Untitled Document

12-12-08

Patrick Fitzgerald Called In to Save the Presidency for the communi$t$', Again

In the Plame Affair, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald nailed Scooter Libby for lying under oath, effectively saving the Bush Administration from a total and complete downfall. The Bush Administration broke every law on the books as far as the Plame incident is concerned and by all rights Little George should have been impeached because of his actions against Plame. Plame was on to something big, probably connected with Israel supplying terrorists with small nuclear bombs. Fitzgerald saved Little George's presidency and kept Israel's connect and sponsoring nuclear bombs to terrorists going. Fitzgerald was given the worst possible recommendation when on On July 2, 2007, President Bush provided a statement[23] on his decision to commute Mr. Libby's prison sentence and noted,

"After the investigation was under way, the Justice Department appointed United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald as a Special Counsel in charge of the case. Mr. Fitzgerald is a highly qualified, professional prosecutor who carried out his responsibilities as charged."

Now the question becomes what has Obama done that is so horrible that Mr. Make is Right, Patrick Fitzgerald had to be brought in to save the presidency again for the communi$t$. Certainly comrade Obama is starting off on the wrong foot. Obama has not even been sworn in and Fitzgerald had to be called in to save him. Of course Obama is not even eligible to be president because both his parents were not US citizens. It is amazing to me how so called smart people say this, that or the other and ignore the most important - Why our founding fathers included in the US Constitution that our president had to be a natural born US citizen, which logic dictates, is defined as both parents being US citizens. The same bad guys, Rothschilds and Rockefellers, who gave us comrade Little George, now back and give us comrade Obama.

The bad guys did it by deliberately trashing our banking system with derivatives compliments of comrade Alan Greenspan's.

Since the Rothschilds and Rockefellers have made Obama, we know the next four years is going to be horrible for the USA. Expansion of communi$m in the USA is a given under Obama as Obama tells us he plans to save the economy by making the government much bigger. The draft and taking our guns away are basically a done deal with Obama's pick for Chief of Staff and Attorney General. John Negroponte is making Mexico a communi$t police state probably with plans to invade us. Guantanamo will be kept in operation for the day we, Americans, are deemed terrorists and without our Civil Rights many of us find Guantanamo our new residence. Oh well. The flip side of the bad guy evil has the chance true Americans make the USA a stronger and a more American country. My hope is for the day we get to watch those making war on us get the needle on nightly news.

The other day I read an article and saw a picture of Russians coming out for the funeral for the head of the Christian Church in Russia. It made me realize that I have never seen 400,000 Americans attend the funeral of a Christian leader in the USA. Why? Another thought. Obama said his father was an atheist which is interesting since communi$t$ are atheists and Obama loved his father so much and Obama's distinct communi$t leanings. Is the Rothschilds and Rockefellers hatred of Christianity the reason Russia will be in Obama's cross hairs over the next four years? Is the Rothschilds and Rockefellers hatred of Christianity what the economic meltdown and war and misery is all about?

Patrick Fitzgerald
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the United States Attorney who investigated the Plame affair. For the British singer-songwriter, see Patrik Fitzgerald. For the Northwestern University football head coach, see Pat Fitzgerald.
Patrick Fitzgerald

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Fitzgerald

Patrick Fitzgerald, Official DOJ Portrait
Born December 22, 1960 (1960-12-22) (age 47)
Brooklyn, New York
Occupation Federal prosecutor, United States Department of Justice
Spouse(s) Jennifer Letzkus
Patrick J. Fitzgerald (born December 22, 1960) is the current United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. He was the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel in charge of the investigation of the Valerie Plame Affair, which led to the prosecution, and conviction, of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Scooter Libby.[1][2] He has been involved in a number of other high-profile cases, pursuing Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Illinois Governor George Ryan, media mogul Lord Conrad Black, and several aides to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

Contents [hide]
1 Personal
2 Response to criticism
3 Career
3.1 New York
3.2 Illinois
4 Notable cases
4.1 Plame investigation
4.2 Conrad Black and Hollinger
4.3 RISCISO indictments
4.4 Blagojevich corruption arrest
5 Notes
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Personal
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

Fitzgerald was born into a working-class Irish-American Catholic family in Brooklyn and grew up in the Midwood-Flatbush neighborhood. His father (also named Patrick Fitzgerald) worked as a doorman in Manhattan.

