Obama

[Soldier4Christ]

I personally doubt there is anything in this and it is a waste of time and effort. Most of the doubt arises from his grandmother's claim that he was born in Kenya, and that two different hospitals in Hawaii are sometimes claimed as his birthplace. However, his birth certificate appears genuine as far as can be determined from a scan and the local paper appears to have published a birth announcement at the time.

However, he could put the whole thing to rest by showing a copy to the Supreme Court.



This problem has never come up before, (except involving Herbert Hoover, I hear). Congress should really act before the next presidential election to define exactly what is a natural born US citizen and to set up a procedure for all candidates for President to verify their elgibility. As it is now, there is much doubt over what it means, and no way for it to be verified except by filing lawsuits.

If this is really an issue for someone, and they have the time and money,  if his mother lived in Hawaii at the time of his birth, there would be records of it - rentals, employment, etc. She would have known people and had friends and enemies. She would have done business with people. A good detective ought to be able to find out a lot without having an official copy of the birth certificate.

Anyone who has done genealogy knows this is universal practice, and in fact the law, for privacy reasons and to prevent identity theft.

There was no birth announcement found in the local newspapers at that time. That is one of the reasons that this has been brought in question. His birth certificate that has been displayed so far is also questionable. One of them that was placed online was proved to be a forgery. Another question on his Hawaiian birth certificate is that in the 1960's there were a large number of people given birth certificates retroactively that were not U.S. citizens by birth. A review of when the birth was filed would also prove this but no one has come forward with a provable birth certificate as of yet.

This whole thing has been locked up tight so the truth cannot be had that is the reason that so many have filed these lawsuits.

[Soldier4Christ]

Obama's state secret: His birth certificate!

So much for those pledges of "open government."

So much for those promises of "change."

So much for his upcoming oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America.

Barack Hussein Obama is still refusing to disclose to the American public something as innocent and as basic as his full, undoctored birth certificate to establish beyond any shadow of a doubt – and that doubt is growing daily – that he is a natural-born American citizen.

Ironically, now that the election is over, the pressure is building. A few bold members of Congress are getting interested in demanding hearings on the issue. The lawsuits are increasing. More pundits and activists are beginning to mobilize.

I, too, am raising the stakes.

Beginning today, I am personally sponsoring a petition campaign right here at this Internet news source, to all controlling legal authorities to determine Barack Obama's eligibility for the presidency under Article 2, Section 1, of the Constitution and to use all of their persuasive powers to make this information freely available to the rulers of this country – we the people.

I also pledge that this news organization will continue to pursue its own independent investigation as aggressively as it possible can.

To date, here is what we have done:

    * Dispatched senior staff reporter Jerome Corsi twice to Hawaii to investigate the matter, including an appeal to the governor.

    * Hired a battery of private investigators in Hawaii to check every hospital for birth records – to no avail.

    * Sent Corsi to Kenya where he talked with some of Obama's relatives who clearly recall the birth taking place in Mombasa. (While there, Corsi was detained by Kenyan officials and a press conference he had scheduled was canceled at the last minute at the order of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who has since made clear he has expectations of payback from soon-to-be President Obama.)

I tell you all this because despite the shroud of secrecy over the birth certificate issue, there are some organizations out there insisting it is all a tempest in a teapot – that the issue is settled, that the birth certificate has been released, that Obama has been determined to be eligible by some mystery authority.

One such organization, Factcheck.org, characterizes any who question its assertion that this matter is settled as conspiracy mongers. But, as for me, when it comes to matters as important as the Constitution of the United States, I do not accept the opinion of armchair researchers. Nobody – not one news organization in the world – has devoted more resources to investigating this matter than has WND.

I hope you will now join me in this fight for truth, justice and the American way by signing the petition. Help me spread the word. Let's turn up the heat. Send this column and the petition far and wide. Share it with your neighbors. Honor the Constitution. Save this country's most vital institutions and its honor. Seek the truth. Demand accountability.

Time is running out.

The Electoral College is due to convene Dec. 15 – less than a month.

Barack Obama is to be sworn in as the next president Jan. 20 – less than two months from now.

Do you believe the American people have a right to know for certain their next president is constitutionally eligible for the job?

Without a chance to inspect that birth certificate for themselves, do you think we can ever be certain?

