The Controversy of Obama's Citizenship
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Questions About Barack Obama's status as a "natural born citizen"-Truth!  Fiction! & Unproven!

Summary of the eRumor:  
A variety of articles and lawsuits that question whether Barack Obama is eligible to be President of the United States base on his citizenship.

The Truth:  

This story began circulating during the 2008 presidential campaign and attracted a lot of interest, but on October 24, 2008, the judge in the case dismissed the lawsuit saying that the man who filed it lack standing and that any harm from an allegedly ineligible candidate was "too vague and its effects too attenuated to confer standing on any and all voters."    Berg has announced that he will be appealing the dismissal of his case to the United States Supreme Court.

 

The WorldNetDaily web site has reported that "More than a half-dozen legal challenges have been filed in federal and state courts demanding President-elect Barack Obama's decertification from ballots or seeking to halt elector meetings, claiming he has failed to prove his U.S. citizenship status." 

 

An online petition has been set up by  "Rally Congress",  a non profit group "dedicated to helping people and groups communicate more effectively with elected officials",  they say that they have collected over 108,000 signatures and letters.   Click for petition.

 

On November 18, 2008,  the America's Independent Party (AIP) announced that Presidential candidate Alan Keyes and the party have filed a law suit with the California Superior court to keep Secretary of the State of CA, Debra Brown, from certifying the names of the electors to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, until proof of Barack Obama's U.S. Citizenship is verified.     Click for AIP release.

   

On November 1, 2008 the Associated Press released a report saying that state officials in Hawaii "have personally verified that the health department holds Obama's original birth certificate."  Hawaiian Health Department Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino and Alvin Onaka, who is the registrar of vital statistics both reviewed the original document.


The suit had been filed by Philip Berg ,  a Pennsylvania attorney who describe
d himself as a lifelong Democrat, the former Democratic Chairman of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, an 8-year member of the state democratic committee, a former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania, and a past candidate for both governor of Pennsylvania and United States Senator.

Berg filed the suit in federal court on August 21, 2008 claiming that Barack Obama was not eligible to be president of the United States because he was not a “natural born” citizen of the United States, which is required by the Constitution.  He asked that the court demand Obama and the Democratic National Committee to provide documentation proving he was eligible to be president..  He also asked for a temporary restraining order asking that Obama’s campaign be halted.

At issue was whether Barack Obama was ever an American citizen by birth, even if he is an American citizen whether he was a “natural born” citizen as the constitution requires for the president, and whether he ever lost his U.S. citizenship and, if so, whether he ever got it back.

An Internet video began circulating based on an interview with Berg.  It was titled October Surprise and outlined Bergs contentions about Obama’s birth.

Most of this is has yet to be proven but in his lawsuit, Berg alleges:

 

·         That Obama was not born in Hawaii, as he claims, but was actually born in Kenya, his father’s homeland.

·         That Obama’s mother was in Kenya in the late stages of her pregnancy and airlines at the time would not let her fly back to Hawaii at such an advanced time of pregnancy.

·         That Obama’s grandmother on his father’s side, a half brother, and a half sister all say Obama was born in Kenya.  In October, 2008, Berg announced that he had a recording of the grandmother talking about the birth and that she was in the birth room when it took place.

·         That Obama was born on August 4, 1961 but his birth was not registered in Hawaii until August 8, 1961 and that the registration and a Honolulu newspaper announcement of the birth were fabricated.

·         That there is not agreement in Obama’s family about what hospital in which he was allegedly born in Hawaii.

·         That according to Wayne Madison, a journalist with Online Journal, a GOP research team sent to Mombosa, Kenya, found a certificate registering the birth of Barack Obama, Jr. at a maternity hospital indicating his birth to a Kenyan father and a U.S. mother.

·         That if he was born in Kenya, he cannot be a U.S. citizen because the law stated that his mother would have had to have lived 10-years in the United States, 5 of which were after the age of 14.  Since she was 18 at the time of Obama’s birth, she did not meet the residency requirements for passing U.S. citizenship to Obama.

·         That when Obama’s mother married an Indonesian man and took Obama to Indonesia when he was 6-years old, he would have lost his U.S. citizenship and become Indonesian.  Indonesia at the time did not recognize dual citizenship.

·          That when Obama was registered to attend school in Indonesia, the registration form listed him as “Barry Soetoro” (his stepfather’s last name), listed him as Indonesian, and listed is faith as Islam.

