Ghana finally gets the memo
By Linda Bentley | July 22, 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
Update: Obama’s scrubbing bubbles finally reach Ghana – Legal fees to block production of $10 record now $1,132,124
HONOLULU – Since Jan. 24, 2009, the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children apparently had a letter of congratulations posted on its website from President Barack Obama in response to the hospital’s centennial celebration.
Obama wrote, “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) posting an article questioning the letter’s authenticity, noting it was also 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.
At the time we originally posted this article on our web site, Kapi'olani Medical Center had not responded to WND’s inquiry about the letter’s authenticity. Kapi'olani Medical Center has since produced the original letter on embossed White House stationary.
In light of the letter’s exposure, Snopes.com went to work on its own website, scrubbing away all references to Obama being born at Queen’s Medical Center, including statements from interviews with Obama, changing them to say Kapi'olani Medical Center.
A clause was added stating: “(News accounts have also variously reported his birth as having occurred at Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu)” that included a hyperlink to a United Press International article stating Obama was born at Queen’s Medical Center.
No sooner did Snopes change its website, than UPI got out its scrubbing bubbles to change the linked article, which once said, “Obama described his birth at Queen’s Medical Center in Hawaii …” to say “Obama described his birth at Kapi'olani Medical Center …”
Snopes responded by removing the link to the UPI article.
During a White House press briefing on July 13, WND’s White House correspondent Les Kinsolving asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs if he could confirm the letter’s authenticity.
Without addressing the question, Gibbs replied, “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.”
The White House has not confirmed if the letter congratulating the Kapi'olani Medical Center was actually sent by Obama.
FightTheSmears.com, the website initiated by the Obama for America Political Action Committee to combat all potentially negative information about Obama, including eligibility questions, is also gone.
With all websites seemingly in synchronized harmony over Obama’s birthplace and all references to Queen’s Hospital eradicated, along came another stick in the spokes on July 9, once again raising the question of Obama’s birthplace.
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 Sarah Obama in Kenya, who insists she was present when Obama was born in Mombasa, Kenya.
Phil from TheRightSideofLife.com quipped, “It appears that ModernGhana.com didn’t get the memo …”
On July 12 WND began tracking changes made to Wikipedia regarding Obama’s birthplace. At around 4:45 p.m., 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, by 6 p.m., Wikipedia was changed once again to say, “Barack Obama was born at the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu …”
Apparently ModernGhana.com finally received the memo late last week, as its article has since been changed to read: “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 father’s birth,” with the last six words in bright blue.
The Obama for America Political Action Committee has reported paying an additional $270,754 to Perkins Coie in legal fees over the past quarter, bringing the tab to block the production of a $10 record to $1,132,124.
WND’s ongoing billboard campaign asking, “Where’s the Birth Certificate?” remains a topic in dire need of discussion and action.