The Birther Dilemma: Ted Cruz, Canada, Cuba and "Natural Born Citizen"

What kind of goofy shit is this? Heh. Image from
ObamaConspiracy.net

Birthers and tea baggers (two groups with considerable crossover) have a huge problem looming with the probable presidential run of Senator Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (R-TX). Unlike the fanciful, self-contradictory conspiracy theory that posits foreign birth for President Obama, we know that Ted Cruz was born in Canada. Further, we know that his foreign-born father was born in Cuba. This puts Cruz's nativity story on almost precisely the same ground as the partially invented one the birthers have foisted upon Obama.



Same Question. Image from Wikipedia

Only it's worse. See, Barack Obama Sr. was from Kenya, a country with British ties. Though Cruz's birth country also has British ties, his Dad's birth country is actually considered an hostile to the United States. I don't think even the most rabid birther has tried to assert that Kenya is any kind of enemy. Of course, Obama's real story is even better than Cruz's anyway because he has been confirmed to have been born in the United States, making him unquestionably "Natural Born," no matter how you slice it (fringy, goofy birther tangents don't even rise to asterisks here).

But it's funny, now that Cruz has publicly "renounced" his Canadian citizenship and released his birth certificate, if the birther bunch wants to be consistent, they really need to dive in to Cruz birtherism. Because a great number of the problems they had with President Obama's birth certificate are true for this one as well, along with some other problems. Here is a comment from the great ObamaConspiracy.net, the resource that has effectively debunked every single conspiracy tangent.

 . . .what they will make of these other “issues”:

* “Certificate of Birth”, not a birth certificate
* Record number does not match stamp on the bottom
* No witnesses of birth named, nobody attested to place of birth
* That red blob supposed to be a seal?
* The “E” and “e” in “Eleanor” are not on the same baseline as the rest, unlike in all other words using those letters (“RAFAEL”, “Delaware”)
* When did he ever legally change his name from “Rafael” to “Ted”? Proof?

These are the types of nits that birthers picked with both Obama's "short form" and "long form" birth certificates. It was all nonsense, all of it. I even did my own de-bunking here. Let me be clear, I have no issue with Cruz's place of birth or questions about his citizenship. But I find it very, very amusing that birthers are in this trick bag.

Read more (lots more) here: ObamaConspiracy

Points for Consistency: Orly Taitz Thinks Ted Cruz as Ineligible as Obama

Ted Cruz and his full-body frown, image from USNews

There is a bit of hilarity in the fact that Ted Cruz--Texas tea bagger extraordinaire--has designs on the presidency, but shares almost exactly the "disqualifying" parentage that said tea baggers assign to President Obama. Or rather, the "birther" variety of tea bagger imagines that President Obama is foreign born, and we already know that Cruz is foreign born.

Both men had mothers who were American Citizens, which would be enough in a sane world to be qualified for the presidency. Obama has the distinction of actually not being foreign born--unless you consider Honolulu, Hawaii to be "foreign"--making the whole birther genre to be rather laughable and stupid. But I wondered what the hardcore birthers would make of Cruz, a guy who is totally the bat in their belfry. My guess was that they'd do a bit of handwringing about his ineligibility, and then say that the point is now moot because of President Obama filling out his terms.

Orly Taitz, the hardest core of the hardcore birthers didn't disappoint me. She's basically done exactly that.

[Excerpt]

'Birther' Orly Taitz: Ted Cruz Has 'Basically the Same Issue as Obama'

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a likely candidate for president in 2016, released his Canadian birth certificate over the weekend, but that's unlikely to end discussion about whether he meets the Constitution's ill-defined standard of natural-born citizenship. . .

Read more at: USNews

Sen. Ted Cruz, Born in Canada, Wants to Run for President?

When I found out this guy was 42, it made me feel a whole lot
better about how I've aged. Oh, snap. Image from Washington Post.

Oh, the hilarity. Oh, the irony!

After legions of far-right wingers have spent five years building a tangled conspiracy that says Barack Obama is not a natural born citizen!!!!11!1!! for various reasons up to and including that they think he was born in Kenya, and that his father was a British National. Most disregard or deny the overwhelming evidence that Obama was born in Hawaii, which is in the United States, and that his mother was a citizen. And those who will even admit to those two things will contend that his dad's nationality (or his mother leaving the country for a number of years) still disqualifies Obama from being eligible for the presidency.

