Recently, birthers have been recycling long-discredited rumors about Barack Obama. One way to recycle rumors is to aggregate them into a pile, where they look more impressive than singly. One such aggregation of old news appeared on the Orly Taitz blog from a commenter named “Adam.” I respond to this compilation of people who have said Obama was born in Kenya by asking the obvious question: how do they know? I ask because if there is no way they could have know, then they don’t know.
Kenyan National Assembly members state at various times that Obama was born in Kenya and is not a native born American:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36604073/
The link in the proceeding is not any official source; it’s to a newspaper ad, but there are a couple of quotations from Kenyan politicians that say, or might be understood to say, that President Obama was born in Kenya. I ask: how do they know? They were not speaking about where Obama was born, but about something else, using Obama just as an example. They weren’t authoritative statements on the subject of the President’s birthplace. Have you never heard a US politician make a glaring mistake, shoot from the hip, run off their mouth with their brain not engaged? If the Kenyan politicians don’t give a source, then don’t know any more than anyone else.
Kenyan Ambassador to the United States says on a U.S. radio show that Obama’s birth location in Kenya is well known:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH4GX3Otf14
In this case the Ambassador was misunderstood. He talked about the Obama birth place being a popular tourist attraction. That refers to Kogelo Village where Barack Obama Sr. was born. When contacted next day, a spokesperson for the Ambassador stated flat out that the Ambassador had no information about where President Obama was born. We needn’t ask how he knew, because he tells us that he didn’t.
Newspapers in Kenya and other African countries report as far back as 2004 that Obama is Kenyan born:
http://www.scribd.com/my_document_collections/2441535
A very few, relatively speaking, of these did appear. However, they never give sources, and they don’t explain how they knew. Some printed retractions.
Obama’s family members in Kenya say he was born there:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=107524
Obama family members might reasonably know where the President was born, but they never said he was born in Kenya. They consistently say he was born in Hawaii.
Michelle Obama the wife of Barack Hussein Obama says in 2008 that Kenya is her husband’s “home country”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx4Afe1NVYI
Figure of speech. Even if Michelle Obama knew her husband were born in Kenya, she would never say so in public.
Michelle Obama the wife of Barack Hussein Obama in 2007 says her husband is a Kenyan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rep-MB-wbkU
Figure of speech. Even if Michelle Obama knew her husband were born in Kenya, she would never say so in public.
NPR radio says that Obama is Kenyan born:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=138293
How do they know? What source do they have that is not available to all of us? Anyway, they corrected the mistake quickly.
Gov Richardson of New Mexico says Obama is an immigrant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEjGmT1gmcw
How does he know? Whatever he meant, he has no way to know if President Obama was born in Kenya.
School records in Indonesia report that he is an Indonesian citizen:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=72667
Those school records also say he was born in Hawaii. If you accept the school record, then you have to throw out everything that says Obama was born in Kenya. According to school officials, the nationality of the parent (in this case Lolo Soetoro) was usually put down for nationality, as was the religion, Islam. Obama becoming an Indonesian citizen was impossible both under US and Indonesian law.
No hospital records exist in Hawaii proving Obama was born there per Tim Adams a 2008 Hawaii Election official’s sworn affidavit:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=254401
How does Adams know? The best he has said is that it was an office rumor or something his supervisor told him. How did the supervisor know? The Elections Division does not have access to any birth records in Hawaii. They had no way to know, so they don’t know.
Obama’s Hawaiian birth registration records was likely created by an affidavit led by Obama’s maternal grandmother declaring him born at home with no witnesses using a simple mail-in form available in 1961 simply to gain her new foreign born grandson Citizenship. Birth registration fraud to gain Citizenship occurs now and it occurred then. His vital records were likely subsequently amended upon the marriage of his mother to her second husband, Lolo Soetoro in Hawaii. His official name in the vital records of Hawaii may show his name still as Soetoro. The online Certification of Live Birth (COLB) is a forgery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmZpwcRf3FQ
So how do they know this? Given that all the details on Obama long-form birth certificate have been verified by the State of Hawaii, and in particular that President Obama was born in a hospital, this is clearly not true.
