Terry Duncan’s Neighborhood

I have become interested in the story behind Sen. Obama’s birth certificate, now that a suit has been filed against him, forcing him to produce the “long form” version from Hawai’i rather than the reprint, or certification, used to support his birth on US soil in 1961.
   These are my arguments on the issue, as I partly relayed on Twana’s blog last week.
   1. The US Constitution does not give a full definition of ‘natural born citizen’ in Art. II, s. 1. Since we know the Founding Fathers to be smart folks, we also know that if they wanted that term to be defined by 1787 standards, they would have put it in.
   2. Under Art. I, s. 8, the Constitution gives Congress the power to determine laws about naturalization. In other words, matters pertaining to naturalization are not stuck in 1787, but are to be considered in a contemporary sense.
   3. Under these laws, a birthright citizenship exists and it’s also in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
   4. Under US law back in the 1960s, a child doesn’t lose his American nationality just because a parent does. Specifically:

A person having American nationality, who is a minor and is residing in a foreign state with or under the legal custody of a parent who loses American nationality under section 404 of this Act, shall at the same time lose his American nationality if such minor has or acquires the nationality of such foreign state: Provided, That, in such case, American nationality shall not be lost as the result of loss of American nationality by the parent unless and until the child attains the age of twenty-three years without having acquired permanent residence in the United States.

   5. Dual nationals are recognized under US law (the Immigration and Nationality Act, and by the Supreme Court).
   6. Because of (3), if Barack Obama was born in Hawai’i, then he qualifies as a natural born citizen. I know there are stories on the web relating to the recollections of his grandmother, Sarah Obama, who recalls:

Obama’s mother, late in her term carrying Obama she went to Kenya with her husband. She was resented by her in-laws and didn't like the way Muslim men treated women so she tried to return to Hawaii. Apparently the airlines refuse to allow her to fly due to her being very late term pregnant. So Obama, Jr. was born in Kenya. His father’s family all verify this version and in Mombassa, Kenya there is registered the birth of one Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. on a date approximating when our Obama was born.

I am not sure how reliable this evidence is, and it is the first I have heard about a Barack Hussein Obama Jr being registered in Mombasa. And where is the copy of that registration? Since we do not have that, then we have to assume that the Hawai’i reprint is genuine (stories about the colour mismatch are ridiculous: since when could two scanners reproduce the same colour?) and that it was registered correctly, because the onus of proof lies on the plaintiff in such a case.
   7. Even if he did travel to Indonesia there is no evidence, to me, that he lost his American nationality. Philip Berg, the gentleman who has filed suit, alleges that Barack Obama would have had to give up his American nationality to attend school in Indonesia. Anyone who has been to Indonesia knows there are problems with graft and corruption and I would more readily believe that his school never checked. Maybe he acquired dual nationality during this time and even if that meant giving up his US nationality under Indonesian law, he might not have been considered to have given it up under US law.
   8. Therefore, when Barack Obama re-entered the US, there was no need for him to become re-naturalized—and the Fourteenth Amendment still held.
   I would love to see the 1961 certificate, as this would end the whole argument once and for all. Most of Mr Berg’s arguments do not find much favour with my analysis, and it’s largely his demand for the 1961 certificate that has my interest piqued.
   The only controversy that I can see, if all is well with the original “long form” certificate, might be that while dual nationality does not preclude Sen. Obama from seeking the office of President, the mere existence of it (which remains a possibility—that he is a dual US–Indonesian national) might discourage the more xenophobic of voters to go with another candidate. This is worth some scrutiny, out of fairness. I personally have no problems with dual nationality, simply because I hold two myself.
   One conspiracy theorist says that the Democrats are waiting to be elected and if things go belly-up for a future President Obama on this subject, his vice-president will ascend to the top job and pardon his predecessor. I have never put anything past Sen. Joe Biden, whom I have always regarded as far more dangerous than the top man on the Dems’ ticket, and have wondered about his relative silence on many of the attacks on Sen. Obama.
   Nevertheless, this is an interesting matter and no less important than the earlier analysis of Sen. McCain’s own birth (which I also answered in the blogosphere a bit earlier).

