Where's the birth certificate?

[Adelante]

'Birth certificate' seller vanishes into thin air


CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The eBay seller who first offered – and then promised to reveal to WND – an alleged Barack Obama birth certificate from Mombasa, Kenya, has dropped communications with a team of people offering to help him verify the document, only fueling belief the sale was a scam.

As WND reported, an eBay seller known originally as "colmado_naranja" claimed to have an authentic document from Coast Provincial Hospital in Mombasa proving Obama's birth there at 7:24 p.m. on Aug. 4, 1961.

WND followed the ongoing saga, as "colmado_naranja" attempted several times to sell the document, or photos and stories surrounding it, on eBay, only to have the auctions repeatedly removed by site administrators.

Eventually, the seller promised to make a YouTube video of his story and reveal the "birth certificate" to WND. Neither promise was fulfilled.

-Continues

Well, duh!

Since World Nut Daily itself had experts examine Obama's Hawaii birth certificate and declare it authentic last summer, why would they give this con artist the time of day?

A separate WND investigation into Obama's birth certificate utilizing forgery experts also found the document to be authentic. The investigation also revealed methods used by some of the bloggers to determine the document was fake involved forgeries, in that a few bloggers added text and images to the certificate scan that weren't originally there.

For a year after publishing the above article, WND has blissfully gone along as if they hadn't, ignoring the stated results of their own investigation.

They don't mind saying, as they do today, and have said other days:

WND Senior Staff Writer Jerome Corsi traveled last year to both Kenya and Hawaii looking into Obama's history. He said despite contacts in government offices, the help of others and even the offer of financial reward, the Coast Provincial Hospital in Mombasa would not confirm Obama's birth there nor provide access to records.

But they continue with their "Where's the Birth Certificate?" billboard campaign as if they have no idea the document they seek is in Honolulu!

The State Department and Department of Homeland Security have affirmed to courts of the land:

- President Obama was born in Hawaii and is a U.S. "natural born" citizen and is eligible to serve as the United States President, pursuant to the United States Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 5.

- President Obama was not born in Mombasa, Kenya.

- President Obama was not born in Kenya or anywhere outside the state of Hawaii.

The hospital in Mombasa, Kenya have no record of Obama's birth there. They've searched and searched.

Officials at the Kenyan hospital confirm they've been besieged with requests for information on Obama's birth there, but haven't been able to find any record of it. Does WND really think some Kenyan official or hospital employee wouldn't take the bribes, uh, rewards they continue to offer?

"We do not have computerized records going back to the 1960's and can only sort through our archives by hand," Dr. Christopher Mwanga, an administrator at the Mombasa hospital tells GLOBE. "We have searched for all the names of babies born on Aug. 4, 1961, and have not found the name of Barack Hussein Obama. That is all I can tell you."



(View the full page.)

No matter how hypocritical WND is determined to be to further this right wing crusade to bring down the Obama administration, they know full well the President's Hawaiian birth certificate, which states he was born in Honolulu, is the real thing. They know full well there is no certificate for the birth of Barack Obama in Kenya. But they stay on this course because their suckered readership so desperately wants to believe in a Kenyan birth certificate and will keep sending the money!

There can be no other reason, obviously, that WND would involve itself in this eBay scam, would publicize it from day one, would engage with the scam artist's agent and lawyers, would even continue this grossly dishonest witch hunt against the President of the United States.

World Nut Daily has over 200 Birther articles on its website with multiple lies in every one of them. Below the fold of every single article is repeated some part of the body of lies previously published.

They lie about Obama's Kenyan step-grandmother confirming his Kenyan birth.

They lie about what the state of Hawaii will or will not accept as a birth certificate.

They lie about what the state of Hawaii even issues as birth certificates.

And WND's demented readership, who cannot ENDURE having a president they do not choose to have, despite his democratic election with its usual peaceful transition, something this country honors and other countries envy, believes every damned lying word of it. You know what? I endured EIGHT YEARS having a president I did not want. So can you.

Where's the birth certificate? It's up my ass. Come and get it.

[ejpoeta]

1. what if we started demanding to see every congress person's birth certificate??

all those people who claim obama's isn't legit.... well, show me your birth certificate!! they show it and imagine how mad they will be when you call it a fraud. Anyone can play that game. prove it's legit!!

[DJ13]

3. You want to hurt the Congress members?

Dont ask to see birth certificates, ask to see bank records.