This particular list omitted the publicist’s brochure mentioning that Obama was born in Kenya. However, the author of that brochure stated specifically that she had no information from Obama that it was true. So asking how did she know, we know the answer: she didn’t.
The general response: how did then know, or how do you know, is a fairly non-aggressive way to argue, and quickly arrive at the result that the speaker believes something without good reason and really does not know.
Read more:
- “Barack Obama, Son of Africa” at Obama Conspiracy Theories
- The Debunker’s Guide to Obama Conspiracy Theories
I can finally tell my story. In 1961 I was a very young doctor, having just graduated from medical school. I was inspired by Kennedy to join the peace core and I was sent to Kenya. In August of that year I delivered a baby to young white woman who was called Stanley. It stood out in my mind because it was such an unusual name for a woman, I was told that the woman had travelled a great distance to deliver in Kenya. The baby was called Barack. Within minutes of the birth men in dark suits took the baby away. I heard them mumble something about 2008. I didn’t understand it then. I do now.
We do have the story about the military guy meeting Obama telling him he was born in Kenya:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx0XcTmYtSE
Marine: 1980 In Hi. Obama Told Me He Was Born In Kenya And Wanted T
How do you know?
How do you know obama didnt’ supply kenya as birthplace to publicist and she lied to protect him?
You can’t know.
How do you know the LFBC PDF isn’t a scan of a forgery?
You can’t know.
How do you know the selective service registration card isn’t forged?
You can’t know.
How do you know the social security number isn’t stolen?
You can’t know.
How do you know the black hand photo isn’t a manipulation?
You can’t know.
How do you know Larry Sinclair was or was not telling the truth?
You can’t know.
How do you know that Bill Ayers didn’t write huge swaths of “Dreams From My Father”?
You can’t know.
All in all, there’s an awful lot of nothing that you base your conclusions and this whole silly site on.
Think about it.
Watch out. Some birther will read what you wrote Yoda. You will become the doctor who has bravely come forth with the truth. You will, of course, be warned about the men in dark suits, the dark drones and the black SUV’s. Watch out.
oops corps, not core.
I had to come forward Mary.
The Kenya birth scenario is physically impossible. I wrote extensively about it, and my article was critiqued by the commentator, American Mzungu.
http://newyorkleftist.blogspot.com/2010/03/obama-born-in-kenya-no.html
I didn’t think US law prohibited him from attaining Indonesian citizenship. I thought it merely prevents him from losing his US citizenship unless he formally renounces it once he is of age.
He’s since released a video describing birtherism as a manufactured controversy (while still maintaining that certain things are suspect – I’m sure he knows what his point is but he makes it very unclear to everyone else)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x5AjnemKWQI
“Figure of speech.”
As a point of comparison, consider when American news agencies refer to Florida Senator Marco Rubio as “Cuban”:
http://www.gq.com/news-politics/blogs/death-race/2012/11/can-marco-rubio-floridas-young-hip-loving-cuban-senator-save-the-gop.html
This doesn’t tend to result in people saying “OMG, that means he must have been *born* in Cuba! His biography is a lie!”
To make this extra-believable to the birthers, the “men in dark suits” should have Russian accents and be dressed in Muslim garb. Maybe one of them could be named Boris and the other one Ahmed. All birthers know that Communism and Islam are the same thing.
Did i forget those details?
You’re new here, so I’ll repeat:
Linda Lingle is Jewish, and a Republican. She felt McCain/Palin would be better for Israel than Obama. If she could have found anything, the GOP would have used it with glee. She looked, and publicly said there wasn’t anything.
When Nixon was being put under a microscope, the Internet did not exist yet. The world now is filled with bloggers and journalists dying to be the next Woodstein.
