The architect who so carefully designed the much feared Tampa Bay Buccaneer defense will grace Raymond James Stadium with his presence one last time this Sunday as the Raiders travel to Tampa to face the Bucs. Monte Kiffin will leave the Bucs after this season to join the staff at the University of Tennessee where his son Lane was recently named head coach. During his thirteen year tenure as the Buc's defensive coordinator, no other team in the NFL has allowed fewer points.
Monte will pass the torch to defensive backs coach Raheem Morris who, at 32 years of age, is younger than players Derrick Brooks and Ronde Barber. Although young and with big shoes to fill, Morris' high energy attitude will fit nicely into the Tampa defensive scheme, especially if he continues with Kiffin's legendary Tampa 2 defense.
The Bucs will honor Kiffin during half time of Sunday's game in a bittersweet ceremony. Good luck Monte, you will be sorely missed, and SEC quarterbacks and running backs, beware!
Approximately 2040 years ago, far from Florida in the small village of Bethlehem, a young, frightened teen aged girl gave birth to a baby not conceived by her husband. She had not the luxury of a beautiful birthing suite at the hospital and a kind attending physician, but through a series of unfortunate events, found herself laboring in a smelly barn. This apparent illegitimate birth proved itself the most legitimate conception in history.
This young girl carried not only the privilege but also the heavy burden and responsibility of raising no ordinary baby, but the son of God himself, a baby fully human and paradoxically, fully God. We've all failed at times raising and mentoring our offspring but imagine the weight of raising a God-child.
The mighty God and creator of all existence enveloped himself in flesh and blood and entered our reality to serve as a surrogate for the sins of all the earth so as to nail them to a cross and permanently defeat evil.
So during this holiday season, rather than dwell on your own misery and burdens, focus on others less fortunate and how you may serve them. Remember the overwhelming sacrifice made for us by our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and their families at home. God Bless all and Merry Christmas!
P.S. Keep in mind that Jesus never celebrated Christmas but observed Hanukkah so a special blessing to God's chosen people! Thanks for the greatest gift of all.
It saddened me last Wednesday to learn of the death of football legend Sammy Baugh. The 94 year old Baugh passed from the many complications associated with old age.
A three sport athlete at Texas Christian and signed to professional baseball and football contracts, Sammy played for the Washington Redskins from 1937 until 1952 as quarterback, defensive back and punter. Baugh earned the distinction of the Redskins highest paid player when he signed a 1937 contract for $8,000 per year.
Sammy led the league many years in passing, interceptions and punting and still holds several records, including most seasons leading the league in passing and most seasons with the lowest interception percentage. Baugh entered the Football Hall of Fame in 1963 as part of the original 17 man inaugural class. Arguably, the best football star ever, Sammy played during a time when men were men and not prima donnas. I feel somewhat connected to the man since I possess an old leather helmet signed by "Slinging Sammy" himself.
In heaven, I'm certain Sammy was greeted by the Minister of Defense, Reggie White, who will help him become acclimated! Thanks Sammy for what you've contributed to America's favorite sport.
Earlier today, Justice Anthony Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court denied the application for a stay pending the filing and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, filed by attorney Orly Taitz on behalf of Gail Lightfoot, the vice presidential candidate on the Ron Paul ticket. Ms. Taitz, a rare combination attorney and dentist, claimed that Barack Obama fails to qualify as President of the United States because he lacks status as a natural born citizen. Similar lawsuits filed earlier by Phillip Berg, Leo Donofrio, and Cort Wrotnowski met with the same fate. Although Justice Kennedy denied the application for a stay, Ms. Taitz still retains the option to resubmit to another justice of her choosing. Ms. Taitz also serves as co-counsel representing Alan Keyes and others in another suit challenging Obama's citizenship. That suit still awaits a hearing in California Superior Court.
For those not in the know, many question whether Barack Obama is eligible to be President under the qualifications stated in Article II of the U.S. Constitution:
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
There are several possible scenarios that put Obama in a situation where he may not qualify as "natural born".
a) Obama's mother Stanley Anne Dunham was American but his father was from Kenya which at the time was part of the British Protectorate. So at birth, young Obama was a citizen of the United States, Kenya, and Great Britain. Many legal experts feel that this caused divided loyalties preventing one from being natural born according to the intent of the original framers of the constitution.
b) Obama's parents divorced when he was two years and his mother married an Indonesian national, Lolo Soetoro. Some records indicate that Soetoro adopted Obama when the family moved to Jakarta, where he lived and attended school under the name, Barry Soetoro. Some feel that when Soetoro adopted Obama, he automatically forfeited his U.S. citizenship.
c) Others claim that Obama was born in Kenya rather than Hawaii as he contends. Much of this argument stems from a rather questionable interview conducted in Swahili of Obama's paternal grandmother. It also relies on a strange interview with a mysterious forensic expert who feels that the birth certificate that the Obama campaign posted online is a forgery.
I'm no legal expert but in my opinion the Lightfoot lawsuit, a Berg clone with elements of Donofrio thrown in, appeared hastily prepared and poorly written. Ms. Taitz managed to ram the case through the legal system blazingly fast. Hopefully she will be better prepared when the Alan Keyes suit comes to fruition.
Enjoy the two accompanying YouTube videos of Orly explaining the details of both cases. It's interesting to note that Orly Taitz, who escaped the totalitarian Soviet regime, cannot claim natural born status either.
Excitement erupted in a press conference during George Bush's surprise visit to Iraq. An Iraqi journalist, evidently unimpressed or enraged by what the President had to say, tossed not one, but two shoes directly at Bush. The smiling Bush ducked the assault as security and secret service subdued the angry Iraqi.
I already miss John McCain. He's a sincere, genuine man filled with integrity, and has a sharp, witty sense of humor. Enjoy this clip from the Late Show with David Letterman featuring McCain doing a Blagojevich imitation and also voicing his opinion of the corrupt governor.
