Inconsistencies abound in FactCheck report on Obama "birth certificate"

Israeli Insider ^ | 8/24/08 | Reuven Koret

[pissant]

The Annenberg Political Factcheck website has published photographs and an analysis of what it says is the "original birth certificate" of Barack Hussein Obama II. While the physical document depicted in the photos resemble the document image previously scanned and published by the Daily Kos website and Obama's own "Fight the Smears" site in June, FactCheck's case for authenticity and its claims to objectivity are undermined by a litany of process flaws, conflicts of interest and factual inconsistencies that raise doubts about its motives and methods of those of the Obama campaign.

The Factcheck.org report, titled "Born in the USA," accompanied by an image of the Bruce Springsteen album cover, starts:

In June, the Obama campaign released a digitally scanned image of his birth certificate to quell speculative charges that he might not be a natural-born citizen. But the image prompted more blog-based skepticism about the document's authenticity. And recently, author Jerome Corsi, whose book attacks Obama, said in a TV interview that the birth certificate the campaign has is "fake."

We beg to differ. FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as "supporting documents" to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said.

FactCheck claims that its staffers have "seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate" begs the question and obscures the truth. In fact, the article later goes on to make clear that this is in fact not "the original birth certificate" but "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 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."

This would seem to suggest that Factcheck went through the process of requesting the birth certificate (after all, why else reproduce and link the request form?), but no -- it turns out that they had a special invitation to visit the birth certificate at its residence, as if they were visiting some long lost relatives or a reclusive celebrity:

"Recently FactCheck representatives got a chance to spend some time with the birth certificate, and we can attest to the fact that it is real and three-dimensional and resides at the Obama headquarters in Chicago."

For an organization that claims to be fastidious with the facts, the sentence is vague and overly cute. Who made the invitation to "spend some time with the certificate"? How exactly did it happen that they "got a chance"? Did FactCheck approach the Obama Campaign or did the Obama Campaign approach FactCheck? And what are the forensic analysis credentials of the FactCheck staff that allows them to conclude definitively that the birth certificate is real and original?

And when is "recently"? The controversy over the birth certificate has been raging for ten weeks. Was it coincidental that it would emerge right after Obama returned from his "vacation" in Hawaii? The claim of "recently" is thrown into further doubt by the revelation that embedded date information in the photographs indicates that the photos were taken nearly a half year ago.

Factcheck.org posted 9 photographs of what it claimed were different aspects of Obama's "Certificate of Live Birth", all in less than optimal and idiosyncratic lighting conditions. All of them were taken over a less than seven minute period on March 12, 2008 from 10:40:18 to 10:47:02 at night.

No wonder FactCheck sufficed left it a vague "spend some time" when the duration of the entire photography session took 6 minutes and 44 seconds. Talk about: "Wham, bam, thank you, Obama!" Does that sound like a serious and thorough examination to

FactCheck will need to explain these hard chronological facts, which can be verified from the published photos by anyone with an EXIF reading tool, publically available on the net and as part of graphics software.

If the embedded graphical information is correct, it means that FactCheck is lying about doing the photo session "recently" and may be lying about much more, since it would be implausible that "FactCheck" was even checking facts about the birth certificate in March 2008.

Factcheck may try to argue that the photographer "forgot" to set the correct time. But that would further illuminate the shoddy level of professionalism in disregarding the need for exact documentation of the date, a carelessness echoed in the introductory remarks of its article ("recently" is not a fact, especially when it is not clearly associated with the location of the photo shoot ? where the documents "reside" is hardly the same thing). If so, FactCheck would also need to show some other published photos published with the same camera that show an identical offset between the camera's time and the real time.

Exactly for such reasons -- the lack of professionalism, exactitude and transparency concerning the provenance of this paper and the circumstances of the photographic session -- the reasonable demand from the skeptics -- who were initially made suspicious by the fact that the purported certificate image was published first (initially in relatively low resolution and only later in high resolution) in the far-left partisan Daily Kos blog -- has always been that the paper certificate must be subjected to the scrutiny of objective media or document forensics specialists, and mainstream journalists who can ask the hard question not just about this document image or that document image but examine it for themselves and query Obama himself about the many lingering mysteries and evasions in this whole affair.

It is striking, too, that Newsweek reprints the FactCheck report under the organizational byline without the minimal scrutiny that one would expect from a serious news magazine. In effect it is an advertorial serving the interests of the Obama campaign, not an objective piece of journalist.

