Letters to the Editor Policy

The Obama Deception

Controversy has never ceased to dog the candidacy and now the presidency of Barack Obama. Critics claim that he is not a “natural born” citizen and thus disqualified from his office. The heart of the allegation is that pesky document, the Constitution of the United States.

Article 2 Section 1 of that document states that “no person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States... shall be eligible to the office of president.” Though the term “natural born citizen” has never been legally defined, records from the Constitutional Convention leave little doubt that the original intent of the phrase meant a person born in the United States.

There have been scores of lawsuits demanding proof of Obama's birthplace and of his citizenship. In response, Obama has employed 11 law firms in 12 states to block disclosure of any of his personal records.

Last month, under compulsion of the Freedom of Information Act, Obama's college transcript was released. This record shows that Obama was awarded a Fulbright scholarship. A requirement for this particular grant is that the recipient must be foreign born. Obama, under the name of Barry Soetoro, claimed he was a citizen of Indonesia. Additionally, his primary school record also cites him as a citizen of that nation.

Complicating the issue are Obama's grandmother, his half-brother, and his half-sister. They claim he was born in Kenya. His grandmother says she was present during his birth.

In an effort to squelch the controversy concerning his birthplace, Obama's web site published what they claimed was his Birth Certificate. What was released was the short-form of the Birth Certificate called the Certificate of Live Birth. It only fueled the controversy.

This Certificate of Live Birth is discredited by many because the certificate number is blacked out, it does not have an embossed seal, and the document does not have the signature of the registrar.

But these accusations are baseless. The certificate number on the original is not blacked out. The number is 151-1961-010641. The raised seal is there but barely visible. And the document does have the registrar's signature; it's on the back. But why doesn't Obama simply release photocopies of his long-form Birth Certificate? Because the state of Hawaii does not give photocopies of this document.

Yes, the long form does have more information; but the short-form or Certificate of Live Birth is accepted by the State Department as proof of citizenship.

But like the phoenix bird, the issue of Obama's qualification as president rises repeatedly from its own ashes. The latest redivivus happened last month when Justice Antonin Scalia announced that the Supreme Court will hear arguments concerning Obama's eligibility for the Oval Office.

Will, then, the Supreme Court give finality to the question swirling around the legitimacy of the 56th president? Is the Obama deception indeed a deception, or is the presumed deception the real deception?

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA

Bargaining Chip

Unlike some people I know, I exercised my right to vote. Unlike some people, who voted for then presidential candidate Senator Barack Hussein Obama, I kept one fact about the man very firmly in mind. Saint he ain’t.

Along with my disgust with and my contempt for and a fiery grievance with the Bush administration, that was additional cause for my voting the way I did. Yes, I did indeed commit “mortal sin.” I deliberately and with conscious premeditation failed to vote for then Senator McCain. And I had my reasons.

Installing then Senator McCain into the midst of that convoluted and involuted débâcle, left as legacy since the Reagan and succeeding administrations, could only have exacerbated the situation.

For the larger part, in my considered opinion, the good senator would’ve been blameless by reason of being feckless. Evidently, I love my country more than my soul. And certainly, I’m more concerned with being forthright than with being glib.

Maybe, somewhere in the gene pool for the Stella family, there lurks a gene for intrigue. Recently, some of the people, who voted for Obama, are now upset with him. They avow and I concur President Obama has gone back on his word as candidate Obama.

Please let me repeat. I concur. He promised transparency with regard to the alleged torture of detainees in the Guantánamo facility. And now, his Department of Justice is blocking release of official documents that relate to such alleged torture. Well, that happenstance has piqued that gene for intrigue.

I suspect our President Barack Hussein Obama is using the release of those official documents as “bargaining chip.” No need to suspect the following, it’s only all too obvious. The President is very intent on enacting a much needed reform of health care. Getting the reform of the type he wants through Congress requires his negotiating with certain recalcitrant Republican senators.

More than likely, the President’s given his Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, a man notoriously fluent in readily understandable Anglo-Saxon, the task of parleying with those recalcitrant Republican senators. Here, I’m offering a PG-13 translation of the message, more than likely enough being repeatedly conveyed by Mr. Emmanuel:

“You rub the President’s nose in crap. You frighteningly mess with him on health care reform. You’ll be frighteningly sorry. The release of those torture documents shall be expedited. The resulting uproar will give the Democrats plenty of excuse to investigate. Media coverage shall be frighteningly thorough. Lemme tell’ya. You jackasses taught your opposition all too frighteningly well about how to conduct investigations. By the time they get through, the Republican Party will look even less attractive than squashed toads in the road. So, it frighteningly behooves you to cooperate.”

No doubt about it, no “saint” would ever condone, let alone applaud, such an indelicate message.

The following may be considered peripheral to the foregoing. Even so, I’m presenting it. I concur that the political orientation of the plurality of the citizens of these United States has shifted from center-right. With the likely exception of John Harwood, the commentators, who appear on cable news channels other than Fox, opine that the new orientation is center-left. They are woefully way off base. In my considered opinion, the new orientation is center-pragmatical. Whatever works is whatever works.

And I conjecture that our President is pretty much in tune with that new orientation. Here’s what I honestly believe what will be a postscript for the current Iranian turmoil. Obama played it cool.

Sincerely,

A Alexander Stella

Susquehanna, PA

A Great Sign Appeared

Indeed a great sign was given at Fatima Portugal to convince all of the needy to obey Heaven’s peace plan. 70,000 were witness to an event that confirmed a series of messages conveyed by the mother of God to three Shepard children. They were given a task of offering prayer and penance for sinners and the “consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” They accepted gladly and were told they were going to Heaven. A month later on July 13, 1917, they were prepared and given a view of hell, where poor sinners go. After this they had a great love and zeal in the work Mary asked of them for God and the saving of souls.

The Holy Father Pope Benedict the 16th, while in Bethlehem, May 13, 2009, acknowledged this divine mission and message, yet imposed a serious obligation upon the Church and that he intends to fulfill it. The Holy Father prayed to Mary: “You promised the three children of Fatima that ‘in the end, my immaculate heart will triumph.’ May it be so!”

So Fatima is a glimpse at Christ’s second coming. Now the great sign: “the virgin with child’ and the woman adorned with the sun standing on the moon are one in the same person; Mary, blessed among women, for blessed through out all generations is the fruit of your womb Jesus. Pray the Rosary - it will stop the abortion mortality around us.

Sincerely,

John Mann

Susquehanna, PA

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