Missouri Birther Caucus

The Missouri legislature started pre-filing some of the legisation they're expected to consider come January 4, 2012.  If you're so inclined, you can head here for the House or here for the Senate for full lists of what's been filed so far.

If you take the time to mosey on through the list of what's been filed in the House, you'll find this gem, HB 1046, filed by Lyle Rowland of the 143rd district in Southwest Missouri.

HOUSE BILL NO. 1046
96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Requires proof of identity and proof of United States citizenship for the office of President and Vice President to be submitted with the other required certification documents to the Secretary of State

Such certification shall provide verifiable evidence of identity and of proof of status as a natural born citizen of the United States for each nominee and the origins of such evidence. Such evidence shall be in the form of the most complete record of birth available by the controlling legal authority at the time of the nominee's birth.

It would seem that sheer insanity and birtherism is alive and well in the Missouri legislature.  No word yet on whether Speker-to-be Birther Tim Jones has endorsed this piece of legislation.

Update: It should be noted that last year's version of the Birther Bill was cosponsored by Shane Schoeller who is wants to be Missouri's next Secretary of Birthers State.

Missouri's House Republicans tonight selected Tim Jones to be their Speaker Elect.  

Jones is an unapologetic birther who sued Barack Obama in federal court with Orly Taitz, Cynthia Davis and a few dozen other lunatics from around the country in 2009, alleging that Obama is an illegal immigrant from Kenya who has also committed all sorts of other crimes.  Jones also believes the Missouri Hospital Association is a "Marxist" organization that wants to "screw Missouri voters." He is a hot head who had to be physically restrained by his own colleagues on the House Floor in 2010. He believes global warming is "voodoo science." He believes that Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are unconstitutional. He also has a demonstrated record of referring to fellow Republican legislators as "terrorists" when they don't do what he likes. 

So obviously, Birther Tim is a great choice. Clearly, the man has the judgment, maturity and skills to be an amazing Speaker.  

In celebration of this positive development, we bring you once again a November 2010 blog post by Orly Taitz celebrating Jones' leadership in the Missouri General Assembly. 

GREAT NEWS! ONE OF MY CLIENTS IN ELIGIBILITY CASE, PROMINENT MO ATTORNEY TIMOTHY JONES BECOME THE SPEKER OF MO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. PLEASE, CONTACT HIM AND DEMAND THAT HE BRINGS THIS ISSUE TO THE FLOOR OF THE STATE HOUSE OF REP-S.   

The Springfield News-Leader reports that State Rep. Tim Jones is officially seeking to turn one of Orly Taitz's dreams into a reality: 

“Yes, I am going to be asking my caucus to elect me as speaker-elect.”

No word yet on Ms. Taitz's feelings about this major announcement from someone who signed on to her civil suit questioning President Obama's citizenship. Maybe she will contact Jones to personally congratulate him? 

From the Missouri News Horizon: "An amendment that would require presidential candidates to present proof of natural born citizenship was trimmed from an omnibus election law reform bill. The amendment was removed, along with several others, by a joint conference committee in hopes that the final bill can pass by the end of the legislative session on Friday."

It's great to see reasonable people prevail on this matter, especially given the many birther and birther-curious legislators in the General Assembly.

The Missouri House of Representatives today passed legislation requiring all candidates for president and vice president to wave their birth certificates in front of someone at the Missouri Secretary of State's office. Should the Senate pass the bill unamended and the Governor sign it, Missouri state law will read:

When certifying presidential and vice presidential nominees and requesting that such nominees be placed on the ballot, the state committees of each political party shall provide verifiable evidence of identity and proof of natural born citizenship.

As has been noted repeatedly in this space and others, this language is part of a national effort to foster continued doubts about the citizenship of Barry Soetoro, our Muslim Socialist overlord.

Look which U.S. Senator is featured in this LIFE photo essay, "History of the Birther Movement."