There's much (much, much, much) more to their convoluted, self-contradictory web of a theory, but that's the gist. And the funniest thing ever in this long, stupid story? Arch-right conservative hero, freshman Senator Ted Cruz (TX-naturally) wants to run for president. He's a rabble-rouser. He's a so-called strict Constitutional constructionist, and he likes being a total ass to anyone who doesn't agree with his philosophy. In short, he's a tea bagger wet dream. But guess what? His dad wasn't a citizen when he was born. His mom was. But he was born in a foreign country! He has less bona fides than Obama does, since we know Obama was born in the US.

So, birthers, what to do? Cheer on the most conservative (douchey, but you kind of like that) dude you could ever put up, and forget about your birther quest? Or stick to your principles, and watch Jeb (not Dubya) Bush or Chris (traitor) Christie take the nomination? Should the question come before them, it will be hilarious to watch. But ultimately, it may not matter, because though he's conservative, by today's definition, he's a spectacularly bad candidate.

[Excerpt]

5 Reasons Ted Cruz Would Be A Democrat’s Dream 2016 GOP Nominee

He May Do Worse With Latinos Than Mitt Romney

The New York Times’ Nate Silver looked at immigration reform and found that it could be a bonanza for Republicans if they can pull it off without alienating their white base. They also need to pull it off without further alienating Latinos who voted for Mitt Romney in smaller numbers than they voted for John McCain, who they voted for in smaller numbers than George W. Bush. . .

Read more at: The National Memo

OMG! Obama Birth Video by Obama's Father IN KENYA!!!

Oh the humanity hilarity! The birthers have been going on so long about forgeries and fakes that "prove" President Barack Hussein Obama wasn't born in Kenya, they've gone and created a video that "proves" he was!

Or at least, that's what I assume happened. It is possible, I suppose, that this was produced by someone on Obama's side, to send the birthers right over the edge. It's "real" enough to convince a conspiracy theorist, but fake enough to spot if you are unindoctrinated. The flaws in the video--gleaned from user comments, personal research and some good old fashioned reason, include (but are not limited to):

• The Kenyan flag shown in the video wasn't in use when Obama was born.
• The picture of Mrs. Obama is from a 1964 passport.
• Mrs. Obama's maiden name is used, and is written in marker, something that wasn't in use in 1961.
• The "newborn" Obama is enormous, and his "umbilical cord" seems to be held in place by one of the people in the video.
  The scratches and dust in the video match special effects filters found in video editing software.
• The placement of the photograph, chart, flag and calendar are very conspicuous, as though they were placed there to "prove" the "film" is real.
• The mother doesn't look like Mrs. Obama.

There is more to be found surely. But isn't that enough? Birther fraud and fail. And doesn't it make you wonder if this is what Donald Trump was really going to release?

Video and much commentary found at: ObamaConspiracy.org

In Case You Missed It: Rachel Maddow on Birther Claim that Obama is Secretly Gay

Rachel Maddow is ten times more generous than I could ever be to World Nut Net Daily, viewing them as a sort of entertainment. I find them hilarious too, but terribly sad in that otherwise rational people may believe the garbage they push. As Birther-central, WND starts out with a huge credibility problem, since Birtherism is wholly and completely without merit. So, I guess the whole site is sort of like the Weekly World News of right-wing politics, and saying outrageous things about President Obama is their "bat boy."

Their latest schtick--aided by alleged Hillary Clinton supporter, HillBuzz's ridiculous Kevin DuJan--is to claim that Obama is secretly gay. Before Michelle, he was married to a dude, who he bumped off. The evidence for this offshoot of birtherism is scant, to be generous. And it was handled with precisely the right level of snark and humor by Rachel Maddow this past Friday. If you want to know more about this crackpot theory, and be entertained at the same time, watch.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What's the Matter With Kansas?: Birthers Want Obama Removed from Ballot

He's not embarrassed. He should be, but he's not.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Image from TPM.

