Which is an alteration of the document. Why? I'll try to express my concern. My opinion is what you have done is made a document that looks like an original document, not a crooked copy. I don't understand why you would do that. We don't have confirmation that what was originally posted is an authentic memorandum from the Congressional Research Service. We have a crooked copy. Now you've made something that isn't a crooked copy. I don't think it's right or useful to have altered it.

I think it's wrong to "clean up" a poor copy of a document in a way that makes it look like a "clean" original. I think it's more wrong to post the "cleaned up" version on scribd where anyone can search for it and find it without anything to tell them it has been "cleaned up". I hope I get an answer from the Congressional Research Service whether the copy is of a memo that was really written by them and I'll post the answer here if I get it.

It might be more effective for you to contact your member of Congress to ask him to ask CRS to put the document into Open CRS.

Isn't there some way Pat can just make a notation at Scribd to the effect that this version has been scanned and OCR''d? Then anyone that cares to look at it would be on notice as to why it may appear different than other versions.

Not that I think it matters a whole lot. Birthers will scream about whatever flits across their bitty minds, no matter what we say or do.

"Supposed Congressional Research Service report (3 April 2009) regarding Obama Eligibility

(Note: This is a copy of an image document taken from Mario Apuzzo's website, where he claimed it as accurate. I have ran it though Optical Character Recognition, which made it available to cut and paste from, and had the side effect of straightening the pages. The content is identical to the original on said website. It is unknown at this time if this document is authentic or Yet Another Birther forgery)"

It is the real thing.

An external test of its provenance would involve determining if an agency that has traditionally done high-quality research, with full citations, would have produced this report. If the report has fundamental flaws, it is highly unlikely to have come from CRS.

As long as no one is hiding anything here, or making sekrit "corrections," I think we have the Puzo exemplar and the PatGund copy. And all we have to do is keep them straight. Let's hope we soon get the Kimba authenticated original.

(While one never knows with documents posted on the Internetz, the hallmarks on this one lead me to believe it's authentic. Not enough yet in a court of law, but getting there.)

twinx

This was a great find. I vote for this to be the TFB post of the month if we ever start such an award.

Yes, thank you, BB.

Shame on CRS for not responding to Kimba, though.

Whenever the office of President of the United States becomes vacant due to “removal ... death or resignation” of the chief executive, the Constitution provides that “the Vice President shall become President.” When the office of Vice President becomes vacant for any reason, the President nominates a successor, who must be confirmed by a majority vote of both houses of Congress. If both of these offices are vacant simultaneously, then, under the Succession Act of 1947, the Speaker of the House of Representatives becomes President, after resigning from the House and as Speaker. If the speakership is also vacant, then the President Pro Tempore of the Senate becomes President, after resigning from the Senate and as President Pro Tempore. If both of these offices are vacant, or if the incumbents fail to qualify for any reason, then cabinet officers are eligible to succeed, in the order established by law (3 U.S.C. §19, see Table 3). In every case, a potential successor must be duly
sworn in his or her previous office, and must meet other constitutional requirements for the presidency, i.e., be at least 35 years of age, a “natural born citizen,” and for 14 years, a “resident within the United States.” Succession-related provisions are derived from the Constitution, statutory law, and political precedents of the past two centuries.