If the Constitution is not taken seriously as concerns the eligibility of the president, is it likely to be taken seriously in other matters?

Pastor Roger,

I'm confused.  I just read this Associated Press story from October:

State declares Obama birth certificate genuine
Oct 31, 2008

HONOLULU (AP) — State officials say there's no doubt Barack Obama was born in Hawaii.

Health Department Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said Friday she and the registrar of vital statistics, Alvin Onaka, have personally verified that the health department holds Obama's original birth certificate.

Fukino says that no state official, including Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, ever instructed that Obama's certificate be handled differently.

She says state law bars release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible interest.

Some Obama critics claim he was not born in the US.

Earlier Friday, a southwest Ohio magistrate rejected a challenge to Obama's citizenship. Judges in Seattle and Philadelphia recently dismissed similar suits.


What's the deal? 

Jimmy

AP has been trying to push this under the table all along. I would rather trust a news organization like World Net Daily. When the Gov of Hawaii was asked about the birth certificate they were told that she could not comment on it and that she had never said anything to any news organization about the validity of Obama's birth certificate.

[HisDaughter]

There was no birth announcement found in the local newspapers at that time. That is one of the reasons that this has been brought in question. His birth certificate that has been displayed so far is also questionable. One of them that was placed online was proved to be a forgery. Another question on his Hawaiian birth certificate is that in the 1960's there were a large number of people given birth certificates retroactively that were not U.S. citizens by birth. A review of when the birth was filed would also prove this but no one has come forward with a provable birth certificate as of yet.

This whole thing has been locked up tight so the truth cannot be had that is the reason that so many have filed these lawsuits.

Yes.  And per Brother Rhys suggestion...no rental history, friends, work history or enemies....means that she wasn't there.

[HisDaughter]

Obama's Cabinet Picks Heavy on Washington Experience
Thursday, November 20, 2008

 E-Mail Respond Print Share:

WASHINGTON —  For months on the campaign trail, Barack Obama promised to bring change to Washington. But now that he's president-elect, his first potential Cabinet picks indicate that he may bring more years of Washington experience to his administration than Bill Clinton or George W. Bush did.

Obama's first four likely Cabinet choices, including former first lady Hillary Clinton, have a combined total of more than 60 years of Washington experience.

By comparison, President Bush's first four Cabinet picks had a total of 30 years experience in Washington, and former President Clinton's had 58.

Obama has chosen former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle, a 30-year Washington veteran, to be his secretary of health and human services, and former deputy attorney general Eric Holder, a 20-year Washington veteran, to be his attorney general. His transition team is also reviewing Hillary Clinton, who has 15 years of experience in Washington as first lady and as New York senator, for the position of secretary of state.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Obama's pick to lead the 7-year-old Department of Homeland Security, is a Washington outsider.

Obama signaled early on what kind of Cabinet he would recruit when he named Rahm Emanuel, a veteran of the Clinton administration and a fellow member of Congress, as his White House chief of staff.

Russell Riley, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs, said he wasn't surprised that Obama would be relying more on Clinton veterans "who participated in a presidency that is viewed to have its accomplishments and was viewed as well run."

He added that Obama is entering a political landscape that is far different from the one Clinton faced when he was elected.

"When President Clinton came in, Democrats had virtually no farm team of executive branch hands that they could rely on for White House and Cabinet positions," Riley said.

In 1992, Clinton became the first Democratic president in 12 years, compared to the eight year-interval between him and Obama. Clinton also faced difficulty in picking veterans from Jimmy Carter's administration because Carter's four-year presidency was widely viewed as a failure, Riley said.

But Obama faces pitfalls when relying on Clinton veterans because he ran on a mantra of change, Riley said.

"The argument that Obama people would make ... it's possible to rely on people who know how the levers are pulled, but move it in a different direction than the last eight years," he said.

President Bush brought many Texans with him to Washington, but the ones who had the most influence on his administration were the Washington insiders, Riley said.

Bush's first Cabinet choice was his secretary of state, Colin Powell, who had 14 years of Washington experience, including a four-year stint as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the first President Bush and President Clinton.

Bush's treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill, had 16 years of Washington experience, including his work as the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, which creates the executive branch's fiscal blueprint.