FactCheck itself, as a project primarily funded by the Annenberg Foundation, hardly fits the bill of being a disinterested party, especially given Obama's four year stint as founding chair of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, currently being investigated due to its massive withholding of papers which document the catestrophic failure of the project, including public funds wasted under Obama's leadership, and his relations in that project with former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.

Most curious, too, is the apparent lack of curiosity of FactCheck in pursuing the original "long-form" birth certificate that was supposedly used as the basis for the short form. After all, Barack Obama refers explicitly to possessing this document in "Dreams from My Father". Since FactCheck apparently has sufficiently close relations with the Obama teams to merit the exclusive privilege of being invited to "spend some time" (or at least 6 minutes and 44 seconds) with the reclusive short-form, one might think that if they were really interested in checking facts or examining original records they would doggedly pursue the paper source document -- the real thing from 47 years ago, not something cleaned and extracted from a database and thus subject to all kinds of potential revision and redaction.

Rather than asking the hard questions of Obama himself, or even the Obama campaign, or even requesting additional documents from the State of Hawaii in the public interest (they said they "tried" to ask about the long form but failed to get an answer), FactCheck falls back on the rather lame claim that the short form has "enough information to be acceptable to the State Department" and goes so far as to include a footnote linking to the State Department's Passport application requirements.

But isn't that bar set a bit too low for the man who wants to be President, especially as you can be a citizen without being natural born, especially when there are multiple reports coming from Kenya -- including several from Obama's own relatives -- that he was actually born in Kenya and came to Hawaii only days after birth, apparently at his mother's insistence that he would be recorded as being born in the USA? Apparently not too low for FactCheck. From their report it would appear that they are not interested or, perhaps more correctly, conflicted in their interests.

The photographs themselves of course superficially resemble what a real short-form certificate should look like, although it is impossible to ascertain from a series of jpg images. Remarkably, for an organization which purports to be dedicated to checking facts, no high resolution of the document's two sides was made so that professionals could compare that scan with the scan previously published in the Daily Kos. The Obama headquarters has no scanner? FactCheck has no scanner? Only a Canon Powershot 570 with an unset date? Or perhaps they were granted a mere six minutes and 44 seconds and had no time for a scan.

Comparing the high resolution Daily Kos scan (as opposed to the scan originally published) with the FactCheck photos, there are obvious and dramatic differences. The scan shows only the thinnest of fold marks at the top and none below, no seal and no signature block. Oddly, only the June 6, 2007 date stamp is visible. Only after extreme manipulations of the Daily Kos image did some graphic specialists managed to squeeze out the blurred and color enhance image of something that just might be a seal or a signature block. But even then, not in the correct size or expected location.

Those stark differences clearly validate the skepticism with which the scan was regarded by Israel Insider and others from the start. Why, then, did it take the campaign ten weeks to produce photos that show the missing seal, signature block and deep fold marks, so deep that they disrupt some letters and print of the seal? What changed between June 12 and August 21?

Then there is the issue of the redacted file number which for the last ten plus weeks has been blacked out . Here's the explanation that comes from the Obama campaign, according to FactCheck:

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."

That's odd. The "rush" to release the document? Who exactly was rushing them? The bloggers over at Daily Kos? Why was the Obama campaign in such a "rush" if there was no problem and no real pressure to produce. They couldn't wait another few hours or a day to talk to the Hawaii Health Department before rushing to print at the Daily Kos? And then, after the redacted document was up, they couldn't have replaced it with an unredacted image?

Only last week, the Honolulu Advertiser quoted Janice Okubo, Director of Communications in Hawaii's Department as Health, as saying that with the file number one could hack into the system. "Potentially, if you have that number, you could break into the system." Okubo seems on intent on defending the Obama campaign even if she admits that the image they presented as authentic lacked visible stamps and seals. "They responded and apparently it isn't good enough that he posted his birth certificate," Okubo said. "They say they want it because they claim he is not a citizen of the United States. It's pretty ridiculous."

So which is it? Is the file number irrelevant, as the campaign now claims, or is it a data that could be used to hack into the system, as Hawaii claims. If it is irrelevant, why is Janice Okubo providing excuses for the Obama campaign? If it is dangerous for data security, why is the Obama campaign ignoring that danger? And why does Okubo say it's "ridiculous" to be asking questions about the provenance of a vital record of a presidential candidate when the proffered proof clearly lacked the requisite stamps and signatures. Or did Obama's people and Okubo have a heart to heart between body surfing sessions at Waikiki?

