Jul 20 2008
The End Of The COLB Cult – Myth Busted Again
Update: Reader Ray from Australia noted this article wherein an official of the state of HI looked at the BHO COLB and said it looked to be real. Â
When the birth certificate arrived from the Obama campaign it confirmed his name as the other documents already showed it. Still, we took an extra step: We e-mailed it to the Hawaii Department of Health, which maintains such records, to ask if it was real.
“It’s a valid Hawaii state birth certificate,” spokeswoman Janice Okubo told us.
As shown below, how could anyone miss the unique style of the border? There’s more – there may now exist another COLB with the same border:
We circled back to the Department of Health, had a newsroom colleague bring in her own Hawaii birth certificate to see if it looks the same (it’s identical).Â
As I said below, just one more COLB formatted like Obama’s and Pam’s expert has egg on his face. Update: I have a question for Techdude and others who have multiple COLBs in their position: Did you ever get one that looks like the BHO COLB with its style of borders?  And if so, why didn’t you publish that information?  You may not, but these witnesses indicate there were two formats in circulation.  Kind of hard to believe you folks never saw one, but it is possible. – end update
Why are there two formats? Either one was a prototype discontinued or HI is just running through the last of their old stock. But the point still stands – to accuse someone of a crime you have to more the claim it is possible. If anyone has a COLB that has the same border pattern as below I would be interested in hearing about it [ajstrata@strata-sphere.com]
Finally, Hat Tip to Allahpundit at Hot Air for the link. Â Hope your sin of support doesn’t cause too many headaches from the cultists.
Update: Well, if someone wants to know why this myth-mess is good for Obama, here’s an example – end update
Well, it seems we finally have the final report, representing the final act of the COLB Cult today. Techdude has produced something that impresses the non-technical groupies of the movement. But does it hold up to the argument there is evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt (my standard for when I confront smears)? No, not really.
One thing to recall is the track record of failed claims from various cultists since this began. Each claim debunked, followed by wilder claims, which were debunked. Here is a recap of the trend:
(1) The image on Kos was a forgery because it was not a BC but a COLB (took people a while to realize HI had moved to issuing COLBs instead of BCs).
(2) The image was a fake because there was no stamped seal – later discovered existing in the image.
(3) The image was a fake because there was not signature seen on the back – later discovered in the image.
(4) The image was a fake because there was no date stamp for when it was issued – which was detected and evident to the casual viewer.
(5) The image was fake because it was photoshopped – later shown to be a cropping of the excess paper area and blacking out of the ID number
(6) The image was fake because it was different from the BHO version – later discovered to be the fact BHO saved the image to a lower resolution, smaller web friendly version.
(7) The image is a fake because it was made from a forgery started by Opendna – that lame claim lived for weeks, but in the end was proven impossible.
(8) The image was a fake because the borders did not match a 2002 COLB – one of my favorites because of this line from the aforementioned Techdude:
But upon manually stretching them to match edge to edge I caught a glimpse of what I and apparently everyone else had simply not noticed. The security borders do not match. Literally. They are not even close to identical.
Here’s the image of the two borders – how could anyone not see that? Subtle – eh? Techdude later admitted THIS claim was wrong – there had been updates between the 2002 and 2007 COLB formats. He also debunked the Opendna claims.
(8) The image was claimed to be a fake as more and more people compared the 2002 COLB to the newer 2007 COLB – all of which proved nothing more than we already knew, Hawaii was updating their vital records and COLBS in response to 9-11 and the Real ID Act of 2005, as can be seen in the variety of COLBs found for the period
(9) The image was a fake because the document format version control number never changed while the format did – which we now know is because the format control number covers the data fields and contents, not the look and feel.
(10) The image is a fake because a date field has a format anomaly in it – but then the exact same anomaly was found in other COLBS from the same time frame.
(11) Anti-aliasing haze around the text was a sign of forgery – when it is actually only a sign of text being printed.
