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

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

Texas "Birther" Bill. Really?!?

Crazy is as crazy does.

[Excerpt]

Image from source, Think Progress

Texas State Rep. Introduces Birther Bill Because ‘People Don’t Know Whether [Obama] Was Born In Kenya’

Texas State Rep. Leo Berman (R) — a man best known for declaring that “Barack Obama is God’s punishment on us” — is putting his anti-Obama rhetoric into action. Donning his tin foil hat, Berman introduced House Bill 295 yesterday, which would “require any candidate for president or vice president of the United States to show his or her birth certificate to the Texas secretary of state. . .”
 
Read more at: Think Progress
 

Stuck on Crazy: Queen of Birthers, Orly Taitz

To quote Motormouth Maybelle of John Waters' Hairspray, "Oh Papa Tooney. We've got a Looney!" Even Waters couldn't have dreamt up Orly Taitz, queen of the "birthers." Though I wouldn't be surprised if he either based a character on her, or even used her in a future movie. She's absolutely bananas. Shut down at every turn during her quest to prove that President Obama is ineligible to hold office, she just keeps going like a daffy Energizer Bunny in an Eva Gabor wig.

[Excerpt]

Image from source, TPM Muckraker

Birther Orly Taitz Compares Self To Mandela, Wants Judge Tried For Treason

In an interview with TPM just now, Birther evangelist Orly Taitz fired back at Clay Land, the U.S. district court judge who tore apart Birtherism and threatened Taitz with sanctions in an order today, saying that "somebody should consider trying [the judge] for treason and aiding and abetting this massive fraud known as Barack Hussein Obama. . ."

Read more at: TPM Muckraker

The Birthers (and FReepers) Officially Off the Deep End

Image from source, Crooks and Liars

I wanted to come up with a cute double-entendre for this amazingly dumb story. And I'm still not happy with the one I chose. I mean, of course the Birthers, and their home base FreeRepublic.com are off the deep end. This is not news.

But please forgive me for my lack of words. It's just that this has to be seen to be believed. . .

[Excerpt]

Now the Birthers are demanding to know: Was Obama circumcised?

The fine Real Americans at the Free Republic have found Obama's Achilles heel: his Long Dark Staff of White Insecurity. . .

(Really, you've got to) Read more at: Crooks and Liars

And by the way, if those FReepers are really curious whether or not some men under 48 are uncircumsized, there are plenty of "research" tools available on the 'net. Nobody ever has to know. . .

Rachel Maddow Snarks About the "Birther" Movement

Every political movement has its "fringe" element, and every fringe element has at least one major conspiracy theory to flog. One of the dumbest is undoubtedly the "birther" movement, those who suffer so mightily from Obama Derangement Syndrome, that they don't even accept that he's "actually" President at all. Why? Because they claim he wasn't born here, even though it has been confirmed (even by some right-wing sites) that Obama was born in Hawaii. Which is a State. In the United States of America.

Rachel Maddow's piece on the birthers follows her story on Yemen, below.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Ohio Court Rejects "Obama not a Citizen" Suit

A lot of right-wingers like to think that conspiracy nuts exist only on the left. I myself have dipped my toe in tinfoil-hat land once or twice, so it very easy for me to see how a person can get swept away by the conspiracy tide. But the current far-right conspiracy theory: that Barack Obama is not a "natural born citizen" and is therefore ineligible for the Presidency.

Obama was born in Hawaii to a mother who was an American Citizen herself. That ought to be enough right there to prove Obama's citizenship, official birth certificate in evidence or not. But the conspiracy theory says that Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii. Of course, still having been born of a citizen, Obama is a citizen himself. But is he "natural born?" I'd assume that if Mrs. Obama had a child in Kenya, that it was probably natural childbirth, but that's not what they're talking about.

They're talking about a line from the Constitution, one that the founding fathers never adequately defined. It's that fuzziness about the word "natural" that has given these wingnuts the idea that Obama doesn't meet the requirement. Why they think he was born in Kenya with--as far as I can see--no evidence, just shows how nutty they are. And when their own candidate, John McCain, was born in Panama, they're really treading on thin ice.

[Excerpt]

Obama challenge rejected

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner will not have to prove that Barack Obama was born in the United States or take his name off the ballot, a Warren County magistrate decided this morning. . .

Read more at: Cincinnati.com