By the way, Techdude has a "final report" up at Atlas Shrugs, but it's not the FINAL final.  That will be published here, with a more detailed analysis based on Michele's COLB, in the next day or so.  Techdude has promised...

If there is a BC in Hawaii for Obama, people want to know how that could be if he was born someplace else, as I suspect may be the case.

This is how:

[§338-16] Procedure concerning late and altered birth certificates. (a) Birth certificates registered one year or more after the date of birth, and certificates which have been altered after being filed with the department of health, shall contain the date of the late filing and the date of the alteration and be marked distinctly “late” or “altered”.

[§338-17.8] Certificates for children born out of State. (a) Upon application of an adult or the legal parents of a minor child, the director of health shall issue a birth certificate for such adult or minor, provided that proof has been submitted to the director of health that the legal parents of such individual while living without the Territory or State of Hawaii had declared...Hawaii as their legal residence for at least one year immediately preceding the birth or adoption of such child.

(b) Proof of legal residency shall be submitted to the director of health in any manner that the director shall deem appropriate....

§338-21 Children born to parents not married to each other. (a) All children born to parents not married to each other...shall take the name so stipulated by their parents....The original certificate of birth shall contain the name so stipulated. The child or children or the parents thereof may petition the department of health to issue a new original certificate of birth, and not a duplicate of the original certificate that has been amended, altered, or modified, in the new name of the child, and the department shall issue the new original certificate of birth...

(b) The evidence upon which the new original certificate is made, and the superseded original certificate shall be sealed and filed and may be opened only upon order of a court of record.

So, if I could interview anyone right now, the FIRST person that I would like to sit down to talk to would be Madelyn Dunham. The press has "flocked" to Kenya to talk to Obama's Kenyan grandmother. But Grandma Madelyn-- the woman who raised the Senator to be the "man" that he is-- has only been seen by a handful of people.

These would be some of the questions I would pose to her:

• Even though Barack "threw you under the bus" when he gave his Rev. Wright race speech, were you offended by his disrespect for you?
• Michelle Obama refers to your daughter, Stanley Ann Dunham, as an unmarried, single woman when she had Barack. Was there ever a marriage between your daughter and Barack Obama?
• Where was Barack born?
• Were you and your husband there for the arival of your first grandchild? Was Daddy Obama there?
• Where was this birth?
• If you say he was born in Hawaii, which hospital? Why do they not have any record (either of the two that have been mentioned so far)?
• Given the era, circa 1961, wouldn't it be accurate that Barack's birth certificate would not have his last name as Obama, since his parent's weren't married?
• Given the "race" issue, wouldn't Barack Obama (Sr) have been listed as "Negro", not "African" on the birth certificate?
• Would it be safe to say that, in 1961, given jobs, people "talking" and such, that your daughter was sent back to the mainland for her pregnancy?
• Would it be safe to say that Barack was probably born in a home for unwed mothers in Canada, perhaps Vancouver?
• How did your daughter travel to Mercer Island, WA with a 5-6 week old child, and at whose expense?

    It is factual that Stanley Ann Dunham was in Mercer Island WA in mid to late September 1961 with an infant "Barry", visiting high school friends. There is no mention of Barack Obama (Sr) being with her. It is hard to fathom an 18 year old travelling from Hawaii with an infant alone. It is more believable that the stop in Mercer Island was enroute BACK to Hawaii after "Barry's" birth.

   Barack Obama is once again making what should be a "small" question turn into a major ISSUE because he thinks that he does not have to answer such trivial questions like "can we see your birth certificate"? Knowing that is father WAS NOT a US citizen, it had to be a "given" for the campaign that this issue would surface.

   Maybe we can get Grandma Madelyn to go with us, the American public, to Hawaii's Bureau of Vital Statistics to get a copy of the ORIGINAL birth certificate of Barack Obama. She is, after all, FAMILY, and therefore entitled to it!!

the list is quite long.its gonna put u on sneakers for smetime.nyways itz exciting.

NOTE: pls don leave behind anything

1.1-8 sem marksheet (attested xerox + original)

2. consolidated marksheet (attested xerox + original)

3. transfer certificate (attested xerox + original)

4.provisional degree (attested xerox + original)

5.10th(X-th) marksheet (attested xerox + original)

6.12th(XII-th) marksheet (attested xerox + original)

7.Birth Certificate( attested xerox + original)

if in case u don't have your birth certificate u have to get an affidavit from a lawyer towards ur birth place and date of birth (affidavit should be in a 20 rupees Indian non-judicial stamp paper bought in ur name)
(NOTE: any other proof is useless in TCS they are very specific about this Birth certificate or affidavit)

8.passport,pan card (attested xerox + original),(not mandotry to have it),

9.An affidavit from a lawyer that there are no criminal cases pending against in u (affidavit should be in a 20 rupees Indian non-judicial stamp paper bought in ur name).

10.ur service agreement in a 100 rupees Indian non judicial stamp paper.
(NOTE: In the service agreement u have to get a surety for the payment of 50,000. the person who gives this
surety must be an income tax payer)

11.Form 16 of the surety giver's attested xeror must be brought and attested passport xerox of the surety
giver or PAN card attested xerox of the surety giver must also be brought. these are the supporting documents for ur service agreement and are mandatory

12. call letter and offer letter

13. formal dress is a must inside the training campus. better have atleast six set of formal dresses.(for gents full slag formal shirt ,formal pant, leather shoes ,belt, tie is must).

14.after receiving your call letter u'll have to send the acceptance copy of the call letter to mumbai.

its better to send the accepatance copy by speed post and send by using thick brown cover or cloth attached a4 cover.

15.Date of birth and other details of the person you would like to nominate for Gratuity, superannuation, Provident Fund and Health Insurance Scheme.

Note: The Originals of these documents along with one set of attested photocopies of each needs to provided on joining for ILP: The original documents stated above will be returned to you after scrutiny. You should necessarily have completed all course formalities, including Project Work and viva from your respective Institute before you report for the ILP. No leave is permissible during the ILP.

16.12 passport size photographs

TD NOTE: This is the 3rd revision. This post replaces the last one, which has been removed from the blog, but comments can be read here.

A few days ago I revealed that my reader, "Michele," had sent me a newly issued Certificate of Live Birth (COLB) from Hawaii, and that two experts, Polarik and Techdude, were working on new analyses based on Michele's COLB.

Polarik's analysis starts with this post. He has promised me an update that uses Michele's COLB to support his conclusions. Techdude is still working on his analysis.

This post has been replaced with Version 3, here.

Comments to Revision 2 can be read below, and comments to the first version can be viewed here.

Was Obama born in Kenya or Hawaii?

Is the birth certificate supplied by the Obama camp valid? Apparently not!

Andy Martin has a new book out and a news conference in New York, today, July 14, 2008. Andy states in his new book that Obama is illigitimate and that Obama has been lying to the American people. Here are some exerpts from Andy Martin's blog:

"(NEW YORK)(July 14, 2008)Legendary Chicago Internet columnist and Obama author Andy Martin will hold a New York news conference Monday, July 14th to drop the first of several bombs on the Obama campaign: Obama is illegitimate and his parents were never married."

""Obama knew we were working the 'illegitimate' story, and we were preparing a series of news conferences in conjunction with my book Obama: The Man Behind The Mask," Martin will state. "The Obama campaign also knew we were planning a lawsuit over his illegitimate birth. So they tried to use Obama's wife to do damage control. It was one of the most cowardly gestures in American political history."

""Barack Obama, Senior, and Anne Dunham never married. Obama knows this fact. This is also why he keeps his white grandmother a virtual prisoner; she knows too, and she won't lie.

"Through the past several decades Obama has pretended he 'didn't know' the facts about his illegitimate birth. He thought he could get away with the big lie. And he almost did get away with it. But we kept digging. And we are still digging. We have more to come."

Read more about this story here:

http://contrariancommentary.blogspot.com/

http://www.pr-inside.com/barack-obama-panics-andy-martin-s-book-r700482.htm

2008-07-14 07:18:58 - In a blockbuster New York news conference Monday, July 14th, Andy Martin asks: "Why has Barack Obama been lying for decades about the 'marriage' of his parents when he knew full well he was lying? There was no marriage. How can anyone vote for Obama for president when Obama is so cowardly he can't tell the truth to the American people?" Andy Martin's book and writing begin to impact the presidential campaign.

NEW YORK News Conference:
Obama Panics: Andy Martin's book forces Obama to admit he is illegitimate

 

Seriously...  How many other things has Obama lied about? 

I don't know if Obama intentionally lied about this, BUT I do think that, at the very least, that his family is full of legends...  His uncle with the concentration camp, his dad and the kennedy airlift, his parents and Selma, and now his parents being married....  perhaps TexasDarlin is right about his birth in Hawaii...  is that another legend?

I am now joining in the call to have a paper copy of his birth certificate released by August 1st.

