On the "Birthers"-America's Biggest Nut Factory

There are 24% of people in this nation who believe in witches. There are still people, according to the BBC, that still believe the Earth is flat, even in this nation. And now there's this conspiracy theory-one that has absolutely no base on any side-that President Obama was not born in this nation, and thus cannot president.

Welcome to the world of the Birthers. As today's report on Politico will tell you (click the link for it), the Birthers are a 300000-person strong group that believe, with strong conviction, that Barack Obama is not from this nation. They also believe that President Obama cannot be a citizen because his father was not a citizen.

Reality check here, though-the belief that President Obama was not born on this nation is akin to saying Barack Obama is not on this planet. Hawaiian officials have confirmed that he was born in Honolulu in 1961. The conservative site WorldNetDaily has seen the birth certificate, and has said it is legit. The idea that Obama cannot be a citizen because his father wasn't is complete bunk- (a), his mother was a citizen, and (b) he was born here. He is a natural-born citizen, born in this nation, and he is older than 35-thus, he meets the qualifications of the presidency.

Regardless, people still cannot believe that President Obama meets the qualifications of the presidency. And, yes, these folks are far too many fries short of a Happy Meal. In courts around the country, the Birthers have stated their claim that President Obama is not president-and they have been shot down. In their appeal to the Supreme Court, they were not given a writ of certiorari-most likely because their argument is both alack of logic and fact. Even conservative pundit Michael Medved has said that the Birthers are "crazy, nutburger, demagogue, money-hungry, exploitative, irresponsible, filthy conservative imposters" who are "the worst enemy of the conservative movement." And let's face it, one of the movement's leaders, Alan Keyes, fits that discription. I think he's still ticked that he was thrown around the state of Illinois by Obama in 2004.

According to Politico, the main calls from the Birthers are for the state of Hawaii "to release for public inspection Obama's original birth certificate rather than the notarized copy typically issued." Governor Linda Lingle (Republican, and erroneously referred to by the movement as a Democrat) of Hawaii has refused, saying that is against state law.

The real reason behind this obviously isn't logic or reason or even opinion; it is fear. Simple racist fear from those who think that he is a Muslim and was sworn in on a Koran (he wasn't; that was Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota-and, by the way, it was Thomas Jefferson's Koran he was sworn in on); that he does not pledge allegiance to the flag from a picture (it was taken before Obama put his hand on his heart; when in the Senate, Obama often led the Pledge of Allegiance); and that he wasn't president because the Oath of Office wasn't read right (Even if President Obama and Chief Justice John Roberts didn't do it a second time, Obama was president before the oath of office at 12:05 PM; he was president at noon, sometime when Yo-Yo Ma was bow-synching on his cello). These people will not stop at anything to make it impossible for change to come in America; indeed, they will be the ones held back.