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.
