Debunking the Kenyan birth certificate

I'm not going to devote time to this issue, but wanted to blog something to have for future reference for PRN use. Daily Kos explains why the alleged birth certificate is fake, and the original from which the fake was photoshopped was revealed at the Washington Independent.

One of my friends in the small community of Obama “birther”-debunkers passes on quite the discovery: a 1964 “certified copy of registration of birth” from Australia, easily available on Bomford.net, a genealogy site. There are striking similarities between this document and the one Orly Taitz is passing off as a “Kenyan birth certificate” for Barack Obama.

- The design is identical, down to the seal at the top and the classifications (”Christian name,” etc) used for identifying the baby.

- The “registrar” on the Bomford document is G.F. Lavender. On the Taitz document, it’s E.F. Lavender.

- The “district registrar” on the Bomford document is J.H. Miller. On the Taitz document, it’s M.H. Miller.

- The number of the book is identical on both documents: Book 44B, Page 5733.

I have friends who are likely to forward one of those emails to me saying the Kenyan certificate is real. I just want to be able to email this link back to them and not have to waste time explaining it in detail each time.

Latter link via The Daily Dish, to whom a hat tip.

Addendum: A concise guide to debunking "birther" claims has been printed at Salon.

Addendum the Second: The Pajama Pundit has a section devoted to "birther" nonsense, debunking info, and related humor.