Background:

• Politico: Roy Blunt, closet Birther?
• ThinkProgress: The full, unedited interviews with Roy Blunt on birther conspiracies.
• Huffington Post: Roy Blunt: Obama Birth Certificate A "Legitimate Question" (VIDEO)
• TPM: Roy Blunt Gives Birthers Thumbs Up
• The Plum Line: Roy Blunt’s Spokesman Declines To Say Whether Blunt Thinks Obama Is Legitimate President
• Washington Independent: And Now, Roy Blunt
• MSNBC: "The Enablers Are Still Dominating the Conversation"

The White House has decided in April 2011 to release our Muslim Socialist Usurper's long form birth certificate on the interwebs, on the apparent belief that birther whackadoos will somehow be satisfied with a picture of said document posted on the interwebs by Muslim Socialist Usurper's loyal Nazi Snitches. Here it is:

As you can see, this is an obvious fraud.  Tim Jones, Cynthia Davis, Orly Taitz and co-plaintiffs from around the country filed the *real* birth certificate for Barry Soetoro in federal court in 2009.  Actually, they filed two competing Kenyan birth certificates, one of which just has to be real. 

Roy Blunt going full birther in 2009

The National Journal has a story today featuring GOP consultants begging DC reporters to believe that the birther nonsense their party has fostered as a political strategy for years now is just a "sideshow" that no "responsible Republican" has been talking about. 

I suppose it all depends on how you define "responsible." Long before Donald Trump cynically decided to talk about Barack Obama's citizenship as a way to generate ridiculous amounts of media attention and boost his poll numbers with GOP primary votes, ostensibly "responsible" Republicans in Washington, Missouri and every other state worked to nurture doubts and lies about the President's citizenship. 

Here in the Show-Me State, Roy Blunt, Majority Leader/Future Speker Tim Jones and a long list of other GOP state legislators have all been a part of this garbage -- with almost no condemnation or attention from mainstream media voices.  Just last week, the Missouri Birther Caucus added language to a omnibus elections bill championed by GOP Speaker Pro Tem Shane Schoeller, Jason Smith (R-Salem), Lyle Rowland  (R-Cedarcreek), Mike Kelley (R-Lamar), Kevin Elmer (R-Nixa), Don Wells (R-Kwik Kash), Darrell Pollack (R-Lebanon), Don Phillips (R-Kimberling City), Barney Fisher (R-Richards), Melissa Leach (R-Springfield), Stanley Cox (R-Sedalia), Tom Loehner (R-Koeltztown), Dave Hinson (R-St. Clair), Lindell Shumake (R-Hannibal), Andrew Koenig (R-Winchester) and Diane Franklin (R-Camdenton) to keep the conspiracy drumpbeat alive.

So if GOP consultants and elites are willing to say that Blunt, Jones and the rest of the bunch have been irresponsible, I'll be happy to agree.  But if the reasonable public is being asked to accept some pre-2012 spin that this is just a "fringe" conspiracy theory that doesn't have wide acceptance with allegedly mainstream Republicans, then fahgettaboudit.

----------------------

In completely unrelated news: "Forty-five percent of registered Republicans think Obama was born outside the U.S., 33 percent believe he was and 22 percent don't know, per the results of a CBS News/New York Times survey."

Orly Taitz would be proud

The House Elections Committee passed a revised version of SB282 Thursday. The original bill changed the presidential primary from February to March, but now includes additional provisions, including a requirement for presidential candidates to wave their birth certificate in front of Missouri officials. The point of the provision is clear: to fuel rumors and discussion of about the citizenship of a certain Islamic socialist usurper president. 

As reported in Politico a few months ago:

The opening of 2011 state legislative sessions has been accompanied by a spate of birther-related bills, the clearest indication yet that the controversy surrounding President Barack Obama’s place of birth will continue to simmer throughout his reelection campaign.

Lawmakers in at least 10 states have introduced bills requiring presidential candidates to provide some form of proof that they are natural-born citizens, a ballot qualification rule designed to address widespread rumors on the right that Obama was not born in the United States.

The  Donald is making waves today with his sad look-at-me birther talk.  Sadly, this is a pretty savvy move by Donald Trump to get people talking about Donald Trump -- especially the distressing portion of 2012 primary voters who aren't sure Barack Obama is an American citizen. 

It's also sad to note that The Donald's birfer talk is similar to that from Sen. Roy Blunt.  Blunt, you'll recall, told a progressive activist in July 2009 that birthers were asking "legitimate questions."  And when Missouri reporters asked him why he was talking like a lunatic, he refused to back down. "You guys don't have any capacity to talk about that in a legitimate way," he snarled at a Springfield press gaggle in August 2009.   

