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Obama birth battle goes to Supreme Court
Chicago Times ^ | December 7, 2008 | Tim Jones

Posted on 12/07/2008 6:36:30 PM PST by Red Steel

Five weeks after the state of Hawaii vouched for the authenticity of President-elect Barack Obama's birth certificate, the controversy over allegations that Obama is not eligible to take office next month has reached the Supreme Court, which is expected to announce Monday whether it will consider the matter.

The fight is unusual because it thrives outside the so-called mainstream media, far beyond the oak-paneled offices of $700-an-hour lawyers and a world away from the 535 individuals whose surnames are preceded by Representative or Senator.

This is a different army at work, in an environment increasingly influenced by the Internet.

"It's only being mentioned by a relative few, by the real die-hard, anti-Obama crowd," said Michael Harrison, editor and publisher of Talkers magazine, the trade bible of the talk radio industry. "On mainstream talk radio, it's not a big deal right now. I think it's run its course."

"But," Harrison added, "we live in a time that, because of the Internet, all points of view can live forever."

Just as there is a split on the legitimacy of the legal claims, there is also a split within the media on the merits of the story. Is it the last gasp of opposition from fervent opponents of Obama who have a found community of like-minded believers on the Internet, or is there a legal question to be resolved? The court will answer the latter question thisweek.

The campaign challenging the legitimacy of Obama's 1961 birth certificate or the legality of his taking office is chronicled by WorldNetDaily, a popular, politically right-leaning site that was the 26th most-visited news and media Web site during November, according to Hitwise, which monitors Net traffic.

"If this [Obama taking office] happens, the question of eligibility for the highest office in the land will no longer even be a matter for concern," wrote Joseph Farah, founder and editor of WorldNetDaily.

"Precedent will have been established. Arnold Schwarzenegger will suddenly be eligible to run for the office in 2012," Farah wrote, referring to the Austrian-born California governor and film star.

An Obama spokesman declined to comment for this story.

The lawyers who, in at least six states, have argued Obama is not a natural-born citizen and cannot be president include one who supported Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, one who has thundered for decades against the legality of the federal government collecting income tax, and one who argues that Sen. John McCain, by virtue of his birth 72 years ago in the Panama Canal Zone, would be banned from moving into the Oval Office, had he won last month's election.

Leo Donofrio is a New Jersey lawyer who tried to get Obama and McCain stricken from the New Jersey ballot in November. Donofrio's case was presented Friday to justices of the Supreme Court. Another case challenging Obama's eligibility, this one from Pennsylvania, has not yet been presented to the full court for its consideration.

"My question is on a pure constitutional ground," said Donofrio. "He [Obama] is a citizen of the United States. I just don't believe he's a natural born citizen."

This is the thrust of the attack, picked up by people like Bob Schulz, an upstate New York lawyer who purchased two full-page ads in the Tribune this month that called Obama "a usurper" who "would be entitled to no allegiance, obedience or support from the People."

Schulz has challenged the federal government on issues including the Iraq War, the Patriot Act and the income tax. "I have a long history of petitioning the government for redress of grievances for violations of the constitution and the law," said Schulz, who said he and his wife live on Social Security checks. Schulz said the ads cost "tens of thousands of dollars" and were paid for with more than 500 private donations from individuals who support the effort. He said there were "no financial angels" behind it.

If the Supreme Court decides not to consider the case, Donofrio said there "won't be any beating on the drums saying there wasn't any justice."

But that will not be the end of the matter, Farah vowed.

"It'll plague Obama throughout his presidency. It'll be a nagging issue and a sore on his administration, much like Monica Lewinsky was on [President Bill] Clinton," Farah said. "It's not going to go away and it will drive a wedge in an already divided public."

That may underscore a landscape change in the media, where the Internet is playing a bigger role in setting the agenda. In 2004, the so-called swift boat campaign against John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, began on the Internet. In fact, the co-author of "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," Jerome Corsi, also wrote "Obama Nation," a book critical of Obama, published earlier this year.

Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Duke University, said the Internet's role in forming public opinion is gaining strength. WorldNetDaily, for instance, has one of the faster-growing audiences on the Internet, up 62 percent in the past year, according to Hitwise.

Nyhan co-authored a study this year that said journalists' attempts to correct misinformation is unlikely to sway public perceptions because many people want to believe the misperception.