Utilizing frantic damage control tactics, President Elect Barack Obama must now expend a tremendous amount of effort, better spent on structuring a transition, on distancing himself and staff members from the controversy surrounding Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. FBI agents pulled Blagojevich from his bed early Tuesday morning charging him with a multitude of federal corruption charges including attempts to sell the Senate seat recently vacated by Obama.
How interconnected and entangled are our new President Elect, described as the messiah by Louis Farrakhan, and the foul mouthed corrupt governor of Illinois?
Obama served as a senior advisor and one of the chief architects alongside both Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod to the successful 2002 Blagojevich campaign. Blagojevich endorsed Obama for Illinois state legislature, U.S. Senate in 2004 and for the 2008 presidential race, and Obama reciprocated during the 2002 and 2006 Illinois gubernatorial races. Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel and senior advisor, David Axelrod, played key roles in the campaign electing both Obama and Blagojevich. Additionally, Emmanuel filled the congressional seat vacated by Blagojevich when he was elected as governor. Tony Rezko served as chief fundraiser for both Blagojevich and Obama before being federally indicted for bribery.
David Axelrod began his career as a Hyde Park journalist so I'm sure it won't be long before we realize that neighborhood heavyweights Bill Ayers and Louis Farrakhan are also entangled in this capacious web. We watched as Jesse Jackson, Sr. wept during Obama's acceptance speech and then hear later that his son Jesse Jackson, Jr. attempted to buy Obama's vacant senate seat from the perfidious Blagojevich.
After observing the close connection between these devious characters, one must ask how long before the teflon candidate Obama becomes entrenched by his own trail of deceit and corruption? It appears that Obama has already exceeded the controversies surrounding Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and Bush before his own presidency has even commenced.
If tradition holds true, the lawsuit filed by Cort Wrotnowski vs. Susan Bysiewicz, Connecticut Secretary of State, and appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, questioning the natural born citizenship and presidential eligibility of Barack Obama was dismissed without comment earlier today as the nine justices met in private conference. The court granted three certiorari today indicating that Wrotknowki's suit was summarily denied.
Wrotnowski presented a well written and documented, concise case aided by attorney, Leo Donofrio, whose case had been rejected days earlier by the court. The basis of both suits alleged that Obama could never declare status as a natural born citizen due to his father's Kenyan citizenship which also fell under British jurisdiction.
Rather than entertain the merit of Wrotnowski's case, the court ruled that he does not hold legal standing and is therefore unable to bring civil action against Obama.
Although not as well prepared, another case on behalf of vice presidential candidate Gail Lightfoot also sits before the court and should be able to prove standing.
After 54 years of printing hot gossip and randy rumors, the Globe apparently published it's very first true story this week concerning the mystery of Barack Obama's birth. The supermarket tabloid's cover dated December 9th states "Obama Election Illegal" in huge type. In another history breaking moment, that headline alone may prove to be enough to cause this crazed conservative to shell out the $2 or $3 necessary to see what's on the inside because their website only posts this teaser.
The smelly, corrupt ties to President Elect Obama continue as Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich finds himself in FBI custody for conspiring to sell the Senate seat vacated by Obama as well as other federal corruption charges. When will we tire of the stench emanating from Chicago? Regardless of any ties between the two, certainly the teflon candidate will escape another near disaster.
In a drastic departure from the Friday night norm, this middle aged headbanger, accompanied by his lovely wife, visited City of Palms Stadium in downtown Fort Myers to enjoy the 99 X-Mas Ball sponsored by local alternative rock station 99-X WJBX. Doors opened at 4:00 pm for a 5:00 start but most arrived during the show featuring Framing Handley, and missed the entire set of local band, Pushmower.
The crescendo began when Orange County, California metal band Atreyu took the stage, followed by Florida grown Shinedown fronted by the overly theatrical Brent Smith, and climaxed during the set of the epitome of Orange County metal, Avenged Sevenfold.
The teeny boppers certainly outnumbered us young only at heart but apparently a great time was had by all!
Enjoy the bootleg video of Atreyu performing "Bleeding Mascara".
For those of you too young to remember, I Started a Joke was a big 1960's hit for the BeeGees when they were still a semi-cool pop band similar to the Beatles or Turtles, way before the 1970's disco invasion that almost destroyed the music industry.
But in this case, I'm the one who started a big joke that apparently has turned into somewhat of an internet rumor. I'm certain that most reading this blog are aware of the controversy surrounding the natural born citizenship status of President Elect Barack Obama. A couple of weeks ago, when Mr. Obama started naming cabinet positions, I commented on obamacrimes.com that he appeared to be recreating the Clinton administration so that when he became disqualified to serve as president, Hillary Clinton would assume the position through the electoral process and she would appoint Obama as Secretary of State. Believe me, this has absolutley no basis in fact, it was only meant as a joke.
Several days after I posted that comment, I began reading other comments posted as well as blog articles referring to the switch that was about to take place. One poor rumor spreader even elaborated on the exact chronology that would soon occur.
To set the record straight, I would like to let all know that I started the rumor and there is no factual basis. If it by chance does become reality, then I guess that's a good example of life imitating art!
Tonight's Countdown with Keith Olberman on MSNBC featured a small exchange between George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley and Olberman concerning the case being conferenced tomorrow by the U.S Supreme Court, which was filed by retired New Jersey attorney Leo Donofrio questioning the natural born citizenship status of President Elect Barack Hussein Obama. Olberman utilizes an extremely biased interviewing technique continually bashing George Bush and the conservative right, insinuating that supporters and plaintiffs involved in any of the "certificate-gate" cases are "crackpots". During the interview, Professor Turley claimed that these cases had little chance of being heard by the Supreme Court primarily due to their lack of legal standing, regardless of merit.
After the interview, I the inquisitive reporter investigated the somewhat smug, Jonathan Turley, and suprisingly discovered this excerpt from his own website's bio:
Among his current cases, Professor Turley represents Dr. Ali Al-Timimi, who was convicted in Virginia in 2005 of violent speech against the United States. He also represents Dr. Sami Al-Arian, accused of being the American leader of a terrorist organization while he was a university professor in Florida.