Sorry – the rest is conjecture, gossip and innuendo.
Meanwhile, in the real world today, Kenyans went to the polls to vote for new leaders. Results are expected to be announced within 48 hours.
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/
Well, I would ask you the same question that titles this article: How do you know? Since you don’t know, you have nothing. You start with zero. Unsubstantiated allegations do not require an explanation, since they have zero weight to begin with. But here are some comments:
1. Since Obama was telling other people he was born in Hawaii at the same time, it wouldn’t make sense for him to tell THIS publicist he was born in Kenya. Lacks plausibility.
2. Because the State of Hawaii said that they provided the long form certificate, and that everything on the White House scan matches the original, there is no plausible scenario for Obama to forge a correct document. We know it’s genuine.
3. I know the selective service registration isn’t forged because it came from the Bush Administration, which had no reason to forge a certificate for Obama. The Mission Impossible scenarios where a junior Senator from Illinois broke into the archives of the selective service and replaced the microfilm and computer records is ludicrous. We know it’s real.
4. The social-security number is certainly not stolen because we have it on Obama tax returns, and the IRS matches social-security numbers, names and dates of birth on returns. So we know the number was Obama’s.
5. I looked at the Obama airport photo and it looked OK to me. It’s just a shadow. But what would it mean if it had been faked? Nothing. And why fake it in the first place?
6. As for Sinclair, an allegation with no proof is nothing. It requires no explanation.
7. Bill Ayers writing Dreams? How do you know? Just because somebody makes up a story, doesn’t mean it has to be disproved.
See also:
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2009/10/barack-obama-son-of-africa/
US law prevented Obama from renouncing his US citizenship which was a prerequisite for him to obtain Indonesian citizenship.
Yea, but we have already found out that “Race Bannan” lied about meeting other celebrities.
Sorry, Ergo: The way it works in both courtrooms and academia is that the burden of proof is on the accuser or the guy writing the term paper.
You say the birth certificate is a fake, the books are plagiarized, the SSN stolen, and so on, you have to bring forth the evidence to prove your case.
Now, your confreres in these theories have gone to court an incredible 198 times so far, and every single time, they have lost. Not only have they lost on the merits of their alleged pleadings, they have lost on the incompetence with which they present them.
That’s 0-198 in four years of them trying. That’s not even good enough to stay in the major leagues. That’s a batting average of .000. A won-loss record of 0-198. That’s not a ticket back to the minors, that’s a ticket back home….5-5-5-5 and out on the manager’s evaluation. That’s “You don’t have what it takes to make it in any level of organized ball…go and do something else with your life, while you’re still young enough.”
You want to bring this case to court? Send your bucks to Orly or start filling out the paperwork down at the Federal courthouse. Stand up in front of a judge and explain it to him.
You want to get a Ph.D. on this idiocy? Sign up at your community college, start taking the classes, and start writing your paper. Defend it before real academics.
You have to do the work to prove your case. Not me. Not the Feds. This is your stupidity to prove. See if you can do better than 198 of your pals.
Somehow, I don’t think you have a case.
Actually, I hope you do file…I’m waiting for these Birther suits to crack the “Mendoza Line,” and get above 200 at-bats.
(I know the “Mendoza Line” refers to batting averages of .200, but I just love that phrase)
Well said!
A lot of these conspiracy theorists think that Democrats and Republicans are really on the same side, both controlled by international bankers or something like that.
On the Amazon forum, I’d bring up a similar point and Garland always said something about McCain being a one-world government supporter.
You are equivocating in your use of the expression, “You can’t know.”
Philosophically, the only thing one can know in an absolute sense is that no one can know anything in an absolute sense. You’re trying to argue accordingly, that a laundry list of unproven conclusory allegations against Obama collectively or individually constitutes a valid reason to rationally, seriously doubt his Presidential eligibility or suspect him of criminality.
