I'm not a birther, but....
posted by The Vidiot @ 10:06 AM Permalink
Seriously. Dudes. That 'long-form birth certificate' is one f-cked up document. And here's why.
I do graphic work, specifically, print production. That means that for the last 15 years, I have dealt with the nitty gritty of digital file creation and printing. Hell, I've even had to make fake 'official' documents that look good printed as part of an overall designed page. It's not rocket science. It only takes a few extra tweaks to make something look good to the average eye.
After I heard that folks were saying it was a layered file, I had to see for myself. And lo and behold, it DID have 'layers', or rather, subgroups in a group within a single layer in illustrator. Then I heard the possible explanation for why some random chunks were in the file: that whomever had scanned the damn thing had the OCR (object character recognition) software turned on. And I sort of accepted that initially, but then I thought, wait a minute. If that were the case, wouldn't some of the text be editable? And since it's not, why did they bother to only rasterize the type and not the whole document?
Then I saw
this video by another graphics person who noticed things like under the oddball text, there was tone, which there shouldn't have been had there been OCR issues, among other things, some of which I agree with, some I don't
So now I'm trying to wrap my head around how they could've made this document, and here's my theory: it's odd appearance, the page with the herringbone pattern was the paper they printed on from what they want us to think is microfilm. I just don't think it was the original microfilm, or the original microfilm image has been tampered with.
If someone gave me a microfilm image and told me to change a lot of the info, I could do it pretty easily. I'd also make sure to use as much as the original artwork as possible so it all looked the same. Trust me, I could do a MUCH better job than this piece of crap. (Though, maybe mine would be too perfect.)
Anyway, my point is it's a
bsolutely f-cking clumsy. If they wanted to negate the entire controversy, they could've just opened the PDF in photoshop, flattened the file, and re-saved it as a photoshop PDF with layers turned off, then reopened it in Adobe Acrobat and saved it as an acrobat PDF. THEN, it wouldn't have any of the digital anomalies. Hell, they could've just rasterized the whole damn thing in Illustrator and be done with it.
And don't get me started on some of the weird info in the document itself. As has been pointed out by more than a few folks, Kenya wasn't called Kenya until 1963, and his father is categorized as African instead of negro which was probably more the custom in 1961, just to point out a few things. I'm just going to leave the info alone. There's too much this and that out there, I don't feel like verifying any of it.
But all of this is neither here nor there. The REAL question is "WHY THE HELL ARE THEY DOING THIS?" It's obviously a manufactured document. There's not a doubt in my mind they tampered with it and what's worse, they WANT you to know they tampered with it.
But why? Why are they feeding the trolls by even releasing such a thing, unless of course they want to keep the trolls fed and alive,
which is obviously the case.
What's going on in the world they don't want us talking about? Oh, I can think of about a dozen things, from the economy to the radiation to the undeclared wars. What is this thing? A huge damned distraction is what this thing is.
What will be the result of all of this? At some point, when it looks like he's going to really go into the crapper because of the birther issue (because this latest release was done in such a way that even folks like myself who considered the birthers ridiculous are now giving the documents a second look and the subject a second thought) he will 'be forced to reveal' some embarrassing truth that he was trying to keep secret that not only proves he's a US citizen through and through, but that the other side is playing 'dirty politics' and can't be trusted to do the right thing ever. (
Mike Rivero's theory is that Obama's dad wasn't the Kenyan, but that his mother had an affair with some other guy from Chicago and they covered it up for some reason or other. Which would certainly explain how Obama ended up in Chicago after Hawaii, Indonesia and NYC.)
So there you have it. This whole birth certificate nonsense is just a manufactured distraction so that any focus on the real issues and the real let-downs and disappointments are not fully discussed or acknowledged. And The Donald? Of course he's in on it. I wouldn't be surprised if he were a paid employee of the Obama campaign.
Don't get sucked into this stupidity. Yeah, it's bogus. But there's a reason it's bogus. They WANT it to be bogus. They WANT the controversy. Every second spent discussing the certificate is a second NOT discussing the fact that Obama is warmonger of the highest magnitude.
Update: Let me be clear: I do not necessarily think that the damn thing is a forgery. It's certainly possible that it is. I can see exactly how they did if it IS a forgery. The way that Illustrator is looking at it, I've looked at solid scanned images before and they don't pop up with all those vector boxes. HOWEVER, the point is, again, THEY WANT YOU TO THINK IT'S HINKY. IT'S A DISTRACTION. THAT IS ALL.
Focus people, FOCUS!
