StatCounter

Thursday 16 July 2009

Is Barack Obama eligible to be President (further update)

Further to many posts, the last being this one, I now read that a Major Stefan Frederick Cook has had his military orders to serve in Afghanistan revoked "after arguing he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his eligibility for office."

Do read the whole story as it brings up once again the fact that there are many questions surrounding Barack Obama's past. The key question over his birth seems to be why Barack Obama has never released the standard "long-form" birth certificate that would show which hospital he was born in. Why has Barack Obama and his team spent so much time and money preventing the production of the "long-form" birth certificate – which includes information such as the name of the birth hospital and attending physician and instead producing the "Certification of Live Birth" which is touted as "Obama's birth certificate" although it does not prove he was born in Hawaii, since the same "short-form" document is easily obtainable for children not born in Hawaii.

As WND says:
"Oddly, though congressional hearings were held to determine whether Sen. John McCain was constitutionally eligible to be president as a "natural born citizen," no controlling legal authority ever sought to verify Obama's claim to a Hawaiian birth."



Of course the birth certificate is not the only document pertaining to Barack Obama's past that has not been released. WND also record that also missing are the following:
Obama kindergarten records showing his birth certificate produced to allow him to be schooled have not been produced.


Punahou School records showing how his fees were paid have not been produced.


Occidental College records showing how his fees were paid and if his were paid via financial aid for foreign students have not been produced.


Columbia University records -
"Fox News made contact with 400 of Obama's classmates. No one remembered him." "The Obama campaign has refused to release his college transcript, despite an academic career that led him to Harvard Law School and, later, to a lecturing position at the University of Chicago," the Sun reported in September 2008. "The shroud surrounding his experience at Columbia contrasts with that of other major party nominees since 2000, all whom have eventually released information about their college performance or seen it leaked to the public."

The story gets murkier here as "According to the New York Sun, a program from Columbia's 1983 commencement ceremony lists Obama as a graduate. University spokesman Brian Connolly confirmed that Obama graduated with a major in political science but without honors. Nonetheless, he was later admitted to Harvard Law School."




Columbia thesis "Soviet Nuclear Disarmament" - Before applying to Harvard, Obama is said to have written a major thesis in his senior year. It has not been released.


Harvard Law School records -
"WND columnist Jack Cashill wrote, "If Obama's LSAT scores merited admission (to Harvard), we would know about them. We don't. The Obama camp guards those scores, like his SAT scores, more tightly that Iran does its nuclear secrets."

He continued, "We know enough about Obama's Columbia grades to know how far they fall below the Harvard norm, likely even below the affirmative action-adjusted black norm at Harvard."

Cashill wrote, Khalid al-Mansour, principle adviser to Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, lobbied friends like Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton to intervene at Harvard on Obama's behalf. Al-Mansour reportedly mentored founders of the Black Panther party in the early 1960s.

Cashill suggests Obama's "shyness" about his Harvard experience may stem from his reluctance to broadcast his connections."



Harvard Law Review articles -
"In 1990, Obama beat out 18 other contenders to become the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, where he spent at least 50 hours a week editing submissions from judges, scholars and authors." but "A search of the HeinOnline database of law journals turns up exactly nothing credited to Obama in any law review anywhere at any time."



University of Chicago scholarly articles -
"Obama lectured at the University of Chicago Law School, a top school where the faculty is known for voluminous scholarly publishing, from 1992 until 2004.

The university offered Obama a full-time tenure-track position, an honor typically reserved for published instructors. However, reporters have been unable to find scholarly articles authored by him. The university reports that Obama declined the tenure offer."



Passport -
"According to March 2008 reports, State Department employees conducted an unauthorized search of Obama's passport files during the recent presidential campaign. CNN reported that three different contract workers accessed his information on separate occasions – Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14 – without authorization. Two workers were fired and another faced discipline.

Obama's files reportedly contained copies of passport applications, birth date, basic biographical information, records of passport renewal and possibly citizenship information.

The Obama campaign demanded a thorough investigation to determine which employees looked at the file and why.

"This is an outrageous breach of security and privacy, even from an administration that has shown little regard for either over the last eight years," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton told CNN in a statement. "Our government's duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes."

Meanwhile, a key witness who had been cooperating with federal investigators was later found fatally shot in front of a Washington, D.C., church. A police officer found the body of Lt. Quarles Harris Jr., 24, slumped dead inside his car.

At the time, investigators said they didn't have any information connecting the murder to the passport case. After one year of investigation of the homicide, there have been no arrests.

The passport has not been released."

Now that, if true, is fascinating.



Medical records -
"During his first presidential campaign in 1999, Sen. John McCain released 1,500 pages of medical and psychiatric records collected by the Navy. In 2008, McCain allowed reporters to spend three hours sifting through 1,200 pages of health records.


In 1999, former Vice President Al Gore released medical records revealing "mildly elevated" cholesterol levels and removal of a common form of skin cancer from his forehead in 1997. The documents disclosed his weight, resting heart rate, resting blood pressure, cardiovascular fitness and a variety of other health details. Gore's records were compiled after a complete physical examination by several military physicians.