There's a lot of ridiculousness in politics these days, but nothing tops the "Birthers." These people have concocted a convoluted set of (sometimes self-contradictory) conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama and his eligibility for the office of president. Some of what they believe is based on very sketchy, old case law about the meaning of "natural born citizen." Some of it is a wholly concocted fantasy, in which Obama's mother traveled to Kenya whilst very pregnant, gave birth there (or elsewhere on the way home or something), and then smuggled little Barry into the country, all the while orchestrating false evidence that he was born in Hawaii. Using the expensive and complicated travel and communications technology available in 1961. All in anticipation that her half-black, half white child with "Hussein" as a middle name would one day run for president and need to have citizenship to do so.

ZOMG! It has layers! I debunked the amateur
analysis of the allegedly "fake" Obama long-form
birth certificate HERE.

Believing such (utterly without evidence) nonsense isn't so hard to understand when you consider the significant overlap of young-earth creationists in this crowd, who believe that all evidence of an old earth is put there by God to test our faith, or the Devil to lead us astray. They're not deep thinkers, and are seemingly eager to believe anything that supports their story, and able to ignore evidence to the contrary. For the record, every single aspect of Birtherism has been debunked, in a very detailed and organized way at ObamaConspiracy.org. If you even have an ounce of doubt, go there, poke around, you'll see what I mean.

The fact that a conspiracy theory has become almost mainstream in Republican politics is a frightening thing. It's something you tolerate in your weird Uncle Rick. It's not something you expect in an elected official. Kansas is not alone in having a prominent birther in office, but they are a state with a lot of embarrassing politics, including creationism in science class. What is it going to take to get these people to see Barack Obama as an ordinary person, and not a statist, Maoist, Marxist, socialist, fascist, communist, Kenyan, Muslim, Black-Identity-Christian, Godless, far-left radical Alinskyite? And do you really still want to tell me this has nothing to do with the fact that he's. . . black?

[Excerpt]

Kansas Goes Birther: State Board Considers Removing Obama From Ballot

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, an informal advisor to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, said on Thursday he and his fellow members of a state board were considering removing President Barack Obama from the Kansas ballot this November. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Conspiracy Corner: Hawaii Fights Back, Arpaio Proven Wrong

It is fortunate that in what is often a FOX "News"/Rush Limbaugh-led media, that the "birther" conspiracy theory(s) haven't gone completely mainstream. Sure, it's big enough that many people know what it is about. But it is the rare individual who takes any of it seriously.

Image from Huffington Post

The birthers threatened to break through on Tuesday, when Arizona's batshit crazy Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his anachronistically named "Cold Case Posse" had a big press conference. Sheriff Joe pronounced Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate (actually the PDF scan of it) a forgery. He had the alleged testimony of a 95-year-old hospital worker, and some 50-year-old penciled notations. And that was really about it. One of those notations was a "9" written in the margin. Arpaio used this to declare the document a forgery. But he and his posse lied about what the 9 meant. Surprise, surprise!

[Excerpt]


Code “9”: the Cold Case Posse’s big lie

I have debunked so much demonstrably false “birther evidence” that I sometimes lose perspective about levels of “bunk” and levels of “demonstrable.” Based on the reactions of others, I may have done something last year that applies to something high on the “bunk” scale today as well as high on the “demonstrable” scale amounting to what Joe Biden might call a BFD, and the smoking gun showing the Cold Case Posse fabricated evidence and lied. . .

Read more at: Obama Conspiracy Theories


[Excerpt]


Hawaii strikes back

The State of Hawaii has repeatedly confirmed the indisputable evidence of President Obama’s birth in Hawaii. An exhaustive accounting of this is provided on the State Department of Health (DOH) website (http://hawaii.gov/health/vital-records/obama.html). When this issue last arose in May, the Washington Post noted that “the Hawaii Department of Health has released both the short and long forms of the president’s birth certificate; and that all this information, along with clear-as-a-bell explanations, is available to the public online. . .”

Read more at: Obama Conspiracy Theories 

Meanwhile, on Facebook. . . Romney Birthers?

Orly Taitz Gets to Finish on The Stephanie Miller Show

Image from HuffPo

After a back-and-forth of commentary on The Stephanie Miller Show, about Orly Taitz, followed by an internet message from Orly about Steph (and so on), a meeting was finally set up. The on-air crew was skeptical that the birther queen would actually show up, but she ultimately did.

I heard the interview on the radio at work, so I'm kind of sorry that this video clip is so short. It was actually quite a good interview, with Steph asking questions in a measured, cool way. Not respectful, not exactly. I mean, could you pull that off? But she managed not to ruffle Orly's feathers while getting some digs in.

