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Asians witness 21st century’s longest eclipse
MSNBC
Many on totality’s track stay indoors, giving in to superstition
AREGNA, India – The longest solar eclipse of the 21st century created near darkness in daytime, along a swath that stretched from India to China and the South Pacific.
Millions gathered in the open to watch the spectacle, but millions more shuttered themselves inside their houses, gripped by fearful myths.
One Hindu fable says eclipses are caused by a dragon-demon that swallows the sun, but modern-day astronomers have a less threatening explanation: They say the phenomenon occurs when the orbital mechanics are just right for the moon to cover the sun completely, casting a shadow on Earth.
A thick cloud cover over India obscured the sun when the eclipse began at dawn, but parted in several Indian cities just minutes before the beginning of totality.
“We were apprehensive of this cloudy weather, but it was still a unique experience with morning turning into night for more than three minutes,” Amitabh Pande, a scientist with India’s Science Popularization Association of Communicators and Educators, said after watching the eclipse.
Great view from the Ganges
One of the best views of the complete eclipse, shown live on several television channels, appeared to be in the town of Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River, sacred to devout Hindus.
Thousands of Hindus took a dip in keeping with the ancient belief that bathing in the river at Varanasi, especially on special occasions, cleanses one’s sins. The eclipse was seen there for 3 minutes and 48 seconds.
The eclipse – visible only in Asia – moved eastward from India to Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China.
Scientists had predicted the Indian village of Taregna would have the clearest view, and this was where thousands of scientists, nature enthusiasts and students gathered. The party was spoiled by thick clouds and overnight rains, but even that was welcome news for the agricultural area which has seen scant rainfall this monsoon season.
“It would have been nice to see the solar eclipse, but the rain is far more important for us,” said Ram Naresh Yadav, a farmer.
Longest stretch until 2132
At its peak over the Pacific, the total phase of the eclipse lasted 6 minutes and 39 seconds. That made it the longest-lasting total eclipse since July 11, 1991, when a stretch of totality lasting 6 minutes and 53 seconds was visible from Hawaii to South America. There will not be a longer total eclipse than Wednesday’s until 2132.
A 10-member team of scientists from the premier Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore and the Indian air force filmed the eclipse from an airplane, an air force press release said. But millions across India shunned the sight and planned to stay indoors.
Even in regions where the eclipse was not visible, pregnant women were advised to stay indoors in curtained rooms, due to a belief that the sun’s invisible rays would harm the fetus and the baby would be born with disfigurations, birthmarks or a congenital defect.
Krati Jain, a software professional in New Delhi, said she planned to take a day off from work Wednesday to avoid what she called “any ill effects of the eclipse on my baby.”
“My mother and aunts have called and told me stay in a darkened room with the curtains closed, lie in bed and chant prayers,” said Jain, 24, who is expecting her first child.
In the northern Indian state of Punjab, authorities ordered schools to begin an hour late to prevent children from venturing out and gazing at the sun.
Others saw a business opportunity: One travel agency in India scheduled a charter flight to watch the eclipse by air, with seats facing the sun selling at a premium.
Eclipse mania also gripped China. In Beijing, enthusiasts rushed to buy solar filters to watch the partial eclipse safely. “It’s quite exciting,” Chen Xintian said as she made her purchase. “I’ve never seen an eclipse before. It’s a rare event, and I am very happy.”
The track of totality passed right through Shanghai, China’s largest city. This led some observers to say that Wednesday’s eclipse could have the largest potential audience in history. However, because of Shanghai’s cloud cover, many residents couldn’t see the actual eclipse above the morning darkness.
The next total solar eclipse is due to occur on July 11, 2010, and will be visible from the South Pacific and parts of South America. That dose of totality will last no longer than 5 minutes and 20 seconds. The continental United States isn’t due for a total solar eclipse until Aug. 21, 2017, but on that day, the track of totality will stretch from Oregon to South Carolina.
This report includes information from The Associated Press and msnbc.com.
