8/25/2009 6:00:00 AM
Birther barrage big part of Saturday town hall
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JC AMBERLYN/Miner
Congressman Trent Franks speaks to the audience at the First Assembly of God on Gates Avenue during a Saturday town hall.
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KINGMAN - The birthplace of the current president is still a question in the minds of many Mohave County residents, and several of them asked U.S. Rep. Trent Franks Saturday if Congress planned to investigate the matter and if it could force President Barack Obama to produce his birth certificate.
"Why are you relying on a newspaper article as proof?" one resident asked.
"I don't rely on it," Franks said during the town hall in the First Assembly Church of God. Obama should produce his birth certificate, he said.
Many people believe that Obama is not a natural born U.S. citizen and therefore does not qualify to be president, according to the U.S. Constitution.
Obama's mother was an American citizen and his father was Kenyan. Some believe that Obama was born in Kenya; others believe that he had dual citizenship as a British and American citizen or that he gave up his citizenship at some point.
Several lawsuits have been filed in court about the issue. An image of Obama's Certification of Live Birth from the state of Hawaii was released by his campaign in 2007.
Many people claim that the image is a forgery.
Several members of Congress, including Franks, have researched the matter and found several Hawaiian newspapers with birth announcements for Obama, but could find no proof that Obama was not a U.S. citizen, Franks said.
Getting Congress to start an investigation into the matter would be tricky, he said. Democrats have the majority in the Congress and chair all of the committees, Franks explained. The Democrats would simply prevent any investigation into the situation, he said.
If clear proof is found showing that Obama is not a natural born citizen, then he would consider entering into a lawsuit, Franks said. Right now, he is waiting to see what happens with multiple lawsuits currently running through the courts.
A number of those lawsuits have been dismissed, one is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Supreme Court has refused to hear several of the requests.
A bill has also been introduced in Congress, by Florida Rep. Bill Posey, that would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require all presidential candidates to provide a copy of their birth certificate plus supporting documentation that they are a natural born citizen of the U.S. Similar bills have been introduced in some state legislatures.
Border worries
Franks also answered questions on illegal immigration on Saturday.
Congress is still working on the border fence, despite attempts by Democrats to slow the process down, he said.
The border is a major security concern to him, as is a strategic missile defense system for the country. A 30-minute video detailing the system and the threat of a missile strike on the U.S. was shown at the beginning of Franks' speech.
Franks said the system works and is necessary to the defense of the country. It's possible that a rogue nation could sell or give the plans for such a weapon to a terrorist organization, which could use the information to attack the U.S.
Franks also took his own party to task. The Republican Party, even when it was in power, failed the people by not putting excessive government spending to a stop, he said.
Social Security pledge
He pledged to continue to protect Social Security, but warned changes needed to be made to keep it solvent. A possible solution would be to allow people to invest their money.
He is also deeply concerned about the future of the country.
"For the first time, I feel this country could fail," he said, referring to actions by the current administration.
Franks continued to answer questions and greet residents for another 30 minutes after he finished speaking.
"He was so very gracious to stay for more than three hours," said Suellen Stewart, president of the Kingman Republican Women.
"I just thought it was phenomenal," said Sherri Farrington, the local representative for Franks' office. "The turnout was wonderful."
"I think it was pretty good," said Jerry Sides, who attended the meeting. "His answers were straightforward. There were good questions."
A number of local politicians attended the event as well, including Arizona Reps. Nancy McLain and Doris Goodale, Arizona Sen. Ron Gould and Supervisors Gary Watson and Tom Sockwell.
This was the fourth town hall he has held and the tenor at all of them was one of support, Franks said.
"I'm just touched that so many came out," Franks said, after the meeting. "Crowds like this give me hope."
And shows that, contrary to what the current administration may think, not everyone who attends these meetings is a crazy or wacko, he said.
"These are the core of America," he said. "There has never been a more critical time in my life for the voices of the people to be heard. We're at a crossroads and the direction we take will dictate the future of this country."
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Posted: Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Article comment by:
Diogenes' Lantern
@ rancher
If you posted this comment then you have a computer and it is connected to the Internet. Do some research before you jump in the fire. I'd recommend Google and Wikipedia for starters. But in this case I've gone ahead and did the reserch for you.
Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 5 states that, "No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."
Barack Hussein Obama, a Christian by upbringing, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961 making him 48 years old. Hawaii was admitted to the Union on August 21, 1959, therefore making him a natural born citizen of the United States. He was lawfully elected President of the United States by a 59% majority on November 7, 2008 and sworn in as President on January 20, 2009.
Here is a link to a digital copy of a Certification of Live Birth from the Department of Health of Hawaii. It shows he was born at 7:24 pm on the date noted above. http://www.politifact.com/media/img/graphics/birthCertObama.jpg
Posted: Sunday, August 30, 2009
Article comment by:
rancher
D.Lantern- Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution says that none but a natural born citizen may be President of the United States. There is an exception to that, but I don't think that Mr. Obama is that old. But then I haven't seen his real birth certificate.
Posted: Sunday, August 30, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Reading the comments to this article, has restored my faith in the people of this County. Obviously, we are not completely overtaken by right-wing sore losers.
Just makes me wonder why all these "birthers" who claim to be so pro-constitution were deadly silent when the previous administration used our Bill of Rights to scrape the mud of their boots. And again silent, when GW was so gung-ho to sell our ports to Dubai. It's unbelievable to me that these so-called U.S. citizens care more about their party, than they do their country.
Posted: Sunday, August 30, 2009
Article comment by:
C.C.C
As a proud American, I am ashamed of Democrats and Republicans! Who can tell them apart in the last few years? No One! Only one that is looking out for us is in Arizona and happens to be a Republican, his name is not Franks, it is Flake!
