Politico is reporting today that, "Investigators for an Arizona sheriff’s volunteer posse have declared that President Barack Obama’s birth certificate is definitely fraudulent. [...]
Mike Zullo, the posse’s chief investigator, said numeric codes on certain parts of the birth certificate indicate that those parts weren’t filled out, yet those sections asking for the race of Obama’s father and his field of work or study were completed."
Yes! Look at the codes! And the state of Hawaii, all the candidates he's ever run against, the Republican Party, and everyone else not certifiably in-flipping-sane is in on it!
And only a rag-tag band of professional conspiracy theorists given a platform by an embroiled-in-controversy nutcase of a sheriff can show us the truth!
You may remember that Mike Zullo is selling a book on the subject, and so has a particular interest in milking this cow for all it's worth. You might also remember that said book was co-authored by ultraconspiracy megatheorist Jerome Corsi, who wrote a previous, more expansively dumb book on the subject that tanked when Obama released that document Corsi said he wasn't releasing. You may also remember that Sheriff Joe is, well, freaking insane. Nonetheless, they assure us they only have our best interests at heart.
Sheriff Joe is still, technically speaking, a public official, though what the hell he does during his actual day job is certainly a mystery to all. Since his constituents appear to be in no particular hurry to stop the public shaming of their county, all we can hope for is that, at some point, Arpaio retires to spend more time with his pet theories and find even crazier people to share them with. He and Donald Trump can form a road show. (Hat tip to Hunter)
Barack Obama released a PDF version of a certified copy of his original hospital 1961 birth certificate at a White House press conference on April 27, 2011. That document resides on the White House web site and has been the subject of intense criticism from those whose ideas about the President’s birthplace are challenged by it.
One of the interesting characteristics of the form is penciled notations adjacent to some data items, consisting of numbers and letters. While they were a mystery to some, it was clear to those experienced in old data systems that these were codes for data entry operators
In August of 2011, the Department of Health & Human Services released information under the Freedom of Information Act regarding the coding of natality (Birth) data in 1961. The first part of the response response consisted of a hyperlink to the 1961 document titled Vital Statistics Instruction Manual, Part II Coding and Punching, Section C, Geographic Code Final, Births, Deaths and Fetal Deaths Occurring in 1960-1961 (VSIM). The second part of the FOIA response was a 12-page document titled: Division of Data Processing, Vital Statistics Programming Branch, Tape File Information, 1960-1961 Natality Tape Files for the United States (NTFUS).
The NTFUS is the layout for all of the data stored by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), all 26 reels of magnetic tape comprising 2,134,172 records for 1961. The document can be used to inform us how data was submitted by the states. How did Zullo turn this into a conspiracy theory? He counted on nobody remembering there is a Google.
This is an Open Thread.
I've maintained for years that there's something about the brain and mindset of right-wingers.
They have a need to be told constantly that they are right, a need for constant validation of their worldview, constant justification for their prejudices, affirmation that their fears are warranted, verification of their suspicions.
Progressives/liberals don't have this need. This is why Faux News Channel dominates so completely in the cable news ratings. And it's why Rush Limbaugh makes such an ungodly amount of money while liberal talk radio has never really gotten off the ground in any meaningful way.
I have a relative who almost never turns Faux News Channel OFF. She and I have discussed this multiple times. She just can't see that she is a junkie, and Faux is her dealer.
Posted by: Name and email are required | July 18, 2012 at 02:53 PM
July surprise! Oh noes!!
Posted by: Mike D | July 18, 2012 at 05:08 PM
Will Mittens abandon his current strategy and go full Obamahate? Stay tuned for the clown show, or if you’re a supporter of Mittens, fasten your tinfoil hat.