[ejpoeta]

7. LOL!! that is so right!!

[KingFlorez]

2. I bet birther hopes were just crushed

[Arkana]

5. OBAMA AND SOTOMAYOR WITH BILL AYERS AND ACORN

MADE THE REEEEEEAL BIRF CERTIFICATE DISAPPEAR RARGH

That'll be the next line. Mark my words.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

22. They'll come back with "Vince Foster" or some other nonsense. (n/t)

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Can any Hawaiian DUer post a copy of their 'long-form' birth certificate? I have a 'Certificate of

Live Birth' from the state of Ohio. It's a certified copy of the one on file in Columbus, Ohio. It was certainly good enough for me to get a US passport.

[Arkana]

6. I don't even know where the hell my birth certificate is.

There's a copy somewhere in my house, but damned if I know where.

[Adelante]

11. Mine is packed away in a cardboard box in my sister's attic

I haven't laid eyes on it in almost 50 years. When I turned 14 my mother got me a Certification of Birth from Vital Records in NYC and she kept the certificate with all of the other family documents she had. That's what I've used for two marriages, drivers license, passports, jobs, everything I could possibly need it for in my entire life since. I've replaced the certification several times, because I kept losing them or forgetting where I put them, but they've always shown since 1961 the same information as on Obama's. Sometimes even less information. For example, in a couple of years, the certifications issued by the city didn't include even the parents' names.

[csziggy]

42. I just had to locate mine to renew my Driver's License - Homeland Security requires it now

So everyone will need to get a certified copy, probably. According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety, Driver License Division, as of January 2010, everyone renewing their DL will have to present birth certificate, a picture ID, proof of residency location (utility bill, etc.) or other ID that verifies the same information.

Anyway, years ago my parents had sent me the originals from when I was born: a receipt for the Notification of Birth Registration from the state, and a really cool certificate from the hospital where I was born signed by the physician that delivered me and the superintendent of the hospital at that time, with my foot prints and Mom's thumbprints. They had also sent me a "Certificate of Live Birth" from the State of Florida issued in 1963 that they probably had to get for Social Security or something like that.

But since I was not sure where those papers were, I had arranged to get a new certified copy of my birth certificate from the Florida Office of Vital Records. They now issue forms that look basically identical to the one that President Obama has had available for over a year. It is titled "Certification of Birth" and is the ONLY record of birth that will now be available from Florida as a 'birth certificate.' And of course, after I ordered the new copy, I found the old ones!

There is more information on the "Certificate of Live Birth" than there is on the "Certification of Birth" but that information is likely of more interest to genealogists than to anyone else. The old certificate is a negative copy, probably made from microfiche or something similar - what did they have like that in 1963 when it was issued? The new one is printed from a computer file on a computer form - just the same as the one the birthers do not like from Obama.

I'm wondering how many birthers will go ballistic when every single one of them has to produce their birth certificates in the next few years and find that they will end up with as their only proof that THEY were born in the USA an identical form as the one they do not find acceptable for President Obama?

[KamaAina]

9. Alas, despite the name, I was not born here

kama'aina = "local person", literally "child of the land".

My Certifcate of Live Birth from Baltimore isn't going to help much.

I have, however, been in the building where his is kept, as I work with people from the Department of Health.

[K8-EEE]

33. I also used "certificate of live birth" from state of CA for passport

WTF with this "long form" crap? Since when did that become a requirement to hold office? I have no idea where my orig birth certificate is. Maybe in my parents house -- but I've used the one I requested from the State of CA for every ID requirement and no problems.

[Raine]

60. I'm in CA too and

I've always used my baptismal certificate for all ID requirements. A couple of years ago I did get a copy of my birth certificate from Los Angeles County Hall of Records because I wanted to get a passport.

[madmom]

56. I have never had one. I was born at home. The dr got there after everything was over, he

verified with a CLB and left it at that. So does this mean I am just a figment of everyone's imagination?

[onehandle]

8. Jesus. Get over it now. We elected a foreign national fair and square.

A Muslim, socialist, terrorist lover.

At least our guy was elected. The last guy lost twice and still made it into the Oval Office.

[Solomon]

41. Ha Ha!

That about sums it up. LOL

[tammywammy]

10. The link on "even issues" doesn't work

But other than that, great post. Recommended.