Such preposturing of course know no bounds, and when employed by partisans like yourself to escape the accountability of logical reasoning, quickly reduces all attempts to hold rational discussions to an absurdity.
Society guarantees that disagreements about what exactly constitutes a reasonable argument, will not have to be resolved by such bullying tactics. It does this by establishing an academic standard defining the consistent and rational use of language, and by providing the courts to settle controversies. The alternative would be letting everyone who had arguments as weak as yours, turn every disagreement into a kind of food-fight.
To the extent that these society-preserving aspects of civilized existence provide us with the consensus opinion of experts and dispute-settling judges, Ergo, we CAN know to a degree of certainty commensurate with the practical reliability of our entire everyday vision of reality, that the baseless anti-Obama claims of Birthers like yourself are wrong.
Perhaps you can explain why Racebannon had been birthing for some time before he suddenly remembered that in fact he held a piece of information key to the birther narrative. His story is utterly ludicrous and he is a proven liar. John have you always been this gullible?
John, this is just for you …
http://barackryphal.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/jim-racebannon-bancroft-birtherisms.html
How do you know your mother isn’t a lizard alien from planet Ooopgnoxx?
You can’t know.
How do you know you’re not dreaming all this and when you wake up tomorrow, you’ll find yourself being a black man in Mombasa, Kenya?
You can’t know.
How do you know even one word in the Bible is true and not one word in “Lord of the Rings” is false?
You can’t know.
How do you know GWB wasn’t born in Canada as the result of his mother doing the hokey-pokey with Bigfoot?
You can’t know.
How do you know you were born where your BC says you were born and weren’t lied to by your parents who also forged said document?
You can’t know.
So there goes your list of things to ponder. Tell me if you’ve solved those problems, then I might entertain solving yours.
That’s just silly.
Everybody KNOWS GWB grandparents were wetbacks from Canada. They crossed the Saint John River into Maine near Grand Falls, New Brunswick, and hitchhiked down highway US 1A and US 1 to Kennebunkport where Gramps got a job on a fishing trawler. GWB was probably born in the US. GHWB, I’m not so sure about.
And its gotta be true, cause I read it on the internet (just about 5 seconds ago).
I believe that the time is right to close down all of the anti-birther sites. I know that there is strong feeling that birthers should not be allowed to continue to spout nonsence unapposed but the reality is that nothing that is said or written will change the mind of a committed birther. Birthers have too much invested (I’m not talking about money) in their notions to give in now.
For instance, there is a regular contributor, John, who keeps repeating long debunked stories and anecdotes and who has now repeated the Racebannon story.
Another contributor refers him to the Barackyphal rebuttal but does anyone think that John will click the link? That would be too much to ask because John does not need to read about the truth. It is enough for him that the allegation was made and because it is reinforcing his own prejudice then an allegation is enough. Is John a typicical birther and is he repesentitive of the body of birthers?
I will leave the readers to answer that.
I am not a AS resident so there is very little that I con do to influence matters but I believe that there is something that US residents can do. In my country the courts are open to all but the civil law is based on the principle that the loser plays. This often results in costs being levied which are so severe that litigants have to think very carefully before commencing an action.
If a group of people kept bringing the same failed cases over and over again they would soon find out the meaning of “the loser pays”.
Could not the contributors to this site and others like it turn their efforts to getting the courts to take a stand? After 200 failed cases which keep producing the same drivel the courts have to say “enough is enough”
The number of filings would fade to nothing and without the court cases there would be no more “any day now” moments to look forward to. The birthers would then fade to be even mor irrelevant than they are now.
So, all you lawyers out there, it’s time to look at a better way. Find some way to encourage the courts to take a stand and then birtherism will fade on the vine.
You are being ridiculous for effect. Let’s be straight with “Ergo.”
