Could someone hand me a link to the debunking of that Philip Berg nonsense regarding the Obama birth certificate crap (here is the video). There is so much of this crap floating out there that I can not find the links, yet I am beseiged by another close friend wanting to “explain” the video. This is the “illuminati” video from the other day. You would think the name would be a clue.
These right-wing email lists are killing me.
Bulworth
How about telling them to Suck.On.This.
PsiFighter37
Can’t you just link to Markos’ post that has the birth certificate photo?
Whatever, in 14 days, these ratfuckers will be shut the hell up. Or maybe not, but then they can drag the Republican Party off the edge of the cliff that will turn them into a regional political party, at best.
DougJ
Yeah, I was cc’ed on one of those crazy right-wing lists and went ballistic about it.
We’re not even near peak wingnut.
And speaking of wingnuts, we’ve got a new Bachman on our hands, my friends:
Comrade Jake
There is this invention, it’s called The Google.
Here’s the link you want, tough guy.
Stephanie
Here’s the factcheck.org stuff on the authenticity of the certificate:
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html
Far Left American Hater Incertus
They’re like the hardcore truthers who think that Bush ordered a missile strike on the Pentagon and pulled the people off that flight and had them shot and buried in the ANWR. Nothing you say will convince them otherwise, and I doubt it’s worth trying.
Atanarjuat
Here you go, Mr. Cole:
FINAL REPORT ON OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE
Glad to help out.
Country First.
Ken
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp
My very loyally Republican family doesn’t trust Snopes anymore, of course. They clearly have a left-wing bias :)
jim
Very glad to be of service.
Here’s the confirmation that Obama’s birth certificate is legit, from the extremely conservative World News Daily:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=73214
Also it’s at Snopes:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp
And here’s factcheck.org with their hands on Obama’s actual birth certificate:
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html
Incidentally, loved your appearance on Bill Maher’s show a few weeks back. You’re doing great things, being a reasonable conservative. Thanks, and please keep it up.
robertdsc
Fact Check.org on the birth certificate.
Justin Gardner
Here ya go. And from Ed Morrissey no less.
By the way, this story is not about John McCain.
Mr. Stuck
The only ones I can provide are oddly enough made by AJ strata and he does a pretty good job with the debunking.
Mr. Cole I somehow screwed up and got two comments with two different emails sent to spam using ajax editor. Could you set them free so I can use them to comment with again.
debrazza
Does it help the cause that Berg is a bonafide 911 truther?
Link
dmsilev
Speaking of birth certificates and other bits of nonsense, I posted this link a couple threads back. Agent Flowbee has thrown in the towel on the whitey tape:
Because, of course, the McCain campaign is renowned for its stubborn insistence on avoiding random smears.
But fear not, birth certificate gate is Not Dead Yet:
-dms
Comrade Jake
In all seriousness, arguing with this kind of nonsense is akin to debating whether or not the moon landing was a hoax.
You get the point I hope. The best counter to this sort of thing is to ask people what could someone show them that would convince them, beyond any doubt, that Obama was born in the USA. If they’re honest, they’ll admit there’s nothing that will satisfy them. The more evidence they’re shown that they’re wrong, the crazier the explanations become.
yet another jeff
Yeah, I was just posting the AJ Strata collection for someone on another board a few minutes ago. Synchronicity…
Because, you know, factcheck.org is funded by the Annenbergs…goddamn, people I thought were relatively sane internet friends are all starting to go Black Hole Sun about Obama (my personal visual for The Great Mental Unraveling). This is good too, I think I came to it from one of the Strata posts, a debunking of Techdude himself.
yet another jeff
@Comrade Jake:
Well…Philip J. Berg IS a 9/11 Truther…one of his more fun lawsuits is against Bush and Cheney for allowing/causing the events of 9/11
dick weathers
@DougJ:
Ah, Shotgun Randy. My former Congressman. Stay classy you wife abusing drunk.
KRK
You’ve been given a lot of links on the birth certificate question. (No clue why "the state of Hawaii says it’s legit" isn’t sufficient for some people.)
The blog Yes to Democracy has been following the Berg case pretty closely and if you go back through the posts there, there are several giving specifics on what Berg’s claims are and procedurally what is happening with the lawsuit (and why it’s going nowhere).
DougJ
Ah, Shotgun Randy. My former Congressman.
You from Pittsford? Are are you a real NY-29er (from the Tier)?
leo
These people need meds not facts.
dick weathers
@DougJ:
I used to live in Brighton. Moved away about two years ago.
Comrade Jake
Cole was on Maher’s show? Really? I must have missed that one.
rreay
@DougJ:
That little shit.