Today Techdude has his report out, so let’s see if he has a smoking gun or wrecked professional credibility.
Sadly, Techdude doesn’t provide an analysis, he produces cherry picked data from one side only. A real analysis compares the evidence that supports the opposite conclusion. From the list above we see tons of reverse examples. Assumptions of what real image would contain, which later proved to exist. All those debunked claims are also evidence that the COLB image is real. It from the totality of the evidence that we decide which side is MORE COMPELLING. A real technical analysis would address all the evidence and discuss why some crazy marginal border measurements outweigh things like the impressed seal (hard to fake), a signature area, etc. All things COMMON to valid COLBs and images of them, but hard to fake out using graphics programs.
And much of what Techdude discovered PROVES points I made way back – which supports the claim the image of the BHO COLB is a scan of a legit COLB. For example, I predicted that as part of the upgrades to the COLB that came on line in 2006, there was a change in the paper which was probably a more secure paper-cloth hybrid. This new paper was thicker and made the seal impression harder to detect from a front scan. Techdude confirmed this again today:
The embossed seals and ink stamps in all of the pre-2006 images are clearly visible in the scans however none of the post-2006 seals or ink stamps are visible without extensive manipulation to the digital images. Even when scanning the physical post-2006 certificate in my possession using multiple resolutions and using multiple scanners I was also unable to produce an image which would allow the seal to show though the image. The ink stamps on the rear side were also not visible in the front side scans without digital modifications to the scanned images. My scans of the physical certificate also produced the same results using multiple resolutions and using multiple scanners.
This destroys many forgery claims by Polarik and others who compared the 2002 COLB and BHO 2007 COLBs based on these features. And in fact, the similarity in the results by Techdude on taking modern COLBs and seeing the same telltales in his scans as shown in the Kos image means he proved the Kos image is legit. When you use real world COLBs and perform the same scanning process using a range of variables and you create the same result this is confirmation.
It should have been noted as such in any professional ‘report’. Also, if you want review of your work you need to provide the data. Figure 3 is a low quality image of the ‘smoking gun’. When I tried to down load it and blow it up it was impossible to see. Sorry, but peer reviewing requires the actual data. I will forego any detailed comments until Techdude and Pam decide to provide all the data.
But let’s step back again to the blatantly obvious fact the BHO COLB has unique security borders – not even close to the others. Techdude goes into minute measurements to prove the obvious – the borders are not the same. Why? We know they are not. Not the same color, not the same pattern, not the same dimensions. What Techdude has not proven is that the 2007 BHO COLB is the one and only HI COLB with that pattern! Techdude has two other COLBS (from 2006 and 2008) with telltales IDENTICAL to the BHO COLB. These include version numbers, data fields and contents, border lettering, seal imprints etc. Commonalities that cannot be ignored.
Finally Techdude repeats his horrible mistake from day one – he goes back to comparing apples to oranges. Remember, Techdude has some original COLBs, which he or someone else scanned. They were not scanned by the same person who scanned the BHO COLB. They were not scanned on the same machines using the same settings. Why is this important?
Because the tools Techdude wanted to use to do image analysis are used to detect image manipulation WITHIN an image. These tools and methods look at inconsistencies with in an image to show where the image was manipulated. an image should have consistent sharpness, depth, resolution, etc if it has not been tampered with. Areas where there is known tampering would show up easily (for example where the ID number was blocked out). A real expert in this field did the analysis on the BHO image and concluded they were reasonably untouched (minus the known manipulations).
What did Techdud do? To my shock he took three different images and tried to compare across them!
The 2007, 2008, and the two KOS images were then analyzed by creating a heat map showing where each pixel changes as jpeg quality decreases from 100 to 0. A change was considered relevant once the sum of the changes to the red, green, and blue values exceeded 10%. The heat map created from the 2007 and 2008 images showed the fonts, seal image, and security border are all identical consistent values. To eliminate any subjective presumptions and to increase the number of comparative tests the same analysis was then conducted on the 2006 and prior certificate images which all found the fonts, seal images, and security borders to also be saved with identical consistent values. The same analysis on the KOS images showed the security border having a substantially different RGB quality value than the fonts and the seal image.
