Questioning the official story of Obama's birthplace is the establishment's version of heresy, and Anderson Cooper - in the role of an Inquisition interrogator - yesterday interviewed Lt. Col. Terry Lakin about a lawsuit he's bringing over this issue (video: peekURL.com/v6ojxf9 ). In the segment, Cooper lies and misleads about various aspects of this issue:

1. He consistently referred to the supposed "Certification of Live Birth" ("COLB") shown on Obama's site as a "Certificate" or "Birth Certificate", when that's not what it is: it's a Certification, not the actual Certificate. He presented the "COLB" as the "official document", without referencing the fact that Hawaii holds an additional document, the "Certificate of Live Birth" or actual birth certificate [1]. He didn't note that COLBs aren't acceptable to one of Hawaii's own programs [2].

2. Cooper states that Obama has "released that Certificate of Live Birth". As indicated above, it's a "Certification", and the only "release" that's occurred was to put it in JPEG format on a webpage. There's no guarantee that it matches what (if anything) was given Obama by the state of Hawaii. The state of Hawaii admits that they never authenticated that picture, and the two FactCheck employees who supposedly viewed the original aren't document experts (see this and this).

3. Cooper states, "two newspapers in 1961 had birth announcements provided by the state of Hawaii Health Department". Those announcements aren't proof, as discussed at that link. Note also that no one has been able to prove that those announcements could have only come from a birth hospital and would only indicate a Hawaiian birth.

4. Cooper says, "the governor of Hawaii sent someone to personally view the birth certificate in the Department of Health and says it's there." He's referring to the recent radio interview where Linda Lingle lied about the statement released by the Department of Health.

Unfortunately, I have to include this disclaimer: the above doesn't claim or imply that Obama was born somewhere besides Hawaii. The only claim being made here is that he hasn't proved it; all of the evidence so far presented is full of holes. And, the mainstream media and politicians aren't helping matters by lying and misleading virtually every time they address this issue. It's an extremely dangerous situation to have the establishment try to force a useful fiction on us, but this is also a great opportunity to discredit dozens of politicians and pseudo-reporters like Cooper.

[1] From the July 28, 2009 article "Hawaii officials confirm Obama’s original birth certificate still exists" (link, bolding added):

In 2001, Hawai'i's paper documents were reproduced in electronic format but "any paper data prior to that still exists," Health Department spokeswoman Okubo said.

Okubo would not say where Obama's original birth certificate is, but said "we have backups for all of our backups."

"Our Certificate of Live Birth is the standard form, which was modeled after national standards that are acceptable by federal agencies and organizations," Okubo said. "With that form, you can get your passport or your soccer registration or your driver's license."

I assume that in the last paragraph she meant "Certification" and not "Certificate"; see the terms used in [2].

[2] From this:

The qualifications for the Hawaiian Home Lands program require a certified copy of a standard birth certificate – also known as the "long-form certificate" filled out in the hospital and including details such as the name of the hospital and the attending physician.

"In order to process your application, DHHL utilizes information that is found only on the original Certificate of Live Birth, which is either black or green," the qualifications state. "This is a more complete record of your birth than the Certification of Live Birth (a computer-generated printout). Submitting the original Certificate of Live Birth will save you time and money since the computer-generated Certification requires additional verification by DHHL."

According to Hawaii's Department of Health spokeswoman Janice Okubo, the state only issues "certifications" of live births since 2001 when the health department went paperless. It is only available in electronic form, she said.

"At that time, all information for births from 1908 (on) was put into electronic files for consistent reporting," she is quoted as telling the Star Bulletin. "The electronic record of the birth is what (the Health Department) now keeps on file in order to provide same-day certified copies at our help window for most requests," Okubo said.

She did not explain how those needing a standard long-form birth certificate to qualify for programs such as those offered by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands or to establish proof of eligibility to be president could be fulfilled. She said the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized the state's current certification of live birth "as an official birth certificate meeting all federal and other requirements." She did not, however, cite any specific rulings, and the Supreme Court has not taken up the issue of whether the certification of live birth would qualify a presidential candidate as eligible under the "natural born citizen" clause.

UPDATE: The article in [2] is from June, 2009. The Home Lands program has since changed the text at hawaii.gov/dhhl/applicants/appforms/applyhhl. They seem to contradict themselves, saying they accept Certifications and then at the end saying they don't ("At a minimum, the DHHL asks that applicants produce certified copies of birth certificates, certificates of Hawaiian birth, or no-record certifications"):

Birth certificates (Certificates of Live Birth and Certifications of Live Birth) and Certificates of Hawaiian Birth are the primary documents used to determine native Hawaiian qualification.

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands accepts both Certificates of Live Birth (original birth certificate) and Certifications of Live Birth because they are official government records documenting an individual’s birth. The Certificate of Live Birth generally has more information which is useful for genealogical purposes as compared to the Certification of Live Birth which is a computer-generated printout that provides specific details of a person’s birth. Although original birth certificates (Certificates of Live Birth) are preferred for their greater detail, the State Department of Health (DOH) no longer issues Certificates of Live Birth. When a request is made for a copy of a birth certificate, the DOH issues a Certification of Live Birth.

If the DOH does not have a birth certificate on file for any of your parents or grandparents, you must obtain a "no-record certification." A "no-record certification” tells Department of Hawaiian Home Lands staff that the DOH searched its files and cannot find the records requested. At a minimum, the DHHL asks that applicants produce certified copies of birth certificates, certificates of Hawaiian birth, or no-record certifications for the following people:

Yourself (if your present legal name differs from the name listed on your birth certificate, you must also submit a marriage certificate, a divorce decree, or a legal name change decree to account for this difference);
Your natural father;
Your natural mother;
Your natural father's parents;
Your natural mother's parents; and
Your natural great-grandparents if applicable (submit these if your grandparents were born after the 1920s)