[Adelante]

17. Fixed the link

Thanks for noticing

[tammywammy]

19. I'm a thorough reader apparently

I clicked most of the links. I just cannot believe those WND nuts. I always know someone's a few bricks short of a load when they bring up this birth certificate nonsense. My birth certificate from Texas has the same information that Obama's does from Hawaii and it's good enough for me to get a US Passport. The birthers are just stupid and that's the nicest word I can think of.

BTW, I bookmarked this for the transcript pdf link. I saw it on here the other day, but then couldn't find it the next day when some idiot was spouting the WND version of that phone call.

Great work.

[Adelante]

34. Btw, if you should lose that link again

You can always find it in the debunking forum.

[safeinOhio]

12. OH, hell. I'm getting a sign

and taking it to the next TeaBagger meeting. It's gonna say "Where is Palin's youngest son's birth certificate".

[ColbertWatcher]

15. LOL! I want pics! n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

13. Here's Obama's Kenyan birth certificate ...

[Adelante]

18. Bwaha

I stole it

[ColbertWatcher]

29. So did I! :P n/t

[tammywammy]

20. ROFL!

"The Islamic Shock"

[ColbertWatcher]

31. Glitch. n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

32. Who knew he had so many middle names!? n/t

[Arkana]

21. This is positively brilliant.

I've seen it before, but I say the same thing every time: it should be posted to every birfer website on the Internet.

[MADem]

24. That's HYSTERICAL!!! Full marks!!!!! nt

[Forkboy]

30. LMAO..."Muslim: As all Hell".

[redqueen]

53. Hahahahahahahahaha

[spanone]

14. don't these silly assholes think the POTUS is vetted? dumbfucks

[sutz12]

39. Well, theirs wasn't...

[spanone]

43. oh yes he was. they knew exactly what they were getting.

[Greyhound]

16. Living in the land of reich-wing radio, I'm constantly amazed at the number of dimwits out

here that are still clinging to this obvious prevarication.

It is things like this that cause me to believe it is hopeless.

[Adelante]

26. It's pretty horrifying how they've been able to spread it

I have two people in my own family who voted for Obama who were starting to buy into this horse shit. That woke me up.

[tblue37]

36. Tell them that since his mother was a US citizen, it wouldn't matter anyway if he

were born in Kenya. He would still be a citizen and eligible to be POTUS. Since that is the case, there would be no reason for him to "cover up" a foreign birth.

[progressoid]

55. Yeah, when they don't even have World Nut Daily on their side,

that's pretty extreme.

And it seems there are a LOT of them out there.

[MADem]

23. The "old fashioned" birth certificate (the photostat) is on file with the US government.

Or, an electronic or microfilm copy is.

Obama travelled when he was a child, and also as a young college kid. He plainly travelled on a US passport. To get a passport, you need to provide a state-issued BC with raised seal.

I mean, really. They need to just get over this shit. I think what they're actually wanting/hoping to see is evidence of a name change--not foreign birth. I do think that's their unstated hope, so they'll have something to finger-wag over.

Who cares about that, either? Bill Clinton's name was changed, too. So was Gerald Ford's. It's not a new thing....

[csziggy]

44. Maybe not - I thought I saw an article from an Hawaii official that said they are now "paperless"

Which to me means they are no longer storing the old documents in paper or probably in microfiche. And whatever there is, it is kept by the state not the Federal government.

The state Department of Health no longer issues copies of paper birth certificates as was done in the past, said spokeswoman Janice Okubo.

The department only issues "certifications" of live births, and that is the "official birth certificate" issued by the state of Hawaii, she said.

And, it's only available in electronic form.

Okubo explained that the Health Department went paperless in 2001.

"At that time, all information for births from 1908 (on) was put into electronic files for consistent reporting," she said.
http://www.starbulletin.com/columnists/kokualine/200906...

[MADem]

49. I'm not talking about the state--I am talking about the federal gov't.

He was issued a passport. He didn't get to Indonesia and Pakistan on wings, now, did he?

In order to get a passport, you need to be a citizen, and present a BC. The Department of State has a copy of his BC on file, or on fiche. It's not their job to give out documents to wingnuts, but the bottom line is, no proof of citizenship, no passport.

And he had a passport. He's as American as apple pie, AFAIC.

[csziggy]

51. Ah, OK, that's what I get for reading messages at o'dark in the night!

[AspenRose]

25. No doctor or airline is going to allow or advise a woman that pregnant to fly....

especially halfway around the world....to give birth.

Idiots.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

27. Unless it's Palin's doctor.

[AspenRose]

28. She goes rogue often

I wouldn't be surprised if the doctor told her NOT to fly but she did it anyway....

