(Note: see also the dozens of Obama citizenship entries)

Earlier today Barack Obama released his long-form birth certificate, proving he was born in Hawaii and finally ending the "Birthers" issue once and for all.

Or, at least that's what you'll be told, despite the fact that that's not what he did and questions still remain.

All Obama did today was release a PDF file [1] that has a picture of what he claims is his long-form birth certificate. He didn't release the physical paper copy of his actual certificate and have it examined by, say, a panel of document experts who are above reproach. What he did today is similar to what he did before: he released what amounts to a picture. A picture of something is not the same as the thing itself, and pictures sometimes have been altered. That doesn't mean that Obama altered the picture he released, just that this isn't as settled a matter as you'll be told.

So, for instance, CNN continues their habit of lying about this issue by falsely stating (link) "President Obama released his original birth certificate Wednesday" when we know that's not the case. He just released a picture, this time in PDF form.

And, there are questions about the PDF. See some here, and much more alarmingly see the two layers that comprise the PDF here. How could that have happened? Why are most of the signatures on one layer, and most of the typewriting on another? Why is the "R" in "BARACK" on the green layer? The black triangular shape in the upper left corner makes it look like someone took a photograph of a document in a circular binder. Couldn't they have taken it out of the binder and held it flat, either on a table or on a scanner? Or, was that effect added later in order to give it more a touch of the echt? Is the white layer the accurate (or semi-accurate) part of the image, and was the green layer added later on for more echt?

One other issue is the signature stamp from Alvin Onaka. We've been told countless times that Obama can only view his certificate, not get a copy of it. Yet, it appears that Onaka has given this copy of Obama's certificate his imprimatur. Did Onaka do so contrary to Hawaii law? Don't expect the media to try to answer that question. It's now the newtruth that one can get copies of certificates, despite the previous line being that it wasn't possible.

Others have raised issues with the line showing the place of birth as "Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital". While that hospital's history page (link) doesn't mention that as the name, KMGH was the name used on the Nordyke certificate (link). Absent contemporaneous evidence to the contrary, it appears that KMGH was the correct name at the time. (There was a book written about the hospital for those who want to double check).

Now, of course, the above doesn't mean that Obama faked anything. It just means that things aren't as cut and dried as you'll be told and that the media will present this issue as closed without asking about any of the points raised above.

If someone was trying to sell me a car and they presented a PDF with a picture of the pink slip that was in the same condition as Obama's "long-form birth certificate", I'd take it as an insult that they seemed to think I'm enough of a sucker to think it was a real pink slip.

Don't be a sucker for Obama or the mainstream media.

ADDED: As yet another example of why it's not wise to believe everything Obama says, in the very press conference where he released the "certificate" he also falsely said that two weeks ago the media made "Birther" their number one story. In fact, in that week the economy received four times as much coverage (link).

ADDED 2: If you aren't familiar with this site's coverage of this issue, make sure and at the very least scan the dozens of posts on the Obama citizenship pages (skip the intro, scroll down to the posts). Our focus has been on exposing mainstream media reporters who've lied about the basic, indisputable facts of this matter.

Regarding the layers in the image, National Review says there's nothing there, but their commenters disagree (link). It would be nice for recognized graphic artists and compression experts to weigh in. Someone named Karl Denninger says the "has been altered and whoever did it wasn't even very clever in doing so" (link). There are also several comments at the layers link above and at the SmokingGun. Some at the latter raise questions about the text in the new certificate being centered, saying it's more centered than in the Nordyke image.

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[1] whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/
birth-certificate-long-form.pdf