Everything is a lie, and they're all big lies. If you ever had the notion to spend a week researching reality for yourself you already know this. The reason the lie survives can best be summarized by none other than Adolf Hitler: "How fortunate for governments that the people they administer do not think."

When you hear the word "conspiracy", what is the first thought that comes to mind? "Theory", perhaps? Not "Nixon" nor "Iran-Contra"; not examples of conspiracies, but tinfoil hats and alien abductions. Do you think there might be a reason you assume the person speaking is crazy rather than recalling example after example throughout history, even recent history? Do you think there is a reason you will on one hand believe and acknowledge that politicians conspire with corporations to achieve their own ends, but on the other hand assume anyone bringing this up to you has a mental disorder? This is classic double-think, straight out of 1984.

The truth has been kept from you, and as such it tends to refrain from biting you in the ass. You must listen to those who have been learning, or "seek, and ye shall find".

I suggest to start your research with the biggest lie, although it is difficult to choose which lie is the biggest.

Did you know that there is a difference between United States and the united States of America? Are you a citizen of the United States, or are you an American?

Did you know that United States is a corporation? If you live in a city, have you ever wondered why instead of, for instance, "Welcome to Salem", it instead reads, "SALEM CORPORATION LIMIT"?

Did you know that there is an enormous difference, legally, between Jeremy Forsythe and JEREMY FORSYTHE? Do you know what the letters "MP" on the signature line of your check mean? (Microprint. Get out a magnifying glass and look at the "signature line"; it's not a line at all; sign on the "dotted line", but first read the "fine print")

Did you know that a dollar value is placed on your birth certificate, and you're traded as chattle property of that corporation on the global market?

Did you know that 99% of all law is under a fake jurisdiction, not allowed under the Constitution? Do you know what the yellow fringe you sometimes see around the flag (common in courts) means? Did you know that the "flag is not the flag of the united States, but is a military flag, signifying a constant state of warfare on our land? Did you know that Congress does not have authority to pass laws over the residents of the states?

Did you know that in 1933 the government added the American people to the list of "enemies" (Trading With The Enemy Act, Emergency Act of 1933)? Did you know that we've been under a "national state of emergency" since 1933, that some Congressmen tried to end it in the 1970s and failed? Did you know that the President recently signed PDD-51, which no Congressmen are allowed to read, and which deals with "continuity of government" in a disaster?

Did you know that your government funded and trained Al Qaeda? Did you know that your government has admitted faking "terror" attacks throughout the last century to take us into wars? (Gulf of Tonkin, USS Maine) Did you know in the sixties there was a secret plan to hijack airliners, crash them, and blame it on Cubans? (Operation Northwoods) Did you know that on September 11, 2001, the Pentagon was running drills of planes being hijacked and flown into the WTC and Pentagon?

Did you know that the Federal Reserve does not have the legal authority to print money? Do you know the difference between "legal tender" and "lawful money"? Did you know that the Federal Reserve is a private corporation, owned by banks, and not a government institution?

Open your eyes. There is a whole world out there you've never seen.

I was reading an article on John McCain where the NY Times is having a fit and saying McCain is not able to be President because he was born in Panama.  This argument is moot but it did get me to thinking about Obama. 

There are many questions I would like answered about Obama but it seems no reporter will touch the Teflon Man.  Let’s try and answer these questions.

1.      Where was Obama born?  He claims he was born in Hawaii but his birth certificate that he has on his website is fake.  It was photo shopped and is missing the official state seal, signatures and many other things such as the hospital he was born at. It is also in the wrong name.  Why aren’t reporters trying to figure out where he was actually born?

2.      Is Obama actually able to be President under the federal laws?  According to the laws if a person has a natural born parent and one parent who is NOT an American citizen then the parent who is American must have resided in the US for a period of ten years with five of those years being after the child was the age of 16.  Obama’s mother did NOT reside in the US for the allotted time since she took off with her daughter for Indonesia and left Obama with his grandparents to raise. There is no way he met the citizenship requirements.

3.      Why is Obama refusing to make public these documents?  John McCain showed a hard copy of his birth certificate to reporters, Obama has a photo shopped version of his on the internet.  Where is his hard copy? 

These are important questions that need to be answered.  There are many more questions which need to be answered also.  Where are Obama’s schedules for when he worked on the senate?  They conveniently vanished.  How come he has not released his school transcripts or his college thesis? Were his parents actually married?  No one can find a record of this and if they were, where were they married without a paper trail? Where is the paperwork for the work he did with Acorn or Rezko?  Why is it that his entire past has vanished and paper trails are erased?  Why is Obama refusing to tell people he is a dual citizen of both the US and Africa?

http://www.politicalgateway.com/main/columns/read.html?col=731

These are just a few of the hundreds of questions people DO NOT know about Obama.  No one can question him as he has played the race card so effectively everyone is scared he will slap them with the race card and accuse them of being a racist.  Then every time he does something stupid like going against his word on the FISA he goes after anyone he can to take himself out of the limelight and throws media attention to someone else like Jessie Jackson’s blunder or McCain’s aide saying something or other. The distraction targets used to be Hillary Clinton or Bill without fail just before an election in a state or whenever he did a mistake he would then turn the media on them, without fail.   Hey it got people off him didn’t it ? No wonder so many of his supporters are leaving him in droves.  I can’t blame them either. Who wants a liar for their presidential candidate. They are even setting up their own websites against him now as they are so angry for what he has done to them.

http://www.formerobamasupporters.com/

If you are tired of being thrown under the bus by Obama and if you are black now you have an alternative to vote for.  Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney did secure the nomination for the Green party.  Kudos to her as she is the first African American woman to secure the nomination of any major party for President in history. The press will tear her up but she is vetted and she is qualified.  She is also an opponent that Obama can’t use the race card onJ

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1147675020080712

Obama leaves too many questions unanswered.  It is like he is hiding behind a smoke screen. He does not come forth with any information at all.  His past is hidden under a secret wall and we know nothing for certain about him.  He provides no documentation at all for anything.  His past is sealed up tighter than Fort Knox.  So, what is he hiding?  What is back there he does not want the American public to know?  Why have all of his records gone missing or  are they sealed or have they just plain vanished into thin air? His past is a total mystery and he is not helping to solve it at all.   He hides, he stands behind empty words and covers himself with a smoke screen thus no one is challenging him at all.  I’m sorry people but the race card doesn’t cut it anymore.  This person wants to be the next President of the United States and we know more about our enemies than we do about him.  Obama is proving that he cannot be trusted as his word is not worth anything.  He has broken it on the FISA bill, campaign funding, abortion, NAFTA, and just about every other campaign promise he has made.  The man is empty rhetoric and his word is not worth listening to as it is nothing more than lies.  What does this say about him?  I have been brought up that your word is your bond and you are only as good as your word.  Obama’s word is nothing more than trash. He has trashed it over and over and thrown everyone who supported him under the bus.  He even threw MoveOn.org under the bus last week along with NARAL and his supporters when thousands of him begged him to keep his word on a filibuster for FISA.  So what did he do? He voted with Bush and ignored the cries of his supporters to keep his word. 

Obama is proving himself to be nothing more than out for himself.  Donna Brazile said on CNN that they do not want to put Hillary Clinton on the roll call because people chanting for her on Obama’s day would hurt his ego.  Poor baby, what about Hillary and her supporters?  What about her right to be on the ticket at Denver?  What about 18 million voters who came out and supported her?  This of course means nothing compared to Obama’s ego?  This is sick and the DNC deserves what they get by forcing this empty suit on people who clearly is NOT the choice of the people.  Personally I think they are scared to put Hillary’s name on the ballot as they are terrified she will be voted in over Obama and do not want to take the chance of it happening. 

Obama is a frightening candidate people.  I can tell you more about the record of Osama Bin Laden than I can about Obama. Obama is hiding too many things from the general public and all he wants is to win. He also does not care how he wins either.  He has no business being the Democratic nominee at all with his lies, his secret behaviors and his refusal to answer any questions about himself, his past, or his family.  I would love to have a sit down dinner with his white grandmother and ask about a million questions but hey wait, she has been hidden out of public view too.  Isn’t here anyone out there at all who has the answers and why isn’t there a single reporter out there who has the answers?  Guess I will write these questions to the National Enquirer or the Globe as they seem to be the only ones who are not terrified to say anything about Obama.  Maybe they can find the answers the Main Stream Media refuses to go after. I want to know what Obama is hiding and why he is so secretive.  Anyone have the answers?  Sure would be nice to know something about a presidential candidate besides that he is a liar and a flip flopper who covers up all documentation on himself, refuses to release it and hangs out with terrorists and criminals. 

He is just way too dangerous for my vote.

FYI- A must read:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07132008/news/nationalnews/ego_bama__swallow_some_of_that_pride_119709.htm?page=0

A searing post on Obama and oh so true!  Is Obama Who? really the one?????

I had personally come to the conclusion recently that Obama's COLB was probably real, although its handling has been incredibly sloppy.