·         That according to the law at the time, Obama’s mother would have lost her U.S. citizenship by marrying an Indonesian and living in Indonesia.  Four years later she returned to Hawaii and divorced her Indonesian husband.  Berg said that she could have regained her U.S. citizenship by taking an oath of allegiance to the United States but that there is no record that she did.  Therefore, Obama would not have been able to regain his own citizenship until the age of 18 and himself take an oath of allegiance to the U.S.  Berg said there is no record of that ever happening.  Berg concludes that not only may Obama not be eligible to be president, but that he may be an illegal alien.

·         That Obama traveled to Pakistan at the age of 20 and traveled using an Indonesian passport.  Had he regained his U.S. citizenship, according to Berg, he would have traveled using a U.S. passport.

·         In response to questions about his birth, Obama posted a birth certificate on his campaign website, but Berg contends that it is a forgery and that forensic experts have determined that it is a altered version of the birth certificate of Obama’s half sister, Maya Kasandra Soetoro, who was born in Indonesia but whose birth record was also forged to make it appear that she was born in Hawaii.

·         That when Obama registered for the Illinois Bar he lied and said “none” when asked about any former names.
 

Berg said that Obama’s lawyers were dragging their feet in providing proof of Obama’s birth and citizenship and that means “he’s a total fraud, he’s a phony, and that means he should be arrested, tried, and deported.

An eRumor got started at the beginning of October 2008, saying that the judge in the Berg case, had issued an order for Obama to produce his original birth certificate, but that was false. An article by Jon Dryer was posted on NewsWithViews.com, which has since been retracted. In it, Dryer claimed that Judge R. Barclay Surrick had made a decision in the case and had ordered Obama to present the court with evidence that he is an American citizen.

The Berg lawsuit was the latest in a series of challenges about the birth of the Democratic nominee for president, which he lists as having taken place in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.

 

The first was an eRumor that said that Hawaii was not a state when he was born so therefore he is not a “natural born” citizen. That one was Fiction! Hawaii was a state in 1961 and it would not have mattered because prior to that it was a U.S. Territory, which would have still qualified him as “natural born.”     CLICK for more on that story.
.
Among the believers in Obama's birth certificate the folks at FactCheck.org. 
CLICK  for fact check dot org findings

 

The most detailed forensic investigation was posted on Atlus Shruggs, a conservative website by Pamela Geller.  The investigation was done by a self described forensics expert who goes by the screen name of Techdude,  but he has not been identified nor has his credentials been confirmed.   Click here for report.

 
Jerome Corsi, the controversial conservative author of the book The Obama Nation has said in TV interviews that he believes the birth certificate is phony.  He made a trip to Kenya in 2008 and told WorldNetDaily that he, too, was told that Obama was born in Kenya but when he tried to gain access to official documents about Obama’s birth, he was told they had been sealed.

 

In the latest chapter of this saga of Berg vs Obama, Philip Berg has issued a press release that said "Obama & DNC Admit All Allegations of Federal Court Lawsuit - Obama’s 'Not' Qualified to be President Obama Should Immediately Withdraw his Candidacy for President."
According to his website, "Berg stated that he filed Requests for Admissions on September 15, 2008 with a response by way of answer or objection had to be served within thirty [30] days. No response to the Requests for Admissions was served by way of response or objection."

Click for Berg Press release and up to date progress of the case.

Click here for updates on Pennsylvania Eastern District Court Filings for Berg vs. Obama    

 

Click for Illuminate Pictures video

 

updated 11/19/08
A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

Version #1

Obama Sued in Philadelphia Federal Court on Grounds he is
Constitutionally Ineligible for the Presidency

by Jeff Schreiber
America's Right.com

A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee. The action seeks an injunction preventing the
senator from continuing his candidacy and a court order enjoining the DNC from nominating him next week, all on grounds that Sen. Obama is
constitutionally ineligible to run for and hold the office of President of the United States.

Phillip Berg, the filing attorney, is a former gubernatorial and senatorial candidate, former chair of the Democratic Party in Montgomery (PA) County, former member of the Democratic State Committee, and former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania. According to Berg, he filed the suit--just days before the DNC is to hold its nominating convention in Denver--for the health of the Democratic Party.

"I filed this action at this time," Berg stated, "to avoid the obvious problems that will occur when the Republican Party raises these issues after
Obama is nominated.".

Berg cited a number of unanswered questions regarding the Illinois senator's background, and in today's lawsuit maintained that Sen.
Obama is not a naturalized U.S. citizen or that, if he ever was, he lost his citizenship when he was adopted in Indonesia. Berg also cites what he
calls "dual loyalties" due to his citizenship and ties with Kenya and Indonesia.

Even if Sen. Obama can prove his U.S. citizenship, Berg stated, citing the senator's use of a birth certificate from the state of Hawaii verified as a forgery by three independent document forensic experts, the issue of "multi-citizenship with responsibilities owed to and allegiance to other countries" remains on the table.

