and is an unnatural citizen? <br><br>I say, quite honestly, that despite McCain\'s service which I never underestimate, he is actually the one who was NOT naturally born. If they expected him to be a Presidential candidate they should have sent Roberta back home to give birth. So yes, there is room for improvement in the clarification, but this, this craziness, is not about that, it\'s about that doggoned fear of retribution from those who were kidnapped, and who slaved without reward for centuries before calmer heads prevailed and decided to make some basic attempts at decency and reconciliation with their overwhelming majority religion. There were economic reasons too, but at core, it was a festering blister that kept eating away at the nation, and postponing dealing with it, only made it worse.<br><br>It really helps if we *don\'t* feed the crazy, or irrational fear. There really is crazy here.........just look into who some of these people are. It\'s not about reason, or logic, or the failings of the clarity of a nearly 250 yr old statute. It\'s about base fear, and delusion, and probably not a small amount of projection particularly on the part of those like Ms. Taitz, whose legal status I am very interested in exploring. <br><br>Sometimes it\'s good very good to look at who your bedfellows are.</div>\
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	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13869527">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13869527" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13869527" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13869527">johnsawyer</span>\
	 </cite>\
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	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13869527" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13869527" class="dsq-comment-message">Afer some more research, I\'ve found that you\'re right at least in the sense that it\'s never been very clear in US law what constitutes a "natural born" US citizen, so my contention that it\'s been clear for a long time, isn\'t accurate, and I apologize for the tone of my post (especially since you\'re one of the few birthers posting here who\'s trying to maintain some degree of civility, and thanks for not flaming me in return).  However, I still disagree with your interpretation of Wong Kim Ark and how it relates to Obama\'s eligibility to be President--can you examine my reasoning further below in this comment?<br><br>Before going into that, I do know some history, including that some of the founding fathers agreed amongst themselves that merely being born on US soil or territories shouldn\'t make someone a natural-born US citizen; written communications amongst themselves that I\'ve read, shows they were more concerned about usurpation by foreign governments, and not so much by the Law of Nations (as you state, "The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens").  But either way, unfortunately a specific statement on the definition for purposes of the Constitution, didn\'t make it into the Constitution, either explicitly or implicitly.  They may have left it deliberately vague, to allow for some flexibility in the future, being a new country, or they may have assumed that the other signers of the Constitution agreed with their position, and that they all had a single definition of what "natural-born" meant to them.  I doubt that, but whether or not any of the other founding fathers didn\'t agree with this definition, nobody clarified it in the text of the Constitution.  That determination was left up to others later (whether deliberately or accidentally).  As you say, the case you cite, of Wong Kim Ark, states (pretty much) that anyone born on US soil or territories is a NATIVE-born US citizen, but not a NATURAL-born US citizen, but my interpretation of Justice Gray\'s majority opinion, which also states that such native-born US citizens are "as much a citizen as the natural-born child of a citizen", means they\'re entitled to all the rights held by natural-born US citizens--and, ipso facto, "all" would have to include the right to be President of the US, regardless of the existence of two terms, "native" vs "natural".<br><br>The justices in the cases of Wong Kim Ark, and Minor (1873, a case which Justice Gray relied on during the Wong Kim Ark case), didn\'t clarify whether anyone born on US soil or territory was a natural-born US citizen, regardless of their parents\' citizenry--they restricted themselves to clarifying what constituted a "mere" US citizen, leaving the decision on natural-born for another day (since it wasn\'t relevant to the case at hand), and simply saying that issue had also been debated in the past without resolution, and further stating specifically that Wong Kim Ark and Minor were not to be interpreted as a decision that anyone born on US soil or territories was natural-born, as well as being a US citizen.  For some reason, this has been distorted by some to mean the justices felt that such persons are NOT natural-born US citizens (sort of a different version of the phrase "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"), simply because the justices had "the chance" to clarify the issue.  But they didn\'t clarify that issue, since they didn\'t have to, so nothing can really be relied on, in either of these cases, to determine anything about whether someone born on US soil or territories, with one or the other, or both, parents not being US citizens, is natural-born or not.  An absence of a clearly-stated position doesn\'t constitute advocacy of any particular position, and certainly doesn\'t make it established law.<br><br>Here again, as you\'ve quoted, is Justice Gray\'s statement comparing a child born on US soil or territories, one or both of whose parents aren\'t US citizens, with another child born on US soil or territories, both of whose parents are US citizens:<br><br>"…Every citizen or subject of another country, while domiciled here, is within the allegiance and the protection, and consequently subject to the jurisdiction, of the United States.  