WINGNUTS ARE SMART! With SPELLING!

WASHINGTON – California attorney Orly Taitz, who has filed a number of lawsuits demanding proof of Barack Obama’s eligibility to serve as president, has released a copy of what purports to be a Kenyan certification of birth and has filed a new motion in U.S. District Court for its authentication.

Just a few problems: the purported birth certificate is dated 1964, when the president was three years old. The document states it was made in Mombasa, which wasn’t even part of Kenya at the time. And it’s just one of a slew of forgeries popping up. Even the wacknuts at Free Republic call it a fake.

But that won’t matter. The next Obama conspiracy theory will be that he released these fakes to make Orly Taitz look stupid (as if she needed help).

Wingnuts are smart! With documents!

H/t Jesus’ General

ADDING: Orly Taitz was invited on MSNBC today, and proved once again that wingnuts are their own worst enemies:

Sigh.

The pronunciation of a word has nothing to do with the translation of its meaning. You may recall that in 1996, the press in Iran had a minor problem covering the American presidential race because in Farsi, “Dole” transliterates to a common street term for the penis. “Dole” has no such meaning in English. The video thus begins with a fallacy and doesn’t make any progress afterwards.

“Obama” is a word from the Luo family of languages resident in the Nile and Sahara regions of Africa. It has no relation whatsoever to Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic. Here’s the WikiAnswers page on the surname’s origins:

Obama was the given name of the senator’s great-grandfather. Like most African cultures, the Luo of Kenya did not have hereditary surnames until the British (or other European colonizers) required them. Most of them chose the names of their fathers as their surnames. Obama was chosen as his surname by the senator’s grandfather.

Most Luo names were given at birth by mothers or grandmothers and referred to circumstances connected with the birth, or to things going on in the life of the mother near the time of birth. Obama is based on the Luo verb that means “to be slightly bent” or “to be twisted”. Though no one knows for sure why his great-grandfather was given the name, experts on Luo language and culture think the most likely possibilities are that the baby either had a leg or arm that looked a little bent just after he was born, or that he was born in the breech position. (Emphasis mine)

Turning now to Obama’s first name, we should note that its origins are similar to madrassa. Both are common Arabic words adopted by cultures wherever Islam has spread. Arabic and Hebrew actually share a common linguistic ancestor, as you can tell from so many similar words that share meaning: shabbat/sabaah, shalom/salaam, elohim/allah. (Yes, Allah derives from the Old Testament word for God.)

Nevertheless, Arabic meanings for “Barack” are very different from the ones offered in the video: in various measures, the verb root can mean “to make a camel kneel,” “to invoke a blessing,” or “to be blessed.” Nouns derived from the root can mean “puddle,” “blessing,” good wishes,” or “fortunate.” My Hans-Wehr Arabic-English dictionary doesn’t offer any links to Satan or high places. At least, not any higher than a camel’s back.

Which brings us, finally, to Obama’s middle name (which, contrary to popular opinion, does not translate to Nicholae Carpathia). Notably absent from the video, “Hussein” is among the most common names in Arabic, directly translating as “handsome” or “beautiful.” The verb root can be used in many different contexts, including “to treat with kindness” and “to act rightly.” Noun variations include husn (“excellence”), hasan (“excellent”), hasana (“charity”) and other positives, but nothing antichrist-y. We’ll just have to chalk this one up as another wingnut fail.

Because wingnuts are smart! With words!

This one hits close to home. Parker Griffith, my representative in Congress (a Blue Cross Democrat) was accused of “cutting a deal” on health care reform. Except that he isn’t even on the committee they’re screaming about.

Talk radio shows and news reports used a release from Americans for Tax Reform that instructed voters to ask Griffith why he voted for a deal that will raise taxes.

Griffith spokesman Sean Magers said the news release is wrong and Griffith does not even serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which was considering the bill.

Griffith is in fact a Blue Cross Democrat and has spoken out against the reform bill with wingnut talking points. This isn’t just misplaced, it’s friendly fire.

Here’s the Wiki page for that committee; I defy anyone to find his name on it.

Wingnuts are smart! With the internet!