I walked down my block yesterday and happened to notice a placard in my neighbor's window, saying "Where's the birth certificate?"
I haven't interacted with this neighbor since seeing the sign, and I am a little stumped as to what would be the best way to proceed with this guy. We've always been friendly to each other in a neighborly way, waving when we see the other on the street. This winter he even tried to help keep my driveway free of snow with his Mr. Plow, ATV version (it didn't really help very much, and sliced up the edge of my lawn, but it's the thought that counts). So I would like to keep things cordial and possibly even friendly.
I would, though, like to make some kind of comment to him on the subject. I expect he's rather expecting me to, anyway, what with the 'Organizing for America' banners I've draped in front of my house when hosting phonebanking sessions for healthcare reform, or the 'Obama 12' license plate on the car I park in my driveway.
So as one possible way of answering his 'question,' I created a web site, heresthebirthcertificate.com.
Now I can just say "You want to know where's the birth certificate? Here's the birth certificate... dot com!"
I used a copy of the picture of Obama's birth certificate that was posted on the fightthesmears.com website during the campaign. (I expect that it is considered public material, no?)
I'm going to put up a simplified 'Occam's Razor' analysis of the situation... I'll show the entire complex set of intertwining and farsighted conspiracies that would have to have taken place for the birther allegations to be true, and compare that convoluted confabulation to the straightforward circumstances of what actually happened.
I don't have a huge amount of time to devote to this, though, so I'm not sure how slick everything will wind up looking if I have to do it all on my own.
If anyone wants to contribute material to the site, shoot me an email at the address:
info at heresthebirthcertificate.com
Look, I fully expect that the vast majority of blowhards shouting, "Where's the birth certificate?" or even just putting up a sign to that effect are racist, close-minded, irrational folks who are beyond any possibility of being swayed by logical arguments or physical evidence. However, there is so much babble about this on the peripheries of mainstream media such as from Fox 'News' entertainers, that there's probably some people out there capable of having a 'the emperor's not wearing any clothes!' moment when they realize that they've been completely lied to about this as part of the usual set of right-wing distractions.
If anyone has ideas about other good ways to respond to this, please add your comments below.
On the other hand, I'm reminded of the old Specials tune, "Racist Friend..."
If you have a racist friend
Now is the time, now is the time
For your friendship to end
Be it your sister, be it your brother
Be it your cousin, or your uncle, or your lover
If you have a racist friend
Now is the time, now is the time
For your friendship to end
Be it your best friend, or any other
Is it your husband, or your father, or your mother
Either change their views
Or change your friends
If you have a racist friend
Now is the time, now is the time
For your friendship to end
So if you know a racist who thinks he is your friend
Now is the time, now is the time
For your friendship to end
Call yourself my friend
Now is the time to make up your mind
Don't try to pretend
Be it your sister, be it your brother
Be it your cousin, or your uncle, or your lover
So if you have a racist friend
Now is the time, now is the time
For our friendship to end
...and a part of me says that I should just ignore the neighbor outside of the conventional pleasantries. So I'm still up in the air as to how to actually interact with the guy.