Fitzgerald attended Our Lady Help of Christians grammar school, Regis High School, a prestigious Jesuit Catholic school in Manhattan, and received degrees in economics and mathematics from Amherst College before receiving his JD from Harvard Law School in 1985.[3] While at Harvard, Fitzgerald was a member of the Harvard Business School Rugby Club.

Fitzgerald is married to Jennifer Letzkus. They are runners and stair climbers, having completed a Turkey Trot, the Mt. Washington climb,[clarification needed] and the 23rd Annual New Year's Day 5K Run/Walk,[clarification needed] among other events. They were married in a small ceremony on June 7, 2008. It is his first marriage and her second; Letzkus was married from 2001 to 2004 to Cisco executive Jeremy Crisup.

[edit] Response to criticism
An author and former Federal Prosecutor of 20 years, Elizabeth de la Vega, has taken issue with Fitzgerald's critics.[4]

[edit] Career

[edit] New York
After practicing civil law, Fitzgerald became an Assistant United States Attorney in New York City in 1988. He handled drug-trafficking cases and in 1993 assisted in the prosecution of Mafia figure John Gambino, a boss of the Gambino crime family.[5] In 1994, Fitzgerald became the prosecutor in the case against Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 others charged in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.[6]

In 1996, Fitzgerald became the National Security Coordinator for the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. There, he served on a team of prosecutors investigating Osama bin Laden.[7] He also served as chief counsel in prosecutions related to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

[edit] Illinois
On September 1, 2001, Fitzgerald was nominated for the position of U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois on the recommendation of U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald (no relation), a Republican from Illinois. On October 24, 2001, the nomination was confirmed by the Senate.

Soon after becoming U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois, Fitzgerald began an investigation of political appointees of Republican Illinois Governor George Ryan, who were suspected of accepting bribes to give licenses to unqualified truck drivers. Fitzgerald soon expanded this investigation, uncovering a network of political bribery and gift-giving, and leading to more than 60 indictments. Ryan was indicted in December 2003. At the conclusion of the trial, in April 2006, Ryan was found guilty on all eighteen counts against him. Ryan's co-defendant, Chicago businessman Larry Warner, 67, was convicted of racketeering conspiracy, fraud, attempted extortion, and money laundering. The two were sentenced on 6 September 2006: Ryan received a sentence of six and one half years, and Warner received a sentence of three years, five months.[8]

Against criticism that these cases were based on circumstantial evidence, Fitzgerald responded: "People now know that if you're part of a corrupt conduct, where one hand is taking care of the other and contracts are going to people, you don't have to say the word 'bribe' out loud.... And I think people need to understand we won't be afraid to take strong circumstantial cases into court."[9]

On July 18, 2005, Fitzgerald's office indicted a number of top aides to Democrat Richard M. Daley, the mayor of Chicago, on charges of mail fraud, alleging numerous instances of corruption in hiring practices at City Hall. An investigation announced on December 30, 2005 stated that it intended review contracts between the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and vendors who signed leases to occupy the remodeled Illinois Tollway oasis. Fitzgerald's office investigated possible conflicts of interest between these vendors and one of Blagojevich's top fundraisers, Antoin Rezko.

In March 2006, former Chicago City Clerk James Laski pled guilty to pocketing nearly $50,000 in bribes for steering city business to two trucking companies. Thus far Laski is the highest-ranking Chicago official and Daley administration employee brought down by Fitzgerald's office in conjunction with the Hired Truck Program scandal.

On December 9, 2008, federal agents arrested Governor Blagojevich for conspiring to profit from his authority to appoint President-elect Barack Obama's successor to the U.S. Senate. Fitzgerald said Blagojevich, “put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a United States Senator.”[10]

U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald chose not to run for reelection in 2004, leaving Patrick Fitzgerald without a congressional patron. In the summer of 2005, there were rumors that he would not be reappointed to a second four-year term in retaliation for his investigations into corruption in Illinois and Chicago government, as well as for his investigation of the Plame scandal.[11] Those "rumors" were not realized; Fitzgerald is now completing his seventh year as U.S. Attorney.

