North Country man challenges President Obama's American citizenship
(See the update at the bottom)
Bob Schulz from Queensbury -- a self-described tax protester and head of the We the People Foundation -- has taken out full page advertisements in the Chicago Tribune this week.
He's demanding that President-elect Barack Obama produce an original birth certificate to prove that he's an American citizen.
Schulz told the Glens Falls Post-Star that the ads cost "tens of thousands" of dollars. Here's the paper's treatment:
You can view the full ad here. It basically questions whether Obama is "a Natural Born Citizen of the U.S."Schulz earlier ran afoul of the federal government by distributing an informational packet detailing how to avoid federal tax withholding on paychecks.
He recently attempted to stop the bailout of Wall Street firms by suing on the grounds that the plan was unconstitutional.He has also taken on local causes, such as opposing the project to dredge the Hudson River and the ill-fated proposal to create a sewer district in Lake George.
"Are you legally eligible to hold the Office of President?"
Claims about Obama's citizenship have been thoroughly debunked -- he was born in Hawaii -- but Schulz's campaign has drawn a lot of interest.
In addition to local press coverage, he's been interviewed by Slate, Politico, and had a treatment by the Associated Press.
Here's our coverage of Mr. Schulz's battles with the IRS.
Update: "Anonymous" argues that I'm wrong to suggest that Mr. Schulz's allegations have been thoroughly debunked. (See his comment below.)
Anonymous is simply wrong. The St. Petersburg times and Politifact pursued this question tirelessly and independently.
Here's what they found:
On June 13, 2008, Obama’s campaign finally released a copy [of his birth certificate]When conspiracy theories continued to bubble up, about the document being forged, Politifact then asked more questions.
When the birth certificate arrived from the Obama campaign it confirmed his name as the other documents already showed it.
Still, we took an extra step: We e-mailed it to the Hawaii Department of Health, which maintains such records, to ask if it was real.
“It’s a valid Hawaii state birth certificate,” spokesman Janice Okubo told us.
When the official documents were questioned, we went looking for more answers.As a journalist -- and a citizen -- that's good enough for me.
We circled back to the Department of Health, had a newsroom colleague bring in her own Hawaii birth certificate to see if it looks the same (it’s identical).
But every answer triggered more questions.
And soon enough, after going to every length possible to confirm the birth certificate’s authenticity, you start asking, what is reasonable here?
Because if this document is forged, then they all are.
If this document is forged, a U.S. senator and his presidential campaign have perpetrated a vast, long-term fraud.
They have done it with conspiring officials at the Hawaii Department of Health, the Cook County (Ill.) Bureau of Vital Statistics, the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois and many other government agencies.
--Brian Mann
posted by Brian Mann @ 12/05/2008 10:30:00 AM
14 Comments
14 Comments:
"Claims about Obama's citizenship have been thoroughly debunked"
This is simply not true. He provided a document available to anyone born outside the country in the past year. Until Mr. Obama provides the real $14 document, I guess we will all just have to wonder.
There are far too many people who are either ignorant to the facts or just choose to ignore them...certainly more often it's the later as with even the smallest amount of unbiased research anyone can locate numerous accounts of this issue...some are subjective...others not. The bottom line is that you must take all of the "facts" into account not all of the left wing superfluous conjecture. This countries foundation is our Constitution and therefore it must be upheld as it is "written" not amended to meet the questionable, at best, agenda of the left wing elitist who will do anything to further their cause even at the cost of completely undermining what the framers of our Constitution intended for the betterment of this great nation.
It shouldn't come as any surprise that each Article and Amendment – each tenet – in The Charters of Freedom was painstakingly examined, debated, reviewed and, finally, included. Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution – the Article that clearly states the qualifications for holding the office of President of the United States – is no different.
To be clear, I have no decided position on whether or not President-Elect Barack Obama is a natural-born citizen or otherwise. I believe that we – as a people – need to base our understanding on any and every issue on the facts. But in the case of Mr. Obama’s status of natural-born citizenship there are too many unanswered questions and not enough transparency where the facts are concerned. For a candidate who ran his presidential campaign on the promise of transparency, Mr. Obama has proven in the earliest moments of his executive tenure that transparency is subjective.
