TRO Denied; Obama Can Still Run -- For Now

Lowering the Bar. Legal Humor. Seriously. ^ | August 26, 2008 | Kevin Underhill

[Kevmo]

TRO Denied; Obama Can Still Run -- For Now

The Obama campaign is probably breathing a sigh of relief now that the motion for temporary restraining order sought by Philip J. Berg, Esquire, has been denied. Berg, who says he is a Democrat (and presumably a Clinton supporter), filed a lawsuit last Thursday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Obama, the DNC and the FEC, claiming that Obama can't be president because he isn't a "natural born Citizen," as required by Article II, Section I of the Constitution. Berg also immediately sought a TRO to "put a stop to Defendant Obama's fraudulent campaign scheme."

Berg is a Pennsylvania attorney who is acting pro se. While the skepticism that usually attaches to pro se plaintiffs may not be justified, generally speaking -- except that it is -- Berg did not help his credibility by referring to himself under "Parties" as "Plaintiff, Plaintiff, Philip J. Berg, Esquire [hereinafter "Plaintiff"] . . . ."

First, it is usually possible to figure out who the plaintiff is in a lawsuit without that kind of bracketed help, especially when he has called himself that twice already in the same sentence. Second, Plaintiff Plaintiff Berg, you're suing a presidential candidate on the eve of the nominating convention and you couldn't take a second to proofread the sentence with your own name in it? Please.

Obama -- or, as Berg calls him, "Defendant Barack Hussein Obama, a/k/a Barry Soetoro, a/k/a Barry Obama, a/k/a Barack Dunham, a/k/a Barry Dunham [hereinafter 'Obama']," is running for president. But he can't be president, according to Berg, who charges that Obama is not a "natural born citizen" because, "just to name one of the problems," he "lost his U.S. citizenship when his mother married an Indonesian citizen" and the family moved there. Just to name two of the problems with that argument, (1) it concedes that Obama had U.S. citizenship to lose, and (2) you don't lose citizenship just because your mom marries a non-citizen, even if you move. Berg did not cite any support for this point, though he did set it forth in bold underlining, which is almost as good.

For the most part, Berg just raises "questions" about Obama's birthplace (Berg claims it was Kenya) and citizenship, and then charges that Obama "has refused to prove" he is qualified to run. The complaint concedes that Obama has posted a birth certificate on his website, but, Berg says, "as posted all over the internet," that is a forgery. And as we should all know by now, anything posted all over the internet must be true.

The complaint includes three counts: (1) violation of Article II, Section I of the Constitution; (2) "dual citizenship," and (3) fraud. Berg concludes, "For the above aforementioned reasons, Obama needs to immediately step down and withdrawal his candidacy for Presidency."

What is especially amusing about all this is that, as Berg may or may not know, the other guy in the race has the same problem, if it is a problem. John McCain was not born in the U.S. -- he was born in the Canal Zone. There is no question that he is a U.S. citizen. But Article II doesn't say "citizen" -- it says "natural born Citizen." And, it seems, nobody really knows for sure what that means. Barry Goldwater had the same problem (he was born in the Arizona Territory), as did Mitt Romney's dad, George, who was born in Mexico. They weren't disqualified from running, despite the legal uncertainty about the term. George Romney's opponent apparently did insist on calling him "Jorge," but that's the worst that has happened so far.

Obama's "campaign scheme" can go forward, at least for now, because the motion was denied after a hearing on Friday. Sadly, a transcript of that hearing does not yet seem to be available, but the pleadings (downloaded from the court via PACER) are posted below.

Link: iReport.com (Flash required) Link: Complaint in Berg v. Obama (PDF) Link: Motion for TRO in Berg v. Obama (PDF) Link: Order Denying TRO in Berg v. Obama (PDF)

August 25, 2008 in Constitutional Law, Elections & Voting, Fool for a Client | Permalink

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[kabar]

There is no evidence just assertion.

[Candor7]

More assertions but no proof.>>>>>>>>>>>

I can see that you have very little schematic investigative experience.