His allegiance to the United States is direct and immediate…and his child, as said by Mr. Binney in his essay before quoted, ‘If born in the country, is as much a citizen as the natural-born child of a citizen…"<br><br>I know this can be interpreted in at least two different, and opposite ways, but to me, this is a roundabout way of saying both children have all the same rights, including Presidential eligibility, even if the child born of one or two non-US citizens, is not technically 100% US natural-born (but rather, native-born).  If the child born on US soil or territories, of non-US citizens, didn\'t have the right to be President of the US, then they would NOT, ipso facto, be "as much a citizen as the natural-born child of a citizen…", and the entire flavor and intent of Justice Gray\'s statement would be negated.  It may (or may not) be as simple as that, but it seems that\'s been the position that\'s generally been relied upon when the question has come up afterwards.<br><br>It\'s true that Gray was appointed by Chester Arthur, and as such may have been Arthur\'s "man", some say, and so he may have been trying to insert language approving of the right of even native-born US citizens to be President, in order to reduce the heat on Arthur (being otherwise a British subject).  But though this might have been undue influence by Arthur, it was the opinion of Gray\'s court, and hasn\'t been really challenged, ever since he made the statement.  But since his statement wasn\'t technically part of his court\'s ruling, it could still be interpreted as making the issue unclear.  I agree clarity is required, but it\'s been taken since then to mean a child born on US soil or its territories, though they may be "just" a native-born US citizen, have the same rights as a natural-born US citizen, including eligibility for the US Presidency.<br><br>It\'s true that the US Constitution doesn\'t contain any statements that equate native-born, or this concept of "entitled to all the same rights" with its phrase "natural-born", but that\'s one thing the Supreme Court is meant to help with, and in Wong Kim Ark, it seems it did, however clumsily.  Until that\'s successfully challenged by the Supreme Court, or by Congress, it still stands.<br><br>Some people argue that the rights enjoyed by being a "mere" US citizen, don\'t automatically include being able to run for US President, and though that\'s true (otherwise people born outside the US, to two non-US citizens, could run for President, as long as they were "merely" US citizens), Justice Gray\'s majority statement in Wong Kim Ark, though it\'s not a part of the court\'s official position, says that the one category of non-100% natural-born US citizens that (in Gray\'s opinion, and thus presumably the majority of the court) DOES enjoy all the same rights as a 100% natural-born US citizen (and by definition, "all" must include being able to be President), are those born on US soil, regardless of the citizenship of the parents.<br><br>I\'d enjoy your analysis of my remarks.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13534501">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13534501" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13534501" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13534501">TerrifiedCitizen</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13534501" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13534501" class="dsq-comment-message">These people "who will say anything", are American citizens who watch carefully and guard the highest laws of the nation. You act like they\'re foreign spies or something.<br>In addition, not everyone who you label as "birthers" (sounds suspiciously like names Bush and Cheney thought up to call anyone who disagreed with their policies) are anti-Obama. I like Obama and sincerely hope he can extricate us from the numerous inherited pits we\'ve fallen into, but I take strong exception to your labeling anyone seeking answers by what you and many others consider a derogatory nickname. How would you like it if I called you by one of the many derogatory labels  that fly to mind?<br>Anyway, the simple solution to this is that the original vetting committee that validated Obama\'s citizenship data in the first place, obtains the exact same documentation that it received from McCain; then the whole matter can be put to bed.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14245989">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14245989" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14245989" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14245989">amy334</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14245989" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14245989" class="dsq-comment-message">McCain was NOT a natural born citizen!! Hello?? Or did you miss that. And PANAMA, not a US territory or a base, or a diplomatic oupost! NOT.........soooo, what does that mean? Your non citizen was allowed to beat my US BORN citizen, because he was..........hmmmm, white ??? <br><br>That is where all this goes, you know it does.....look at Tuci78, and Mark, all about their fear of the big bad black man. Maybe it has something to do with turnabout being fairplay? or you reap what you sow?? Hmmm???scared are ya, that he\'ll do something nasty to ya? <br><br>Oh, by the way, when you get that new Healthcare card, or the nasty old vicious Medicare card, remember evil people brought that you! Don\'t go using it or I\'ll have to report you to the proper authorities......so YOU can be deported. Maybe you and Ms. Taitz the ignorant Israeli hideout can give you a place to stay, in the Middle East. You\'ll like it there, there\'s ever so many more Arabs there than in the Whitehouse :)</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14391209">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14391209" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14391209" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14391209">TerrifiedCitizen</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14391209" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14391209" class="dsq-comment-message">Okay; thanks for the information. I truly don\'t have a guy; I think Obama is a better choice than McCain though. My interest is purely from the standpoint of law, and that any constitutional requirements are met by every candidate. The highest laws of our land were ignored during the last administration to our lasting injury, and we will be paying for such losses for many generations.