Obama birth certificate mystery solved?

American Thinker ^ | June 29, 2008 | Thomas Lifson

[Kevmo]

Could it be a case of much ado about nothing? Doug Ross thinks so. Questions have been raised about the copy posted on the Daily Kos site bore a state seal embossed.

..one of Pamela Geller's readers did some heavy-lifting with Photoshop and discovered what appears to be an embossed seal on the back of Obama's certificate.

Ross writes:

I was startled because I had carefully reviewed the image weeks ago and not seen any clue of a signature or embossed seal. I spent some time this morning playing with various graphics settings until I was able to tease a similar image out of the scan.

It certainly appears to be legitimate.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/06/the-missing-oba.html

The "Missing" Obama Birth Certificate Seal UPDATE: Mitchell Langbert has written a Freedom of Information Act Request for Barack Obama's Birth Certificate

I know there is a lot of controversy and back and forth on absence of an official seal on Obama's birth certificate. Atlas reader Joe aka Jointhehunt5Yaser has been blowing up the birth certificate (lifted off Obama's Fight the Smear site) and there is a seal image there.

On the right the Patricia Decosta Hawaiian Birth certificate

Joe wrote me:

I flipped it over, cut it and put it next to the seal from Patrica Decosta birth certificate. I think it is a seal, if not, for sure it is an image of something. I used an older version on adobe and came up with the image. Do you know anyone who is a pro in finding hidden imaging's like this? Because if it is a real seal where is the signature stamp? I couldn't find any signature stamped on it like the decosta certificate has. This is an image of something and a pro can get it more visible.

Using adobe photo shop Joe used overlay 9% black then went over the area where the date is stamped on lower middle. and a image started to appear above the date.

So I used - filter, stylize, find edges.

An image that could be an official seal appeared.

And while the Israel Insider opined, "Nothing else explains why Obama's campaign refused to release the original paper document, to make this distracting controversy go way"

Because Hollyfield is right about one thing:

"If this document is forged, a U.S. senator and his presidential campaign have perpetrated a vast, long-term fraud."

U.S. citizens who have written to Israel Insider or have posted on the Internet are not satisfied. Ordinary people are compelled to produce certified paper birth certificates to get a passport or a driver's license. Why, people are asking, doesn't Obama needed to show one to run for President?

But I believe the Obama campaign would deliberately keep such a question alive to diminish the veracity of the real scandals Obama is guilty of (Rezko, Auchi, Wright, Nation of Islam, Malley, Powers, Odinga, corruption, lies etc.)

The Israel Insider has another article on the lack of veracity of Obama's birth certificate based on the absence of a seal, but it's there.

As Obama stonewalls on uncertified birth certificate, official doubts mount Israel Insider Barack Obama has claimed in writing to have a valid printed document: In the first chapter of his book Dreams From My Father, describing his origins, he wrote about finding a local Hawaiian newspaper article about his Kenyan father: "I discovered this article, folded away among my birth certificate and old vaccination forms, when I was in high school."

So where is that birth certificate? It got lost? The dog ate it? No matter. Barack Obama or an immediate family member can plunk down $10 ($11.50 if he orders online) and have Hawaii mail a certified document to him within a week or two. But more than two weeks have passed since the Obama campaign adopted the suspect, uncertified image of a purported birth document published by a left-wing blog Daily Kos, and nothing certified and nothing on paper has since has been forthcoming. Nor has there been any official comment about the issue from the campaign. They may cling to the hope -- however audacious -- that the one issue that could disqualify their man constitutionally from gaining the presidency will just go away.

Amy Hollyfield of the St. Petersburg Times, and a reporter for the paper's "Politifact" blog, said that she has been seeking the birth certificate "for months." She was frustrated: "Hawaii birth certificates aren't public record. Only family members can request copies, so when the campaign declined to give us one, we were stalled."

Finally, the campaign released the image (resembling the one at the top of this article). Hollyfield e-mailed it to the Hawaii Department of Health, which maintains such records, to ask if it was real.

"It's a valid Hawaii state birth certificate," spokesman Janice Okubo told us. Then the firestorm started.

The seal appears to be there. Click on the "Continue" link below for a video demonstration.

[Kevmo]

Don’t you feel, that it’s worth (maybe) an hour of research time,
***Knowing what I know about the SS system, it would be a waste of an hour of research time.

[FFranco]

“Even the forged birth certificate doesn’t meet the 5 year rule. It’s like saying “we have this birth certificate that shows he’s a natural-born citizen, and he’s 32 years old”. Since the requirements of the office are that he should be 35 years minimum, he is not eligible.”

It is unclear what you are trying to say here. Could you explain further what your point is? Thanks.

[Kevmo]

I agree it’s unclear. It would only apply if Obama was born outside the U.S., and his alleged birth certificate claims he was born in the U.S. So I need to “disavow any knowledge” of the prior statement and leave it out in the cold like a spy that’s gonna get executed...

[research99]

So, are you saying, freepers shouldn't research the background of BO (where it ti legal to do so)? Isn't it a stretch, to extend your individual bias, to the point of discouraging legitimate research into a prospective commander-in-chief?