The whole birther conspiracy theory ought to have played out by now, since their entire premise is shaky. There is zero evidence that Mrs. Obama was ever in Kenya, and it is difficult to put together any story that would make sense. In addition, every part of their splintered, multi-track conspiracy theory has been debunked (go here, if you don't believe me). So, Orly is singing a tired song. Still, it was entertaining radio.

[Excerpt]


Orly Taitz Compares Self To Nelson Mandela and Thurgood Marshall, Accuses Obama's Mother Of Fraud

Birther queen Orly Taitz compared herself to Nelson Mandela and Thurgood Marshall, claimed President Barack Obama could be deported and accused Obama's mother of fraud during a radio interview Tuesday morning. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Orly Taitz to Appear on Stephanie Miller Show Tuesday Morning!

Queen birther and lost Gabor sister, Orly Taitz, will appear on The Stephanie Miller Show in the 9:00 am Pacific hour on Jun 26. If you've forgotten about the birthers, you could be forgiven. But every so often, their mass delusion infects even elected officials, so they're worth keeping an eye on. And it's worth the reminder--via Orly--that these people are ca-rayyyyy-zeee! I will be impressed if Orly actually shows up, more impressed if she stays for the entire segment, startled if she doesn't say, "let me finnish!!!" and flabbergasted if Step gets her to answer a question with, "Moose and squirrel."

I'm a Birther (Wouldn't You Like to be a Birther Too?)

Another one on the nose from Rocky Mountain Mike (formerly Mike in Raleigh of The Stephanie Miller Show). This one is--obviously, if you were alive in the 70s--a parody of Dr. Pepper's Be a Pepper.

Mitt Romney Releases His Birth Certificate

I would have expected an owner's manual with Mitt. Image from MSNBC.

Ha-ha! Isn't that a hoot? Willard Mitt Romney has released his (ha-ha!) birth certificate! You see, it's funny because. . .oh, shit, I don't know. . .because a sizable chunk of the Republican base is stupid (and racist) enough to believe in birtherism. Ah, but Willard's little joke may contain a bit of a problem for him: his dad being born in Mexico! Yes, we already knew that, but this puts it right out there.

You see, as the birth certificate branch of birthers lost some steam, they were overtaken by the "two citizen parents" faction. Some take this to mean that both parents must've been born in the USA, some just say they both must have been naturalized before the candidate's birth. No law says either thing, just to be clear. There are several other tangents in the birther conspiracy corner, and some cancel each other out, but are still sometimes held by the same people! Yeah, nobody said conspiracy theories have to make sense.

[Excerpt]


Romney's birth certificate evokes his father's controversy 

Finally, there is definitive proof: The presidential candidate was born in the United States, and his father was not.Yes, Republican Mitt Romney appears eligible to be president, according to a copy of Romney's birth certificate released to Reuters by his campaign. Willard Mitt Romney, the certificate says, was born in Detroit on March 12, 1947. . .

Read more at: MSNBC.com


PS. If the birthers are going to be consistent, they're going to have to examine the above image with a fine-toothed comb. They're going to need to take it into PhotoShop, Illustrator, maybe Inkscape. They'll need to zoom in, enhance, unmask, ungroup. What's with the "VOIDVOIDVOID" business? Huh? and look at the left side of the document. Clearly it's been cut off. What are they hiding? What are they hiding?

Mitt Romney and The Donald and Birthers

Willard will do anything for votes. Clearly. Image from CNN.

I'm not sure how to parse this Mitt Romney statement, regarding Donald Trump:

“You know, I don't agree with all the people who support me and my guess is they don't all agree with everything I believe in,” Romney said. “But I need to get 50.1% or more and I'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.”

So, the people he's latching on to are there to get him votes. . .even if Mitt himself isn't on board with those peoples' agendas? How does this work? I seriously don't get it. In this case, you've got Trump who is espousing the ludicrous (and largely racist) "Birther" nonsense. So, Mitt, you're cool with that if it gets you votes?

Source: CNN

Conspiracy Corner: Arizona Goes Full-on Birther

This is getting ridiculous. An over-the-top conspiracy theory that has been shot down on every front (don't believe me, go here), still has adherents in important places in government. What is wrong with them? And what is wrong with Arizona?