Labels: birth certificate, birthers
Stay tuned for the Donald, crowing like the…
posted by Bill Arnett @ 3:32 PM Permalink
…Cock of the walk while running around like a chicken with its head cutoff.
For his next
trick amusing exposé the Donald will prove that Obama is not black since his highly paid investigators (the ones the Donald claims told him Obama's birth certificate did not exist) have also been unable to ascertain any slightest bit of proof that Obama is, indeed, black.
Said the Donald, "The so-called birth certificate of Obama says he is African, not African-American, and it does not claim that he is black. And if he's not black that means he ripped off both Columbia and Harvard Universities by using affirmative action to obtain his education instead of dropping out of high school like most of the Blacks with whom I get along famously well. The Blacks love me."
An additional investigation commenced by the Donald's team of crack, highly paid detectives (or high detectives paid with crack; I can never keep that straight) is whether Obama is really a male impersonator from Thailand, more commonly know for its female impersonators, because, after all, the President has never publicly exposed his genitalia while the entire world knows what a dick the Donald is.
Stay tuned for these and other interesting developments.
Ciao, bella ámi.
Labels: birth certificate, birthers, President Barack Obama
Hoppy Easter!
posted by The Sailor @ 12:10 AM Permalink
He dyed for your sins.
Labels: Easter
A good profile on Ron Paul
posted by The Vidiot @ 12:47 PM Permalink
Something to
read that ISN'T related to Fukishima, though, I'm sure some folks in politics think his ideas are downright radioactive.
He is a constant in a changing world, an emissary from an older America. A self-styled constitutional purist, he has for forty years been a voice in the wilderness. But now he has sparked a movement that has put him at the center of the struggle over what kind of country we want to be. But is America ready for his radical vision?
Labels: ron paul
I'm so psycho
posted by The Vidiot @ 9:31 AM Permalink
Last night, Teen Vidiot wanted to walk outside, in the rain, to get a coke at the store. Now, I wasn't particularly freaked out because he has a cold and he'd get wet. Or that he had a ton of homework to do and hadn't even started it. (Well, both of those things did freak me out.) BUT, this time, I was
more worried about him getting radioactive rain on him. He thinks I'm completely crazy for even thinking about it, let alone worry about it. And maybe I am. I dunno.
For one thing, every time I check
EPA's radnet, the monitoring station for St. Louis mysteriously goes down when it rains. Now, knowing there is a ton of crap in the atmosphere, and that precipitation travels down through that atmosphere, makes me think they take it offline so people can't follow anything. Yesterday, we had a bad storm pass through here, and sure enough, damn radnet went offline. When I checked it during the day, when they finally DID update the info, turns out that during the middle of the storm, the beta gross count rate, which is the one you gotta' watch to make sure it doesn't get above 130 cpm, topped out at 150 cpm. That's not good. Here in the midwest, we're usually 20-40 cpm. 150??!! Nice. Granted, it only was high for about 3 hours, but still. Having elevated levels for any length of time, who knows what it's doing. (I know, how can I even trust their readings anyway. I mean, in all likelihood, the readings could be waaaaay higher ALL the time and they just take the meters offline to 're-calibrate' them.)
Not that we needed any more proof of the fact that MSM is a corporate entity that serves its own interests over those of the public they are supposed to be serving, but seriously, if they really did provide a public service, along with the weather, they'd have "Tonight's radiological forecast" with information about what you need to do to protect yourself. Additionally, they'd be running their own independent testing of the rainwater, tap water and food stuffs and doing in-depth reporting on it.
Obviously, they don't do any of that so I have resorted to watching
some guy on youtube who DOES bother, with his limited resources (yet, apparently, unlimited time) to parse and research what little information there is from various sources, in the US and abroad. I mean, he could be a complete nut job who barely knows what the outside world looks like and lives in his mother's basement, but the choices are few for real info.
And lord knows we don't want to leave me to my own imagination. Or, lordy, no.
So, until I hear otherwise, I've upped my vitamin C intake, I dunk my dog's wet paws in baking soda and water before she comes in the house, I scream like a shrill harpy at Dr. and Teen Vidiot, reminding them to take off their wet shoes and not to bring the wet umbrella into the house and I've stopped putting milk in my coffee.
Then again, Dr. Vidiot thinks we've ALWAYS been poisoned, things like this have ALWAYS happened, it's just that now, we have more access to information. He makes a pretty solid argument that things haven't changed all that much since March 11th because dozens, if not hundreds, of March 11th-type events have occurred and we were just never informed.
It's an argument I ignore, mind you. But it's a solid argument.