That the Obama campaign let Kos publish the COLB first, that they have refused to show reporters an original document, that special software has to be downloaded to see the markings of a valid certificate, that the certificate number has been blacked out -- ALL of these facts and more contribute to the climate of suspicion, secrecy, and mystery that seems to envelop this candidate, Barack H. Obama.

Even if the COLB is real, though, I DO believe that Obama is hiding something on his original Birth Certificate (BC), and this is the point I have been trying to emphasize.  As I've noted many times, the COLB form that was revised in 2001 omits substantial information from one's original BC.  A reader sent me her Hawaii BC that was printed in 1997, and it had all of the original information -- in fact it looks like an original BC.  It had the name of the hospital, the doctor's name, the parents' professions, mother's address, parents' signatures, etc.

That Obama opted to present a BC dated 2007 IS suspicious.  I believe he must have possessed an earlier version.  So what is he hiding?  I can think of 2 possibilities:  He was born outside Hawaii and got a "late registration" birth certificate, AND/OR there are issues with his citizenship related to the Indonesian connection or the Kenyan connection (or both).

Nevertheless, as I said, I had come to the conclusion that Obama's COLB dated 2007 is real, and that Obama is likely enjoying -- in a twisted way -- the public debate and analysis over his birth certificate that has mushroomed into a netroot obsession.   I figured that Obama would let these investigations escalate, then at some point he would whip out the original and get the last laugh.  Invariably, we'd all be called racist for doubting.  Well...everyone knows the routine by now...

The main reason, despite all the high-tech analysis, for my conclusion that Obama's COLB is real is that I could not imagine Obama allowing a forged BC to be published on his official website.

BUT, if you've followed the comment threads on my blog, as well as a few other blogs, you'd know that at least two experts who've been closely following the COLB mystery STILL think that the Obama COLB is fake.

Those two experts -- Polarik and Techdude -- are currently analyzing a new COLB that was sent to me by a a reader, "Michele."  Michele just recently got her COLB from the State of Hawaii.  Using her COLB along with several older ones, Polarik and Techdude are working on an exclusive story, or series (depending on how their 2 analyses compare with each other's) that will hopefully provide a definitive theory about Obama's COLB.

I will not say any more at this point, except two things:  1) I remain skeptical that the COLB is fake, so Polarik and Techdude will have to come up with something really persuasive to sway me.  And 2) Michele's newly printed COLB says "date filed," NOT "date accepted," thus resolving that particular irregularity.

I hope to have the first part of the Polarik-Techdude analysis ready for publication in the next 2 days.

A final note:  Even if the COLB is real, it does not mean that Obama is eligible for POTUS.  I think there are real questions about his eligibility, and I agree with some sharp readers who find Obama's support of legislation for McCain's eligibility, along with a recent NYT story about McCain's eligibility -- highly suspicious.

Stay tuned.

NOTE: The views and information herein are presented by the guest author, JimJ, who asked to post this rebuttal here in response to allegations of libel published on Kos, other websites, and in e-mails. JimJ is solely responsible for this post. This blog and its owner are not responsible for its content, which has not been edited.

Simultaneously, in a leap of convoluted logic, McKinnon denies that the fake documents are actually forgeries because he posted them as a joke and they are only posted publicly in jpg format.

In the same diary, McKinnon also makes numerous dubious statements about key facts concerning what he knew and when he knew it, as well as how he created his phony Certifications of Live Birth. His statements raise new questions concerning the genesis of what many believe to be forged Obama birth certifications posted at Daily Kos and Fight the Smears websites.

McKinnon is also threatening to sue those who have been investigating the Obama Birth Certificate issue—including me, TexasDarlin, Larry Johnson at NoQuarter, and any others who he believes may have implicated him in criminal activity—for alleged libel.

But McKinnon, who has masqueraded on the internet as opendnasince 1995, is a political activist with several political blogs to his credit. He thus clearly qualifies as a public figure. And, public figures must prove actual malice in order to prevail in a libel lawsuit. That is an exceptionally difficult standard to meet.

And for the record, I categorically deny that I have acted maliciously toward Jay McKinnon or anyone else regarding my investigation into the Obama Birth Certificate controversy. I have, in good faith, attempted to discover the truth.

McKinnon’s Confession

Now that his real world identity has been exposed, Jay McKinnon has resurfaced on the internetin the form of an interview with himself and his internet alter ego, opendna. Posted as “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” on his Daily Kos Diary on July 5, 2008, McKinnon outs himself as the author of the "Aphorgerie" and blank template birth certificates that appear on his photobucket album, and on Daily Kos.

In the course of the blog entry, McKinnon unsuccessfully attempts to explain away the fact that he created--and publicly posted--counterfeit Hawaii Certifications of Live Birth on Daily Kos. But his “explanation” actually raises more questions than it answers. Among other thing, McKinnon would like folks to believe that the forged Certifications of Live Birth are simply his little attempts to make some jokes. He goes on to make the spurious claims that because he only posted the fake documents as .jpg images and his intent was simply to make a joke, he can’t be accused of forgery:

“Opendna: Did you just admit to forgery?

Jay McKinnon: No. Every forgery statute I’ve ever read or heard of requires "intent to defraud". If one considers the quality of the images, their content or the context in which they were presented, I believe a reasonable person would conclude that the intent was satire, humor or virtually anything but fraud. Furthermore, I am confident in ability of 11 and a half out of 12 human beings to distinguish between an image on a computer screen and a physical, printed, stamped and sealed government document (no matter how poor the quality).”

This self-serving explanation is analogous to that offered by a counterfeiter who gets caught by a cop in the act of attempting to pass fake $100 bills. While searching the suspect’s residence, the cop discovers a usb drive with the .jpgfiles used to make the counterfeit bills. The counterfeiter is subsequently put on trial and tells the judge: “It was just a joke, your honor—I didn’t commit forgery. I mean, uh, anyone with half a brain could tell the $100 bills were fake….and .jpgs are just images on a computer screen…” How do you think a judge (or any reasonable person) might respond to such a defense?

And regarding McKinnon’s “intent” and the “quality of the images, their content or the context in which they were presented”, there is much to dispute in McKinnon presentation of himself as an innocent victim.

For example, consider the actual “quality of the images and their content”: If you try printing one of McKinnon’s alleged “ jokes” you will find that, even when printed on plain paper withno enhancements, his blank birth certificate file produces a reasonable facsimile of a nearly blank Hawaii Certification of Live Birth. Anyone with Microsoft Paint or other photo-editing software could presumably do what McKinnon did and simply type in his or her name and other data, figure out a way to fake an embossment and signature, and voila, they would havea reasonably presentable birth certificate that could be used for entering the USA.

I was robbed and my passport stolen a few years ago while traveling in Europe. I obtained a new one from the US Embassy on the basis of a copy of a birth certification that was of no better quality than what could be produced using McKinnon’s forged .jpgs.

Regarding “intent,” which must be demonstrated to prosecute a suspect for forgery, McKinnonconveniently presents his forged legal documents as mere jokes. But there is quite a different way to look at the intent and motivations underlying his actions. And it may be possible to establish that there were very serious and intentional political motivations underlying his creation of the fake birth certificates.

Consider the fact that McKinnonhas been a progressive political activist since he was a teenager. He has created several politically oriented blogs. And, aside from being a Daily KosDiarywriter, he is an active member of the Democratic Party and Barack Obama’s Campaign for President.

McKinnon, identified as opendna, has joined 15 blogs on his official Barrack Obama website, including several in the last 2 weeks. He even posted his July 5th Daily Kos Diary on his Obama Campaign page and has cross-posted it to other blogs there. The context for the posting of his forged documents is thus seen to be that of a political activist who is intensely involved in Obama’s Presidential Campaign.

The context is further located on one of the most politically charged Democratic progressive blogs on the internet. I would hardly call that a ‘just kidding around’ context.

In his July 5th Daily Kos Diary, McKinnon also makes numerous dubious statements about key facts concerning what he knew and when he knew it, as well as how he created his phony Certifications of Live Birth.

McKinnon says that he first heard about the Obama Birth Certificate controversy in an email asking him to assess the legitimacy of the document posted on the Fight the Smears Obama Campaign website when compared to the Decosta Birth Certificate.

“Opendna: How did you first hear about it?

Jay McKinnon: As I recall, someone sent me an email containing two images. One of the Decosta birthcertificate and the other from Fight The Smears. The subject line was 'Birth Certificate Appears to be "Invalid."

McKinnonsaid that he understood: “that I was being asked to perform some kind of forensic analysis to compare the two digital images.” And he says that he “spent a few minutes” with the Smears and Decosta jpgs under magnification.

These assertions by McKinnon raise some very interesting questions. At the time that he allegedly received the email, Fight the Smears had not yet posted the suspect Obama Birth Certificate. And the Decosta Certificate had not yet appeared on any of the political blogs. So, was the email sent to him by someone who had access to the ObamaCampaign and provided him with the image from Fight the Smears prior to it being posted on the internet? Or did McKinnon intentionally lie about when he first heard about the Obama Birth Certificate? And why was McKinnon being approached to perform a forensic assessment on the Fight the Smears document?

