Ghana apparently didn’t get the memo
By Linda Bentley | July 15, 2009
Joseph Farrah, founder and CEO of WorldNetDaily, continues his billboard campaign to ask, “Where’s the Birth Certificate?” To contribute to have more billboards erected, such as this one in Pennsylvania along Highway 78, visit wnd.com and click on the picture of the billboard. Courtesy photo
Snopes, UPI, Wikipedia, Factcheck, Kapi'olani Medical Center attempt
to sync Obama’s birthplace
HONOLULU – Since Jan. 24, 2009, the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children has apparently had a letter posted on its website to share congratulations on its centennial celebration from President Barack Obama.
In it Obama states, “As a beneficiary of the excellence of Kapi'olani Medical Center – the place of my birth – I am pleased to add my voice to the chorus of supporters.”
Within an hour of WorldNetDaily (wnd.com) posting an article questioning the letter’s authenticity, noting it was used by the hospital for its fundraising efforts, a host of internet scrubbing bubbles went to work.
The letter, an HTML-created document with no White House logo, posted on the hospital’s website since January and touted by U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, who is captured on video reading the letter with embellishments, as possibly the first official letter written by Obama as President, was yanked off the Internet as WND investigated conflicting reports and articles on Snopes.com asserting Obama’s birthplace in Honolulu was Kapi'olani Medical Center as well as Queen’s Medical Center.
According to WND, Kapi'olani Medical Center has refused to address the letter’s authenticity.
In light of the letter’s exposure, Snopes.com went to work scrubbing away all references to Obama being born at Queen’s Medical Center, changing them to say Kapi'olani Medical Center, adding, “(News accounts have also variously reported his birth as having occurred at Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu),” which included a hyperlink to the United Press International article stating Obama was born at Queen’s Medical Center.
No sooner did Snopes change its website than did UPI get out scrubbing bubbles to change the linked article, which said, “Obama described his birth at Queen’s Medical Center in Hawaii …” to say Kapi'olani Medical Center.
Snopes then responded by removing the link to the UPI article.
During a White House press briefing on Monday, WND’s White House correspondent Les Kinsolving asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs if he could confirm the authenticity of the letter.
Gibbs, without addressing whether or not the letter was from the President, said, “Goodness gracious. I'm going to be, like, in year four describing where it is the president was born. I don't have the letter at my fingertips, obviously, and I don't know the name of the exact hospital.”
FightTheSmears.com, the website initiated by the Obama for America Political Action Committee to combat all potentially negative information about Obama, including eligibility questions, has recently been taken down.
After all remaining websites appeared to have their Obama birth places in synchronized harmony by eradicating references to Queen’s Hospital, on July 9, in anticipation of Obama’s arrival in Ghana, ModernGhana.com posted an article titled, “History Beckons - As Prez Obama Arrives Tomorrow,” stating, “For Ghana, Obama's visit will be a celebration of another milestone in African history as it hosts the first-ever African-American President on this presidential visit to the continent of his birth.”
That statement has been corroborated by Obama’s paternal grandmother in Kenya, who insists she was there in the delivery room when Obama was born at Coast Medical Center in Mombasa, Kenya.
Phil from TheRightSideofLife.com quipped, “It appears that ModernGhana.com didn’t get the memo …”
Over the weekend, WND began tracking changes made to Wikipedia regarding Obama’s birthplace. At around 4:45 p.m. on Sunday, Wikipedia stated, “Barack Obama, the current President of the United States, was born on August 4, 1961 in either Honolulu, in the state of Hawaii, or Mombasa, Kenya to Barack Obama, Sr. …”
Several changes later it said, “Barack Obama, the current President of the United States, was born on August 4, 1961 in either Honolulu, in the state of Hawaii, or somewhere in Kenya (the refusal of Obama to release his long-form birth certificate has left this important detail without any confirmation) ...”
At least six changes were made regarding his birthplace up until 1:35 a.m. on Monday, which left it with Obama being born in either Honolulu or Kenya.
However, as of 6 p.m. on Monday Wikipedia was changed again to say, “Barack Obama was born at the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu …”
WND’s current billboard campaign asking, “Where’s the Birth Certificate?” appears quite timely.