The most troubling of the troublesome questions is why Mr. Obama didn’t immediately release his vaulted, original birth certificate for examination. This act would have not only eliminated a potential stumbling block for his campaign, but it would have certified his eligibility for the office of President of the United States and saved the taxpayers the cost of judicial intervention. Instead, under the pretext of visiting an ailing grandmother in Hawaii just days before the 2008 Presidential Election, Mr. Obama had his vaulted, original birth certificate sealed by Hawaii’s governor, Linda Lingle (R).
There are many reasons why someone running for the office of President of the United States should be a natural-born citizen but four come to mind as the most immediate: Allegiance, Sovereignty, Foreign Intervention and the Safeguarding of The Charters of Freedom.
Today, as we await the decision of the United States Supreme Court on the issue of President-Elect Obama’s requirement to satisfy Article II, Section 1, our nation stands at a crossroads that runs adjacent to the abyss. Today, there is no provision in the US Constitution for a mechanism to enforce Article II, Section 1 but for US Supreme Court action. On Friday, should the US Supreme Court abdicate its responsibility to the US Constitution, the full Charters of Freedom and the American People, we will stand smaller in the eyes of our Founders and Framers and in the eyes of all who died in pursuit of the preservation of our freedoms and liberty.
While it is true that many who have come to be naturalized American citizens exhibit a deeper love of our country than many who take citizenship for granted, one of the few ways to assure that Americanism and The Charters of Freedom survive for future generations is to stipulate that those aspiring to become President of the United States be American. When we “rationalize” that requirement to the ash heap of history we can all rest assured that our freedom and liberty will soon follow.
Tired of people who cannot read. Tired of people who misinterpret what they read. Tired of people who do not do their homework BEFORE they write an article. Tired of bad journalism. Tired of people who are dumber than toast (this is what American education has generated in the last 30 years). Tired of those who do not know their American history. Tired of the sheep who voted for “change” without having the slightest idea what that “change” was going to be. Tired of idiots who swoon at Obama’s empty, blathering speeches. Tired of those in the news who then go on to interpret the nothingness in these empty speeches (”What he was really saying…” or “What he meant to say…” or “What he seemed to say…”).
If Obama has nothing to hide, he should produce his birth certificate and college records. There is an old saying that aptly applies to this: Where there is smoke, there is fire!
Obama, your pants appear to be on fire!
The US Constitution 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”. Obama is not qualified to hold the office of the President of the US because he is NOT a natural born Citizen according to the Constitution. Whether he was born in Hawaii or not, his biological father was from Kenya, giving Obama dual citizenship (and loyalties) at birth, which, according to the framers of the Constitution, who didn't even consider themselves "natural born Citizens" (being born on US soil by two parents who were Both born on US soil). Obama is no doubt a US Citizen, even a born Citizen, but NOT a natural born Citizen, according to the US Constitution.
It is the Supreme Court's job to uphold the Laws of the US Constitution. No one can deny that Obama's father was not born on US soil and no one can deny that Obama is not 200+ years old (born at the time of the adoption of the Constitution). These facts alone disqualify Obama to hold the office of the President of the United States of America.
According to Title 28, Chapter I, Part 453 of the United States Code, each Supreme Court Justice takes the following oath:
"I, [NAME], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [TITLE] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God."
The Supreme Court is obligated, by sworn oath, to administer justice without respect to persons; and the framers of the Constitution were very clear regarding who is eligible to hold the highest office in the US. This cannot be taken lightly or ignored. If we ignore this, why follow any Constitutional Law? This is a slippery slope – disregard this law and eventually the whole Constitution will be ignored and anything goes in America. There is no compromising just to keep the masses happy.
If we do not abide by Constitutional Law, then how is our country, which has always been based on upholding, protecting and defending the Constitution at all cost, ever to survive?
Some people decide what they want to believe then hear/see only the evidence that supports their beliefs. Apparently "Anonymous is one of them.