It is a rookie mistake with these kinds of tools, to try and make assumptions across uniquely created images of different formatted documents. There is no conclusion that can be drawn when doing this except the documents are different and the process of image capture was not the same. It doesn’t prove anything beyond that (and Techdude knows this). Here are the images:
Original here. Â Clearly there is are differences, but I want to note the blacking out of date fields to show what a ‘forgery’ we show. You can see in all three where the modifications were done – they are impossible to miss. They have sharper edges, they have different colors. Â While all three show different RGB results, all of them are the same thing – efforts to black out personal data. You need to look at changes in the context of the image itself, not across images. Â For example, the fact COLB 2 has bright borders on the black outs and COLB 1 doesn’t is not a sign one of them is forged.Â
The BHO COLB is unique to the set of COLBs so far seen. But we can end this mess in a heartbeat. If anyone has a HI COLB that is of the format and structure of the BHO COLB please share it with us. If you got a COLB around Jun 2007 my guess is you might have the variant we saw with the OBH COLB, which seemed to be around for a while as an experiment or prototype version. Just a scan of of the border is needed – nothing more.
Techdude has given his groupies more false positives to run around and play their games with. Â He also showed, unintentionally, why the BHO COLB image could be real. Â He confirmed the paper upgrade and showed empirically that all the new COLBs, post 2006, shared the same traits regarding the impression of the seal.
Now what are the odds someone who screwed up the borders so badly also caught the paper quality detail? Basically they are – zero! Â No one who did enough investigating to make sure the seal imprint was light due to new, thicker paper would miss the borders. Â What are the odds a person who screwed up the borders so badly was able to know to put the date field anomaly in? Â Zero as well. Thanks Techdude, but as usual you proved my point. Â When you claim such an obvious and glaring disconnect is the work of a forger who was able to get the other mountain of hidden details right – you have debunked yourself.Â
Myth busted – again.
Dale wrote:
This whole argument over technical analysis and what such stuff, won’t prove my point, that I think the Daily Kook website faked THEIR VERIONS of Obama’s COLB
————
Now why would they do that to him if Obama wrote a letter to Daily Kos three years beforehand in September 2005 and later mentioned it in his book “The Audacity of Hope” on page 41. (I haven’t read his book but was given that information).
Ray
Go Flame somewhere else Troll, you’ve been outted, disgraced, and CRUSHED!
Dale,
I will decide who stays or goes. And thanks for the effort to salvage my rep at Atlas Shrugs. Sadly, I have been banned again!
LOL! Which tells me some folks don’t like it when the analysis is turned on them.
Cheers, AJStrata
Dale,
I will decide who stays or goes.
AJ, you and I both know I can’t make that decision, it was a “comment” only, and one he deserves.
Besides, we both know he wouldn’t listen to me anyhow! It’s just to annoy him! It’s fun to piss him off actually!
“And thanks for the effort to salvage my rep at Atlas Shrugs. Sadly, I have been banned again!”
Wow, I hate the whole “banning” thing, actually, especially if you “ban” someone who disagrees with you.
I disagree with Pam for banning the weasel “Ray”, and I certainly disagree with her banning you; I didn’t know she did that.
AJ, I was’t trying to salvage your “reputation”; I don’t think that’s necessary, nor something I can do; and I don’t think it is needed anyway, you’re “reputation” shouldn’t be shot over there just because everyone gets a bit hot about this subject.
I was just trying to point out that we could all disagree on this issue, vehemently if necessary, but that we are all eventually, on the same side, which is most important to me, anyhow.
Dale. booted from Pam’s and Texasdarlings sites for asking for their technical credentials to discern who had the background to decide whether I or Techdude had the better case.
Still, thanks for the valiant effort.
