Where have all our Presidents gone?

If you watched Anderson Cooper’s AC360 failed attempt to brow-beat Lt Col Terry Larkin on Friday 6 August 2010, http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/06/video-release-birth-certificate-military-doctor-demands-2/ , the plot becomes even thicker. If anything, Anderson Cooper raised even more doubts by pointedly refusing to allow Terry Larkin’s attorney to explain the issue. So let’s look at what Anderson Cooper did NOT KNOW or did NOT WANT you to know.

The certificate under discussion is Barack Obama’s Certificate of Live Birth, an electronically-issued computer generated abridged birth certificate which clearly states that “This copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceedings”. See the certificate at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/06/obama-birth.html . This Certificate of Live Birth is NOT the original birth certificate signed by the parents and the doctor who delivered the baby, but simply an abridged copy. Indeed, the certificate of live birth does not even allege that this certificate is absolute indisputable unquestionable proof – the words “prima facie” mean “on first appearance”, thus leaving the door open to a challenge as to accuracy and authenticity.

Notwithstanding Mr Cooper’s insistence that this is a legal document, recognized by the US Government, he is simply incorrect. In immigration matters, for example, the US Citizenship and Immigration Service does NOT accept abridged birth certificates (such as this Certificate of Live Birth). The USCIS demands a “vault copy” – a certified, notarized copy of the full, unabridged and signed ORIGINAL birth certificate which contains the handwritten entries of the parents and delivering doctor – names, dates, signatures and place of birth.

Now I figure that a person of Anderson Cooper’s intelligence would know this. So why did he so pointedly and aggressively shut the attorney down when he tried to explain that Terry Larkin is, as is his right, challenging the accuracy and authenticity of a certificate which is unsigned by the parents, unsigned by the delivery doctor, clearly an abridged copy and clearly identified as only prima facie evidence? And why did Mr Cooper not simply concur with Terry Larkin’s lawyer and say “Okay, if you cannot get a certified notarized vault copy of the original, I’m sure the power of CNN will have more luck.”

Perhaps this country does not want to face the consequences if Terry Larkin manages to prove something we don’t want to know? Can you imagine trying to undo and reverse every piece of legislation enacted since Barack Obama was elected? Indeed, would this not make this great country the laughing stock of the entire world, doing incalculable damage to us politically, economically and militarily? Perhaps this is a Pandora’s Box best left closed?