You and we are not judges nor arbiters. This is not a venue in which there is proof adduced. In large part we discuss, seek sources and set social context, and marshal facts. We cannot fabricate but we can perceive fabrication, very easily once the basic schema is surmised. And we certainly have that now.

Obama has not produced a valid, unimpeachable certificate of birth. John Kerry also did not release his service records to the public to prove the truth of his own statements. That lost the election for Kerry.

Now we have a parallel situation developing.

I say to you that the social context in Hawaii was such that the acquisition of forged documents was easily done, post WWII. I have, with 10 minutes research , exposed to you the rudiments of that culture and the way authorities have been trying to combat it.

And you want adjudication?

Well bully for you!

The adjudication will happen on Nov. 6th, just like it did with Mr. John ( Commie Hero) Kerry.

And all Obama has to do to aid and defend his cause is publicly release his valid, unredacted COLB just as John ( Nothing to Hide) McCain has done.

But Obama cannot. He is still trying to fabricate something that will pass muster. In the alternative he has a back channel campaign going of dissimilitude, of invoked incredulity, which the MSM emulates and of which you seem to be a part. Well, no one here on FR is biting.

I say to Mr. Obama.PUBLISH YOUR COMPLETE UNREDACTED COLB, With the serial number.

(BTW, we will get it sooner or later, only a matter of time.)

Similarly , as we speak here, the Obama Campaign demonstrates to silence his critics in Chicago on Bill ( The Bomber) Ayer's Video ad. If the facts adduced in the video advert. are untrue, why doesn't Obama start a libel and slander suit, and have the video ordered off air by a court of law?

Because the facts are true, And no court will move to do it, and a court would ultimately find the facts to be true.

Obama and his campaign conduct themselves in a manner congruent with the very Liberal Fascism that Jonah Goldberg has revealed in his book, "Liberal Fascism".

Obama is going down the same road Kerry did. That means he is going down period. Thank you Howard Dean, Thank you Thank you. Thank goodness Howie, that you pushed Hillery Out.

Now the Republican machine is going to tear Obama apart. And Obama has earned it, Remember Kenya!

Remember the genocide Obama helped create with his neo-colonial US Black Power politics in Kenyan tribal society. The dead, many of them innocent women and children burned in a Christian church because of their ethnicity, watch with vengeful glee at Obama's political destruction. So do the living. I among them.

The good guys are gonna win, THIS TIME!Not the fascist dogs in whose circles Obama finds his "Hope & Change."

[Citizen Blade]

Right. If Obama was born in the USA and his parents are not citizens, he has to declare by the age of 18 which citizenship he takes.

Um no. Someone born in the US (other than the kids of diplomats) doesn't have to declare anything with regard to citizenship. His citizenship status is automatic.

He declared Indonesian citizenship by using an Indonesian passport after reaching his 18th birthday.

Dual citizenship is legal under American law and is no bar for running for the Presidency. My kids will be dual American and Canadian natural-born citizens from birth (this would be the case even if they were born in Kenya).

Obama is not a US citizen. He took the citizenship from his adoptive father, and acted on that.

Are you serious?

[Citizen Blade]

You can lose US citizenship a number of ways, even if you have it as a natural born citizen.

One of those ways is to vote in a foreign election.

No, this is not the case. I just voted in Canada's election a couple of years ago, and that in no way jeapordized my status as an American citizen.

Losing American Citizenship

[SatinDoll]

Obama is the perfect maoist-style candidate, introducing communism the same a frog is cooked, by slowly raising the temperature until it is done. He espouses the style of politics Bill Ayers has written and spoken about.

The Obama-Ayers Connection goes way, way, back. In fact, Ayers earned his PhD at Columibia University in the 1980’s, Obama’s own Alma Mater. And gosh, he was there in the 1980’s, too!

See the following link which goes to Global Labor & Politics. The column is dated April 22, 2008, and written by a Ralph Nader supporter.

It is called, “Who “sent” Obama?”, and chock full of interesting facts.

http://globallabor.blogspot.com/2008/04/who-sent-obama.html

[Cacique]

btt

[Kevmo]

There is no evidence just assertion.
***Then the lawsuit would have been thrown out as trivial. So there IS evidence. You want proof. Fine, just ask Obama for a copy of his birth certificate so we can examine it. In the meantime, get lost, clymer.

