A stake through its heart
When the fake Kenyan birth certificate surfaced a week ago, it looked odd. Within hours, problems surfaced, the most humorous was the certificate number 47,044 (Obama was 47 years old and the 44th president). Then when the real birth certificate from South Australia from which the fake one was modeled came to light, the jig was officially up.
One is reminded of the 1970 made for TV movie “The Monster that Would not Die” as the birthers turned on the innocent Australian bystander, declaring that it was his certificate that was the fake.
Many problems with the Kenyan “certificate” have come to light; however, in the literal minded world of the birthers, one looks for that one image, that one memorable blow, that will finally drive a stake through the heart of this hoax. I hope I have found it.
7 shillings 6 pence
The fake document was dated 1964. In the upper left corner of the certificate is the cost charged for the document, 7 shillings 6 pence. But what was the actual Kenyan currency in 1964, and if I were to tell you, what would be a memorable way to drive the point home? And the answer came to me, so obvious to an erstwhile stamp collector like myself!
1964 Kenyan Stamp, Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalog Number 16
It is this Republic of Kenya postage stamp issued in 1964 valued at 30 CENTS! That’s right. Kenya has the decimal currency system. (Scott’s catalogs are available at most any public library for you to easily verify for yourself.)
Let me take another couple of hammer blows into the heart of the fake birth certificate. One might wonder if perhaps an old form was used or somehow the 1961 price was on the form. No joy in Birfistan. Since the 1920’s it was always pounds, shillings and cents, as shown by this stamp from the 1950’s and later shillings and cents.
Kenya Postage, 1950's
There have been so many frustrating episodes where the Obama denialists have found some way to cover their eyes, and cover their ears, and uncover their mouths to say the most outrageous things. But what I have learned from long experience is that there are points where the belief system finally breaks. There are proofs that simply cannot be wriggled out of. This is one.
The fake Kenyan certificates says pence, and there warn’t no damned pence in Kenya, not ever. Now get mad at the people who lied to you.
Madison v. Madison (Updated)
“Constitutional researcher” P. A. Madison plays fast and loose with his sources.
The two “Madisons” are contemporary self-identified “constitutional researcher” P. A. Madison, author of an article on the Federalist Blog that is the topic for discussion here, and James Madison, framer of the Constitution, Congressman and 4th President of the United States.
This web site recently featured President James Madison in the article James Madison on Birth and Allegiance.
In a speech before the House of Representatives in May of 1789, James Madison said:
It is an established maxim, that birth is a criterion of allegiance. Birth, however, derives its force sometimes from place, and sometimes from parentage; but, in general place is the most certain criterion; it is what applies in the United States.
P. A. Madison, on the other hand asserts the opposite, that place of birth alone does not and cannot grant citizenship in his article, Defining Natural-Born Citizen. We know P. A. Madison from an earlier article challenging the citizenship of children born in the United States to illegal aliens, something true today under the Supreme Court decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark. P. A. Madison disagrees with that decision and presents an alternate view of history (from the legal and judicial survey in the Wong decision) in which parentage matters. (more…)
De Vattel for Dummies
Introduction
In 1758, Swiss philosopher and jurist Emmerich de Vattel published an influential work titled Le Droit des Gens. ou Principes de la Loi Naturelle, appliques a la conduite & aux affaires des Nations & des Souverains or translated into English, The Law of Nations or Principles of the Law of Nature Applied to the Conduct and Affairs of Nations and Sovereigns.
The long title is important because it tells us what the book is about. It is not a codification of international law, or a dictionary of legal terms. It is a book about natural law and how it applies to governments. In his book de Vattel tells us: The Law of Nations is the science which teaches the rights subsisting between nations or states, and the obligations correspondent to those rights.
The Law of Nations (as we will call the book going forward) is a wide-ranging book, looking at such topics as sovereignty (an intrinsic property of nations), international relations, making war and making peace. (more…)
Why doesn’t he show the damn thing?
Birth Certificate Mark I
A visitor to Obama Conspiracy Theories asked:
So Dr. Conspiracy we can encapsulate this whole problem by Obama just releasing his long form birth certificate. Why doesn’t he just do this simple thing and put this to rest once and for all and blow all the conspiracy theorist to pieces but instead he spends a million dollars to hide all of this. I asked my 10 yr. old son and he said the same thing.
This is a very frequently asked question.
First the premise of “millions spent” isn’t true. Mr. Woocher, Obama’s lawyer in California told Politico.com that he was working pro bono (for free) and that this talk of millions spent is false. Many of the lawsuits aren’t directed at Obama anyway, but at state officials, so no Obama expense there either.
“This suit, like all of the others that have been filed challenging Obama’s qualifications for the Presidency, is frivolous,” he said in an email to POLITICO, adding that he is, in fact, working pro bono. “There is absolutely no truth to the stories about the untold millions supposedly being paid to us,” he said.
Culture of conspiracy: the Birthers – Politico.com
But it doesn’t really matter how much if anything Obama has spent, because the heart of your question is why won’t Obama release the certificate and “make this all go away”. (more…)
Natural Born in Georgia
Georgia
I spent three hours last night reading obscure textbooks, popular guides to government, US Constitution legal commentary, collections of state constitutions and charters and debates held at the state level on ratification of the Constitution from the 17th and 18th centuries. I did not find one hint that “natural born citizen” meant anything more than “citizen at birth”, and further the idea of “citizen at birth” was expansive, including both those born in the territory, and those born of citizens anywhere. (more…)