Watch Blunt's conversation with blogger-activist Mike Stark from 2009:

For background, check out:

• Politico: Roy Blunt, closet Birther?
• ThinkProgress: The full, unedited interviews with Roy Blunt on birther conspiracies.
• Huffington Post: Roy Blunt: Obama Birth Certificate A "Legitimate Question" (VIDEO)
• TPM: Roy Blunt Gives Birthers Thumbs Up
• The Plum Line: Roy Blunt’s Spokesman Declines To Say Whether Blunt Thinks Obama Is Legitimate President
• Washington Independent: And Now, Roy Blunt
• MSNBC: "The Enablers Are Still Dominating the Conversation"

In a fitting sign of just how ridiculous things have become in the General Assembly, GOP donors and lobbyists think Birther Tim Jones (R-Eureka) is "well positioned" to become Speaker of the House in the next legislative session.  Jones is currently the Majority Floor Leader, promoted to that position in January despite his unapologetic role in a federal lawsuit with Orly Taitz alleging that Barack Obama is a criminal Kenyan immigrant who not only "usurped" the presidency, but also committed "fraud, perjury, forgery, identity theft and social security fraud."  (For more on Jones' ridiculous birther lawsuit, including the multiple forged birth certificates he and fellow plaintiffs submitted in federal court, see here.)

Jones' extremism appears to be a feature, not a bug, when it comes to advancement in the Missouri GOP.

Beyond his unapologetic involvement in the birther lawsuit insanity -- actions that ought to be automatic disqualifiers for public office -- consider the following:

• Jones believes the Missouri Hospital Association is a "Marxist" organization that wants to "screw Missouri voters"
• Jones has the maturity of a 7 year old and had to be physically restrained by his own colleagues on the House Floor last year.
• Jones believes global warming is "voodoo science"
• Jones hails from the right-wing camp that believes that Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are unconstitutional
• Jones was one of only twelve Republicans to vote against extended unemployment benefits for 62,000 Missourians in February 2010. 
• Jones was a key proponent of the House Republicans sham ethics bill in May, described as "a new low" and "a vehicle for some of the craziest GOP causes to come down the pike"

To be fair to the lobbyists and colleagues propping up Jones, his rise to the Speaker's chair was foretold in a prophecy by his attorney, Orly Taitz, just a weeks ago. 

GREAT NEWS! ONE OF MY CLIENTS IN ELIGIBILITY CASE, PROMINENT MO ATTORNEY TIMOTHY JONES BECOME THE SPEKER OF MO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. PLEASE, CONTACT HIM AND DEMAND THAT HE BRINGS THIS ISSUE TO THE FLOOR OF THE STATE HOUSE OF REP-S.

WOW, an unapologetic birther is unanimously elected to be the speaker of MO House of Representatives!!!  This article came from a far left reporter from” Fired up Mo ” This reporter has published multiple articles, attacking me Representative Jones, representative Cynthia Davis and Representative Casey Quernsey, who signed up as my clients in the eligibility case. 

Category: HOT ITEMS!

The Star's Bill Dalton yesterday reposted a CNN story about the birthers' bad day that included this line:

The grass-roots legal issue has gained little legal or political footing, but continues to persist in the courts.

It's true that birtherism has struggled mightily in the courts, but in Missouri, we have a long list of birther and birther-curious elected officials who have received little of the scorn and mocking they've earned.   In fact, two sitting state representatives -- including the Majority Floor Leader of the Missouri House -- attached their names to an absurd legal fight lead by realtor/dentist Orly Taitz.   And a bill making its way through the General Assembly right now is being pushed by a Taney County legislator to keep the kooks conspiring.  Add in a U.S. Senator who thinks that reporters "don't have any capacity to talk about [Obama's citizenship] in a legitimate way," and I think you can say birtherism has gained more than a little political footing in the Show-Me State. 

Missouri's leading birther and birther-curious legislators:

• Majority Floor Leader Tim Jones (R-Eureka)
• Sen. Roy Blunt (R-K Street)
• Rep. Casey Guernsey (R-Bethany)
• Fmr. Rep. Cynthia Davis (R-O'Fallon)
• Rep. Mike McGhee (R-Odessa)
• Rep. Lyle Rowland (R-Cedarcreek)
• Fmr. Rep. Ed Emery (R-Lamar)
• Sen. Jim Lembke (R-Lemay)

And the elected officials who have co-sponsored at least one bit of birther legislation...

