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Original Message
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From:
www.givemeliberty.org
November 12, 2008
Second Update: Open Letter to Mr. Obama
See The Evidence
In our two prior articles we discussed our intention to publish a full-page open letter to President-Elect Obama in USA TODAY. In effect, the open letter would be a Petition for Redress of a violation of the natural born citizen clause of the Constitution (Article II, Section 1).
The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees a citizen’s Right to Petition officials of the Government for Redress (i.e., for a Remedy) of alleged violations of the Constitution. Inherent in the Right to Redress is the citizen’s Right to a response.
We are in the process of raising $90,000 to pay for the publication of the Open Letter and a room at the National Press Club to publicly discuss any response by Mr. Obama.
Time is of the essence. We would like to publish the open letter next week and hold the press conference at the National Press club one week later, in advance of the dates when the Electoral College’s state electors are certified cast their votes. If Mr. Obama is not able to prove his eligibility, the electors will have to cast their votes for someone else for it would be treason to the Constitution to cast their votes for a usurper.
The purpose of this update is twofold: (1) to provide the updated total of the funds received to date; and (2), to review some of the evidence.
FUNDS
Thus far, we have received $13,961.54 to pay for the open letter. CLICK HERE to make your secure, (tax deductible) donation to the WTP Foundation.
EVIDENCE
Despite the assurances of the Obama campaign, the dominant media and Internet commentators, significant unresolved questions still exist regarding Mr. Obama’s ability to meet the explicit requirements of the U.S. Constitution to hold the office of President as a natural born citizen who has not relinquished his American citizenship.
Official government documents, statements by officials, affidavits, credible legal pleadings and statements by Mr. Obama’s globally dispersed family members give rise to these questions.
Unfortunately, Mr. Obama has remained virtually silent against these allegations, refusing to produce his original (vault), certified, birth certificate as well as other legal documents that are normally readily available, which would quickly resolve the eligibility issue.
In fact, the only document provided by Mr. Obama thus far is a 2007 computer-generated Certification of Live Birth, (“COLB”), generated by officials of the state of Hawaii, purportedly at the direction of the Governor and two U.S. Senators.
This “short-form” document is NOT the same as the original vault copy (i.e., “Certificate of Live Birth”) as it does not bear a sworn certification of an attendant (physician) or contain other vital birth information such as hospital location, mother’s age, etc. The sample vault copy shown here is a copy of a legal “Certificate of Live Birth” obtained at the request of a person born in Hawaii in 1963.
Given the statement of facts included in Mr. Berg’s lawsuit and additional evidence summarized herein, Mr. Obama’s continued failure to squarely address this festering issue suggests he is hiding something regarding the true nature of his citizenship. Absent a rebuttal by Mr. Obama, we believe a reasonable jury would conclude, after reviewing all the evidence, that Mr. Obama does not meet the eligibility requirements.
Although the Internet is awash in unsubstantiated assertions and bits and pieces of evidence, we have chosen to focus on several of the most clearly articulated items of evidence.
The Berg Lawsuit
In August 2008, Pennsylvania attorney Phillip Berg filed a lawsuit seeking to enjoin Barack Obama from running for President unless he produced certain legal documentation establishing his status as a “natural born” citizen. Here is Berg’s initial complaint.
What follows is a brief overview of some of the lawsuit’s allegations followed by links to the currently available evidence.
a. Mr. Obama’s father was a citizen of Kenya, Obama’s mother was a U.S. Citizen. They met while both were attending the University of Hawaii. There is apparently no question regarding these facts.
b. Mr. Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii -- Citing Obama family sources, Berg claims that Obama’s mother, while residing in Kenya, was not allowed by Kenyan authorities (because of her late-stage pregnancy) to fly back to the U.S. before she gave birth to Obama in Kenya.
c. Mr. Obama is a citizen of Kenya, not the U.S. – Citing U.S. law in effect in 1961, Mr. Berg argues Obama could not possess U.S. citizenship because Obama’s mother, although a U.S. citizen, was only 18 years old. U.S. immigration law in 1961 explicitly denied U.S. citizenship at birth to children of mixed national parentage, unless the U.S. citizen parent (in this case Obama’s mother) had resided in the U.S. for 10 years, 5 of those required to be after attaining the age of 14. Because Obama’s mother was not yet 19, according to Berg, Obama was either a citizen of Kenya, or in the alternative, became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Either way, Berg argues Obama is not eligible to hold the office of President because he would not be a natural born citizen.
(See e.g., Findlaw immigration overview)
NOTE: Attorney Leo C. Donofrio, in his recent brief to the Supreme Court of the United States makes an additional persuasive argument that Mr. Obama fails the eligibility test based on the historical context, purpose and original intent of Constitution’s the natural born citizen clause. After clicking on the following link, click here to read Mr. Donofrio’s arguments to the Supreme Court.
d. Obama became a citizen of Indonesia – Following Mr. Obama’s mother’s divorce from Barack Obama (senior), she married Lolo Soetoro, a student at the University of Hawaii and a citizen of Indonesia. In 1967 she moved to Indonesia with Obama. She became a naturalized citizen of Indonesia, relinquishing her American citizenship. At the time, Indonesian law prohibited dual citizenships and American law disallowed dual citizenships if the other country did not allow dual citizenships. At this time, even if Obama was Registered as a “natural born” citizen (which he apparently he was not qualify to be registered as), he would have lost his U.S. Citizenship when his mother married Lolo Soetoro (who apparently adopted Barack Obama giving him the name of Barry Soetoro) and took up residency in Indonesia as a naturalized Indonesian citizen. Berg argues that at the time, Indonesia did not allow dual citizenships, and U.S. law did not allow dual citizenships if the other country did not allow it.
