Wretchard, when was that photograph taken?

I suspect that Hawaii’s current confidentially laws are fairly new. Someone in blog comment gave a date of 2001, but I’m not sure of course.

It will take time for me to line up all the stories since I’ve never had any interest in this, but so far the stories seem totally consistent. Whenever someone has said that they they’re not allowed to release copies of this document it has been interpreted by birthers as proof of a conspiracy rather than the normal workings of Hawaiian bureaucracy, and I really don’t know why that is.

A 1 minute google search turns up this:

The governor’s office said that “longstanding” policy has been not to provide photocopies of actual records to fulfill requests for certified copies of certificates but that an exception was made in response to Obama’s request.

Hawaii Health Director Loretta Fuddy “exercised her legal authority in a completely appropriate manner in this unique circumstance,” state Atty Gen. David Louie said. “We will continue to maintain the strict confidentiality requirements afforded to vital statistics records, such as birth certificates. These requirements help protect the integrity of the records and keep us all safe from crimes, such as identity theft.”

Once again this is consistent with the explanation I was given.

I think behind all this smoke is a fire, but it’s not the fire you thought it was, it was opportunistic conservative operatives who thought they could continue a misunderstanding forever and it would never be cleared up.