Posted by: Finis Hominis | July 18, 2012 at 05:27 PM
Oh please please please sweet Chuthulu, make every GOP congressman swallow this pill and hold investigations. And then have Mittens do the same. Chucks, Puts, and KC would LOVE IT and probably end up voting for Mittens... too bad no one else will. Amen
Posted by: Mercifurious | July 18, 2012 at 05:32 PM
KS from weekend thread:
Sheriff Joe confirmed the long form of Owebama's birth certificate was a phony - at least Romney has shown us his real birth certificate. If BO was born in Hawaii - what does he have to hide ?? You can't make this stuff up.. Unfreakin-believable..
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
*ahem ahem* Excuse me.
What I meant to say is this is a serious situation, a serious investigation, with serious consequences. In fact, I couldn't be any more serious even if I were right now wearing a Sam the Eagle costume.
So in all seriousness and with total due respect, the GOP Congress must move on this now and without hesitation! Romney must do the same. That is all.
All together now:
Ready...
Aim (at your own temple)...
*BLAM*
Posted by: Mercifurious | July 18, 2012 at 05:47 PM
Sam the Eagle costume? Correction; you mean a bloated 57 year old Captain America with teabags?
Carry on.
Posted by: Finis Hominis | July 18, 2012 at 05:57 PM
yikes
please make the bad sherrif joe go away...
Posted by: Puget Sound Blathers | July 18, 2012 at 06:24 PM
They have a need to be told constantly that they are right, a need for constant validation of their worldview, constant justification for their prejudices, affirmation that their fears are warranted, verification of their suspicions.
"Name and email required" is dead on...except for one thing. He has perfectly described a liberal. Just look at these comments. The BW crew posts these inane stories and the liberal sheep pile on. I rest my case. LMAO
Posted by: Whatever | July 18, 2012 at 06:38 PM
There is no better example of “Name and email required” than Freeretard. That blog has no political equal. There are more, but that one has to take the first place.
Posted by: Finis Hominis | July 18, 2012 at 06:44 PM
Not Sam the Eagle nor bloated Captain America, the name is “Bane”.
Dunt dunt dunnn!
Come on guys, even Rush knows this.
Posted by: BlackRhino | July 18, 2012 at 07:03 PM
This blog is becoming too much like shooting fish in a barrel. We all know Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii, but Sheriff Joe who is a reliable sheriff represents nothing more than a political caricature is highlighted here by this so-called news.
Some more controversial subject matter would be refreshing for a change. It's great (/sarc) being quoted by Mercifurious aka MF. but what follows is typical progressivist swill. Whatever has it correct. I rest my case.
Posted by: KS | July 18, 2012 at 07:35 PM
"This blog is becoming too much like shooting fish in a barrel. We all know Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii, but Sheriff Joe who is a reliable sheriff represents nothing more than a political caricature is highlighted here by this so-called news."
You're using a lot of words and saying absolutely nothing. Kinda like Sarah Palin.
Posted by: Mike D | July 18, 2012 at 07:48 PM
Thanks, Mike. I thought it was just me.
Posted by: T-S | July 18, 2012 at 07:50 PM
This just in... George Zimmerman just told Hannity that he would not change anything that happened the night he shot Trevon Martin. He said "It was all God's plan."
Actually, Hannity carefully guided Zimmerman through Hannity's version of what happened that night and George dutifully answered "Yes sir" and "No sir." If he tried to give further explanation, Hannity cut him off and got him back on track.
Interesting...
Also, Michelle Bachmann just got exxcoriated by former campaign manager Ed Rollins for her comments about top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin, accusing her of some connection to the Muslim Brotherhood. (Huma is the wife of Andrew Wiener.)
From FoxNews.com...
Posted by: sparky | July 18, 2012 at 07:54 PM
This is why Mittens should follow the lead of KS,
However, it is fair for him to suggest the Prez release his college records, which he has refused to do, unlike any other president so far. I doubt that Owebama would even admit he hasn't released his college records and the other documents of importance that are sealed in turn for Romney's tax records - funny if he did, it would give him the upper hand, but he is not smart enough to figure that out.
Posted by: KS | July 18, 2012 at 07:26 AM
Looks like Rmoney will pursue your strategy KS. I wonder what Putz thinks?