Labels: japan earthquake, radiation
The burden of light posting is not to be carried solely by you…
posted by Bill Arnett @ 12:14 PM Permalink
…and I know my postings have been very light lately – but I gots an excuse.
Somewhere here couple of months ago I mentioned that my Warrior Woman and I had been house-hunting and that, through sheer serendipity, the Army Girl next door had received orders for a permanent change of duty assignment which opened the nicest house in the neighborhood for sale.
We put in our application along with the 389,764 pages of supporting documentation and finally, finally the bank approved the deal just yesterday. Hooray!
This does not bode well for me making a substantial increase in posting as we try to put the final wrap around this house and make it ours.
Brand new central heating and a/c - this will be the first summer in more years than I can remember where I will be able to control the ambient temperature and thus not have to suffer the 'temperature swings' that cause me so very much additional pain.
I will be very busy the next couple or three weeks so my posting will again be light again, but this is the first house I've ever bought and everything else must be secondary to that for the time being.
Ciao, bella ámi.
Labels: light posting home purchase
I don't care if Sara Palin's baby is hers or her daughters
posted by The Vidiot @ 12:43 PM Permalink
Seriously, it's
silliness. However, one my mom's girlfriends t
hinks she might've figured it all out:This is what I thought all along! Now I know why Donald Trump is trying to divert our attention by joining the Teabag Birthers to focus attention on Obama. He is, in fact, the father of Trig. This will eventually emerge as the truth, of course. He knocked up Bristol during a Republican retreat when Sarah and most of the gang were at bible study. Trump would have divorced Melania and married Bristol, but he found out the fetus had Downs Syndrome and of course he could never sire a retarded kid. Meanwhile, Sarah realized a kid with Downs Syndrome would be an incredible asset with the Right to Life supporters and she could also talk about her struggle in deciding not to have an abortion. The Donald wanted Bristol to fly to Paris for an abortion, but Sarah nixed that. Bristol was pissed off at Sarah so she deliberately had Levi put a bun in her oven. Anything else you'd like to know?
Best explanation I've heard thus far.
Labels: politics is awesomely funny
I know, light posting, but there's a reason
posted by The Vidiot @ 12:39 PM Permalink
I'm depressed as hell over the Japanese nuclear fallout.
Maybe I shouldn't watch stuff like
this.
I'm freaked out about the food. Freaked out about my dog walking in wet grass. Freaked out about shoes in the apartment. And I'm not even freaked out for myself. I'm old (kinda') and whatever the effects on me, I'll probably die of old age first (and old age in my family, on the side I take after, is only in about 20-30 years.) But Dr. Vidiot and his kid? Hell, I don't know what to do for them. The kid thinks I'm nuts for not buying milk until I find a good local producer that DOESN'T grass feed. Neither one of them want to give up meat. And Dr. Vidiot is like, "We can't live our lives like we're in a fallout shelter." Which I know, but my instincts, honed over years of studying biochemistry, doing cancer research using highly radioactive materials, my masters in fluid dynamics, my thorough understanding of just how much the elite who control this world DON'T care about us proles, all of that tells me that what they're telling us is NOT what is really going on. They're not telling us what is really going on because IT'S TOO DAMNED AWFUL TO TELL. If they did, there would be mass rioting.
So, I don't know what to do.
That's why I haven't written.
Sorry if this post depresses anybody. And please feel free to think I'm nuts if that makes you feel better. But I think anyone who doesn't realize that life changed after March 11 is either delusional or retarded.
Labels: japan earthquake, nuclear power, radiation
So all that fuss in Egypt was kabuki theater.
posted by The Vidiot @ 9:05 AM Permalink
I mean, what the hell was THAT all about?
Nothing has changed.
An Egyptian military court on Monday jailed a blogger for three years for criticising the armed forces, the country's rulers since president Hosni Mubarak's ouster in February, his lawyer told AFP.
Labels: egypt protests
Does anyone still believe the teabagger-gop-ers are bargaining in good faith, or can we all agree they are liars?…
posted by Bill Arnett @ 2:15 PM Permalink
…As I noted in my last post we are looking at a last ditch, desperate attempt by the über-rich to finish rending the fabric of our society and destroy the constitutionally-based government of the United States.
Of course, as a matter for debate and to speak to the truth of the matter, the teabagger-gop-ers claim the mantle of responsibility to govern calls for them to disassemble government, eliminate every safety net Americans have painstakingly created, further siphon off every penny in our treasury with tax breaks for the rich, and complete the demoralization of normally optimistic Americans who have come to accept the to and fro of republican/democratic methods of governing but that are in no way ready for what is coming from the teabagger-gop-ers.
