*BORN IN THE USA?*
Obama: Where have all his records gone? Footprints of president's own
history either vanish or remain covered up
While nearly 400,000 concerned citizens demand President Obama present his
elusive "long-form" birth certificate, more than a dozen other documents
remain unreleased or otherwise blocked from the public eye.
Numerous documents which have yet to be surrendered include the following.
Obama kindergarten records
The Maui News reported that Obama attended kindergarten at Noelani
Elementary School on Oahu during the school year 1966-67. It released a
photo of two teachers, Katherine Nakamoto and Aimee Yatsushiro, with five
students. The teachers claim one of the children is Barack Obama.
According to the Hawaii Department of Education, students must submit a
birth certificate to register. Parents may bring a passport or student visa
if the child is from a foreign country.
So far, no records have been released by the school. Noelani Elementary
School officials have not responded to WND's request for comment.
Punahou School records
Though from a modest background, Obama began attending the prestigious
Punahou School in Honolulu, one of Hawaii's top private institutions. He
reportedly received a scholarship and attended the school from the fifth
grade until he finished high school, though no financial records have been
released.
The Boston Globe reported, "In 1979, the year Obama graduated, tuition for
high school students at Punahou was $1,990, a sizable expense compared with
Hawaii's median family income of $22,750 that year.
Obama, reportedly a "B" student, studied among the island's richest and most
accomplished students. According to the school's website, he also played
forward on Punahou's 1979 state championship basketball team.
Occidental College records
Obama arrived at Occidental College, a small liberal arts school in Los
Angeles, Calif., in the fall of 1979. He only briefly mentions the school in
his 1995 memoir, "Dreams from My Father."
Obama attended the school on a scholarship. Some question whether the
financial aid he received was reserved for foreign students. Financial
records have not been released.
In a legal action, handled largely by Gary Kreep of the U.S. Justice
Foundation, officials at Occidental College were served with a demand to
produce records concerning Barack Obama's attendance there during the 1980s
because they could document whether he was attending as a foreign national.
Kreep petitioned the college with a demand for its records concerning Obama.
"The gravamen of the petition is the question as to whether United States
Senator Barack Hussein Obama, of Illinois, is eligible to serve as president
of the United States pursuant to the requirements for that office in the
United States Constitution," he wrote. "The records sought may provide
documentary evidence, and/or admissions by said defendant, as to said
eligibility or lack thereof."
College officials then contacted Obama's lawyers, who argued to the court
that the election was over and that future concerns should be addressed to
Congress.
The motion stated that the records, which could reveal on what name Obama
attended classes at Occidental and whether he attended on scholarship money
intended for foreign students, "are of no relevance to this moot
litigation."
The motion also claimed the petitioners failed to serve the subpoena
properly.
Get your "Where's the birth certificate?" bumper sticker here.
"The subpoena directed to Occidental College should therefore be quashed.
Alternatively, this court should issue an order directing that the
deposition of the custodian of records of Occidental College not take
place," the firm working on Obama's behalf stated.
"The central issue in this lawsuit … is whether any Respondent had a legal
duty to demand proof of natural born citizenship from Democratic Party's
nominee," the motion said. "None of the documents sought by petitioners
could possibly assist in answering this question."
A judge granted a motion to quash the subpoena.
"Obama's attorneys bent over backward to block us," Kreep told WND. "Obama
doesn't want anyone to see those records. He's trying to hide them."
His efforts resulted in a threat from Obama's attorneys to seek financial
sanctions against the plaintiff's lawyers.
Kreep said a notice of appeal will be filed next week.
A notice posted on the Occidental College website states, "Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) regulations protect the privacy
of student education records. We, therefore, cannot disclose students'
classes, grade point averages, majors or other such information."
Columbia University records
Obama transferred from Occidental College to Columbia University in 1981, at
the age of 20.
According to the New York Times, Obama "suggests in his book that his years
in New York were a pivotal period: He ran three miles a day, buckled down to
work and 'stopped getting high,' which he says he had started doing in high
school. Yet he declined repeated requests to talk about his New York years,
release his Columbia transcript or identify even a single fellow student,
co-worker, roommate or friend from those years."
Campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt told the newspaper in October 2007, "He
doesn’t remember the names of a lot of people in his life."
In a 2005 profile in a Columbia alumni magazine, Obama called his time at
the school "an intense period of study."
"I spent a lot of time in the library. I didn't socialize that much. I was
like a monk," he said.
Obama claimed to be a part of the Black Student Organization and
anti-apartheid activities. But according to the New York Times, several
well-known student leaders did not recall his involvement.
Fox News made contact with 400 of Obama's classmates. No one remembered him.
The Columbia University chapter in Obama's life remains blank, according to
the New York Sun.
"The Obama campaign has refused to release his college transcript, despite
an academic career that led him to Harvard Law School and, later, to a
lecturing position at the University of Chicago," the Sun reported in
September 2008. "The shroud surrounding his experience at Columbia contrasts
with that of other major party nominees since 2000, all whom have eventually
released information about their college performance or seen it leaked to
the public."
When the newspaper inquired, the Obama campaign did not offer an explanation
for why the transcript had not been released.
According to the New York Sun, a program from Columbia's 1983 commencement
ceremony lists Obama as a graduate. University spokesman Brian Connolly
confirmed that Obama graduated with a major in political science but without
honors. Nonetheless, he was later admitted to Harvard Law School.
Columbia thesis "Soviet Nuclear Disarmament"
Before applying to Harvard, Obama is said to have written a major thesis in
his senior year. It has not been released.
An Oct 30, 2007, a New York Times article stated, "[Obama] barely mentions
Columbia, training ground for the elite, where he transferred in his junior
year, majoring in political science and international relations and writing
his thesis on Soviet nuclear disarmament."
Former Columbia professor, Michael Baron, told NBC News Obama excelled in
his year-long honors seminar called American Foreign Policy.
He also said Obama spent a whole year writing a "thesis" or "senior thesis"
on the topic of nuclear negotiations with the former Soviet Union.
"My recollection is that the paper was an analysis of the evolution of the
arms reduction negotiations between the Soviet Union and the United States,"
Baron told reporters in an e-mail. "At that time, a hot topic in foreign
policy circles was finding a way in which each country could safely reduce
the large arsenal of nuclear weapons pointed at the other … For U.S. policy
makers in both political parties, the aim was not disarmament, but achieving
deep reductions in the Soviet nuclear arsenal and keeping a substantial and
permanent American advantage. As I remember it, the paper was about those
negotiations, their tactics and chances for success. Barack got an A."
Baron said he saved Obama's paper and recently searched through boxes hoping
to find it, but he told reporters he may have thrown it away during a move
several years ago.
Baron wrote a letter of recommendation when Obama applied to Harvard Law
School. According to Federal Election Commission records, he also donated at
least $1,250 to Obama's presidential campaign.
On July 24, 2008, the Obama administration told NBC News Obama was unable to
release copies of his thesis paper.
"We do not have a copy of the course paper you requested and neither does
Columbia University," Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said.
According to MSNBC, Columbia University officials claim they do not have a
copy available in the college's archives.
Harvard Law School records
With less than steller marks upon his graduation from Columbia, Obama was
accepted into Harvard Law School.
WND columnist Jack Cashill wrote, "If Obama's LSAT scores merited admission
(to Harvard), we would know about them. We don't. The Obama camp guards
those scores, like his SAT scores, more tightly that Iran does its nuclear
secrets."
He continued, "We know enough about Obama's Columbia grades to know how far
they fall below the Harvard norm, likely even below the affirmative
action-adjusted black norm at Harvard."
Cashill wrote, Khalid al-Mansour, principle adviser to Saudi Prince
Al-Waleed bin Talal, lobbied friends like Manhattan Borough President Percy
Sutton to intervene at Harvard on Obama's behalf. Al-Mansour reportedly
mentored founders of the Black Panther party in the early 1960s.
Cashill suggests Obama's "shyness" about his Harvard experience may stem
from his reluctance to broadcast his connections.