If he/she looked at FactCheck.org and did a search on "Obama birth" Anonymous would have found that not only has the certificate been verified but Obama's birth was announced in the Honolulu Advertiser on Sunday, Aug. 13, 1961. So, if this is all a conspiracy to falsely represent Obama as a native US citizen it began less than 2 weeks after he was born and even the local newspapers participated.
Anyone could post a birth announcement in a home town newspaper in 1961. I surmise his grandparents posted the announcement. Anyone could suggest it was a "home birth" unattended by a physician and request a birth certificate. Even if the home birth occured in Kenya, the airlines in 1961 did not require tickets for newborns traveling with their mothers. The question is, Did President Elect Obama's mom get off the plane and go get a certificate of live birth on the insistance of her parents living in Hawaii? We can't ask his US grandmother because she died the day before the election. In fact Senator Obama went to see her two weeks before she died, unaccompied by the press because he suspended his campaign so the press would not be in Hawaii to dig up anything suspicious. They were all in Alaska looking for tiny specs of any dirt on Gov. Palin's clean record. The thing to ask is why would anyone spend hundreds of thousands to prove a $14 dollar certificate of live birth is real? According to reports over $800,000 has been spent by legal teams of President Elect Obama. Hmmn... no independent witnesses, A Kenyan grandmother stating her own grandchild was born in Kenya... FactCheck.org is run by supporters of this undocumented citizen. But who cares about following the constitution when they have been hypnotized and brain washed. If our top judges don't care then we are doomed to no longer be the great nation that our forefathers defended and died for. You eat an elephant one bite at a time. This my friends is the work of a great evil power that seeks to decieve, kill and destroy. The time is short. Whom will you serve?
This is laughable. Democrats and Republicans alike lawyer people off the ballot for reasons for more irrelevant than this. If there were the tiniest chance that Obama were ineligible for the presidency, I guarantee you Hillary's or McCain's people would've made a hullabaloo about a long, long time ago.
Obama has a passport. You have to show a birth certificate and other documents to legal authorities (not necessarily the gawking media or PR whores) in order to get a passport. They don't give passports to non-citizens.
My grandmother was born in Italy. Does that mean my dad (born in upstate NY) not a real US citizen?
"according to the framers of the Constitution, who didn't even consider themselves "natural born Citizens" (being born on US soil by two parents who were Both born on US soil)."
This discredits "anonymous"' argument more than any other. The main framers of the Constitution were Jefferson and Madison. If memory serves correct, they both considered themselves natural enough born citizens to run for president. And if you check the coins in your pocket, you'll notice that they both won... twice in fact.
I don't recall ever seeing Bush's or Clinton's birth certificate but I also don't recall anyone ever challenging their citizenship. But just because some busybody doesn't like the fact that Obama, like millions of other natural born American citizens, has a father who is a foreigner...
The Hawaii keeper of records says his records show that Obama was really born in Honolulu. I give him far more credibility than someone with an axe to grind who takes his cheap shots from behind the veil of total anonynimity.
I didn't vote for Obama but a majority of American voters did. Get over it!
Brian, Nobody in Hawai'i ever said that. The type of Birth Cert. Obama produced doesn't prove if you're natural born or naturalized, and unless you're running for POTUS it is fine. You can get a drivers license with it, passport, school registration, etc, but if you run for POTUS you have to be Natural Born and the way to prove that is with the actual birth cert. on file in Hawaii. You think he would be a little more interested in "transparency". Go get your own birth cert. call the county clerk in the county where you were born they should be able to direct you, see how easy it is.
As I said some people will believe what they want to believe not because of evidence but in spite of contrary evidence. Prejudice knows no bounds when it comes to defending itself.
Interestingly do you know who wasn't born in the US? John McCain. He was born in Panama. He's a US citizen by virtue of his US parents. He father was serving in the Navy in Panama at the time.
Also McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone which was at that time considered US territory, born to 2 US citizens. His father there serving in the Navy. The legality of MCains birth was questioned, he produced all the appropriate matterial (including a long form birth certificate) and cleared by congress, all the while Obama sat there silent, soon everything on Obama was sealed up tight, Why? Maybe its nothing but he has the ability to clear this up and he won't.
Here's my last word on Obama's citizenship.
Whatever you think of the man's politics, his life-experience is quintessentially American.
