# Obama's Birth Certificate Discrepancies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 4, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905 "2014-01-04T21:24:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/41 "2014-01-05T07:51:23Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Okay, you’ve lost me on this one. What? Sorry. Mine was just a parenthetical digression with a tongue-in-cheek jab. The “moral” of the digression, if any, is that _authentic_ documents may themselves contain little flaws. Perhaps it’s too-pure documents that are actually most suspicious! 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/42 "2014-01-05T07:53:01Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > Those who question the validity of Obama’s birth certificate are vilified as prejudiced. I am not prejudiced, but how do you reconcile these discrepancies: [TOTO12 - Situs Toto #1 Resmi Terbesar Terpercaya](http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/2014/01/03/obama-busted-birth-cert-contains-wordsplaces-that-did-not-exist-in-1961-african-american-kenya/) This is just the break the Republicans have been waiting for. Damn, even that’s getting too old. > [@Smeghead](#): > > Seriously? I mean, really…seriously? We’re STILL doing this? I thought this was a zombie thread till I saw the posting date. It sounds like the last pathetic whimper from a beaten horse that everyone thought was dead. The birther movement showed that Republicans had nothing legitimate to criticize Obama with and had to resort to making up shit. Now they can’t even make it up anymore. They’re just recycling the old shit. > [@septimus](#): > > On a more serious note, there is a reason why Obama is subjected to such blatant lying: > > _ **Obama is a Negro.** _ That was the break the Republicans thought they had. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/43 "2014-01-05T08:12:58Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Definitely not the join date I expected. Gotta love the username/post though… ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/44 "2014-01-05T14:03:43Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Okay, you’ve lost me on this one. What? The facetious point he was making was that with all the loons out there, the presence of LiquidPaper on her certificate would send them into a frothing rage that would scuttle her candidacy. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/45 "2014-01-05T14:06:24Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Now what? Why are you still fighting this battle? The dude’s second term is well underway. He’ll be out of office in a couple years. Even if you could somehow magically prove that the guy wasn’t born where he said he was, nothing’s going to change now. So what are you trying to accomplish by beating this particular horse? What’s the over/under that we’re still doing this _after_ he’s out of office? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/46 "2014-01-05T14:11:27Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > First, the region has been called Kenya for quite a long time, regardless of whether it was the official name of the country or not. I can see a native calling it that (when giving the birth certificate information) rather than using the hated British Empire term. Can you tell me, with a cite, just how the British name for Kenya, differed from the current name? Apart from the pronunciation that is. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/47 "2014-01-05T15:07:10Z")
So birthers have gone from being all a bunch of Photoshop experts ™ to being Linguistic Historians. Sure. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/48 "2014-01-05T15:10:35Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Wooooshh… I don’t understand your comment. The OP is supposed to be a joke? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/49 "2014-01-05T15:28:43Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I don’t understand your comment. The OP is supposed to be a joke? The OP isn’t a joke, I imagine. The person you responded to knows that the OP isn’t naively just asking and is actually pushing some kind of agenda, most likely. The phrase “just asking questions” is often used by conspiracy theory folks to put their ideas out there under the guise of “What? What? I mean, I’m just asking questions!” mock outrage when challenged. (Look up JAQing as an internet meme). So, the person you responded was already casting the same aspersions on the OP as you were, by including that phrase. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/50 "2014-01-05T15:30:09Z")
It wouldn’t even stop if video of Obama’s birth in Hawaii showed up, I’ve seen birthers claim Obama was somehow “replaced” during his childhood in Indonesia. It never, ever stops. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/51 "2014-01-05T16:02:40Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > That’s the fascinating part. There is no ambiguity. > > But the legions of people with fingers in ears saying “lalala, I can’t hear you” have distorted reality sufficiently that the question is even raised. > [@BrightNShiny](#): > > There is no ambiguity. There are a bunch of liars who lie like lying liars about Obama’s citizenship. > [@Giles](#): > > Being born outside the U.S. is not all that relevant: Obama’s main opponent in the 2008 election was born outside the U.S., in the Panama Canal Zone, which has never been part of the U.S. (He was eligible as a natural-born U.S. citizen because his parents were U.S. citizens.) What the Constitution does is stop naturalised U.S. citizens from being elected as President or Vice-President, even though they can hold almost every other office in the federal government. > [@septimus](#): > > It really is simplest to just ignore any “facts” you get from sites like The Minority Report Blog. If we were in the Pit, I might say that anyone reading such a site is either a masochist; wants to pollute his mind; or went their for laughs, got distracted, forgot what site they were on and then just assumed it was one operated by sincere sapient humans. > > BTW, my own daughter will never be allowed to head the John Birch Society (or whoever it is that operates Minority Blog), since there’s residue of _Liquid Paper™_ on her birth certificate. (“America” was written for father’s nationality; supervisor asked that this be changed to “American”; in Thai the final "a"s in those words uses different vowels.) > > OK; now this one _is_ true; we’ve been worried when it would catch up with the “Kenyan,” especially since the word “Altair” comes directly from Arabic, النسر الطائر . (The official cover story, which we may need now, is that Obama came from Krypton and can fly faster than a speeding bullet.) > > On a more serious note, there is a reason why Obama is subjected to such blatant lying: > > _ **Obama is a Negro.