Piercing the Cone of Silence

By Nick Chase

Barack Obama was undoubtedly born in Hawaii in 1961 - verified not just by his own word (for whatever that's worth), but by the automatic triggering of the registration of his birth in the public State of Hawaii birth index, and by the contemporaneous printing of his birth announcement in the local newspaper, and by eyewitnesses, and by his father's student-visa INS records. But 13 months ago I found myself among the skeptics who felt that the president was hiding something because of the two years of stonewalling before he released to the public an image of what he claimed was his long-form birth certificate, under pressure because the issue was turning into a political liability for him. Like most folks, when this document was released, showing a hospital birth with family and medical information, I assumed that the question was settled. I was satisfied. And I wasn't the only person satisfied at the time. Most all of the public, and everybody in the mainstream media, accepted the image as.... (Read Full Article)