McKinnon goes on to comment on the images he had received in the email:

“Jay McKinnon: Sure. I spent a few minutes comparing the JPEGs under magnification.

Opendna: What did you determine?

Jay McKinnon: From the images I examined, I concluded that the state of Hawaii has probably implemented a number of relatively sophisticated document security features. I concluded that they should be commended for the quality of their birth certificates and should be held up as the standard to which other states aspire or exceed.”

His comments on what he “determined” are clearly sarcastic. Anybody can see that the Smears and Decosta Birth Certificates are entirely different. The most obvious differences are the borders, which are much darker on the DecostaCertificate. Plus the revision numbers on both Certificates are identical which clearly suggests that one of the two images is a fake. There’s an excellent analysis and comparison of the Daily Kos/Smears/Decosta Birth Certificates found at the Atlas Shrugs blog:

“Both certificates are printed with the OHSM1.1 (Rev. 11/01) LASER identifier with the revision dates being identical [11/01]. If there was a new or modified certificate security pattern introduced there would also be a different revision date indicating that it had been revised after November 2001. Some people are apparently under the mistaken impression that the security border printing will just change once and a while or perhaps some folks may just never really understand the issue. As consistency and precision are the keys to spotting forgeries it is extraordinarily unlikely – perhaps even to the point of impossibility - that the revision numbers would be the same while containing different “certificate patterns.”

As anyone who has worked at a bar can even tell you there are official guide books handed out by liquor control officials that list what is and what is not found on official state issued documents – and high security documents do not vary from week to week or printer to printer.”

An even more detailed analysis complete with images is also available at the same site, here.

McKinnon’s admission that his first encounter withthe suspect birth certificates was an email asking him to apply his forensic skills in a comparison of the Decosta and Fight the Smears Certifications--and that he examined those images prior to producing his own counterfeit document--is significant.

The obvious differences between the two images outlined above would most likely haveset off alarm bells with a self-professed DHS trained documents expert like McKinnon. And McKinnon apparently really is a former federal officer who trained at the FLETC - Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia:

Opendna.com

Wikipedia Fed. Law Enforcment Training Center

As a trained documents expert, it is likely that he recognized that one of the two documents was probably a forgery. That would explain his snarkyremarks about Hawaiian BirthCertificates. And, if he thought the Fight the Smears document was legitimate, why didn’t he use it to forge the blank birth certificate rather than allegedly creating them from the image found on the front page of the Daily Kos Obama Birth Certificate story?

The answer to this would presumably be found in McKinnon’s explanation concerning how he obtained the images from which he supposedly created the fake birth certificates. But it isn’t, because McKinnon is caught here in an obvious lie:

“Opendna: Where did you get the images?

Jay McKinnon: I copied the birth certificate from the front page of DailyKos and edited them in Microsoft Paint.”

McKinnon’s dishonesty is exposed by the fact that the image on the front page of the June 12 Daily Kos Birth Certificate Diary is posted at a resolution of 400x390 pixels. Perhaps McKinnon can explain how he expanded the Daily Kosimageto 800x781 pixels without any loss in quality? Here are two side-by-side comparisons of McKinnon’s forged blank birth certificate and the Daily Kosfront-page version of Obama’s Certification (expanded to the same pixel width as McKinnon’s).

VIEW larger image here.

Here’s a close-up comparison:

VIEW larger image here.

McKinnon obviously did not produce the blank certificate from the front-page image on Daily Kos. And it is noteworthy that McKinnon specifically labels and links to the lower resolution front-page image on Daily Kos. His conduct once again raises questions concerning the actual genesis of the several suspect birth certificates.

Why is he engaging in this sort of deception after he already admitted to forging the blank birth certificate? Is this just another of his none too funny “jokes”?

And speaking of ”jokes,” McKinnon dismisses his Daily Kos Aphorgerie post as a joke. If it is just a silly joke, then why did Daily Kos remove the sub-tread on which McKinnon’s Aphorgerie forgery first appeared? The Aphorgerieimage actually was posted about 8 minutes before the blank birth certificate template appeared.

And why is McKinnonnow calling the blank birth certificate template the “Blank4McCain joke”? The blank certificate image has been clearly named HI_birthcert by McKinnonas found in the properties dialogue box. Is this an effort to exculpate himself from possible forgery charges by portraying the forged birth certificate as a joke?

In his July 5 Daily Kos Diary, McKinnonacknowledges that birth certificates are easy to forge and are still acceptable documentation until June 1, 2009.

And, as far back as 2006 McKinnon boasted on Daily Kosthat he could probably counterfeit a birth certificate at Kinko’s:

“Birth certificates, are you serious? Take a look at yours. Chances are I could counterfeit it at Kinkos.”

After acknowledging that birth certificates are easy to forge, opendna/Jay McKinnonhasinvited people from anywhere and everywhere to create their very own fake Hawaiian Birth Certificate by downloading the professionally forged template he created (which could be used to create a reasonable facsimile of a legal document). The posting was still there as of July 9.

So what in the world was this DHStrained document specialist thinking when he created and posted a counterfeit birth certificate in a public place? Was he just joking around?

Far from being a joke, I believea strong argument may be made that McKinnon’s intent and motivation for posting his forged birthcertification documents was primarily aimed at achieving political ends... His active involvement at Daily Kos speaks to this question.

Among other things, the fact that he is recognized there as a documents expert and was sought after to perform a forensic analysis on the Decosta/Obama birth certificates--raises serious questions about his political involvement in this matter.

What was his response to the person seeking forensic analysis of the Obama BirthCertificate? Did he email the sender back with an analysis? Who is the person who apparently sent the alleged images and do they have a prominent position (if any) at Daily Kos, or at the Obama Campaign for President?

In this instance we have the answer to at least some of these questions. The email sender apparently identifies herself and acknowledges that she received a response to her request for a forensic analysis in the comments section of McKinnon’s July 5th Daily Kos thread:

“That was me who wrote to you! ……Thanks for responding, though! Not to be corny but...the future of our nation is at stake. We. Have. To. Win. (F*ck Purity Trolls!)”

by jenontheshore on Sat Jul 05, 2008 at 03:11:09 PM PDT

If you click on the link jenontheshore link above, you will discover that she has written extensively as a supporter of Obama’s Campaign and has quite a photo journal of the Obama’s. Several of her stories also appear on Obama’s Campaign website.

I think it is particularly noteworthy that jenontheshore displays her amoral end-justifies-the-means attitude in her “We. Have. To. Win. (F*ck Purity Trolls!)” remark. And McKinnon’s comment on her post is equally illuminating:

“That email you wrote? 

Pure sunshine.”

by opendna on Sat Jul 05, 2008 at 04:45:09 PM PDT

The fact that he responded to a post on the Daily Kos BirthCertificate thread seeking a font expert with the response that he is a DHS trained documents expert raises similar questions. Who is mrblifil, the Daily Kos screen name of the person seeking a font expert and why was he or she seeking one? Perhaps McKinnon could explain what mrblifil wanted.

Is there a connection between this request for a font expert and the forging of McKinnon’s infamous birth certificates, the first of which was posted on Daily Kos about an hour later:

“How about a DHS-trained document expert?”
by opendna on Thu Jun 12, 2008 at 12:41:02 PM PDT

And perhaps McKinnoncan explain his feigned disinterest in the fake Birth Certificate story displayed in his July 5th Daily Kos Diary, given the fact that he posted a satirical commentary on the issue that includes the following remark on June 26, 2008:

“So, who wants me to establish that neither of the famed birthcertificates going around are "original", neither are "counterfeit" and to show how it is impossible for such a document to be both "valid" and viewable online? Is that really necessary?”

by opendna on Thu Jun 26, 2008 at 09:33:57 PM PDT

Far from being disinterested, it’s clear that he was monitoring this story from the beginning. It appears that he was even having a bit of fun with it as well—until, that is, his part in all the confusion was discovered.

And there are many other interesting questions that pertain to McKinnon’s political activities on Daily Kos as well. Why, for instance, did the Daily Kos administrationremove McKinnon’s “Aphorgerie” post and leave standing his blank birth certificate? Was McKinnon’s blank birth certificate left on line intentionally by Daily Kos administratorsto deceive and confuse investigators delving into the Obama Birth Certificate controversy?

Was there collusion between Kos administrators and McKinnon in the posting of his forged birth certificates? Or was McKinnon, as he wants to claim, just making innocent visual jokes, and unknowingly used as a tool by Daily Kos?

Whatever the answers to these questions might be, the reality is that McKinnon’s forgeries have created a great deal of suspicion and confusion surrounding the highly suspect Fight the Smears and Daily Kos postings of Barack Obama’s Certifications of Live Birth.

Whether they were intended to accomplish that goal is the question. And, given the high stakes involved in this presidential election, if it can be demonstrated that there was an underlying political motive and a conspiracy to deceive in the creation and continued posting of admittedly counterfeit legal documents, could that be construed legally to be proof of intent to defraud?