White House joins ‘birth hospital’ cover-up
WND
Spokesman belittles WND reporter, asks ‘what reporting’ has been done
Joe Kovacs and Bob Unruh
 Press Secretary Robert Gibbs did not confirm the authenticity of the alleged Jan. 24, 2009, letter from President Obama to his purported place of birth, Kapi’olani Medical Center. His remarks begin at the 55:27 mark of the press briefing. |
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today refused to confirm that a letter posted by the Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu – purportedly from President Obama claiming the facility as his birthplace – is, in fact, real.
The issue arose today when Les Kinsolving, WND’s correspondent at the White House, asked Gibbs about the letter, which the hospital also used in a magazine fundraising article.
However, when WND reported on the posted images and questioned their authenticity, the hospital concealed the online image, and then refused to confirm the letter even exists.
Gibbs’ answer came in response to Kinsolving’s question, which begins at the 55:27 mark into the video recorded by C-SPAN:
While you and the president were overseas on July the 7th, there was on the Internet a copy of a letter on White House letterhead dated January the 24th, 2009, with the signature “Barack Obama,” which stated, “The place of my birth was Honolulu’s Kapi’olani Medical Center.” And my question is, can you verify this letter? Or if not, would you tell us which Hawaiian hospital he was born in, since Kapi’olani, which used to publicize this, now refuses to confirm?
 Barack Obama states in this purported letter from him on what appears to be White House stationery that he was born at the Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu. The letter was posted by the medical center for nearly six months on its website and used for fundraising before electronically hidden once WND disclosed it was not an actual paper letter, but merely HTML coding. The hospital and White House now refuse to confirm that a real document even exists. |
Gibbs said, without responding directly to the question about the veracity of the letter, “Goodness gracious. I’m going to be, like, in year four describing where it is the president was born. I don’t have the letter at my fingertips, obviously, and I don’t know the name of the exact hospital.”
When Kinsolving asked when Gibbs could check, he responded.
“I will seek to interview whoever brought the president into this world. But can we just – I want to do this once and for all, Lester. Let’s just do this once and for all. You can go on this – I hope you’ll take the time not just to Google ‘President, January 24, Hawaii hospital, birth’ and come up with this letter, but go on the Internet and get the birth certificate, Lester, and put…”
When Kinsolving pointed out the image posted on various website’s was not a birth certificate or a certificate of live birth, but a different “Certification of Live Birth” document, Gibbs said, “I know. Just a document from the state of Hawaii denoting the fact that the president was indeed born in the state of Hawaii.”
But under Hawaiian law at the time of the president’s birth, such documents were available for babies not even born in Hawaii.
Obama states in the purported letter that he was born at Kapi’olani. The letter was posted by the medical center for nearly six months on its website before being electronically hidden once WND publicized it.
Now the hospital refuses to confirm that a real document even exists. But a similar – although not identical – image purporting also to be a letter from Obama claiming Kapi’olani as his birth place appeared in the hospital’s Inspire Magazine:
 |
Then Gibbs, amidst a repeating chorus of guffaws and giggles from the White House press corps, started lecturing the WND correspondent, who is among a handful of the most senior correspondents on the White House assignment, about journalism.
“You know, Lester, I – I want to stay on this for a second, Lester, I want to stay on this for a second, because you’re a smart man, right?” said Gibbs.
“Hypothetical,” said an unidentified reporter.
“All right, all right, settle down in here. Only I get to make jokes like that,” said Gibbs.
“Lester, let’s finish this one. Do all of your listeners and the listeners throughout this country the service to which any journalist owes those listeners, and that is the pursuit of the noble truth. And the noble truth is that the president was born in Hawaii, a state of the United States of America. And all of this incredible back-and-forth – I get e-mails today from people who inexplicably can figure out very easily the White House e-mail address, and want proof of where the president was born,” Gibbs said.
“Lester, the next time you ask me a question I’m going to ask you what reporting you’ve done to demonstrate to your listeners the truth, the certificate, the state, so that they can look to you for that momentous search for the truth, and you can wipe away all the dark clouds and provide them with the knowing clarity that comes with that certainty,” Gibbs said.
