Arizona's "Birther Bill" is Back (Sans Penis Provision)
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Remember last year when the Arizona Legislature passed the infamous "Birther Bill?" And then Governor Jan Brewer -- in a rare moment of sanity -- vetoed it? Well, an amended version of the bill is heading to the Legislature -- compliments of Republican state Representative Carl Seel.
In case you forgot, the bill was based on the continuously debunked, far-right-wing-nut conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen, and therefor not eligible to be president.
As nutty as a piece of legislation that's based on a conspiracy theory may sound, one provision in particular made it too whacky for even Brewer to sign -- one of the provisions included in the bill by GOP lawmakers could have forced presidential candidates to provide written documentation describing what their penises look like before their name would be allowed on the ballot in the "Colt Single-Action Army Revolver State."
Read all about it here.
Brewer had the sense to veto the bill last year, noting that she "never imagined" she'd be handed a bill that could have required a candidate to provide a written description of his penis.
Seel's new bill is a watered-down, penis-free version of the original -- yet, it's equally humiliating.
Attempts to reach Seel this morning were unsuccessful. However, he explained his new bill to the Arizona Capitol Times last week.
From the Capitol Times:
Seel's solution is to simplify the bill so that a candidate would only be required to sign, under penalty of perjury, an affidavit swearing that he or she meets the qualifications for the office, including their citizenship. If citizens were to question whether the candidate was qualified, Seel's bill would state that the citizen would have standing to file suit against the candidate.
"It's simply making sure the citizenry is equipped to enforce their Constitution," Seel said, noting that lawsuits in other states have been thrown out for a lack of standing.
Just to be clear, being a U.S. citizen already is a federal requirement to be president -- so the bill's essentially useless. Regardless, our lawmakers are getting paid to discuss a bill that's in response to a continuously debunked conspiracy theory...again.
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