RC Radio Natural Born Citizen Debate Challenge

I would like to start off 2012 with a bang!

Who is a natural born citizen? Before late 2008 there was not much discussion of this question except in some obscure legal articles and talk about a few candidates not born on US soil like Mitt Romney's father (born in Mexico) and John McCain (born in the Canal Zone). Recently, many of those known as the "Birthers" started telling us that almost everything we learned about this term for 200 years is wrong. In 2008 during the run up to the election all the conversation was about "the birth certificate" but now the debate has moved to the claim that to be a natural born citizen requires both parents to be citizens at the time of birth. Even some politicians in New Hampshire and in Georgia have embraced the idea. What gives? I say let's get this settled.

I challenge proponents of both sides of the discussion on the definition of the term  "natural born citizen" in the United States Constitution under the requirements for president and vice president to a debate on Reality Check Radio on Wednesday, January 25, 2012.  I have arranged for up to three supporters of the traditional definition that a US citizen at birth is a natural born citizen to represent the "Obot" side of the debate. I challenge the "Birther" side to provide up to three proponents to take on the challenge.

The debate will be 90 minutes long and both sides will have equal time. Timing will be strictly enforced. Each side will be given equal time for opening and closing arguments. Each side will be able to ask the other side 4 questions of their choice and have time for rebuttal to the answers. The moderator (me) will ask 1 or 2 questions if issues appear to need further discussion. The remainder of the show will allow the listeners to call and ask questions.

I extend this challenge to Leo Donofrio, Mario Apuzzo, Charles Kerchner, Orly Taitz, Dean Haskins, Jerome Corsi, or any other proponent of the "two citizen parent" definition of natural born citizen. This is your chance to prove you are right. The first three who accept will be selected as participants  unless they wish to give up a spot to someone prior to the debate.

I will enforce a fair debate. If you are interested please contact me at realitycheck1776 at gmail period com or through the "Contact Me" link on rcradioshow.blogspot.com

Please feel free to link or copy this article to your blog or forum to get the word out. A refusal by either side to defend their position will be noted.

A Conversation with Paul Irey

Paul Irey

I called Paul Irey last week to invite him to appear on Reality Check Radio to debate  John Woodman on the authenticity of the Obama long from birth certificate. Irey has declared it to be a forgery beyond doubt. Mr. Irey’s claims are based on differences in typefaces and other anomalies among various letters in the document. In his book, Is Obama’s Birth Certificate a Fraud?: A Computer Guy Examines The Evidence For Forgery, John Woodman devoted an entire chapter to Mr. Irey’s claims and found them to be easily refuted. John Woodman has publicly challenged Paul Irey to debate him but Mr. Irey has refused. I thought I would offer a fair forum to them where a full two hours could be devoted to a debate but unfortunately Mr. Irey still refuses. Mr. Irey was kind enough to be a guest on my show earlier this year and I had hoped he would consider a return for what could be an interesting evening.

Mr. Irey and I touched on a number of topics and the conversation while civil did become heated at times. Irey concedes that John Woodman has found some major flaws in his original analysis. Namely, Woodman demonstrated that many of the letters that Irey chose to blow up for comparison are from a vertical section of the document where it appears that the copier or scanner caused a distortion. Irey concedes that Woodman is correct. Irey also said that he has sent an email to Orly Taitz, Jerome Corsi, Doug Vogt, and others advising them of the problems with his analysis and asking them not to use it. I was startled to hear this and told Mr. Irey I had never seen a single retraction printed anywhere. I told him that this hasn’t stopped Taitz from including it with her motions in several court cases and in her challenge presented to the Ballot Law Commission in New Hampshire last month. Irey offered two explanations why he was not that concerned to have his flawed analysis submitted as evidence. First he says he is still sure the birth certificate is forged because a source he will not name from the Secret Service told him in 2008 that Obama was not born in Hawaii. Second, he is working on a new analysis that will be published soon (one would assume in World Net Daily) that will be “irrefutable”.  He also said it didn’t matter because no judge had read them anyway. I suspect Irey is correct that no judge has ever really read his gobbledygook but no real expert would dare let work that he would not endorse be filed in any court.