However, WND has reported that a wide range of Obama documentation – along with Obama’s birth certificate – are not available, including Obama’s kindergarten records, Punahou school records, Occidental College records, Columbia University records, Columbia thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, passport, medical records, files from his years as an Illinois state senator, Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records and his adoption records.
WND has reported that just within the last week, at least two reports have cited Obama’s birth in Kenya.Wikipedia also was found to have been reporting on Obama’s birth in Kenya, before a series of scrubs placed his birth in Honolulu.
And that came on the heels of several online information sites changing the president’s supposed birthplace from one hospital in Hawaii to another, after WND broke the news of the letter said to be from the White House.
When WND exposed doubts about the authenticity of the letter because it was created with HTML computer code, the hospital which for nearly six months proudly declared Obama was born at its facility and used that claim as a major fund-raising tool commenced an active cover-up, hiding that White House letter from its original webpage and refusing to confirm such a letter actually exists.
WND has yet to be able to identify any physician or medical attendant present at Kapi’olani Hospital in 1961 who can recall Ann Dunham, Obama’s mother, giving birth to Barack Obama at the hospital or who can identify the name of the attending physician.
To date, Obama has not revealed his original long-form, hospital-generated “Certificate of Live Birth” that includes details such as the name of the medical facility and the doctor who delivered him.
Here is an actual Hawaii birth certificate from 1963 (the same era as Obama’s birth), which while redacted includes detailed information documenting a birth, including the name of the birth hospital and the attending physician. Beneath it is the short-form “Certification of Live Birth” offered by Obama as proof of his Hawaiian birth. It is possible to have been born outside of Hawaii and still obtain the latter form, but not the former:
 Long-form birth certificate from state of Hawaii (Image courtesy Philip Berg) |
Here is the “Certification of Live Birth” presented by Obama:
 Short-form “Certification of Live Birth” |
WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama’s status as a “natural born citizen” – challenges that all have been confronted by attorneys acting on the president’s behalf to keep his records sealed.
The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.”
Some of the lawsuits question whether he was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama’s American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.
Other challenges have focused on Obama’s citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.
Complicating the situation is Obama’s decision to spend sums estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to avoid releasing a state birth certificate that would put to rest all of the questions.
Among the cases have been several from Democrat Philip Berg, who has alleged that not only is Obama ineligible to be president, he was unqualified to be the senator from Illinois and should be prosecuted under the False Claims Act.
The key question in the dispute also is being raised on billboards nationwide.
 “Where’s The Birth Certificate?” billboard in Pennsylvania |
The billboard campaign follows an ongoing petition campaign launched several months ago by WND Editor and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Farah.
They are intended to raise public awareness of the fact that Obama has never released the standard “long-form” birth certificate that would show which hospital he was born in, the attending physician and establish that he truly was born in Hawaii, as his autobiography maintains.
Note: Members of the news media wishing to interview Joe Kovacs, Joseph Farah, Jerome Corsi, Les Kinsolving or Bob Unruh on this issue, please contact WND.
Obama birth mystery: More than 1 hospital
FROM WND
Myth-busting website, news articles say president not born in location he claims
By Joe Kovacs and Jerome Corsi
More than eight months after Barack Obama was elected president, the mystery surrounding his precise birthplace is deepening as the myth-busting website Snopes.com – along with several news agencies and an Obama community blog – directly contradict the president’s own claim regarding the hospital in which he was born.
In an official letter signed by Obama on White House stationery, the president celebrates his birth at the Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, Hawaii. The facility has posted that letter on its website, along with video of the letter being read in public.
| Barack Obama states in this letter on White House stationery that he was born at the Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu. The letter was posted by the medical center on its website. |
But according to Snopes, the popular online hoax-buster that many rely on as the final word on both important and frivolous stories, Obama was born at a different hospital in the Hawaiian capital.