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14390843">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14390843" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14390843" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14390843">TerrifiedCitizen</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14390843" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14390843" class="dsq-comment-message">Okay; thanks for the information. I truly don\'t have a guy; I think Obama is a better choice than McCain though. My interest is purely from the standpoint of law, and that any constitutional requirements are met by every candidate. The highest laws of our land were ignored during the last administration to our lasting injury, and we will be paying for such losses for many generations.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14293784">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14293784" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14293784" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14293784">Tuci78</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14293784" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14293784" class="dsq-comment-message">Tsk. I\'m supposed to have "fear" of a guy who\'s about as "black" as Pat Boone?<br><br>Little amy, don\'t mistake for "fear" what is better explained by <b><u>hatred</u></b>, as in "I hate socialists," and "I hate public servants who shovel out megatons of counterfeit currency," and "I hate elected officials who set up email conduits so people suspicious of Obamacare can be ratted-out by their \'Liberal\' neighbors."<br><br>That\'s "hate," amy, not "fear."  A healthy, happy, all-American regard of the slimy sonsofbitches who ooze mendaciously into positions of public trust and then abuse the powers associated (constitutionally and especially <u>un</u>constitutionally) with those offices to violate the rights of U.S. citizens.<br><br>And I don\'t want Barry deported, amy.<br><br>At least, not until after he\'s served out his prison sentences.  He gets parole twenty or thirty years from now, and I don\'t mind if I&N buys him a ticket back to Mombasa.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14399252">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14399252" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14399252" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14399252">John Fleming</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14399252" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14399252" class="dsq-comment-message">Tuci78: No offense, but it\'s bad enough the Democrats and Obamaphiles alike are attaching race to this issue because the seed has been planted in their heads by left leaning mediacrats who got caught with their pants down on the real issue that led us to this uncomfortable point in history (That issue being the 50 SOTS who didn\'t do their job last election cycle, and it was exposed by bloggers, then many of those same bloggers made idiots of themselves by adding in all kinds of amateur analysis and conspiracy theories, which gave the MSM the out they needed), but to have you then make a statement like: "I\'m supposed to have "fear" of a guy who\'s about as "black" as Pat Boone?" positions you at best an ignorant bigot. Now perhaps you aren\'t, but that statement doesn\'t leave much room for people who don\'t know you to interpret. It\'s, in fact, completely irrelevant whether Obama is black or whited or both.<br><br>What is relevant is that we have a vetting process which is completely broken. Let\'s leave McCain and Obama out of it. How the hell did a Nicaraguan born and raised naturalized US citizen, not once BUT TWICE get on the presidential ballot in some states? This past election I believe it was 7 States, including my home State of Connecticut? And when SOTS Bysiewicz was called out on it and sued, the Atty General filed a motion to dismiss on her behalf! I happen to like our Atty General (Blumenthal) but he was way outside of his Constitutional authority to be acting on behalf of another elected official, especially being from the same party.<br><br>Additionally, you can have all the misdirected hate you want Tuci, but it doesn\'t win you or me or anyone who wants to see better accountability win any support. Especially since there still is not a shred of credible evidence that Obama did anything illegal. The issue of what constitutes a natural born citizen is unresolved. I have my position, Obamaphiles have theirs - but your words are self-defeating and just plain ugly.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13649471">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13649471" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13649471" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13649471">Tuci78</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13649471" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13649471" class="dsq-comment-message">Uh, Terrified?  That\'s not what the Obamaphiles want.  They are <i>fellahin</I> ("the faithful"), and they want their Mahdi\'s ascendency accepted by us Nazrany dogs on faith and faith alone.  <br><br>You haven\'t got that yet?</i></div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14891331">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14891331" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14891331" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-14891331">John Fleming</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14891331" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14891331" class="dsq-comment-message">Uh no, I haven\'t - but that could be simply because I\'m not imagining things. <br><br>Obama is certainly a person who has a Socialist leaning agenda and Democrats need to stop drinking the Kool-Aid and wake up to the fact that we have been in the process of gutting our Constitution for the last 100 years in the name of a Daddy State. Nearly every President in the 20th century has had some Socialist leaning programs that they have championed. Socialism is great for re-election: you can claim you made some monumental change, but the fallout and the holes in the plan don\'t start falling apart until 10-20 years after you are long out of office.