According to Politico, Obama's name does not appear on any legal
scholarships during his time at Harvard. His campaign reportedly said his
Harvard education was a product of hard work and student loans. Obama
graduated magna cum laude in 1991.
Harvard Law Review articles
In 1990, Obama beat out 18 other contenders to become the first black
president of the Harvard Law Review, where he spent at least 50 hours a week
editing submissions from judges, scholars and authors.
According to Politico, there were "eight dense volumes produced during his
time in charge there – 2,083 pages in all."
Campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt told Politico Obama didn't write any articles
for the Review, but he did leave behind numerous case analyses and unsigned
"notes" from Harvard students.
As Matthew Franck noted in National Review Online, "A search of the
HeinOnline database of law journals turns up exactly nothing credited to
Obama in any law review anywhere at any time."
Susan Estrich, the first female president of the Review who served 14 years
earlier, said Obama must have had something published that year, even if his
campaign denied it.
"They probably don't want [to] have you [reporters] going back" to examine
the Review, she said.
However, Politico later reported it had unearthed a 1990 article that
"offers a glimpse at Obama's views on abortion policy and the law during his
student days."
His six-page summary answers a legal question about whether fetuses should
be allowed to file lawsuits against their mothers.
"Obama's answer, like most courts': No," Politico reported. "He wrote
approvingly of an Illinois Supreme Court ruling that the unborn cannot sue
their mothers for negligence, and he suggested that allowing fetuses to sue
would violate the mother's rights and could, perversely, cause her to take
more risks with her pregnancy."
The report continued, "His article acknowledged a public interest in the
health of the fetus, but also seemed to demonstrate his continuing
commitment to abortion rights, and suggested that the government may have
more important concerns than 'ensuring that any particular fetus is born.'"
Despite its earlier statement, the Obama campaign later confirmed Obama's
authorship of the article and claimed it was the only piece he had written
for the Review.
University of Chicago scholarly articles
Obama lectured at the University of Chicago Law School, a top school where
the faculty is known for voluminous scholarly publishing, from 1992 until
2004.
The university offered Obama a full-time tenure-track position, an honor
typically reserved for published instructors. However, reporters have been
unable to find scholarly articles authored by him. The university reports
that Obama declined the tenure offer.
Sarah Galer, news editor at the Law School and Harris School of Public
Policy at the University of Chicago, told WND, "President Obama wrote
'Dreams from My Father' while at the law school but did not produce any
scholarly articles as far as I know."
Passport
According to March 2008 reports, State Department employees conducted an
unauthorized search of Obama's passport files during the recent presidential
campaign. CNN reported that three different contract workers accessed his
information on separate occasions – Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14 – without
authorization. Two workers were fired and another faced discipline.
Obama's files reportedly contained copies of passport applications, birth
date, basic biographical information, records of passport renewal and
possibly citizenship information.
The Obama campaign demanded a thorough investigation to determine which
employees looked at the file and why.
"This is an outrageous breach of security and privacy, even from an
administration that has shown little regard for either over the last eight
years," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton told CNN in a statement. "Our
government's duty is to protect the private information of the American
people, not use it for political purposes."
Meanwhile, a key witness who had been cooperating with federal investigators
was later found fatally shot in front of a Washington, D.C., church. A
police officer found the body of Lt. Quarles Harris Jr., 24, slumped dead
inside his car.
At the time, investigators said they didn't have any information connecting
the murder to the passport case. After one year of investigation of the
homicide, there have been no arrests.
The passport has not been released.
Medical records
During his first presidential campaign in 1999, Sen. John McCain released
1,500 pages of medical and psychiatric records collected by the Navy. In
2008, McCain allowed reporters to spend three hours sifting through 1,200
pages of health records.
In 1999, former Vice President Al Gore released medical records revealing
"mildly elevated" cholesterol levels and removal of a common form of skin
cancer from his forehead in 1997. The documents disclosed his weight,
resting heart rate, resting blood pressure, cardiovascular fitness and a
variety of other health details. Gore's records were compiled after a
complete physical examination by several military physicians.