Jonathan Turley has made a career of protecting known terrorists from having their constitutional rights "violated". It serves as no wonder that Olberman and Turley colluded to protect the "One".
Olberman consistently attempted to steer the conversation toward the insanity of people claiming that Obama may have been born somewhere other than Honolulu rather than addressing the real subtance of the Donofrio case which is the aspect of divided loyaties and the tri-citizenship with Kenya and Great Britain, as well as the United States. Donofrio claims that according to the Constitution, those born under divided loyaties cannot, by law, be declared natural born citizens.
Regardless of the bias displayed by the liberal Keith Olberman, good luck, Mr. Donofrio, during the Supreme Court conference tomorrow, and God bless!
One of the attorneys, Orly Taitz, DDS, esquire, representing Alan Keyes and others in their lawsuit questioning the natural born citizenship status of Barack Obama filed yesterday another lawsuit in California Supreme Court. In this suit, Ms. Taitz represents Gail Lightfoot, the vice presidential candidate for Ron Paul, three Constitutional Party electors, one Ron Paul elector, and several voting citizens against Debra Bowen, California Secretary of State. The suit is a petition for extraordinary emergency writ of mandumus for stay of certification of the 2008 presidential election. This newest filing by Dr. Taitz appears to be very well written, properly documenting and referencing applicable case law and precendent. The majority of the plaintiffs can positively prove legal standing and this suit focuses more on the divided loyalties occuring from dual citizenship rendering one a citizen, but not "natural born." Ms. Taitz briefly touches upon the issue of the vault copy birth certificate but not to the point of allowing that to be the primary focal point of the case. Very well done, Orly! You certainly have your hands full. How do you find the time to practice law and dentistry?
On December 1st, Illuminati Pictures released a 60 second television ad outlining the constitutional issues that some question regarding the eligibility of Barack Obama to serve as President of the United States, primarily due to his questionable status as a natural born citizen per Article II of the Constitution. Janet Porter of Faith2Action is currently attempting to raise money on her website to air the commercial on national television prior to December 15th when the electoral college meets. Below is the actual clip:
Under reported for whatever reasons, Saxby Chambliss won the runoff election against challenger Jim Martin in Georgia yesterday to retain his Senate seat and prevent the Democrats from owning a filibuster proof Senate. Although the Obama campaign pumped in millions of dollars and kept their Georgia field offices open to support Martin, the extra campaigning that Sarah Palin and John McCain did for Chambliss paid off as he won handily 57% to 42%. Hopefully the Democrats occupying less than 60 Senate seats will help to preserve the checks and balances intended by our founding fathers.
Congratulations Saxby and Good Luck, you'll need it!
In studying what little one may find about the history of President Elect Barack Obama, I realized a discrepancy between the common reports of mother Stanley Ann Dunham's (better known as Ann Dunham) college education and reality.
Dunham enrolled at the University of Hawaii in the fall of 1960, where she met her future husband, Barack Obama, Sr. Already three months pregnant, she married the senior Obama in February of 1961 and gave birth to young Obama in August of that same year. It's reported that she took a collegiate break to care for the baby while her husband continued his studies. According to the university registrar, she resumed classes at the University of Hawaii in the spring of 1963 and graduated with a BA in Mathematics in 1967.
Prior to moving to Hawaii with her parents in 1960, the Dunhams lived in Mercer Island, Washington, where she attended high school. So not surprisingly, a Stanley Ann Dunham registered at the University of Washington for the fall semester of 1961 and attended there through the spring semester of 1962.
This appears a bit odd to me. Why would a newly married nineteen year old leave her parents and husband to attend a university 2668 miles away with a three week old baby? How is this even possible logistically?
This bit of knowledge adds further fuel to the fire concerning the mysteries regarding the birth and history of our new President Elect. Although pure speculation at this point, it also increases the possibility that young Obama's birth occurred somewhere other than Honolulu such as Coast Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya which has been widely rumoured.
President George Bush presents the perfect ideologically target for Al-Qaeda operatives and other Muslim extremists. He represents everything about the west that they despise. His white American Christian upbringing, his use of alcohol, and his successful entrepreneurial endeavors represent the perfect opponent for their jihad. It's easy to recruit martyrs to your cause when you have such an ideal example of American capitalism.
But Barack Obama represents a different view to the world of the much hated United States. The gun toting, rough speaking cowboy disappears and is replaced by a smooth talking, world traveler, as ethnically diverse as anyone. As Commander-in-Chief, he'll represent a familiarity that they'll find difficult to oppose. The die hard jihadists will continue to find his entire being repelling but how much harder will it be to recruit the common mahadra student or mosque worshipper to fight a man who resembles them in name and appearance more than any other President in the entire history of the United States?
The war of words and propaganda began early when Osama bin Laden's chief deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri condemned Obama as a "house negro" doing the bidding of his white masters.
During the presidential debates, Obama threatened to invade Pakistan if it became necessary to defeat bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, something that both George Bush and John McCain oppose.
The world appears a bit leery of the new American Commander-in-Chief. Apparently, they will be just as uncomfortable with him and the possible unknown as he will be learning the ropes of his new job.
It came as little surprise the other day when I read the article by Chelsea Schilling featured on World Net Daily regarding the censorship by Google of the conservative blog Atlas Shrugs for anti-Obama articles according to it's publisher, Pamela Geller. Daily hits to the website have dropped from as high as 45,000 per day to less than a hundred after Geller featured a story about a certified forensic expert claiming the Barack Obama Certification of Live Birth posted on Daily Kos and other sites a forgery and an obvious fake. Why would that comes as any surprise as Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, prepares to leave the internet giant to assume a position in the Obama cabinet?
I've noticed this political censorship occurring on a much smaller scale during the last several months. I noticed as far back as September that articles I posted that were not favorable toward Obama appeared quickly in top 10 searches but several days later completely disappeared, but yet when I wrote an article during the same time frame about a 1972 Harley shovelhead formerly owned by David Lee Roth of Van Halen fame, the article still appears high on search lists. Many articles that I wrote painting either John McCain or Sarah Palin in a positive light never appeared in the search engines at all.
