Ok, so that you have some idea of the train of thought (sometimes train WRECK of thought) that is Gid's mind, here's what got me to ruminating this:

Another blogger wrote about the attempts by Mexico to subvert Arizona's new law proving citizenship before voting, and my thoughts turned (as they did on my related blog discussing the law) to the difficulty some folks have of obtaining their birth certificates.

Then it hit me, like a ton of bricks: I well remember when the Cabbage Patch Kid craze took off in 1983. Many hospitals would, for a fee,issue "birth certificates" to children who brought their other dolls requesting them. These birth certificates were never intended to be confused with the real thing, and lacked the stamp certifying the certificate that is placed on by the county poobah, whomever that may be. But they were real enough to create a crisis a couple years later when the IRS began needing to filter through the fake tax returns on behalf of these synthetic dependents. Unscrupulous parents had quickly figured out that often,in the midst of bureaucratic messes, many clerks were not trained to look for whether a birth certificate was certified or not, and these dolla became unpersons in reverse; they never existed as persons,but had all the documentation to prove they DID exist (well,technically, my rubber chicken,who is ordained by the ULC, has a similar status, but that's beside the point).

The problem is that many of these bogus birth certificates are still out there. It would be little stretch to imagine that some con artist somewhere, has figured out that, as of last year,all of the "original" birth certificates became old enough to drink, smoke, vote,you name it...pretty much everything shy of run for president. And, it stands to reason that they would be inlined to use such knowledge.

So, keep a look out for immigrants who mysteriously have the same name as the favorite doll from your childhood.