Posted by: BlackRhino | July 18, 2012 at 07:59 PM
O'Donnell making a good case for Americans (Democrats) to go off the cliff with the tax hike for everyone at the end of the year. He promises the Dems will come back with a bill to reestablish the tax cuts for the 99% only and the Republicans will have to vote for them because Grover made them promise to vote for tax cuts.
So simple.
Rush has been all over left media today. I think he's really losing it. He sounds more and more like KS. It is amazing anyone still takes him seriously.
Re: Republican brains - always good to revisit the research:
Research suggests that conservatives are, on average, more susceptible to fear than those who identify themselves as liberals. Looking at MRIs of a large sample of young adults last year, researchers at University College London discovered that “greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala” ($$). The amygdala is an ancient brain structure that's activated during states of fear and anxiety. (The researchers also found that “greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex” – a region in the brain that is believed to help people manage complexity.)
In other words; R brains are still primitive; D brains are evolved to handle complexity. :)
Posted by: T-S | July 18, 2012 at 08:02 PM
"It was all God's plan."??? Why is killing a man apart of Gods plan? What if it was a woman?
Posted by: Gentlemen Rouge | July 18, 2012 at 08:06 PM
You're using a lot of words and saying absolutely nothing. Kinda like Sarah Palin.
Posted by: Mike D | July 18, 2012 at 07:48 PM
Funny, I was imitating you. T-S BS is spewing forth with her academic garbage. Bogging under the influence again - Schick Schadel is one call away. Do yourself a favor and take the treatment...
Posted by: KS | July 18, 2012 at 08:40 PM
Blogging
Posted by: KS | July 18, 2012 at 08:41 PM
It’s called cognitive dissonance. KS just realized, through the web or tv, his “way” is political suicide for the Mittster. If I’m wrong I wonder why KS isn’t talking up the Mittster’s decision to do exactly what KS wanted.
Posted by: Gentlemen Rouge | July 18, 2012 at 09:01 PM
Listening to Eliot Spitzer and apparently there may be as many as 750,000 people denied the vote in Pennsylvania due to a voter ID law to take effect right before the election. That's a swing state.
The National Guard should be called out. No one should be disallowed voting rights due to a frivolous law activated right before a Presidential election. That's criminal.
Posted by: T-S | July 18, 2012 at 09:02 PM
Sorry to break this to you - T-S BS, but Owebama's baseless attacks on Romney have hardly moved the polls at all and now Mitt is fighting back. More people have negative views about how he is handling the economy than in April by about 10%, not a good sign for an incumbent and his approval ratings continue to hover in the mid-40's - another bad sign for his reelection;
The latest poll pokes a hole in your wacked theory
The National Guard should be called out. No one should be disallowed voting rights due to a frivolous law activated right before a Presidential election. That's criminal.
Posted by: T-S | July 18, 2012 at 09:02 PM
Not a frivolous law, only in the mind of an anarchist. Voter ID should be mandatory to receive a ballot - it is required for everything else significant. Do yourself a favor - take the treatment. You'll regain your self respect if you do.
Posted by: KS | July 18, 2012 at 09:20 PM
I have been watching MSNBC for some time now. I can understand why it isn't as popular as Fox non-News. It is absolutely the most repetitive network I've ever watched. (I'm sure Fox non-News is equally repetitive but the sheep on the right need repetitive messaging.)
I have both MSNBC speaker-off and Current speaker on currently running on my computer. I see what Maddow is talking about and it is the same thing O'Donnell, Ed, and even my wonderful Matthews talked about. Those of us on the left do not need that much messaging.
Current, on the other hand, has such diversity: Spitzer just discussed the FDA scandal in which the FDA was targeting certain employees who were potential whistle blowers. Then, he discussed the Huma Abedin thing.
Right now Jennifer Granholm finished interviewing Jill Green, Presidential candidate for the Green Party. I watched the whole convention for the Greens. They are on the ballot in I think twenty-one states. They are increasing their numbers slowly over time. I was honestly surprised at how well Jill pushed back to Jennifer who applauded the Green platform and yet sees them as potential spoilers. (Now Granholm is talking to Planned Parenthood representatives.)