<br><br>So that all said, I suggest you take a step back HoochyTuci and see things for the way they really are . . . our Republic\'s foundation document being chiseled away at by banking  and corporate profiteers who want a borderless market, errrr uh, I mean world. This concept of course, ignores the human inclination to find and settle within a tribe. The United States once was the greatest of all Tribes, but now it\'s a falling fallacy at the hands of globalists who use our treasury like a hedge fund.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-14897291">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-14897291" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-14897291" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-14897291" href="http://www.colony14.net/id41.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tuci78</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-14897291" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-14897291" class="dsq-comment-message">Well, I\'d say that the "Daddy State" is more the model for the "Stern Father" faction among the Republicans - the ones who feel that the great mass of us civilians are contrary, irresponsible, wear our hair outrageously, dress disgracefully, read naughty books, look at filthy pictures, listen to debauched music, <i>et tedium</i> - who conceive themselves to be the "favored few, booted and spurred, ready to ride us legitimately by the grace of God."<br><br>The National Socialist (formerly "Democrat") Party is a helluva lot more "Mommy Dearest," don\'tcha think?  "Nurturing Mother" image.<br><br>"Now, little civilian dearest, put on your sweater and wear your galoshes, and if you insist on smoking, Mommy\'s going to tax your cigarettes until you bleed from your eyeballs.  And - surprise! - you\'re not allowed to buy foods with any of those nasty trans-fats in them.  Isn\'t that nice?  Oh, yes.  Mommy\'s going to be tracking the thermostat in your house to make sure you don\'t run the air conditioner too much in the summer or the heater too much in the winter.  It\'s all to save the planet, so Mommy knows you\'ll be a good boy.  Or Mommy will be <i>terribly</i> disappointed, and she\'ll kill you with a bullet right there at the back of your naughty little head.  All righty?"<br><br>As for "nearly every President in the 20th Century [having] had some Socialist leaning programs"... I\'d exempt Taft, Harding, and Coolidge from that list.  Corruption, yes, and the usual-and-customary mercantilism that\'s been a universal failing of the Republicans from time out of memory, but not socialism.<br><br>It\'s not always socialism ("government as Santa Claus") that\'s been the incumbent\'s way to permanence in office, but rather graft plain and simple.  Doesn\'t have to be "you stupid voters are <b><u>entitled</u></b> to this cash I\'ve screwed out of your neighbors for you!" but the old American System of Henry Clay back in the early 19th Century.<br><br>You should look it up. The fundamentals were (and always have been) currency inflation, protectionist tariffs that horribly screw the consuming American, and pork projects to "redistribute the wealth."<br><br>Y\'know. The way Senator Byrd has been redistributing other states\' taxpayers\' wealth into West Virginia for decades.  <br><br>(( Richard Byrd dies and the whole state of West Virginia goes bankrupt.  Watch for it on CNN. ))<br><br>The banksters ("bankers" plus "gangsters") and the "corporate profiteers" (like if they fail to earn profits they\'re not out of business? - I mean, unless some politician decides they\'re "too big to fail"?) aren\'t what you should be focused upon if you\'ve got reality in mind, putzie.<br><br>It\'s government getting into everything.<br><br>Y\'know the old saying.<br><br>"Politicians are like rats. What they take for themselves is nothing compared to the damage they do in getting it."</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13488764">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13488764" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13488764" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-13488764">Omaar</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13488764" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13488764" class="dsq-comment-message">CQ Politics: Somehow, the House got [158] Republicans — Including Nearly All Members of the Leadership — to vote for a resolution last night that declares President Obama was born in Hawaii. But it appears that the resolution wasn’t intentionally aimed at the fringe movement plaguing the Republican Party these days: the people who insist Obama isn’t actually a citizen of the United States.<br><br>Instead, aides to Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii — the sponsor of the resolution — say the impact on the “birther” movement was just an amusing sideshow to a resolution that was just supposed to be a simple celebration of the 50th anniversary of Hawaii’s statehood.<br><br>“When we realized that it might stir them up, we just kind of smiled,” said Abercrombie spokesman Dave Helfert.<br><br>The resolution, adopted last night on a vote of 378-0, notes that “the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.” To Abercrombie, who was friends with Obama’s father and knew the president when he was a toddler, any resolution celebrating Hawaii’s anniversary would naturally mention Obama because “it is a matter of great pride in Hawaii that Barack Obama is a native son,” Helfert said.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-13100691">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-13100691" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-13100691" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-13100691" href="http://washingtonindependent.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Brummie</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-13100691" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-13100691" class="dsq-comment-message">Apologies for the accidental double posting.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 </ul>\
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				var theme = (typeof disqus_frame_theme == 'undefined') ? 'default' : disqus_frame_theme;
				Dsq.Iframes.showReplyIframeInContainer(Dsq.$(Dsq.Templates.addPostContainer), null, {theme: theme});
				// if(Dsq.Utils.ie) { Dsq.Utils.fixIframesIE(); }
			});
		} else {
			// DEPRECATED
			Dsq.Iframes.showReplyIframeInContainer(Dsq.$('dsq-post-add'));
		}
	}