That IS a bit thinskinned, frankly.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/12993.htm
latest, I guess. Says the Colby thing is a total fake.
Dunno, kinda don’t care.
But there’s some reason why Hillary is buying up Hillary2012
type domain names.
She is expecting Obama to lose in 2008. That’s why she sabotaged
any moves for the formation of a “dream ticket”. She didn’t want to
do down with the shi*.
One thinks she knows something.
I predicted this three months ago.
TECHDUDE’S ERROR NO.1(a) – re: off centre Kos doc.
==================
After examining the Michele and KOS documents tonight, I noticed that the reason why there is more space on the right side of the KOS document is not because of any forgery, but because the (then) new 2007 document had the new wider cross-hatch border design incorporated into the COLB template and it was narrower than the previous borders and no attempt was made by the Hawaii Health to move the narrower document to a new ‘centred’ position before printing their COLB’s
.
TECHDUDE’S ERROR NO.2 – re: Text out of alignment
==================
The reason why the KOS text is out of alignment (in relation to previous versions of the COLB’s) is not because of any forgery, but because the (then) new 2007 COLB was shorter in depth, as well as being narrower than the previous versions, and the computer operator, after having loaded tghe new border and seeing that the COLB’s code number at the very bottom of the page, was running into it, reduced all the text from it’s standard 100% size to roughly 98.7% to make it fit.
This reduction in size also accounts for the much smaller sideways shift that was seen in Techdude’s moving GIF’s. The reduction in size of the text to an irregular percentage such as 98.7 would have slightly distorted some or all of the characters and also caused microscopic lateral movement of them when the individual characters had to “jump” to make best fits into the 300 ppi matrix of the original scan for the JPEG.
The operator also altered the “Date filed” vertical depth, which was unnecessary, but that may well have been the result of an earlier attempt to alter spacing, rather than reduce the overall size the text layout.
Ray
Ray,
Thanks for doing the analysis – you confirmed my suspicions. Now, if we could only find some other COLBs in that format!
AJStrata
Dale, so you noticed also that ‘tard has been trolling here for a whole week now and is addressing his disagree’ers as troll’s, funny isn’t it.
AJStrata wrote:
Ray,
Thanks for doing the analysis – you confirmed my suspicions. Now, if we could only find some other COLBs in that format!
What about that journalist who wrote the article mentioned at the top of this thread? She may be able to give you a partial scan and perhaps even a short email that you can quote.
I’ll post some more of Techdude’s errors (or imaginings, or whatever they’re supposed to be called) in the next 24 hours.
Ray
Ray,
We think alike, I have a request in to her.
Here’s a decent sounding bunch of people commenting on the imagined forgery:
http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/barack_obama_was_made_from_clay_and_the_saliva_of_the_gods/
[…] They’re still convinced Obama’s birth certificate is a forgery. Strata isn’t. […]
[…] They’re still convinced Obama’s birth certificate is a forgery. Strata isn’t.
————————————————————-
OK – UPDATE (anyone – in any style)
————————————————————-
Strata – isn’t convinced it’s a forgery
Ray – has never believed it’s a forgery
Obama – knows it’s not a forgery
Hawaii Health – probably knows it’s not a forgery but cannot say
Politifact – doesn’t believe it’s a forgery
.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Techdude – believes/says it is a forgery
Pamela Geller – believes/says it’s a forgery
Polarik – believes/says it’s a forgery
“Thanks for doing the analysis – you confirmed my suspicions. Now, if we could only find some other COLBs in that format!”
AJ, see, this is why I didn’t offer you the link which I knew techdude had showing that the recent borders on 2008 COLB’s did not match Obama’s disproving your claim. Because I knew you would jump onto another claim just as quickly now because “someone told you” “there is another format that matches Obama’s and someone has seen it!” Lol. Hilarious.
Instead of looking at the evidence directly and asking “Why isn’t Obama just releasing his COLB and ending this nonsense?” you instead say, “Now, if we could only find some other COLBs in that format!” But all you will uncover is more forgeries from sympathetic Obama supporters like Opendna has done.