He is not a flake he represents the best of the American people!
He is unyielding and does not vote for earmarks! We need all of congress to follow his lead!
Posted: Saturday, August 29, 2009
Article comment by:
Daryl
The shoe will be on the (Right)foot in 2010.Kicking all the way to the White House in 2012.Throwing out the garbage on the way. Happy days will be hear again.(AMEN))
Posted: Saturday, August 29, 2009
Article comment by:
Diogenes' Lantern
@ LMJ
No President has ever won by a 90% popular vote margain. In 1980 Reagan won the election against Carter by a very slim margin of 50.7% of the popular vote. In 1984 Reagan won the election against Mondale by a bit broader margain of 58.8% of the popular vote. The largest popular vote margin ever achieved in the U.S. was in 1964 when Lyndon B. Johnson won with 61.1% of the popular vote. Next was in 1936 when Franklin D. Roosevelt received 60.8% of the popular vote. Richard Nixon took the 1972 election with 60.7% and Warren G. Harding won in 1920 with 60.3%. Reagan wasn't even close. His highest popular vote was 58.8% which means Reagan stands in 5th place when it comes to popular vote margins.
You should really get your facts straight before you go charging at people with phony numbers pulled out of a hat. But hang in there. I'll be putting up a blog in the near future giving Miner readers a lesson in how to conduct research on the Internet effectively. A brief hint for now though. Try Wikipedia.org and Google.com.
Posted: Friday, August 28, 2009
Article comment by:
Diogenes' Lantern
Just to set the record straight, pursuant to the 16th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States ... are citizens of the United States. It says nothing about that person's parents being U.S. citizens nor does it place any other restrictions on natural born citizenship. If you're born here you're a U.S. citizen and entitled to all the right, privileges and responsibilities thereof.
Posted: Friday, August 28, 2009
Article comment by:
Daniel
I say Obama should never produce anything. Keep these people as the face of the GOP. It will secure the Democrats majority status for a while.
My question to the birthers, why didn't any president in history have to produce a birth certificate? None of them have, Obama has given more then any president in history to prove his citizenship and yet the birthers still don't have enough. Do people really think it will stop with a long form? It won't solve this issue for them.
They will just claim it's a fake, like they claim the short form is a fake. The real issue is, they can't stand a black man is president, and that seems foreign to them.
Posted: Thursday, August 27, 2009
Article comment by:
Matthew Capalby
It is people like Trent Franks and Ron Gould that fixate on ridiculous and silly issues like Obama's birth certificate that cause Mohave County to be treated in a poor fashion and subsequently is not taken seriously when it comes to real governmental issues that could really benefit the well being of Mohave's citizens.
Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Article comment by:
LJM
@kak
One of the largest landslides in the nations history. GET REAL. Reagan was a landslide.(90% of the pop. vote) Obama was a hiccup. (53% of the pop. vote)
@ LetsBLogical
You couldn' be (logical) if you think Arnold(Ahnold) is a conservative or if you believe any true conservative would salivate over electing him. HA Have you seen what he's accomplished on the left coast.
Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Article comment by:
Census is Important
Enough from the birther crowd.
Did anyone catch the poor response Franks gave to the census?
Okay, folks. You want a Lowes, Target, Applebee's, and a full range of national shopping, entertainment and eateries. How do you think they decide where to site one of their multi-million dollar outlets? As one who worked in the shopping center industry, I will tell you they rely heavily on census data. They study population numbers, disposable income, education levels, and those trends. They sure as heck are not going to send a individual to Kingman and ask you face to face. If the numbers are low in the 2010 census, they will write Kingman off from consideration for another 5-10 years (until another census report). I am appauld that our local politicans like Mr. Watson, Ms. Goodall, etc. did not speak up.
Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Article comment by:
Jimi
Birth Certificate? Heck, what about the rest like his college admission records, grades, curriculum, passport records (travel to Pakistan in 1980), grade school records, immigration records from Indonesia, all records of his state senate years, comummity organizer records, medical records, adoption records, anything? So much for "transparency", this man is a blank slate with zero released records of his past.
Move over Austin Powers, Barry Soetoro is the new "International Man of Mystery".
Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Article comment by:
DVS
KEEP UP THE RETERICK, YOU ARE GOING DOWN....THANKS TRENT, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK,,GET STRONGER AND LOUDER, YOU HAVE LOTS OF SUPPORT....
Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Article comment by:
Want2Know
Although Article II section 1 of the Constitution clearly requires that all presidents be “natural born citizens,” the 2008 election proved, no controlling legal authority bothered to establish” that Obama was qualified for the Oval Office. Historically, a natural born citizen is one born of two American parents within the United States.
Now comes Obama's myspace.com page declaring that his is 52 years old. That means his birth would have occurred sometime in 1957, not 1961. It seems that his actual age is a matter of some speculation amoung his own supporters.
Why is his actual birth year relevant?
If Obama was born in Hawaii, and we don't know that he was until we see the actual document issued at the time of his birth; if he was born in 1957; he was born when Hawaii was still a territory of the United States; which, like his dual citizenship, would make him ineligible to the office he holds.
And Obama's birth certificate is not the only document at issue. WND has reported that among the documentation not yet available for Obama includes 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, his passport, medical records, files from his years as an Illinois state senator, Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records, and his adoption records.
He has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep all of his records sealed. And, the American People deserve to know why, we also deserve to know the truth.
Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Article comment by:
justy
If Americans are a bunch of wing nuts for asking Obama to come up with his long form birth certificate, what would you call Obama for paying over a million dollars to a high powered law firm to keep his records sealed so he doesn't have to show it?
Sounds like something is fishy and it's just not us wing nuts.
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