I don't know how the Greens could honestly be any greater spoilers than the Republicans themselves by disenfranchising millions of people.
It is time for a change. If we have to go backward in order to go forward, I might finally be willing to do that.
Posted by: T-S | July 18, 2012 at 09:39 PM
The numbers KS throws out are always in question if you want to know the truth, good or bad, you need to dig deeper.
This is the origin of the power lie polls he sourced. A bit more complicated than portrayed.
Posted by: BlackRhino | July 18, 2012 at 09:47 PM
Shrug. MSNBC is the Al Jazzera of the USA. Take the treatment, T-S BS - you sound as cynical and incoherent as Owebama railing about control of the state. He also has a mental disorder...
You should audition for a show on MSNBC - after they fire some other perverted slacker like Al Sharpton. I may even want to subscribe to cable if that were to happen.
Posted by: KS | July 18, 2012 at 09:50 PM
This highlights the problem with the lies of Rmoney. They are easy to look up. Or in our case, disclose.
Posted by: Gentlemen Rouge | July 18, 2012 at 09:50 PM
Or expose.
Posted by: Gentlemen Rouge | July 18, 2012 at 09:52 PM
POCATELLO, ID—A $1 bill somehow made its way into the hands of Mitt Romney during a campaign stop Thursday, reportedly causing the Republican presidential candidate a moment of uncomprehending fascination. "What am I looking at here? What is this?" said Romney, squinting at the bill as he turned it over and over in his hands. "It almost looks like money, but it's missing the zeroes. Huh. Do people try to buy things with this?" Romney finally crumpled up the bill and threw it away, chuckling as he told reporters that "whoever thought that one up must be a real wiseacre.
Posted by: Dave in Lynwood | July 18, 2012 at 09:53 PM
Gentleman Rouge - you sound as coherent as Sarah Palin...
Lies of Romney ? Sure, bet you can name at least two.
Posted by: KS | July 18, 2012 at 09:59 PM
He didn't recognize the President? So funny.
Romney economist: Glenn Hubbard, a top economic adviser for the Republican presidential nominee, wrote in an op-ed in the Financial Times on Wednesday that slashing government spending would stimulate the economy because it would boost investor confidence. The only problem: That notion is part of a largely discredited economic theory called expansionary austerity.
...It's particularly ironic that Hubbard is advocating cutting government spending, considering his record as a top economic adviser for President George W. Bush. He approved tax cuts for the rich and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have cost the government trillions of dollars. He also turned a blind eye to the bloating of the risk-taking in the financial and housing sectors that contributed to the financial crisis and recession.
But Hubbard still is one of the most influential economists in the Republican Party.
Figures.
Posted by: T-S | July 18, 2012 at 09:59 PM
POCATELLO, ID—A $1 bill somehow made its way into the hands of Mitt Romney
Sorry baby, it’s the Onion.
Posted by: Gentlemen Rouge | July 18, 2012 at 10:05 PM
It doesn’t matter if I can point out pass lies, what matters is if I point out you are passing about lies.
Posted by: Gentlemen Rouge | July 18, 2012 at 10:12 PM
Sorry the link did not work, this is indeed the original CBs poll. You know, the same CBS which KS calls into question from time to time.
Posted by: BlackRhino | July 18, 2012 at 10:18 PM
“The polls I cited were true as part of the CBS/NYT polls, and were cherry-picked…” Posted by: KS | July 18, 2012 at 10:05 PM
An extraordinary admission.
Posted by: BlackRhino | July 18, 2012 at 10:23 PM
The NYT/CBS poll samples registered voters and Romney was ahead 47-46 in this poll.
It has been shown though that registered voters oversamples Democrats and likely voters (as Gallup samples) is a better indicator. That would be why I call that poll into question from time to time.
Posted by: KS | July 18, 2012 at 10:27 PM
The people have the authentic CBS polls, would you like to provide the Gallup polls?