In the lawsuit, Berg states that Sen. Obama was born in Kenya, and not in Hawaii as the senator maintains. Before giving birth,
according to the l awsuit, Obama's mother traveled to Kenya with his father but was prevented from flying back to Hawaii because of the late stage of her pregnancy, "apparently a normal restriction to avoid births during a flight." As Sen. Obama's own paternal grandmother, half-brother and half-sister have also claimed, Berg maintains that Stanley Ann Dunham--Obama's mother--gave birth to little Barack in Kenya and subsequently flew to Hawaii to register the birth.

Berg cites inconsistent accounts of Sen. Obama's birth, including reports that he was born at two separate hospitals--Kapiolani
Hospital and Queens Hospital--in Honolulu, as well a profound lack of birthing records for Stanley Ann Dunham, though simple "registry of birth" records for Barack Obama are available in a Hawaiian public records office.

Should Sen. Obama truly have been born in Kenya, Berg writes, the laws on the books at the time of his birth hold that U.S.
citizenship may only pass to a child born overseas to a U.S. citizen parent and non-citizen parent if the former was at least 19 years of age. Sen. Obama's mother was only 18 at the time. Therefore, because U.S. citizenship could not legally be passed on to him, Obama could not be registered as a "natural born" citizen and would therefore be ineligible to seek the presidency pursuant to Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution.

Moreover, even if Sen. Obama could have somehow been deemed "natural born," that citizenship was lost in or around 1967 when he and his
mother took up residency in Indonesia, where Stanley Ann Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian citizen. Berg also states that he possesses copies of Sen. Obama's registration to Fransiskus Assisi School In Jakarta, Indonesia which clearly show that he was regi stered under the name "Barry Soetoro" and his citizenship listed as Indonesian.

The Hawaiian birth certificate, Berg says, is a forgery. In the suit, the attorney states that the birth certificate on record is a forgery, has been identified as such by three independent document forensic experts, and actually belonged to Maya Kasandra Soetoro, Sen. Obama's half-sister.

"Voters donated money, goods and services to elect a nominee and were defrauded by Sen. Obama's lies and obfuscations,"
Berg stated. "If the DNC officers ... had performed one ounce of due diligence we would not find ourselves in this emergency predicament, one week away from making a person the nominee who has lost their citizenship as a child and failed to even perform the basic steps of regaining citizenship as prescribed by constitutional laws."

"It is unfair to the country," he continued, "for candidates of either party to become the nominee when there is any question of the ability to serve if
elected."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Version #2

October Surprise

Saturday, October 11, 2008

BORN IN THE COAST PROVINCIAL GENERAL HOSPITAL AT MOMBASSA, KENYA at 7.24 PM on August 4th 1961

Reports quote information that certified copies of a Kenyan Birth Certificate (BC) for Obama were sent from Kenya, and have been received by three separate individuals. And that these documents are certified, with an embossed seal, and display the name of the hospital where Obama was born, as well as witness signatures.

Reportedly this BC reflects information filed Oct. 9 by Philip Berg. See item #18 on this docket, page 10, the relevant language of which, underlined in red, is captured here in a screen shot: Barack Hussein Obama II By Judah Benjamin,

It has been asserted by a number of sources, including Andy Martin, that Barack Hussein Obama was born in Mombasa, Kenya and not in Hawaii. Philip Berg?s Latest Motion to the Court is more explicit since it gives an exact Place of Birth. I must assume that Berg did not simply pluck the Location out of thin air, Mombasa has more than one Hospital, though Coast Provincial General was the best in 1961.