President-elect Barack Obama has since pledged to keep Fitzgerald on as a U.S. attorney.[12]

[edit] Notable cases

[edit] Plame investigation
See also: Plame affair
On December 30, 2003, after then-Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself from the CIA leak grand jury investigation of the Plame affair due to conflicts of interest, Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey, acting as Attorney General in Ashcroft's place, appointed Fitzgerald to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel in charge of the investigation.[13][14]

On December 30, 2003, three months after the start of the Plame investigation, Fitzgerald was appointed Special Counsel (under Department of Justice regulation 28 CFR Part 600). Through this, Fitzgerald was delegated "all the authority of the Attorney General" in the matter. In February 2004, Acting Attorney General Comey clarified the delegated authority and stated that Fitzgerald has plenary authority. Comey also wrote "further, my conferral on you of the title of 'Special Counsel' in this matter should not be misunderstood to suggest that your position and authorities are defined and limited by 28 CFR Part 600."[15]

On October 28, 2005, Fitzgerald brought an indictment for 5 counts of false statements, perjury, and obstruction of justice against Lewis "Scooter" Libby, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff. Libby resigned to prepare for his legal defense. Fitzgerald indicated that the leak investigation was not over, and it was widely believed that Karl Rove was the main target of the investigation, although Fitzgerald refused to comment on any specific person.

In his first press conference after announcing Libby's indictment, Fitzgerald was asked about comments by Republicans such as Kay Bailey Hutchison, who said "I certainly hope that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality..." Fitzgerald responded, "That talking point won't fly... The truth is the engine of our judicial system. If you compromise the truth, the whole process is lost . . . if we were to walk away from this, we might as well hand in our jobs."[16]

By March 28, 2006, some bloggers were reporting that on the basis of interviews with people close to the Plame investigation, indictments against Rove or National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley were imminent. However, by mid-June 2006, it was announced that no charges were going to be brought against Rove. In early April, The New York Times ran a front page story linking Libby to a leak, supposedly ordered by Dick Cheney, that Iraq had been attempting to acquire uranium in 2002. By the thirteenth of the month, many media outlets, including the New York Times, retracted this story, after discovering that the basis of this claim was based on papers filed with the courts the previous week. These papers themselves were corrected via formal statements from Fitzgerald.

On August 28, 2006, Christopher Hitchens claimed that Richard Armitage was the primary source of the Valerie Plame leak, and that Fitzgerald knew this at the beginning of his investigation.[17]

Robert Novak's testimony in the Lewis Libby perjury trial made it known that the two senior administration sources he cited in his article were Richard Armitage and Karl Rove.[18] Journalist Michael Isikoff received confirmation from Rove's lawyer and from lobbyist Richard Hohlt that Rove was also faxed an advance copy of the article revealing a CIA covert agent's identity several days before it was published.[19][broken citation]

On March 6th 2007, Libby was convicted of 4 out of 5 charges of lying under oath. Fitzgerald announced on the courthouse steps that while he is always open to receiving new information related to the case, he expects to file no further charges, and the prosecutors will "return to their day jobs." Libby was sentenced to a $250,000 fine, 2 years of probation and a 2 1/2 year prison term. After a court of appeals rejected Libby's attempt to delay the prison sentence while he appealed the verdict, President George W. Bush commuted the prison portion of Libby's sentence.

Two days after the verdict, Congressman Henry Waxman, chair of the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform, announced that his committee would ask Plame to testify on March 16, in an effort by his committee to look into "whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding Plame's identity."[20]

In March 2007, it was revealed that Fitzgerald "was ranked among prosecutors who had 'not distinguished themselves' on a Justice Department chart sent to the White House in March 2005..."[21] This was revealed in light of an investigation of the December 2006 firings of several U.S. Attorneys by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, perceived as being politically motivated and despite his previous Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service in 2002.[22] The Washington Post article states that two other prosecutors so ranked were dismissed.

On July 2, 2007, President Bush provided a statement[23] on his decision to commute Mr. Libby's prison sentence and noted,

[edit] Conrad Black and Hollinger
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

On November 17, 2005, Fitzgerald brought criminal fraud charges against former Canadian media mogul, Lord Conrad Black, as well as against three other Hollinger executives.

The trial of Lord Black began at the Federal Court in Chicago in March 2007. Black was convicted on July 13, 2007 and later sentenced to serve 78 months in federal prison, pay Hollinger $6.1 million and a fine of $125,000.