In Snopes’ entry concerning allegations that Obama is a “radical Muslim,” the site addresses the birth history of the commander in chief, stating, “Barack Hussein Obama was born on 4 August 1961 at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.”
WND took a screen shot of the entry and highlighted the name of the hospital.
 In this July 7, 2009, screenshot of Snopes.com highlighted by WND, the myth-busting website asserts President Obama was born at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, not the Kapi’olani Medical Center in which Obama claims to have been born. |
Within just 90 minutes of the WND report, Snopes swapped the location of the president’s birth from Queen’s to Kapi’olani, as evinced by this screen shot from the exact same Web address:
 Screenshot of same Snopes.com address on July 8. 2009, reveals Snopes swapped the location of President Obama’s birth from Queen’s Medical Center to the Kapi’olani Medical Center. |
It noted some ambiguity by stating, “News accounts have also variously placed his birth as having occurred at Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.”)
Interestingly, in Snopes’ entry focusing on the natural-born citizenship controversy, no mention is made of the birth hospital.
But Snopes is not alone in asserting Obama was born at a hospital other than the one he personally claims.
A number of news articles published both in the U.S. and abroad name Queen’s Medical Center – not Kapi’olani – as the correct birthplace.
A United Press International report from Nov. 4 states:
“Obama described his birth at Queen’s Medical Center in Hawaii Aug. 4, 1961, to a young white woman from Kansas and a father of Luo ethnicity from Nyanza Province in Kenya, as an ‘all-America’ story transcending orthodox racial stereotypes and experience.”
 A July 7, 2009, screenshot of a United Press Inrernational story dated Nov. 4, 2008, indicates Barack Obama was born at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. |
After this WND story was originally posted, UPI also swapped the hospital of birth to indicate Obama was born at Kapi’olani, as shown here at the same online address:
 Screenshot of same UPI.com address on July 8. 2009, reveals UPI swapped the location of President Obama’s birth from Queen’s Medical Center to the Kapi’olani Medical Center. |
A November 2004 report from the Rainbow Edition News Letter, published by the Education Laboratory School in Hawaii, noted in its lead sentence:
“Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.”
 This screenshot of the November 2004 edition of the Rainbow Edition News Letter states at its outset Obama was born at Queen’s Medical Center. |
Adding a twist to the dispute is a separate claim on the MyBarackObama.com campaign website that lists a genealogy for Obama citing his birthplace as Queen’s Medical Center.
The campaign website blog image:
 Claim on MyBarackObama.com that Obama was born in Queen’s Medical Center |
The site documents Obama’s lineage back to his great-great-great grandparents, who lived in the mid-1800s.
It states: “Barack Hussein OBAMA was born on 4 August 1961 at the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein OBAMA, Sr. of Nyangoma-Kogelo, Siaya District, Kenya, and Ann DUNHAM of Wichita, Kansas.”
William Addams Reitwiesner, genealogist at the Library of Congress, first listed the birth location at Queen’s.
 Reference to Queen’s attributed to Library of Congress |
Now he’s listing it at Kapi’olani.
 Reference to Kapi’olani attributed to Library of Congress |
Kenya’s East African Standard, in an Aug. 24, 2006, article titled “From Young ‘Barry’ to Top American Senator,” said of Obama: “The Harvard Law School and Columbia University graduate was born at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Honolulu in Hawaii, where his parents were studying at the East-West Centre of the University of Hawaii in Manoa.”
But news agencies are hardly unanimous on the exact hospital.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Honolulu Advertiser and Washington Post have all published stories indicating Obama was born at the Kapi’olani Medical Center, in agreement with the president’s letter to the facility.
But even the Honolulu Advertiser, in a Nov. 9 article, admitted “the hospital where he was born is difficult to document,”as officials clam up while citing federal privacy laws.
“We can’t confirm or deny it – even though all the information out there says he was born at Kapi’olani Hospital,” said hospital spokeswoman Claire Tong. “Our hands are tied.”