British Birth Certificates have a Standard Format which has been more or less the same since 1837 and they can only be challenged in a British Court. Kenyan Law is explicit and can only be challenged in a Kenyan Court. Indonesian Law is explicit and can only be challenged in an Indonesian Court. Be clear, if Obama was born in Kenya this is not simply a matter for the US Courts, or US Law. If he was born in Kenya, and his parents were Legally Married [which on the Preponderance of Evidence they were, his father's first "Marriage" being a Tribal, or Village, Marriage, which was not Legally Recognized] due to the age of his mother he would NOT have been a US Citizen. The Immigration and Nationality Act 1952, 8 U.S.C. 1401. Sec. 301 (g) [Effective November 14, 1986] does not apply, nor does Title III, Immigration and Nationality Act Section 309. [8 U.S.C. 1409]. Unless he has taken the Oath of Allegiance as a Naturalized Citizen since he was 18 years old, and if he was born in Mombasa, Kenya, Barack Hussein Obama II would not be a US Citizen, period. The issue of whether or not he was Natural Born under Article II of the Constitution of the United States would cease to matter and he would need to be Deported as an Illegal Alien. Impeachment as a Senator would seem not to be necessary since he would never Legally have been one, but Diane Feinstein and the members of the Senate Ethics and Rules Committee would be liable to Impeachment. So would their opposite numbers in the Illinois Senate and the appropriate officials of the Illinois State Supreme Court and Bar, so far as I can see. If Senator Barack Hussein Obama II was born in The Coast Provincial General Hospital at Mombasa in Kenya at 7.24 PM on August 4th 1961, or at any other time, he is not a Natural Born Citizen of these United States and he never was. Philip J Berg, Esq, is correct, under the Nationality Act of 1940, as Revised June 1952 and in accord with United States of America vs Cervantes-Nava 281 F 3d 501 (2002) and Drozd vs INS, 155 F 3d 81, 85-88 (2d Circuit 1998) Senator Barack Hussein Obama II would not ever have been a Legal US Citizen at all, unless he was Naturalized. If he was born in The Coast Provincial General Hospital at Mombasa in Kenya any Certificate, or Certification of Live Birth, issued for him by the State of Hawaii is a Fraudulent and Illegal Document. At Birth he would have been a UK and Colonies Citizen and in accord with the Kenyan Constitution he would have become a Kenyan Citizen in December 1963. He would not have been a US Citizen. Alternatively, his UK and Colonies Birth Certificate issued in Mombasa in August 1961 could be a Fraudulent and Illegal Document. The two BCs would need to be compared. By this I mean the Original Vault Copy of the Hawaiian Birth Certificate and not the Amended, Post Adoption, Copy, Legally available to the Senator, assuming he was, as indicated by the Preponderance of Evidence, Adopted by Lolo Soetoro. This case might also need to go through the UK and Kenyan Courts and becomes a Matter of International Law and Controversy.

 

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Version #3

Here is some breaking news that the MSM oddly enough is NOT reporting!


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Media contact

Tom Hoefling
Chairman, America's Independent Party
National Committee Chairman, Alan Keyes for President 2008
tomhoefling@gmail.com

Presidential candidate Alan Keyes, AIP leaders sue in CA court to obtain Obama citizenship proof, stop Secretary of State from certifying Electors
Fenton, MI – November 14, 2008

Presidential candidate Alan Keyes, vice-presidential candidate Wiley S. Drake, and the Chairman of the American Independent Party, Markham Robinson, have filed suit in California Superior Court in Sacramento seeking to bar Secretary of State Debra Bowen from certifying to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger the names of Electors, and from transmitting to each presidential Elector a Certificate of Election, until documentary proof is produced and verified showing that Senator Obama is a "natural born" citizen of the United States, and does not hold citizenship of Indonesia, Kenya or Great Britain.

In addition, they have asked that the court issue a peremptory writ barring Senator Obama's California Electors from signing the Certificate of Vote until such documentary proof is produced and verified.

In response to questions about why the suit was being filed, Ambassador Keyes commented, "I and others are concerned that this issue be properly investigated and decided before Senator Obama takes office. Otherwise there will be a serious doubt as to the legitimacy of his tenure. This doubt would also affect the respect people have for the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. I hope the issue can be quickly clarified so that the new President can take office under no shadow of doubt. This will be good for him and for the nation."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Version #4  Sample Online petition

Stop the Obama Constitutional Crisis

Sign the Petition : 105,144 Letters and Emails Sent So Far

Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution reads: "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."

There are numerous questions as to Obama's citizen status raising suspicion and doubt about Obama constitutional qualification to be president. To settle these questions Mr. Obama must produce proof of citizenship!

Documents that must be produced include;
(a) a certified copy of "vault" (original long version) birth certificate;
(b) certified copies of all reissued and sealed birth certificates in the names Barack Hussein Obama, Barry Soetoro, Barry Obama, Barack Dunham and Barry Dunham;
(c) a certified copy Certification of Citizenship;
(d) a certified copy Oath of Allegiance taken upon age of maturity;
(e) certified copies of admission forms for Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard Law School; and
(f) certified copies of any court orders or legal documents changing his name from Barry Soetoro.

It is reasonable that these documents should be produced considering that his father is Kenyan, his adoptive father is Indonesian, and his grandmother claims to have been present at his birth in Kenya. If he is a natural born citizen then producing these documents should not be any problem.

These allegations will not go away until Mr. Obama produces proof to federal authorities and the public. If he will not do so voluntarily he must be compelled by every means available. You, as an employee of The People, have sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution.

We The People are demanding you to make every effort, both public and private, to resolve this fundamental Constitutional question before 20 January.
Stop the Obama Constitutional Crisis


 

 
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