Certainly not a racist. Image from source,
Think Progress.

There is a fundamental problem with the birther theory, and it is a familiar one if you follow these sorts of things: Occam's Razor. Occam states that the easiest solution is also the most likely. And putting a very pregnant Mrs. Obama in Kenya in August of 1961, having the baby there, and then getting little Barack back into the United States and having two papers post proper birth notices? It's improbable to such a high degree as to be very nearly impossible. The state of communications and travel in 1961 were far, far more prohibitive. And prohibitively expensive. Why would a white woman of limited means travel with her short-term husband to an African country where he actually had another wife? Nobody has found even the tiniest bit of evidence that any of this happened either.And like any good conspiracy theory, everything that is debunked is ignored.

It's preposterous, and it smacks of racism, I don't care if they call me a "race-baiter" for it. No other President has had these ridiculous accusations and baseless charges thrown at him in this way. Are Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney being hounded for their parents' places of birth? John McCain? What is different about this guy, Obama? What, oh what could it be?

[Excerpt]

Arizona’s Top Election Official Goes Birther, Threatens To Keep Obama Off The Ballot

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett — the state’s top election official — made an appearance on a local radio show yesterday in which he threatened to keep President Obama’s name off of the state’s November ballot unless the state of Hawaii provides his official birth certificate. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Birthers Score a Victory of Sorts

The birthers just won't go away. They started with President Obama's birth certificate, claiming it wasn't the "long form" or the "certificate of live birth." They insisted that the long form be released, and while they waited, they came up with endless loopy theories. When they ran up against 1961 birth announcements in two Hawaii newspapers, a bunch of birthers bailed. I mean, it takes a hell of a tinfoil hat to try to spin a theory that explains that one away. Still, some birthers have heavy duty foil and lots of time. Some still think Obama was born in Kenya or Canada or elsewhere.

Orly, with the of an equivalent of an "I'm with stupid"
sign. The arrow should go both ways. Image
from ThinkProgress.org.

Then, Obama released the danged long form, and the birthers gave up.

Just kidding. That probably peeled off quite a few more of them, but the true nuts are still on board. They said the long form was fraudulent, and had many "experts" "prove" it, by dissecting the "layers" in the White House's scan of the document. Let me say that again, this was the scan of the document, not the document itself that the birthers were examining. Zooming in, talking about pixels. . .it was insane. And I proved them wrong here.

Since the birth certificate thing just makes them sound nuts, the after-birthers arrived. They've mostly ditched that issue, and the issue of the President's birthplace, in favor of a variety of technical issues that they believe will retroactively disqualify Barack Obama, and send him packing. Things like Obama's dad having been born in Kenya, obscure legal theories on the term "natural born citizen," among others. They really think they're going to bounce Obama on a technicality.

They got a tiny glimmer of hope from a daft Georgia judge, who thinks he can compel a sitting President into his courtroom, so that Orly Taitz can go on a fishing expedition on this and other issues (she insists he's had several invalid Social Security numbers, among other things). Obama obviously will not go, and nothing is likely to come of this. But they'll keep tilting at that windmill, you can count on it.


[Excerpt]

Georgia Judge Thinks Obama Needs To Testify In Birther Case 


In a decision that broke with every other judge to consider the issue, including at least one judge who effectively fined birther queen Orly Taiz $20,000 for pressing the absurd claim that President Obama is not a citizen eligible to serve as president, a Georgia administrative law judge sided Taitz and several of her clients’ in an effort to force President Obama to testify in a birther case. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Is Rick Santorum Elligible to be President?

Image from ThinkProgress

So, after hearing about Rick (don't Google me) Santorum's Santorum Surge (blecch), there have been several new Santorum stories in the news. In one of them, I heard Santorum described as the son of an immigrant, born in Italy. I gave the news my best Scooby Doo "HUNHHG?!?"

After all, according to many conservatives--and the theory is suspect, I must point out--a "natural born citizen" must be born of two citizen adults parents. Some even take it so far as to say that both parents must be native born citizens, which sounds like it creates a chicken-and-egg paradox. But what they mean is, both parents must have been born in America in order for the candidate to meet the natural born citizen requirement.