The Encyclopedia Britannica mentions only that Obama was born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, but makes no reference to any hospital.
The Associated Press reports that Internet users are far from ignorant about the questions over Obama’s birthplace and documentation.
“Among the top search terms paired with Barack Obama: biography, Israel, news, jokes, stimulus package, birth certificate (related to those persistent but unfounded rumors that Obama is not a natural-born citizen and thus ineligible to be president.),” the news organization stated.
Makana Shook, corporate communications coordinator for Queen’s, told WND, “The hospital is not allowed to give out any information to the public about patients without the patient’s permission, because of federal HIPAA law restrictions.”
Kapi’olani officials said they would release any documentation they may have about the president’s birth if the president gives his permission to make the documentation public.
The White House did not respond to a WND request for comment.
The question to the White House noted the multiple references to Queen’s. “Then, beginning sometime after the start of 2009, the president and various members of his family, including his sister Maya Soetoro, changed the story and gave interviews (or wrote letters as above) claiming President Obama was born at Kapi’olani Medical Center.
“Why did the president claim to be born at two different hospitals in Hawaii?” WND asked. “Which is the true hospital where the president was born?”
Snopes responded to a WND request for comment about the conflict between its report and Obama’s statement with an automated message that shed no light on the matter.
WND has reported that among the documentation – besides his birth certificate – not yet available for Obama includes his kindergarten records, his Punahou school records, his Occidental College records, his Columbia University records, his Columbia thesis, his Harvard Law School records, his Harvard Law Review articles, his scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, his passport, his medical records, his files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records, and his adoption records.
That may very well be intentional on the part of Obama, who used his first full day in residence in the Oval Office to issue an executive order restricting the release of presidential records.
“Upon receipt of a notice of intent to disclose presidential records, the attorney general (directly or through the assistant attorney general for the office of legal counsel) and the counsel to the president shall review as they deem appropriate the records covered by the notice and consult with each other, the archivist, and such other executive agencies as they deem appropriate concerning whether invocation of executive privilege is justified,” the order states.
“If either the attorney general or the counsel to the president believes that the circumstances justify invocation of executive privilege, the issue shall be presented to the president by the counsel to the president and the attorney general.”
The result is that the president ultimately would decide if those records can be released.
“After receiving such notice, the archivist shall not disclose the privileged records unless directed to do so by an incumbent president or by a final court order,” the order said.
Meanwhile, there are some who maintain Obama was not born in the U.S. at all as he claims, but in Africa.
An affidavit submitted to WND by Rev. Kweli Shuhubia, an Anabaptist minister in Kenya, who is the official Swahili translator for the annual Anabaptist Conference in Kenya, asserts “it is common knowledge throughout the Christian and Muslim communities in Kenya that Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., was born in Mombasa, Kenya.”
Shuhubia further states in his affidavit that he visited Obama’s grandmother at her home in the village of Alego-Kogello, on Oct. 16, 2008, in order to conduct a telephone conference interview that would connect with McRae in the United States.
During the telephone interview, McRae specifically asked Sarah Obama two times, “Were you present when your grandson was born in Kenya.”
“Both times she specifically replied, ‘Yes,’” Shuhubia affirmed in the affidavit.
“Ms. Sarah Hussein Obama was very adamant that her grandson, Senator Barack Hussein Obama, was born in Kenya, and that she was present and witnessed his birth in Kenya, not the United States,” Shuhubia continued in the affidavit.
WND also reported the office of Hawaii Republican Gov. Linda Lingle has officially declined a request made in writing by WND in Hawaii to obtain a copy of Obama’s hospital-generated long-form original birth certificate.
The “Certification of Live Birth” posted online and widely touted as “Obama’s birth certificate” does not in any way prove he was born in Hawaii, since the same “short-form” document is easily obtainable for children not born in Hawaii. The true “long-form” birth certificate – which includes information such as the name of the birth hospital and attending physician – is the only document that can prove Obama was born in Hawaii, but to date he has not permitted its release for public or press scrutiny.
