MyFoxOrlando

Since the election there has been a lot of discussion on the internet about upcoming court hearings regarding the authenticity of the birth certificate of Barack Obama. "Don't hold your breath" has been my standard answer to all who have told me how the Supreme Court would issue a ruling requiring Obama to hand over a valid birth certificate or not accept the nomination.

The internet rumors suggest that he was actually born in Kenya or that he was adopted by his Indonesian step-father which made him an Indonesian citizen or that his father was a British citizen which disqualifies him for the office of President. They then finish their argument with the plainative plea, "if he's really an American citizen, why WON'T he release his birth certificate to the public"? (Not that any of them have offered to post their birth certificate with all that personal information on the world-wide web for all to see!)

If you are interested in the detailed explanations of why none of these arguments are valid, I suggest you check out snopes.com. It lists the major arguments and refutes them.

You should also know that two different officials from the State of Haiwaii have issued statements that they have personally examined the certificate and it is both valid and in the possession of the state. Both of these officials are political appointees of a REPUBLICAN governor (and McCain supporter). They have nothing to gain by lying and would be heros to their boss if they could prove Obama doesn't qualify for President.

If you are wondering why he just doesn't release the documents, I can offer three suggestions. First, like many American citizens with "foreign-sounding" names, I suspect that President-Elect Obama dislikes having to prove he is an American just because of his name. (Ask a third generation Mexican-American named Jose' if he has documents & see what his reaction is! Duck if he is bigger than you. Also ask yourself, why nobody ever asks an O'Malley if he's an American. The only countries that seem to be an issue are inhabited by people with brown skin color.)

Second, a birth certificate contains a lot of personal information that can be used for identity theft. (Hey mom, I got a credit card in the name of the President!)

Third, I think Obama feels that this is the perfect "red herring" for the radical right. If you read much of the political blogs on this site, you know that there are a few who will NEVER like or agree with ANYTHING that Obama does. He takes a jet to visit his dying grandmother & he is wasting donor money. He doesn't take a jet to the funeral and he's scum who doesn't care about the woman. The "mystery" of the birth certificate keeps these people occupied. If he were to release the document, many would deny it's validity and the rest would look for something else to fixate on.

But after reading the insanity that is continually posted on this site concerning this subject by the same four or five bloggers who just can't handle the thought of the Obama Presidency, I admit that I was wrong in one respect. I shouldn't have told you not to hold your breath! Please, Please take a DEEP breath & HOLD IT.....keep holding it from now until December 5th when you think you'll get what you want!

I did something last week that I have done many times without giving it a second thought. Except this time it didn't go very well and it made me realize an unexpected danger that goes with this activity. What scary thing did I do? I ORDERED A LARGE THIN CRUST PIZZA FROM PIZZA HUT.

The pizza arrived over 30 minutes late, it was completely cold and the box was soaked with grease. I spoke with a manager from the local store while the driver was still there. He took $5 off the pizza because the delivery was late but informed me that all he could do with it being cold was to have the driver bring it back & they would make me another. Other than that option I would have to call an 800 number to complain. It was late, so I took the pizza & called the 800 number. They told me that a Regional Manager would contact me within 72 hours concerning my complaint. After three days had passed with no call, I called back and was informed that 72 hours really meant 3 business days. I explained to the customer service rep. that I was really very angry and that it centered more on the complete lack of customer service from the local store & the call center than anything else. If anyone had been proactive & offered me coupons (or really anything other than an 800 number) it would have settled the issue. I was called back by the same customer service rep. who said she would send me a certificate for two free pizzas and report to the local store manager how his employee had handled the situation.

So far, this was all just annoyance, nothing too serious. But four hours later, I received 5 calls from a private number. I was screamed at, cursed at, threatened and asked if I wanted to suck various anatomical parts of the caller (who sounded like a teenage male). They also wanted to know if I liked pizza. Now I'm not saying that it was a Pizza Hut employee who called; but I don't believe in coincidences either.

This was a MAJOR ANNOYANCE. But upon reflection I realized that it was more than that. Any time you call anyone to make a delivery to your home you open yourself up to danger. The hourly, minimum-wage employee on the other end of the phone has access to your name, your home phone number, your home address and even possibly your credit card number. The possibilities and the inherent danger of this had never occurred to me until I received harassing calls in the middle of the night.

The quality of the pizza or the slow delivery is really not an issue. But the fact that someone now has personal information on myself & my family gives me pause. I gave a lot of thought to all of the ways that information could be used and didn't like the length of the list I came up with. I've since been told that Pizza Hut (and other companies) sell this information to search engines. Those search engines then are used by insurance agencies, government departments, creditors, debt collectors and anyone else willing to pay a fee to track you down. It made me think a lot about the number of times I carelessly give personal information out. It a mistake I make frequently and hope to correct in the future.

And in case your wondering, yes I did call Pizza Hut to report the harrassing calls.....and guess what? The mythical Regional Manager of Store #726245 (who never called me concerning the original complaint) will get back to me about the threatening phone calls within three business days. TALK ABOUT QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE! It's made me very happy to go pick up my own food in the future. But it's something I thought you might want to think about before you called Pizza Hut (or any delivery service) for dinner tonight. Instead you might consider taking your business to a Independent and locally owned restaurant as opposed to a national chain restaurant. Because if you do have a problem with a locally owned establishment....they're small enough to care!