Non-Washington insiders who were early choices in the Bush administration included Don Evans, a private businessman, as commerce secretary, and Mel Martinez, who had been a Florida utilities official, as secretary of housing and urban development.

Bill Clinton's first Cabinet pick was Lloyd Bentsen to be secretary of the treasury. Bentsen had 28 years of Washington experience, including 22 in the Senate. He also had been the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1988.

Clinton's other early choices included Ron Brown, a former head of the Democratic National Committee, as commerce secretary; Donna Shalala, head of the Washington-based Children's Defense Fund and a Carter administration official, as secretary of health and human services; and Robert Reich, a veteran of the Ford and Carter administrations, for labor secretary.

Riley said it's a good idea to appoint Washington veterans to positions that a president must rely on for so much.

Every president is "at the mercy of the people" he surrounds himself with, he said. "You have to have a good mix of eminence, people you can rely on and not mind being in a foxhole with."

Does this say "change" or "I'm in over my head and I need you guys to show me how it's done." ?

[HisDaughter]

President-elect accused of defrauding public
'This was a giant bait-and-switch,' says lawyer who investigates government corruption
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

The attorney who founded Judicial Watch, the government-watchdog organization that has hounded the Clinton and Bush administrations over their forays outside of approved government policy and ethics, says the American voters have been "defrauded" by President-elect Barack Obama.

"He promised change. He didn't promise a second Clinton administration," Larry Klayman, who also has founded and now works with Freedom Watch, told WND today.

"I think we were defrauded. This was a giant bait-and-switch," Klayman said of Obama's pre-election promises and post-election appointments.

Those appointments have been raising concerns as Obama has picked a number of individuals who were prominent in Clinton's power structure to take even more powerful positions in Obama's new corps of executives.

"This was obviously the quid pro quo in getting Bill and Hillary on board so they didn't mess up the general election," Klayman said.

Among the appointees of whom Klayman was critical was Obama's new chief of staff, Rep. Rahm Emmanuel, D-Ill.

Emmanuel "ran political interference for Bill and Hillary Clinton in the Clinton White House," Klayman said.

"Then there is Gregory Craig, during the Clinton years an outside lawyer who helped cover up the full details of the Lewinsky scandal and played a crucial role, as the lawyer for the leftist American Council of Churches, in sending Elian Gonzalez back to Castro's Cuba," Klayman said.

"Finally, coupled with the likely selection of Chinagate mastermind Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, President-elect Obama has now added insult to injury and even nominated Eric Holder as attorney general," he continued.

He explained Holder was the "yes man" for former Attorney General Janet Reno in the Justice Department who "not only oversaw the selling of pardons for campaign contributions for the Clinton-Gore administration, he threatened the girlfriend of former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown with criminal tax prosecution to keep quiet about the Clinton administration illegally selling seats on trade missions and national security information to the Chinese, again for campaign contributions."

"Nolanda Hill, Brown's then girlfriend, and others, testified under oath about this while I was pursuing the Chinagate scandal. And, Holder assisted Janet Reno in covering up this scandal generally," Klayman said.

"My colleagues and I at Freedom Watch will oppose their nominations by filing one lawsuit after another and exposing them before the Senate committees taking up their nominations," he said.

The "change" Obama promised is "concealing from the American people … the return of the ethically compromised players in the scandal-ridden Clinton-Gore administration," Klayman said.

He further pointed to John Podesta, a Clinton chief of staff "who participated in destroying and hiding incriminating e-mail during the Clinton years (and who could still be found in criminal contempt in the on-going Filegate case which I filed), is the policy guru and head of transition."

Klayman was not the only one raising eyebrows – and alarms – over Obama's selections.

The Family Research Council said it was "frightening" that ex-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who was turned out of the Senate by his own constituents, would be named Secretary of Health and Human Services.

'"As majority leader, Daschle was a notorious opponent of every pro-life measure. He blocked the partial-birth abortion ban, voted for taxpayer-funded military abortions, and supported a measure that would have forced Americans to pay for the distribution of the morning-after pill to young school girls," FRC said.

"Apart from his extreme political ideology, the selection of Daschle is even more troubling because the South Dakotan lacks any experience in the public health arena. To most Americans, who thought this election was about 'change,' these appointments must seem incredibly ironic. So far, the new Obama administration has only managed to change the titles of the same old liberal leadership."