I've also noticed similar occurrences on sites owned by Google such as YouTube and Blogger. Videos on YouTube that even hinted about Obama's Muslim heritage often disappeared after only a few views. As late as this date, when clicking on Leo Donofrio's blog, Natural Born Citizen, one receives the following warning: "Possible Blogger Terms of Service Violations". I searched the site rather carefully and could find nothing offensive or in violation of Bloggers' Terms of Service.
Almost comedically, Google's partisanship shines through when searching the word "idiot", a YouTube video declaring, "Is Bush an idiot?" displays at number 4 and when searching the word "messiah", "Is Barack Obama the Messiah?" rings in at number four on the list. We all realize that the Google censorship team consists of a group of 20-something geeks in cubicles but please try to be a little more center of left. I always thought that liberals despised censorship.
Google, you've done a great job throughout your short but highly successful history so don't let politics become the monkey on your back. Please keep the censors busy scrubbing kiddy porn while the internet remains a free applicable place for debate on American politics.
The Tampa Buccaneers managed to maintain first place in the NFC South division by defeating the New Orleans Saints today 23-20 at Raymond James Stadium thanks to interceptions by Jermaine Phillips, Cato June, and Phillip Buchanon. Jeff Garcia and Warrick Dunn turned in relatively mediocre performances but with the help of the mighty Bucs' defense, it proved enough to propel them past the Saints.
Although both the Bucs and the Carolina Panthers enter week 14 at 9-3, the Bucs currently prevail in any tie-breaking scenario. Next week's match up with the Panthers may prove to be the most important game of the year as the two teams fight for undisputed first place in the hotly contested division.
Each day I vow to no longer write about the controversy surrounding the birth certificate of President Elect Barack Obama and each day I break that vow after digging up some juicy tidbit. No juice today but I still can't avoid the temptation because of all the inaccurate information that I see floating around the blogospere. There appear to be many misinformed people who are in turn creating even more misinformed people so I felt a need to add my two cents on what I know to be fact, know to be rumour, and know to be pure speculation.
Early this past summer, many questioned the natural born citizenship status of Barack Obama based on three main points of reasoning.
1. Rumours abounded that Mr. Obama had been born in Mombasa, Kenya rather than Honolulu, Hawaii as recorded in his book, Dreams of My Father, and as recorded by the campaign. The only proof offered this far in connection to this theory was from an interview with Obama's paternal grandmother conducted over the telephone between two missionaries acting as translators. She referred to Obama as a "son of Kenya" and then later claimed that she witnessed his birth in Mombasa. There are also rumors of a Kenyan birth certificate that has supposedly been sealed by authorities.
2. Obama moved to Jakarta, Indonesia with his mother and stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, sometime around 1967. Mr. Soetoro registered Obama in school under the name Barry Soetoro, listing him as an Indonesian citizen with his religion as Islam. Many unknowns exist here. At the time, Indonesia did not allow foreign citizens to attend public schools. Did Mr. Soetoro adopt young Obama to allow for his education or did he only lie on the paper work to complete registration? Also at the time, Indonesia did not recognize dual citizenship, although this may not have been reciprocated by the U.S. government. The question that remains is did young Obama forfeit his American citizenship to attend school in Jakarta?
3. During the campaign, when questioned about his lack of foreign policy experience, Obama replied that he had travelled to Pakistan while in college and had derived expertise from those travels. At the time, Pakistan was on the state department's do not travel list. Much speculation persists that if he travelled to Pakistan and then later India, it must have been on an Indonesian passport. This has never been confirmed.
In response to those questioning, in mid June, the Obama campaign sent a .jpg scanned Hawaiian Certification of Live Birth (COLB) to the Daily Kos. Several days later, the same image appeared on factcheck.org, politifact.com, and Obama's own site fightthesmears.com. Immediately the internet erupted with claims that the COLB was a forgery. In researching Hawaiian law, many also learned that parents who were citizens could register foreign births with the state within a year and receive the same COLB.
Many lawsuits followed insisting Obama reveal the "vault" copy or long form version of his birth certificate which shows the birth hospital, attending physician, and many other bits of information that are omitted on the COLB. Rather than submit the document, the Obama campaign repeatedly files for motions to dismiss creating another buzz of "What is he hiding?". To date, I know of at least 39 lawsuits that have been filed around the country with three currently sitting at the U.S. Supreme Court.
I'll address many of the inaccuracies I've seen floating around the internet.
1. Barack Obama is a Muslim. This is not completely accurate. Obama was born into a secular Muslim household and then later raised for several years by another secular Muslim stepfather. Apparently, very little religion was practiced at home. Obama's maternal grandparents had more influence over his life and they were atheistic. As an adult Obama attended Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ where he later married wife Michelle and where apparently he was baptized but no records have been obtained.
2. Barack Obama was born in Kenya. So far, this is only speculation. No Kenyan birth certificate or record has surfaced and no one has yet been able to obtain the travel documents of Obama's mother, Stanley Anne Dunham, from the early 60's.
3. Barack Obama is more Arab than black. I saw dozens of postings yesterday claiming that Obama's genealogy shows that he is less than 7% black and over 40% Arabic. This is nonsense. His American mother was 100% Caucasian and his father a Luo tribe member from Kenya who was a 100% black. Many of the Luo converted to Islam and adopted Arabic sounding names. That does not make them Arabic.
4. Justice Souter has ordered Obama to reply to the lawsuit filed by Phillip Berg by Dec. 1st. This again is untrue. Normal response time to any suit is 30 days. Obama may respond but he has not been ordered to respond. Additionally, Berg is only before the supreme court because lower courts ruled that he did not have legal standing. If the supreme court decided that he does have standing, then most likely the case would be referred back to the lower courts.
5. Hawaiian heath department's Dr. Fukino has verified that Obama was born in Hawaii. This is also untrue. The only thing that Dr. Fukino revealed is that she had examined the original certificate and found it authentic. She never did reveal whether the place of birth was Hawaii or Mombasa.
