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Saturday, November 7, 2015

Obama’s ‘Sealed’ Records


FactCheck.org



Ask FactCheck

Obama’s ‘Sealed’ Records

  • By Brooks Jackson
  • Posted on July 31, 2012

 
Q: Are Obama’s early records “sealed”?
A: No. Many records that presidential candidates don’t ordinarily release do remain confidential, but they are not “sealed” by a court. The 16 claims in a widely distributed graphic are mostly false or distorted.


FULL QUESTION

Is this true?
Subj: What?

…and they want 12 years of Romney’s tax returns? THIS should be on billboards all over our nation!


Forward this to others who are interested in re-claiming America and saving our future
FULL ANSWER
This is an example of mostly old baloney in a new casing. It mainly recycles years-old falsehoods and insinuations, most of which we covered long ago, in connection with an earlier viral email.
But with President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign heating up, this new graphic has appeared on countless anti-Obama websites and in viral emails like the one we’ve reprinted here. Very little that it contains is new, and the old falsehoods have not improved with age.
Nothing ‘Sealed’
The idea that any Obama record is “sealed” is a falsehood, to start. The word “sealed” when applied to documents ordinarily refers to records that would normally be public, but that a judge has ruled cannot be released without the court’s permission. Common examples of truly “sealed” documents include records of crimes committed as a juvenile or records of adoptions. None of the claims in this message refers to records actually “sealed” in that usual sense.
In some cases, the records this screed claims are “sealed” are actually public, and open for anyone to see. Other supposedly “sealed” records are normally private documents that Obama hasn’t released — and that other presidential candidates haven’t released either.
So as with earlier versions, this is little more than an attempt to raise suspicions by asking for records that aren’t ordinarily made public, without any evidence that those records contain anything derogatory. We’ll take the claims and questions in the order they appear.
  • Claims #1, 2 and 4, college records. Obama’s college records are not “sealed” by a court order, as this graphic would have you believe. It would be illegal under federal law (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974) for Occidental, Columbia or Harvard Law School to give any former student’s records to reporters or members of the public without that person’s specific, written permission. Obama hasn’t released them, but neither have other presidential candidates released their college records. George W. Bush’s grades at Yale eventually became public, but only becausesomebody leaked them to the New Yorker magazine. Bush himself refused to release them, according to a 1999 profile in the Washington Post.
  • Claim #3, thesis paper. Obama did write a paper on nuclear disarmament for an honors course in American foreign policy during his senior year, but it wasn’t the sort of “thesis” that some colleges require for graduation and keep on file in their libraries, like those that Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama released. During the 2008 campaign, reporters were told that Columbia had not retained a copy of Obama’s 1983 paper, and that Obama didn’t have a copy, either. NBC News contacted his former professor, Michael Baron, who said he looked for his copy but couldn’t find it, and thought he probably tossed it out eight years earlier in a move.
    NBC quoted Baron as saying the paper likely would have disappointed Obama’s critics. “The course was not a polemical course, it was a course in decision making and how decisions got made,” Baron told NBC. “None of the papers in the class were controversial.”
  • Claim #5, Selective Service registration. Obama’s Selective Service registration is public. A copy has been posted publicly, and the Selective Service confirmed that Obama registered for the draft on Sept. 4, 1980, and was given registration number 61-1125539-1.
    Worth noting is that nobody in the U.S. has been drafted for military service since 1972, the year Obama turned 11. Obama, like other young men turning age 18 since then, was required to register on a standby basis, in case Congress ever resumes an active military draft. Failure to register is technically a crime, and disqualifies a man for federal student aid or from holding certain federal jobs.
  • Claim #6, medical records. During the 2008 campaign, Obama released summary medical information from his personal physician, who pronounced him to be in “excellent health” with routine test results for such things as cholesterol all within normal levels. (McCain, who is a cancer survivor and was 71 at the time, let reporters see his records for three hours to show he was cancer-free.)
    Since taking office, Obama has followed the practice of earlier presidents. He releasedresults of his first “periodic” physical exam on Feb. 28, 2010. Results of his second “periodic” exam were released Oct. 31, 2011. His physician described him as being “in excellent health and ‘fit for duty.'”
  • Claims #7 and 8, Illinois state Senate records. Obama’s voting record in the Illinois state Senate is a matter of public record, and about as far from being “sealed” as one can imagine. Reporters extensively went over his votes in 2008.  Transcripts of Senate debates in which Obama took part while in office (1997 – 2004) can even be found online, at the website of the Illinois General Assembly.
