Posted on 03/10/2011 4:36:41 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
If Sen. Mark Christensen had been making the rules in 1801, Thomas Jefferson would never have been allowed to become president of the United States.
Christensen's version of a so-called "birther" bill (LB654), which was discussed Thursday by the Legislature's Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, is one of several across the nation stemming from claims that President Barack Obama failed to meet the constitutional requirement that the president be a "natural born citizen."
Christensen's bill not only would require presidential and vice presidential candidates to provide a certified long-form copy of their birth certificates to Nebraska's secretary of state, it also would require candidates to provide copies of their parents' long-form birth certificates.
In order for a person to qualify to be a presidential candidate in Nebraska, the bill would require an affidavit in which the candidate swears, "On the day I was born both my birth father and my birth mother were citizens of the United States of America."
Under that requirement, six other U.S. presidents besides Obama, whose father was born in Kenya, would have been ineligible for office: Jefferson, whose mother was born in England; Andrew Jackson, whose parents were born in Ireland; James Buchanan, whose father was born in Ireland; Chester Arthur, whose father was born in Ireland; Woodrow Wilson, whose mother was born in England; and Herbert Hoover, whose mother was born in Canada.
Christensen said in prepared testimony that it is not clear what the nation's founders meant by the phrase "natural born citizen."
"Though there is not much discussion about what our founders actually meant by this phrase in historical documents, there is some indication that the primary reason was to make a hurdle against someone rising to be commander in chief of our military who could potentially have foreign allegiance or sympathies," Christensen said.
"I believe LB654 will instill a greater confidence in the election process by assuring voters that candidates for the highest offices in the land have been properly vetted by government officials as to their constitutional eligibility."
The "birther" movement had its genesis in the 2008 election, when Obama's detractors claimed he was born in Kenya, the homeland of his father.
Obama's father met his future wife while an exchange student in Hawaii. The two were later married and Obama was born in Honolulu in 1961.
Hawaii officials have repeatedly confirmed Obama's citizenship, his birth certificate has been made public and courts have rebuffed challenges to the legitimacy of Obama's presidency.
The director of the Hawaiian state agency that handles birth certificates issued the following statement: "I, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaii State Department of Health, have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen."
FactCheck.org and PolitiFact have each concluded that Obama's Hawaii birth certificate is authentic and The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper found a newspaper announcement of Obama's birth.
None of that satisfied the birthers, who insist that Hawaii officials release Obama's so-called long-form birth certificate, which is not a public record.
Nellie Ristvedt of Crete testified in support of the bill, saying "this issue is not going away."
"I was given nobody on the last ballot that I knew was constitutionally eligible," she said. "It's not about one person. It's about a process."
Christensen's aide, Dan Wiles, said the senator does not want his bill "to be perceived as an attack" on Obama. He said Christensen assumes that Obama "most likely" was born in the United States and would be willing to delay implementation of his measure until after Obama's 2012 re-election bid.
The nine other states where birther bills have been introduced are: Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Connecticut, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia and Maine.
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Reach Kevin O'Hanlon at 402-473-2682 or kohanlon@journalstar.com
Seems like morons have infiltrated most every media outlet in this country. It is too much to take sometimes.
“Though there is not much discussion about what our founders actually meant by this phrase in historical documents, there is some indication that the primary reason was to make a hurdle against someone rising to be commander in chief of our military who could potentially have foreign allegiance or sympathies,” Christensen said.”
This isn’t rocket surgery. At the founding of the Republic, we needed a way of keeping those with British sympathies (and French or German for that matter) away from the Presidency.
The goal is, as stated, to keep out someone with potentially foreign allegiances. Which is why no one doubted McCain’s eligibility (though born in the Panama Canal Zone, he was born to an American service man - he also graduated from the Naval Academy - his “American” credentials were impeccable (even if his “conservative” ones were not)).
Dumb0 was born to a Kenyan father (unless his “pops” was actually Frank Marshall Davis) and an “American” mother who was strikingly anti-American. He was also raised, not by two American parents (as McCain was), but by an Indonesian step-father.
Show us the birth certificates. Let the American people decide based on that, but at least give them the information needed to make that decision.
Wow.
I’m so underwhelmed by this author’s ignorance.
“Under that requirement, six other U.S. presidents besides Obama, whose father was born in Kenya, would have been ineligible for office: Jefferson, whose mother was born in England; Andrew Jackson, whose parents were born in Ireland; James Buchanan, whose father was born in Ireland; Chester Arthur, whose father was born in Ireland; Woodrow Wilson, whose mother was born in England; and Herbert Hoover, whose mother was born in Canada.”
Exceptions to the eligibility requirement in the U.S.Constitution was made for those who were citizens (born here) at the time the U.S.Constitution was adopted. Women who married U.S. citizens were automatically granted citizenship during the 18th and 19th centuries. That eliminates all but one.
Leo Donofrio did an exhaustive research on this issue and determined the only past President who was a usurper was Chester Arthur (R). Though born in the United States, Arthur’s father wasn’t a U.S. citizen at the time of his son’s birth.
The Kenyan Usurper has hit America with the biggest fraud since Arnold Rothstien fixed the 1919 World Series.
Never read the Constitution I'm thinking.
