(Photo: REUTERS/Joshua Lott)

I remember learning in grade school that at one time people believed that the Earth was flat. But the progression of scientific discovery, trumpeted by the great Greek scientist Pythagoras, postulated that the Earth was round. Still, some held tightly to their own faulty information, clinging to their old, inaccurate beliefs and condemning those who dared to embrace the truth.  I wondered how this could be.

The whole birther debate over President Obama’s birthplace caused me to revisit the feelings of confusion I had as a child about those odd people who refused to accept the facts even when they’ve been proven.

It has been widely established that the president was born in Hawaii. He has produced both his short and long-form birth certificates. But that has done little to stop the birther buzz.

First, news broke last week, pointing to an instance that may have started the whole debate.  It was discovered that, back in 1991, promotional brochures from the president’s literary agency referred to him as being “born in Kenya.” Led by conservative site Breibart, the media pounced on the news, prompting the literary agency to blow off the story as a fact-checking error.

So you’d think that the whole thing would be settled, right? Wrong.

Enter Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett. He’s now threatening a move that could keep the president’s name off of the ballot in the state altogether. Before the ballot can be authorized, he wants the state of Hawaii to verify that the birth certificate released by President Obama is the real deal.

The obsession with the president’s birth certificate is mind-numbing and a bit difficult to understand. At a certain point, I’d expect people to come to grips with what we now fully accept as the truth. Obama was born in the United States and has every right to run for a second term.