Apparently it’s not enough to decry the illegitimate hegemony of the Federal Reserve, we have to fear that we wear its brand. Specifically it’s being alleged our birth certificates –the originals, not our copies– carry a mysterious red number that corresponds to a fixed portion of the national debt, our true personal credit status, irrevocable insolvency as it were. Umm. Indentured servitude I get, ours is an open-air debtor’s prison, but thinking the FED has some inalienable paper claim on each of us jumps the shark. Recently a friend was so excited to tell me that birth certificate numbers are imbued with the legal authority of some maritime act which issues registration numbers to ships when they’re berthed. He enunciated “berthed” all wide-eyed, I’m guessing he thought it was spelled the same. Want to wager he also believes some naval registry holds the secret of Obama’s berth?