Over the past year, Secret Service agents charged with protecting President Obama seem to have taken a keen interest in the Birther movement, the committed group of anti-Obama activists around the country who claim the president was born in Kenya, not Hawaii, and is thus ineligible to serve. The idea has been widely and repeatedly debunked (see FactCheck.org's thorough takedown here), but that hasn't stopped Birthers from doggedly making their case in American courtrooms, to US attorneys, and even to a rural county grand jury, in the hopes that a judge will rule in their favor and Obama might eventually be removed from office. Those efforts have failed spectacularly, but they seem to have succeeded in placing the Birthers on the radar of the Secret Service.
At least a half-dozen prominent anti-Obama activists who've petitioned various federal agencies or courts to investigate the president's citizenship or publicly questioned his eligibility to serve say they've been visited by Secret Service or Homeland Security agents. Dr. Orly Taitz, the "Queen Bee" of the Birther movement, says, "A number of my supporters had visits from Secret Service, from different agencies, INS, Homeland Security. There are a whole number of people who got these visits to intimidate and harrass them." She says federal agents visited her home once; however, she was not there to be interviewed.*
Of particular concern to the Secret Service, it seems, are the individuals who are trying to interest federal prosecutors in bringing criminal charges against the president for fraud and treason, a movement spearheaded by a retired Navy lieutenant commander, Walter Fitzpatrick III.....In my humble opinion, the "birthers" are complete loons. I think that it is correct for the Secret Service to investigate these people who have definitely gone over the edge.
*** Consumers in Ohio now have a website that ranks and grades the hospitals in the state. You may visit it: http://www.ohiohospitalcompare.ohio.gov/
***** Coincidence? Here is a news release from (3/23/05) Wright State:
Christopher Kershner, special assistant to Ohio Speaker of the House Jon Husted and a 2000 graduate of Wright State University, was named Alumnus of the year by the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars. While a Wright State student, Kershner completed a Washington Center internship in the office of Ohio Senator Michael DeWine.
Kershner’s current responsibilities include advising the Speaker on legislative issues, board and commission appointments and serving as a liaison with members of the minority caucus in the Ohio House of Representatives. Kershner volunteered on Husted’s first election campaign for the Ohio House in 2000 and joined Husted’s staff shortly afterwards....
And, here is a list of lobbyists from the Office of the Legislative Inspector General Joint Legislative Ethics Committee (List of Registered Lobbyists in Ohio):
Agents for Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce
1 Chamber Plaza, Fifth & Main Street
Suite 200
Dayton, OH 45402
How nice! Husted also "works" for the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.
>>The civil war in the Lucas County Ohio Republican Party may have settled to some degree, but it is clear that there are rumblings.
Toledo Blade:
The executive committee of the Jon Stainbrook-led Lucas County Republican Party last night nominated Mr. Stainbrook to serve on the Lucas County Board of Elections.....
... On Thursday, the rival group led by Jeff Simpson, who claimed he was elected executive chairman Dec. 21, nominated David Dmytryka of Toledo to replace Mr. Olman, whose term ends Feb. 28.
..... At the December meeting, a group of Republicans opposed to Mr. Stainbrook attempted to take over the local party's central committee at a meeting Dec. 21 and vote him out. That group claims it elected Mr. Simpson executive committee chairman, replacing Mr. Stainbrook, and Paul Hoag as central committee chairman, replacing Ms. Gallagher.....
Is it really over?