[edit] RISCISO indictments
On 1 February 2006, it was first announced that Fitzgerald was indicting nineteen members of Risciso, a software and movie piracy ring, in U.S. Federal Court in Chicago.[24][25]

[edit] Blagojevich corruption arrest
On December 9, 2008, Fitzgerald confirmed in a press conference in Chicago that Illinois state governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, had been arrested by the FBI early that morning on charges of corruption. Fitzgerald described Blagojevich's actions as the "kind of conduct [that] would make Lincoln roll over in his grave."[26] Blagojevich was charged with mail fraud and solicitation of a bribe. According to Fitzgerald, Blagojevich attempted to sell off President-elect Barack Obama's open U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, as well as pressuring the Chicago Tribune to fire editors critical of the Blagojevich administration in exchange for state assistance in selling Wrigley Field.[27] Fitzgerald said at the news conference that, "I laid (sic) awake at night," worrying about the possible firing of Tribune editors.[citation

Press: In Blago Scandal, Everything's Always Bad For Obama
stumble digg reddit del.ico.us news trust mixx.com December 11, 2008 11:49 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read More: Barack Obama, Blagojevich Corruption, Blagojevich Obama, Press Obama Blagojevich, Rod Blagojevich, Time, Time Obama Blagojevich, Media News
Show your support.
Buzz this article up.
Buzz up!

Get Breaking News Alerts

never spam
Share Print CommentsYesterday, Jamison Foser made mention of the need to be watchful for an emerging press trope as the Blagojevich scandal unfolded: stories that darkly warn of imminent implications for President-Elect Barack Obama in one breath, followed in the next by "concessions that he, you know...isn't implicated.

Obviously, you get variations on a theme. But for my money, the angle taken by Time Magazine's Massimo Calabresi in the opening paragraph of "Can Obama Escape the Taint of Blagojevich?" deserves a special award for fatuousness. I mean, first of all, points off for the mental image of Blago's "taint." Not cool!

On more than one occasion during his stunning press conference on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald bluntly said he has found no evidence of wrongdoing by President-elect Barack Obama in the tangled, tawdry scheme that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich allegedly cooked up to sell Obama's now vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. But for politicians, it's never good news when a top-notch prosecutor has to go out of his way to distance them from a front-page scandal.
As Foser points out in his own analysis of this lede, the entire first sentence of Calabresi's article describes the actions of a man repeatedly prompted to answer the same question, over and over again, by reporters. Calabresi seems to want you to believe that Fitzgerald was repeating himself of his own volition, in some sort of "lady doth protest too much" scenario. But that Fitzgerald was made to repeat his statement isn't news, it's just press-conference process given a heightened meaning by a disingenuous reporter from Time.

But honestly? It takes a special sort of reptilian brain to accept the logic of this sentence: "But for politicians, it's never good news when a top-notch prosecutor has to go out of his way to distance them from a front-page scandal." Really? See, in the world where I live, when a top-notch prosecutor goes out of his way to keep me at a distance from a scandal, this is always, always, always a good thing. By Calabresi's logic, Obama would have been better off getting indicted! Oh well. Maybe, given some more time, Patrick Fitzgerald will uncover some wrongdoing on Obama's part. Then, things'll really start looking up!

Obama Denies Blagojevich Contact, Promises More Info (VIDEO)
stumble digg reddit del.ico.us news trust mixx.com December 11, 2008 11:36 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read More: Barack Obama, Blagojevich Video, Daschle Press Conference, Obama Blagojevich, Obama Blagojevich Video, Obama Cabinet, Obama Daschle, Obama Health, Obama Hhs, Obama Live, Obama Press Conference, Obama Rod Blagojevich, Obama Tom Daschle, Obama's Cabinet, Rod Blagojevich, Tom Daschle, Politics News
Show your support.
Buzz this article up.
Buzz up! Show your support.
Digg this article.

Get Breaking News Alerts

never spam
Share Print CommentsIn a press conference designed to focus on the appointment of Tom Daschle as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Barack Obama was besieged almost entirely with questions about the role he and his staff played (or didn't play) in the Rod Blagojevich corruption scandal.

The President-elect gamely fielded three questions on the issue and addressed it in his opening remarks, saying (twice) that he was appalled and disappointed "by the revelations earlier this week." He declared that he "had no contact with the governor's office" and "did not speak to the governor" about the process of who should replace him as Senator. "That I know for certain," Obama said.

Obama also said that he had "not been contacted by any federal officials" regarding Blagojevich's plans to auction off his seat to the highest bidder. He offered a similar assurance for his staff: "We have not been interviewed by them."

"As is reflected in the U.S. Attorney's report," Obama added, "we were not perceived by the governor's office as amenable to any deal-making."