Could McKinnon and anyone involved in allowing his forged birth certificates to remain on line at Daily Kos be charged with forgery on this basis? Perhaps there is an attorney around who could answer this question.

Israelinsider has done a fine job of analyzing everything that’s wrong with McKinnon’s timeline and all the rest of the self-serving nonsense served up in opendna’s July 5 Diary at Daily Kos. You may read the five part series here.

In fairness to McKinnon, it must be acknowledged that there is a body of technical analysis that may be viewed as supporting his contention that he is not the author of the documents presented as Obama’s birth certificates on Daily Kos and the Smears website. However, the jury is still out on the genesis of the documents in question and who created them. Concerning McKinnon’s July 5th Diary, Israeliinsider puts it this way:

“The issue is whether McKinnon or someone else at Daily Kos used a blank template of a Hawaii birth certificate to create one for Obama. The fact that McKinnon, who prides himself on being so much smarter than everyone else, or at least 11 and a half out of 12, doesn't seem to address that issue only adds to the sense that he is being disingenuous and concealing the real timeline of events.

McKinnon’s effort to paint himself as an innocent victim runs contrary to the facts. His own conduct has clearly invited the kind of scrutiny and accusations of wrongdoing he has received from those who are investigating the birth certificate story. He has attracted this unwanted but warranted attention by posting his own professionally produced forgeries on a widely read internet blog (Daily Kos). And the dishonesty exhibited in his July 5th explanation of his forgeries on Daily Kos does absolutely nothing to allay the suspicions concerning his conduct.

And that brings us to the question of Jay McKinnon/opendna’s repeated threats to file a lawsuit for libel against those who have questioned him. Does McKinnon have a point? Has he been libeled? I believe the answer is no, for the reasons outlined below.

In an email forwarded to me by TexasDarlin, Jay McKinnon makes numerous implied threats and demands:

“From: Jay McKinnon
Date: Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:39:22
To: ************(TexasDarlin)

Subject: Re: Obama birth certificate

BCC: William McKinnon, Attorney at Law

Dear *********TexasDarlin,

Please provide me with your legal true and complete name, and a physical address or agent of service. Please identify all individuals (at a minimum by email address) with whom you have cooperated, corresponded or discussed Jay McKinnon/opendna prior to publishing any article.

If you are able, please provide a physical address or agent of service for NoQuarterUSA.net.

If you are able, please also provide the true and compete name of user "JimJ" and physical address or agent of service for the same. If you are able, please provide an email address and IP numbers for all posters, authors, commenters and users of NoQuarterUSA.net, and any other website, who have alleged that I have committed any crime.

Please publish a retraction and an apology on NoQuarterUSA.net, and any other website where you have made allegations against me.

Including the following information in order:

(1) Your true and correct name, mailing address and registered party affiliation;

(2) An apology to Jay McKinnon/opendna for publicizing his identity;

(3) A retraction and repudiation of all your previous writing concerning Jay McKinnon/opendna generally, and specifically with regards to The Birth Certificate;

(4) The text of your locality's laws governing counterfeiting and forgery;

(5) A description of how my actions failed to meet the requirements for a violation of said laws governing counterfeiting and forgery;

(6) The text of your locality?s laws governing conspiracy?

(7) A description of how actions by Jay McKinnon/opendna and others fail to meet the requirements of conspiracy;

(8 The text of your locality's laws governing libel;

(9) A description of how you violated those laws in your statements about me specifically, and Senator Obama, Moulitsas and others generally;

(10) A description of how you and other may have engaged in a conspiracy to libel Jay McKinnon/opendna;

(10) This statement, in its entirety and unedited: "I believe that there is overwhelming evidence, which establishes beyond a reasonable doubt, that Senator Obama is a natural born US Citizen, and that he has acted in good faith to establish this fact. I have no evidence to contradict that belief, have not seen any, and do not believe any exists. I have been libeled by humorless fools trying to look clever on the internet. "Jay McKinnon/opendna";

(11) An admission that the statement in #10 is true to the best of your knowledge;

Please post a comment linking to the article described above on every blog and comment thread on the internet which references me in regards to the "the Obama birth certificate situation."

Nothing in this email should be construed to release you or anyone else from legal liability, nor as a forfeiture of my legal rights.

In his July 5th Daily Kos Diary McKinnon makes similar threats:

“Opendna: You said you have an attorney. Are you going to sue?

Jay McKinnon: I have exchangedemails with TexasDarlin from NoQuarter, one of the authors driving this "story" at its source, and various other individuals. I generally request that they retract their articles, apologize publicly and identify themselves to me via email, among other things. The extent to which they make a good faith effort to honor my request will determine whether they are individuals of integrity, or just anonymous cowards on the internet. If you see that block quote the top of the diary in an apology, they are probably individuals of some integrity.

The extent to which I feel vindictive next week will determine whether I pursue the legal action required to strip them of their anonymity. That’s not a decision I feel like making at the moment and the California Statute of Limitations of libel is one year.”

All of this clearly represents an effort to silence the investigation into his forged birth certificates and any possible link they might have to Daily Kos and the Obama Campaign. But Jay McKinnon/opendna is by definition a public figure and subject to laws that severely restrict his ability to prevail in a libel lawsuit. He most likely is well aware of this. And this kind of intimidation tactic must be thoroughly repudiated and exposed for what it is. TexasDarlin is to be commended for declining to cave in to this kind of harassment.

As mentioned above, Jay McKinnon, who has appeared on the internet as opendna since 1995, is a political activist with several political blogs to his credit. He thus clearly qualifies as a public figure. Ironically, according to the website stipulated by McKinnon in making threats of litigation in his July 5th Daily Kos Diary:

“someone may be a limited-purpose public figure. A limited-purpose public figure is one who (a) voluntarily participates in a discussion about a public controversy, and (b) has access to the media to get his or her own view across. “

According to the same website, in order to prevail in a libel lawsuit:

“A public figure must show "actual malice" — that you published with either knowledge of falsity or in reckless disregard for the truth. This is a difficult standard for a plaintiff to meet.”

More information concerning public figures and defamation/libel law is found here:

ExpertLaw.com

The fact that McKinnon is a public figure is indisputable. McKinnon has run several politically oriented internet websites since 1995, at least two of which are well represented in internet archives. These sites include his current Daily Kos Diary, longbeachpolitics.org, and opendna .com.

LongBeachPolitics.org was online for at least three and one half years, billing itself as:

“Long Beach California's one-stop source for political news, commentary, and connections. Find out about local issues, contact your elected representatives, publicize and participate in campaigns, read news headlines, network with neighborhood leaders and like-minded peers, take action to effect change, and discuss the burning issues that have an impact Long Beach, the State of California, and our Nation. To get started, please register now! “

longbeachpolitics.org

longbeachpolitics.org

longbeachpolitics.org

McKinnon’s other website, opendna.com, has apparently been online in one incarnation or another since as far back as 1995. Archived records are still available for 6 years from April 2001 through April 2007. And links within those same records indicate postings as early as 1995. This blog is still online, but you now need permission from McKinnon to access the site. Interestingly, opendna.com has posted a link to his July 5th Daily Kos Diary.

In one of the more interesting blog entries I found during a cursory look through the archives of opendna.com, McKinnon describes a Canadian Thanksgiving and his duties as a federal immigration officer:

opendna.freeshell.net

And here’s a link to over 1000 archived entries for opendna.com:

opendna.com archives.

Because Jay McKinnon/opendna is clearly a public figure, his threats to sue those who uncovered his real world identity and engaged in discussion and speculation concerning any possible wrongdoing on his part are unlikely to materialize. Some unintentional mistakes have unquestionably been made by those involved in the investigation into the Obama birth certificate mystery, including myself.

Indeed, on the basis of more compelling technical analysis by others, I repudiated my theory that Jay McKinnon’s forged birth certificates may have been used to create the Obama Birth Certificate images found on Daily Kos. As soon as apparent errors in my technical analysis of the documents in question were called to my attention, I immediately and publicly acknowledged that I needed to rethink my theory. I did so on the blog where my story was first posted and where it was, and still is, displayed.

That said, no one has offered any definitive conclusion concerning the genesis of the birth certificates found at Smears and Daily Kos. And, for the record, I categorically deny that I have actedwith malicious intent toward Jay McKinnon or anyone else during my investigations into the Obama Birth Certificate controversy. Nor have I published anything with“knowledge of falsity” or in “reckless disregard for the truth”. I have, in good faith, attempted only to discover the truth.

Actually, given the circumstances surrounding the entire forged Obama birth certificate story and the fact that Jay McKinnon has now publicly admitted to forging legal documents and posting them publicly, the standards for him to win a libel lawsuit would most likely be impossible for him to meet.