FightTheSmears.com
In 2007, Mr. Obama released a scanned graphic copy of a computer-generated Certification of Live Berth (“COLB”) via this campaign website, (www.fightthesmears.com).
After numerous individuals began to question the authenticity of the document supplied by Obama, a “respected” political watchdog organization, FactCheck.org initiated an “independent” analysis of Obama’s COLB, which included physical examination of the document and photographs of the document. The organization concluded the document is authentic and that, as indicated on the certificate, Obama was therefore born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
FactCheck.org apparently did not check the meaning of the content of the authentic, COLB. For instance, FactCheck.org did not determine if the authentic, Hawaiian issued, computer-generated, Certification of Live Birth was generated from a State database that included births that were registered in Hawaii after occurring in foreign countries. According to Berg, it was not uncommon for people living in Hawaii to give birth in foreign countries and then register the birth in Hawaii.
Surprisingly, FactCheck.org apparently did not ask Mr. Obama to obtain a copy of the official vault copy of his birth certificate.
NOTE: Obama’s Hawaiian “Certification of Live Birth,” reviewed by FactCheck, was created in 2007. This raises an additional question as to what documentation Obama used to establish his citizenship to run for Illinois state Senator or U.S. Senator in 2006.
Beside its apparent failure to investigate the proper document, an apparent conflict of interest exists regarding FactCheck’s analysis. FactCheck.org is an arm of the powerful Annenberg Foundation which also runs the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, the entity which employed Barack Obama as its chairman of the board. According to the National Review, the Annenberg Challenge was founded by former “Weather Underground” terrorist Bill Ayers, who apparently played a pivotal role in politically positioning Obama to run for public office. See this National Review article detailing Obama’s relationship to Annenberg and Ayers and its unsuccessful efforts to review the archives of the Annenberg Challenge.
Statements By Hawaiian Public Officials on the Record
On October 31, undoubtedly in reaction to the growing number of lawsuits surrounding the issue of Obama’s eligibility, Chiyome Fukino, director of Hawaii’s Department of Health, issued a public statement regarding her office’s inspection of Obama’s birth certificate. In her brief press release she stated:
“There have been numerous requests for Sen. Barack Hussein Obama’s official birth certificate. State law (Hawai‘i Revised Statutes §338-18) prohibits the release of a certified birth certificate to persons who do not have a tangible interest in the vital record.
“Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai‘i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawaii State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures.
“No state official, including Governor Linda Lingle, has ever instructed that this vital record be handled in a manner different from any other vital record in the possession of the State of Hawaii.”
Unfortunately, numerous media and Internet outlets (see e.g., here, here) erroneously concluded this pronouncement settled the matter. In fact, the official Hawaii release raises additional doubts about Obama’s citizenship status and, thus, his eligibility.
At no point in the release does the Director of Health state or claim that Obama was actually born in Hawaii. She merely states she has personally inspected the original document in their possession and that it is being stored according to state regulations.
This omission speaks volumes, strongly suggesting that either something may not be right with the official documentation produced by the Hawaii Department of Health or that the 2007 documentation proffered by Senator Obama may in fact be fraudulent.
Compounding the problem was the subsequent statement of Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo (see Chicago Tribune, 10-31-08). Citing Hawaii state privacy laws, and guidance from the state attorney general, she said she, “was not permitted to confirm the authenticity of the certificate released by the Obama campaign.” She also said Obama’s computer-generated COLB “appeared similar to other Hawaii birth certificates.”
In sum, the statement by the Health Department spokesman Okubo does not speak to the substance or veracity of the Obama computer-generated document, only that its “form” appears similar. Nor does she address the issue of the meaning of the content of the document, and whether there is an actual long-form Certificate of Live Birth in the vault.
Indonesian School records
Mr. Berg submitted photographic evidence to the Court indicating Obama, known then as “Barry Soetoro,” was enrolled by his parents (at approximately age 6) at the public Fransiskus Assisi School in Jakarta, Indonesia. This suggests he was adopted by his step-father.
In the school document (which is also translated into English), Obama’s birth place is indicated as Honolulu, but his citizenship is indicated as Indonesian. As a minor, Mr. Obama’s citizenship went with the custodial parent, who, under Indonesian law had to be the father.
Obama's name is given as “Barry Soetoro.” In a citizenship related PolitFact/St. Petersburg Times article, they provide a document they obtained from the Illinois Supreme Court’s Attorney Registration & Discipline Commission (ARDC) apparently indicating that the official records make no mention of any prior name except “Barack Hussein Obama.”
The Sworn Affidavits
Evidence recently made available to an Internet news site (www.newswithviews.com) from the office of attorney Phil Berg, includes two (partially photographic) sworn affidavits containing important first-hand knowledge regarding Barack Obama, including testimony of a direct, in-person interview of Obama’s Kenyan grandmother in which she asserts she was present at Obama’s birth in Kenya.
Read the sworn affidavits of Bishop Ron McRae and Kweli Shuhubia (includes a partial transcript of the grandmother’s interview)
CONCLUSION
Given the relative strength of the evidence and the public interest in the issue, Mr. Obama is obligated to respond to any citizen’s Petition for Redress of the apparent violation of the Constitution’s natural born citizenship clause.
We the People demand and deserve nothing less.
Click here to read the draft full-page USA TODAY Letter to Obama.
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