Orly Taitz would be proud

The Missouri General Assembly continued its proud tradition today of teasing and supporting the completely insane right-wing conspiracy that President Barack Obama is actually a illegal Kenyan immigrant. 

As summarized by the Star's Jason Noble:

HOUSE BILL 283: RETURN OF THE BIRTHERS!

Questions apparently remain about President Barack Obama‘s citizenship and eligibility for the office he’s held for the last 25 months.

That was the clearest conclusion from this morning’s hearing on House Bill 283, which would require the Missouri Secretary of State to verify the citizenship of all presidential and vice presidential candidates appearing on the state’s ballots.

The News-Leader reports that bill sponsor Lyle Rowland  (R-Cedarcreek) couldn't say "how many times a non-citizen had been on the ballot as a presidential or vice presidential candidate."    A few weeks ago, Rowland told Politico that "we have problems with illegal immigrants. And if something were to happen where one of them became popular with the people, we need documents proving if they are a citizen."

Sadly, there is no space between the fringe and mainstream GOP on this issue in Missouri.  Majority Floor Leader Tim Jones and then-Rep. Cynthia Davis sued a certain president in 2009 with Orly Taitz, alleging that he was an illegal Kenyan immigrant who happened to become popular with the people. Sen. Roy Blunt may be the highest ranking birther-curious official in the country; he declared during his Senate campaign that birthers were asking "legitimate" questions about Obama's birth records, and scolded journalists in Southwest Missouri for lacking the "capacity to talk about that [Obama's citizenship] in a legitimate way."

Politico takes a look at the birther and birther-curious bills still popping up from Republican state legislators around the country today. "Lawmakers in at least 10 states have introduced bills requiring presidential candidates to provide some form of proof that they are natural-born citizens," Politico reports, "a ballot qualification rule designed to address widespread rumors on the right that Obama was not born in the United States."

Rep. Lyle Rowland (R-Cedarcreek) embarrasses himself in the article with the following statement about his HB283:

Missouri GOP state Rep. Lyle Rowland framed his own bill as a check against illegal immigration.

"We have problems with illegal immigrants. And if something were to happen where one of them became popular with the people, we need documents proving if they are a citizen," said Rowland, who believes Obama is a “natural citizen of the United States."

Pretty clever word play here, and a pretty obvious dog whistle to the nutbag base.  

But sadly -- as you know -- there is no space between the fringe and mainstream GOP on this issue in Missouri.  Majority Floor Leader Tim Jones and then-Rep. Cynthia Davis sued a certain president in 2009 with Orly Taitz, alleging that he was an illegal Kenyan immigrant who happened to become popular with the people. 

Randy Turner speaks the truth in this week's column about Missouri Republicans' inability to move beyond conspiracy theories about Barack Obama's birth certificate: 

At a time when Missourians are suffering due to the continuing harmful effects of a downward-spiraling economy, the last thing we need to see is our legislators pandering to the extreme fringes of their constituency. Put Missourians back to work and put the birthers back under the baseboards where they belong.

This year's birther adventure comes in the form of HB 283, sponsored by Lyle Rowland (R-Cedarcreek) and co-sponsored by Mike Kelley (R-Lamar), Kevin Elmer (R-Nixa), Don Wells (R-Kwik Kash), Darrell Pollack (R-Lebanon), Don Phillips (R-Kimberling City), Shane Schoeller (R-Willard), Barney Fisher (R-Richards), Melissa Leach (R-Springfield), Stanley Cox (R-Sedalia), Tom Loehner (R-Koeltztown), Dave Hinson (R-St. Clair), Lindell Shumake (R-Hannibal), Jason Smith (R-Salem), Andrew Koenig (R-Winchester) and Diane Franklin (R-Camdenton).

UPDATE: The News-Leader reports that Rowland is willing to acknowledge that Obama is actually a citizen. That's nice of him to say in public to a reporter who lacks the capacity to talk about Barry's citizenship in a legitimate way, but it's hard to believe that his legislation is anything other than a dog whistle to the base.  Republicans only started caring about having individual states 'verify' candidates' citizenship after Obama took office, and the intent of these bills are understood by the crazies who hold onto discredited theories about his citizenship.  Rep. Cooper sponsored a similar proposal in 2009 (see below), and was talked about by attendees at a Orly Taitz meeting in Jefferson City as a fellow believer. 