Jay McKinnon may also want to consider the fact that filing a frivolous libel lawsuit could result in his paying the legal fees for the attorneys for all defendants. He could even face the possibility of the judge awarding damages to the defendants. And, if he continues withthethreats, he could even be accused of and charged with criminal harassment.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to be in McKinnon’s shoes. His self-serving explanation concerning his creation of the forged birth certificates is full of holes and raises more questions than it answers. And his “my forgeries were all just a joke” and “jpgs cant be called forgeries” defense is pitiful. As a former federal officer, he knows better. His suggestion that he lacked “intent to defraud” is countered by the fact that, given the context of his actions (Daily Kos), a strong argument may be established that he posted his counterfeited images in the pursuit of various political ends.

And his most recent falsehoods concerning the timelines and actual origin and creation of the forged documents only serve to increase suspicions surrounding his conduct. Jay McKinnon would have been far better off confessing to a priest, than publicly admitting that he forged legal documents and posted them on the internet. And, if I were him, I’d be much more concerned about the possibility that someone might come knocking at my door with an arrest warrant than whether or not I might prevail in a libel lawsuit.

From: TD
Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2008 10:30 AM
To: Jay McKinnon

Mr. McKinnon,

You've misinterpreted my writings.  I have not accused you of anything.

I am in search of the truth.  That's why I contacted you in the first place.

If you'd like to post your version of events, your viewpoint, or your response to what others have written, send your story.  I have offered you the opportunity to present your views, and thus far you have declined.  The offer still stands. I hope that you will reconsider, and take the opportunity to send me your viewpoint.  It's important to get to the truth.

#####

On Sat, Jul 5, 2008 at 5:11 PM, Jay McKinnon wrote:

Read http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/5/15947/95667/125/547039

Be sure to follow the "falsely accusing someone of a crime" link to EFF and read it very, very carefully.

RE http://texasdarlin.wordpress.com/2008/07/03/update-daily-kos-an-obama-activist-and-forged-birth-certificates/

"If Senator Obama were to produce a hard copy of his birth certificate that has the requisite embossed seal, registrar's stamp/signature, and other necessary features — this blog will immediately report that information. So far, no independent reporter has viewed the actual COLB, to my knowledge."

Please see http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/jun/27/obamas-birth-certificate-part-ii/ from the St Petersburg Times

I look forward to retractions and apologies and an email containing your full legal name and mailing address/agent of service. 

Why has the Times ignored the citizenship questions swirling around Barack Obama?

Such as: Was Obama an Indonesian citizen? If so, doesn't that disqualify him for the presidency according to the Constitution? And what about Kenyan citizenship? Which hospital was he born in?  Why won't he show a hard copy of his original birth certificate (NOT just the abbreviated COLB), Etc.

The mainstream media needs to examine these and other questions, or ordinary citizens might have to in court. Because one thing seems for sure:  A candidate's application for the presidency gets very little scrutiny through official channels.

A couple of days ago I requested information about...

1. The requirements for a presidential candidate to show proof of eligibility...what responsibility does a presidential candidate have...to demonstate...his/her credentials for the presidency... 

2.  ...Which governmental or non-govt. body has the responsibility to ensure that candidates meet eligibility requirements?

I'm still sorting through all the responses I received.  But one thing is clear: There doesn't seem to be a formal procedure for verifying the eligibility requirements of a presidential candidate.

At the state level -- let's take Illinois, for example -- the State Board of Elections requires a presidential candidate to fill out nominating paperwork, much of which involves financial and other technical details. The candidate must also sign a Statement of Qualification ...

that I am legally qualified (including being the holder of any license that may be an eligibility requirement for the office to which I seek the nomination) to hold such office...

At the federal level, presidential candidates file paperwork with the FEC but it's mostly financial stuff.

Reader Marie reported:

I had called the Fed Election Commission....I finally spoke with one of their lawyers. She said that they typically only deal with campaign finance issues and do not require that the candidate show any documentation re eligibility.

Reader xdemocrat got similar information:

I spoke to Wanda Thomas at the FEC...and asked her what Federal Agency did have oversight of eligibility requirements for Federal candidates. She seemed to think that once a candidate clears the ballot access hurdle in their state of origin, there is no agency with such oversight.

NO OVERSIGHT. Hmmm...I guess they figure that a person is eligible to be president if he/she says so...?

Okay....So, the candidate has an affirmative duty, at least at the state level, to swear that he/she meets the legal requirements of the office.

But if there are questions about a candidate's eligibility, apparently there is no official oversight.  So it's up to the people, another candidate, a political organization, or some other type of party to make a challenge.

Of course, regular citizens typically don't have the resources -- and in this case, courage (see "hate mail" link at top of this site) -- to challenge a presidential candidate like Barack Obama. That's why a free and independent media is so important.  And that's why the Times' biased coverage is so unacceptable.

Perhaps it will take a gutsy conservative commentator and media critic such as Andy Martin to make the case:

I will also be taking legal action to pry open the vault of Obama’s “family secrets.” But it is sufficient for today to raise my questions as a media critic: why is the Times obsessed with stale questions about McCain’s citizenship and eligibility to serve as president, when the Times is ignoring the much more serious questions which are apparent about Obama’s citizenship and eligibility?

~~~

The Times runs a front-page story about McCain’s citizenship, when his family history is clear and open, while ignoring the massively complex and concealed facts about Obama’s bizarre family history and potential questions about his citizenship. Do the liberal media have an agenda? You bet.

Martin promises a series of press conferences next week on the question of Obama's eligibility.  And while he is not my preferred spokesperson, I am relieved to see someone who has done the research take on this critical challenge.

See these previous posts:

McCain Showed His Birth Certificate, an actual piece of paper

In Which Hospital Was Obama Born?

And other posts at TexasDarlin, all rights reserved.

How about it, Senator Obama? Will you do the same? Will you show reporters a hard copy of the version of your birth certificate that identifies the hospital where you were born?

A reader recently directed me to a May article in the Washington Post entitled McCain's Birth Abroad Stirs Legal Debate.

A few facts reported by WaPo in that story jumped out at me because they illustrate how McCain and Obama have handled the same question in opposite ways.

McCain was transparent. Obama has been secretive.

Pay attention to the words in bold:

...One person who disagrees with that premise is New Hampshire resident Fred Hollander, who has filed a suit in U.S. District Court claiming that the Republican candidate is "not a natural born citizen." In an attempt to prove his argument, the 49-year-old computer programmer filed a subpoena last month seeking McCain's birth certificate.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees citizenship services, declined to hand over copies of the document, saying the subpoena was improperly served.

In his autobiography, "Faith of My Fathers," McCain writes that he was born "in the Canal Zone" at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Coco Solo, which was under the command of his grandfather, John S. McCain Sr. The senator's father, John S. McCain Jr., was an executive officer on a submarine, also based in Coco Solo. His mother, Roberta McCain, now 96, has vivid memories of lying in bed listening to raucous celebrations of her son's birth from the nearby officers' club.

The birth was announced two days later in the English-language Panamanian American newspaper. A senior official of the McCain campaign showed a reporter a copy of the senator's birth certificate issued by Canal Zone health authorities, recording his birth in the Coco Solo "family hospital."

Let's review the facts reported by the Post:

1. Sen. McCain wrote in his autobiography that he was born in the Panama Canal.

2. A citizen filed suit in Federal Court, and asked to see Sen. McCain's birth certificate.

3. Citing a procedural error, the Dept. of Homeland Security refused to provide it.

4. But John McCain's campaign volunteered to show a hard copy to a reporter anyway, and that document named the hospital where McCain was born.

5. There is also a newspaper clipping confirming his birth.

6. Roberta McCain, the Senator's 96-year-old-mother, provided further verification when she told a story about giving birth to her son.

Now let's look at the facts of Barack Obama's situation (as I understand them):

1. Sen. Obama wrote in his memoir that he was born in Hawaii (or did he go that far?).

2. Thousands if not millions of citizens have asked to see Sen. Obama's birth certificate. None of those people to my knowledge have yet filed a lawsuit.

3. Sen. Obama dodged the request for months.

4. Finally, Sen. Obama published an image on a website that is meant to be his Certification of Live Birth (COLB) from the State of Hawaii. The reference number is blacked out, and to the naked eye, ALL of the markings required to make it a certified document are absent.

5. The COLB form proffered on the Internet by Sen. Obama is used by the State of Hawaii as an abstract of one's original birth certificate. The abstract includes only bare-bones information: names of the child and parents, city, county, dates, etc.

6. The COLB form does NOT include detailed information from the original birth certificate, such as the name of the hospital, doctor's signature, parents' occupations, parents' signatures, etc.

7. Prior to 2001, the State of Hawaii's COLB formed included most if not all of the information from the original birth certificate.

8. Sen. Obama, by showing a recently dated COLB, would apparently have us believe that he does not possess an older version with more detailed information.

9. There are conflicting reports about the hospital in which Sen. Obama was born.

10. Sen. Obama has yet to show a hard copy of his birth certificate (not even the short COLB form) to a reporter.

11. No newspaper clippings have been produced verifying Sen. Obama's birth.

12. Although the Senator's mother is no longer living, his maternal grandmother (in her 80s) is alive and lucid by all accounts; yet she has been made "unavailable" by the Senator's campaign.

13. Questions remain unanswered about the authenticity of Sen. Obama's birth certificate and thus the facts related to his birth.

So, what do you say, Senator Obama?  Are you willing to be as responsive as your Republican opponent in showing reporters a hard copy of your birth certificate that identifies the hospital in which you were born?

Or will one of those curious citizens have to file a lawsuit to see it?

If someone does file a lawsuit in federal court, and asks to see a copy of Sen. Obama's original birth certificate, or a complete facsimile of the original that includes a hospital name, I am sure that the litigant will not make the same error when serving a subpoena to the Department of Homeland Security.

Today I made Oliver 'official'.  Hehe.  He now exists properly.  I took him to be registered in Lombard Street, Dublin and here is his birth certificate :)  I was so worried I would spell the name wrong or something...

Regardless, Hawaii's form COLB serves as an abstract for the original birth certificate (remember in Dreams, Obama says he found that in high school), which includes extensive details of one's birth. The State of Hawaii maintains the original long version in its files for all registrants. 

If Obama's COLB is valid, and if he was born in Honolulu as he says, one question still remains unanswered.

In which hospital was Obama born:   Queens Medical Center or Kapiolani Medical Center?   I read that Obama himself refuses to answer this question.  Is that true?

Many reference materials say Obama was born at Kapiolani, including Wikipedia English version under the subject "Barack Obama."

But under the subject "Queens Hospital," Wikipedia says Obama was born there. And Wikipedia Italian says this:

Barack Obama nacque al Queen's Medical Center di Honolulu da Barack Hussein Obama Sr....

Wikipedia Geneology says Queens too.

And there's this reference on Yahoo Answers:

Apparently, examination of the hospitals' records in Hawaii have shown no birthing records for Ann Dunham Obama even though there is a registry of the birth in the public records office a week after his date of birth it does not show his place of birth.

Perhaps that Yahoo Answer explains Ann Dunham's brief stop-over in Mercer Island with baby Barack when he was only a couple of weeks old.  Is it possible that she was on her way back to Hawaii?

The State of Hawaii does provide for "late registration" births.

Does anyone know in which hospital Stanley Ann Dunham delivered Barack Obama?

UPDATE: A reader, Aragon, adds...

Alternatively, I ask, “Can anyone identify a written statement or interview or recorded statement wherein Obama, himself, identifies which hospital he was born in?” I’ve asked this question for a month now. No statement has been idenitified by anyone here or elsewhere. The inference to be drawn from this is obvious. He doesn’t identify a hospital because it is something that can be factually verified or debunked and this would compromise his aura of plausable deniability when it comes to issues of his true birth place.

#####

You can help keep the TexasDarlin blog alive and active by donating here:

Y'know, I truly do appreciate the effort that went into AJ Strata 's unfortunately necessary debunking of the 'forged Obama birth certificate' smear that has apparently been burning up the Freeper/talk radio circuit, but I'm once again left wondering what the fuck is up with the online right's ongoing obsession with typefaces, fonts and border space (to say nothing of dishonest, hack-tastic wankery in general)?

Recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers

There used to be a link on BarackObama.com Fact Check Center to the Birth Certificate explanation that is on this my.BO page, which, by the way, is NOT easy to find if you go to Obama's website looking for "Fight The Smears."

WHY did Obama remove that link?

Anyone else smell a stinky fish?

A few days later the Obama site would post a very low resolution, barely legible image -- it still is there on the site, with no reference to the one first posted at the Daily Kos.

Yet the service of Daily Kos to the Obama campaign raises some questions: Who in the campaign would be authorized to release a personal document of Barack Obama's birth certificate? Was it a paper document that they sent to Kos to scan, or did the Obama campaign scan the original and send it to Kos? If so, why not just post it on the Fight the Smears site? Or is there another possible source for the document? There is no documentation of the provenance of this image, from whom and why it was transmitted to Daily Kos, and in which format. None, that is, except for the say-so of Markos Moulitsas, who said he simply asked the Obama campaign for it.

The perceived unreliability of the image has provoked petitions and widespread demands for Obama to submit for objective inspection the paper versions of the "birth certificate" he claimed in his book Dreams from My Father was in his possession, as well as the paper version of the Certificate of Live Birth for which the image on the Daily Kos and the Obama "Fight the Smears" website was supposedly generated.

Without a valid birth certificate, the primary record of US birth, Obama cannot prove that he fulfills the "natural born citizen" requirement of the Constitution, throwing into doubt his eligibility to run for President and throwing the race into turmoil. His presumed Kenyan-born father was foreign-born, and his mother was too young at the time of birth to confer natural born status by virtue of her American citizenship. Thus his citizenship comes down to proving he was born in the USA, and his campaign has staked its credibility on the authenticity of the Daily Kos-derived birth certificate image [...]

N.

Others disagree.

So what are the facts, and what questions are still unanswered?

To the best of my knowledge, the FACTS are:

1. Kos published a Certification of Live Birth for Obama on June 12th, and did not explain in that story how he obtained the document. 

2. During the day of June 12th, "opendna" posted two versions of a mostly blank COLB in the comments threads of Kos's story.  Those COLBs appear to the naked eye to be identical to the Obama COLB on Kos, absent text specific to Obama.

3. Later in the day on June 12th, the Obama campaign posted a COLB on the FightTheSmears site; that COLB appears to be the same as the one published earlier in the day on Daily Kos.

4. To the naked eye, the COLBs posted by Kos and Obama lack an embossed seal as well as a registrar's stamp/signature.  They also have a black block covering the certification number.

5. Subsequently, the application of image-enhancing software appeared to reveal the outline of an embossed seal on one or more of the subject COLBs, but did not reveal the registrar's stamp/signature.

6. Other COLBs for other persons have been posted on the Internet, and they say "Date Accepted by State Registrar" in lower left corner, whereas Obama's alleged COLB says "Date Filed by Registrar."

7. There have been no published accounts from independent reporters who have examined the actual Certification of Live Birth from Obama.  Even Kos, who stated briefly in a comment to his June 12th story that he acquired the COLB by "asking for it," has not publicly acknowledged that he's seen the COLB nor  verified that the embossed seal and other legally required elements are present.

Based on the facts, outstanding QUESTIONS are:

1. If there is a physical COLB for Obama from Hawaii with an embossed seal, registrar's stamp, and all the other required elements of an official COLB, why hasn't Obama produced that for independent verification?

2. Why does Kos appear to be taking on the primary responsibility of documenting Obama's legitimate COLB for the campaign?

3. What has been the chain of custody of the actual COLB that purportedly has a physical embossed seal? Who has handled it, and when, in recent months?