    Obama’s personal appointment calendar as a state senator may still be private — if it still exists — but we’ve seen nothing to suggest that would add much to what is already public. As president, Obama has released records of visitors to the White House (2.4 million so far). There are some exceptions. Personal information about visitors, such as Social Security numbers are not released. And there’s an exemption for “particularly sensitive” information, which might include a visit by a potential Supreme Court nominee, for example. But that’s still more disclosure than any previous president has made, by far.
  • Claim #9, law firm clients. It’s true that Obama has not released a list of the 30 or so clients for whom he worked personally while he was a lawyer with the firm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill and Gallard in Illinois. He did routinely disclose the law firm’s entire client list while he was in the state Senate, however. And his campaign confirmed in 2008 several specific clients that Obama represented personally, when reporters asked about them. For example, he once represented the liberal group ACORN in a 1995 lawsuit against the state of Illinois, to make voter registration easier.
  • Claims #10 and 11, birth certificates. The claim that Obama’s birth certificate is “sealed” is pure nonsense. Copies of both the so-called “short” and “long” certificates have been released, and state officials in Hawaii have said repeatedly that Obama was born there in 1961 and is a “natural born American citizen.”
  • Claim #12, baptism record. If a paper record exists (and we’ve seen no evidence that it does), it would most likely show only what numerous, undisputed news accounts have stated: Obama was baptized in 1988 in Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Obama was often seen in attendance at Wright’s church in the 20 years that followed. He was married there, and his two daughters were baptized there.
    He remained a member even after some of Wright’s controversial sermons were given national attention in early 2008. When Obama reluctantly severed ties with Wright after weeks of controversy, it was a major news event. Obama and his family now attend St. John’s Episcopal Church, near the White House, though not on a regular basis.
  • Claim #13: Michelle Obama’s law license. It’s simply not true that the first lady “can no longer practice law as an attorney.” She could resume the practice of law any time she chooses. Both the president and his wife have voluntarily inactivated their Illinois law licenses, thereby avoiding a requirement to take continuing education classes and pay hundreds of dollars in annual fees, which is common for lawyers no longer actively practicing.
  • Claim #14, first ladies’ assistants. It’s true that the first lady has more than 20 on her staff, but that’s roughly the same as other recent first ladies. The claim that “other first ladies had only one” might conceivably be true of Martha Washington or Dolley Madison, but it’s certainly not true of Laura Bush or Hillary Clinton. Bush had at least 18 that we could count, and probably more with job titles that didn’t make the link clear. The White House has said Michelle Obama’s staff is the same size as Laura Bush’s was.
  • Claim #15, foreign student aid. The claim that Obama got “foreign student aid” is untrue. That wild falsehood began as an absurd April Fools’ Day hoax in 2009, which we quickly exposed.
  • Claim #16, Obama’s passport. There’s no reason to think Obama used anything but the then-current version of his U.S. passport when he traveled to Pakistan as a student in 1981. Some who questioned Obama’s birthplace made baseless claims that Pakistan had banned U.S. citizens from visiting in 1981, and speculated that he must have used an Indonesian passport. But they were quite wrong. There was no such travel ban. In fact, the New York Times published a travel piece that year describing the author’s own visit to Lahore, and the U.S. consul later wrote a letter to the Times saying he would “welcome an influx of Americans” and giving advice on how to make the journey.
Other Claims
Besides the numbered claims, the graphic also states that Obama has been endorsed by the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). It’s true that the Communist Party USA supports Obama. Itclaims to have about 2,000 members. Obama didn’t seek the CPUSA endorsement, nor has he endorsed that group.
The graphic also attributes three quotes to Obama, all of which are commonly offered on conservative websites. All the quotes are accurate. Here’s the background:
  • Obama appeared at the Service Employees International Union Sept. 17, 2007, to seek the union’s endorsement for the Democratic nomination, and he said, “your agenda has been my agenda in the United States Senate.” (The words appear at about 3 minutes and 15 seconds into this video.) And the SEIU eventually endorsed Obama, but not until February 2008, helping him wrap up the nomination battle against Hillary Clinton. The union has endorsed him again for reelection.
  • At the 2008 National Council of La Raza annual meeting in San Diego, Calif., on July 13, 2008, Obama concluded his remarks by saying, “And together, we won’t just win an election – we will transform this nation. Thank you, and God bless you.”
  • And speaking to the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle on Jan. 17, 2008, Obama said electricity costs would “necessarily skyrocket” as a result of capping carbon emissions. However, the cap-and-trade legislation he endorsed provided allowances intended to protect consumers from higher bills.
In summary, there are bits here that are true. But most is wrong or misleading, and overall the graphic falls far short of getting our seal of approval for accuracy. Call it “unsealed.”
— Brooks Jackson