I asked Mr. Irey if he was concerned that two administrations in Hawaii had vouched for the validity of both the 2008 COLB and the 2011 long form birth certificate and that Dr. Fukino, Loretta Fuddy, and Alvin Onaka had all staked their professional reputations on those documents. Irey replied that “Fuddy and Onaka would both be going to jail” for their complicity in the forgery. I told him that I would bet him $500 that neither of them would go to jail by a date one year from our conversation. Irey would not take the bet. (My offer still stands by the way.)

I then asked Irey how he could explain other additional evidence of that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii. These included the contemporary newspaper accounts, recollections by Obama’s teacher Barbara Nelson, and the passport records for Ann Dunham that showed that an official from the state department had investigated the Obama child’s place of birth. Irey was familiar with these but dismissed them all. He said Barbara Nelson was lying and that the newspaper announcements were the result of Obama’s grandmother filing for a birth certificate after the Obamas returned from Kenya. Irey said he remembered reading that there was a Hawaii law that allowed one to get a birth certificate that said the birth place was Hawaii even though the birth occurred elsewhere. He could not quote the statute. He said that was done for a Chinese communist but he could not remember the name. I am sure Irey was referring to the birth certificate issued by the Territory of Hawaii in 1904 for Sun Yat-sen.  Dr. Conspiracy and others have written about this fraudulent birth certificate oft cited by Birthers as proof that anyone can get birth certificate in Hawaii with merely a signature of a relative. No other certificate other than this one from 1904 has ever been produced although Orly Taitz and others have maintained it is easy to obtain a birth certificate that shows a Hawaiian birth with a mere signature of a relative.

Irey also buys into Larry Sinclair’s cockamamie stories. I will not delve into the details but let’s just say Irey is very familiar with all the details and believes Obama is bisexual and met male lovers at Rev. Wright’s church.  He had several of them killed according to Irey. He buys into other conspiracy theories too: Did you know that all the major news outlets have their news stories verified daily by the government? Mr. Irey says that this began in 1947 under the Truman administration and continues to this day. 

Paul Irey’s hobby of delving into conspiracy theories goes back a long way. If you talk to him for very long he will always get around to the Kennedy assassination. He believes the fatal shot was fired from a sewer in front of the limousine and that the famous autopsy photo showing little damage to Kennedy’s face cannot be reconciled with the Zapruder film. He believes the driver of the limousine slowed the vehicle intentionally at the right moment to allow the unknown assassin to take the fatal shot. I did not want to engage him on the Kennedy assassination details. We recently passed the 48 year anniversary of the assassination and I have seen every conspiracy on the assignation debunked to at least my satisfaction. I see no point at spending time on it. 

I am convinced that Paul Irey is sincere in his beliefs.  He might even be a pleasant guy to meet but he lives in a different world than most of us. He trusts no one and wakes up every day sure that unknown sinister forces are controlling every aspect of government and the media. Like most conspiracy theorists he always invokes the shadowy “they” to toss out mountains of evidence for which he has no explanation.  For that I pity him. However, that in no way excuses the fact that he has allowed his so-called “evidence” that he knows is flawed to be used by charlatans like Orly Taitz and Jerome Corsi to convince their gullible followers and readers that the President is a liar.

Irey vs. Woodman Debate?

      Paul Irey                                 John Woodman

John Woodman, author of the recently published book Is Barack Obama's Birth Certificate a Fraud? has issued a challenged to Paul Irey to debate him concerning Irey's analysis of the typing on the Obama LFBC. The challenge was issued by Mr.  Woodman in a post on his blog. No answer has been posted to date so we may assume that Mr. Irey has either declined or discussions are ongoing. While RC Radio would be happy to host such a debate, and could offer a full two hours for it to be conducted, Mr. Woodman suggested that one of the larger national radio shows be contacted once the parties agree to the debate.

Paul Irey was one of the two self proclaimed "experts" that accompanied Orly Taitz to Hawaii in August in her unsuccessful attempt to view the "vault copy" of President Obama's long form birth certificate. The other "expert" was Doug Vogt. Mr. Vogt has been invited to be a guest on Reality Check Radio but has not responded to a couple of requests. RC Radio would like to invite Mr. Vogt and Mr. Woodman to engage in a debate on a future show.