	
	

	
	if(document.location.hash != '') {
		document.location.hash = document.location.hash.substring(1);
	}

	Dsq.Popup.showCookieMsgs();

	
	if(document.location.search != '' && location.hash != '#disqus_thread') {
		var reply_id = Dsq.Utils.getRequestParams().dsq;
		if(reply_id) { document.location.hash = 'comment-' + reply_id; }
	}

	
	if((typeof OB_Script != 'undefined') && (typeof OB_versionNum != 'undefined')) {
		if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Firefox") != -1) {
			if(window.frames['dsq-reply-frame']) {
				window.frames['dsq-reply-frame'].location = Dsq.Urls.REPLY + (new Date()).getTime() + '&f=washingtonindependent&t=some_more_clarity_on_hawaiian_birth_certificates&to_redirect=' + encodeURIComponent(window.location) + '&ifrs=' + encodeURIComponent(disqus_iframe_css);
			}
		}
	}

	if (Dsq.jsonData.integration.theme == 4) {
		if (Dsq.jsonData.realtime_enabled) {
			Dsq.Realtime.initialize();
		}
	}

	




if(typeof(disqus_callback) == 'function') {
	var callback_params = Dsq.Utils.getRequestParams()['dsq_cbp'] || null;

	// We don't care about any errors in third-party code
	try {
		disqus_callback(callback_params);
	} catch (x) {
		if (typeof(console) != 'undefined' && typeof(console.log) == 'function') {
			// But it would be nice to let developers know about them
			console.log(x);
		}
		// pass
	}

	// HACK: We don't know if the callback wraps our container, which may
	// possibly result in a new DOM element.
	Dsq.container = document.getElementById('dsq-content');
}

})();