Sources

Jackson, Brooks. “Clueless ‘Columbo.’ ” FactCheck.org. 18 Jan 2010.
Higbee, Matthew K. “Legal Terminology in Criminal Record Clearing.” Law Firm of Higbee & Associates. Undated web page, accessed 31 Jul 2012.
“How to Seal Your Juvenile Records: What Every Juvenile Should Know.” National Center for Youth Law. 7 Apr 2004.
“Access to Adoption Records: Summary of State Laws.” Child Welfare Information Gateway, Administration for Children & Families, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Jun 2009.
“Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).” U.S. Department of Education, Web site. accessed 31 Jul 2012.
Mayer, Jane, with Alexandra Robbins. The Talk of the Town, “Dept. of Aptitude.” The New Yorker. 8 Nov 1999.
Romano, Lois and George Lardner Jr. “Bush: So-So Student but a Campus Mover.” Washington Post. 27 Jul 1999.
Dedman, Bill. “Reading Hillary Rodham’s hidden thesis; Clinton White House asked Wellesley College to close off access.” MSNBC.com. 9 May 2007.
Ressner, Jeffrey. “Michelle Obama thesis was on racial divide.” Politico.com. 22 Feb 2008.
Mikkelson, Barbara and David P. “Paper Trail.” Snopes.com. 25 Oct 2009.
Popkin, Jim. “Obama’s missing ‘thesis.’ ” NBC News. 24 Jul 2008.
“President Obama’s Selective Service Registration.” Posted on Birther Debunkers Wiki. Last updated 22 Mar 2012.
Owens, Bob. “Did Obama Actually Register for the Selective Service?” Pajamas Media. 12 Aug 2008.
Sweet, Lynn. “Obama releases medical information: ‘excellent health.’ ” Chicago Sun Times. 29 May 2008.
Landau, Elizabeth. “McCain to allow peek at medical records.” CNN. 22 May 2008.
Kuhlman, Jeffrey. Memorandum from the Physician to the President: “The President’s First Periodic Physical Exam as President.” 28 Feb 2010.
Kuhlman, Jeffrey. Memorandum from the Physician to the President: “The President’s Periodic Physical Exam.” 31 Oct 2011.
Kolawole, Emi. “Obama’s Legislative Record.” FactCheck.org. 25 Sep 2008.
The White House. “Visitor Access Records.” Web page accessed 31 Jul 2012.
Holan, Angie Drobnic. “White House visitor logs voluntarily released, with potential for exceptions.” PolitiFact.com. 27 Jan 2010.
Geraghty, Jim. “Why Is Getting Obama To Disclose His Legal Clients Like Pulling Teeth?” National Review Online. 9 Jul 2008.
Auerback, Lauren and Eric Hananoki. “AP, CNN report that Obama represented ACORN, but not that DOJ was also a plaintiff in the lawsuit.” MediaMatters.com. 15 Oct 2008.
Henig, Jess with Joe Miller. “Born in the USA.” FactCheck.org. 21 Aug 2008.
“Certificate of Live Birth” of Barack Hussein Obama. certified copy dated 25 Apr 2011.
Wingett, Yvonne. “Hawaii sends Arizona verification of Obama’s birth.” Arizona Republic. 22 May 2012.
State of Hawaii. “Hawai’i Department of Health Grants President Obama’s Request for Certified Copies of ‘Long Form’ Birth Certificate.” 27 Apr 2011.
Fukino, Chiyome. “Statement by Dr. Chiyome Fukino.” Department of Health, State of Hawaii. 31 Oct 2008.
Fukino, Chiyome. “Statement by Health Director Chiyome Fukino MD.” Department of Health, State of Hawaii. 27 Jul 2009.
Kantor, Jodi. “Barack Obama’s search for faith.” New York Times. 30 Apr 2007.
Ross, Brian. “Obama’s Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11.” ABC News. 13 Mar 2008.
Powell, Michael. “Following Months of Criticism, Obama Quits His Church.” New York Times. 1 Jun 2008.
Huffington Post. “Easter 2012: President Obama And Family Go To Church.” 8 Apr 2012.
Gore, D’Angelo. “The Obamas’ Law Licenses.” FactCheck.org. 14 Jun 2012.
Gore, D’Angelo. “Michelle Obama’s Staff.” FactCheck.org. 5 Aug 2009.
Jackson, Brooks. “Was Obama Born in the USA?” FactCheck.org. 7 May 2009.
Gerstein, Josh. “Don’t look, birthers: Obama’s passport.” Politico.com. 17 Aug 2010.
Jackson, Brooks. “More ‘Birther’ Nonsense: Obama’s 1981 Pakistan Trip.” FactCheck.org. 5 Jun 2009.
Crossett, Barbara. “Lahore, A Survivor with a Bittersweet History.” New York Times. 14 Jun 1981.
Brims, John S. “Lahore” Letter to the Editor. New York Times. 23 Aug 1981.
Communist Party USA. “Why Vote?” 29 Mar 2011.
Berger, Joseph. “Workers of the World, Please See Our Web Site.” New York Times. 22 May 2011.
Sweet, Lynn. “Obama cheered at SEIU. Union weighing whether to endorse.” Chicago Sun Times. 18 Sep 2007.
Cilizza, Chris. “SEIU Makes it Official.” Washington Post. 15 Feb 2008.
Henry, Mary Kay. “SEIU Endorses Barack Obama.” SEIU Blog. 16 Nov 2011.
Obama, Barack. “Remarks at the 2008 National Council of La Raza Annual Meeting in San Diego, California.” Transcript at American Presidency Project. 13 Jul 2008.
Editorial Board, San Francisco Chronicle. “An interview with Sen. Barack Obama.” 17 Jan 2008.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Ways in Which Revisions to the American Clean Energy and Security Act Change the Projected Economic Impacts of the Bill.” 17 May 2009.
Categories: Ask FactCheck
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Obama's Rejection of Keystone XL Is Victory, But That's Not the Whole Story