In fact, GWB was born in Saudi Arabia, when his “father” was with the CIA. Here’s GWB with his REAL father:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JIxtZ0JeqqU/TTevci_KLjI/AAAAAAAAA-E/t_KohiXOfN0/s1600/BushSaudiPrinceAbdullahHoldingHands.jpg
This photograph was taken after GWB attended a public beheading of a maid:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/13/world/meast/saudi-arabia-beheading
How? Are we supposed to employ birther tactics and write lots of angry letters to the courts and “demand” they “stop their (lenient birther-friendly) behaviour” and “do as we say”? 😛
We have known this for 5 years now, so you’re saying we shouldn’t have started in the first place?
The point is that birtherism is still a virus that could infect people if there are no voices of reason debunking the latest pile of dung that the birther core pumps out.
You might as well suggest scientists stop their efforts explaining evolution because the ID people will never change their mind anyway.
And don’t forget, there still hasn’t been a thorough investigation of the sources of money that went into birtherism. Letting them off the hook now, “move along, nothing to see here”, is not on my list.
I think one of the best examples of birthers insulating their minds from reality was their reaction to links to sites debunking their claims. For a while, they didn’t go “I ain’t’s readin’ no librul Snopes lies” but rather “I won’t click on your link because it will give my computer a virus and make me gay” or something.
The anti-birthers’ “any day now” day of sanctions may actually come, but sanctions will still not deter every deluded mind. And there’s enough fools out there that the “vexatious litigant” label for one of them will still not stop two others from filing another “can’t fail DIY kit” suit.
You obviously forgot how birtherism got through 2008 to 2011. The court cases only became big when it was time for (primary) ballot challenges and their offspring.
Court cases have never been the core of birtherism, although the sheer number may make it seem to.
As I have experienced even with court cases in my country (where the loser pays all), financial sanctions don’t impress someone who’s nigh-broke to begin with. And many birthers would fall in that category.
Sanctions did not shut up Orly Taitz, nor that malcontent in Washington state. In order to recover defense costs, there has to be another lawsuit, which is why The Sharper Image no longer exists:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/20/smbusiness/sharper_image_bankruptcy.fsb/
Ergo,
How do I know you aren’t a pedophile?
I can’t know.
Therefore you must be a pedophile.
That’s the logic of making up an accusation without proof and demanding it must be true if it hasn’t been disproven.
In this country, when someone is accused of doing something wrong, the burden of proof falls on the individual making the accusation. To help us discern whether or not there is proof or not, our Constitution requires something called due process.
Making up accusations by assembling tidbits of unverifiable and unsourced hearsay and sharing them over the internet is not due process.
On the other hand, a signed, sealed and certified statement by the State Registrar of Hawaii that Mr. Obama’s birth certificate is genuine and accurate is all the proof that’s necessary.
Are we done yet?
Anti-birther web sites have, in my opinion, never been directed at changing the minds of birthers, but rather as a resource for people who have to deal with birthers, and people who are just interested in them.
The facts presented during the airing of this audio stream are uncontrived, so they can’t be challenged to their authenticity.
http://www.stationcaster.com/player_skinned.php?s=1251&c=6411&f=1147521
There are other well researched audio streams @ the above link which further identify the EVIL that exist in America’s White House.
The RACIST OBOTS have elected a true Marxist, a MUSLIM, by the usurper’s own words.
The “Manchurian President” http://is.gd/V2Ka6r contents haven’t been challenged nor will anyone be able to challenge the evidence that confirms the O’bastards ties to anti-American organizations. Face it Obots… you are all; RACIST. anti-American, anti free markets, ignoramuses.
All of the BS published on this blog has been solidly refuted with FACTS thorougly researched and that can’t be challenged, because the black and white document showing the evidence can be traced to their origins.
I lead a rather pathetic life. Most birther sites have banned me. One of few sources of enjoyment I have is making fun of birfers. And you want to take that away from me?
