Values Voter News

Related: Video: Obama's birth certificate issue makes CNN and NBC. It's not about conspiracy but rather transparency as Lou Dobbs makes some valid points.
Snopes.com changes hospital of Obama's birth 90 minutes after WND.COM article but has no conclusive evidence of correction according to Wikipedia.

Back in December Values Voter News reported that Snopes.com and FactCheck.org needed some snoping and fact checking themselves on the issue of Obama's birth certificate. Both groups concluded:

"FactCheck.org says, "Update, Nov. 1: The director of Hawaii’s Department of Health confirmed Oct. 31 that Obama was born in Honolulu."

Snopes.com says, "State officials say there's no doubt Barack Obama was born in Hawaii."."

To which Values Voter News responded by showing how Snopes.com and FactCheck.org both quoted the director of Hawaii's Department of Health confirming only that she verified an original birth certificate and nothing about where he was born. Let me quote from that post:

"...at http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp. It is stated that "in October 2008, Hawaiian officials reported that they had personally verified the existence of Barack Obama's original birth certificate".

FactCheck.org agrees at http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html. "Update Nov. 1: The Chiyome Fukino as saying that both she and the registrar of vital statistics, Alvin Onaka, have personally verified that the health department holds Obama's original birth certificate."

So then Values Voter News compared the conclusion that Snopes and FactCheck made from what Dr Fukino (the director of Hawaii's Department of Health) actually said side by side:

"Snopes and FactCheck said, "The director of Hawaii’s Department of Health confirmed Oct. 31 that Obama was born in Honolulu and State officials say there's no doubt Barack Obama was born in Hawaii"

When in actuality Dr Fukino said, "Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai‘i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures.""

So notice the misreporting from Snopes and FactCheck. Dr Fukino did not at that time state that "there is no doubt Barack Obama was born in Hawaii" but only that an "original birth certificate" was "on record" thus giving many valid reason to reject the claims of Snopes and FactCheck at the time.

First a quick comment to note. Values Voter News has noticed that web sites change and Values Voter News has yet to verify if this is what those sites continue to say to this date. Snopes.com does not give its readers an edit history to verify changes made on their site. They only give a last updated on so and so date at the bottom of the post. See evidence of this at Snopes.com changes hospital of Obama's birth 90 minutes after WND.COM article but has no conclusive evidence of correction according to Wikipedia.

Now to what was really wanted to be said here. Dr Fukino has recently revised her original statement to now include not only that she has "personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record" but now that she has "...seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawai'i State Department of Health verifying Barrack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen. I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago...."

So the only thing she added to the statement was that she not only verified the original birth certificate/vital records but that she now has verified in addition to that that "...Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen." This is a breakthru that confirms the just criticism of Snopes.com and FactCheck.org. Notice the only difference between the two statements is that Dr Fukino has now answered the just criticism. There is another settle difference that will be noted here that being the difference between "original birth certificate" and now she says "original vital records". This may or may not matter but is documented for notes sake.

Now that Dr Fukino has stated this we can continue to conclude the facts of the case as being:

Fact 1: The Certificate of Live Birth that Obama posted on his web site being a "copy" proves there is an "original birth certificate/vital records". This naturally led many to seek the original to evidence forth the copy.

Fact 2: Dr Fukino states she verified the existence of the "original birth certificate/vital records" in '08. This naturally led many to seek to know what the "original birth certificate/vital records" actually read.

Fact 3: Dr Fukino states she has verified what is said on the "original birth certificate/vital records" namely that Obama is born in Hawaii and is a natural born citizen in '09. This is naturally leading many to want to see it for themselves or to have further verification by more then one.

Fact 4: The Obama Administration has yet to release those documents to the public or anyone else as far as we know nor has Dr Fukino. This is naturally leading many to question why.

Fact 5: So the best evidence we have of Obama's natural born citizenship via his original birth certificate/vital records to date is the statement by Dr Fukino.

Now wherever you stand on this issue is up to you. These are the facts. If Dr Fukino's word is good enough for you and you think her word should settle this issue then fine. But none the less at least be understanding of those who seek better evidence when it is available to seek.

So now the obvious and fair question that Big Media and those on the left on this issue are ignoring is: Why not release the evidence? This is not about a conspiracy but rather transparency. Why not release the information to the public or to a non-partisan independent group of some sort or to respected members of both sides to verify? Is it really enough to go on this Dr's word?

So in conclusion what is at base from the perspective here at Values Voter News that is fueling the fire of this controversy is the Administration's and Big Media's inability to put out the flames by actually fanning those flames themselves by:

#1) not asking the right question of the Obama Administration which is: Why not release the original birth certificate/vital records that Dr Fukino has confirmed exists that according to her proves Obama's natural born citizenship?

#2) whenever the issue is brought up by a better informed/understanding of the issue media the Obama Administration continues to fan the flame by failing to answer the above question by continually pointing to the birth certificate they produced online which totally skirts the question.

#3) Big Media only repeats what the Administration set forth in their answer and refuses to seek the best evidence available that is known to exists.

So if Big Media and the Obama Administration want this to go away then they can take some steps forward to practice what they preach by 1) asking the right question then 2) answering the question and 3) to seek and reveal the best evidence that exists.

Again it's about transparency not conspiracy and seeking the best possible evidence when known to exist.