---------------------------

Yesterday, freshman Rep. Lyle Rowland (R-Cedarcreek) filed introduced legislation (HB283) that would require "proof of identity and proof of United States citizenship" for all presidential and vice-presidential candidates moving forward.  The full bill text and list of co-sponsors are not yet available, but fellow freshman Mike Kelley (R-Lamar) is identified as the primary co-sponsor. 

The Star reports that the upcoming State of the State address conflicts with a "scotch and cigars" fundraiser at the Jefferson City Country Club planned by Birther Rep. Tim Jones, the incoming Majority Floor Leader for House Republicans. 

Eli Yokley of PoliticMo spoke with the House GOP's New Speker Majority Floor Leader, Tim Jones, yesterday about Orly Taitz's excitement regarding his new leadership position. For reasons I can't begin to comprehend, Jones is still not interested in talking about his role as a plaintiff in one of Orly's ridiculous birther lawsuits last year.  But he's not willing to apologize for supporting her lunacy, or even willing to affirmatively state that Barry Soetoro isn't the Kenyan criminal Jones et al. alleged he was in federal court.  

Orly Taitz, the well-adjusted lawyer who sued President Barack Obama Barry Soetoro for being a criminal Kenyan usurper last year, is pleased to see that Rep. Tim Jones (R-Eureka) is moving up in the world.  Posted to Taitz's blog yesterday:

GREAT NEWS! ONE OF MY CLIENTS IN ELIGIBILITY CASE, PROMINENT MO ATTORNEY TIMOTHY JONES BECOME THE SPEKER OF MO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. PLEASE, CONTACT HIM AND DEMAND THAT HE BRINGS THIS ISSUE TO THE FLOOR OF THE STATE HOUSE OF REP-S.

WOW, an unapologetic birther is unanimously elected to be the speaker of MO Hopuse of Representatives!!!  This article came from a far left reporter from” Fired up Mo ” This reporter has published multiple articles, attacking me Representative Jones, representative Cynthia Davis and Representative Casey Quernsey, who signed up as my clients in the eligibility case.  

Category: HOT ITEMS!

Nice work Speker Jones!  

It appears that Orly's assistants have not yet been able to clean up in the typos and errors in this dispatch, but she may be working with a skeleton staff these days.  The Supreme Court recently upheld a rather hefty fine imposed by a federal judge in Georgia against Taitz for filing frivolous legal briefs and wasting the courts time. 

Jones joined Orly's fight in early 2009, but then refused to talk with the press and played dumb on multiple occasions when asked to explain his role in supporting and perpetuating the lunacy. 

Rep. Casey Guernsey was initially a plaintiff in the Taitz birther suit, but was dropped from the filings without explanation mid-year, and Guernsey has never publicly explained his involvement, to my knowledge. Fellow plaintiff Cynthia Davis, for her part, never shied away from discussing her birtherism; she even appeared at a press event with Taitz outside a federal courthouse in California.

Congrats to the House GOP for their wins on Tuesday, and for unanimously choosing an unapologetic birther to be their Majority Floor Leader for the coming year: Rep. Tim Jones (R-Eureka). I'm confident that Missourians will benefit from the leadership of Jones, who demonstrated great judgment and an impressive connection to reality when he sued President Barack Obama Barry Soetoro with Orly Taitz for being an illegal Kenyan immigrant who committed all sorts of crimes to take the White House, and then refused to talk with the press and played dumb with citizens on multiple occasions when asked to explain his involvement in the suit. 

Jones has demonstrated great judgment and sanity in other instances as well:

• In August, he declared that the Missouri Hospital Association is a "Marxist" organization that wants to "screw Missouri voters"
• He demonstrated the maturity of a 7 year old and had to be physically restrained by his own colleagues on the House Floor in March
• He believes that global warming is "voodoo science"
• He hails from the right-wing camp that believes that Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are unconstitutional
• He was one of only twelve Republicans to vote against extended unemployment benefits for 62,000 Missourians in February
• He was a key proponent of the House Republicans sham ethics bill in May, described as "a new low" and "a vehicle for some of the craziest GOP causes to come down the pike"

All in all, a top-notch choice.