Klayman's old organization, Judicial Watch, was of the same mind.

"It is a shame all that business about change was apparently just hot air," the organization said in a statement.

Klayman told WND the result will be that conservatives, libertarians and independents will be "incensed."

Even the days of controversy over Bill Clinton's "more bizarre" actions, such as his advocacy for homosexuals in the military, "will be a warmup act" to watch will happen with Obama.

"A tremendous effort is going to be made by the right and the middle to have his administration grind to a halt," Klayman said. "Even the liberal Democrats have been defrauded. They did not vote for the recycled, corrupt individuals like Eric Holder or Hillary with her scandals."

Obama "has done something much more stupid than Clinton did at the outset of his administration. He has defrauded his own base," Klayman said.

In the 1990s, Klayman raised numerous questions over Clinton's behavior in the White House and at one point obtained a court finding that Clinton committed a crime by violating the Privacy Act over the release of personnel information concerning a woman he allegedly groped in the Oval Office, Kathleen Willey.

Willey later wrote a book about her experiences with the Clintons, called "Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill & Hillary Clinton."

Klayman has been occupied in recent weeks with a lawsuit he brought against the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, alleging members have violated U.S. anti-trust laws.

Klayman recently was successful is serving the oil minister from Venezuela with notice of the lawsuit.

[Soldier4Christ]

The economy isn’t tanking as far and as fast as Democrats really want it to:


Obama announces new stimulus plan
Says it represents 'down payment on the type of reform my administration will bring'

President-elect Barack Obama said Saturday that he had started work on a sustained, two-year economic stimulus plan designed to create or save 2.5 million jobs, funnel money toward public works programs to repair the country’s failing infrastructure and invest in alternative energy programs.

Mr. Obama’s plan, which he announced in the Democratic radio address, is broader than the pledges he offered while campaigning for president. He said the deepening financial outlook demanded more robust action, so he directed his economic team to devise “a plan big enough to meet the challenges we face that I intend to sign soon after taking office.”

Mr. Obama said he hoped to have the plan completed, approved by Congress and ready for his signature shortly after he takes office in January.

“The news this week has only reinforced the fact that we are facing an economic crisis of historic proportions,” Mr. Obama said. “We now risk falling into a deflationary spiral that could increase our massive debt even further.”

The announcement by Mr. Obama is seen as an effort to calm the tumultuous financial markets. The stock market fell last week to lows not seen in a decade, before swelling on Friday with news that Timothy F. Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, would be nominated as Treasury secretary.

On Monday, Mr. Obama is to introduce his economic team, which also will include Peter R. Orszag, head of the Congressional Budget Office, who will be the next White House budget director.

Transition officials said the economist Lawrence H. Summers, who was a senior economic adviser to Mr. Obama during the campaign, might also have a senior White House role, but that remained unclear on Saturday. Mr. Summers served as secretary of the Treasury in the last 18 months of the Clinton administration and was a contender for the same job in the Obama administration.

Mr. Summers has advocated for a forceful government stimulus plan in recent newspaper columns and has argued that the recent $700 billion bailout package means the federal government should be doing more, not less, in areas like health care, energy, education and tax relief. Mr. Obama appeared to echo those thoughts in his radio address.

“We’ll be working out the details in the weeks ahead, but it will be a two-year, nationwide effort to jumpstart job creation in America and lay the foundation for a strong and growing economy,” Mr. Obama said. “We’ll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels, fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead.”

Though few details were provided, Mr. Obama’s proposal would most likely require the new administration to go back to Congress for approval of a significant jobs and infrastructure program beyond the money it has already authorized for the financial bailout. Democratic leaders have been calling for a robust economic recovery initiative including large spending on infrastructure to create jobs, but the Bush administration has refused to consider it.

“There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making,” Mr. Obama said. “And it’s likely to get worse before it gets better. But January 20th is our chance to begin anew, with a new direction, new ideas and new reforms that will create jobs and fuel long-term economic growth.”

In the presidential campaign, Mr. Obama focused largely on tax cuts for low-wage and middle-class workers and tax breaks for small businesses. But as part of a stimulus package, his advisers have discussed letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire after 2010 as scheduled. That, in effect, would delay the tax increases that rich taxpayers would have faced had Mr. Obama repealed the Bush tax cuts a year or two early as he had suggested in his campaign.