4. If Kos saw the actual COLB, why hasn't he updated his story to state that he saw the document and can confirm that it has an embossed seal and other appropriate markings?

5. What is the origin of the COLB templates posted on Kos by opendna, and how do they relate, if at all, to the COLB presented by Obama and Kos?

6. Why is the reference number on the COLB concealed? The number has no relevance or connection to other confidential information; it's just a file number issued by the State of Hawaii, the first four digits of which indicate the year of birth.

7. Why does Obama's COLB say "date filed" in the lower left section when all of the other COLBs from Hawaii say "date accepted?"

Why is this important? Obama has been elusive when asked for records in general. However, the big question is where was Obama born, Hawaii or Kenya. Obama may not be eligible to be president. The birth certificate on the internet was an attempt to put that issue to rest. The apparently fake certificate was even displayed on the Obama Fight the Smears website.

The israelinsider.com website has a new article out that announces that the Obama birth certificate is fake and reveals the forger. Here are some excerpts:

"Jay McKinnon, a self-described Department of Homeland Security-trained document specialist, has implicated himself in the production of fake Hawaii birth certificate images similar to the one endorsed as genuine by the Barack Obama campaign, and appearing on the same Daily Kos blog entry where the supposedly authentic document appears.

The evidence of forgery and manipulation of images of official documents, triggered by Israel Insider's revelation of the collection of Hawaii birth certificate images on the Photobucket site and the diligent detective work of independent investigative journalists (led by JimJ and Texas Darling) and imaging professionals such as Polarik in the three weeks since the publication of the images, implicate The Daily Kos, a "progressive" blog site, and the Obama campaign's "Fight the Smears" website, in misleading the public with official-looking but manipulated document images of doubtful provenance. Moreover, the blog and the campaign have been negligent in allowing the promotion of obviously forged and fake official documents together with the purported image of Obama's birth certificate."

Read the rest of the article here: 

http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/12956.htm

 View the Obama birth certificate in question on the Obama Fight the Smears site here or view it below:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/birthcert

JimJ theorized that the Certificate of Live Birth (COLB) for Obama on Kos and FightTheSmears originated from opendna's blank template.

Polarik disagrees.

For me, the jury is still out. I am still collecting and evaluating information. It's up the readers to decide the ultimate truth.

What was the first image posted on the Net? Kos's second image.

What was the second image posted on the Net? Kos's first image.

What came before the Kos images?

The "missing link," namely, a shadowy figure called, Dr. X, who produced the very first, scanned image that was later forwarded to the Kos.

Was this a scan of Obama's genuine Certification of Live Birth?

OH HECK NO!

The Genesis of the faked images in order of their creation, but not in order of their appearance will be, once and for all, revealed after you read the preliminary work that led to these conclusions.

Sorry to disagree with other theorists on this matter, but my analyses prove that OpenDNA’s images --both of them -- came directly from the Kos image. Absolutely, 100%, no doubt. The "little dot" as one person has called it is actually an anomaly -- a piece of junk on the scanner glass or on the COLB itself.

Regardless, it is a BIG Boo-Boo on the Kos image that appears smaller on the OpenDNA image -- a definite sign of being copied.

What is throwing people off are the differences in the resolution of the images and not the size or quality.

Nearly all monitors are scaled at 96 DPI, which is why web images are scaled to 96 DPI -- to look best when seen by a monitor. The OPLNY reason, then, why OpenDNA's image appears of "higher quality" is there difference in resolution.

Making an image of higher resolution -- like what the Kos image happens to be, namely, 300 DPI, is COUNTERPRODUCTIVE with web graphics; i.e.., they look WORSE WHEN ENLARGED.

OpenDNA's images are 800 x 781 - exact scale reductions from 2427 x 2369, and by changing the resolution to 96 DPI from 300 DPI was not done just to make them look better -- but also to make one think that, "Hey maybe this was the original image derived from a scanner, since the default resolution of scanners is 96 DPI."
vdgswqZSWQ1

Again, not as clear as the Kos image, BUT clearer than the OpenDNA images. Check out the differences between STATE OF HAWAII on the Smears versus OpenDNA. Notice anything? First off, there are more artifacts on OpenDNA's slice than on Smears slice.

More importantly -- the fonts closely resemble each other, but no OpenDNA's are not the same as either the Kos or the Smears when looked at under the same magnification. The difference is not an artifact. You can also see that the absolute positions of the type differ from both the Kos and the Smears, leading to one conclusion.

Open DNA, like "Dr X," literally started with an almost blank canvas, wiping out all of the type, both field names and data. "Dr. X," is the unknown person to whom I refer as the one producing the original scanned image that wound up in the hands of the Kos.

That the fonts are slightly different in shape and position should ring a few bells, don't you think?

The last image I'll show you is the reduced image that the Smears used to replace the first one they had (which, as we've seen was a direct copy of the Kos).

Instead of the dimensions of the new image being proportionate, they are 585 x 575 @ 100 DPI which is off by 4 pixels, but is off 200 DPI in resolution.

A significant difference designed to obscure the detail in the image -- as many of you astute observers have noted. BTW, ONLY the Kos images show the seal under edge detection. The ALLEGED higher quality OpenDNA brought back up to 2427 x 2369 @ 96 DPI shows squat!

(NOTE: this is obviously not the entire image -- it is just the area where the seal should be. The entire image is nearly 6MB -- too long to post, but it is also on my Photobucket album.)

THE MISSING "MAGIC SEAL."

That's the penalty for reducing the original Kos image down in size and resolution. Remember, in my blog, The Greater Evil, I noted that one could reproduce the edge-detected, smaller Smears image by first reducing the original, larger Kos image down to the same size and resolution of the Smears image, and then apply edge detection.

The process of edge detection, not only changed the pattern of the background, it made the entire image magenta!

Despite the yucky color, notice how the background has changed from a series of lines to a crosshatched one. Guess what? OpenDNA's images have the same pattern:

Now, rather than cut-and-paste the entire post I placed on my blog, and make this comment way too long to read in one sitting, you may visit my blog for the entire analysis.

To conclude: In the beginning, there was Dr X. Dr X. took a certified COLB, that DID NOT BELONG TO OBAMA, scanned it, and then proceeded to Photoshop out two of the three folds, and all of the field headers and data, using pieces of the background and the HEALING tool to blend them in -- that is why the Kos seal is so faint.

Then, with a blank canvas on which to paint his "masterpiece of fakery," freshly typed in the filed names and the MODIFIED data fields to make it look like a COLB from BHO.

Dr X then gave it up to the Kos, who then proceeded to proudly display it on its web page. Meanwhile, back at the Obama ranch, news of the posted image hit the Obamanites like a bombshell, and they proceeded to copy the newly-minted image, while making plans to post it on their "Fight the Smears" site.

BEFORE they could do that, the authenticity of the Kos image was challenged by OpenDNA, and in a move they have regretted, challenged OpenDNA to produce a faked COLB. He doubled their dismay by producing two from their original image: one totally blank, except for the field and date for the island of birth and time of birth -- both simply left there by OpenDNA as he proceeded to blot out the rest of the fields and data.

In his second rendition, he entered that weird name for the child field. The "Smears shmucks" were caught, flatfooted. They quickly slammed down their direct copy of the Kos image, and claimed, "Here is his birth certificate," after weakly countering the argument that BHO was not born in the USA.

Realizing the dumb move of posting a really good copy of the fake that was open to inspection, the Smears shmucks pulled it down and replaced it with one almost half its size. They also removed the "Here is his birth certificate," claim!

So, instead of seeing an image tied to a counterargument verified by the COLB, we just have a totally different argument, followed by an orphaned image.

The proverbial ball got rolling on June 10, when Jim Geraghty, reporting on the Campaign Spot, a National Review blog, cited the "unlikely" but still circulating rumor that Obama was born not within the United States, but elsewhere, possibly Kenya. Geraghty said the Obama campaign could "debunk" the rumors about his birth simply by releasing a copy of his birth certificate, but the campaign has so far chosen not to do that.

So, who comes to the rescue? Dr X. Dr. X makes the original COLB scan and passes it along to the Daily Kos who post it on their website on June 12. OpenDNA says, "Hey, that's looks like a fake." The Kos said, "Oh, yeah? Make one." And darned if he didn't -- two of them, Meanwhile, the Obama camp has gotten wind of the Kos image and becomes alarmed. Then, after a lengthy time to figure out how to RIGHT-CLICK & SAVE a web image to disk, they copy the Kos image and post it on their "Fight The Smears" website (which has a tendency to make itself over if it smells trouble).

And, then the Shmears hit the fan as myself and a cadre of other bloggers proceeded to cut it up like a Xmas Goose.

But give the Obama camp credit for putting up, then taking down, then putting back up a sentence to the effect that Obama has made his birth certificate public, and here it is:

To which, I end with, HERE IT'S NOT. Never was. Never will be.

Either BHO has got the COLB or he doesn't.

I say, "Put up or shut up!"

OK, now. Who's da' Man?

Great analysis, Polarik! After viewing your analysis and jacksonian’s over at NoQuarter, it looks like I need to rethink my own theory. I didn’tknow about the first Smears post and you’ve provided a number of helpful insights! The only thing I’m really sure about though, is that Obama’s Campaign needs to provide a paper copy of his birth certificate! Keep up the good work!

NOTE from TexasDarlin (update 7/4/08): In pursuit of the truth, I wrote to opendna asking for clarification of his/her involvement in the birth certificate mystery, providing an opportunity for opendna to address JimJ's assertions.  Opendna declined to give a substantive response. (see rest of TD's NOTE at end).

In this update to JimJ's first story, the author concludes that the Certifications of Live Birth published on Obama's FightTheSmears site and DailyKos are forgeries, and that both images originate from the blogger opendna's template. JimJ's theory is based on the discovery of a matching anomaly in all three documents.

update 7/4/08: JimJ's story reflects his own views, and presents one of many theories that have been discussed.

Birth Certificate posts in the series are listed at the end. In particular, see my recent story, Birth Certificate Mystery Ongoing, in which I explored the issues raised in JimJ's first post. -- TD

How did an Obama Activist and self identified documents expert for the Department of Homeland Security produce a mostly blank forged Certification of Live Birth of higher quality than a similar image posted at Daily Kos only hours after the alleged Obama Birth Certificate first appeared on June 12?

Why did Daily Kos remove a sub-thread with opendna’s infamous “Aphorgerie” Certification of Live Birth from the June 12 thread where Obama’s first appeared?

First, let’s look at the digital anomaly.

Barack Obama’s alleged Certifications of Live Birth found on Daily Kos and Barack Obama’s Fight the Smears website, and the forged Certification documents posted at Jay Mckinnin/opendna’s photobucket site are all derived from copies of the same image.

There is an anomaly found in images posted at each site that proves this. The identifying mark appears slightly to the left of the state seal at the top of the page at the same level as the S in State. It appears without enhancement as a gray dot that is darker than the surrounding area in the latest version of the Obama Birth Certificate now appearing on Daily Kos. And it appears even more clearly when enhanced:

VIEW the larger image here.

You can test this for yourself. Download a copy of one of the images like the one found at Daily Kos or opendna’s from photobucket:

Kos image