the buzz log

Now at least one rumormongering movement has a name and a leader. The fringe: birthers, a fringe collective who question the president's national origins. The leader: A  lawyer who does cavities.

A few recent developments in recent weeks (also just summed up on The Daily Show):

• CNN host Lou Dobbs gave a sympathetic hearing to two birthers on his July 15 show, who claim Barack Obama hasn't given satisfactory proof—in the form of a birth certificate—that he was born in the U.S. of A.
• Commentator Liz Cheney defended birthers as "fundamentally uncomfortable with an American president who seems to be afraid to defend America."
• a rogue group of Republican congressmen proposed legislation asking presidential candidates to provide birth certificates, although one sponsor conceded Obama's legit.
• Youtube video of a townhall meeting gone wild.

Fuss over a foolscap
A moment to rewind this "controversy": Way back during the slog for Democratic presidential candidate, rumors plaguing Barack Obama questioned his religion and his alleged resistance to the pledge of allegiance. Doubts around his citizenship then focused on the biracial candidate's birthplace: Yahoo! searches for "barack obama birth certificate" first registered in significant numbers on March 8, 2008, during primary season.

Searches for that elusive foolscap still continued, and peaked right after Election Day. The hubbub mostly died down (especially after the Supreme Court threw out the case protesting Obama's (and John McCain's) right to the presidency)...until now, when the "issue" heated up again, months after his campaign and independent sources like Politfact have already presented and checked his birth certificate.

She knows nothing about no birth certificate
Now the conspiracists have now been granted the name "birthers" AKA "birfers" (which by extension would make religion-doubters Muslimers and flag rumor-mongers as Flaggers).

As for its fearless leader, that would be Dr. Orly Taitz (up 58% in searches over the past week), a Southern California dentist who sells real estate, blogs and files anti-Obama lawsuits on the side. The last two have became far more lucrative for the Russian immigrant, what with CNN appearances and articles like the one in Orange County Weekly, who dubbed her the "queen bee of people obsessed" with the president's certificate.

The OC Weekly's June 17 profile also examines the birther claims, and dismantles them quite thoroughly. Then again, an awful lot of dismantling has already been done, including Dobbs' own sub, Kitty Pilgrim. But as recent searches for "moon landing hoax" prove, a deliciously outrageous rumor is hard to kill.

Nutburgers, imposters, oh my
Dobbs and Cheney themselves, while affirming birthers the right to believe, also have come around saying Obama has the right to be president. Conservatives like Michael Medved used choice words "filthy conservative imposters" who are "enemies of the conservative movement."

Nonprofit watchdog Media Matters lists other embarrassed pundits—including Joe Scarborough, Michelle Malkin, and David Horowitz—who fear "nutburgers" may ping their party's credibility. 

If the lawsuit fits
Taitz by the way doesn't just go after Democrats born in Hawaii. She has threatened to sue Medved for defamation. She might have to deal with complaints against herself: A very detailed 28-pager has been filed with the California State Bar against Taitz for "lending apparent legitimacy to unlawfully unseat the President of the United States." So far, no complaints about unsafe dental practices.

Filed under: Politics, Rumors, Presidents, Hawaii

Whatever challenges Wonder Woman will face in her movie, they'll surely pale in comparison to what fans went through in the years it took to get her to the big screen. The countless casting rumors, the constant teases -- oh, what painful memories!

Lamentably, we must add more innuendo to the pile. Not because we want to, but because the buzz is too high to ignore. Word has it that Beyonce may/might/maybe be in the running to play Wonder Woman. Perhaps. Searches on the singing-dancing-acting powerhouse are up 59%. Additionally, related queries on "beyonce as wonder woman," "wonder woman beyonce" both surged as the rumors swirled.

Blogs jumped on the news as well. Stuff reported that Ms. Knowles is "in discussions to play Wonder Woman." However, that might be a bit of a stretch. While it's true that the curvaceous entertainer publicly declared her interest in playing the lasso-wielding heroine, there are no reports that her interest is being reciprocated by the film's producers.

Such one-sided infatuation could change should the producers sign a director. MovieWeb thinks McG could be in line for the job. Well, maybe, but we're not getting our hopes up. We've been hurt before.

Filed under: Rumors, Superheroes

Old school Mac-addicts know that Apple’s logo used to be rainbow colored. At some point during the ‘90s, Apple ditched the ROYGBIV for a more monochromatic look. Now, in a bit of retro-fueled mania, the house that Jobs built is bringing it back. Maybe.

According to UberGizmo, the forthcoming iPod nano will “appear in multiple colors on a single device.” The blog also explains that the updated nano will feature more memory, more features, etc. But, really, all that’s to be expected. It’s the possibility of rocking a rainbow in our pocket that has us intrigued. Is this rumor true or rotten to the core? Stay tuned.

Filed under: Apple Computer, Rumors