Mr. Obama would extend the Bush tax cuts for households with less than $250,000 annual income.

That could have both economic and political benefits. Economically, Mr. Obama would not be open to the charge from Republicans and other critics that he is raising taxes in a recession, which many believe is counterproductive. His Republican presidential rival, Senator John McCain, raised that argument in their election battle.

Politically, by simply letting the tax cuts expire, Mr. Obama would get the benefit of higher revenues in 2011 and beyond to help finance his proposed health care plans without having to take any action himself, and without the Democratic majorities in Congress having to take a vote. He has less political need for higher revenues in the short term because the seriousness of the economic crisis has brought bipartisan agreement that the government must do whatever it can to spur economic growth through spending and tax cuts and cannot worry about deficits for the time being.

President Bush and the Republicans who then controlled Congress wrote his 2001 tax cuts to expire as a way of minimizing the projected revenue losses in future years, to comply with Congressional budget rules and help pass the legislation. Mr. Bush repeatedly called for making the tax cuts permanent, but no action was taken.

With daily news media attention focusing constantly on Mr. Obama as he prepares to take office, he has taken pains not to appear to be competing against Mr. Bush — emphasizing several times that there was only one president at a time. But once again on Saturday, Mr. Obama took the limelight away from Mr. Bush, who used his own radio address to criticize Democratic Congressional leaders for adjourning without reaching an agreement to help the ailing automobile industry.

“If the automakers are willing to make the hard decisions needed to become viable, they should be able to receive the funds Congress already allotted to them for other purposes,” Mr. Bush said. “This is a critical issue for our economy and our country.”

Mr. Obama did not mention the controversial proposal to rescue the auto industry. But he did hint that his proposal, too, would be a political battle.

“I know that passing this plan won’t be easy,” Mr. Obama said. “I will need and seek support from Republicans and Democrats, and I’ll be welcome to ideas and suggestions from both sides of the aisle.

“But what is not negotiable is the need for immediate action,” Mr. Obama said. “Right now, there are millions of mothers and fathers who are lying awake at night wondering if next week’s paycheck will cover next month’s bills. There are Americans showing up to work in the morning only to have cleared out their desks by the afternoon. Retirees are watching their life savings disappear, and students are seeing their college dreams deferred. These Americans need help, and they need it now.”

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

New Senate to get major global warming bill

1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US Senate will take up two sweeping global warming bills in January, in the latest sign that Barack Obama's election could quickly reverse years of US footdragging on climate change.

Democratic Senators, openly gleeful that years of fierce struggles against George W. Bush's Republican administration on the issue were drawing to a close, proclaimed the United States would undergo a "sea change" in environmental policy.

"The time to start is now," said Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, vowing to step up to Obama's challenge to combat climate change and create millions of "green jobs" in the reeling US economy.

Her intervention came two days after Democrat Obama, in one of the few public policy pronouncements since his historic victory two weeks ago, told the world that "denial" would no longer be the US policy on climate change.

Boxer, chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee, said one bill would combat harmful gas emissions by providing 15 billion dollars a year to spur clean energy innovation and the development of advanced biofuels.

The other piece of legislation will direct the US Environmental Protection Agency to set up a cap-and-trade system to stem greenhouse gas emissions.

"Instead of denial we will have resolve, instead of procrastination, we will have action. Instead of listening to the voice of the stagnant status quo, our committee hears the voice of our president-elect," Boxer said.

"We are facing a sea change," Boxer said, arguing that Obama's election and the big gains in congressional elections for Democrats would transform the attitude of the United States to global warming, the world's biggest polluter.

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders said Obama would transform US environmental policy.

"It's not only that you have a president who understands the severity of the problems, but he is willing to be aggressive in addressing it from a global warming perspective."

Boxer agreed. "We have a president now, President Bush, who simply felt the best action was voluntary, really no action, no action. And for all these years, we have wasted time."

It was not yet clear however if proponents of global warming legislation had the majorities in both chambers of Congress to push through action that some critics may see as damaging to the economy.

But in another encouraging sign for reformers, California congressman Henry Waxman, an advocate of global warming legislation, unseated Democrat John Dingell for the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce committee.