Oddly, though congressional hearings were held to determine whether Sen. John McCain was constitutionally eligible to be president as a “natural born citizen,” no controlling legal authority ever sought to verify Obama’s claim to a Hawaiian birth.
Here is an actual Hawaiian birth certificate from 1963 (the same era as Obama’s birth), which while redacted includes detailed information documenting a birth, including the name of the birth hospital and the attending physician. Beneath it is the short-form “Certification of Live Birth” offered by President Obama as proof of his Hawaiian birth. It is possible to have been born outside of Hawaii and still obtain the latter form, but not the former:
| Long-form birth certificate from state of Hawaii (Image courtesy Philip Berg) |
Here is the “Certification of Live Birth” presented by Obama:
| Short-form “Certification of Live Birth” |
WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama’s status as a “natural born citizen.” The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.”
Some of the lawsuits question whether he was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama’s American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.
Other challenges have focused on Obama’s citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.
Complicating the situation is Obama’s decision to spend sums estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to avoid releasing a state birth certificate that would put to rest all of the questions.
Among the cases have been several from Democrat Philip Berg, who has alleged that not only is Obama ineligible to be president, he was unqualified to be the senator from Illinois and should be prosecuted under the False Claims Act.
The key question in the dispute also is being raised on billboards nationwide.
| “Where’s The Birth Certificate?” billboard in Pennsylvania |
The billboard campaign follows an ongoing petition campaign launched several months ago by WND Editor and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Farah.
They are intended to raise public awareness of the fact that Obama has never released the standard “long-form” birth certificate that would show which hospital he was born in, the attending physician and establish that he truly was born in Hawaii, as his autobiography maintains.
Although Obama officials have told WND all such allegations are “garbage,” here is a partial listing and status update for some of the cases over Obama’s eligibility:
- New Jersey attorney Mario Apuzzo has filed a case on behalf of Charles Kerchner and others alleging Congress didn’t properly ascertain that Obama is qualified to hold the office of president.
- Berg has three cases pending, including Berg vs. Obama in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a separate Berg vs. Obama challenging Obama’s eligibility to be a U.S. senator and Hollister vs. Soetoro a/k/a Obama, (now dismissed) brought on behalf of a retired military member who could be facing recall to active duty by Obama.
- Leo Donofrio of New Jersey filed a lawsuit claiming Obama’s dual citizenship disqualified him from serving as president. His case was considered in conference by the U.S. Supreme Court but denied a full hearing.
- Cort Wrotnowski filed suit against Connecticut’s secretary of state, making a similar argument to Donofrio. His case was considered in conference by the U.S. Supreme Court, but was denied a full hearing.
- Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes headlines a list of people filing a suit in California, in a case handled by the United States Justice Foundation, that asks the secretary of state to refuse to allow the state’s 55 Electoral College votes to be cast in the 2008 presidential election until Obama verifies his eligibility to hold the office. The case is pending, and lawyers are seeking the public’s support.
- Chicago lawyer Andy Martin sought legal action requiring Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle to release Obama’s vital statistics record. The case was dismissed by Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Bert Ayabe.
- Lt. Col. Donald Sullivan sought a temporary restraining order to stop the Electoral College vote in North Carolina until Barack Obama’s eligibility could be confirmed, alleging doubt about Obama’s citizenship. His case was denied.
- In Ohio, David M. Neal sued to force the secretary of state to request documents from the Federal Elections Commission, the Democratic National Committee, the Ohio Democratic Party and Obama to show the presidential candidate was born in Hawaii. The case was denied.
- Also in Ohio, there was the Greenberg v. Brunner case which ended when the judge threatened to assess all case costs against the plaintiff.
- In Washington state, Steven Marquis sued the secretary of state seeking a determination on Obama’s citizenship. The case was denied.
- In Georgia, Rev. Tom Terry asked the state Supreme Court to authenticate Obama’s birth certificate. His request for an injunction against Georgia’s secretary of state was denied by Georgia Superior Court Judge Jerry W. Baxter.