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Published on Friday, November 06, 2015
by Common Dreams

Obama's Rejection of Keystone XL Is Victory, But That's Not the Whole Story


'The black snake, Keystone XL, has been defeated and best believe we will dance to our victory!'


by Common Dreams staff
(Photo: tarsandsaction/flickr/cc)


President Obama's official rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday was met with grand applause from those who opposed the project and organizers who worked tirelessly, despite long odds, to force the adminstration's hand.

However, even as celebrations were enjoyed and an evening rally was scheduled outside the White House, there's more to this story than the simple rejection of a single pipeline and the ultimate climate legacy of a president who has announced a 'historic' decision.

Mass Movements Work

 

Through years of unprecedented campaigning, ordinary people in the United States and Canada turned what could have been an unremarkable rubber stamping of yet another fossil fuel pipeline into an internationally-watched fight to stop climate change. Since 2011, communities across the United States have staged over 750 direct actions and protests across the country—from mass sit-ins at the White House to a tens-of-thousands-strong march on the National Mall. Farmers, workers, students, Indigenous peoples, and communities on the frontlines of oil refineries and extreme weather put their bodies and relationships on the line—risking arrest, talking to their neighbors, and taking to the streets.

"The black snake, Keystone XL, has been defeated and best believe we will dance to our victory!" —Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network

"We stood our ground and today President Obama stood with us, the pipeline fighters," said Jane Kleeb, director of Bold Nebraska. "Tonight landowners can finally go to sleep knowing their family is safe and sound. Our unlikely alliance showed America that hard work and scientific facts can beat Big Oil’s threat to our land and water."

In the words of Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network: "The black snake, Keystone XL, has been defeated and best believe we will dance to our victory!"

Those interested can sign an online Thank You Card to the Movement that will be delivered to every single person who has participated in an action against the Keystone XL pipeline since over the past four years. And people across the United States are holding rejection parties to relish in "one golden well-deserved moment" of celebration.

Canada's Win, But Trudeau's "Disappointment"

 

Even as they celebrated the KXL rejection, Canadian climate activists on Friday seized on President Barack Obama's statement that freshly sworn-in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau—who publicly supported the project on the campaign trail—had "expressed his disappointment" about the U.S. State Department's decision on the pipeline.

"President Obama just sent a message that Prime Minister Trudeau should heed—you can’t be a climate leader while supporting tar sands pipelines." —Mike Hudema, Greenpeace CanadaSocial activist Naomi Klein, for example, tweeted that Trudeau's reaction was a "BAD way to enter the climate conversation," because "dirty pipelines are the way of the past."

The Keystone development came as Canadian environmentalists entered their second of four days of civil disobedience, aimed at convincing Trudeau to freeze tar sands development and commit to a justice-based transition to a clean energy economy.

They took Friday's news as a chance to double down on their message: "Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline sets a new standard for political climate action," said Clayton Thomas-Muller, Stop it at the Source Campaigner with 350.org Canada. "Justin Trudeau needs to take note that it is time now to listen to the science, to Indigenous Peoples, and to freeze tar sands expansion."

