Yesterday the Internet was abuzz with the release of an Obama Kenyan birth certificate.  The conservative forum Free Republic was leading the charge with a post with over 5600 replies – most replies from people giddy with finally having proof that Obama is not an American citizen. In all fairness, Free Republic’s owner did eventually question the authenticity of the birth certificate asking who E.F. Lavender is. It didn’t take long for the members of Democratic Underground to rip to shreds the idea that the birth certificate is genuine.

Just a few of the problems with the birth certificate:

  • Its publication date is February 17, 1964,and the document has  the “Republic of Kenya” on it.   Kenya did not become a Republic until December 12, 1964, a year after it won independence from Great Britain.
  • The photograph has three resolutions embedded. The highest resolution is for the paper. The second highest resolution is the fabric background. The lowest resolution is the text.
  • Gave the age of Obama’s father as “26″. He was born in 1936 and thus could not have been older than “25″.
  • The certificate number is given as “47,044″ which is remarkable considering that Barack Hussein Obama was 47 years old when he was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States.
  • It’s signed by “registrar E.F. Lavender.” Earth Friendly Lavender is a kind of detergent, and government officials who use vanity initials on official documents are, to put it mildly, rare.
  • In addition, Salon finds:

Two British professors who specialize in African history have e-mailed Salon to point out another apparent error in the purportedly Kenyan document. The certificate’s header reads Coast Province — but according to the professors, at the time the document is dated, what are now known as provinces were called regions. How in the world did lawyers not find any of these problems?  Apparently desperation makes one stupid.

Old “friends” pop up in the middle of the controversy

Of course no good scam would be complete without a couple of players that we saw earlier in the Michelle Obama tape scam…..yep, Ed Hale and Sammy Korir have inserted themselves into the mix.

What I’m hearing from someone who was present: Ed Hale of Plains Radio Network, in his chat room yesterday, claimed he was the one to pass the now infamous Kenyan BC to Dr. Orly Taitz, Esq. Taitz submitted it as Exhibit A, attached to a filing over the weekend in Keyes v. Obama. Hale said he had paid $1,000 for it last year to a woman named “Shirley” who did business in Kenya. Apparently, at one point, he had previously said he had submitted the document to the FBI and that it was in Swahili. He now says those statements were untrue.SOURCE

Now, of course the above is hearsay, but in fact Ed “Bugs” Hale made the claim in October 2008 that the birth certificate had been purchased:

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Not to be outdone and overlooked, Sammy Korir of African Press International jumps into the fray with his declaration that Nobody Should Challene the Information. Given things tend to disappear from Sammy’s site I have a screen shot of his rant:

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I seriously worry about my fellow Americans who are so desperate to discredit President Obama that they are ripe for the picking by any scam or fraud that might justify their fear, distrust and hatred of the president.

Hawaii Health Director Once Again Verifies Obama’s Hawaiian Birth

In an attempt to quash persistent rumors that President Obama was not born in Honolulu on Aug. 4, 1961, Hawaii’s health director reiterated this afternoon that she has personally seen Obama’s birth certificate in the Health Department’s archives. “I, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaii State Department of Health, have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawai’i State Department of Health verifying Barrack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen. I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago….” SOURCE

Of course, that isn’t likely to stop the “birthers” who are entrenched in the view that Obama can’t be an American citizen. But, if nothing else, they are good for comic relief.

Jones and Davis File Forged “Kenyan” Birth Certificate In Their Federal Case Against Obama

Submitted by .Sean on August 3, 2009 – 7:56am New documents filed Friday in federal court for Rep. Tim Jones, Rep. Cynthia Davis and their fellow birther plaintiffs demand authentication of a new “Kenyan” birth certificate their lawyer claims to have received from an anonymous source. In the filing, lawyer/dentist/realtor Orly Taitz demands the right to subpoena Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and request documents from Kenya. According to Taitz, the filed document “bears none of the obvious traits of a hoax.” Here’s one problem with the document, allegedly dated February 17, 1964, that Jones and Davis may want to check out: Kenya didn’t become a republic until December 1964. REST OF ARTICLE

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And one last point.  Your Original Birth Record:

Often, people don’t realize that what they consider their official birth certificate is not actually a legal document. The copy given to new parents at the hospital, sometimes with the baby’s footprints on it, is meant to be a cherished keepsake but is not valid for official proof of identity. Your original birth certificate must remain on file at the designated vital records agency office of your birth place after being submitted for registration by the attending hospital. This is where the only “original” copy of your birth record is located. This version is kept under lock and key and most people will never see their original. This is done to help ensure your identity is protected. For purposes of official business you’ll want to obtain a certified (raised seal) birth certificate from the department of public health or vital records office where the birth took place. This is also often described as an “official” copy. SOURCE

And for your viewing pleasure, an interview with Orly Taitz.

Update:

Is This the Source of the Forged ‘Kenyan Birth Certificate?’
By David Weigel 8/3/09 7:34 PM

[Update: Credit where it's due—my source tipped me off to this in the Politijab web forums, which have become a good site for "birther" debunking.]

One of my friends in the small community of Obama “birther”-debunkers passes on quite the discovery: a 1964 “certified copy of registration of birth” from Australia, easily available on Bomford.net, a genealogy site. There are striking similarities between this document and the one Orly Taitz is passing off as a “Kenyan birth certificate” for Barack Obama.

- The design is identical, down to the seal at the top and the classifications (”Christian name,” etc) used for identifying the baby.

- The “registrar” on the Bomford document is G.F. Lavender. On the Taitz document, it’s E.F. Lavender.

- The “district registrar” on the Bomford document is J.H. Miller. On the Taitz document, it’s M.H. Miller.

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- The number of the book is identical on both documents: Book 44B, Page 5733.

What’s more likely — that two Kenyan bureaucrats shared last names with two Australian bureaucrats, and that the numbers on both certificates were identical? Or that someone used this document, available online for anyone who wanted to look, to forge the Obama “certificate?” SOURCE

The genealogy site that had the Australian birth certificate has been shut down and the birth certificate photo is currently unavailable on that site.

Here is the Bomford Australian birth certificate as posted on Politijab.com:

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