Put the tinfoil hats away

I was just reading this blogpost from blogs.america.gov and I found that the crazies are still out in force. Take a look at this post from the comments section:

Ted
31 January 2009, 11:45 EST (#)
The Joint Chiefs of Staff HAVE AN ABSOLUTE CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY to stand behind Guantanamo Military Judge James Pohl UNTIL OBAMA OVERCOMES “RES IPSA LOQUITUR” BY SUPPLYING HIS LONG FORM BIRTH CERTIFICATE AND PROVING HIS ELIGIBILITY TO BE PRESIDENT UNDER ARTICLE 2 OF THE US CONSTITUTION.

Snopes covered this issue in October of 2008, but that hasn't stopped the conspiracy nutjobs from claiming that Snopes is somehow "in on it," and I have to admit that I can see how a crazy person might be distrustful of the Snopes post, which focuses on interpretation of the constitution, rather than just doing a little work to prove that Obama's birth certificate is valid.

Fortunately Factcheck.org did their own rumor-busting on 11/1/08, including my favorite passage:
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In fact, the conspiracy would need to be even deeper than our colleagues realized. In late July, a researcher looking to dig up dirt on Obama instead found a birth announcement that had been published in the Honolulu Advertiser on Sunday, Aug. 13, 1961.

The announcement was posted by a pro-Hillary Clinton blogger who grudgingly concluded that Obama "likely" was born Aug. 4, 1961 in Honolulu.

Of course, it's distantly possible that Obama's grandparents may have planted the announcement just in case their grandson needed to prove his U.S. citizenship in order to run for president someday. We suggest that those who choose to go down that path should first equip themselves with a high-quality tinfoil hat. The evidence is clear: Barack Obama was born in the U.S.A.
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Personally I think Jerome Corsi should issue a public apology for his initial propagation of this blatant BS, and FOX News for giving him a soap box, and then doing nothing to investigate or correct his comments. Obviously that's not going to happen. I'm just equal parts saddened and aggravated that a vocal minority still feels that this is open to debate.

For a flurry of clueless posts by other ideologues and nutjobs check out the comments at Jumping in Pools. Especially disturbing is the fact that the blogger even noted that it was a piece of satire (leaving aside how effective it may be) before posting it. But many of the commenters missed that note, and seem eager to jump on the bandwagon of a piece posted on a blog that features Joe's Babe of the Week.

More debunking at Urbanlegends.about.com

-O.J.