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;
Jefferson qualified under the second criteria, not the first. He was not a natural born citizen, nor were Washington or any of the other early Presidents born before the Adoption of the Constitution. Well save those born after the declaration of independence, which established the United States, and the adoption of the Constitution. Those are Van Buren and Taylor. The first natural born citizen President was Martin Van Buren, who like Taylor was qualified under both criteria. The first born after the adoption of the Constitution was John Tyler
Secondly the reporter didn't read the requirement of the proposed law, which requires that both parents be citizens, not that they be born in the US. So his list of those with foreign born parents is just distraction. Except for Chester Arthur, whose father most certainly was not a citizen at the time of Chester's birth. That was carefully concealed at the time though.
President Jackson was actually in the revolutionary war, albeit as a very young militia member, so he was obviously alive at the adoption of the constitution.
I’m starting to think that Obama’s birth certificate says ‘father unknown’ like Jesus’ would read, except that Obama’s mom was the’ anti-virgin’ to Obama’s anti-Christ.
Jesus was a community organizer as well.
Yes I know. He's one of the early "not natural born", but "citizen at the time of the adoption of the Constitution" Presidents.
Arguably Jackson was still a natural born citizen because he was born AFTER his parents immigrated to the colonies/states. I believe in Shanks v. Dupont, the court said a woman born in colonial South Carolina was a natural born citizen of her community and thus a natural born citizen of the United States when South Carolina became part of the United States. The Supreme Court has also noted: “All persons born in the allegiance of the King are natural-born subjects, and all persons born in the allegiance of the United States are natural-born citizens.” Again, this was based on the idea that if you were a British loyalist and were born in the colonies to parents who were loyal to the crown, you were an NBS. If you were on the side of Independence and born in the colonies to parents who were citizens of the colony, you were a natural born citizen.
Will Obama attach a copy of an OFFICIAL Hawaii short form birth certificate, or will he attach a copy of a Hawaii OFFICIAL long form birth certificate, or will he simply attach a personal statement that states that he is eligible to run for President of the United States under the laws of the Constitution, a statement that will NOT have an OFFICIAL seal of the state of Hawaii?
How about this idea: Republican presidential candidates take that giant step and happily VOLUNTEER to attach their long form birth certificate to their application form in each state so that they can reassure the public that they have nothing to hide about their births and to prove that they are who they say they are.
I bet that state election officials would be thrilled to see presidential candidates take that extra step and attach their long form birth certificate to their applications, even though under state law they are not required to do so, because the more personal information that the public can learn about a presidential candidate, the better informed the public will be when they make their decision to vote for a presidential candidate.
And what will the public think about Obama if Obama only attaches a Hawaii short form birth certificate or a simple personal note to his application form when several Republican candidates VOLUNTARILY and happily attach their long form birth certificates to their application forms?
I think that the public will put growing pressure on Obama to follow the Republican candidates' example by also attaching his long form Hawaii birth certificate to his application form in each state.
If Obama makes excuses during the presidential campaign as to why he won't VOLUNTARILY attach his long form birth certificate to his presidential application like several Republican candidates did, I think the public will start wondering what Obama was trying to hide.
Yes, it would be great for the public to be able to examine 50 Obama long form OFFICIAL Hawaii birth certificates attached to the 50 states' application forms for the first time up close and in person, because in the past, we had to rely solely on a so-called Obama Hawaii short form birth certificate that we could only examine at an Obama website.
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The writer misses the point above: The point is that while, on the one hand, we have proof about the parents of the presidents listed above, we don't have, on the other hand, concrete proof who Obama's birth father is because he won't let us see his long form Hawaii birth certificate, if it even exists.
Right now, we have to take Obama's word for it when he tells us who his birth father is, or we can look at the birth father named on the controversial Hawaii short form birth certificate that we can only examine at Obama's website.
And let's not forget the question of whether or not Obama was adopted by his stepfather Indonesian citizen Soetoro.
That is, as far as I know, none of the presidents listed above were surrounded by a controversy that they were or were not adopted by a citizen of another country at some point in their lives.
As I see it, the only way to positively be sure who Obama's birth father was is to examine Obama's long form Hawaii birth certificate, if it even exists.
This author tried to tell me that every time the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal, they were affirming that Obama is eligible.
I told him that saying birthers are kooks becasue Obama’s eligibility has already been legally decided is sort of like saying those who want the deficit reduced are kooks because there is no deficit.
I offered to educate him on the real facts and he said he didn’t want to “get in an e-mail debate”. I presented the genuine situation at the hearing and none of the facts or clarification that I presented made it into the Lincoln Journal-Star, just like they wouldn’t print any of my facts in a letter to the editor.
They are WILFULLY ignorant.
A run-down of my testimony at the hearing is at http://butterdezillion.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/committee-hearing-for-nebraska-lb-654/
I still don’t know how each of the senators voted. Bill Avery says they killed it.
Christensen’s staffer says that unless the make-up of that committee changes, the best way to get the job done would be through a ballot initiative. So if anybody knows Nebraskans who would consider helping in a drive to collect petition signatures, please let me know because we’d have to get started on it ASAP. As I understand it, you can file for a petition and start taking signatures as soon as the previous election is over.
What I would want is something like this:
“Any registered Nebraska voter shall have legal standing to challenge in expedited state court proceedings the legal eligibility of any candidate on the Nebraska ballot, provided that the legal challenge is filed before the beginning of the term of office the candidate is seeking through placement on that ballot.”
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