Despite the points scored by the Obama campaign in gaining high level media coverage for a favorable puff piece, the FactCheck photospread -- revealing so much that the scan did not --unwittingly serves to validate the legitimacy of the probing questions and analyses that have been asked over the past two and a half months by Israel Insider and various bloggers, document examiners, and average citizens.

While the quality and consistency of the analyses of these amateur sleuths have been irregular, and have taken wrong turns on several occasions, shouldn't the burden of proof for documenting one's citizenship and producing the original vital records fall on the candidate and the legal authorities empowered for this purpose, not ordinary citizens disturbed by the lack of transparency of a presidential candidate and his arrogant unwillingness to produce documents expected of regular Americans?

The FactCheck report may have Obamatons humming "Born in the USA", but anyone serious about getting to the truth of Obama's constitutional qualifications will be disappointed by their casual and smug report. And they will expect more from a candidate who, like the protagonist in the opening lines of the Springsteen song, seems to "spend half [his] life just covering up."

The evidentiary and analytical shoddiness of the FactCheck report, both in terms of the dubious dating of the photos, the inexactitude in the circumstances of the shoot, apparent inconsistencies between the photos and the scan, and the failure to pursue the more significant, truly original, long form birth certificate, all point to the inadequacy of the proof presented to date to validate Obama's claim to being a "natural born" US citizen.

That question, it now seems, will need to be answered in federal court.

[HighlyOpinionated]

Only if Indonesia allowed dual citizenship could Barry have reverted to his when he returned to Hawaii, but it does not and there's no proof that Barry was a US Citizen to start with. It appears that both Barry and his mother became Indonesian citizens at about the same time, if not the same time, that Lolo Soetoro adopted Barry. Barry became an Indonesian Citizen and there is no documentation that he ever reverted (if he could) to US Citizenship or became a US Citizen. It appears that he used his Indonesian Birth Certificate as an adult, in 1981, to visit his mother in Indonesia and a college friend in Pakistan. This would preclude any speculation that his Grandparents Dunham adopted him so that he could be a US Citizen.

If Barry Soetoro aka Obama cannot prove he is a US Citizen, then he has violated State and Federal Election laws by running for Senator in Illinois and for Illinois, he has broken Federal voting laws if he ever voted in an election, and he has "changed his name to hide his true identity" and perhaps obtained a Social Security Card fraudulently.

Barry Soetoro aka Obama is in a heap o' trouble.

[Polarik]

Don't forget to mention this damning flaw:

I reported this last Friday.

The top fold on the FactCheck photo runs diagonal (left side of fold is 20 pixels further down than the right side of fold) while top fold on the FactCheck image runs perfectly horizontal with the top border.

The embossed Seal is barely visible under edge detection, while all of the other eight COLBs bear prominent Seal images.

Even the photo of the COLB shows a perfectly-made seal impression.

Bye-bye, FactCheck

[pissant]

But, but, but you MUST concentrate on the ‘issues’, Ron. This is just a distraction. Forgery Schmorgery. We need to talk about health care plans and trade policy.

[razorback-bert]

He released it, you chose not to believe those who inspected it.

You are correct in that.

Dan Rather had an expert give his seal of approval to Dan's docs.

I want a second opinion here too.

[TheNewPundit]

“Dan Rather had an expert give his seal of approval to Dan’s docs.”

I’ll give you this, I am reminded of Rathergate when it comes to this story also. Only it seems the sides have changed.

[TheNewPundit]

“And to think that one day, some many years ago you were someone’s bundle of joy.”

So no answer then.

[razorback-bert]

So, what is your problem with a proper vetting of Obama’s document?

I don't trust Obama or his backers, there is plenty of evidence that they didn't do due diligence on his background.

There wasn't a question, until his family in Kenya started saying he was born there. I don't blame his backers for not considering his birth status, but there is a question now. One known forgery has been presented and vouched for by Obama, who is to say that a second isn't being floated.

Only document experts say vouchsafe this one.

[TheNewPundit]

It’s at his headquarters for all to see. Go look.

[9YearLurker]

Wouldn’t that be something? Our very first illegal immigrant, ‘undocumented’ President! And there’s even the Clinton wing of the Democrat party, afraid to turn off their pro-illegal and illegally-registered-to-vote constituencies by calling him on it!