The real truth of the matter lies in the fact that the leader of the mightiest nation in the world should be somewhat above reproach. Many question whether Obama meets the "natural born" citizenship provision of Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The only irrefutable proof would be the review of the vault copy birth certificate by a non partisan inspector and a decision made by the U.S Supreme Court regarding the possible forfeiture of U.S. citizenship while residing in Indonesia.
This matter will never be totally settled by bloggers or defendants requesting dismissals rather than providing the proper documentation.
And I really can't help that I'm addicted to writing about this issue!
In light of the dire economic and political times, one may ask, what do I have to be thankful for? I pondered that question myself and determined:
I'm thankful for the health of my spouse, my parents, my children, my grandchildren, myself and all of my extended family.
I'm thankful to own and work in an enterprise that maintains in spite of a downward spiraling economy.
I'm thankful for a life that's been thrown a lot of curve balls, but every now and then manages to hit a home run.
I'm thankful for the people in my life that God's given me to love and thankful that they love me back despite my cantankerous disposition.
But most of all, I'm thankful for a Saviour who gave up His kingdom to clothe Himself in flesh and blood and sacrifice Himself for my sin affording me eternal life.
Or as we're instructed in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5: Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Appearing as the proverbial "beating a dead horse", information continually floods the internet concerning the authenticity of the birth certificate provided by the Obama campaign to the Daily Kos, factcheck.org, and his own site fightthesmears.com. Recently a rather convincing argument has been presented by a man using the pseudonym Ron Polarik, proclaiming himself a computer forensic expert. Mr Polarik amazingly claims the document featured on these sites is unquestionably a forgery, utilizing Adobe Photoshop and other graphic manipulating software. His argument appears valid and as a graphic artist myself, I understand the science behind his findings. I only remain skeptical because the man has not revealed his true identity. I understand that he's afraid of possible repercussions but to maintain credibility, one must always step forward. I'm also a little concerned about his fanciful use of deductive reasoning but I'll leave that for another time. Here is a link to the full report: http://polarik.blogtownhall.com/ as well as a youtube video of the man disguising both his face and voice while presenting the "smoking gun".
As most readers of this blog are keenly aware, I've been extremely apprehensive about the thought of Barack Obama leading this country through the many crises that we now face.
At this time I'm still uncertain whether or not Mr. Obama meets the minimum qualifications per Article II of the U.S Constitution regarding natural born citizenship. I don't need to elaborate hear but there are at least a half a dozen lawsuits pending throughout the country questioning this matter.
I'm also deeply concerned about Obama's ability to lead us as Commander-in-Chief through a world wide war on terror currently being fought by our troops on two different fronts. It also troubles me that for any other government job, Mr. Obama would not pass the background check necessary to obtain a security clearance regarding sensitive information.
But what affects me the most personally seems to be the Obama tax plan. I'm neither an accountant or tax attorney so my grasp may be limited but I am the owner of two subchapter S corporations and a managing member in a land development LLC. The plan appears to me to not be original but only a resurrection of the Clinton tax plan with Bush style rebates thrown in to the majority of tax payers. I strive to not reveal too much personal information online but I must make myself a little more vulnerable now because I can only relate to how this matter personally affects me.
As a stockholder in subchapter S corporations, the profit from those entities trickles down from the corporate tax return through schedule K-1 to my personal tax return. As a result of this my taxable income for 2007 was $359,967 of which I paid $96,866 in income tax. Of the $263,101 remaining, my family lived on less than $100,00. The balance went toward interest payments on a new commercial building for one business that must be later capitalized and a stock buyout of former partners from another business. So the majority of money was reinvested to help maintain local economic growth which ultimately added jobs.
If I understand the Obama tax plan correctly, my taxes would have been $142,546, a staggering $45,680 higher than what was paid. Consider the crippling economic effect on a nation full of closely held corporations. In my case alone between one and two jobs would be lost or as much as 8% of the work force! Can our nation sustain that type of blow? With the additional money contributing to big federal government spending, there would also be a draining of the local economy. Unless I'm missing something, an additional 8% of the poulation unemployed would force this nation to tumble into another 1930's type depression. Hopefully, there still remains in Congress enough common sense to prevent this from happening. Why penalize small business owners with higher taxes while offering a $1,000 rebate to 95% of the population causing nearly 16% to become unemployed forcing even higher taxes to support the welfare state?
It appears to me that the Obama tax plan will cause an out of control downward spiral in the U.S. economy, stagnating business growth and the creation of jobs. Please, let's not allow that to happen.
Earlier today, the 0-10 Detroit Lions jumped to a comfortable first quarter 17-0 lead over the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But Jeff Garcia and the never out Bucs decimated the Lions defense to comeback with 35 unanswered points. Garcia threw for only 165 yards but for two touchdowns and no interceptions. Ronde Barbe played another one of many career high games with two interceptions, one of which he returned 65 yards for a touchdown. The fumble prone but blazingly fast Clifton Smith ran back a punt 70 yards for six points.
With today's win and the Panthers loss to the Falcons, the Bucs move into first place in the fiercely competitive NFC South. Tampa Bay returns home for a Turkey weekend game against the Saints.
After waking a little late yesterday morning, I opted out of the Everglades Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America's (AMCA) Turkey Run around Lake Okeechobee. The decision proved beneficial as I enjoyed the better part of the day with three of my grandchildren at the house riding four-wheelers and eating the Christmas cookies that they baked with my wife.
Feeling a bit fidgety toward the end of the day, We decided to head around the corner to the monthly blues festival held at the "World Famous" Buckingham Blues Bar. Arriving late, we missed the first several bands, but caught most of the set by headliner, Blues Stone. Hailing from Fort Lauderdale, Blues Stone delivered a raw, very genuine good rockin' blues sound. We enjoyed the band from a bench close to the fire pit since a cold front had moved in and it was a little chilly for southwest Florida.
Enjoy this clip Blue Stone performing "Soul Shine":
After grooving to the sounds of Blue Stone, we headed back to the house to steam a half dozen blue crabs and saute a filet of snook, left for us by a friend who had attended the blues festival. Thanks Gary, there's nothing like fresh seafood!
