Please, please people - we really need to move past this issue. I have absolutely no doubt that Obama and his cohorts are having a hearty laugh at our expense. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the Obama camp orchestrated this whole "birther" thing from the beginning in order to discredit his opponents.

A couple of things that need to be corrected:

- There is no raised seal or registrar's signature. Answer - the "long form" is not an official document. The form that proves citizenship (and is required if you want to get a passport) is the so-called "short form".

- Father is "African". Some have said that this should be "Negro" or "Colored". Answer - Obama's father was African - he was born in Kenya. The terms "Negro" or "Colored" would refer to African-Americans, not African-Africans. In any case, this is a moot issue. Since this is not an official form, the hospital could put pretty much anything they wanted in this box.

- The name of the hospital was changed in 1978, and the BC has the wrong name. Answer - as others have already pointed out, this is false. The hospital's official name was "Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital" in 1961.

- The phrase "certificate of live birth" is unexpected. Answer - this is indeed what a birth certificate from Hawaii in the early 60s would say. See here (http://trueconservative101.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/hawaii-birth-certificate-1963.jpg) for an example from 1963. It is pretty much identical to Obama's. Note that it, too, doesn't have a raised seal.

- There are "layers" in the computer file. Answer - this is a result of the scanning process, specifically the Optical Character Recognition. During scanning, the computer software will sort the various elements into different layers. Text goes into one layer, signatures go into another, boxes and borders into yet another, etc. This is done to make it easier for computer programs to find the actual text without having to wade through the parts of the document that are not text. I happen to work in the field of digital imaging, and I see this very same phenomenon every day. The people who created the Youtube videos that "prove" the BC is a fake because it has layers have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

- Obama waited two years to release his birth certificate. Answer - the Obama camp (along with all the other presidential candidates) submitted the official "short form" certificate to the Federal Election Commission way back in 2008. The "long form" is not an official document, and would be ignored by the FEC.

- Obama spent millions trying to hide his birth certificate. Answer - no he didn't. I don't know where this rumor started, but it isn't factual. The State of Hawaii (along with nearly all other states) will not allow birth certificates to be released to just anyone. Usually, only the actual persons named on the certificate (parents and child) are allowed to see the certificate. There was no need to spend any money to hide the document. The only money that was actually spent was on lawyers hired to defend Obama against people demanding to see his BC. In other words, the only money he spent was involuntary - he had no choice but to represent himself in these trials - anything else would be regarded as contempt of court. And even then, the trials were all dismissed very early on, so the actual amount of cash spent was minimal.

- A "natural born citizen" requires both parents to be citizens. Answer - this is false. The only constitutional requirement is that the candidate be born in the USA. Several past US presidents have had only one parent as a citizen, or none. Andrew Jackson, for example, was born to Irish immigrant parents.

There are so many other good reasons to oppose the Obama administration. The birth certificate is a distraction, one that the Democrats and Obama are quite happy to promulgate. If we continue to raise non-issues like these, we will be playing directly into their hands.