Birthers Redux; Three Strikes

My conservative relative who will remain nameless sent me another in a long line of easily exposed right-wing propaganda; it seems that the Birthers have renewed their efforts to "prove" that Barack Obama wasn't actually born in the United States.

And like every other attempt, this three step "exposé" does not stand up under scrutiny.  It's even more lame than their original thoroughly fraudulent theory.

This new failed attempt is called:

“Very Interesting Bit Of Detective Work”

That really should read "defective".   Sorry, didn't mean to cut in this soon.

STRIKE ONE:

“Very Interesting Bit Of Detective Work”

1. Back in 1961 people of color were called 'Negroes.' So how can the Obama 'birth certificate' state he is 'African-American' when the term wasn't even used at that time?

Ah, just as the Swift-boaters determined a font was wrong, these "detectives" have determined that because a modern term was used, it's obvious that the document is fake.

There's only one problem with this "fact."  It's completely false.  Not about the usage of the term; about the birth certificate.  I found a copy of it on the Huffington Post.  And here's what it actually says about his father's race:

AFRICAN.  Not "African-American".  Since Barack Obama's father was from Africa, this is the correct usage for the time period.  Africans were black people from Africa, Negroes were black people from the United States.

And this one didn't take any research.  I just had to read the damned certificate.

So much for glaringly obvious lie number one.

STRIKE TWO:

2. The birth certificate that the White House released lists Obama's birth as August 4, 1961. It also lists Barack Hussein Obama as his father. No big deal, right? At the time of Obama's birth, it also shows that his father is aged 25 years old, and that Obama's father was born in "Kenya , East Africa ". This wouldn't seem like anything of concern, except the fact that Kenya did not even exist until 1963, two whole years after Obama's birth, and 27 years after his father's birth. How could Obama's father have been born in a country that did not yet exist? Up and until Kenya was formed in 1963, it was known then as the “British East Africa Protectorate".

Wow.  So Kenya didn't exist until 1963, huh?  That would be a compelling piece of evidence, if it were true.

But it's not true.

Let's turn to the front page of the Toronto Daily Star for February 6, 1952:

Let's zoom in on that date:

It's a little messy, but it reads Wednesday, February 6, 1952.  Of course, feel free to look up the death of King George IV to confirm the dates.

So, at least as far as Canada was concerned, there was in fact a place called "Kenya" nine years prior to 1961.  Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, were called back from Kenya (and not the "British East Africa Protectorate") so Elizabeth could be crowned queen. 

And while this piece of information alone is enough to completely savage the riotously insane notion that Kenya didn't exist in 1961, I don't want to waste the research I did before I found this lovely image.

The British East Africa Protectorate was created in 1888.

Kenya was, in fact, a part of the British East Africa Protectorate, which consisted of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and parts of Somalia (then known as Jubaland).

Kenya was the part known as KENYA.

In 1895, the British East Africa Protectorate was reorganized into the East Africa Protectorate, or simply East Africa.

Kenya became a formal colony, the Kenya Colony, in 1920.  Kenya, East Africa.

Which, hey, is EXACTLY what is on the Birth Certificate!

So much for glaringly obvious lie number two.

STRIKE THREE:

3. On the birth certificate released by the White House, the listed place of birth is "Kapi'olani Maternity Gynecological Hospital". This cannot be, because the hospital(s) in question in 1961 were called "KauiKeolani Children's Hospital" and "Kapi'olani Maternity Home", respectively. The name did not change to Kapi'olani Maternity Gynecological Hospital until 1978, when these two hospitals merged. How can this particular name of the hospital be on a birth certificate dated 1961 if this name had not yet been applied to it until 1978?

How could it be?  Because that's what its name actually was in 1961.

SacredHealing.com has a service called TriAdoption.

TRIADOPTION® was formed as an information center in 1978 to gather and dispense data to assist adoptees, birthparents, siblings and others in locating family members.... We began with a very important work by Reg Niles where he documented hundreds of adoption agencies, orphanages and maternity homes that cropped up in the 20th century and in many cases closed, moved or disappeared. For adoptees and birth families seeking their information, this is a valuable resource.

They've scanned and uploaded Reg Nile's book: Adoption Agencies, Orphanages and Maternity Homes:An Historical Directory - Volumes 1 & 2, ©1981.  This book was culled from records of state governments; from licenses issued and articles of incorporation filed through the years.

And it has a chapter on Hawaii.

Here's the entry for the hospital Barack Obama was born in:

024  KAPIOLANI HOSPITAL. 1979 TO 1973: KAPIOLANI HOSPITAL,  1319  PUNAHOU  ST., 96826.  1972:  SAME NAME.  1611 BINGHAM ST.. 96814;  USED FOR  DELIVERY OF PATIENTS FROM THE SALVATION ARMY  BOOTH UN-WED PARENTS PROGRAMS  [SEE  ENTRY  0151.] 1958:  KAPIOLANI MATERNITY  AND  GYNECOLOGICAL  HOSPITAL,  1611 BlNGHAM ST.;  115 BEDS.  1937:  SAME  NAME,  PUNAHOU  AND BINGHAM  STS.;  687  BIRTHS IN  1935;  PRIOR TO 1931, IT WAS CALLED THE KAPIOLANI MATERNITY HOME;  ESTABLISHED IN 1891. 1925: KAPlOLANI MATERNITY HOME, 1538 BERETANIA AYE.; 25 BEDS. NAMESAKE: THE DOWAGER QUEEN KAPIOLANI, WHO HELPED ESTABLISH THE HOME.

So, according to state of Hawaii records, the name "Kapiolani Maternity Gynecological Hospital" goes back to 1937, and was still the name of the hospital when Barack Obama was born there in 1961.

Three strikes, you're out of the game. So all you pathetic birthers can put on your tinfoil hats and run home to drink the green Kool-aid.