"President Obama just sent a message that Prime Minister Trudeau should heed—you can’t be a climate leader while supporting tar sands pipelines," added (pdf) Mike Hudema, climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace Canada. "The prime minister needs to follow the president's lead and recognize that science demands and the public wants action on climate change and that can't be done while expanding the tar sands."

Economics of Tar Sands

 

The pipeline rejection comes amid a continuing plummet in crude oil prices, which has forced some oil giants to ditch certain projects and means dwindling enthusiasm for tar sands production, because, as "the world's most expensive crude," it just doesn't make economic sense.

Bloomberg reported the rejection was just a confirmation that "there's less appetite for expensive Canadian oil sands in an era of $45 crude."

Yet the falling price of oil has left TransCanada "undeterred," and as Christine Tezak, an energy market analyst at ClearView Energy Partners, told the New York Times, "How long it takes [to move tar sands crude] is just a result of oil prices. If prices go up, companies will get the oil out."

 A 'Historic' Decision? Yes. But Not So Fast on Obama's Climate Leadership

 

Obama took the occasion of the Keystone announcement to tout his administration's environmental track record—but should rejection of this one project be allowed to overshadow his adminstration's numerous shortcomings when it comes to climate?

"America is leading on climate change by working with other big emitters like China to encourage and announce new commitments to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions," Obama said, adding that "if we're going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we’re going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground."
However, Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline comes only months after he approved offshore drilling in the Arctic, an affront to climate activists and a near-fatal blow to vulnerable communities and marine life that was only avoided when Royal Dutch Shell called off its exploration project in September.
Through his presidency, Obama has repeatedly been criticized for bragging that he has expanded domestic oil and gas production, and critics say his "all-of-the-above" energy strategy proves he simply does not understand the dangers posed by runaway climate change nor the urgency needed for a rapid and just transition to renewables.

As climate experts have pointed out ahead of the United Nations-sponsored COP21 talks in Paris, beginning later this month, the U.S. is far from a leader in climate action and is one of several wealthy nations that is not meeting its potential to reduce greenhouse gases. Though it has historically been the planet's leading polluter, the U.S. under Obama has continued to evade its financial obligations to help developing countries deal with the immediate impacts of global warming.

Then there's the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the 12-nation agreement and "corporate power grab nightmare" that Obama has pushed for strongly even as experts warn the deal is an absolute "nightmare" when it comes to environment and, in fact, never even mentions the term "climate change."

In The Shadow of KXL,  A Troubling Network of Pipelines, Oil Trains, and Climate Denial

 

As Common Dreams has reported extensively, the fight over Keystone XL has not prevented the fossil fuel and pipeline industries on both sides of the U.S./Canada border from aggressively—if quietly—planning, proposing, and building a network of infrastructure projects that collectively "dwarf" KXL in their capacity.
"While the Obama White House Keystone XL decision has been touted by most environmentalists and criticized by Big Oil and its front groups, the truth is much more complex and indeed, dirty." —Steve Horn, DeSmogBlogFrom the "zombie-like" Northern Gateway pipeline that refuses to die in western Canada to the massive eastward proposal known "Energy East," the major pipeline companies in Canada continue to show their determination in upping the nation's ability to transport their vast reserves of dirty oil. In addition to the those larger and well-known projects, there are numerous others that continue to threaten communities and the climate across Canada.

In the U.S., a vast network consisting of thousands of miles of new pipelines has been built in recent years. As Steve Horn, a freelance investigative journalist who writes for DeSmogBlog, said on Friday: "While the Obama White House Keystone XL decision has been touted by most environmentalists and criticized by Big Oil and its front groups, the truth is much more complex and indeed, dirty. That's because for years behind the scenes the Obama Administration has quietly been approving hundreds of miles-long pieces of pipeline owned by pipeline company goliath Enbridge."

And Daphne Wysham, director of the Climate and Energy Program at the Center for Sustainable Economy in Washington state, added, "The Pacific Northwest is facing the carbon equivalent of five Keystone XL pipelines in the form of coal, gas, and oil via rail and pipeline."

Meanwhile, the exponential growth of oil-by-rail has become an area of serious concern for environmentalists and community members who have done their best to squelch the false argument that we must choose between the inevitable destruction of a pipeline disaster or the wreckage of the next firey oil train derailment.

As Stephen Kretzmann, of Oil Change International, told Common Dreams in 2013, "There is no use talking about the best way to transport a product which climate science tells us shouldn't even be being produced... It's like debating whether or not menthol or regular cigarettes are worse for you. They both kill, and that's the point."
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