[kabar]

If anyone is a clymer, it is you.

[Kevmo]

Glad to see you didn’t dispute that there’s factual evidence behind the lawsuit. Now, if you want to go on ahead and continue on with your work carrying water for Obama, that’s your business. But freepers don’t brook fools and trolls kindly, so you’re in for a rough ride.

[kabar]

LOL. Judicial Watch files lawsuits all of the time and nothing comes from most of them. There is no factual evidence behind the Berg lawsuit, otherwise there would be no need for a lawsuit. The only item up for dispute [by some] is whether Obama is a natural born citizen or not. He is clearly a citizen.

[Kevmo]

There is no factual evidence behind the Berg lawsuit, otherwise there would be no need for a lawsuit.
***That’s a very asinine statement. Thanks.

The only item up for dispute [by some] is whether Obama is a natural born citizen or not.
***Then knock off that bull shiite about Obama having a passport, idiot. As you plainly state, the issue isn’t his citizenship, it’s whether he’s natural born.

[Citizen Blade]

Then the lawsuit would have been thrown out as trivial. So there IS evidence. You want proof. Fine, just ask Obama for a copy of his birth certificate so we can examine it. In the meantime, get lost, clymer.

A judge isn't going to do that at the TRO stage. But, as soon as Obama's lawyers get served notice and file a few motions, this case is getting thrown out.

I'm glad the guy who filed suit is a Hillary supporter, because it would be embarassing if this guy was a Republican.

[Kevmo]

I’m hoping republicans file lawsuits in all 50 states, but that would require the republican party to have a pair of cojones.

All of this brouhaha would have been gone long ago if Obama had produced a paper copy of his BC for examiners. The moment the lawsuit was filed, real damage has started being done to his campaign and if he had a legitimate copy he would have produced it, just like McCain has done. It’s all downside for Obama on this issue from this point. So even if you’re embarrassed about republicans involved in this effort, it’s not in your best interest to hamper their efforts. The swift boat veterans did enough damage to cost JFKerry the election, and we are causing the same magnitude of damage, right here and right now.

[x]

I do not believe Obama had a valid CLB from Hawaii, simply because he travelled abroad on an Indonesian passport after attaining the age of majority. If he had a valid CLB, it would have been a lot easier to obtain a US passport. Do you know how expensive and difficult it is to get an Indonesian passport when not physically resident in Indonesia, applying from the USA to Indonesia or at an Indonesian consulate? Indonesia would ask for a CLB from Indonesia. They likely got one too.

There are people with two passports who use the non-US one to travel to places where anti-American feeling is strong. That may have been true of Pakistan in 1981.

If Obama used an Indonesian passport it doesn't necessarily mean he didn't have or couldn't get a US one. But do we know as a fact that he did use an Indonesian passport or is it just a surmise that he must have?

If Obama was an Indonesian citizen it's unlikely he still is, since he would have had to register with the Indonesian government periodically and hasn't. More here.

[Candor7]

Are you serious? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yes, we still have no proof that Obama is a US citizen, WHat we have is a document that has a redacted serial number. No court would ever accept that document in evidence as proof of birth. Why should we?

Give us the serial number and stop jacking around Obama! LOL.

John McCain didn't have anything redacted on his COLB.

[Candor7]

There are people with two passports who use the non-US one to travel to places where anti-American feeling is strong. That may have been true of Pakistan in 1981. >>>>>>>>> No it wasn't. Pakistan was a US ally against the Russians in the war in Afghanistan at the time. Pakistan was a base from which the US conducted covert Ops to supply the Mahujadeen.There was no problem.

Obama did not have any other passport likley. But we can easily find that out ? Not. Ask the State Department. The assumption should be that he did not have a US passport, nor the supporting documentation for one.

[Polarik]

Here's a Rule of Thumb regarding credibility:

Anyone who claims to be an "expert" on some subject, but resorts to slurs, name-calling, condescending remarks, ad hominem arguments, and defamation of character solely to prop himself up while denigrating another, has zero credibility regardless of whatever his resume says. I am, of course, talking about "Neal Krawetz," whose chronological resume below would make him about 101 years old. Now, if these job tasks were done concurrently, then when did he have time to eat and sleep?