Birterism has been a financial disaster for me. I bought thousands of frogs which I hoped to resell to birthers for the promised frog marching. But the “any day now” claims proved to be false. I had to sell those frogs at 5 cents on the dollar, what a loss. I believed john’s claims, now I am forced to holding a sign by the freeway (will work for food, as I can’t eat frog’s legs). I will never forgive john (or Orly)
Yawn. Come back when you have actually read the evidence on this blog/
Wasn’t Aaron Klein (in your audio clip) the guy who said on his WABC radio program:
OBOT’S BS DESTROYED: All of the BS published on this blog has been solidly refuted with FACTS thorougly (sic) researched and that can’t be challenged, because the black and white document showing the evidence can be traced to their origins.
wow – what is your mind altering drug and alcohol intake?
NO, no no. What they were saying was that Obama would be dragged from the White House by Frenchmen!
Are you completely sure? I thought that there are provisions in place for a minor to be able renounce their U.S. Citizenship.
The most suitable gravatar yet!
I can’t speak for anyone else’s, but I attest that all my BS is firmly plopped and will not be moved.
I’m rubber, you’re glue…
USt Constitution, Article VI, paragraph 3: “…no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”
Look into it.
Marxist? When Golda Meir first went to Palestine, she was a Marxist. I was a kibbutznik. I was educated by Jesuits.
Hardly a threat to me.
Anytime I see someone say that their claims ‘can’t be challenged’ I know I wading knee deep in their BS
The correct phrase is “I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
Get with the program!
This New York Jewish liberal voted twice for Obama. I hope that makes you miserable.
Say “hello” to Orly for me.
The problem with the “loser pays” approach is that it creates an uneven playing field in favor of the party which has deep pockets. An insurance company, for example, can afford to pay the plaintiff’s attorney fees and costs when it loses a case, but many plaintiffs cannot afford to pay the insurance company’s attorney fees and costs when the insurance company wins a case.
It is easy to have a jaundiced attitude toward civil litigation when you focus on all of the birther cases, but there are many legitimate civil lawsuits filed every day in which there are sincere differences of opinion about which party is at fault and the extent of the damages. Many plaintiffs would be denied their day in court if they were faced with the prospect of owning $10,000 or more if they were to lose their cases.
When I went to school I dare say that the majority of my teachers were xtian. Didn’t prevent me from recognizing the truth of the FSM.
I had one of these on my blog this weekend too.
Agreed.
Although in the very early days, many of us (myself included) naively thought that simple methodical logic and patient explaining of facts would be able to get through to these people, as we ourselves seeked out answers and investigated validity of claims being made…
But yeah, for the committed-ODS and conspiracy mindsets, reality and truth is not what they ever care for…just their emotional perceived “vengeance”…
So yeah, sites like this primarily exist and will remain purposeful a resource of observation, explanation, exasperation and even entertainment.
Also, there will always be a certain set of hobbyist curiosity that is just baffled by crazy, illogical people and what motivates them…as they so defy reasonable behavior…
So sites that report on conspiracy movements will always have a purpose and an audience…and serve a place in helping to understand the complexities and failings within the broad context of the human condition.
Keep up the good work Doc!
It is a good thing that the ugly particulars of stupid Birtherism are aptly withering, as their foolish fantasy has run its course.
But we all know that this doesn’t mean that crazy nor conspiracy itself will die out. No, sadly there will be some new O.C.T. to keep an eye on…or something similar from these types of mindsets to be mindful of…
…So the purpose of this site remains valuable, regardless. (Especially the archives for comparative and historical analysis).
I started out on The Washington Independent site doing that…then after a while I realized they didn’t really care whether he was eligible or not, they just didn’t want him to be elected. Then it became more fun just to keep them talking and talking until they themselves debunked their own arguments. Then they would just go back around in the circle as if they never proved themselves wrong.
One thing I noticed back then was how many posted links to their web sites. Once I went to a few I realized they were just driving traffic for their ad dollars. Something that I don’t think anti-birthers realize is that they are making up maybe half of those sites’ traffic , and if we don’t visit their sites we do them more harm than we do by debunking them. Even more so now. Oh well, they’re still entertaining.