** _ Ignorance fought! I really must do better to keep up, sometimes. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/52 "2014-01-05T16:20:58Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > The name of the country on its postage stamps was: > > - Kenya and Uganda from 1922 to 1935. > - Kenya Uganda Tanganyika from 1935 to 1963. > > In 1963, on independence, it split into the three parts. That’s such a cool fact that I went to look at My First Stamp Album. That’s in Caps because that was the literal name of the album. From Minkus Publications, copyright 1956. (I am NOT a hoarder. I just don’t throw anything out. There’s a difference. _twitch, twitch_.) And there it is, listed in the British Commonwealth section. Several stamps with images of royal heads and Kenya Uganda Tanganyika listed on them. > [@](#): > > Kenya and Uganda: Colony and protectorate in East Africa. … Since 1935, postally grouped with the Trusteeship Territory of Tanganyika. Man, the world looks a lot different when viewed through the history of stamps. Ken Jennings might not recognize all the names in here. And somehow it makes it even more incredible that anyone from Kenya under any name would be fudging the future 50 years down the line - unless actual time travelers were involved. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/53 "2014-01-05T17:04:56Z")
The answer to the OP’s question is that the matter is moot. Even if a formal investigation started today, I don’t think anything could be done in just three years. [sigh] Conspiracies with more than two or three people are very difficult to pull off … once we’re into ten’s of people, someone will get a book deal and cash in. May not be human nature but it’s certainly the nature of Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/54 "2014-01-05T17:28:30Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > The answer to the OP’s question is that the matter is moot. Even if a formal investigation started today, I don’t think anything could be done in just three years. [sigh] Conspiracies with more than two or three people are very difficult to pull off … once we’re into ten’s of people, someone will get a book deal and cash in. May not be human nature but it’s certainly the nature of Americans. Bullshit. The issue here is not a lack of time or resources. You could have a budget of billions of dollars and decades of time to investigate but you still wouldn’t find any conspiracy in the end. Because there is no conspiracy to be found. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/55 "2014-01-05T17:30:02Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > (Look up JAQing as an internet meme). Not JAQing off? Michael Crichton’s _State of Fear_ is 250+ pages of JAQing while denying that he has any stake in the issue at all. Closest published look we ever got to what a strange, paranoid twitch he was. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/56 "2014-01-05T17:31:54Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > Ignorance fought! I really must do better to keep up, sometimes. :smack: It’s not really your fault. There are people deliberately producing misinformation in order to fuel this nonexistent debate. It’s a depressing fact that such efforts are more than minimally successful. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/57 "2014-01-05T18:06:04Z")
> [@grude](#): > > It wouldn’t even stop if video of Obama’s birth in Hawaii showed up… Of course it wouldn’t! While videotape was demonstrated in 1953 and the first practical broadcast quality tapes came out in 1958, no one would have been using it to record births in 1961. While 16 mm film was used for ‘home movies’, it wasn’t the format most families who engaged in the hobby would have used. Super-8 mm film didn’t come out until 1965, so any ‘home movies’ of the birth would have been on regular 8 mm film shot on a spring-motor camera. Video? Obviously fake! They didn’t have it back then! Even if someone _copied_ 8 mm film onto videotape, the spring motors on the 8 mm cameras at the time only ran for 25 seconds. Plenty of opportunity to pull the ol’ Switcheroo while the camera is being rewound! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/58 "2014-01-05T18:57:24Z")
> [@Esox\_Lucius](#): > > This is just the break the Republicans have been waiting for. > > Damn, even that’s getting too old. > > I thought this was a zombie thread till I saw the posting date. It sounds like the last pathetic whimper from a beaten horse that everyone thought was dead. > > The birther movement showed that Republicans had nothing legitimate to criticize Obama with and had to resort to making up shit. Now they can’t even make it up anymore. They’re just recycling the old shit. > > That was the break the Republicans thought they had. I thought that was Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/59 "2014-01-05T19:12:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Bullshit. The issue here is not a lack of time or resources. You could have a budget of billions of dollars and decades of time to investigate but you still wouldn’t find any conspiracy in the end. Because there is no conspiracy to be found. I think the point was that even if there were anything to find, it still wouldn’t be able to be brought to a meaningful conclusion in the time remaining. It’d have to bubble up through the press, the popular awareness, the Congress, the courts, the Supreme Court would probably have to rule more than once, then there’d be the House impeachment hearings, the actual impeachment… And would 2/3 of the Senate vote to convict, or would enough of them just say that Obama ran in good faith, believed himself to be a citizen, no objections were raised during the campaign (by any state or federal elections official, that is) and the status quo is constitutionally supportable. That’s why **watchwolf49** said it was moot. No “bullshit” to it. ETA: one might disagree with any or all of this, but something one disagrees with and “bullshit” are not quite the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905/60 "2014-01-05T19:30:22Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > That’s why **watchwolf49** said it was moot. No “bullshit” to it. > > ETA: one might disagree with any or all of this, but something one disagrees with and “bullshit” are not quite the same thing. I agree that there is a distinction but I still feel bullshit is the applicable term here. When somebody says the matter is moot because there isn’t enough time to complete the investigation, I feel they are trying to create the impression the allegations are true and could be proven if more time was available. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-birth-certificate-discrepancies/677905.md?page=4)