As you will see, his resume seems to be a tad padded before he posted it to his blog, ne website, and the bulk of which consists of high-sounding imagery and very flowery titles with precious little of it to be found on Google.

Basically, Krawetz field of study is in computer security, not in image analysis, and his modus operandi is to baffle others with baloney.

Nowhere will you find ANY specific or related experience in "analyzing computer-generated images" beyond the possibility of an embedded virus in a JPG."

Like the time he said that he used Principle Components analysis (PCA) on the image. Since I have a Masters in Statistics, I called his bluff by asking him to tell me the values of all of the key output measures. No response.

------------------------------------------------

Here's his resume [with my comments in brackets]:

The company, Hacker Factor, was established in 2002 by Dr. Neal Krawetz.

Neal Krawetz holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University and a Bachelors degree in Computer and Information Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Dr. Neal Krawetz operates Hacker Factor Solutions (www.hackerfactor.com) and specializes in non-classical computer forensics [for which I found five references, all to him] online profiling, and computer security. His research into anti-anonymity technologies [also sparsely referenced on Google] combines fields as vast as ergonomics and child development to artificial intelligence and theoretical biophysics. He is the author of Introduction to Network Security (Charles River Media, 2006) and Hacking Ubuntu (Wiley, 2007). His work experience spans small startup companies, academic and university environments, and large Fortune-100 corporations.[Very impressive, but no image analysis here]

* Computer Security (20+ years). Auditing systems and software for potential exploits, evaluating and assessing risk potentials, developing security-oriented solutions, tracing remote intruders, tracking undesirable email (Spam) sources, and training non-security-oriented software engineers. This work includes computer forensics and profiling.[Didn't he already say all of this above? Also there's no image analysis here either.]

* Software Development (25+ years). Custom software architecture, design, and development. Previous projects include large-scale e-commerce servers, web robots, VPN solutions, automated cryptanalysis tools, radio harmonic analysis, and billing systems.[Still sounds like a rehash of the same stuff above. No image analysis here]

* Computer Networking (15+ years). Recommending and implementing network solutions. Previous projects include numerous network-based software applications, network administration, integration, debugging and troubleshooting, designing solutions for network services and hosting, and physically wiring facilities for network access.[Deja vu? No image analysis here, either]

* Operating Systems (20+ years). In-depth knowledge covering a variety of operating systems including Unix, Linux, Windows, Macintosh, and other systems. Previous projects include software development, cross-system porting, and system administration. [Still no image analysis experience]

Yet, to hear him pontificate about my image analysis skills in a blog post called, "Bad Science: How Not To Do Image Analysis," you'd think that he invented it. That is, until he drags in the slurs, name-calling, condescending remarks, ad hominem arguments, and defamation of character solely to prop himself up while denigrating mine.

You can read this stuff on his Blog post, "Birth of a Conspiracy,"

http://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/202-The-Birth-of-a-Conspiracy.html

[Kevmo]

Good post. The only thing I can see that directly relates the good doctor to image analysis is the phrase, “specializes in non-classical computer forensics”. I’ve met a few PhD’s who abusively lord it over others when in reality their PhD was a specialty in an unrelated area and they had no basis for being so dismissive. Keep up the good work.

One of the strong points of your current argument is that no one can produce these “scanning artifacts” that seem so critical to their case. Perhaps you could introduce what that might actually look like on a BC scan. Visuals always work better than words.

[kabar]

Obama is filing a lawsuit against an organization producing an ad he doesn't like. Kerry filed lawsuits against the SBVFT. Just because someone files a lawsuit doesn't mean that the lawsuit is based on fact or is prima facie evidence of the charges, dummy.

The burden of proof is on those who are trying to prove he is not. He holds a US passport. How did he get it? Do you honestly believe he is a naturalized citizen? How do you account for the contemperaneous birth announcement in a local paper? I think you need a tin foil hat.

[Dajjal]

Thanks for the history lesson on Techdude.