Larry Sinclair and obama both know if Larry Sinclair is telling the truth.
Bill Ayers and obama both know if Bill Ayers wrote large swaths of “Dreams From My Father.”
obamaconspiracy.org is devoted to taking sides while just as ignorant of the truth as those it criticizes as being incapable of knowing the truth.
This site is advocacy masquerading as skeptical inquiry and knowledge. Perhaps that’s why it’s so rewarding and gives such comfort to its author and his ignorant supporters.
Well so far, you haven’t provided any evidence that it was wasn’t actually you who was having sex with Larry Sinclair.
But if you think this is an advocacy site for Obama, then either you haven’t read the site (most likely) or you are so prejudiced as to be unable to read it objectively. What this site advocates is critical thinking.
As opposed to you, of course.
I suggest you re-read my earlier note to you, about providing evidence, doing research, and making a case. Unless you’re too “ignorant.”
Why do you think that?
The last time I checked into this I found court decisions that said a) no one can renounce their citizenship unless they fully understand what they are doing and b) no one under 18 knows what they are doing. I might conceive of some situation where someone almost 18 might achieve emancipated minor status somehow, but not a 6-year-old (Obama’s age when the school registration form showed nationality: Indonesian).
If you have something else, please share.
You make a very good point here. As the article about all the spoof names on Orly’s site shows, “the crazy” will attract a lot of attention from those who don’t at all subscribe to “the crazy’s” POV. Some visit to monitor the crazy, others to poke fun of it…
…But the narcissism of crazy is unable to grasp that and views the “hits” and “attention” as “support”…which is why they always vastly overestimate their numbers, instead of realizing that it is simply human nature to stare at freaks and traffic accidents…
But I’m not so sure that the prescription of “just ignore them and they will go away” ever works either… these folks are always lurking in the shadows, like vampires…and I tend to align with the view that sunlight is the best disinfectant…
Well said!
…And critical thinking is something that “ergo” is incapable of doing, as he is blinded by his own preconceptions and delusions…
Yes ergo most certainly and obviously is – WILFULLY so…
Orly is like a reality tv show for me: l call it The KKKardashians.
I did this before the bithers, and I will continue to do it after the birthers. The birthers also allowed me to take my research and history hobbies out for a spin. Reading more Lord Coke, Blackstone and others, reading the many here who have extensive experience in these manners, and watching the crazy. Good times.
Me too. I ‘got into this’ via the ‘truthers’. I remain awestruck at their credulousness. My wonderment and astonishment at their antics (like looking at a 100+ foot wide hole in the Pentagon and insisting that it was only 12 feet wide) provided many minutes amusement on the ‘Above Top Secret’ conspiracy honey-pot. Then one day a ‘birther’ thread caught my attention and a couple of seconds later I found my way here.
The folks here (both anti- and pro- birther) are without question the most enjoyable group of people I have run across on the web.
And many of us have been benefitted from the erudition that you and many others have shared with the readers here. Thanks to you and all who have contributed.
Here you go, Doc:
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/120538.pdf
“(2) Voluntariness and intent: Minors who seek to renounce citizenship often do so at the behest of or under pressure from one or more parent. If such pressure is so overwhelming as to negate the free will of the minor, it cannot be said that the statutory act of expatriation was committed voluntarily. The younger the minor is at the time of renunciation, the more influence the parent is assumed to have. Even in the absence of any evidence of parental inducements or pressure, you and CA [Bureau of Consular Affairs– db] must make a judgment whether the individual minor manifested the requisite maturity to appreciate the irrevocable nature of expatriation. Absent that maturity, it cannot be said that the individual acted voluntarily. Moreover, it must be determined if the minor lacked intent, because he or she did fully understand what he or she was doing. Children under 16 are presumed not to have the requisite maturity and knowing intent;
(3) Interviewing a minor: When conducting the initial interview with a minor and during the renunciation procedure, you should have at least one other person present. The parents and guardians should not be present. As noted, the interview should take place in the presence of the consular officer and a witness, preferably another consular officer, another Foreign Service officer (nonconsular) or locally employed staff (LE staff). You should also explain that upon reaching the age of 18, the minor has a six-month opportunity to reclaim U.S. nationality. See 7 FAM Exhibit 1292, A Sample Letter to Accompany CLN [that’s Certificate of Loss of U.S. Nationality- db] for Minor Renunciants, which should be provided to minor renunciants together with an approved CLN;
(4) Consular officer’s opinion: You should fully document every interaction with the minor and explain in your consular officer’s opinion the reasons you believe that the minor is, or is not, mature enough and sufficiently knowing to renounce.”