Pressed on several occasions to reveal the extent, if any, of his staff's contact with the Illinois Governor -- contact that likely took place, considering Obama's seat was under discussion -- the President-elect urged a bit of patience.

"I have asked my team to gather the facts of any contacts with the governor about this vacancy so that we can share them with you over the next few days," he said. "What I'm absolutely certain about is that our office had no involvement in any deal-making about my Senate seat ... That would be a violation of everything this campaign was about and that is not how we do business."

The Blagojevich scandal did not entirely dominate the press conference. Obama began by raising concerns about the rising number of jobless claims and the struggles of the auto industry. The fourth and final question actually focused on an issue of substance: how would Obama pay for an expansion of health care coverage in time of massive budget shortfalls?

"What we want to make sure is that any plan that we have starts with the premise that rising costs are unsustainable," said the President-elect. "We can't insure everybody under the current program without bankrupting the government, business or states. We are going to spend a lot of time figuring out how to streamline the system," He added. "We are also going to examine programs that aren't giving us a good bang for our buck."

Blagojevich, Obama and who dropped the dime
Posted by greg hinz at 12/10/2008 11:40 AM CST The demise of Rod Blagojevich continues to make so much news, I almost don't know where to start.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?page_id=2308&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a1daca073-2eab-468e-9f19-ec177090a35cPost%3afd6fbbcc-a822-442c-a9a3-a348abfced55&sid

Take the man himself. Just how idiotic is it for someone who the whole world knows is under federal investigation to brag about auctioning off a U.S. Senate seat — and to simultaneously believe he still can run for president in a few years? Maybe Rod ought to try a mental incapacity defense at his upcoming trial. Frankly, it fits.

Then there's that pending move in Springfield to strip G-Rod of his power to appoint someone to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat.

I'm beginning to think it's likely an impeachment play. If the bill passes and the guv indicates he'll exercise his right to "study" it for up to 60 days, House Speaker Michael Madigan would have the perfect pretext to impeach — and not on the basis of unproven federal charges, but because the guv failed to step aside on a matter in which he has a conflict of interest. Got 'em!

However, I'm going to focus today not on those matters, but rather the heavy, heavy buzz that Mr. Fitzgerald's move this week was prompted, at least in part, by Team Obama, that the president-elect’s folks dropped the dime on Not-So-Hot Rod.

Here's what's known:

In bringing the charges on Tuesday, Mr. Fitzgerald conceded that he'd junked his normally careful, methodical investigative pace in favor of warp-speed action on alleged illegalities that occurred as recently as two weeks ago. Why such an extraordinary shift in tactics? He cited "imminent" pending matters, including the vacancy of Mr. Obama's former Senate seat.

The charges are based on secret tape recordings of the governor. The recordings were authorized by a federal court, per Mr. Fitzgerald's request on Oct. 21, just two weeks before Mr. Obama was elected president.

But who got the feds to run into court and get a phone-tap order?

In conversations taped by the feds, Mr. Blagojevich repeatedly gripes that Mr. Obama isn't offering him anything for picking Mr. Obama's choice to the Senate. The choice, referenced only as "Senate Candidate 1," almost certainly refers to Valerie Jarrett, a longtime Obama friend and associate. Numerous sources confirm that Ms. Jarrett indeed wanted the seat — and Mr. Obama wanted her to have it — until she abruptly pulled her name out of the running in mid-November.

Mid-November is when Mr. Blagojevich is roundly griping on the tapes that Team Obama won't give him anything for a Jarrett pick. No Cabinet job, no ambassadorship, no nothing, Rod complains, according to the feds. "They're not wiling to give me anything except appreciation. F--k them."

Further down, the charges refer to another Obama hand, identified only as "President-elect Adviser" but apparently U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who will be Mr. Obama's chief of staff.

The President-Elect Adviser is interested in setting a date for a special election in the 5th Congressional District, and could help raise millions for a foundation that could hire Rod and pay him a big salary, Mr. Blagojevich says, according to the feds’ criminal complaint.

As of this writing, Mr. Emanuel has not resigned his 5th District House seat. Nor has Mr. Blagojevich set a date for a special election.

Now, Team Obama publicly and privately has insisted they did not talk to Mr. Blagojevich about any of this. I believe them that Mr. Obama did not pick up the phone and have a chat with Mr. Blagojevich about being ambassador to Serbia.