As another lawsuit, filed by Andy Martin in Hawaii, falls unfavorably toward the plaintiff, it occurred to me that the majority of these cases were filed not so much in defense of our Constitution but as an attention getter from those who seek public notoriety.
A lingering question still remains as to the natural born citizenship status of Barack Hussein Obama. He claims to have been born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961 and has presented a Certification of Live Birth (COLB) to the Daily Kos and factcheck.org, as well as his own site, fightthesmears.com and it has supposedly been authenticated.
Many concerns surround the COLB posted on these websites. Many forensic experts claim it a forgery. See youtube video below:
Personally, I'm not impressed by the credence of this argument but I do realize that according to Hawaiian law in effect during 1961, Hawaiian citizens who gave birth outside the country were able to register those births in Hawaii within one year. This could be a distinct possibility because Obama's paternal grandmother insisted while being interviewed that she witnessed his birth in Mombasa, Kenya.
Additionally, Obama's father, a Kenyan on a student visa, was not a U.S. citizen. At the time Kenya fell under the British protectorate so technically, at birth, Obama possibly became a citizen of Kenya, Great Britain, and the United States.
To further complicate matters, Obama's parents divorced when he was two years old and four years later his mother remarried an Indonesian national, Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Jakarta. Mr. Soetoro registered young Obama in school as an Indonesian citizen, listing his name as Barry Soetoro and his religion as Islam.
So the matter that should be decided by a competent jurisdiction is:
a) Can natural born status be conferred upon an individual born with divided loyalties against the intent of our founding fathers?
b) Did Obama lose his American citizenship in Indonesia and then later regain it as a naturalized, not natural born, citizen?
The internet abounds with chatter about this situation but in reality, it needs to be addressed in the proper venue which ultimately would be the Supreme Court of the United States.
The major problem faced appears to be the credibility of the parties filing these lawsuits. I'm aware of at least 39 lawsuits that have been filed throughout the country either questioning Obama's eligibility or seeking access to the vault copy of his birth certificate. Most of these have already been dismissed but others are open and have received a fair amount of publicity, especially from the more conservatively slanted news sources.
The first suit I became aware of was filed before the Democratic National Convention by Hillary Clinton supporter Phillip Berg. Unfortunately, many of the suits that followed Berg's based their content on supposed Berg discovery; much of which stands as still unsubstantiated claims. To worsen the situation, Berg's reputation for filing frivolous lawsuits precedes him. In response to the Gore vs. Bush decision in 2000, Berg filed asking Justices Scalia, O'Connor, and Thomas to voluntarily disbar themselves for not recusing themselves from the case due to conflicts of interest. After 9-11, Berg, claiming that the twin towers were destroyed by the American government, and filed suit against George Bush and Dick Cheney for crimes against humanity. Berg vs. Obama, already dismissed by two Pennsylvania lower court now sits at the US Supreme Court. The Obama camp has filed a waiver not to respond. Based on his prior history, Berg has almost no chance to further this case at the federal level. The Supreme Court has not even yet scheduled a conference. It is unlikely that they will even consider the matter.
The next highly publicized case was filed by the colorful litigator, Andy Martin. Martin has been sanctioned at many different judicial levels for being a vexatious litigant, noting that he has a tendency to file suits of a frivolous and scandalous nature. He's also run for numerous political offices as a Democrat, a Republican and an Independent. Martin filed in Honolulu Circuit Court requesting access to Obama's long form vault birth certificate. Judge Ayabe conducted an abbreviated hearing on November 18th, took the matter under advisement, and ruled on the 20th denying Mr. Martin access to the document.
Another case sitting before the U.S. Supreme court was filed by retired lawyer and professional poker player Leo Donofrio. Mr. Donofrio appealed to the Supreme Court after his case was rejected by New Jersey Courts. He challenges the citizenship of Barack Obama, John McCain and Socialist Party candidate, Roger Colera. The Supreme Court has actually scheduled a closed door conference for December 5th to determine whether they will address this case. Is this a legitimate suit or just another publicity stunt from the fame seeking Leo Donofrio?
Many bogus cases have been blogged about. The most notorious by a fellow named "Wild Bill" and supposedly filed in Virginia. No one has been able to determine any docketing in any Virginia jurisdiction regarding this matter; just another example of web based "hot air".
Currently, the most credible case to date must be the one filed last week in California Superior Court by the United States Justice Foundation on behalf of presidential candidate Alan Keyes, and two electors from America's Independence Party. Keyes, an ambassador under Ronald Reagan, may possess a less tainted reputation than either Berg or Martin, but he's also known as a perennial political loser. In fact, just during 2008, he lost the Republican primary, the Constitution Part primary and then basically nominated himself as the candidate from AIP. Mr. Keyes, as a candidate on many states' ballots, does appear to have standing in the matter, unlike Phillip Berg. But, will the courts look at Mr. Keyes with a legitimate claim, or for just being a sore loser?
Herein lies the problem. Do we have a string of media hounds seeking personal notoriety taking right wing Americans for a ride? I'm certain that's how it appears to the liberal media and the majority of America's courts. There exists a legitimate concern that should be addressed prior to the electoral college meeting in December but we desperately need a competent plaintiff with a sterling reputation as well as legal standing to come forward. Sir or ma'am, where are you?
Barack Obama's birth certificate may prove to be the most exclusively protected document of all time. Andy Martin's request before the Circuit Court of Honolulu to gain ability to examine Mr. Obama's vault copy birth certificate has been denied by Judge Ayabe. The court claims that Mr. Martin has not presented any evidence that sufficient harm will occur if the records are not provided and that there is insufficient evidence that the public supports the relief sought. And the most shocking part of the decision by Judge Ayabe is "There is a reasonable belief that the public would rather preserve the confidentiality of vital health records." This statement could not ring anymore untrue! The public demands to know the content of those records. I would presume that Andy Martin will appeal, but who knows?