Face facts. The reason Obama doesn’t release his real COLB (like McCain has) is because either it doesn’t exist, or it doesn’t look anything like the image that has been posted at Kos. The Obama camp has the document since they scanned it, right? Why don’t they just produce it? A simple matter right?
Because Obama can’t.
But instead of just going to the source AJ, you keep on searching for that elusive COLB in that “other format”. Lol. This is something the Obama campaign could have put to rest EASILY over a month ago IF what you say is true. But they haven’t. I wonder why?
bomza wrote:
This is something the Obama campaign could have put to rest EASILY over a month ago IF what you say is true. But they haven’t. I wonder why?
Look, Obama and his crew may very well be in charge of the most powerful force on earth before too long, and need to stare-down some pretty rugged opponents — and you want him and his crew to make fools of themselves by acceding the the infantile demands of trolls who don’t really believe he would be stupid enough to distribute a forged birth record on the internet.
Ray
Bomza – don’t be so thick, I wrote the post about other COLBs before the comments. Of course I suspected there were other COLBs – what do you think the post is about????
[…] "Forensics Expert: Obama Birth Certificate is a Forgery : NO QUARTER" The nitwit that wrote the article above titled it as a "Birth Certificate," when the subject is a "Certificate of Live Birth" that was presented by KOS, not a birth certificate. Like I said mentioned earlier, with all the money in the Pubs coffers (and during Hillary’s campaign) they would had already done all the research and took this to court and won had there been real evidence to prove that Obama is not legally eligible to be president. The Strata-Sphere » The End Of The COLB Cult – Myth Busted Again […]
Understanding how all of Hawaii’s COLB borders were constructed is a key to seeing that there was no forgery. Anyone with rounded experience in graphic reproduction, rather than just playing with Photoshop, can see that the borders were originally drawn in as ‘vector’ images in a computer drawing program like Aldus Freehand or Adobe Illustrator, but they were not drawn as a complete 8 x 8 inch square border.
Originally only one side of the rectangle was drawn, and it was then duplicated three times and then the 4 sections were joined, but because the cross-hatching design required alignment, it was necessary to overlap the sections to achieve that. The amount of overlap was dictated by the pitch of the cross-hatching. In the case of the Obama COLB, which had a greater pitch, there was more overlap.
All of Hawaii’s borders were (amateurisly) constructed in this way, and all were out-of-square because of visual line-up in the graphics program, instead of being lined up with numeric specifications.There was also no attempt to remove the (objectionable) end lines on the border segments.
Ideally the borders should have been constructed or drawn as a
complete unit so that there would have been perfect alignment and squareness and no joining marks visible.
Now if anyone had tried to forge the Hawaii style of making borders, they would have had to copy the amateurish style mentioned above, i.e
* Make one side of a border
* Duplicate it 3 times
* Join 4 sections roughly by eye
* Leave in tell-tale signs of the joins
PLUS accidentally use the wrong pitch
PLUS accidentally use thinner lines that would break up when printed – unless they were horizontal or vertical.
The graphic artist for Hawaii actually DID do that, but the thinner
lines used in the 2007 COLB would have been an experiment that seemed like a good idea at the time, but later abandoned because of the impossibility of getting good solid black diagonal lines, especially against a coloured background.
This objectionable breaking-up of very thin diagonal lines that we see in laser printing does not occur with real printing, because the image would always be be composed of jet black solid halftone dots of various sizes – instead of multi- coloured dots that range from off-white through to light green and dark grey. This is why it pays to know how a piece of artwork will be reproduced, or typically handled afterwards with current technology such as scanners or photocopiers, JPG’s or GIF’s etc.
——————–
I just had a thought – the border of the Obama COLB for 2007 was probably used on all other Hawaii certificates that they issued, so it will pay to track down (extracts) of marriage certificates, which should be easier to access.
Ray