[tblue37]

35. What the frakkin' idiots don't understand is that

IT DOES NOT MATTER WHERE OBAMA WAS BORN!!! His mother was an American citizen, and therefore Obama is an American citizen, no matter where he was born.

Of course he was born in Hawaii, but even if he were not, it wouldn't in any way affect his citizenship or his eligibility to be POTUS.

I don't understand why someone doesn't give these yahoos a civics lesson, explaining the fact that children of US citizens, even of only one parent is a US citizen, are US citizens. The only way to discredit his citizenship would be to show he is not his mother's child, not that he was born somewhere else.

Heck, he could have been born on one of Jupiter's moons and he would still be a US citizen, because his mother was a US citizen.

On edit: My daughter is married to a Frenchman. As a doctor, she has great healthcare, and her hsuband is also on her plan, but when they are ready to have kids, she plans to give birth in France to make sure her kids have dual citizenship. That way, if something happens to her, her kids will still be eligible for France's excellent healthcare system, because France does require the kids to be born on French soil in order to gain full citizenship, even though her husband is a citizen of France. Because the US doesn't require that, she doesn't need to make sure they are born on US soil.

[14thColony]

37. The birthers found a way around that though...

And to be honest it would be legitimate, had the president actually been born outside US territory. It appears the laws governing inherited citizenship for children born outside the US to a US citizen were pretty...restrictive...back in 1961. The law in effect at the time was the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which stated (Section 301) "The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth...(7) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States, who prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than ten years, at least five of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years." This law was replaced in the 1980s, but it was in effect in 1961.

So had he actually been born outside US territory (which he clearly was not), it appears that President Obama could not have inherited his mother's citizenship since she was 18, and the minimum age of the mother would have to be 19. This is therefore why it is so critical for them to 'prove' that he was born in Kenya - because he would then be a non-citizen, and therefore unquestionably unqualified for the office of president.

The Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994 did massively liberalize the restrictions of the 1952 act, but there are still residency requirements - citizenship is still not automatically inherited in all cases.

[rd_kent]

40. Well, it does, actually

One has to be born within the borders of this country to be eligible to hold that office.
Doesnt really matter though, as he was born in Hawaii.

[14thColony]

45. Actually that's never been established

the Constitution simply says a person has to be 'natural born,' but it never defines what constitutes being 'natural born.' Since the term 'native born' existed in the 18th century, one would think that if that's what they meant, that's what they would have said. 'Natural born' can be viewed as meaning 'as a natural condition of one's birth' - inherited at birth by whatever method, as opposed to one who is 'naturalized,' meaning they have to have it bestowed upon then through some process later. However no court, case, law, or act has ever tried to define it beyond what the Constitution says. Nonetheless the idea that one must be born in the US has no actual support in the Constitution or anywhere else in US law.

[immoderate]

47. I don't think you're right.

John McCain was born in Panama, and IIRC, not even in the US territory.

--imm

[MADem]

50. No, that's not true. McCain was born in a Naval Hospital in... Panama. nt

[rd_kent]

58. But the Naval Hospital in Panama

was in the "canal zone", an American territory.

[MADem]

59. Natural born is the term that was being waved about.

As in the routine used to deny Hamilton, who was born in the West Indies.

I am not arguing with McCain's bona fides--he's as much a citizen as Obama is.

SNOPES has a good breakdown of the issue--I don't agree with their "undetermined" conclusion, though: http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/citizen.asp

[whistler162]

38. I don't care I still think Obama is a Illegal Alien....

And nothing you say will change my opinion that he is from TauSeti or Mars!

[Orsino]

46. McCain won't release it. n/t

[troubledamerican]

48. Where's the OUTRAGE about Habeas Corpus? FUCK the citizenship clause.

[havocmom]

52. If they stop 'looking' they also have to stop traveling to exotic places on WND dime?

Hell, this could go on forever. Cool way for (neo)con artists to take vacations on someone else's AmEx.

[krispos42]

54. Man, I can't believe I'm the first to post this

[tabbycat31]

57. funny cause my NY birth certificate has less info than Obama's does

and it's from 1980. My sister's from 1982 (same hospital) is completely different.

[Budgies Revenge]

61. Frankly...

I find it more productive to counter all birther arguments with a good chorus of "Neener, Neener, Neener...soooomebody's jealous." They seem to be able to grasp that, at least.