Dingell, 82, represents a district in auto-industry capital Michigan, and was seen as more hostile to attempts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

On Tuesday, Obama told a California-based meeting of US governors and global warming experts in a video-taped message that he would "engage vigorously" in global climate change talks.

The president-elect also addressed his message directly to delegates at United Nations climate change talks in Poland next month.

"Once I take office, you can be sure that the United States will once again engage vigorously in these negotiations, and help lead the world toward a new era of global cooperation on climate change.

"Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all. Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response. The stakes are too high. The consequences, too serious."

Obama has called for annual targets that would aim to reduce emission levels to 1990 levels by 2020 and then by an addition 80 percent by 2050.

Boxer said she was not yet ready to reveal details of the legislation but said it would be consistent with Obama's policy goals.

Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar meanwhile said she would be the committee's representative at the Poland talks.

She said she would tell other world leaders at the conference, which Obama will not attend, "that there is a new cop in town."

"We are moving forward on climate change, and there is going to be a difference with these past eight years of inaction with this administration."

[Shammu]

U.S. foreign policy experts give Obama U.N. advice
By Sue Pleming Sue Pleming Wed Nov 19, 9:46 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Dozens of U.S. foreign policy leaders, including Democratic and Republican ex-Cabinet members, urged an incoming Obama administration to strengthen ties with the United Nations.

In a statement to appear in a full-page advertisement in The New York Times on Thursday, they identified priorities for Democratic President-elect Barack Obama that could boost international cooperation via the United Nations.

"The U.N. cannot succeed without strong U.S. leadership and support," the advertisement said. "This investment will pay off substantially by helping to enhance our standing internationally and strengthen our ability to keep America safe and strong."

Obama called U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday. "They discussed how to address current crises, as well as regional and global issues, and how to strengthen the partnership between the U.S. and the U.N.," the world body said in a statement.

The Bush administration has come under strong criticism for what is seen by many as its negative attitude toward the United Nations. Obama was urged to make an "early and visible" statement of strong support for the world body.

"President-elect Obama has the opportunity to engage with the world and renew American leadership at the United Nations," said Timothy Wirth, president of the United Nations Foundation, a U.N. advocacy group and charity that released the statement along with the bipartisan think tank, Partnership for a Secure America.

The statement was signed by some three dozen members of both main political parties. They include former Democratic Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher, and Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser under Republican Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush.

Republican ex-Senators Alan Simpson of Wyoming and Howard Baker of Tennessee as well as Democratic former Rep. Lee Hamilton and ex-White House Special Counsel Theodore Sorensen, who worked for President John F. Kennedy, also signed on.

They suggested Washington should take the lead in U.N. efforts on nuclear proliferation, counterterrorism and climate change, and play a "constructive" role in attempts to reform the New York-based organization.

The United States has been criticized for not paying its U.N. debts, and the statement urged the incoming administration to ensure that Washington honors treaty obligations through prompt payments.

The Bush administration has distanced itself from the U.N. Human Rights Council, criticizing the body for accepting board members whose own rights record was in question.

But the experts suggested the United States should now actively seek a seat on the "faltering" council and work to influence the body from within.


U.S. foreign policy experts give Obama U.N. advice

[Soldier4Christ]

Obama retreats from promise to tax rich
Adviser admits rolling back Bush's cuts early might not be good for economy

President-elect Barack Obama may consider delaying a campaign promise - to roll back tax cuts on high-income Americans - as part of his economic recovery strategy, two aides said on Sunday.

David Axelrod, the Obama campaign strategist who was chosen to be a senior White House adviser, was asked if the tax cuts could be allowed to expire on schedule after tax year 2010 rather than being rolled back by legislation earlier. "Those considerations will be made," he said on "Fox News Sunday."

Bill Daley, an adviser to Obama and commerce secretary under former President Bill Clinton, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the 2010 scenario "looks more likely than not."

President George W. Bush's tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2010. After that they would revert to 2001 levels, when the top individual tax rate was 39.6 percent.

Obama has called for reducing taxes for the middle class, but requiring the wealthiest Americans to pay more than the current top rate of 35 percent.

His aides' comments suggest Obama may be wary of imposing any additional tax burden at a time of deep crisis, despite the outlook for record budget deficits and mounting national debt. He may also be seeking to bolster Republican support for his recovery measures.