Likewise, President George W. Bush allowed the media to view about 400 pages of personal medical information in 2000 and 2004.

After initial reluctance, Sen. John Kerry allowed the Navy to release his full medical records in 2004.

While not all have done so, it has been common practice for presidential candidates to release medical records.

However, Barack Obama, a relatively young candidate who was said to have been in "excellent health," refused to release medical records. Instead, he simply provided a six-paragraph note from his physician briefly summarizing 21 years of doctor visits and health information.

The letter contained no supporting documentation."



Other documents -
"According to additional records listed at the Obama File Report, other documents that remain unreleased include:

* Complete files and schedules of his years as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004

* Obama's client list from during his time in private practice with the Chicago law firm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill and Gallard

* Illinois State Bar Association records

* Baptism records

* Obama/Dunham marriage license

* Obama/Dunham divorce documents

* Soetoro/Dunham marriage license

* Adoption records"



And that takes us back to the "Birth certificate" -
"WND has been reporting since before the election on questions – and lawsuits – raised over Obama's birth and eligibility. He reported in his book he was born in Hawaii and his half-sister agrees. But the woman the president says is his paternal grandmother, Sarah Obama, claimed to have been present at her grandson's birth in Mombasa, Kenya.

The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, "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.""



Do read the whole WND piece and ask yourselves this question - Why has Barack Obama not released his long form birth certificate and why is so much else of his past hidden from public view, what has he got to hide?.


Then take a look at this video of WND White House correspondent Les Kinsolving asking Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, why the president wouldn't release his "long form" birth certificate and not getting a straight answer, but getting the derision of the room, why?


You might then wonder why as WND also reports:
"The Hawaiian certification of live birth Barack Obama posted on his campaign website and distributed to select news organizations as proof he was a "natural born citizen" would not be accepted as a "birth certificate" even for some Hawaiian state government eligibility issues,"



All very interesting?

8 comments:

smrstrauss said...

Re: Major Cook. Apparently he volunteered to go to Afghanistan in MAY. (Obama was president in May, you recall.)

And then decided to file this lawsuit. Or maybe he decided to file the lawsuit even before he volunteered to go to Afghanistan. if I were his army superiors, I'd be real pissed at this guy who volunteers to do a job and then cannot be counted on. Perhaps there were even plans that counted on this major to fill them.

Regarding this: 'Why has Barack Obama not released his long form birth certificate and why is so much else of his past hidden from public view, what has he got to hide?."

He cannot release his long-form birth certificate unless he has a copy of the original himself. There is a simple reason. Hawaii does not send it out. It only sends out the short-form certification of live birth. http://www.starbulletin.com/features/20090606_kokua_line.html

That being the case, unless Obama has kept a copy of the original birth certificate sent to his parents, and not lost it (and many of us do lose our birth certificates) then all that he can show is the document that Hawaii sent to him, and that was the certification of live birth.

regards
smrstrauss

Not a sheep said...

That's two points; care to comment on the others?

smrstrauss said...

Too many. But if you will select one more, I'll add a comment.

Care to comment on the two points?

Not a sheep said...

OK, here's one: Why did the Barack Obama campaign only provide "a six-paragraph note from his physician briefly summarizing 21 years of doctor visits and health information" whilst John McCain, as well as George W. Bush and John Kerry before him, released voluminous medical records?


On your two points:
1. You seem very willing to think the worst of Major Cook, could he not actually be concerned that he is being ordered into battle by someone who may not be entitled to be US President?

2. The Obama birth certificate story interests me. For what it is worth I think it more likely that he was born in Hawaii than not BUT I would like some proof and all we seem to get are weasel words and derision. If Hawaii have the original long form certificate and the Hawaii State Department of Health have said that they have seen it, then surely it would be in Barack Obama's interests to say please produce it to put an end to the speculation. It is the fierceness of the defence that raises the suspicions.

smrstrauss said...

Re: ‘OK, here's one: Why did the Barack Obama campaign only provide "a six-paragraph note from his physician briefly summarizing 21 years of doctor visits and health information" whilst John McCain, as well as George W. Bush and John Kerry before him, released voluminous medical records?

It is sad that they did not provide more. It does not affect the fact that Obama was elected president or that he is a natural born citizen. Why didn’t they provide more?

There is a classic joke about asking “can a jockey ride a horse?’ Obama, an athlete, is in magnificent shape. His health is so excellent that perhaps they thought that details were not necessary.

Still, the jerks should have provided all the details, but the election is over. Next election, you and all of us will have a change to demand more detailed health records showing that the guy who is in magnificent shape is really in magnificent shape.

Re: “1. You seem very willing to think the worst of Major Cook, could he not actually be concerned that he is being ordered into battle by someone who may not be entitled to be US President?”

Not at all. I simply point out that Major Cook volunteered to go to Afghanistan in May and then in July he took it back. It seems clear to me that he was trying to make a test case of the issue in May when he volunteered. If so, his volunteering to go to Afghanistan is hardly a noble thing to do, and a person who would volunteer simply to make a test case might well be held in some suspicion among other officers.

(to be continued)

smrstrauss said...

