Why do we gravitate toward conspiracy theories, unproven and usually unprovable stories that are so fantastic that we just have to believe them to be true? Bill Clinton frequently conferred with space aliens about domestic policy, Hillary Clinton is really a man in drag, Barack Obama was not born in the U.S., and on and on and on.

We live in a world where disinformation, outright lies and slander can be spread anonymously and rapidly via electronic means, where people who are on the edge of sanity can cause huge numbers of people to follow a lie, and where lies are spreading like locusts. It began years ago, and it won't stop, simply because we love to believe the lies!

Face it, a good, slanderous story about some famous person is like honey on toast - we crave the flavor and savor the texture of a good, albeit false, bit of information about someone who we perceive has it better than us. Thus a wealthy man with everything he could desire is really a secret child pornography hoarder. A woman who is famous must have slept with Hollywood agents to get where she's at.

In short, like our ancestors, we envy those who somehow, usually, we believe, through nefarious means, got ahead of us in the game. All sports stars use drugs, all doctors rip off the system, all government employees are on the take, etc and etc. ad nausea.

I recently got, for about the fifth time in the past seven years, an email about Mars coming so close to the Earth that it would look like the Moon to us. No, it's not true, and no, it's not new. I read the same thing seven years ago when I debunked it, and believe it or not, the very same people I told it was not true sent it to me again! Do we ever learn? It seems not.

OK, so here is my point. Obama is a U.S. Citizen, born in Hawaii, and the State of Hawaii says so, on a legal document, and there are newspaper announcements when he was born telling that he was born in Hawaii. So why does the birther question linger out there? Is there any information that would possibly stop the lies and rumors? Heck, even a copy of the actual birth record, which I understand can't be released by state law in Hawaii, as it is in many other states, would not stop this because then there'd be a rumor that even that was fake.

Well, I am certain that some of us out here in Hubland do not believe that Obama is a citizen, natural-born in the good old U.S. of A., but you have to remember that in America we have this old, long time custom of people being innocent until proven guilty.  So, the burden of proof for any conspiracy theorist is to provide abundant, overwhelming proof of their ideas in order for these ideas to be accepted.  Merely stating that you don't believe something is not an argument in favor of your theory; it is simply your opinion, and opinions are much like like anuses, all people have them.

So, does anyone have ample, irrefutable proof that Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen, natural-born, etc.? If so, then bring it forward, take it top court and get a lawsuit going. Otherwise, stop pretending your theories as if they are fact. Fact is not opinion, or hope, anything else but simple, plain truth. And if it ain't the truth, it ain't a fact!

Yes, my friends, the document given by the State of Hawaii IS an actual copy authenticated by the Alvin T. Onaka, Ph.D. the State Registrar of Hawaii. So, that makes it official.

OK, for those who still believe the Kenyan birth certificate is proof of Obama being born there, sorry. Kenya has denied it is or ever was produced in Kenya. Some journalists found out,however, that the so-called proof is actually a badly made forged copy of an Australian birth certificate, and Australian officials are rather upset. They are reportedly going to seek to press charges for falsifying government records. So please, no more false testimony. For Christians doing this, isn't there something about bearing false witness?  Better watch out, if you are spreading lies.

You can check this all out at FactCheck.org if you wish to know the truth instead of spreading the lies. Of course, some people already have their minds made up, so don't confuse them with the facts.

Oh, and here below is a newspaper announcement of Barack Obama's birth in Hawaii. Now PLEASE tell me his mother faked this just to get her son's birth registered in the U.S., and then explain how a letter from Kenya, in the early 1960's, could have arrived so soon to make this timely announcement possible! And then tell me how the newspaper would have accepted this as an announcement when they check with the hospital to get the information about live births, and do not (and did not) accept letters, especially those with foreign post marks.

Since the hospital would have informed the newspaper, would it not be a stretch to say he was born elsewhere but his mom just knew he'd be president one day, and so had all this info faked?  When does a conspiracy theory become just so much hot air?  Right about now, I'd say.

But for those of us stuck on believed poorly defended conspiracy theories such as this, maybe the same space aliens that advised President Clinton will take Barack Obama home with them.  Would that make the birthers happy?  Somehow, I doubt it.