Likewise, President George W. Bush allowed the media to view about 400 pages
of personal medical information in 2000 and 2004.
After initial reluctance, Sen. John Kerry allowed the Navy to release his
full medical records in 2004.
While not all have done so, it has been common practice for presidential
candidates to release medical records.
However, Barack Obama, a relatively young candidate who was said to have
been in "excellent health," refused to release medical records. Instead, he
simply provided a six-paragraph note from his physician briefly summarizing
21 years of doctor visits and health information.
The letter contained no supporting documentation.
Other documents
According to additional records listed at the The Obama File, other
documents that remain unreleased include:
* Complete files and schedules of his years as an Illinois state senator
from 1997 to 2004
* Obama's client list from during his time in private practice with the
Chicago law firm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill and Gallard
* Illinois State Bar Association records
* Baptism records
* Obama/Dunham marriage license
* Obama/Dunham divorce documents
* Soetoro/Dunham marriage license
* Adoption records
Birth certificate
WND has been reporting since before the election on questions – and lawsuits
– raised over Obama's birth and eligibility. He reported in his book he was
born in Hawaii and his half-sister agrees. But the woman the president says
is his paternal grandmother, Sarah Obama, claimed to have been present at
her grandson's birth in Mombasa, Kenya.
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."
Where's the proof Barack Obama was born in the U.S. or that he fulfills the
"natural-born American" clause in the Constitution? If you still want to see
it, join more than 380,000 others and sign up now!
Complicating the issue are Obama's move to Indonesia as a child, where he
reportedly attended that nation's public schools, and his later travels to
Pakistan, raising questions about on what nation's passport was that travel
accomplished. Then there are the multiple law firms hired to make certain
Obama's long-form birth certificate information, and other documentation
such as college records, remain sealed from public view.
Obama's presidential campaign released to select news organizations only
what is known as a "certification of live birth," a document obtainable in
Hawaii in 1961 by Americans actually born outside the country. However,
Joseph Farah, WND editor and chief executive officer, has been calling for
the release of Obama's long-form birth certificate showing the hospital of
his birth, attending physician and other details to confirm his citizenship
status.
Farah launched a national billboard campaign last month in an effort to keep
the issue before the American people. The billboards, being leased around
the country, ask the simple question, "Where's the birth certificate?" Farah
is asking the public to support his campaign with donations. So far, more
than $75,000 has been collected.
The billboard campaign followed one launched months earlier to collect the
names on an electronic petition demanding accountability and transparency on
the issue. So far, that petition has gathered nearly 400,000 names.
The campaign got a boost recently when WND White House correspondent Les
Kinsolving asked Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, why the president
wouldn't release his birth certificate. Gibbs' response was covered live on
C-SPAN and by Fox News Channel and others – excluding CBS.
It was the first time any member of the press corps has publicly asked a
member of the administration a question directly related to Obama's
constitutional eligibility for office as a "natural born citizen."
Congressional hearings were held to determine whether Sen. John McCain was
constitutionally eligible to be president as a "natural born citizen," but
no controlling legal authority ever sought to verify Obama's claim to a
Hawaiian birth.
Both the petition and the billboard campaign are part of what Farah calls an
independent "truth and transparency campaign."
The first sign to be posted under the campaign, a digital, electronic one,
is up and online on Highway 165 in Ball, La.. In addition, based on the
heavy volume of financial donations in the first days of the campaign, WND
was able to commit to leasing three more standard billboards – one in Los
Angeles, another in Orange County, Calif. and a third in Pennsylvania.
Farah said the campaign was born of frustration with timid elected officials
in Washington, corrupt judges around the country and a news media that show
a stunning lack of curiosity about the most basic facts of Obama's
background – especially how it relates to constitutional eligibility for the
highest office in the land.
"As Obama transforms this country from self-governing constitutional
republic to one governed by a central ruling elite, the simple fact remains
that no controlling legal authority has established that he is indeed a
'natural born citizen' as the Constitution requires," Farah said. "Obama's
promises of transparency have become a bad joke as he continues to hide
simple, innocuous documents like his birth certificate and his student
records."
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