John Woodman, Springfield Computer Guy will Be on RC Radio 9/1

John Woodman, the author of the recently released book, Is Barack Obama's Birth Certificate a Fraud?, will be my guest tonight on RC Radio. John Woodman is a conservative who posted a series of videos on YouTube as Springfield Computer Guy who analyzed several claims that the Obama long form birth certificate was forged and found them to be not proof of a forgery at all. In the book Woodman takes on such "experts" as Karl Denninger, Douglas Vogt, and Paul Irey and finds all of their theories are full of holes.

Mike Dunford will also be on the show to update us on the latest action with Orly Taitz in Hawaii district court. 

To listen use this link: RC Radio  You can also call (347) 324-5546 to listen or ask a question.

Random Thoughts on Birtherism

Yes, I have been a slacker lately. I admit it. But, hey, we did two shows the week before last when we covered Orly's Great Hawaiian Adventure with Paul Irey and Douglas Vogt in tow. Speaking of Paul Irey, someone must have pointed him to my critique of his flawed analysis. He popped in with a couple of comments as "Anonymous". Mr. Irey again demonstrated his lack of credentials as a document examiner. He also can't understand why the Department of Health in Honolulu would not allow the crackpot Orly Taitz and her two biased amateur buffoons "experts" in with their microscopes and scanners to examine a document that they are prevented by law from viewing.

In case you have not seen it yet there is a new Facebook Group called Orly's World that has generated quite a bit of activity. A few Birthers have joined to regurgitate the same lies about the authenticity of the LFBC and COLB and to try to rewrite the definition of "natural born citizen" based on sheer fantasy.

Our previous guest on RC Radio, Tim Adams, submitted his masters thesis titled Discourse and Conflict: The President Barak H. Obama Birth Certificate Controversy and the New Media. [emphasis added] In fairness to Adams the misspelling of the President's name is on the cover sheet that may have been prepared by someone else at Western Kentucky University. This is a small sample of Adams' writing style that he calls "New Journalism" from "Chapter II - The Beginning":

Down in the Bluegrass

Unbeknownst to my detractors—being as I was coming to Western Kentucky
University from my alma mater, the University of Hawaii—I had already been vetted
many times. I’ve held several positions in both military and civil service, each of which
required both a background check and a top secret or higher security clearance. I had just
recently been invited to the Honolulu Police Academy as part of their community
enforcement program but had allowed myself to be dissuaded by my then-current love
interest’ fears of such a job. A short time later, the girl was gone and so was my
opportunity, as is so often the case when dealing with women.

Yes, that is what apparently is acceptable for a masters thesis in English these days at Western Kentucky. ConWebBlog provided a review of both Adam's thesis and Jack Cashill's fluff piece on it in World Net Daily: Tim Adams'Crappy Masters Thesis

What self-respecting professor would not have rejected Adams' thesis outright for this massive typo alone?

Adams makes other embarrassing errors as well. For instance, he writes, "The other reason anyone daring to call the current administration into question is because to quote the Rolling Stones, 'Meet the new boss/same as the old boss' ('Teenage Wasteland')" -- managing to get both the name of the song the lyric comes from and the band that performed it completely wrong. (It's "Baba O'Riley" by The Who.) He also misspells WND editor Joseph Farah's name and commits the editing error of introducing him as "Mr. Farar" but not mentioning his first name until 12 pages later.

As for the thesis itself, once you get past the subpar stabs at Hunter  Thompson-esque prose -- indeed, he portrays his entire birther adventure as an attempt at "gonzo" journalism -- it's clear that Adams does not want to tell the full story of "the conflicts surrounding speech and public discourse, and the barriers to and consequences for unpopular speech."

Adams portrays "Mr. Farar’s people at World Net Daily," along with the people at the tabloid the Globe, as outlets that treated himwell, as opposed to other outlets that "were something less than stellar when it came to the veracity and honesty of their reporting on me." But as we've detailed, WND did not engage in honesty and veracity in its reporting about Adams, actively hiding the fact that Adams first made his birther claims to a pro-white radio host broadcasting from a conference by an organization descended from Southern anti-integration activists.