So, while I don't care where Santorum's parents were born, any "birther" should. And Santorum's base is very, very likely to be chock-full-o'-birthers. The birthers, remember, were the people who first believed that President Obama was born in Kenya (or Canada, or in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, or elsewhere). Some still do, and/or believe that Obama has dual citizenship, and believe that disqualifies him. Or they believe he isn't who he says he is at all, has several Social Security numbers, is some sort of Manchurian Candidate, and any of several other twisted conspiracy theories. All of those theories are debunked at Obama Conspiracy Theories, if you are interested.

But what I'm looking for is consistency. Shouldn't any good birther question Santorum's eligibility?

Captain Obvious: Pat Buchanan is Offensive

There is currently a drive on the left to get Patrick J. Buchanan--or as Rachel Maddow used to call him, "Uncle Pat"--booted off of MSNBC, where he is a contributor. My question is, what took so long? Pat Buchanan has always been offensive. He's a xenophobic, homophobic, racist, and he demonstrates those traits almost every time he opines about something.

My own personal story about Pat Buchanan is set in 1992. Previously in my voting career, I'd voted for Ronald Reagan in 1984, and George H.W. Bush in 1988.  But not in '92. That year, one of the main speeches at the Republican National Convention was Buchanan. He gave a nasty, negative, anti-gay speech that turned me off, and it was not denounced by the party or by Bush. Add to that having seen Bush on Pat Robetson's The 700 Club, yukking it up with the other offensive Pat, and the deal was sealed. I voted for Bill Clinton. Lots of other people did too.


I don't understand why Buchanan manages to secure regular employment at MSNBC any more than I understand why anyone listens to what he has to say. But I could say that about a list of pundits and commentators that would take me the rest of the day to type.


[Excerpt]

Buchanan Has Repeatedly Made Offensive Comments On MSNBC's Airwaves

MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan has a long history of bigoted commentary in his books, columns, speeches, memos, and media appearances. Here are a few of his worst moments on MSNBC.



Read more at: Media Matters

Debunking the Birthers: Scanning a Certificate, Birth or Otherwise

As I've said here in the past, I'm sympathetic to conspiracy theorists, because I was briefly taken in by one: the 9/11 truthers. I exited out the other side with some swiftness, when things got a little too crazy to process. I still have problems with the "official" story, but have far more with most truther theories. It became clear to me that any contrary information to the truther story would be explained away, or somehow folded into the storyline. There is nothing that will dissuade them.

This is my reimaging of Obama's COLB. Have at it, Birthers!

Such it is with the birthers. When Barack Obama released a scan--repeat: a scan--of an authenticated "long form" birth certificate from the State of Hawaii, the birther brigade went into high gear. Starting with one of their biggest flaws in understanding--that an internet-ready file is the document, rather than a scan of it--they went over the White House's PDF file with a fine-toothed comb. And within minutes, there was a new addition to the birther catalogue: The birth certificate has LAYERS!

Like any good conspiracy theory, there are a few nuggets that grab you. Hey, there are layers! I downloaded my own version, opened it in Adobe Illustrator, and--I'll be damned--the document was made of many incongruous layers.  You could remove "clipping paths", ungroup it, and it was actually made of nine different parts! Why, this must be a forgery! FAKE! FAKE! FAKE! But wait a minute. . .

Why on earth would a forger do this? For what purpose would you separate out the background (but leave white holes where the letters were)? Why would you break up the word "BARACK" to "BA ACK" and a lonely "R"? You wouldn't, that's what. A forger would make a fake document, not a fake scan. The idiots. . .ahem. . .ignoramuses believing this theory don't think far enough out to realize that the document they are looking at is not an original, but merely a digitization of the original. If there are any fake elements of the document, they would not be discoverable in the PDF file.

But can I prove it? I believe I can. But I had to tread into semi-unfamiliar territory to do so. The only PDF scanning software I have is on my Mac PowerBook. And the only official document on safety paper I could locate easily is my Certificate of Marriage (my gay marriage, birthers!) from California. So, I set it up, scanned the document, and saved it. Here is what I found:

This is a reduced image of the scan of the entire document.
(I reduced the resolution so you vultures can't read it!)

I scanned the entire document in high resolution into Adobe Acrobat Professional. I set everything to "automatic," and scanned it in. After saving the file, I opened Adobe Illustrator CS3, and opened my saved PDF. Immediately when it opened, I saw the document assemble itself!