Re: “ 2. The Obama birth certificate story interests me. For what it is worth I think it more likely that he was born in Hawaii than not BUT I would like some proof and all we seem to get are weasel words and derision. If Hawaii have the original long form certificate and the Hawaii State Department of Health have said that they have seen it, then surely it would be in Barack Obama's interests to say please produce it to put an end to the speculation. It is the fierceness of the defence that raises the suspicions.”

Answer: We have been going over this issue for years it seems. It is true as you say that Obama was likely to have been born in Hawaii. More than that, he WAS born in Hawaii.

So why can’t he prove it? He has proved it. The birth certificate that he released, the Certification of Live Birth, is the official birth certificate of Hawaii.

To be sure, there are original birth certificates, and there is even one in Obama’s file, but the Certification of Live Birth is the birth certificate that people use to prove their birth in the USA to the State Department for passports. In other words, it is legally sufficient, and it is the ONLY birth certificate that Hawaii currently sends out. (http://www.starbulletin.com/features/20090606_kokua_line.html)

So, the logical result of this is that if Obama lost the original birth certificate sent to his parents, then the only birth certificate that he can show is the Certification of Live Birth, which is what he showed already, but the birthers claim is insufficient. It is sufficient, but they SAY it is insufficient.

Why are there still questions? There is a well-known propaganda ploy known as “the Big Lie Technique.” It works like this. Suppose I do not like Queen Elizabeth so I create a campaign to allege that George VI was not really her father. Buckingham Palace ignores the campaign, I say “why don’t they provide proof.” They issue the birth certificate showing the names of the parents. I claim that it was (1) forged, and (2) that George VI is only the parent on the document—and that there is no real proof he was the father. And I keep on like that, with supporters and minions, until some group of people think “where there is smoke there is fire” and then I say: “a rising number of people believe that Queen Elizabeth is an usurper.” And so forth.

(to be continued)

smrstrauss said...

In this case we have such things as two unknown guys (their real names were never published) who claimed that the birth certificate posted was forged. The grandmother tape, in which she can be heard saying that Obama was born in Hawaii, which was cited by birthers as “proof” that he was born in Kenya. The lack of documents in Kenya being explained as Kenya being part of the conspiracy. The presence of documents in Hawaii being explained as Hawaii (or the officials) being part of the conspiracy, and allegations about Obama losing his US citizenship in Indonesia either accidentally as a child (which is impossible) or by voluntarily giving up US citizenship as an adult (for which there is no proof, and there would have to be proof for it to be true).

Sounds like the Big Lie Technique to me.

Getting back to your point: “If Hawaii have the original long form certificate and the Hawaii State Department of Health have said that they have seen it…”

Yes they have, and a spokeswoman for the Department of Health of Hawaii has gone further and said that the presence of an original birth certificate in the file (in 1961 foreign birth certificates could not be filed in Hawaii) meant that Obama was born in Hawaii.
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/11/obama_hawaaianborn_citizen_for.html

Re: “then surely it would be in Barack Obama's interests to say please produce it to put an end to the speculation.”

Surely, but as I said above and cited the Hawaii Department of Health, all that Hawaii sends out is the certification of live birth. Thus, unless Obama has a copy of the original, all that he can show is the certification. He cannot get the original because Hawaii does not send out copies of the original anymore.

Re: “It is the fierceness of the defence that raises the suspicions.”

This is part of the Big Lie Technique. The propaganda ploy is the myth that Obama is defending cases that were brought to force him to show his birth certificate. But this is not true.

The fact is that all the lawsuits against Obama were to stop the election, to stop the certification of the election, or now, to nullify the election. As one who voted for Obama, I would expect him to fight all those cases. Moreover, I went through eight or ten of the cases, and I could not find in them ONE that asked a court to order Obama to deliver his birth certificate to the court for its inspection. The cases are simply not about the birth certificate. All of them allege that even if Obama was born in Hawaii, he would still not be eligible because his father was not a US citizen.

Isn’t there are joke about the naughty animal, who when attacked defends himself? In Obama’s situation, I would expect him to defend all the cases against him that sought to strip him of the election. For him not to defend would be letting me and his other supporters down, and it would be a stupid thing to do.

IF, however, there ever were a lawsuit that simply asked Obama to provide his birth certificate to a court, I would expect Obama to simply provide his birth certificate to the court (the legal birth certificate, the one that he has). But there has never been any such case. Moreover, if there were a case that asked a court to order Hawaii to show the original birth certificate, I would expect Obama to say “go right ahead,” because the original birth certificate must show that he was born in Hawaii. But there has never been such a case.

Why hasn’t there been such a case? Because the people who hate Obama do not really want to see the original birth certificate (which would show that they are wrong). They just want to keep claiming that Obama will not show it.

Re further Proof. In addition to the legal proof of the Hawaii certification and the logical proof that there is an original birth certificate (when Hawaii did not file foreign birth certificates), there is a witness who recalls being told of his birth in Hawaii and writing a letter about it to her father: http://www.buffalonews.com/494/story/554495.html

Regards
smrstrauss

smrstrauss said...

No comments from you?