The United States of Kenya

Hey, nutjobs! Get in on the latest big conspiracy theory! See, that whole 9/11 Truth/Ron Paul stuff is so yesterday!

Barack Obama isn't American! He was born in Kenya, which means he can't serve as president. Kick him out and put Newt Gingrich in!

First, over the summer we had all the stubborn Hillary supporters who just had to find some way to prevent Obama from winning the nomination:

A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon ... The action seeks an injunction preventing [Obama] from continuing his candidacy and a court order enjoining the DNC from nominating him next week, all on grounds that Sen. Obama is constitutionally ineligible to run for and hold the office of President of the United States.

This massive cover-up didn't get too much attention in the fall, since people were more concerned with, you know, real issues.

But it's back! I give you United States Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), on Saturday:

During a community meeting at the All Steak Restaurant on Saturday, a local resident asked Shelby if there was any truth to the rumor, which appeared during the presidential campaign.

“Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven’t seen any birth certificate,” Shelby said. “You have to be born in America to be president.”

Exciting! Of course, Shelby's office claimed the newspaper distorted his words by failing to include the context in which the remarks were made. Or something.

Then, today, we have word that the entire U.S. military is quitting! No one wants to take orders from some African guy.

"As an active-duty officer in the United States Army, I have grave concerns about the constitutional eligibility of Barack Hussein Obama to hold the office of president of the United States," wrote Scott Easterling in a "to-whom-it-may-concern" letter.

Obama "has absolutely refused to provide to the American public his original birth certificate, as well as other documents which may prove or disprove his eligibility," Easterling wrote. "In fact, he has fought every attempt made by concerned citizens in their effort to force him to do so."

Right. Thing is, absolutely no evidence has been presented to cast doubt on the fact that Obama was born in Hawaii.

Let's look at what the highly respected Annenberg Fact Check said about this issue in August.

In June, the Obama campaign released a digitally scanned image of his birth certificate to quell speculative charges that he might not be a natural-born citizen. But the image prompted more blog-based skepticism about the document's authenticity. And recently, author Jerome Corsi, whose book attacks Obama, said in a TV interview that the birth certificate the campaign has is "fake."

We beg to differ. FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as "supporting documents" to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said.

The site also links to an image of a newspaper clipping announcing Obama's birth:

This is absolutely a non-issue, and judges throughout the country have been busy throwing out idiotic lawsuits challenging Obama's victory.

In some ways I sympathize with the wackos bringing these lawsuits. After the 2000 election I felt that George Bush had assumed office illegally, given that his victory in Florida seemed doubtful. I supported court actions for further recounts and held out hope for a couple of months that something would be done to prove that Gore was the rightful winner.

When you've invested time, money, or at least emotion in a candidate, you want more than anything else to see him/her win. It's hard to accept defeat, and it's easy to convince yourself that s/he should have won.

Still, in this case there just doesn't seem to be any support for the Obama-was-born-in-Kenya movement. I don't see how any of these legal efforts, or refusals to serve, will be successful.