After some right-clicking to "release clipping masks" and some ungrouping, I was left with four distinct layers. This is short of the nine from the Obama birth certificate, but I didn't even change any of the automatic settings. There are many options you can tweak. Also, my certificate has a very elaborate, different background and border, which may have affected my results.

But I think I've proven the point that yes, a scan of an official document does separate into layers when you scan it. They aren't predictable layers either. There were two very small bands of the border at the bottom of the image that separated themselves out for no particular reason. I didn't retouch, sharpen, blur, enhance or otherwise make any changes. The low resolution image at the right is merely a screen capture of my zoomed out screen, so that it can't be read (do you really need to know my business? No, you do not!).


This is the full scan of the corner of the document. Then, I ungrouped it. . .


Now, it should be noted that the most current birther theory about these scans is that there are duplicate letters in the document. Namely, they found two "E"s or two "1"s or two check boxes that look identical in different areas of the scan. Does that seem hinky? Maybe. Could I recreate it if I fiddled with enough settings, and ran enough tests? Maybe. Probably. Don't know, don't care.



Looky there! I can delete the foreground! But notice, some artifacts
are left that are not part of the background image.



The reason I don't care is that there would be no reason to make a forgery that way. I already explained that the forgery would be on the paper document and not the scan, which should be obvious. But if a digital scammer was going to fake the form, why on earth would he need to assemble his forgery from a bunch of tiny scanned elements? If that was all you had to work with, I'd get it. But it isn't. Barack Obama has the most awesome governmental apparatus in the entire world at his disposal. He could order up a document so perfect, so flawless, that its authenticity could bear the strongest of scrutiny. To assume that all they had to work with was low-res scans of little check boxes, and they had to duplicate them to complete their ruse is, in a word, stupid.



This is what happens when you delete the background. Look at all the
random elements that were part of the background, but are on a layer with
the text. Did I forge my marriage certificate?



All of this ultimately leads to the conclusion that no matter what is offered up, or what points of logic are used, the birthers will never be satisfied. There will be a (smaller and smaller) group of them who will continue to believe that their conspiracy theory is true. And the same goes for the brand new "deathers" who are convinced that Osama Bin Laden is still alive, or was not killed this weekend. The release of authentic photos of the corpse would do nothing to change their minds. You'd just have 100 threads on FreeRepublic dissecting the photo. Excuse me, dissecting a low-res JPEG of the photo.

I cannot with this test declare the Obama birth certificate to be genuine. But I can definitively declare that there is no obvious reason to believe that it is not, nor does the "layers" argument hold any water whatsoever.  When some FReeper tells you that a scan cannot produce such a result, they are either lying, or they are wrong.

A NOTE TO MY READERS: If you venture into the comments section below, be warned that a troll who is too cowardly to leave his/her name has infested the blog.  But he/she/it unwittingly proved a point. This troll is fixated upon the signature of Obama's mother, and how the software separated it into pieces. A similar thing happened to some of the lines and graphic elements in the document I scanned. So, while "Anonymous" is still focused like a psychotic laser beam on the signature!!!, I on the other hand am completely satisfied that the document offered online by the White House could indeed be produced by scanning a real document into a PDF software program. No hanky panky.

"Anonymous" has copious links to YouTube videos that "support" the forgery conspiracy theory, but don't fall for it. Anyone can produce and upload a YouTube video, as I found out with my new phone this weekend, when I almost accidentally uploaded an action shot of the floor of the house I was staying in. And if you get sucked in by the "facts" presented by these loons, please ask yourself what would motivate a forgery artist to use a low-res PDF scan to fool the public. The storyline hasn't even been articulated, because there is no scenario that would make any sense. And this is my final word on the subject. I think.

The Lighter Side of Serious: Obama's Been Busy

We Americans can find the humor in almost any situation. This made me chuckle. No apologies for that.

Found at: VoenixRising

Cartoonists Blast Trump and the Birthers

As any misguided serious treatment of birthers quickly evaporates (after far to long), the whole ridiculous spectacle will soon be another strange entry in our increasingly strange political history. But before it peters out completely, be sure to catch some of the better cartoons about it. You'll be glad you did!

For more, see source: Democratic Underground