- California attorney Orly Taitz has brought a case, Lightfoot vs. Bowen, on behalf of Gail Lightfoot, the vice presidential candidate on the ballot with Ron Paul, four electors and two registered voters. She also has brought forward several other cases and has conducted several public campaigns to generate awareness of the issue.
- In Texas, Darrel Hunter vs. Obama later was dismissed.
- In Ohio, Gordon Stamper vs. U.S. later was dismissed.
- In Texas, Brockhausen vs. Andrade.
- In Washington, L. Charles Cohen vs. Obama.
- In Hawaii, Keyes vs. Lingle, dismissed.
In addition, other cases cited on the RightSideofLife blog as raising questions about Obama’s eligibility include:
- In Texas, Darrel Hunter vs. Obama later was dismissed.
- In Ohio, Gordon Stamper vs. U.S. later was dismissed.
- In Texas, Brockhausen vs. Andrade.
- In Washington, L. Charles Cohen vs. Obama.
Note: Members of the news media wishing to interview Joe Kovacs, Jerome Corsi, Joseph Farah or Bob Unruh on this issue, please contact WND.
2nd lawsuit challenges Obama’s citizenship
FROM WND
Man demands state verify birth records or remove senator from ballots
By Chelsea Schilling
In a second lawsuit challenging Barack Obama’s “natural born” citizenship, a Washington resident is demanding officials review original or certified birth documents for the Democratic Party presidential candidate.
Steven Marquis of Fall City, Wash., filed suit Oct. 9 in Washington State Superior Court, calling for Secretary of State Sam Reed to determine whether Obama is a citizen before Election Day. Marquis released a statement saying the state has the authority to “prevent the wholesale disenfranchisement of voters” who might have otherwise had the opportunity to choose a qualified candidate should records show Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen.
“At this point, Mr. Obama has not allowed independent or official access to his birth records nor supporting hospital records,” Marquis wrote. “The Hawaii Health Department has violated Federal law by ignoring formal Freedom of Information requests for the same.”
Marquis referenced prominent Pennsylvania Democrat and attorney Philip J. Berg’s lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Sen. Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee for proof of Obama’s American citizenship.
“Mr. Obama failed to respond to the District Court’s request to produce or allow access to the official documents (should they exist) and instead filed a motion to dismiss arguing the Plaintiff had no ‘standing’ or right to know,” he said. “This non-response as of 9/24/2008 in Federal court casts doubt on the veracity of the electoral system and is the principal reason for this lawsuit.”
Marquis said his late entry of the lawsuit is due to Obama’s “delay and subsequent non response to reasonable request for valid certificates.”
He indicated that his requests for certification of the birth documents were rejected by Washington’s Office of the Secretary of State. Marquis requested an injunction to force the office to confirm Obama’s U.S. citizenship or remove his name from Washington ballots. He said the agency is “specifically charged with certifying and guaranteeing the veracity of official documents and overseeing the elections to wit the people’s confidence in the fundamental aspect of democracy is maintained.”
However, Marquis continued, “To date, in this regard, Secretary of State Sam Reed has not carried out that fundamental duty.”
Obama retakes oath of office
Jan 22
Posted by Chris Thomas
Barack Obama has retaken the oath of office that was administered by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts at the ceremonial inauguration yesterday.
Legal experts had suggested the move because of the multiple stumbles and flubs at the original event.
Obama ended up transposing the word “faithfully” during his inauguration in Washington. When he should have said he would “faithfully execute the office of president of the United States,” he instead said he will “execute the office of president of the United States faithfully.”
WND previously reported on the flub, and the following video reveals the circumstances:
Roberts began administering the oath by stating the president-elect’s name, but Obama cut him off before he could finish.
“I Barack …” Obama eagerly chimed in before Roberts could complete the first sentence.
Obama then allowed Roberts to continue.
“I Barack Hussein Obama do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully,” Roberts said.
“That I will execute …” Obama said.
Roberts repeated, ” … faithfully the office of president of the United States.”
