[prospero63]

Originally Posted by TxAg

I pretty much agree he was born in HI. Sure there are questions (and probably always will be to some extent based on how he has acted the past 2 years on the issue).

However, just because a birth announcement is in the newspaper what does that prove? Can't anyone get a birth announcement put in any paper they want (if they pay the fee)? I have no idea since I never did one for my kids.

What proof is required? Seriously. You have the newspaper announcements. Can't anyone do that? Of course. Heck, it happens all the time. People always pay for false birth announcements just in case their foreign born kid wants to run for President. Especially if they are black, because a black President was all the rage 40 years ago. That's sarcasm BTW. You have the short form. You have the long form. But of course it has layers. You have witness testimony.

Now, let's look at the other side. That he was foreign born. What's the evidence there? That his Grandmother said he was born in Kenya. Have you ever actually researched it though? If you did, here's what actually happened. She was being interviewed through a translator. So you have two different languages in play. The interviewer asks a leading question. What's a leading question? The classic example is "have you stopped beating your wife". If you say yes, the implication is you have beat her in the past. If you say no, the implication is you are still beating her. So he asks:

I would like to see his birthplace when I come to Kenya in December. Was she present when he was born in Kenya?

to a response of:

Yes, she says yes she was present when Obama was born

To which the interviewer latches on:

When I come in December I would like to come by the place, the hospital where he was born. Could you tell me where he was born? Was he born in Mombasa?

To which the reply is:

No, Obama was not born in Mombasa. He was born in America.

At that point, it was too late. The interviewer continued to hammer on Mombasa and Kenya while the translator continued to say that it was Hawaii.

Now, if anyone has ever had any kind of conversation with someone who is not a native English (or pick your language) speaker, you've probably had the same kinds of miscommunication. Add a translator to the mix, and it gets even better. Reminds me of when Kaz Matsui, who used a translator, for the Astros went on the DL for hemorrhoid surgery, but due to the translation it was presented as surgery for anal fissures because, and I quote, that has less of a stigma than hemorrhoids. Yeah, anal fissures sound much, much better...