Birth certificate should end conspiracy

The Holocaust never happened. Our government blew up the Twin Towers. Earth is flat and only 6,000 years old.  The moon landing was filmed in a Hollywood studio. Barack Obama is not an American citizen.

What do these statements have in common? They are insane, distracting and provably false beliefs.

Unfortunately, these beliefs and the people behind them sometimes make an impact on society. The last one may not be as extreme, but it's just as ridiculous. The allegations concerning Barack Obama's birth began soon after he took office in 2008, but, until recently, had faded out of the media's spotlight.

Over the past few weeks, possible Republican presidential nominee and reality show mastermind Donald Trump has reignited the controversy surrounding the whereabouts of Obama's birth.  On several occasions Trump has spoken on this issue, even go as far as to question Obama's academic history.

The questioning of Obama's legitimacy as a citizen is only half of the current non-issue. More than a dozen states have tried or are trying to pass pieces of legislation that would require people running for federal office to prove that they are American citizens by producing birth certificates before they would be put on the state's ballot.

On April 27, Obama shot back at critics by releasing the full version of his Certificate of Live Birth. The shorter version was released a couple years ago when this "birther" debacle began.

The president released the information because he felt the situation was distracting the country from real issues. Issues like the wars, the economy, Donald Trump's hair, and the overall suffering of everyone except the top 1 percent.

Just the small stuff.

But for some people, this is not sufficient evidence. Astronauts have taken footage of our planet from outer space, proving it is indeed spherical. Piles of evidence gathered by scientists over the years have proven that life existed billions of years ago. Trump has had several people tug on his hair on live television, proving it is real.

All of this evidence and still people persist.

Well, if Obama's birth certificate is not enough, which, legally, it is, then maybe you might need more evidence. CNN recently constructed its own investigation where reporter Gary Tuchman visited Obama's state of birth, Hawaii. In the clip, the Governor of Hawaii Neil Abercrombie said he remembers Obama as an infant. Also revealed is a local newspaper from near the time he was born showing his birth announcement.

Michele Bachman, who makes Sarah Palin look like Rachel Maddow, was, for a long time, a strong voice in the " birther movement," but has since recanted her opinions thanks to being called out on live television. George Stephanopoulos of "Good Morning America" showed Bachman a copy of Obama's Certificate of Live Birth and she quickly agreed it was enough proof, saying, "Well, then that should settle it."

After all of this, there will still be people who buy into this conspiracy theory; one involving Obama's family, forged documents, the governor of Hawaii and evil Kenyan magic time machines. Hopefully most critics' nonsense will die down soon.

Now all we have to look forward to is what non-issue Republicans will distract our country with next and a really funny episode of "South Park."

In a perfect world, politicians and the media would get back to the important issues before the 2012 election, but all television programs have commercials.

vasquea5@imail.losrios.edu