Judge: Obama eligible to be Georgia candidate, page 3

reply to post by spoor

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I honestly wish I could be shocked at how quickly this judge went from being a hero who was finally demanding Obama show the goods to a bought out, threatened, traitor. It actually looks like most of these birthers completely failed to read the judges opinion as well. Or perhaps they are choosing not to understand it.

reply to post by hapablab

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I am in no position to say either or about this, but one question bothers me, it's about that social security card, tell me why was it issued in Connecticut? I am confused about that one.

It wasn't.

The SSN is a three field number, right? "xxx-yy-zzzz"
Once upon a time (it is not clear to me whether it is still the case or not), the SSA used the "xxx" field as a grouping number, to ensure that numbers were not duplicated from one office to the other. You would not want one office, in California say, to issue the same number as another office, in Iowa say. That would lead to all kinds of confusion about the taxpayers records.

Each State office had its own set of numbers so it didn't have to be constantly asking every other state if it had already used a number it was proposing to use. This is clearly vitally important in the days before computers.

I believe by the time that Obama applied for his SSN, the State offices had already started to consolidate. Not every state had its own SSA office, and any application could be processed in whatever office the applicant happened to send it to. Clearly, computers were taking their place and some vital manual administration red tape was no longer so vital. However, the still continued to use the state grouping numbers (and may still to this day, I am not completely clear on that).

So how could they determine what state grouping to use when a central office was processing applications from many states? Simple, they used the applicants return address zip code as the key.

What is interesting here is that Obama's address in Hawai'i at the time (his grandparents address actually, but he lived with his grandparents) was in zip code 96814 (in the intervening years zip codes have been added to Honolulu and the address is now in a different zip code 96826).

It is an interesting fact that while 96814 is in Honolulu Hawai'i (in 1976 when the SSN application was made), 06814 is in Hartford Connecticut.

There is another interesting fact that some folks don't realize. If you have sloppy handwriting and sort of leave off the tail of the '9' or loop it too close to the circle part of the '9', you just might end up with something that looks all the world just like a '0'. Shocking, I know, but true.

Now please have a look at your keyboard. Notice that the key right next to the '9' key on the top row of alphabetic keypad is '0'. You may take it from somebody who fought with a keypunch machine almost everyday in 1976, that that is exactly where the '0' and the '9' keys were on a 1976 keypunch.

In other words, all it took for the future President to get a Social Security Number with a State Grouping prefix from the Connecticut set was a fat fingered keypunch operator to hit the wrong key, or to misread the number off the form.

The least interesting thing about the whole issue is that it doesn't matter in the least. The grouping prefix has never been used for anything what-so-ever except that single function of ensuring that duplicate numbers were not issued from different offices in the days before computers were used to assign the numbers centrally. It was otherwise meaningless in the 1940's and it is even more meaningless today.

Can that be said enough times? The prefix, ostensibly from the Connecticut group, served no purpose other than to ensure that duplicate numbers were not assigned, and today serve no purpose what-so-ever.

reply to post by Still

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If you're right why not include the pertinent part and not just the post-script note?

Number Has Three Parts

The nine-digit SSN is composed of three parts:
•The first set of three digits is called the Area Number
•The second set of two digits is called the Group Number
•The final set of four digits is the Serial Number

Area Number

The Area Number is assigned by the geographical region. Prior to 1972, cards were issued in local Social Security offices around the country and the Area Number represented the State in which the card was issued. This did not necessarily have to be the State where the applicant lived, since a person could apply for their card in any Social Security office. Since 1972, when SSA began assigning SSNs and issuing cards centrally from Baltimore, the area number assigned has been based on the ZIP code in the mailing address provided on the application for the original Social Security card. The applicant's mailing address does not have to be the same as their place of residence. Thus, the Area Number does not necessarily represent the State of residence of the applicant, either prior to 1972 or since.

Generally, numbers were assigned beginning in the northeast and moving westward. So people on the east coast have the lowest numbers and those on the west coast have the highest numbers.

Note: One should not make too much of the "geographical code." It is not meant to be any kind of useable geographical information. The numbering scheme was designed in 1936 (before computers) to make it easier for SSA to store the applications in our files in Baltimore since the files were organized by regions as well as alphabetically. It was really just a bookkeeping device for our own internal use and was never intended to be anything more than that.

So, fair enough.... for some reason he apparently went to a state he's never lived in to get his first SSN. Odd but no proof of anything illegal. For my own sanity I won't ask why he had two different SSNs for when he worked at Baskin-Robbins and when he applied for his student loans

Enjoy your policing...

reply to post by Thermo Klein

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Originally posted by Thermo Klein

So, fair enough.... for some reason he apparently went to a state he's never lived in to get his first SSN.

Nope, just a keypunch error. Return address zip code 96814 (Honolulu Hawai'i in 1976) incorrectly keyed as 06814 (Hartford Connecticut in 1976).

Odd but no proof of anything illegal.

Not odd, not illegal; proof doesn't enter into it.

For my own sanity I won't ask why he had two different SSNs for when he worked at Baskin-Robbins and when he applied for his student loans

Wise choice, since there is no evidence that such a thing took place. How could you even come up with such a suspicion since no one, repeat no one, has seen his student loan applications? Going down that rabbit hole would surely try your sanity, no doubt.

reply to post by rnaa

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you don't think an alleged keypunch error on a social security card is odd? Seems they'd check those pretty well.

Plus, if I recall (from memory, without proof) that he got his SSN when he was 15 to get a job at Baskin Robbins. Not sure why you mentioned the dates, have those changed since his birthdate?

reply to post by spoor

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it was a joke, making fun of your argument ... no he didn't.... yes he did.... no he didn't.... yes he did! kinda joke.

For the record I didn't make the claim. I addressed a common claim that's out there and stated I would stay away from it.

reply to post by spoor

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No other president while in office released it, that I know of. However, there are candidates who has released it while campaigning. If I recall correctly John McCain is one of those candidates. Obama never did despite the controversy of his childhood origins. It's not like he's been in America all his life.

My grandmother is from Hawaii, she went to school there and everything. The way they do things is different. From what I understood there are two types of schools there, one, the schools for those who are actually from Hawaii and two, those who are not native to the Islands. They have it like that because Hawaiians practically speak a different language, there could be other reasons, but that's the most prominent one. Obama went to the school for those not native to the Islands. It was a red flag for my grandmother and still is. That is what she told me.

So it's not like some people didn't have a reason.

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