"something stinks" writes:

According to the Law of Nations, he is also a Kenyan,

And later:

The Law of Nations is quite clear on the matter, citizenship is conveyed upon the child by the father and his nationality is the nationality of the child. Ever here of Elian Gonzales?

If, by "the Law of Nations", he is referring to international law, it is certainly not "quite clear on the matter", as it has nothing to say on how a person gains the citizenship of a country X. Citizenship of a country is purely an internal matter of that country, and in the case of Barack Obama, there is every evidence that he has satisfied the citizenship requirements of the United States, and no evidence that he hasn't.

Instead of evidence, what we have here is is a bunch of hysterical conspiracy peddlers, doing what conspiracy peddlers do the best: lying, exaggerating, and insinuating in favour of their contentions, picking up the strangest bits of chaff they think might support such -- such as a (claimed) one-pixel offset on a scanned picture -- and ignoring or summarily disregarding any and all evidence that goes against the contentions.

Even if the piece of paper so fetishised by these "birthers" had been destroyed in a fire or something -- and keep in mind the fact that it has, in fact, been viewed by reputable people as being in care of the state of Hawaii -- that would have little bearing on the matter. That piece of paper is not the only evidence that Obama is, in fact, a natural-born US citizen. For the birthers to disprove Obama's citizenship, they would have to explain away all such evidence: his passports; the words of his family, friends, schoolmates, and teachers in Hawaii; the evidence of the personnel of the hospital where he was born; the birth announcements in Honolulu papers; etc. Whenever that last bit is mentioned, the birthers have nothing to say, at least here on Salon's letters.

The most interesting part of these persistent claims is not that Obama might not actually be a US citizen -- because the evidence is overwhelmingly against that claim -- but the psychological mechanism of monomania and paranoia manifested therein.

Along with schizophrenia, paranoia is an especially insidious mental illness because its sufferers deny their condition. In fact, anyone pointing out their affliction soon becomes associated with "them", the mysterious enemy out to get them, or the (absurdly wide) circle of plotters. Short of committing them to a psychiatric institution, which of course won't happen unless they're dangerous to themselves or to others, there's little help for them. I know they attract scorn very easily, but one should have some pity, too.

I once had an acquaintance who suffered from paranoia. I tried to be forbearing, but any normal association eventually became impossible. I did get a bit of insight into how the paranoid mind works, though. For example, one of the things this person was convinced of was that big American automobile companies had conspired to kill the hydrogen car. (Now, that's not a self-evidently preposterous claim; though I would think it's quite unlikely, it is within the realm of possibilities.) Knowing that he had an interest in the subject, I once tried to give him a copy of a magazine article that detailed the latest developments in hydrogen car technology. He rejected it: he wasn't actually interested in hydrogen cars or their technology, only in yet another "conspiracy" to latch on to. Poor fellow.

> "Is there some way to get this asshole Something Stinks banned...?"

So like feminists: All for tolerance, understanding nuances, etc....until you dare to disagree with them. They urge us to take Dworkin et alia seriously, then slime anyone who opposes their creeds.

They insist that Nicole Kidman is Australian, too.

Go figger.

I don't want him/her banned. He/she is far too entertaining.

“I asked you a aspecific question about my last post one of the threads on the same topic. You did not respond to it.” –Calif Mike

“I'm sorry, I have no idea what you said in your last post of the thread of the same topic. Believe it or not, I do not commit your words to memory.”--paulpsd7

I understand the limitations of your memory. That’s why I wrote the following:

“By the way, you didn’t have a chance to respond to my latest post on the “We are all birthers now” thread because it was closed.”

Instead of responding to this post, you started behaving like a clown. As I said before, good luck to you!

P.S. You should keep working on your sarcasm, so in time it would become more subtle.

...fercryinoutloud, make it. Don't allude to last posts of threads gone by, and expect me to go digging around for your words of wisdom which, let's face it, if your more recent ramblings are anything to go by, is very apt to be worthless.

And besides, discussing issues isn't your bag anyhow, as you've amply demonstrated. You're more about twisting something in a way that validates your political faith and tribal identity. That doesn't require discussion. Because, once you discuss it, you open it to scrutiny and often your ideas don't stand up to that.

Stinkazoid: I'm a CIA agent

Everyone Else: No, you're not

StinkyBritches: Yes I am, I'm an FBI agent, and they give us all hardcore lessons in laser printers and scanners

Everyone Else: Maybe you copied your ass on a laser printer once. I thought you said CIA?

Something Stinks: You're a bunch of idiots. Enjoy your toothpaste, suckers. Brush real good.

MurgaTroyd: There are questions that haven't been answered. For example, why is it that Obama can't get near a unicorn? I heard that anyone who scares off a unicorn is bad news

Everyone Else: Prove it. Prove that there are unicorns, and that Obama can't get near one. Or hell, we'll just settle for the unicorns

MurgaTroyd: I don't need to prove it, a mermaid told me, besides, you're all mean. Meanie meanie mean mean bad bad mean and I don't need to respond to the likes of you. Bastards.

Everyone Else: Okay, so the weather has been a little weird

MerelyMortalMale: Yeah, that's because it's a feminist plot to cut off all our testicles