I would suggest: Take a break, refresh your thoughts, maybe have a cup of coffee or whatever stimulates you, then get back on board when you feel a bit more proactive.

There's our country at stake here (which I hope is of greater value to you than your own individual experiences -- however disappointing they may have been).

[Kevmo]

Good advice. I could use some coffee...

If you wanna investigate BO, knock yourself out.

[FFranco]

“What if they (all presidential candidates) all say no (to our demand to see their birth certificates)?”

Then we assume those who can not or do not submit their birth certificates are not eligible to serve as president, should not be sworn in, and we publicize that information as much as we can. Our effort might cause enough doubt to tip the election.

[stlnative]

Here is the location of the first fold...
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/patchworkpiecer/BO_Birth_Certificate_foldcrease.jpg
(pointed out on this image copy of the dailykos cert)

Now go over to the the DailyKos version and located it on that image of the cert. It sticks out like a sore thumb to those that are willing to look the BC over carefully.
http://images.dailykos.com/images/user/3/BO_Birth_Certificate.jpg

The second fold is there also but it is harder to see. You have to zoom in on the Dailykos BC and study the area just above his fathers name on BC. You can see the second crease best in the border area to the left and above his fathers name and over to the far right in the border.

[FFranco]

“This is just so stupid. The image presented IS the actual paper copy. It was scanned and posted. How the hell else is he supposed to post it?

“The tinfoil hat crew has embarrassed itself rather badly here. I suggest that Obama has a whole lot of things to question, but the birth certificate appears real.”

So we should not question Obama’s certificate even though there is plenty of evidence it might be fraudulent. How do we know the “image presented IS the actual paper copy” when there are clear indications it was photoshopped?

This is still a (mostly) free country and we can question anything we want.

[stlnative]

Did you ever think that maybe the Obama BC had been stored flat after he received it in the mail? Thus flattening out the folds on it due to storing it unfolded. Chances are it was stored under a bunch of other important docs which would help flatten out the folds.

Did you ever think that the Decosta BC was stored folded up until the time it was scanned and that why the folds show up so well in it.

Did you ever think to look at the Decosta BC and study where the folds are on it and then look for folds in the same location on the Obama BC?

Try it yourself... (but do zoom in to find the second lower fold on Obama BC - locate the folds on the Decosta BC and then look in the same areas on the Obama BC)

Decosta BC
http://www.valeehill.net/genealogy/documents/doc_decosta_pat_birth.jpg

DailyKos Obama BC
http://images.dailykos.com/images/user/3/BO_Birth_Certificate.jpg

[stlnative]

Where is the PROOF that it was photoshopped?

Please point me in that direction?

[FFranco]

I recall reading there was coding in the file showing the digitized image had been manipulated. I will try to find that comment and refer you to it.

[stlnative]

Let’s see what else can I say about the BC...

Google this stuff yourself

The non-bordered green basketweave paper is made by security paper mfgs.
500 sheets cost about $40 non-bordered
You have to place a special order for a bordered version of it.

The border and wording “Certification of Live Birth” and “Any Alterations Invalidate This Certificate” are plate printed by the mfg who produces the paper on a large printing press. You order the paper with any style of border on it you want.

The pre-bordered green basketweave paper is delivered to Vital records in Hawaii. It is then dropped into a laser printer and the rest is printed on the laser printer including the printed Hawaii State seal at the top center of the BC, the rev info and also the persons Birth info is printed out at the same time.

You will get splatter ink dots around laser printed wording. You won’t get splatter ink dots around plate printed wording or graphics.

[stlnative]

Don’t waste you time finding it. It is more (newbie) Polarik BS.

Yes we know the scanned image of BC was altered because someone scanned the real BC, saved it to file. Then they added the black box over the cert # and then saved it to file again. This would cause the hidden “coding” that Polarik continues to dwell on.

[steve86]

No, the certs I picked up were not Hawaiian. But I know that in my state, every county does it differently, and unless Hawaii has only with single office that distributes records, I doubt they are all uniform.

[stlnative]

Do some online research on opendna.

[ml/nj]

It sticks out like a sore thumb to those that are willing to look the BC over carefully.

I think you need a really strong imagination to see folds on the images you linked to (and, yes, I did blow them up).

ML/NJ

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

I cannot see the folds! I go to that pic and click so that it enlarges. I then hold down the control key on my Mac, and using the scroll wheel enlarge it even more. I put on my magnifying glasses. It’s freakin” huge. I cannot see any folds creases or distortion in the background pattern. The “haloing” around the letters seems odd.

[ml/nj]

The “haloing” around the letters seems odd.

I think what you are seeing are jpeg artifacts.

ML/NJ

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Is that because the resolution on the jpeg isn’t high enough?

[Poser]

"Where is the PROOF that it was photoshopped?"

The black box over the number is from Photoshop. The binary code of the file indicates Photoshop. All that means is that it was scanned into Photoshop to create a JPG file and a black box was put over the number, using Photoshop.

Well DUH! Paper documents don't magically appear on web sites. They are scanned into a graphics program and saved as JPG files.