Just when it seemed the controversy over President Obama's birthplace had been laid to rest, a group of Southern California "birthers" had a rare day in federal court Monday to make their case that the president isn't a natural-born American and should be removed from office.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted Buena Park minister Wiley Drake and leading birther litigator Orly Taitz a chance to challenge the summary dismissal of the case by a Santa Ana federal judge two years ago.

Today's marquee fibs almost always evolve the same way: A tree falls in the forest—say, the claim that Saddam Hussein has "weapons of mass destruction," or that Barack Obama has an infernal scheme to parade our nation's senior citizens before death panels. But then a network of media enablers helps it to make a sound—until enough people believe the untruth to make the lie an operative part of our political discourse.

For the past 15 years, I've spent much of my time deeply researching three historic periods—the birth of the modern conservative movement around the Barry Goldwater campaign, the Nixon era, and the Reagan years—that together have shaped the modern political lie. Here's how we got to where we are.

Selective service records Donald Trump didn't want anyone to see show he dodged the Vietnam War due to a medical deferment, not a high draft number as he has claimed.

The records indicate Trump was granted a series of student deferments before graduating from college, and then was deemed physically unacceptable for military service after he graduated. The paperwork, obtained from the National Archives and Records Administration by thesmokinggun.com website, contradict what Trump has publicly said in recent days.

Mr Obama said he was bemused over the conspiracy theories over his birthplace, and said that the obsession over the "sideshow" issues was a distraction in a "serious time". "We're not going to solve our problems if we get distracted by carnival acts and sideshow barkers,

We do not have time for this kind of silliness, we've got big stuff to do, I've got big stuff to do," he said. Earlier, Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said: "The president feels this (controversy) is bad for the country, that it is not healthy for the political debate."