Posted by: BlackRhino | July 18, 2012 at 10:30 PM
David Brooks shows his IQ once again:
Alex Pareene: Did David Brooks Just Make His Most Absurd Argument Yet?
Squishy conservative columnist David Brooks wishes someone would explain to the rubes why Bain was a good thing.
David Brooks presents the middlebrow version of the “Obama is attacking capitalism” line, and, as usual, he does so poorly and with much unintentional humor.
Brook's column (and his columns' commenters as usual tell the story): The Capitalism Debate
I wonder why the Times keeps publishing such a poor excuse for a reasoning writer on the right. Or is it possible the right is so far right that no one can make sense of their position?
Posted by: T-S | July 18, 2012 at 10:36 PM
Brooks is one of the best and the fact that you slam him because of something a rube like Alex Pareene writes, which is BS shows your lack of reason and shall I say intellingence ?
You'll listen to anyone who aligns themself with Pres. Deadbeat, but anyone who does is a true wingnut of the leftist ilk.
Brooks is exactly correct, whether he clashes with your bubble world or not.. The truth hurts, T-S, BS.
Posted by: KS | July 18, 2012 at 10:50 PM
Kay S is araid yew won't watch that new batman movie beacuase the auidiance will kepp yealling Bain and then romimy wont be electeed.
Posted by: totally stupid conservative | July 18, 2012 at 10:56 PM
"your bubble world"...haha... spot on KS............T-S- my scheme to make googobs "of money this week is in full "go-flight" mode tonight..... no big, "obscene green' money yet BUT very probably as early as tomorrow the stacks of cash will start spewing out of the fiGurative personal ATM machine ....haha T-S
Posted by: Hedge Fund Hal | July 19, 2012 at 12:16 AM
Thanks for ruining my joke, Gentleman Rouge.
Posted by: Dave in Lynwood | July 19, 2012 at 10:17 AM
Ann Romney to “you people”,
"we've given all you people need to know"
The contempt for the middle class rages at the Rmoney household. She said later; ‘let them eat cake’.
Posted by: BlackRhino | July 19, 2012 at 11:06 AM
she knows the libber media is not fair , wants her husband to lose and will give Obama a pass on virtually everything while going after her husband with a proctologist's scops, a "proctoscope" to quote Richard Nixon. Under these circumstances "you people" is quite appropriate, and very mild.
Posted by: Hedge Fund Hal | July 19, 2012 at 11:30 AM
Seems Anne Romney was showing her contempt for the media (and rightfully so), since that's who she was speaking to. It was an interview, not a speech. Another comment taken out of context. Tiresome.
Posted by: Whatever | July 19, 2012 at 12:09 PM
She's the judge of what the media (or the people) need to know? Maybe in her mind. Not in mine or apparently the medias or other Republicans.
Posted by: T-S | July 19, 2012 at 12:22 PM
Was being interviewed by a Blah person?
Posted by: Gorgeous | July 19, 2012 at 12:59 PM
I herd nixon made that comment after he saw deep throat, he had to watch it 3 times before he got it down pat
Posted by: totally stupid conservative | July 19, 2012 at 01:26 PM
Mittens is just plain out of touch. And Colbert points it out in satire.
Colbert: Romney Connects With Average Joes By Insulting Them In Front Of Wealthy Donors
Posted by: BlackRhino | July 19, 2012 at 01:42 PM
Do you aspire to become as rich as Mittens? Take the test, you may be a lost Romney.
Posted by: Gentlemen Rouge | July 19, 2012 at 02:07 PM
Did you know that one of the things that makes private equity so lucrative is that they leverage highly? They get to borrow money to buy out firms, load them with debt, then break down their assets and sell them off. They then get to deduct the interest on the money they borrowed.
How come I don't get to deduct the interest on my credit cards? And they better never take my mortgage interest deduction away. Small potatoes when compared to Romney's subsidized wealth.
Posted by: T-S | July 19, 2012 at 02:28 PM