Drake Questions Techdude's Analysis: Is There Risk In The Pursuit of B.O.'s COLB?

My concern in following through with the pursuit of B.O.'s Certificate of Live Birth (C.O.L.B.) is not my concern with the C.O.L.B.'s authenticity or the chance that there is anything wrong in it. Rather, I am chiefly concerned that the state boards of election or the federal election commission should do due diligence on requirements to hold office, to include this constitutional one of natural citizenship. Criminal records, drivers' license information, birth certificate and similar kinds of identification should be collected by the state boards of election and the federal government and should be available for all citizens to review. We live in an age of identity theft and electronic scams. It is foolish to run an electoral system that takes at face value candidates' claims as to who they are. Even if the birth certificate on the Daily Kos and other pro-Obama websites is fair and true there should be a way for a citizen to review a certified copy in person without resorting to a website or bloggers' work-shed analyses. As well, Mr. Obama should have simply told his staff to authorize any and all requests for information to the Hawaii Health Department.

The main point is that the states or the federal government need develop a responsive audit system, not whether there is anything wrong with Mr. Obama's birth certificate. I'm puzzled that there is no system in place to permit a citizen to obtain identification information. Is our government run by marks, by trusting fools eager to be conned? If the state and federal governments cannot run an election properly, what can they do?

Drake, a scientist and attorney, has e-mailed me about his concerns that TechDude's analysis is inaccurate. But I don't think that's the right concern. The only chance of improving due diligence requirements for candidates is now. Public pressure must be intense because politicians don't like scrutiny any more than do Corporate America, Wall Street or Tony Soprano.

Drake writes:

>Dr. Langbert:

I have been trying to carefully follow this Obama COLB issue from the beginning. At first, I was convinced that a forgery had in fact been demonstrated. However, as time has gone on, I am becoming more and more skeptical. As one who has a computer science degree and is minimally competent at graphics, I have yet to see any verifiable and reproducible information from Techdude that actually indicates a forgery. This is especially significant concerning the claim that the name of the original bearer of the certificate (Maya, apparently) could be discerned from the image. Techdude has yet to post step by step instructions by which any reasonably skilled person in graphics could reproduce his findings.

Instead, what seems to be happening is that Techdude makes his claims and, as "support" for them, goes into laborious detail using very technical language and images with boxes and numbers. Most people simply skim these explanations, regarding them as beyond their expertise, and simply accepting his ultimate conclusions. Yet, when other non-pseudonymous graphic experts actually take the time to sludge through his explanations, they find them vacuous and insufficient to point toward Techdude's ultimate conclusions. Although I in no way regard myself as a graphics expert, I have reached the same conclusion when I have actually taken the time to go through his dense analysis. At the end, I ask myself, "Is there something I'm missing?" Yet, for a significant period of time, I have simply assumed that the missing analysis is there and Techdude has either not yet posted it or I am simply unable to understand it. As time goes on, I am becoming convinced that nearly everyone on the Atlas blog and on the TexasDarlin' blog is doing the same thing. Each person thinks to himself or herself, Well, I don't understand it, but it looks impressive and very technical, and all of these other people are convinced, so apparently his explanations have satisfied them. The result is that each person simply assumes that the others understand and have independently verified. It's like the free rider problem in economics.

Dr. Langbert, I'm writing you personally because, having read your blog, it is apparent that you are an intelligent man and a respectable scholar. I believe that we are similar in that we are both respectable professionals who are careful in their analysis and not simply internet hotheads. I myself am both a computer scientist and a lawyer. I am concerned that we are possibly being hoodwinked. I do not think it wise to try to bring an allegation of forgery in either the media, the political process, or the law until there is sufficient proof of forgery. Although I personally would very much like to see Obama disqualified from the Presidency (as I find his policy positions repugnant, to say the least), I can honestly say that neither Techdude nor anyone else has sufficiently shown forgery. Unlike others, I am in no way declaring the authenticity of the COLB, but neither has it been proven in authentic. If this email registers with you, I could go into more careful detail as to the holes I see and the seeming psuedoscience of it all.

While it might be argued that if Obama ultimately produces a physical copy as a result of this campaign you are waging, then there will be no harm done, I respectfully disagree. If the MSM were to actually pick this story up and Obama were to produce an authentic physical copy identical to the picture, and the analysis on which you and others are relying were to be exposed as junk science, then the result is far worse than having never brought up the story. Those who opposed Obama on this ground would look like idiots, hurting the credibility of his opposition. Moreover, as an associate professor who actually has a career at stake in terms of intellectual integrity, I honestly fear what the consequences might be for your career if this whole thing flops as badly as I fear it might. I myself am operating under a psuedonymn (Drake is not my real name) for this very same reason. I don't need my reputation to be tarnished or my publications not to be taken seriously as the result of this.

Regardless, I am not trying to tell you what to do. My concerns are simply that I am beginning to fear more and more that this is a hoax, and I worry that it may ultimately aid Obama. It seems to me that you are the most intellectually respectable and credentialed role player in this, and therefore I thought I'd email you about my concerns, both out of interest as to your thoughts regarding my criticism and a slight concern for your career.

I look forward to (hopefully) hearing back from you. Kind regards,

Drake

Letter From Carol of the Pacific Northwest

Gosh darn it I respect you with all that you all are doing here. I love it. This is such integrity and American patriotism. Sincerely, Carol from the Pacific Northwest

And thank you Carol!

Obama's Dual Citizenship

Is it appropriate for the President of the United States to hold dual citizenship? Mr. Obama may believe himself to be a citizen of the world, but there is what economists call a principal-agent problem if the president has dual loyalties. This may or may not be relevant to the Article II issue. However (and h/t Larwyn), it would seem that the failure of the state and federal governments to establish a system whereby simple information about presidential candidates is made public seems to have shocked us a second time this year.

Gateway Pundit notes that Rocky Mountain News reports that he "(h)olds both American and Kenyan (since 1963) citizenship."

Gateway Pundit quotes Political Gateway's 2007 post.

“Under the Independence Constitution of Kenya, Obama became a Kenyan citizen on December 12, 1963. He has never renounced his Kenyan citizenship. On his senate web site, Obama tap dances around his own dual nationality when discussing his father. Obama obviously knows, because his father told him, that he also held/holds Kenyan nationality.

“Once again, we find Barry O concealing fascinating information about his identity. There is nothing unusual about dual nationality. Indeed, ancient Roman Law doctrines of jus sanguini and jus soli come into play, because both Kenya and the U. S. recognize dual nationality. Once again, the issue is not ‘legality.’ The issue is the cover-up; Obama’s concealment of his own identity. From us, and most of all from himself."

Yes, concealment is the issue, isn't it?

Black Republican Forum Meets in NYC

The Silent Majority discusses the recent Black Republican Forum:

"Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican. Not enough people know this FACT but wonderfully that information was on display at the Annual Black Republican Forum. This Forum is here to Educate…to correct the propaganda passing as history and that it did. As The Silent Majority entered the second floor foyer of the beautiful Republican Women’s Club in New York City (just a hop from St. Patrick’s Cathedral) there was a table filled with books and pamphlets as well as a poster of the First American Blacks to sit in Congress (in the 1800’s!); Free Men and Elected! A long overdue freedom that came courtesy of the Republican Party; the real history of America that’s been erased by the Zinn/Chomsky ‘history’ books that have replaced the truth in our public schools."