“The office of president of the United States faithfully,” Obama said.
“And will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God,” he finally finished.
According to a Fox News report, Roberts went to the White House late today and administered the oath, correctly, to Obama. Also present were a pool reporter and a White House photographer.
The Associated Press reports, “The president said he did not have his Bible with him [for the second oath], but that the oath was binding anyway.”
Josh White of the Washington Post said the oath of office is required of a new president “before he can execute his power.”
And he noted, “the Constitution is clear that its 35 words must be spoken exactly.”
“He should probably go ahead and take the oath again,” Jonathan Turley had told the Post.
The professor of constitutional law at George Washington University said without doing that, “there are going to be people who for the next four years are going to argue that he didn’t meet the constitutional standard.”
In case you missed it, get WND’s special in-depth report on THE SECRET LIFE OF BARACK OBAMA.
According to the chief of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, Charles Cooper, a mistake in the oath should be fixed.
The newspaper said two previous presidents, Chester A. Arthur and Calvin Coolidge, both repeated the oath later because of similar mistakes.
“Out of a super-abundance of caution, perhaps he should do it again,” Akhil Reed Amar, a Yale professor, had suggested.
Retaking the oath, however, will not answer the multiple questions about Obama’s eligibility that have been raised in a long list of lawsuits filed over his election in November.
The lawsuits allege in various ways Obama does not meet the “natural born citizen” clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, which 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.”
Some allege his birth took place in Kenya, and his mother was a minor at the time of his birth – too young to confer American citizenship. They argue Obama’s father, Barack Obama Sr., was a Kenyan citizen subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time and would have handed down British citizenship.
There also are questions raised about Obama’s move to Indonesia when he was a child and his attendance at school there when only Indonesian citizens were allowed and his travel to Pakistan in the ’80s when such travel was forbidden to American citizens.
One California lawsuit, on which the United States Justice Foundation is working, was filed on behalf of presidential candidate Alan Keyes and others, and describes the potential damage an ineligible president could create.
“Should Senator Obama be discovered, after he takes office, to be ineligible for the Office of President of the United States of America and, thereby, his election declared void,” argues a case brought on behalf of Keyes, “Americans will suffer irreparable harm in that (a) usurper will be sitting as the President of the United States, and none of the treaties, laws, or executive orders signed by him will be valid or legal.”
A number of the arguments have reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which so far has declined to give any of the cases a hearing.
However, another conference before the justices is scheduled on the dispute Friday. The case is brought by Orly Taitz, a California lawyer.
Taitz said her arguments rest on precedents from both the California Supreme Court, which years ago removed a candidate for president from the ballot because he was only 34, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s affirmation of the ruling. The Constitution requires a president to be 35.
She also raised the issue of the concealment of Obama’s records.
“Obama has refused to submit certified copies of any of his original long form ‘vault’ birth certificates in Hawaii to any public officer or to any Petitioner. Relevant records in Kenya have also been officially restricted,” she said. “Obama has sealed all educational records which might reveal his stated citizenship. These include Punahou High School, Occidental College, Columbia University, and Harvard Law School.”
Obama has claimed in his autobiography and elsewhere that he was born in Hawaii in 1961 to parents Barack Hussein Obama Sr., a Kenyan national, and Stanley Ann Dunham, a minor. But details about which hospital handled the birth and other details provided on the complete birth certificate have been withheld by Obama despite lawsuits and public demands for release.
WND senior reporter Jerome Corsi went to both Kenya and Hawaii prior to the election to investigate issues surrounding Obama’s birth. But his research and discoveries only raised more questions.
The biggest question was why, if a Hawaii birth certificate exists as his campaign has stated, Obama hasn’t simply ordered it made available to settle the rumors.
The governor’s office in Hawaii said there is a valid certificate but rejected requests for access and left ambiguous its origin: Does the certificate on file with the Department of Health indicate a Hawaii birth or was it generated after the Obama family registered a Kenyan birth in Hawaii?
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