John Hawkins on the Birther Trap:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Whether he’s aware of it or not, while trashing conspiracists, Mr. Hawkins seems to be buying into a pretty big whopper of a conspiracy himself. Are we to believe that Obama and his handlers are so fiendishly smart that they orchestrated certain events, sometimes even decades before he got elected, knowing that if he did get elected, the “birther movement” would pop up and Obama would be able to use it against Republicans for his 2012 reelection campaign? A bit confusing, eh?

Here’s part of the conspiracy that Mr. Hawkins seemingly advocates:

• Obama and his handlers put out an obviously phony Certificate of Live Birth to draw the birthers into the trap. And to make it look even better, pulled the phony COLB from his campaign website when its authenticity begins being questioned.

• Obama and his handlers purposely withhold all of his high school, college, law review, passport, medical, and State Senate records to further create suspicion and to further draw the birthers in.

• Obama and his handlers planted false information in Obama’s 1995 memoirs, Dreams from my Father, saying that his father was a “British Subject” to rile up the birthers even more. (Obama’s father being a British Subject by itself makes it impossible for Barack Obama to be a natural born citizen by current constitutional definitions)

• As early as the late 1970’s, Obama’s handlers had Obama go to Connecticut, of all places, to fill out his Selective Service Registration and get a Connecticut Social Security # while he was at it. They knew over thirty years ago that the birthers would bite on this one.

• Obama’s handlers had Obama spend roughly $2 million on attorney fees to keep his above mentioned school records, passport records, medical records, and birth certificate from being released. They knew this would draw the stupid birthers even further into the trap. Anyway, what’s a couple of million when you’ve got backers like George Soros?

That’s quite a conspiracy in and of itself, isn’t it Mr. Hawkins? There’s an old expression that comes to mind; too smart by half!

Mr. Hawkins uses an old trick by associating established kooks (Alex Jones) with a cause in order to dismiss the cause. By Mr. Hawkins’s standards, if one agrees with a kook like Alex Jones on anything, even the sun rising in the East, then that person is also a kook. Nice try Mr. Hawkins, but I would think a smart guy like you could do a lot better than that.

Another talking point that Mr. Hawkins uses in his arsenal is the old distraction argument. In other words, if we talk about Obama’s eligibility, we can’t accomplish anything else; we can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. Not to mention that this claim is totally worthless due to the fact that the “birther movement” has not been endorsed by any leading Republican in Congress. The movement still consists mostly of bloggers, citizen journalists, and others on the fringe of the conservative/constitutionalist movement. I don’t see John Boehner and Mitch McConnell focusing on Obama’s birth certificate. They don’t seem to be focusing on anything else either, but that’s for another post.

Not singling out Mr. Hawkins exclusively, it’s baffling that so many hard-core conservatives seem to treat the constitution so cavalierly when it suits their political agendas or strategies. I personally believe that many conservative talking heads who have come out against the birthers also seriously question Obama’s constitutional eligibility. People like Karl Rove and Charles Krauthammer can’t be that stupid – can they? It’s my theory that many of these people believe that America is already so far gone that politics, racial and ethnic politics in particular, must trump the U.S. Constitution. After all, the constitution was written hundreds of years ago by white Christian men. Jefferson, Adams, and Madison didn’t have to worry about Muslims and Mexicans – they had it easy!

The problem with people like Mr. Hawkins, Karl Rove, and Charles Krauthammer is that they’ll use the same arguments now targeted towards birthers against others in the future. Next in line is the inevitable showdown on illegal immigration. We already heard from people in that crowd that upholding federal immigration law is a losing issue at the ballot box. It’s the same crowd that said the Ground Zero Mosque was a losing issue; questioning the decency as well as the funding for the project would only inflame the “Muslim World” even more.

If Mr. Hawkins and others believe the Obama eligibility issue is a loser politically, that’s fine. If they believe that in this point and time in American history that the Constitution has become a bit outdated, then say so! However, to insinuate that everyone who questions Obama’s eligibility is some sort of moronic conspiracy kook crosses the line!

If and when it’s proved that Obama is indeed a natural born citizen I will publicly (on my blog) admit that I was wrong, admit that I was duped by Donald Trump and company, and admit that Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Rove, and Mr. Krauthammer possess intellects superior to my own. The question is will Mr. Hawkins and company do the same if it’s finally proven that Obama was never eligible to serve in the first place, and that hundreds of people in Obama’s inner circle and the Democrat Party not only knew about it, but conspired to keep it from the American people?