The framers of the U.S. Constitution most certainly carried intent when the document was officially adopted in 1787. A bloody war fought for independence from the British ended just four years earlier. Consider this provision excerpted from Article II Section 1 concerning the presidency:
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; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
Our founding fathers considered this citizenship provision most important so as to assure the President held no divided loyalties, most notably with the British. The constitution requires that a President be a "natural" born citizen, not a "naturalized" citizen. The residency requirement serves as a guarantee that those loyalties have not been tainted.
Now, 221 years later, many have taken issue with the possibility that Barack Obama may not be a natural born citizen. The only proof offered by the Democratic Party has been a Hawaiian Certification of Live Birth reprinted in June 2007. According to Hawaiian law in 1961, this document may have been obtained for children born outside the U.S. to parents desiring to register their children in Hawaii. Mr. Obama's Kenyan grandmother has insisted that she witnessed his birth in Mombasa. Whether born in Hawaii or not, Obama's mother was an American citizen, yet his father was Kenyan leading to the issue of divided loyalties. To further complicate matters, young Obama's parents divorced when he was two years old and his mother remarried several years later to an Indonesian national, Lolo Soetoro. Mr. Soetoro moved the family to Jakarta in 1967 where he registered Barack in school under the name Barry Soetoto listing his citizenship as Indonesian and his religion as Islam. Did Lolo Soetoro adopt Barack Obama as implied? If so, as a minor, Obama would have forfeited his American citizenship since neither country recognized dual citizenship during that time. Young Obama returned to Hawaii around 1971 to live with his grandparents and to attend school in Honolulu. After graduation from high school, Obama attended Occidental College in California for two years before transferring to Columbia University in New York. The summer between colleges, Obama travelled to Indonesia on an Indonesian passport to visit his mother and sister and from there to Pakistan and India. At that time, only Indonesian citizens could obtain Indonesian passports. This becomes another case for the possibility of divided loyalties. Another question to ask is did Barack Obama ever renounce his Indonesian citizenship or take any of the steps necessary to regain his United States citizenship? If he did, he would be a "naturalized" citizen, if not, an illegal alien. Additionally, when Obama applied to the Illinois Bar and also when confirmed to the U.S. Senate, he affirmed that he had never lived under any aliases. But we know that while attending school in Jakarta, he assumed the name Barry Soetoro and while attending school in Hawaii, he used Barry Obama.
There are now at least a half dozen court cases filed throughout the country attempting to ascertain the qualifications of Barack Obama to serve as President of the United States and all are requesting to acquire the vault or long form version of his official birth certificate which he has refused to provide. Many claim that the Certification of Live Birth posted on factcheck.org and fightthesmears.com is actually a forgery.
Another provision from the Constitution In Article II Section 4 is:
The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Would perjury in the case of lying on a bar application or forgery on a birth certificate constitute "high crimes" as defined by the constitution? Here again lies another possible disqualification of Barack Obama.
Infamous litigator Andy Martin appeared for a hearing at 10:30 Honolulu time (3:30 eastern) to petition the Hawaiian Circuit Court in Honolulu to release the "vault" copy or long form version of Barack Obama's birth certificate. The suit filed against Linda Lingle, governor of Hawaii and Dr. Shiyome Fukino, the director of the Department of Health, heard by Judge Ayabe has been taken under advisement by the court. Jill Nagamine of the state Attorney General's office, representing the defendents, petitioned the court to dismiss the case but to no avail.
Amazingly, the NBC affiliate in Augusta, Georgia picked up on the lawsuit filed November 14 in California Superior Court on behalf of Alan Keyes and others questioning the qualifications of Barack Obama to serve as President of the United States. Speculation abounds across the country as to whether or not Mr. Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States. Numerous lawsuits have been filed seeking access to the "vault" copy or long form version of Obama's birth certificate.
Currently, active lawsuits sit before judges in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, California, and Hawaii, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court. Many suits were filed previously and dismissed and more suits are pending.
Andy Martin appears in Honolulu Circuit Court today at 10:30 am local time (3:30 pm eastern) to present his case for the release of Barack Obama's official long form birth certificate from 1961. Many question the authenticity of the Certification of Live Birth reprint posted on web sites such as factcheck.org and fightthesmears.com, especially in light of Obama's paternal grandmother's claim that she witnessed his birth in Mombasa, Kenya. Hopefully, the judge will side with Mr. Martin enlightening we the people only a tad more about the history of Mr. Obama.
If the birth certificate proves Obama's Hawaiian birth, which is likely, lawsuits filed by Phillip Berg and Alan Keyes lose much of their firepower. They must then focus on the Indonesian citizenship issue, which is still very much a valid argument which should be settled judiciously.
If the birth certificate shows birth in Kenya or anywhere else, Obama may still prove himself a natural born American citizen due to the status of his mother but he would also be painted a liar and perjurer.
If the judge refuses to release the document, then we will remain in the dark about the factual history of the man soon to be President of the United States.
I found the California Superior Court file containing the Writ of Mandate regarding the lawsuit filed by Alan Keyes and others regarding the qualification of Barack Obama to serve as President of the United States based on his status as a natural born citizen. The 18 page filing is too long to post on this blog so here is a link:
Former Bucs safety John Lynch will announce his retirement later today from a news conference at the Buccaneers headquarters located at One Buccaneer Place in Tampa. The nine time pro-bowler, known for his hard hitting style, helped lead the Bucs to victory in the 2002 Super Bowl. Lynch played his first eleven seasons in Tampa until traded to the Denver Broncos in 2004, where he played the last four. He signed with the Patriots during this year's pre-season but they released him prior to the first game. Good Luck John and God bless!
In a brief respite from the rigors of managing a small business during a downward economic spiral and political blogging, the wife and I headed north to Raymond James Stadium to watch the Bucs stomp the Vikings.
Adrian Peterson slithered his way through the Tampa defense at every opportunity but to no avail as the Bucs defeated the Vikings 19-13.
Matt Bryant kicked 3 field goals and a rectivated B.J. Askew ran for a touchdown as the Bucs defeated their pre-realignment black and blue division rivals.