We live about a mile out of Kuhl’s district. Just a couple of nights ago we were driving and saw a Kuhl yard sign and I had to explain my expletives and tell my wife why I hate him without knowing anything about how he votes. [Dick explains why]
Fuck, now I have to find another $50 for Eric Massa.
rreay
One click, two posts. Thanks to edit I don’t look like too much of a dork
yet another jeff
Well, have we ever seen John and Sully at the same time in the same place?
DougJ
We live about a mile out of Kuhl’s district.
Me too!
Bulworth
"Cole was on Maher’s show? Really? I must have missed that one."
There a video clip anywhere?
Comrade Jake
@yet another jeff:
Yeah, I figure that the dude probably has Cole confused with Sully. I’m a big fan of both, but they’re, well, pretty fucking different dudes.
DougJ
rreay: any interest in contributing to a local blog? We have a pretty good local one looking for new bloggers.
dick weathers
@rreay:
I have nothing else to add other than God do I miss Dinosaur BBQ.
rreay
@DougJ:
RochesterTurning or something new? Either way I am so not a writer. Just not my skill set…
rreay
@dick weathers:
Agreed, Dinosaur is good but I can never justify an hour wait for dinner.
Sticky Lips is almost as good, the dino sauces are a bit better, but there’s never more than a 15 minute wait.
DougJ
RochesterTurning or something new?
Yeah, RT.
Montysano
My wife decided to "engage" with some wingnut relatives and associates, to attempt to "show them the light" as it were, so our inbox has been jammed lately (I really wish she hadn’t done it). But I watched a few minutes of the Illuminati film. Berg’s claim, if I understand it, has to do with Obama losing his natural-born status by nature of something that was done when he registered for school in Indonesia (I think). After a couple of minutes, my eyes glazed over and I hit the delete button.
Given the skill which Obama’s campaign has shown thus far, I can’t believe that they let some ticking time bomb go unattended. Meh.
Me? I’m more concerned these days with how to make a living, what with the smoking economic wreckage left by BushCo. At the small business where I’ve worked for 17 years, our revenues have gone off a cliff.
r€nato
The kerning on those ‘photos’ of Obama’s ‘birth certificate’ looks highly suspicious.
(some had to say it)
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
News to me too. Is there video of this somewhere?
Comrade Jake
OT, but holy expensive wardrobe Batgirl! RNC spends 150k on Palin’s clothes? 5k on hair and makeup? JFC.
PanAmerican
The crew at yes to democracy have been following Berg and the rest of the PUMA wackos. Patrick McKinnion has actually waded through the filings (scroll down a bit). This case would need a couple of promotions to be labeled a nuisance lawsuit.
Dan Munz
Hi everyone!
People who are determined to keep us divided start these rumors about Barack’s birth certificate to manipulate us into thinking he is not an American citizen.
The fact is Barack Obama was born in the state of Hawaii in 1961, a native citizen of the United States of America.
Learn the facts and see the birth certificate for yourself:
http://my.barackobama.com/birthcertificate
Together we can make sure these negative and divisive attacks don’t affect this election.
Thanks for your help.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Oh well, I fail at embedding blockquotes.
Sorry :(
Stuck in the Funhouse
testing
cain
@Comrade Jake:
Congrats, jake. I now doubt that we landed on the moon. Thanks.
cain
The Grand Panjandrum
I’m glad I read the whole post. I saw the title and thought you were asking for a reach-around. Whew!
Walker
I live in Ithaca, but I am a born and raised Carolinian. Dinosaur is okay. I would definitely put them on par with the stuff you can find in Memphis, provided you like Memphis BBQ. But I have given up on pulled pork in this region. Nobody in NY knows how to cook pork worth a damn. Fortunately, I smoke my own.
Back on topic, I am obviously not in Kuhl’s district, but I am right next door. The 22nd is an awesome bit of gerrymandering to make sure that we do not infect the rest of the Fingerlakes region.
Ed in NJ
I don’t think John is looking for the FactCheck stuff about Obama’s birth certificate. What is flying around the wingnutosphere is the supposed court order for Obama to produce his birth certificate within 3 days, based on a lawsuit filed by Berg. Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, of all people, debunked it as a document prepared by the plaintiff in the event the suit was successful, which is wasn’t.
You can check out the Hot Air post here:
Hot Air
Ash Can
@Atanarjuat: That’s a Rickroll, isn’t it?
@Dan Munz: Thank you! :)
Martin
The answer is that the birth certificate is irrelevant. In order to be a US citizen you either need to be born in the US or you need to be born of a parent that is a citizen.
Where is the proof that lily-white Ann Dunham of Kansas isn’t a US citizen?
That’s the burden of proof.
RML
That video is further proof that the Republicans are not fit to lead this country anymore. What a bunch of ignorant wingnuts.