Dean Haskins is still pimping his big Birther Summit that promises to bring in tens of people. he might even eclipse Carl Swennson's great Pitchfork Rally in Atlanta that drew a dozen. Dean's $15,000 Challenge to Colin Powell to come sit through 3 hours of crazy has gone two weeks with no answer so Dean is now inviting Bill O'Reilly, Anderson Cooper, George Stephanopoulos, and Chris Matthews to be wowed by their "evidence" for pay. (Well, not really because Dean and his buds will determine if they did a super job).

Meanwhile, in the real world, it appears that our President has scored another significant success as the government of Muammar Gaddafi is falling as I write.

Jonathan Kay on Reality Check Radio

  If you missed the show with Jonathan Kay last Thursday I think you will be very pleased if you take the time to catch the archived version of the show. (The player on the right side of the blog will do that for you ;) ).  Mr. Kay was an outstanding guest. Jonathan is the author of Among the Truthers - A Journey Through America's Growing Conspiracist Underground. He began work on the book in 2008 and originally it was to be about the so called 911 Truth Movement. However, as the Birther Movement spread following the nomination and election of Barack Obama he decided to include a discussion of the Birthers.
   When Jonathan talked about the 911 Truthers reaction to contrary evidence I found myself nodding my head several times to myself and thinking yes that is exactly how the Birthers have reacted the mountain of evidence against their claims. Some of the characteristics he attributed to the Truthers included avoidance of news sources with contrary information, clannish behavior and exclusion of "non-believers", and estrangement from other family members. We have all seen similar behavior from the Birthers.
  He also talked about how conspiracy theories have arisen in the last decade particularly in America due to traumatic events such as the September 2011 attacks, two wars, and the economic crisis of 2008. I suppose one could by extension assume the Brithers were traumatized by the election of a black man as their President.
  There is much more on the show including some great questions from several callers that Kay handled with interest and skill. He complemented the show and particularly was impressed with the intelligence of the callers. So was I, but I am every week. If you would like to contact Jonathan Kay and thank him for spending an hour or so with our little group I beleive you can reach him at this email, info@amongthetruthers dot com

Why Everyone is Missing the Point on Trump and the Birther Polls

The 3 and 4 letter networks and even the anti-birther community seems to be somewhat amazed that Donald Trump has vaulted to the apparent lead among early Republican contenders for the 2012 presidential nomination. They are also shocked that the "Obama was not born in the USA" option is polling significant numbers among  conservatives. However, if you give some thought this phenomenon was completely predictable and expected. Why? Take a look at the previous issues where a large plurality or even a majority of conservatives have bought into unsupported beliefs contradicted by the  evidence and continue to believe them.

Let's look at a few:

• Death Panels - This lie was concocted by opponents of the Health Care Affordability Act or 2010 and pushed by the right on Fox News and other favorite conservative outlets and especially enthusiastically touted by Sarah Palin . The real truth was that the act was written to create a "Comparative Effectiveness Research Center shall "conduct, support, and synthesize research" that looks at "outcomes, effectiveness, and appropriateness of health care services and procedures in order to identify the manner in which diseases, disorders, and other health conditions can most effectively and appropriately be prevented, diagnosed, treated, and managed clinically."Anyone with a computer and Google type the words "death panels truth" and pop up this article on Politifact in a few seconds. I am sure if you polled conservatives a majority would swear the health care bill includes death panels that will be coming to their town real soon now to euthanize granny.
• Reducing taxes for the wealthy will create jobs and reduce the federal debt - Yes, Reaganomincs, Trickle Down Economics, Supply Side Economics has been the guiding principle for economic policy for at least 20 of the last 30 years. It failed under Reagan and Bush I and it failed spectacularly again under Bush II. 
• Creationism - Four in ten Americans believe human beings were created by god in their present form within the last 10,000 years. That is what Gallop found last year.  Want to bet how many of the Birthers fall into that 40%? The same poll should that almost 90% of those who called themselves Republicans believe in either strict creationism or the new fad "theory" of Guided Evolution. I could write much more on how "Creationism" isn't even a "theory" by any scientific standard and how creationists continue to misunderstand the meaning of the term but that would require a much longer post. 

I could cite many other examples of conservative beliefs that are not based on fact. So we should not be asking "Why are so many people sucked into birtherism?" we should be asking "Why are so many Americans incapable or unwilling to engage in critical thinking?". I invite your comments. I have my opinions and will delve into this topic more on future programs and posts here.