"People often have a strong bias for believing the evidence they want to believe and disbelieving what they don't believe," Nyhan said. "There is less of a sense that we all have a common set of facts we can agree on. There's a polarization and we can't even agree on the basic factual assumptions to have a debate."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: Hawaii
KEYWORDS: birthcertificate; blackhelicopters; blackmail; certifigate; colb; conspiracy; donofrio; enoughalready; getalife; notthisshiitagain; obama; obamatransitionfile; obamatruthfile; tinfoil; tinfoilhats
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To: billorites

Oh, I guess everything is okay then...

They have a “voucher”


61 posted on 12/07/2008 7:15:25 PM PST by LeoOshkosh (Crazy Leo is right again)
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To: proxy_user

“I am beginning to suspect Obama is a natural-born citizen, and that his birth certificate will confirm this....but it will reveal something else Obama doesn’t want known.

That is the only possible explanation.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Why is that? Do you really think he would spend upwards of $800,000 to cover up a small embarrassment? There is absolutely no proof that he’s natural born.


62 posted on 12/07/2008 7:15:57 PM PST by Nipfan (The desire to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it - H L Mencken)
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To: Cheerio
BINGO - the thing that separates CONSERVATIVES from the moronic lefties who can only think with the hearts. Brains are disconnected totally in the left side.

I think you have a point. Here is one of the comments (out of 2) after the article:

Monty on December 7, 2008 8:44 PM
These idiots really need to get a life. They waste money and promote themselves as the saviors of what! We need a new leader and we now have one, thank God! These people just need to disappear from the face of the earth. Maybe they can be on the first manned flight to Mars. I think that is next week flight!!!!!

I suspect this is one of the "moronic lefties" you are talking about.

63 posted on 12/07/2008 7:16:09 PM PST by TruthWillWin
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To: Cicero

It is not an anonymous source. It is the spokeperson for the Dept.

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/11/obama_hawaaianborn_citizen_for.html


64 posted on 12/07/2008 7:16:40 PM PST by RummyChick
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To: Wil H

I agree with your assessment of the revelation by Janice.

We will assume for now that the Tribune is telling the truth.

Is Janice a Democrat. Has she seen the birth certificate?

She is putting words into the Director’s mouth.


65 posted on 12/07/2008 7:18:38 PM PST by RummyChick
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To: RummyChick
OK, that's interesting, but still not conclusive, IMHO.

Q: Does this mean Obama was born in Hawaii?

A: "Yes," said Hawaii Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo, in both email and telephone interviews with the Tribune. "That's what Dr. Fukino is saying."

Actually, it's not what Dr. Fukino is on the record as saying. But you are right, Janice Okubo is the official mentioned in Fukino's statement as the contact person.

It's very odd, though, that she phrases it in a misleading way, since that is NOT what Fukino said, and Okubo does not claim to be saying it from her own knowledge. But it's certainly a straw in the other direction.

66 posted on 12/07/2008 7:24:49 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: RummyChick
Hawaii put out a press release that doesn't say that Obama was born in Hawaii. All they said is that they have one on record. It's suspect because Hawaii once issued birth certificates to foreign born babies.

This looks like the Tribune is playing games. "Yes" ; Okubo vouching for Fukino. And the Tribune put this out on their blog the Swamp?

It doesn't look like they have much confidence in this story.

67 posted on 12/07/2008 7:27:33 PM PST by Red Steel
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To: Cicero

This article came out before the election. I hadn’t heard of this article until “curiousity” posted it.


68 posted on 12/07/2008 7:29:01 PM PST by RummyChick
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To: MHGinTN

Obama is Not a natural born citizen because his father was a foreigner and his mother was under 19 years old when he was born, nNo Matter Where He Was Born. Case closed.

Now, the Supreme Court has to decide whether Biden or McCain will become president. I vote for McCain, with Palin as his VP.


69 posted on 12/07/2008 7:31:09 PM PST by FFranco
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To: rlmorel
Journalist's attempts to correct misinformation = spin doctoring

The MSM is hoping the dumbed down general public is too stupid to figure it out. Thanks to the public fool system, that's still possible.

70 posted on 12/07/2008 7:32:24 PM PST by America2012
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To: America2012

I couldn’t agree more.


71 posted on 12/07/2008 7:33:13 PM PST by rlmorel ("A barrel of monkeys is not fun. In fact, a barrel of monkeys can be quite terrifying!")
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To: billorites
Here is Gov (commerce secretary elect)Bill Richardson saying in Spanish that Obama is an "immigrant." (So he understands understands "immigrant" issues.)The context suggests that by "immigrant" bill richardson means "illegal immigrant"



Here in plain English is the Kenyan Ambassador saying that Obama is born in Kenya.