DougJ
I live in Ithaca, but I am a born and raised Carolinian. Dinosaur is okay. I would definitely put them on par with the stuff you can find in Memphis, provided you like Memphis BBQ. But I have given up on pulled pork in this region. Nobody in NY knows how to cook pork worth a damn. Fortunately, I smoke my own.
I know. I used to live in North Georgia.
I have to say, though, that as much as I love Carolina pulled pork, the Memphis ribs are possibly even better.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
What I want to know is how Berg can state that if someone was naturally born in the U.S. and moved to Indonesia for a while that it automatically disqualifies his being naturally born in the U.S.
The logic in that is just astounding to me.
Ed Marshall
I’d tell them he was born in a pool of blood in the middle of a pentagram, and conceived from the undead sperm of Hassan-i Sabbah and the undead eggs of Elizabeth Bathory in a cave in the Negev Desert.
Who gives a piss what those people think?
BH-Buck
It’s hypocritical of a group to question Obama’s country of birth, when it’s a well-known fact that McCain was born outside the borders of the US.
I’m not calling into question whether McCain meets the criteria of being American-born. I’m just saying it’s highly suspect for the pro-idiot crowd to point fingers at Barack over this.
Montysano
His contention is that, at the time, Indonesia didn’t allow dual citizenship. In order to go to school, you had to be an Indonesian citizen, Obama’s stepfather essentially renounced Barack’s natural-born status by enrolling him in Indonesian school.
Anything else you want to know, you’ll have to find it yourself, because I’m not going back over……."there".
janine
I think that once you get into the birth certificate thing, you’re already conceding too much crazy. Ann Dunham was born and raised in America. Done. Obama could have been born anywhere in the world and be an American citizen.
Common Sense
I don’t know about any Sully appearance on Maher recently where he stole Cole’s stuff, but there was a time about a year ago where he clearly cribbed a few of BJ’s snarkier lines. Don’t remember the exact quote, but it was something to do with asking a Republican whether they’d be willing to get an abortion if it would prevent a terrorist attack.
Litlebritdifrnt
I would have to ditto on the ditto to go over to Yes to Democracy, Christina has some wonderful bloggers (Ames and Patrick come to mind) who have thoroughly debunked the Berg lawsuit, (even better than I could and I am "in the trade" so to speak) Bottom line is this, this puppy will never survive a 12(b)6 motion (failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted). Having said that, I really wish the judge would not dismiss the case, cause I can’t wait to see Berg try to get Texasdarlin, Techdude, Polaric, and Judah on the stand to testify it would be hilarious.
"So Ms Texasdarlin, could you state your qualifications under the rules of evidence that would qualify you to testify in this matter" *********************** crickets……………..
yet another jeff
The saddest part is the comments in the linked sites…even the ones I posted…people are actually saying things like "wow, what’s going to happen when Obama gets deported"
Yeah, and what happens when we find out McCAIN is actually two kids, one sitting on the other’s shoulders, wearing their dad’s suit….
Sirkowski
@Common Sense
I think Sully used my comment about "would you kiss a man to stop a terrorist attack". He didn’t really stole it, he said he read it on the Internet, which is true.
r€nato
One cannot lose one’s US citizenship by implication. It takes an overt act of renunciation.
By Berg’s "logic", when the children of undocumented Mexicans attend US schools, they ‘essentially renounce’ their Mexican citizenship and become Americans.
Jay Severin Has A Small Pen1s
Yes, all this nonsense coming from the party that wanted to amend the Constitution so Gov Arnold could be President.
Halffasthero
Damn, this subject keeps coming up and never fails to make me hungry.
And the best is in Memphis. Rendezvous, Blue City Cafe and Neely’s (not in the airport).
DougJ
And the best is in Memphis. Rendezvous, Blue City Cafe and Neely’s
I’m dying to try all those places sometime. All I need is an excuse to visit Memphis.
John Galt Rand
http://www.acorn.org/
Halffasthero
typo – Blues City Cafe – on Beale street.
If you are flying anywhere on Northwest (now Delta), Memphis is a hub. If you are stuck on a lengthy layover, grab a cab to Beale. Rendezvous and BSC are not too far away from each other. Stumbling distance to/from Rum Boogie (blues bar) if I recall. : )
JasonF
Lots of debunkery in this thread. Has this one been posted yet?
dick weathers
@Walker:
I’m in eastern MI now. The stuff here is like a McRib sandwich in comparison. Better Greek food though.
dick weathers
@rreay:
I’m with you there. The wait is friggin’ brutal. God help you if there’s an Amerks game. I’ve got nothing against Sticky Lips but I always enjoyed Beale St. a little bit more. Less of a wait too.
