The 44th President of the United States

[Knightcastle]

Alvin T. Onaka's signature stamp

[Knightcastle]

The raised seal

[Knightcastle]

Blowup of text

[Knightcastle]

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html

You can click on the photos to get full-size versions, which haven't been edited in any way, except that some have been rotated 90 degrees for viewing purposes.

The certificate has all the elements the State Department requires for proving citizenship to obtain a U.S. passport: "your full name, the full name of your parent(s), date and place of birth, sex, date the birth record was filed, and the seal or other certification of the official custodian of such records." The names, date and place of birth, and filing date are all evident on the scanned version, and you can see the seal above.

The document is a "certification of birth," also known as a short-form birth certificate. The long form is drawn up by the hospital and includes additional information such as birth weight and parents' hometowns. The short form is printed by the state and draws from a database with fewer details. The Hawaii Department of Health's birth record request form does not give the option to request a photocopy of your long-form birth certificate, but their short form has enough information to be acceptable to the State Department. We tried to ask the Hawaii DOH why they only offer the short form, among other questions, but they have not given a response.

The scan released by the campaign shows halos around the black text, making it look (to some) as though the text might have been pasted on top of an image of security paper. But the document itself has no such halos, nor do the close-up photos we took of it. We conclude that the halo seen in the image produced by the campaign is a digital artifact from the scanning process.

We asked the Obama campaign about the date stamp and the blacked-out certificate number. The certificate is stamped June 2007, because that's when Hawaii officials produced it for the campaign, which requested that document and "all the records we could get our hands on" according to spokesperson Shauna Daly. The campaign didn't release its copy until 2008, after speculation began to appear on the Internet questioning Obama's citizenship. The campaign then rushed to release the document, and the rush is responsible for the blacked-out certificate number. Says Shauna: "[We] couldn't get someone on the phone in Hawaii to tell us whether the number represented some secret information, and we erred on the side of blacking it out. Since then we've found out it's pretty irrelevant for the outside world." The document we looked at did have a certificate number; it is 151 1961 - 010641.

[Knightcastle]

Blowup of certificate number

[Knightcastle]

Some of the conspiracy theories that have circulated about Obama are quite imaginative. One conservative blogger suggested that the campaign might have obtained a valid Hawaii birth certificate, soaked it in solvent, then reprinted it with Obama's information. Of course, this anonymous blogger didn't have access to the actual document and presents this as just one possible "scenario" without any evidence that such a thing actually happened or is even feasible.


We also note that so far none of those questioning the authenticity of the document have produced a shred of evidence that the information on it is incorrect. Instead, some speculate that somehow, maybe, he was born in another country and doesn't meet the Constitution's requirement that the president be a "natural-born citizen."


We think our colleagues at PolitiFact.com, who also dug into some of these loopy theories put it pretty well: "It is possible that Obama conspired his way to the precipice of the world’s biggest job, involving a vast network of people and government agencies over decades of lies. Anything’s possible. But step back and look at the overwhelming evidence to the contrary and your sense of what’s reasonable has to take over."

In fact, the conspiracy would need to be even deeper than our colleagues realized. In late July, a researcher looking to dig up dirt on Obama instead found a birth announcement that had been published in the Honolulu Advertiser on Sunday, Aug. 13, 1961:



Obama's birth announcement

[Knightcastle]

The announcement was posted by a pro-Hillary Clinton blogger who grudgingly concluded that Obama "likely" was born Aug. 4, 1961 in Honolulu.


Of course, it's distantly possible that Obama's grandparents may have planted the announcement just in case their grandson needed to prove his U.S. citizenship in order to run for president someday. We suggest that those who choose to go down that path should first equip themselves with a high-quality tinfoil hat. The evidence is clear: Barack Obama was born in the U.S.A.

Update, August 26: We received responses to some of our questions from the Hawaii Department of Health. They couldn't tell us anything about their security paper, but they did answer another frequently-raised question: why is Obama's father's race listed as "African"? Kurt Tsue at the DOH told us that father's race and mother's race are supplied by the parents, and that "we accept what the parents self identify themselves to be." We consider it reasonable to believe that Barack Obama, Sr., would have thought of and reported himself as "African." It's certainly not the slam dunk some readers have made it out to be.

When we asked about the security borders, which look different from some other examples of Hawaii certifications of live birth, Kurt said "The borders are generated each time a certified copy is printed. A citation located on the bottom left hand corner of the certificate indicates which date the form was revised." He also confirmed that the information in the short form birth certificate is sufficient to prove citizenship for "all reasonable purposes."

–by Jess Henig, with Joe Miller
Sources
United States Department of State. "Application for a U.S. Passport." Accessed 20 Aug. 2008.

State of Hawaii Department of Health. "Request for Certified Copy of Birth Record." Accessed 20 Aug. 2008.

Hollyfield, Amy. "Obama's Birth Certificate: Final Chapter." Politifact.com. 27 Jun. 2008.

