Media Archives August 1 2009

Birthers release forged Kenyan birth certificate for Obama, August 3, 2009, Salon.com. The document is just another in an increasingly long line of fakes intended to prove Obama wasn’t born in the U.S.

Forged Kenyan Document Splinters ‘Birther’ Movement, August 3, 2009, The Washington Independent. The new focus on a bogus document from an anonymous source has riven the small community of activists who are trying to prove that Barack Obama cannot be president of the United States.

When Did Americans Turn into a Bunch of Raving Lunatics?, August 4, 2009, Esquire. “Everyone who voted for him ought to leave the country,”

DNC Goes All In: Takes On Birthers, Conservative “Mob” In New Web Ad, August 4, 2009, Huffington Post. The Democratic National Committee released a notably aggressive web ad on Tuesday evening, accusing the Republican Party of being taken over by an angry mob of “birther” conspiracy theorists and disgruntled partisans.

Kenya ‘birth certificate’ said to be fake, August 4, 2009, UPI. In a post on the Politjab.com Web site, Steve Eddy of California said he discovered through an online search that the document released by “birther” Orly Taitz was a doctored version of the birth certificate for David Jeffrey Bomford, born in South Australia in April 1959, Salon.com reported Tuesday.

Freemasons to ‘Birthers’: rise of D.C. conspiracy theories, August 4, 2009, The Christian Science Monitor. “The Internet perpetuates these things because of the ease with which you can look up all of this so-called ‘evidence’ on the web – no matter how far flung the idea is – and build whatever worldview you want while ignoring other evidence,” says James LaPlant, who teaches a class on political conspiracy theories at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga.

The Berserk ‘Birthers’, August 4, 2009, The Washington Post. If there’s been a more clinically insane political phenomenon in my lifetime than the “birthers,” I’ve missed it. Is this what our national discourse has come to? Sheer paranoid fantasy?

Persistent ‘Birthers’ Fringe Disorients Strategists , August 4, 2009, The New York Times. “He was born in Kapiolani Hospital, right down the street from where I lived,” Mr. Abercrombie said. “They had no money. I can’t imagine how they would get to Kenya. It makes no sense at all. It’s an insult to his mother.”

Forget Obama’s Birth Certificate–Now You Too Can Be Born in Kenya, August 5, 2009, US News and World Report. While I go ask my mother some tough questions about my real history, you can generate your own Kenyan birth certificate at the Kenyan Birth Certificate Generator site. (But remember that the information listed is the stuff of password security checks and the like –” when you make your Kenyan birth certificate you might not want to use real names and dates.)

Salon’s handy-dandy guide to refuting the Birthers, August 5, 2009, Salon.com. In the spirit of public service, Salon has compiled this list of the most popular Birther myths, along with all the debunking you could ever ask for.

Is the “Birther” Movement a Liberal Conspiracy?, August 6, 2009, The Atlantic. It is not Obama’s right-wing opponents, however, who are devoting the most attention to this obscure, Internet-driven “movement,” if one can even use that label to describe such a paranoid groupuscule. Rather, it’s liberals, bent on portraying their conservative opponents as extremists….

Punking the Birthers, August 7, 2009, The Week. It looks like Orly Taitz and her fellow Obama “birthers” have been “punk’d” by an Obama supporter.

The conspiracy theory about President Obama that refuses to die, August 7, 2009, The Sydney Morning Herald. Even though the Obama campaign team published an official certificate from the state of Hawaii stating that he was born there on 4 August, 1961, and two Hawaiian newspapers confirmed they had published birth notices at the time, a significant portion of the US population – 11 per cent, according to one poll – still dispute Mr Obama’s birth details.

Obama still isn’t president in the south, August 9, 2009, Times OnlineIn Virginia, a southern state that backed Obama last year, only 53% are sure Obama is legitimately president and 70% of Virginia Republicans either don’t believe he is an American or aren’t sure.

Orly Taitz –” not just a birther!, August 11, 2009, Politico.com. Google an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about train cars with shackles.

Drake dumps lawyer Taitz in suit challenging Obama birthplace, August 14, 2009, Orange County Register. Drake said. “We all make mistakes, but she is in over her head.”

The “Birther” controversy of 1981, August 17, 2009, The History Network. American political history is rife with “Birther”-like attacks–”and yes, they do often revolve around race.

How to kill those death panel rumors, August 17, 2009, Slate.com.  We’re becoming impervious to rational opposition. Once a substantial minority of the population believes a lie, it achieves the sheen of truth and becomes nearly impossible to debunk.

The Birther Theory, August 18, 2009, Philadelphia Weekly. “I believe Obama is setting himself up to be blackmailed by other countries, and that may explain the reason he has relaxed travel restrictions on Cuba–”because they are blackmailing him,” said Berg.

Afterbirthers Demand To See Obama’s Placenta, August 27, 2009, The Onion. “All we are asking is that the president produce a sample of his fetal membranes and vessels–”preferably along with a photo of the crowning and delivery–”and this will all be over,”

Whitewashing Orly Taitz, August 29, 2009, The Huffington Post, [WorldNetDaily] has enabled Taitz by uncritically reporting her anti-Obama legal actions without noting factual errors in them.

Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate alleged in O.C. lawsuit, September 5, 2009, Orange County Register “However, the authenticity of the document is far from certain. Hawaii’s chief public health officer has said he’s examined pertinent documents and confirmed Obama’s birth there.”

‘Birther Queen’ Taitz Driven By Rabid Islamophobia to Oust Obama, September 7, 2009, The Daily KOS “The time has come to “take off the gloves” and reveal the true motivations of Orly Taitz, the so-called “Queen of the Birther Movement” that bullheadedly insists President Obama is not a U.S. citizen and is holding the presidency illegally –” despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”

Orly Tatiz’s day in court, September 8, 2009, Orange County Weekly. “Midway through the hour-and-change hearing, it became clear that in Taitz’s mind, today was going to be a day straight out of a Dean Koontz-Dan Brown mash-up novel. It didn’t quite turn out that way.”

Another Day, Another ‘Birther’ Forgery, September 8, 2009, The Washington Independent, Orly Taitz’s latest “birther” lawsuit. Taitz’s suit includes –” not as evidence, but as something she wants the court to verify –” a ridiculously obvious forgery of a 1961 Kenyan birth certificate, obtained by a man who identifies himself as “Lucas Smith, an American,” who debuted the certificate via a shaky, “Blair Witch Project”-style video before submitting it to Taitz.

Judge postpones ‘birther’ hearing until Monday; Orly Taitz claims to have Obama birth proof, September 12, 2009, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. “I am going to require [plaintiff Rhodes] to appear, so I can ask questions of her,” [Judge] Land said.

Orly Taitz’s Client Files A Complaint Against Her, September 19, 2009, The Washington Independent. I do not wish for Ms. Taitz to file any future motions or represent me in any way in this court. It is my plan to file a complaint with the California State Bar due to her reprehensible and unprofessional actions.

Orily Taitz may have to pay $10,000 fine, September 22, 2009, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer“Although the First Amendment may allow plaintiff’s counsel to make these wild accusations on her blog or in her press conferences, the federal courts are reserved for hearing genuine legal disputes and not as a platform for political rhetoric that is disconnected from any legitimate legal cause of action.”

Where did ‘We’ Go?, September 29, 2009, The New York Times. What kind of madness is it that someone would create a poll on Facebook asking respondents, “Should Obama be killed?”