"The main thing right now is to get this economic recovery package on the road, to get money in the pockets of the middle class, to get these projects going, to get America working again, and that's where we're going to be focused in January," Axelrod said.

Obama said on Saturday he was crafting an aggressive two-year stimulus plan to revive the economy, aiming to save 2.5 million jobs by January 2011 through projects including transportation infrastructure, school modernization and alternative energy.

Obama called in October for a $175 billion stimulus measure, but he suggested he was ready to push for a much larger package.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat who is part of the majority leadership team in the Senate, told ABC's "This Week" that an economic recovery package between $500 billion and $700 billion is needed and could be ready by the time Obama takes office on January 20.

"I think it has to be deep. In my view it has to be between five and seven hundred billion dollars," Schumer said.

[JimmySwift]

Pastor Roger,

I do see that you tend to cite the world net daily a lot, but your claim that the AP has been actively trying to hide a news story is not well founded.  As an organization, the source you seem to tout as being harbingers of the truth, is in fact far more likely to be misleading and biased than is the AP.  That much at least should be very clear to any media obvserver.  The convenient argument conspiracy theorists have to fall back on, is the lack of support in the mainstream media proves that they are left-wing propagandists.  Unfortunately, the sad truth is that in most cases, the mainstream media isn't reporting on wild conjecture, because it doesn't deserve reporting.

Jimmy

[Soldier4Christ]

The mainstream media for the largest part is so anti-Christian that it isn't funny and does all it can to trample on the word of God, promoting all that is false, calling evil good. WND is not a conspiracy theorist media. When it comes to Obama it is reporting the news and asking questions. It is not saying that he is not a U.S. citizen is saying that the truth is not known and is investigating to see what is the truth which is what all news agencies should do.

My question is are you a Christian JimmySwift? Do you support gay marriages, abortion and communistic governments? I ask that because that is what all of your post here seem to indicate.

[nChrist]

Pastor Roger,

I do see that you tend to cite the world net daily a lot, but your claim that the AP has been actively trying to hide a news story is not well founded.  As an organization, the source you seem to tout as being harbingers of the truth, is in fact far more likely to be misleading and biased than is the AP.  That much at least should be very clear to any media obvserver.  The convenient argument conspiracy theorists have to fall back on, is the lack of support in the mainstream media proves that they are left-wing propagandists.  Unfortunately, the sad truth is that in most cases, the mainstream media isn't reporting on wild conjecture, because it doesn't deserve reporting.

Jimmy

UM?

[JimmySwift]

PR,

Thanks for calling my faith into question.  So we're clear, I am absolutely a christian.  That being said, you and I probably disagree ona few political points.  I do find it interesting that you jump so quickly to villify me as a comunist just because I have some very serious doubts as to the reliability of this Obama birth-certificate issue, and the news agencies you tend to draw upon.  I was only tryign to make the point that there are those people in society that are simply never going to accept that Obama is a legit president, and they will always be able to find like-minded "media" to feed their theory.
In terms of me being a comunist, nothing could be further form the truth.  Oddly enough though, I would suggest to you that the U.S. with the nationalization of the banking and automotive sectors stands now to become a decidedly socialist nation, and all that happened under the watch of the guy you voted for.
It's a complicated time for labels at the very least

Jimmy

[Soldier4Christ]

I'm not calling your faith into question, just questioning what your faith is. As I said indications in your posts left that question open.

Yes, the bailout is a large move toward socialism. President Bush did have his part in it but it was not just him. This has been in the works a very long time. It actually started in this nation back in the 50's/60's. It has escalated quite rapidly since the Democrat party has been infiltrated by communist. I expect it to move forward even quicker now with both a Democrat President and majority in the House and Senate.

It's not just a conspiracy theory. The facts are out there for people to see if they want however they just don't want. The things that we are seeing are exactly as the Bible tells it will be.

If you are really interested I suggest that you take a look at the thread:

http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=23229.0

[Soldier4Christ]

Proofin' the prez:
Who's in charge?
Constitutional lawyer says electors
have duty to investigate citizenship

A one-time vice presidential candidate who is considered an expert on the U.S. Constitution says it is up the electors from the 50 states to make certain President-elect Barack Obama is a natural-born U.S. citizen before they cast votes for him in the Electoral College Dec. 15.