In recognition of the upcoming status of being a white minority, and so fearful of the consequences, these gasping, mouth-breathing, holier-than-thou rogues are attempting to consolidate their control by depriving the middle and lower classes of the ability to even feed their families, pay their bills, get or pay for medicines, shop for goods and services or, for many, the denial of a roof over their head, food in their bellies, and a warm, comfortable, safe place to sleep.
AND THE TEABAGGER-GOP-ERS DON'T CARE! WAKE UP, AMERICA!
Labels: Conservatives, conspiracy, neocons, rant, republican, republican hypocrisy, republican lies, tea baggers, teabagger-gop-er
First the Teabagger-gop-ers were funny. Then they became a danger to our country. I recognize now they are a dying party and why…
posted by Bill Arnett @ 2:02 PM Permalink
…and the death of such a mean-spirited, evil party should bring about rejoicing.
The funny thing about it is that nothing need be done by democratic leaders, wiser republicans, independent parties, green parties, or any other party except to acknowledge that when swept up in it's death throes any animal or teabagger-gop-er can be at its most dangerous. Here, to me, is why they are so desperate to enact as many draconian legislative bills as
possible:
U.S. Population Projections: 2005–2050
Executive Summary
If current trends continue, the population of the United States will rise to 438 million in 2050, from 296 million in 2005, and 82% of the increase will be due to immigrants arriving from 2005 to 2050 and their U.S.-born descendants, according to new projections developed by the Pew Research Center.
Of the 117 million people added to the population during this period due to the effect of new immigration, 67 million will be the immigrants themselves and 50 million will be their U.S.-born children or grandchildren.
Among the other key population projections:
• Nearly one in five Americans (19%) will be an immigrant in 2050, compared with one in eight (12%) in 2005. By 2025, the immigrant, or foreign-born, share of the population will surpass the peak during the last great wave of immigration a century ago.
• The major role of immigration in national growth builds on the pattern of recent decades, during which immigrants and their U.S.-born children and grandchildren accounted for most population increase. Immigration’s importance increased as the average number of births to U.S.-born women dropped sharply before leveling off.
• The Latino population, already the nation’s largest minority group, will triple in size and will account for most of the nation’s population growth from 2005 through 2050. Hispanics will make up 29% of the U.S. population in 2050, compared with 14% in 2005.
• Births in the United States will play a growing role in Hispanic and Asian population growth; as a result, a smaller proportion of both groups will be foreign-born in 2050 than is the case now.
• The non-Hispanic white population will increase more slowly than other racial and ethnic groups; whites will become a minority (47%) by 2050.
• The nation’s elderly population will more than double in size from 2005 through 2050, as the baby-boom generation enters the traditional retirement years. The number of working-age Americans and children will grow more slowly than the elderly population, and will shrink as a share of the total population.
It recently dawned on me that the desperation of the teabagger-gop-er is caused by a sea change in the make-up of our population and that it is one of the reasons that the unreasonable side of the immigration nutsos would like to physically round up illegal aliens for deportation, and insure that their American-born children will be deemed 'anchor babies', no longer citizens by virtue of birth as dictated by our Constitution.
Since it is, literally, only a matter of time before the numbers of old, rich, white men become a smaller and smaller segment of society, they will lose their ability to remain in power as the Latino and Black segments grow in such numbers that it will be virtually impossible for a politician who does not directly advocate policies supported by these new majorities to get elected to office.
The days of the 'good ole boy' back-office brokered power deals will come to an end. Lobbyists, should they wish to survive, will have to start buying politicians and putting them to work for the new constituent voting blocks made up by the changing face of America.
Which speaks to why there is all this hysteria in the teabagger-gop-er parties. I guess they feel that if America doesn't revert to the Dark Ages now it will soon be too late, their influence gone, their money buying them far fewer politicians, and the ability to get any of their desperate, evil legislation passed will expire.
I'm sure the new brothers and sisters of color will love America as much as any other citizens and I welcome them; their love of America will eventually smash the hatred of today and return us to being a kinder, gentler society.
So enjoy the show, watch those death throes, prevent the teabagger-gop-ers from doing as much damage as they can, and hope that the winds of time bring us back our former freedoms, expand on the freedoms we have, and bring back the ideas that made America great; the sweet smell of liberty.
Ciao, bella ámi.
Labels: citizenship, immigration, incompetent leaders, rant, republican hypocrisy, republican lies, requiem