............

from obama's own site factcheck.org by way of fightthesmears on his dual citizenship at birth

“When Barack Obama Jr. was born on Aug. 4,1961, in Honolulu, Kenya was a British colony, still part of the United Kingdom’s dwindling empire. As a Kenyan native, Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by The British Nationality Act of 1948. That same act governed the status of Obama Sr.‘s children.

Since Sen. Obama has neither renounced his U.S. citizenship nor sworn an oath of allegiance to Kenya, his Kenyan citizenship automatically expired on Aug. 4,1982.”
72 posted on 12/07/2008 7:39:06 PM PST by ckilmer (Phi)
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To: FFranco
I've been listening to Donofrio's radio interviews and according to him BOTH Obama and McCain are not qualified to take the oath; Obama because of his "dual citizenship" at birth and McCain due to being born in Panama despite having two U.S. Citizen parents.

In that case, both the Democratic and Republican tickets from 2008 would be invalidated which would also disqualify Joe Biden and Sarah Palin from being selected as President by Congress.

On Janurary 20th, when President Bush leaves office, the 25th Amendment goes into effect and the vacant office of President is taken over by his Vice President;

Dick Cheney.

73 posted on 12/07/2008 7:43:07 PM PST by America2012
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To: Nipfan

There is actually evidence that he is not natural born, by his own admission of dual citizenship at birth!


74 posted on 12/07/2008 7:43:50 PM PST by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
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To: jackofhearts

Why don’t they ask Obama directly? He was on the news tonight talking to an audience.

The more I read about this, the more concerned I am becoming about what kind of precedent it will set if he is allowed to not show the B.C. One lawyer suggested that Arnold could simply say he is not foreign-born and refuse to show documentation. Now, that wouldn’t work for him, as he is so well known, but it might work for someone newer to the political scene.

I understand that we must respect the outcome of the election and preserve the electoral process, but this natural born citizen issue needs to be defined and enforced in all future elections. I had no idea that a foreign-born American was on the ballot in N.J. and likely other states. Incrementalism, folks!!!

WHO ARE THE WACKOS? I say it is those people who will not consider the wider, very serious implications of this issue. It is possible to respect the electoral results and be concerned about this at the same time.


75 posted on 12/07/2008 7:45:33 PM PST by OneTimeComment (I)
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To: America2012

Oh how I wish that man could be on record as being President, even if for only a month or two whiel the mess is sorted out! Dick Cheney is a man who loves this nation so much that he has given much of his life to Her.


76 posted on 12/07/2008 7:51:26 PM PST by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
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To: RummyChick

Does this mean Obama was born in Hawaii?

“Yes,” said Hawaii Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo, in both email and telephone interviews with the Tribune. “That’s what Dr. Fukino is saying.”


I don’t believe it. If it means he was born in Hawaii, why didn’t Dr. Fukino say that? That is Not what Dr. Fukino said. I doubt I will believe an actual Obama birth certificate now if he produces one after his current visit to Hawaii.

It would be too easy for someone like Obama, with huge monetary resources, to have a fraudulent birth certificate forged. But this time, I am sure, he will do a better job than he did with the so-called certificate of live birth.


77 posted on 12/07/2008 7:52:27 PM PST by FFranco
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To: FFranco
The provision requiring the mother to have spent 5 years in the US after age 14 (i.e., the provision requiring the mother to be at least 19 years old) in order to pass on citizenship applies only if Obama was born outside of the country. If Obama was born in Hawaii (as I believe he was), then he was most certainly a citizen at birth.

Whether his father's British citizenship precludes Obama from being a "natural born citizen" is a different question (I believe it does not - it seems unlikely that the framers of the Constitution would want one's eligibility for the presidency to depend, in any way, on a foreign country's law). I'm just pointing out that Obama's mother's age has nothing to do with his citizenship if he was born in the US.

78 posted on 12/07/2008 7:54:16 PM PST by Conscience of a Conservative
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To: Red Steel

IIRC Berg has now added an affidavit from the DR who delivered him, in Mombasa, Kenya.....Haven’t confirmed it myself. If you find confirmation please let me know.


79 posted on 12/07/2008 8:01:32 PM PST by hoosiermama (Berg is a liberal democrat. Keyes is a conservative. Obama is bringing us together already!)
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To: Red Steel
"There is less of a sense that we all have a common set of facts we can agree on. There's a polarization and we can't even agree on the basic factual assumptions to have a debate."

This is because of the leftward tilt of the media. We can't trust them, because they wouldn't have reported this mess if it weren't for the Internet. It will be interesting to see if Fox does anything on this story tomorrow.
80 posted on 12/07/2008 8:08:08 PM PST by malkee
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