"If they do their duty, they would make sure that if they cast a vote for Mr. Obama, that Mr. Obama is a natural-born citizen," Herb Titus, the Constitution Party's running mate to Howard Phillips in 1996, told WND today.

"I think it should be resolved. The duty is in the Electoral College. Every Obama elector that is committed to casting a vote on the 15th of December, they have a constitutional duty to make certain whether Mr. Obama is a natural-born citizen," he said.

If the electors fail their duty and Obama proves ultimately to fail the eligibility requirement of the U.S. Constitution, there would be only the laborious, contentious and cumbersome process of impeachment available to those who would wish to follow the Constitution, he suggested.

The issue of Obama's citizenship has been in the news for weeks, as multiple legal claims have asserted the Democrat is not a natural-born U.S. citizen. There have been claims he was born in Kenya, that he's a British subject because of his father and that he lost his citizenship in Indonesia.

Two of the cases are pending before the U.S. Supreme Court and several others that have fallen by the wayside.

Also, thousands of people are jumping aboard a petition that demands documentation of Obama's eligibility to hold the highest office in the U.S., not just assurances from party officials.

As of this afternoon, about 70,000 petitioners have joined the effort coordinated by WND founder and editor Joseph Farah.

A report accompanying Farah's petition explains the many questions raised about Obama's eligibility, from an apparently fabricated "Certification of Live Birth" posted online to questions about what nation's passport he used to travel to Pakistan.

One case is scheduled for a conference among U.S. Supreme Court justices Dec. 5. Conferences are private meetings of the justices at which they review cases and decide which ones to accept for formal review. The Supreme Court's website listed the date for the case brought by Leo C. Donofrio against Nina Wells, the secretary of state in New Jersey, over not only Obama's name on the 2008 election ballot but those of two others, Sen. John McCain and Roger Calero.

The case, unsuccessful at the state level, was submitted to Justice David Souter, who rejected it. The case then was resubmitted to Justice Clarence Thomas for conference Dec. 5.

Titus holds a law degree cum laude from Harvard, is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and a long list of federal court districts, and helped found a law school. He told WND the framers of the Constitution specifically wanted the electors, citizen voters from all the states, to determine the presidency to avoid chief executives who are indebted to political parties or court decisions.

In 1788, Titus noted, Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers on the issue of the presidential election that "nothing was more to be desired than that every practicable obstacle should be opposed to cabal, intrigue, and corruption."

"They have not made the appointment of the president to depend on any pre-existing bodies of men, who might be tampered with beforehand to prostitute their votes; but they have referred it in the first instance to an immediate act of the people of America, to be exerted in the choice of persons for the temporary and sole purpose of making the appointment," Hamilton wrote. "And they have excluded from eligibility to this trust, all those who from situation might be suspected of too great devotion to the president in office. No senator, representative, or other person holding a place of trust or profit under the United States, can be of the numbers of the electors.

"Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single state; but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union, or of so considerable a portion of it as would be necessary to make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of President of the United States," Hamilton wrote in support of the concept of the Electoral College.

If the electors fail, Titus said, "I think it moots the point."

"I don't think there is anything in the Constitution [that would allow a challenge based on a candidate's constitutional qualifications.]

"It would politically undermine Obama's re-election … and there may be an impeachment if someone concluded he deliberately misled the people, and knew he was not a natural-born citizen," he said.

Titus said the evidence clearly shows there are questions about Obama's birth shows that should be resolved. But he said he doesn't believe the courts will do anything, nor should they.

"If it's revealed it's only going to be [revealed because of] investigative journalism or by Obama himself," he said.

"It's only the Electoral College that has the duty and authority to determine is a person is qualified to be president," Titus said.

"We should act accordingly, get the names of all the electors, including McCain's electors, and urge them to do their duty," he said.

He said, however, the bottom line is that there are some people who would rather ignore the Constitution than dispense with a candidate who may be unqualified.

"Politically, [being ineligible] would be a very serious problem for [Obama,]" he said. "But there also would be people who would only shrug."

"It's up to the people. Essentially the Constitution is a covenant of the people with their government. If the people don't insist on their government officials abiding by the covenant, I don't know what you can do," he said.

Titus said the basis of a natural-born requirement traces back to the Old Testament, where Moses prophesied about the people of Israel getting a king.

cont'd