Unfortunately, we will never get those apologies from the smart crowd. What they’ll do instead is brazenly claim that they knew it all along, but were just doing what they believed was the best thing for the Republican Party and the Conservative Movement. In other words, they’ll be forced to admit what more and more Americans are beginning to realize – political expediency now trumps the U.S. Constitution.

The coverage of the 40^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing was pretty substantial. The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, and The National Geographic Channel all ran programs highlighting the historic mission. Other cable stations along with the “big three” networks also covered the story and aired interviews with Armstrong, Aldrin, and others involved with the Moon landing. Much of the coverage of this particular anniversary seemed to be linked to the death of Walter Cronkite on July 17^th. If I only had 20 bucks for every time they showed Cronkite’s goofy reaction to the news that Apollo 11 had landed on the Moon.

However, there is a whole other side to this story that has also received coverage; especially from the Cable stations. I’m referring to all of the conspiracy theories which mainly contend that the Apollo 11 landing never occurred, and that the whole thing was a hoax perpetrated by NASA and the Federal Government.

I’m not a “conspiracy buff” by any means, but I don’t automatically discount them either. I try to discount the ridiculous ones! I’m realistic enough to understand that conspiracies take place everyday in our Federal Government where backroom deals are made with little or no input from the public. With all of the wacko theories out there, the concept of conspiracy has turned into a joke. But, there’s no doubt that everyday someone is conspiring with someone else to get away with something!

Most of the conspiracy theories regarding the Apollo 11 Moon landing have to do with the direction of shadows, lighting, the fact that there are no visible stars, and the apparent flapping of the American flag. I have heard all of these points, and I’ve also heard them debunked by scientists, engineers, and other people who have worked for NASA. I tend to accept most if not all of the debunker’s arguments.

I do however have some questions of my own.

Most of my skepticism has to do with technology; more specifically the technology that was available in 1969 as compared to today. It seems that everytime the NASA Space Shuttle is launched, and then has to return to earth, all the people at NASA are holding their breath and keeping all the fingers on their hands and toes on their feet crossed. There have already been two Space Shuttle disasters, with the latest one coming in 2003 when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated while reentering the Earth’s atmosphere. The tragic accident was said to have been caused by damage sustained during the launch to a piece of foam insulation.

In the first Space Shuttle disaster in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up 73 seconds after launch due to a faulty O-Ring in the solid rocket booster.

As opposed to the Apollo program, the Space Shuttle program doesn’t venture out into deep space. The Moon is approximately anywhere from 221 to 251 thousand miles from the earth at a given time. The Space Shuttle is limited to delivering payloads to the International Space Station, which is approx. 220 miles from Earth and performing repairs and maintenance on various satellites and the Hubble Space Telescope, which is approx. 330 miles from Earth.

Could we have had the technology in 1969 to launch the Apollo into deep space, travel between 220 to 250 thousand miles, land on the Moon, walk around a bit, launch off of the Moon’s surface, then travel another 220 to 250 thousand miles to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and safely splash-down in the Pacific Ocean?

I’m not drawing any conclusions - it’s just a question.

Not only did Apollo 11 land on the Moon in July 1969, but it was successfully followed by Apollo 12 in November 1969, Apollo 14 in January 1971, Apollo 15 in July 1971, Apollo 16 in April 1972, and Apollo 17 in December 1972. Apollo 13 was also scheduled for a Moon landing in April of 1970, but the mission was aborted due to technical failure and the crew barely made it back to Earth.

What’s really striking, is that three times we went to the Moon twice in the same year. (1969,1971 & 1972) The first two times were only four months apart! Did NASA even have time to analyze the data from the first mission? Could we have pulled this off 6 times in three years? What was the rush? Is it possible that one of the other later Apollo missions was actually the first on the Moon, and not Apollo 11? Could Apollo 11 have been just a test run?

Again, I don’t know – I’m just asking questions!

Another question that I have is why haven’t the Russians, Chinese, or Japanese followed us to the Moon? These countries surely have technology that surpasses our 1969 technology – don’t they? Why wouldn’t any other country want to join us on landing on the Moon?

In the end, the most valid reason for not believing in the Moon landing conspiracies is the enormous number of people from NASA and the U.S. Government who would probably have to be in on it. We all know how hard it is to keep a secret between only two or three people – much less dozens or even hundreds.

So, I guess that I would have to say that I’m probably a believer – maybe!

Regardless of what really happened, I must admit that I’m kind of surprised and maybe a little bit disappointed that our space technology hasn’t apparently progressed much in the last forty years – perhaps it’s even regressed.

Go figure.