This isn’t ‘motor voter’, this is ‘any resident can be President’ rules! (Where’s Jesse Sr when you need him?)

What did Barry’s supporters know—sitting around the Bill Ayers kitchen table there—and when did they know it?

It’s got to have at some point been like Clark Rockefeller’s McKinsey wife, where she knew what was up but wasn’t any more inclined to come clean on it than her imposter husband was.

[razorback-bert]

It’s at his headquarters for all to see. Go look.

What good would that do? I don't have anything to compare it too and am not an expert in that field.

Why is it so hard for some to think that people attempting to gain the power of the US Presidency wouldn't stoop to forgery.

[TheNewPundit]

Then find a friend to take with you, maybe someone from the State Department.

[Polarik]

Pong!

Israel Insider - late to the party, as usual.

Here's a Fact Check:

It's been almost twelve weeks since this fraud surfaced from the Obama swamp, and I've survived the usual, empty rhetoric of the Lefties who love to say that white is black, fully expecting the rest of us to nods our heads in agreement.

I recommend that we do not engage them in conversation, because they will always subvert it when they are stumped for answers. One, in particular, sounds more like a trained parrot than provocateur, with "Ark...no it's not," "Ark...no he didn't," "Ark..your full of @##$%"

Anyway, you get my drift.

My favorite of all the canned responses I've heard for these past 12 weeks is that "scanner artifacts" are to blame for everything and anything they cannot answer. I'm still waiting for someone to show me "scanner artifacts" between some letters and not others.

Forget about Googling it, or foraging on Photobucket for it, there are no images of "Scanner artifacts" anywhere on the Internet. But, does that stop the critics from claiming that "scanner artifacts" rank right up there with BigFoot, the Roswell UFO crash, the Loch Ness monster, and global warming.

In closing, I have to say that it must really bite to be on the wrong side of this issue, and I'm glad that I'm not one of them

The FactCheck paper COLB looks more like it came from the forged image, and not the reverse.

[Polarik]

Good stuff, when I want an analysis of the validity of a BC I will trust polarik and techdude long before factcheck.

Thanks, but please do not mention Techdude in the same sentence as me.

[LucyT]

Thanks, Polarik.

Ping.

Please FRmail if you want on or off this list.

[Polarik]

It has not been proven to be a forgery. That is a rumor that won’t die. The issue about a forgery is regarding a scanned image of the certificate. Factcheck held the actual certificate, not a scanned copy. It has the seal and the signature. If he were running around with a fake, the state of Hawaii would take issue.

Care to bet on that? Logic goes right out the window when it comes to Obamassiah and his disciples. Which part of him is NOT crooked?

FactCheck has never produced anything real: printed or imaged. OBama has ducked it as well.

The image is a fake. The paper COLB is a fake. FactCheck forgot to remove some of those "Scanner artifacts" in their photos of it.

[Kevmo]

Forget about Googling it, or foraging on Photobucket for it, there are no images of “Scanner artifacts” anywhere on the Internet. But, does that stop the critics from claiming that “scanner artifacts” rank right up there with BigFoot, the Roswell UFO crash, the Loch Ness monster, and global warming.
***Good stuff. Bump.

[BossLady]

"it must really bite to be on the wrong side of this issue"

Albert Einstein:

'Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.'

[SunkenCiv]

The substitution must take place after the convention and before the election; it’ll tick off Obama’s supporters, and delegitimize Hilla- er, the eventual substitute — Joe Biden.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067140/posts?page=3#3
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067140/posts?page=4#4
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067140/posts?page=6#6
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067140/posts?page=10#10
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067140/posts?page=12#12
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067140/posts?page=132#132
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067140/posts?page=142#142
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067140/posts?page=152#152
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067140/posts?page=155#155

[Political Junkie Too]

Is the file number irrelevant, as the campaign now claims, or is it a data that could be used to hack into the system, as Hawaii claims. If it is irrelevant, why is Janice Okubo providing excuses for the Obama campaign? If it is dangerous for data security, why is the Obama campaign ignoring that danger?

Of course, this is a red-herring.

Even if it were dangerous, how many people from Hawaii have COLBs with a number on it? Why would only Obama's be "dangerous" when anyone who knows someone from Hawaii with a COLB could get this information?

Are there no Hawaiian-born hackers who would have this information without Obama's COLB?

-PJ