I found myself pleasantly surprised yesterday when I discovered that a new suit questioning the natural born citizenship of Barack Obama and therefore his qualification to serve as President of the United States had been filed before the Superior Court of California. The suit was filed by Gary Kreep (good name for a lawyer) of the United States Justice Foundation on behalf of Alan Keyes, a presidential candidate on the American Independent Party ticket, as well as California electors, Wiley S. Drake and Markham Robinson. Besides Obama, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Vice President Elect Joe Biden, and a list of 53 California electors were also named as defendants.
Although neither a lawyer or legal professional, it appears to me that the three plaintiffs in this particular case do actually have standing, something which Phillip Berg has had difficulty proving in his case filed before the Pennsylvania courts and now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. In hindsight, Mr. Berg probably should have found citizens with standing who he could have represented as council and filed on their behalf, therefore avoiding a pile of legal technicalities.
With cases pending in Hawaii, Ohio, Connecticut, Washington, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, this issue will apparently soon come to a head. Chicago lawyer Andy Martin has a hearing scheduled for November 18th to attempt to force the state of Hawaii to produce the vault copy of Obama's birth certificate, which would indicate the birth hospital, attending physician, and other details not present on the short form Certification of Live Birth posted on web sites such as factcheck.org. Mr. Martin should have a better than average chance of prevailing due to the pinpoint accuracy of details outlined in the suit and the fact that he most definitely avoided jurisdictional issues. Evidence obtained by Andy Martin in Hawaii may be brought forth in the California case as well as others so Mr. Martin's early efforts may prove to be the backbone of the entire movement.
In my opinion, the suit filed yesterday in California on behalf of Alan Keyes has the most potential for success. Alan Keyes and the two electors can prove both standing and proper jurisdiction. This case lacks the hearsay and unsubstantiated claims of the Berg case. I also feel that the attorney for the plaintiffs should focus more on the Indonesian connection rather than the 1961 vault copy of Obama's birth certificate. When Ann and Lolo Soetoro moved their family to Indonesia in 1967, Mr Soetoro enrolled young Barack in school under the name Barry Soetoro as an Indonesian citizen listing his religion as Islam. During that time, neither Indonesia or the United States recognized dual citizenship. Although Obama returned to the U.S. four years later, he travelled to Indonesia in 1981 to visit his mother utilizing an Indonesian passport according to his book, Dreams of My Father. He renewed his passport while in Jakarta and travelled on to Pakistan which at that time was on the U.S. do not travel list. Under Indonesian law, only citizens could obtain passports from that country.
The complicated questions that must be answered by any of these cases to set precedent are:
a) Is Obama a natural born U.S. citizen under laws in effect during 1961?
b) If Obama forfeited his citizenship while naturalized in Indonesia, does he somehow retain his natural born status or is he now a "naturalized" citizen rather than "natural born"?
c) Upon returning to the U.S., did Obama take the steps necessary to regain U.S. citizenship or is he now technically an illegal alien?
Due to many legal difficulties, this web can only be untangled by a competent court system with evidence presented by plaintiffs that can prove both standing and proper jurisdiction. Good luck, Mr. Keyes! May God bless you!
I'm surprised that no soft drink manufacturer has recruited Sarah Palin to plug their product, due to her huge advocacy of the industry. During an October big ticket fund raiser in Naples, she declared, "We will win Florida. I'll betcha a Pepsi!" Unfortunately she now owes those $10,000 a plate attendees a Pepsi but what a wonderful promotion of the product. Last week I watched on network television as yet another interviewer grilled her mercilessly over the campaign wardrobe expenditures. She exclaimed, "I never asked for anything from the campaign other than maybe a Diet Dr. Pepper!" for another great large audience plug.
I hope that we will soon see commercials of Ms. Palin promoting one of these products much as Bob Dole advertised for Viagra after his election loss. Hopefully Pepsi-Cola Co. and Dr. Pepper Co. are now in a bidding war to receive her endorsement. Unless of course, Budweiser is seeking her support for their "Joe 6-Pack" campaign. Good luck Sarah! I hope you make millions!
Until very recently, I've adamantly supported the suit filed by Phillip Berg questioning Barack Obama's qualification as President of the United State based on the issue of national born citizenship. In a nutshell, Mr. Berg asserts that there are two possible scenarios in which Mr. Obama is not a natural born citizen. First, Berg believes Anne Dunham gave birth to Obama in Mombasa, Kenya rather than Honolulu, Hawaii as reported. In my opinion, this argument carries little weight because his mother was still a United States citizen, and there exists a certificate of live birth listing Obama's birthplace as Honolulu. Secondly, Berg states that Obama forfeited his American citizenship when the family moved to Indonesia in 1967. This argument holds more water because if Obama lost his U.S. citizenship then returned to the country and regained it, he would be a naturalized citizen, not a natural born citizen and therefore ineligible to be President. Mr. Berg has a strong, credible argument that should be settled by our court system but he also apparently lacks standing in his ability to file.
Even if Phillip Berg can prove standing in the Berg vs. Obama case before the supreme court, I feel that it may be in the nation's best interest for the case to still be dismissed. If Barack Obama's popularity became tainted with his disqualification to hold the nation's highest office, unchecked civil unrest would be released. I'm certain that we would see major bouts of rioting and a move toward anarchy, which could possibly lead to civil war. It may prove to be safer to allow Obama to serve his presidency and let him be judged on his own merit. Constitutionally, we may now have the nation's greatest test of it's system of checks and balances.
If Obama wisely governs from the center, allowing for the people's best interest, he may succeed and actually make a difference. If he leans too far left, he will alienate a large segment of society and we will probably see a re-run of 1994 when the Republicans made huge advances in the House and Senate and assumed control for the first time in over 40 years.
Mr. Berg, your case provides adequate proof and holds merit. You speak of an unavoidable constitutional crisis if the case cannot be settled expeditiously, yet I feel that the potential for crisis may be greater if Obama is disqualified. Perhaps, it's better to allow our political system the time to return balance. Sometimes it's best to just let sleeping dogs lie.
