posted August 22, 2009 02:50 PM            

With the all this health care debate dominating our time for the last few weeks, can we please get back to the issues that matter? Like, what's up with Obama's Kenyan birth certificate?

Birthers, the folks who question whether Obama was born in Hawaii and is eligible to serve as president, experienced a bit of a second wind there for a little while in late July as cable TV and radio programs were abuzz over a group of Republican legislators who endorsed a bill that would require future presidential candidates to submit birth certificates to prove their citizenship.

Then the health care debate began in earnest, and the birthers were again relegated to the backburner. Right before the media light dimmed on birthers, however, birther attorney Orly Taitz made a bit of a splash - at least in the birther community - when she posted a birth certificate purported to be for Obama from the Republic of Kenya and filed a motion in federal court to determine its authenticity.

The conservative WorldNetDaily.com, which has long beaten the birther drum, quickly ran a story under the headline, "Is this really smoking gun of Obama's Kenyan birth?"

But even WorldNetDaily founder Joseph Farah later ran a column saying he doubted it was real.

Still, some PolitiFact readers asked about it, and so we decided to check it out.

We e-mailed the purported Kenyan birth certificate to Salim Lone, spokesman for Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, to see what he thought.

Here was his three-sentence reply: "It's a forgery. Kenya only became a Republic in December, 1964. Other arguments could also be marshaled, but they are not needed."

Then came a crushing blow. An astute blogger, Steve Eddy of California, did a Google image search and came across an eerily similar-looking birth certificate posted on a genealogy web site by a South Australia man named David Jeffrey Bomford. Eddy put it side-by-side with the Obama one. Same format. Same book and page number in the birth registry. Some of the officials' last names were even the same.

"At that point, it was pretty obvious the Kenyan one was a fake, that someone had used this real one from Australia to make their version," Eddy told us.

Eddy posted his finding on the Web, in a forum at Politijab.com.

An ABC News affiliate in Australia got wind of it, tracked down David Jeffrey Bomford and broke the news to him about his newfound Web fame.

"That is ridiculous," said Bomford, a 50-year-old public service clerk from Adelaide, Australia. "Little old person in Adelaide, the president of the United States. I don't know whether to laugh about it or not, be worried about it."

Bomford said he certainly didn't have anything to do with it.

"It's little old me and my mum and everything else up there," Bomford said. "Oh I definitely confirm that the birth certificate was mine. That was quite easy to see - my address, even the style of the birth certificate was an old South Australian one. So it's quite easy to identify that it's mine."

And what of the Kenyan birth certificate?

"It's definitely a copy of my certificate," Bomford said. "It's so laughable it's ridiculous."

Orly Taitz wasn't backing off so quickly, though. On her Web site, she suggested the South Australia birth certificate was more likely the fake, altered from the Obama one from Kenya to discredit the birthers.

Said Eddy: "There's no reasoning with some of these people."

But just to be sure, we fired off an e-mail to South Australian officials to see if they could set things straight.

We heard nothing. Until yesterday. (This is our sheepish explanation for why we are dropping a birther item into the middle of the health care debate.)

We got an e-mail response from Val Edyvean, Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for South Australia, in which she said this:

"It appears that a South Australian loaded an image of his own birth certificate onto a family history website and that the format was used by others to 'create' a document which purported to be a Kenyan birth certificate for Barack Obama. As the South Australian man has now removed this image, and the date of his birth is in the period of certificates which are restricted from public access, I do not intend to add to speculation by commenting on details of either that certificate or any aspects of it."

Ms. Edyvean also made it clear she didn't want any follow-up questions. "I now advise that I am not prepared to comment further nor otherwise to enter into further correspondence on this matter," she wrote. Fair enough.

We think that's enough to definitively put this particular issue to rest. The purported Kenyan birth certificate posted by Taitz is a fake.

As always, we have no delusions this changes anyone's mind in the birther movement. So please, spare us the vitriolic e-mails. At PolitiFact, we have explored several of the birthers' claims, and have concluded that there is ample evidence that President Obama was born on Hawaii. We simply post this item in case anyone came across the Kenyan birth certificate on the Internet and wondered what to make of it.

Obama's Kenyan birth certificate? Pants on Fire.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/aug/21/orly-taitz/alleged-obama-birth-certificate-kenya-hoax/

Raymond

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“It is absolutely the perfect name,” Dr. Brown said, given the continuing discord among astronomers and the public over whether Pluto should have retained its planetary status.

In mythology, Eris ignited discord that led to the Trojan War.

“She causes strife by causing arguments among men, by making them think their opinions are right and everyone else’s is wrong,” Dr. Brown said. “It really is just perfect.”

posted August 26, 2009 08:44 AM            

What's the problem with O'Bomber releasing his long form birth certificate?

What's the problem with O'Bomber releasing all his medical records?

What's the problem with O'Bomber releasing all his records from his stint in the Illinois state senate?