But their explanations leave lots of wiggle room — i.e., a statement from strategist David Axelrod that the president-elect and the governor have never "spoken directly" about the Senate vacancy. You could drive a semi sideways through that "directly."

Moreover, Mr. Blagojevich likely did not figure out on his own that the Obama folks were going to stiff him. Someone told him, someone who talked to them. And neither Mr. Emanuel nor Ms. Jarrett is the type to take kindly to being extorted or being pushed around. From my experience, either is quite capable of sending a message to Pat Fitzgerald.

So, at a minimum, it looks like Mr. Blagojevich literally tried to shake down the president-elect, and the president-elect and/or his folks wisely walked away from any transaction. The question is, did his folks do more?

The timing of Mr. Fitzgerald's request for the phone taps, Oct. 21, is a bit early for Ms. Jarrett to be moving for the Senate seat. So perhaps Mr. Fitzgerald had another tipster, and then got lucky with the tapes on the Big Senate Sale. Certainly FBI agents in early October were receiving tips that Mr. Blagojevich was trying to cash in before a new state ethics law takes effect this New Year's, and that likely prompted the request for the court order. Perhaps Mr. Blagojevich's former chief of staff, John Wyma, who appears to be referenced in the charges, played a role.

On the other hand, Mr. Obama has all the reason in the world to put distance between himself and Radioactive Rod. What better way than to put Mr. Blagojevich in a nice cell somewhere?

Who did in who? That remains a really good question.
Comments (16) | Permanent Link

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/08/obama-birth-certificate-c_n_149229.html

Obama Birth Certificate Challenge Turned Down By Supreme Court
stumble digg reddit del.ico.us news trust mixx.com December 8, 2008 11:54 AM EST |

Compare other versions »
Compare 11:54 AM EST11:05 AM EST10:58 AM EST10:07 AM EST10:04 AM EST and 11:54 AM EST11:05 AM EST10:58 AM EST10:07 AM EST10:04 AM EST versions

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read More: Barack Obama, Obama Birth, Obama Birth Certificate, Obama Birth Certificate Challenge, Obama Birth Challenge, Obama Birth Theories, Obama Supreme Court Challenge, President Obama, Politics News
Show your support.
Buzz this article up.
Buzz up! Show your support.
Digg this article.
President-elect Barack Obama listens to a reporter's question during a news conference in Chicago, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Get Breaking News Alerts

never spam
Share Print CommentsWASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has turned down an emergency appeal from a New Jersey man who says President-elect Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because he was a British subject at birth.

The court did not comment on its order Monday rejecting the call by Leo Donofrio of East Brunswick, N.J., to intervene in the presidential election. Donofrio says that since Obama had dual nationality at birth _ his mother was American and his Kenyan father at the time was a British subject _ he cannot possibly be a "natural born citizen," one of the requirements the Constitution lists for eligibility to be president.

Donofrio also contends that two other candidates, Republican John McCain and Socialist Workers candidate Roger Calero, also are not natural-born citizens and thus ineligible to be president.

At least one other appeal over Obama's citizenship remains at the court. Philip J. Berg of Lafayette Hill, Pa., argues that Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii as Obama says and the Hawaii secretary of state has confirmed. Berg says Obama also may be a citizen of Indonesia, where he lived as a boy. Federal courts in Pennsylvania have dismissed Berg's lawsuit.

zzzzzzzzzzzz

http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/02/obama-appointee-adds-to-mixed-signals-on-gitmo/

Obama Appointee Adds to Mixed Signals on Gitmo
Posted December 2, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama has added to growing discomfort about the seriousness with which he is approaching his pledge to close the detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay by selecting Eric Holder to be the attorney general for his incoming administration.

Though in recent months he has parroted the Obama campaign’s position on the facility, Holder was a long-time advocate of the Bush Administration’s policies, saying he believed that the detainees could be thought of as “combatants” and held “until the war is over,” an ominous suggestion given the open-ended nature of the conflict. He likewise argued that the detainees are not “entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention” in that they weren’t technically prisoners of war.

Still, President-elect Obama maintains that he is committed to closing Guantanamo sometime after he takes office, though aides are quick to point out that no decision has been made as to how to proceed on this course, nor indeed is there even a process in place to make such a decision. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says any move to close the facility will require a joint effort with Congress to ensure that released detainees are prohibited from seeking asylum in the United States. This is likely to create another stumbling block as some of the detainees, though cleared of wrong-doing, would not be welcomed back to their countries of origin.