This isn't one of those "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" scenarios, where a culture has allowed a foreign barbarian to slip inside the gates.
Obama is a product of a dozen different strains unique to our culture, a mom from the Heartland, a foreign father, born into the Middle Class, educated at America's most prestigious university.
Which means that -- even if true or accurate, which most independent auditors dispute -- concerns about Obama's citizenship are purely legalistic.
They reflect the "literalist" or "fundamentalist" fringe of Constitutional thought, which holds that America is governed by a sort of sacred and inflexible text.
It strikes me as a peculiarly bureaucratic and niggling way of thinking about a society and its leadership.
Which leads me to a final-final thought.
I suspect that what lies at the heart of this exercise is the fact that some people really don't think Obama is very American.
They continue to reject (or at least flinch at) the markers that make him so distinctly American: his urban-ness, his mixed ethnicity, his sharp upward mobility, his unorthodox name.
That mix would be impossible in the leader of any other nation except the United States.
-- Brian Mann
Hawaii Revised Statute §338-18 Disclosure of records. (a) To protect the integrity of vital statistics records, to ensure their proper use, and to ensure the efficient and proper administration of the vital statistics system, it shall be unlawful for any person to permit inspection of, or to disclose information contained in vital statistics records, or to copy or issue a copy of all or part of any such record, except as authorized by this part or by rules adopted by the department of health.
(b) The department shall not permit inspection of public health statistics records, or issue a certified copy of any such record or part thereof, unless it is satisfied that the applicant has a direct and tangible interest in the record. The following persons shall be considered to have a direct and tangible interest in a public health statistics record:
(1) The registrant;
(2) The spouse of the registrant;
(3) A parent of the registrant;
(4) A descendant of the registrant;
(5) A person having a common ancestor with the registrant;
(6) A legal guardian of the registrant;
(7) A person or agency acting on behalf of the registrant;
(8) A personal representative of the registrant’s estate;
(9) A person whose right to inspect or obtain a certified copy of the record is established by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction;
(10) Adoptive parents who have filed a petition for adoption and who need to determine the death of one or more of the prospective adopted child’s natural or legal parents;
(11) A person who needs to determine the marital status of a former spouse in order to determine the payment of alimony;
(12) A person who needs to determine the death of a nonrelated co-owner of property purchased under a joint tenancy agreement; and
(13) A person who needs a death certificate for the determination of payments under a credit insurance policy.
(c) The department may permit the use [of] the data contained in public health statistical records for research purposes only, but no identifying use thereof shall be made.
(d) Index data consisting of name and sex of the registrant, type of vital event, and such other data as the director may authorize shall be made available to the public.
(e) The department may permit persons working on genealogy projects access to microfilm or other copies of vital records of events that occurred more than seventy-five years prior to the current year.
(f) Subject to this section, the department may direct its local agents to make a return upon filing of birth, death, and fetal death certificates with them, of certain data shown to federal, state, territorial, county, or municipal agencies. Payment by these agencies for these services may be made as the department shall direct.
(g) The department shall not issue a verification in lieu of a certified copy of any such record, or any part thereof, unless it is satisfied that the applicant requesting a verification is:
(1) A person who has a direct and tangible interest in the record but requests a verification in lieu of a certified copy;
(2) A governmental agency or organization who for a legitimate government purpose maintains and needs to update official lists of persons in the ordinary course of the agency’s or organization’s activities;
(3) A governmental, private, social, or educational agency or organization who seeks confirmation of a certified copy of any such record submitted in support of or information provided about a vital event relating to any such record and contained in an official application made in the ordinary course of the agency’s or organization’s activities by an individual seeking employment with, entrance to, or the services or products of the agency or organization;
(4) A private or government attorney who seeks to confirm information about a vital event relating to any such record which was acquired during the course of or for purposes of legal proceedings; or
(5) An individual employed, endorsed, or sponsored by a governmental, private, social, or educational agency or organization who seeks to confirm information about a vital event relating to any such record in preparation of reports or publications by the agency or organization for research or educational purposes.
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol06_Ch0321-0344/HRS0338/HRS_0338-0018.htm
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