F--k the Birthers! (seriously, I've been reduced to such profanity)

I’ve been reading a lot about birthers lately… you know, the folks who can’t find it in their white conservative hearts to believe our black president could have possibly been born in this country. Oh, and of course there’s the small wing that accepts that sure he might possibly have maybe been born here but that doesn’t matter because by Emer de Vattel’s Law of Nations (which, even if it inspired our Constitution, does not dictate the terms of said Constitution until the Supreme Court says it does) says Obama still isn’t a “natural born citizen” because his father was not a US citizen. I’ve put together an ADS (after dinner speech) about the whole thing—and once I’ve run the thing at a few speech tournaments in the next couple months, I’m sure I’ll post the text of it here, but for now, a more angry rant

See, here’s the thing. Get past (or, literally, before) the whole mess of whether or not the Hawaiian governor can “find” Obama’s original birth certificate (the latest headline on the subject), get past military-involved court attacks like those filed by Orly Taitz, get past the kind of people who post stuff like the following: “I'll bet the only proof he was ever born sits in the mud hut of the VooDoo Doctor that conjured him.” That one just came up on a facebook group called Americans Who Are Sick and Tired of Obama (aka AWASATOO). Get past all that and see what Brian Montopoli mentiond in “Who Are the Birthers?” (CBS News): as soon as Obama seemed like a viable candidate for President (maybe even before that), rumors got going about him not being an American. There was no reason for these rumors. No Kenyan birth certificate had come out yet (and the two of those that have gotten around online are both fake (at least one of them (used by Orly Taitz, actually) has been proven a forgery)). His old grandmother hadn’t said in passing that she was there for his birth. Kenya hadn’t really started claiming him as one of their own. So, the only reason anyone had to distrust Obama’s Americanness was, well, racism, with maybe a little hint of Conservatives being insane bastards who get frightened if anyone drifts too far left. Obama was black

There was a fake dollar bill image going around with Obama on it a couple years back (during the campaign season) that had a bucket of chicken and watermelon on it, two staples of anti-black racist imagery (you can see the dollar here). Not sure of the exact quote, but what the person who made it said when questioned about it was that he just wanted to show how different looking Obama was from what was usually on our money… in other words, all those other money guys were old and white and Obama was not quite so old and, more importantly, black. Our first black president—obviously that would be a scary thought for racist right wingers. People hadn’t gotten started on him supposedly being a Muslim just yet—they were too busy commenting on his Christian minister, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, probably. But, what they could do was poke at his birth. His opponent, McCain was born in Panama, technically US soil at the time, so while his birth was maybe a little iffy compared to previous candidates, he was fine… plus, bonus, he was white. Gotta love that

But, Obama. He was born in one of our fringe states; actually, Hawaii wasn’t even officially a state yet, so that just makes it a little more suspicious. But, still, no fake Kenyan birth certificate had shown up yet. That Indonesian school application hadn’t even shown up yet, and already people were questioning whether or not Obama was born in America… or more importantly, if he was “American.” His ideology certainly had a hand here, as conservatives are so very afraid of socialists and communists and Marxist, so afraid that they can rarely tell the difference between the three. Here was this guy who didn’t look right for the job he was applying for, and who was sounding even more left than his fellow Democrats. Not to mention that name (a little too close to both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein for comfort). What to do?

Lynching him was probably an option before he was running for President, but you lynch a Presidential candidate and the liberal authorities are sure to crack down and throw you in prison if they don’t just shoot you on sight, ‘cause we all know its liberal police that are the most triggerhappy

Anyway, no fake Kenyan birth certificate yet meant there was really only one fuel that would lead anyone to question Obama’s Americanness: hatred. Well, hatred and fear. And, we Americans are so good at fear. It’s driven numerous “scares” as new waves of immigrants came to our shores. It fueled the Cold War. It’s fueled the War on Terror. And, now it’s fueled the War on Obama

And, hatred is self perpetuating. You hate Obama then you hear a speech of his, all you hear is self-serving liberal bullshit; of course, on the other side, you like Obama and all you hear is hope and change and maybe some promise of release from the grips of the Right. After a while, if you’re able, you get sick of both sides and it’s a lot of the same rhetoric you hear from any President... well, any liberal President, anyway, plus the all-American extension of war, even if not to the proper cheerleading level. He wants to get healthcare to millions who don’t have it, when medical bills are said to be the biggest reason people go into debt and our economy’s shit, but it’s socialist and we ain’t havin any of that commie bullshit in this country, no sir

It’s pro guns, pro war, anti universal healthcare, anti abortion and all the other right wing extremes we’ve got in America or obviously YOU ARE NOT POSSIBLY AMERICAN

Well, here’s what I have to say to that: FUCK YOU, you ignorant, racist pigs. Get the fuck over your paranoia and move the fuck on