The sample letter referred to appears at the end of that chapter of the Foreign Affairs Manual. Now, according to that citation, “Children under 16 are presumed not to have the requisite maturity and knowing intent” to voluntarily relinquish U.S. citizenship. I gather from that that minors over the age of sixteen years could, provided they “manifested the requisite maturity to appreciate the irrevocable nature of expatriation” and in the “absence of any evidence of parental inducements or pressure”, renounce U.S. citizenship; and that a perhaps slightly younger person could conceivably do so as well. But I sure don’t see how a six-year-old could do it. And the fact remains that no one could do it on that six-year-old’s behalf.
Yep. That paragraph and particularly your ending statement, sum it all up…
Well, since birthers have believed in six mutually exclusive things before breakfast, they will have no problem claiming “6 years old Obama was intelligent enough to do it” and “50 year old Obama isn’t even clever enough to run a pawn shop” at the same time.
On the contrary, that applies to conspiracy sites.
I mean, if birthers are really such “critical thinkers”, why does not one of them even pretend to be concerned whether GWB had a forged BC rubber-stamped by a treasonous Congress? NOT ONE? I mean, it’s not like any birther has ever so much as *seen* GWB’s BC, and many people in the 2008 Congress (that allegedly consists of 100% traitors) were also in the 2000 Congress (that “properly vetted” Bush).
Yet if you ask a birther that question, he just spews another line of “Bush was vetted, everybody knows where he was born etc.”. Doesn’t sound like “critical thinking” to me at all, at least not on the same scale as their “critical thinking” applied to Obama.
And don’t even get me started about how those “critical thinkers” all “believe” that those men who wrote the Bible were really inspired by God (and not by someone pretending to be God; after all, nobody ever showed them a Deity Certificate)…
Or, the real story behind his TANG records? Why did that question stop being asked just because Dan Rather’s source was discredited? I mean, when did something as simple as the appearance of fake evidence stop a real birther?
(I’m No Conspiracy Theorist (TM), but that incident sure looks to be one of the most effective false flag operations of all time.)
And Mitt, as long as you just won’t go away: what about those tax returns, anyway?
That’s two sets of documents with legitimate grounds for disclosure. Go for it, Orly.
+1000 Awesome points for coming up with that analogy!!! 🙂
…Deity Certificate… *chuckle* …I’m going to steal that line and start using it…
Ergo’s “How do you know” routine reminds me of how the “psychic” John Edward walks into a room to do his show, and asks, “Does anyone here have a first name beginning with the letter ‘P’?”
And four or five people leap up and say yes…and everybody thinks John Edward has just shown off some psychic ability.
All he did was ask, “Anybody here have a first name beginning with the letter ‘p?'” What’s so bloody psychic about that?
I can talk to the dead…but the question is: will they answer when I call?
And are you listening properly
He knew nobody had a name starting with “X”?
He should try Bavaria, there’s always a Xaver (pronounced “ksa-were”) in the room. 😉
Xurxes Xuynen wasn’t in the room.
Or a Xavier pronounced “Havy air” in Mexico. I’m not sure of the Brazillian pronouncian (maybe “Chav ear”?)