About four years ago, an IT-related company offered to do some work for us under a contra arrangement. We promoted that company, not quite to the extent as was agreed, but prior to anything being delivered. It never delivered. I took it as an anomaly—after all, this was a company working on websites and web-related things, and not in the fashion business where promise-breaking seems rife. (Actually, we did cooperate with one of the principals on a fashion venture and that went belly-up as well—and that time we had done some real promotions on it.)
   About five months ago, another company in a related field offered to do some work for the Lucire site. In fact, they approached us, via a company we had dealt with since the late 1990s. I asked them to look at the site. They approved it in April. Work began in earnest in May. A test site was functioning by late May. I was told by July it was nearly ready. We put in code that they supplied in August.
   But the work was never delivered.
   When chased, continuously, there was always some excuse. And last week, I was told there was a site instability issue (with whose site I do not know) and I would have to fork out several thousand dollars to have it fixed.
   What the heck?!
   Others are able to get the same content off our site—as I pointed out, this included Reuters—without complaint.
   Their test site, incidentally, still worked as of Saturday, so we can pretty much conclude that whatever was wrong, it was the company’s problem, not ours.
   I told them: I have problems with Microsoft Windows, but Bill Gates has never asked me for money to have them fixed.
   If it is our problem, I would talk to our folks to get it fixed.
   If it is their problem, they should pay to get it fixed.
   And if I paid them, would anything be done?
   What this company does is not rocket science. I checked out their nearest competitor and trialled their software. We could, apparently, get it working in about half an hour, not five months. The result is not as pretty, but at least I don’t have to get aggro.
   Any company asking for a few grand without telling me why probably doesn’t deserve it.
   Concerned I might be reading it all wrongly, I asked a friend of mine in IT to take a look at the email and some of the toing and froing. His assessment is the same as mine.
   That’s two companies working in the IT world that have acted very unprofessionally, in my book. One here, one in the States. Nationality has nothing to do with it. New Zealand is as capable of creating these people as any other nation.
   And maybe I have had contact with so many IT firms that two is not a big number, but considering the client list of these folks, I would be worried that the little guy is treated badly by them. Especially the little guy in media and politics with a big mouth.

I was totally stoked when Dan Gordon took a comment I made and turned it into a fictional election billboard on his blog. (Dan, please let me know if you prefer just the link and not the image.)

Maybe I should note ‘Authorized by Tom Dowie, 18 Walton Street, Christchurch’ even though it’s not an ad from the party, just to be on the safe side. (US readers: this is our equivalent of ‘I am … and I approve this message.’)

After reading that the Progressive Party is engaging in historical revisionism—by taking credit for policies it was not even around to make—we’ve made a couple of interesting advertisements for the Alliance Party, which did come up with Kiwibank and paid parental leave. 

Alliance-kiwibank-728x90

Alliance-ppl-728x90

   Actually, the latest round of TVCs for the Labour Party show its desire to take credit for Kiwibank, too, when in fact Alliance MPs had to fight an uphill battle for the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, to even accept the idea.
   I believe that Labour and National are the same technocratic party, so in these 2008 elections there are not many of us standing for real change and a real alternative to “business as usual” at the Beehive.

[Cross-posted] I was reading Karl Rove’s commentary on Sarah Palin today and he hit upon a few things I agree with (you read that correctly).

McCain–Palin must deepen those doubts by pounding away on questions about Obama’s character, judgment and values. Drawing on Obama’s own record and statements, they need to paint him as a big spender, class warrior and cultural elitist; they need to say he’s never worked across party lines or gotten his hands dirty solving big issues. But the duo must also give voters reasons to support them. They must crystallize a positive, forward-looking vision so people who see Obama as unqualified have something to hang on to. It can’t be a laundry list of positions. McCain–Palin must offer a narrative about what they will do to help America see better days, especially on kitchen-table concerns.

   This is a lesson that comes up in branding, a lot.
   One of the necessary things we branding consultants always talk about is story-telling. There have to be legends in the company, things that become company folklore. The Murdoch Press has plenty of stories to tell, for example, about how one of its newspapers ran a piece about Elvis, coincidentally on the story of the King’s death. I still talk about the way the Lucire name came up, which probably paints to the way serendipity works inside an organization. TV3 probably has one on John Campbell’s tie.
   Stories unite people, and Rove’s belief that the McCain campaign must give a ‘forward-looking vision’ and a ‘narrative’ come straight out of a branding book. Maybe one of mine.
   Vision is important, and there have been other posts on that. But an easily grasped narrative goes beyond slogans. While the stories I refer to above come from the past, in an election campaign, candidates need to paint one about the future. We know the McCain legend of being a POW; we know Palin paints herself as a hockey mom. These form the background, but people need to buy into the sequel.
   Especially when one campaign is less well off than another. The Republicans are being outspent by the Democrats, so a consistent, continuous story about how the McCain–Palin principles will, in short soundbites, rescue America can have a great effect against their opponents.
   Big spending allows for promotions around the cult of personality; small spending needs cleverer ideas and stories are one of the better techniques open to supporting a brand.

When I was leaving Teatro la Pergola in Florence on Friday night I got a call from my friend and great promoter Angelo Maiorca. He asked me if I would be interested in working as a personal assistant to Sister Bliss of Faithless at the Diesel XXX Party in Milan the following night.

Sister bliss

Of course I said yes, so after a few hours of sleep I left to Milan. In case you live in the fucking jungle and do not know what the Diesel XxX party is about here is some help. To celebrate it 30th birthday Diesel unleashed the biggest international party the world has ever seen on Saturday, October 11, 2008. Diesel xXx (titled triple x) exploded with a worldwide spectacular party taking place in 18 cities around the globe beginning in Tokyo. The party will successively move to Beijing, Dubai, Athens, Amsterdam, Milan, Zurich, Munich, Paris, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Oslo, Helsinki, London and Sao Paulo.