What's the problem with O'Bomber releasing all his university records including his admissions applications, grade transcripts, term papers, thesis or disquisitions and other writings?

McCain was vetted by the Senate of the United States as to his citizenship status.

McCain has released all his medical records.

McCain has released all his educational records.

McCain has released all his military records.

O'Bomber has released nothing and wasn't vetted by anyone at all.

posted August 26, 2009 04:33 PM            

Just as soon as I become a candidate for Prez, I'll send the state of Tennessee a notarized authorization to release the long form BC to the press.

However, my photostatic copy shows the hospital, shows the doctor, is signed by the doctor, states the time of birth, day of birth and has pertinent information O'Bomber's certificate lacks.

Now katatonic, all you need to do is get O'Bomber to do the same....which he should have done as a matter of course when he decided to seek the presidency which requires the prez to be a "natural born citizen of the United States".

McCain showed his...along with all his medical records, all his educational records and all his military records.

O'Bomber has shown nothing.

posted August 27, 2009 08:42 AM            

O'Bomber took on the burden of proof when he decided to seek the office of President of the United States...which requires the President...TO BE A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES.

So far, O'Bomber has obstructed every effort to force the production of his long form BC. He's spent close to a million dollars on attorneys fees...so far.

What's O'Bomber hiding and why is O'Bomber any different than any other candidate for President...say McCain for instance...whose natural born citizenship was vetted by the Congress of the United States? McCain, who has released all his educational records, McCain, who has released all his medical records, McCain, who has released all his military records.

What's O'Bomber hiding from American voters?

Now katatonic...now acoustic....now Glaucus...now all the other O'Bomber Kool-Aid drinkers:

posted August 27, 2009 11:31 AM            

What is O'Bomber hiding?

I notice you ducked, bobbed, weaved and failed to supply even ONE VALID REASON O'Bomber should NOT prove he's Constitutionally qualified to hold the Office of President of the United States.

posted August 27, 2009 12:08 PM            

O'Bomber was not vetted. Not vetted by Congress, not vetted by Secretaries of States, not vetted by the courts, not vetted by the DNC and not vetted by the Electoral College.

If O'Bomber had been vetted by any of those responsible for doing so...the proof would be front and center. In fact, the proof would have been produced the instant a question arose concerning his Constitutional eligibility to serve as President.

Now katatonic, I notice you bobbed, weaved and ducked too...just like acoustic...and failed to state ONE VALID REASON O'Bomber should NOT prove his is Constitutionally eligible to serve as President.

posted August 27, 2009 12:26 PM              

althogh part of me has to assume it has been verified.

i think it should have been 100 percent validated at some point. who knows, jwhops may be right.

i don't trust any of those basterds anymore.

trivia time:

what movie is this line from (old man) "screw the government, screw the goverment"

tick, tock, tick, tock......

posted August 27, 2009 01:50 PM            

i don't trust anyone 100% either but no one has come close to proving the man is a non-citizen. the onus is on the prosecutor.

posted August 27, 2009 01:54 PM              

sometimes i just wonder if jwhops isn't right about a lot of stuff.

posted August 27, 2009 07:46 PM            

I don't know if O'Bomber is a natural born citizen of the United States...and O'Bomber is making it impossible for anyone to find out.

What's O'Bomber hiding?

As for the State of Hawaii confirming O'Bomber's birth certificate...:

You need to listen..or read the weasel words in those statements...and understand what the law was in Hawaii during that period.

Hawaii permitted those born outside the state and even outside the United States to "Register" those births in Hawaii..with a "Certificate of Live Birth.. which is not at all the same thing as a Hawaii Birth Certificate. Interestingly enough, there were some programs ongoing in Hawaii for which a Certificate of Live Birth was/is not sufficient to establish qualifications for those programs...and a long form Birth Certificate from Hawaii is/was required. The very long form Birth Certificate O'Bomber refuses to produce.

That's the reason O'Bomber's long form birth certificate needs to be produced...that and the fact no hospital is listed on O'Bomber's certificate of live birth and no doctor is listed on O'Bomber's certificate of live birth...and therefore, nothing can be backtracked and other records researched to prove or disprove natural born citizenship in the United States.

Now, I notice that in my brief absence here...no one has stepped forward to supply even ONE VALID REASON O'Bomber should NOT be required to produce his long form Birth Certificate.

posted August 27, 2009 09:21 PM            

if his mother was in africa when he was born, as suggested by one claimant, but she wasn't there long...why should he be denied citizenship because she was travelling?

if your parents were on holiday in rome and you came a month early (i know most 8-mo mothers don't holiday abroad, this is hypothetical of course!) and were delivered in rome, would that mean you should be italian for the rest of your life? or denied the presidency?

were any of the first presidents born here for that matter? no, they conveniently excused themselves from that requirement because it was ridiculous. so is this argument.

if you're so sure of this why don't you take it to the judge? what good does it do to obsess about it here?