It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
www.skepdic.com...
Any reader who is the slightest bit acquainted with the methods of paranoid conspiracy theorists (PCTs) knows that a birther will not accept any document, no matter how thoroughly vetted or how long the form, as an authentic birth certificate of Barack Obama, unless it indicates that he was born in some country other than the United States. One of the more curious behavioral traits of PCTs is that they always follow the same procedure and it always runs in an infinite loop: they demand proof of X and when proof of X is provided, they reject it and reiterate the demand for proof of X or they will now demand proof of Y and repeat the cycle ad nauseam. Furthermore, if proof of X is not delivered immediately, the "delay" is seen as proof of a conspiracy to hide the truth and justification for doubting the authenticity of any evidence eventually presented.
Becoming a citizen
A non-citizen may apply to become a citizen of the United States. At no time will such a person ever be considered natural-born (unless the U.S. Code is changed in some way). The process to become a citizen involves several steps, including applying to become and becoming a permanent resident (previously known as a resident alien), applying to become and becoming naturalized, and finally taking the Oath of Allegiance to the United States. Children of naturalized U.S. citizens generally become citizens automatically, though they will also not be considered natural-born. There is a time constraint before a permanent resident can apply for naturalization, generally either 3 or 5 years. The other requirements are that there be a minimum length of time in a specific state or district, successful completion of a citizenship exam, ability to read, write, and speak English, and good moral character.
Losing your citizenship For a natural-born citizen, losing your citizenship is actually quite difficult. The law prohibits the taking of your citizenship against your will, but there are certain actions a citizen can take which are assumed to be a free-will decision that constitutes a voluntary renunciation of the citizenship. Moving to another country for an extended period of time does not constitute an act that presumes renunciation. Neither does taking a routine-level job with a foreign government. This stand is quite different from U.S. policy of the past, where even being naturalized in another nation could be seen as renunciation. The sections of the law that pertained to losing ones nationality for many of these cases was found at 8 USC 1482 and related sections. The U.S. Code does, however, see some acts as creating the possibility of a loss of nationality. When you lose your U.S. nationality, you are no longer under the protection or jurisdiction of the United States. When the United States considers you to no longer be of U.S. nationality, it in effect considers you to no longer be a citizen. Note that these are things you can do that may force you to lose your citizenship. The law also says that these acts must be voluntary and with the intent of losing U.S. citizenship. The ways to lose citizenship are detailed in 8 USC 1481:
* Becoming naturalized in another country
* Swearing an oath of allegiance to another country
* Serving in the armed forces of a nation at war with the U.S., or if you are an officer in that force
* Working for the government of another nation if doing so requires that you become naturalized or that you swear an oath of allegiance
* Formally renouncing citizenship at a U.S. consular office
* Formally renouncing citizenship to the U.S. Attorney General
* By being convicted of committing treason
Originally posted by meeneecat
reply to post by Bonified Ween
So first of all, I do see what you are referring too...So, here's what I see going on, there's actually two possibilities...as someone already pointed out, the registrar, in order to release the birth certificate, needs to include a stamp showing that their office signed off on it.
To get the multiple elements, as someone already explained, they pull out the book, turn to the page where Obama's certificate is (center element), place a frame around it containing images of the seal and the sign off (surrounding elements), either physically or digitally to signify that the office is officially releasing the record.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/8db479cbfc4f.jpg[/atsimg]
These are the multiple elements and you can see them clearly in the file. Also, depending on the software used to scan the document, some programs automatically will separate the different elements, for example, some programs will recognize the text and create a separate element so that the text can be "searchable"...this is likely where the "white" offcenter text comes from. i.e. whatever program was used to scan this recognized the text and separated this out from the background. I'm not sure what program was used scan this...I'm going to do some more research and see, because just in my short time searching online, I've already seen several explanations that are perfectly reasonable explanations for the layers. Furthermore, if Obama were going to create a fake document, the person creating would know enough to hide any "evidence".
See two possible explanations here, and hereedit on 28-4-2011 by meeneecat because: typo
If you scan a doc with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) turned on, Adobe Acrobat is capable of taking a scanned doc and breaking it out into layers automatically. That’s what seems to have happened here. There are still one or two funky anomalies, like the text in box 17a getting split into two separate layers and the date in 20 getting its own, but OCR is an imperfect beast and stuff like that happens. The larger question seems to be settled on how the cert got broken out into layers: Adobe did it.edit on 28-4-2011 by meeneecat because: (no reason given)