The Associated Press. "State declares Obama birth certificate genuine" 31 Oct 2008.

Nakaso, Dan. "Obama's certificate of birth OK, state says; Health director issues voucher in response to 'ridiculous' barrage" Honolulu Advertiser 1 Nov 2008.
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html

[Knightcastle]

Now, I don't know where you get off continuing to insist that he is a foriegner when it's pretty clear he is not, but that is pretty disrespectful in my book, fella.  Show some respect for the President of the United States. 

[Volitzer]

I suppose so Dania, it's just that his negative attitude is so tiresome.  He should go out and do something constructive so he can have a more positive attitude.  Like do some of the things Obama is encouraging everyone to do - you know - help the poor, teach someone to read, or read to the people who are stuck in a hospital bed or take a shut-in out for a drive - something positive.  Someday Volitzer, you are going to need help and no one will want to be there for you because you are so negative.

I just met Volitzer, Qoais, but somehow I don't see him as the type looking to benefit his fellow man!  He doesn't seem to be happy unless he is making everyone miserable! 

That's not true at all.  I would love to see Earth humanity have zero point energy via a Newman Generator.  I would love for the truth of the moon be exposed and for Earth humanity to travel there and enjoy our Selenite neighbors.

I would love to see e-Harmony psychology end all abusive relationships on Earth.

I would love Americans to remember the Constitution.

I wish everyone here the best of luck in their relationships and life's endeavors.

I would love to see Earth get up to Venusian standards of living.

I would love to get past this NWO part of Earth's history and join the rest of the planets with their space endeavors.

I would like to see the teens and twenty year olds take a history course and actually understand it.

However if we are going to continually be psychologically manipulated and act like children with fluoride saturation then we as Earth humanity deserve what we get.

[Volitzer]

Now, I don't know where you get off continuing to insist that he is a foriegner when it's pretty clear he is not, but that is pretty disrespectful in my book, fella.  Show some respect for the President of the United States. 

The COLB was proven a fake and he still has not shown anyone his [Kenyan] birth Certificate cuz it would expose him.

His own Grand-mother has admitted on tape that Barry was born in Kenya.

Look I was never a Bush supporter either but I just don't get how easily tricked the America public can be with the foreign President elect.

The whole idea behind the "natural born" provision in the Constitution was to keep from foreigners from ruling America.  We had just closed off relations from Britain so it became critical that only natural born citizens in America be allowed to run for office so as no conflicts of interest arise.

Are Bianca and myself the only ones who remember from history class why "natural born" was put near the top in the Constitution as it is written ??

It saddens me to see young people void of any historical knowledge or care for that matter.

[Adrian Harper]

The COLB was proven a fake and he still has not shown anyone his [Kenyan] birth Certificate cuz it would expose him.

Incredible.  Knightcastle just prints all this proof that the COLB isn't a fake and you still insist that it is? Proven it was a fake by whom?  Some right wing blogger that has never even looked at it in person ?  You aren't being objective in the slightest.

Asd for not showing his "Kenyan" birth certificate, that's probably because there isn't one that says anything about Kenya.  That's a total fantasy. 

[Horus]

The whole idea behind the "natural born" provision in the Constitution was to keep from foreigners from ruling America.  We had just closed off relations from Britain so it became critical that only natural born citizens in America be allowed to run for office so as no conflicts of interest arise.

Are Bianca and myself the only ones who remember from history class why "natural born" was put near the top in the Constitution as it is written ??

And so this is an out-dated rule since America has long-since become "the melting pot" of many nations.  Personally, I don't care where he was born.  It doesn't matter -at all!

[Qoais]

I agree Horus.  The man is a born leader, he's sincere, he's smart, he's got class, he's got good ethics, he's bringing up his family with good ethics, he understands the problems he's facing and he can get the country moving and pulling together to get through the coming hard times.

I doubt very much that being as poor as they were, that his mother could have afforded to go to Kenya especially when she was due to deliver.  She wouldn't have wanted to fly late in the pregnancy that's for sure.  I read that supposed article where a reporter tricked his grandmother into saying he was born in Kenya.  She didn't even understand the question and the reporter deliberately wouldn't let her clarify when she came to realize what he was asking.  Dirty tricks. 

[Horus]

I agree Horus.  The man is a born leader, he's sincere, he's smart, he's got class, he's got good ethics, ...

...he can dance, he can grooove, he's got the smoothest move! 

[Volitzer]

The burden of proof is on Obama.  He needs to show his Birth Certificate.  His Certification of Live Birth was proven a fake.

The burden of proof is only on Obama if there is a court ruling telling him he has to produce his original birth certificate.  There hasn't been a ruling like that, not even in the lower courts.

And his Certificate of Live Birth has never been proven to be a "fake."  Both factcheck.org and worldnetdaily have examined it in person and found it to be genuine.

Obama Forgery Exposed (Dr. Polarik Official Use)