Jay Severin Has A Small Pen1s
In a perfect world, a black limo would pull up alongside Berg…Obama would get out and STAPLE a copy of his certificate of live birth onto Berg’s forehead.
I’ll pay any fines levied against Senator Obama.
catskill
Dang!
I read all the comments to see if I should post my own response and JasonF posted it first! With only four more comments left… I thought I was going to add something new. Dang internet.
(If you missed it, check JasonF’s comment 10/21 @ 10:46pm)
LiberalTarian
Dude. I was accosted by a Republican today when I came out of the bike shop.
This lady loves, LOVES Sarah Palin, because Palin is a real Christian. All the wingnut stuff was on the tip of her tongue! I looked at her, and said, "how is anything they are saying Christian??" And she said, "In the Old Testiment … blah blah blah …." These guys have thrown out Christ for heaven’s sake.
After about 10 minutes of concentrated wingnut (which, I swear to God, I did not solicit, it sought me out) I finally got on my bike and rode off and she was still telling me the world was going to end if I voted for Obama. Zoiks.
God help us. I cannot wait for this election to be over. I used to just get panhandled all the time–I drew them like flies according to my hipster friends. Now I’m getting tackled in the street by Republicans. Geez.
DougJ
I’ve got nothing against Sticky Lips but I always enjoyed Beale St. a little bit more. Less of a wait too.
Sticky Lips is much better than Beale St. I’m a Beale St. regular because it’s near the bars that I go to, whereas Sticky Lips is in the middle of nowhere, but the food is much better at Sticky Lips.
Beale St. has a great ambiance, though.
DougJ
These guys have thrown out Christ for heaven’s sake.
That’s the essence of wingnut religion. Face it, Christ was a pacifistic socialist, if not a communist.
Not to mention the fact the guy was a community organizer.
DougJ
Why is my last comment awaiting moderation? It is because I used the word "socialist"?
Zuzu's Petals
Here is the statement from the PUMA who actually went down and found the Honolulu newspaper birth announcement.
Evidently the PUMA page has gone away, but you may find the statement cached someplace. Here it’s reproduced at a wingnut website:
Mwangangi
Who would’ve thought that Monroe County was so well represented. I went to R.I.T. and I don’t miss Henrietta or the clowns who intentionally say ‘Chili’ in a contrived manner.
Go Sabres.
Kewalo
In case anyone is still interested, from the State Dept.
F. RENUNCIATION FOR MINOR CHILDREN
Parents cannot renounce U.S. citizenship on behalf of their minor children. Before an oath of renunciation will be administered under Section 349(a)(5) of the INA, a person under the age of eighteen must convince a U.S. diplomatic or consular officer that he/she fully understands the nature and consequences of the oath of renunciation, is not subject to duress or undue influence, and is voluntarily seeking to renounce his/her U.S. citizenship.
http://travel.state.gov/law/citizenship/citizenship_776.html
mclaren
A really great general resource for combating all these lies is Obama’s website http://www.fightthesmears.com.
Yes, Obama knew Rove would try to Swiftboat him. Unlike Kerry, Obama and his campaign staff were proactive. They set up this debunking website many months ago. Incidentally, the Obama campaign staff based this website on scientific research of how phony rumours spread. Turns out if you both disprove the rumour and explain why the disinformation arose, that kills it.
Montysano
Memphis is fine and all, but here’s the thing about BBQ; you never know where you’re gonna find the good stuff. During my bicycle commute, in a dicey part of town, I discovered an old black guy smoking ribs and serving folks (probably illegal).
Does he know how to smoke ribs? Yes he surely does.
Geeno
Wow – lot’s of Rochesterians representing. I’m probably posting too late for notice. Grew up in Barber Connable’s old district back when he would get both the D and R endorsements, I live in Louise Slaughter’s district now.
Dinosaur is good, love the Big Ass Pork plate, but I don’t really regard it as great BBQ; it’s a just a really good sauce for pork. Now Jeeter’s beef ribs back in the day….. hmmmmm.
lethargytartare
dunno if this is a repost, but I found this pretty informative:
What’s your Evidence
jim
Yah, you guys are right; I confused Juan Cole with Andrew Sullivan.
My mistake; mea culpa. You both deserve great credit.
It’s a good thing I’m not a reporter, or I’d be able to turn this mistake into a career in cable punditry.
jim
What’s interesting to me through all of this, is how wilfully blind these guys are to **McCain** not actually being born in the US – he was born in the Panama Canal Zone, which is only technically US property.
And we don’t "really" know he was born there. Maybe he was purchased from rabid Latino anarchists, so he could be programmed by expatriated communists from the IWW!! And he’s never said he *wasn’t*!! How about that, McCain campaign? How about that??