Chicago Tribune Refutes Tax Activist Robert L. Schulz and His We The People Foundation's Claim Barack Obama Ineligible for Presidency

It seems that we just cannot get past the fact that President-elect Barack Obama is a direct descendant of an immigrant. But wait, aren't all Americans descendants of immigrants? I can't believe that we are still dealing with the issue of his place of birth, less than 50 days from his inauguration. Don't these people have a charity they could donate the money from their frivolous lawsuits to? I came across a hard-hitting response by the Chicago Tribune to Robert L. Schulz, 69, chairman of We The People Foundation, who has taken out a bunch of ads to refute Obama's claim of being a natural born American. Never mind that fact that the Obama campaign produced a copy of his birth certificate. To add to this mess, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider Friday whether to take up a lawsuit challenging President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship, a continuation of a New Jersey case embraced by some opponents of Obama's election. Here's the Chicago Tribune rebuttal in its entirety:

•The birth form released by Obama was "an unsigned, forged and thoroughly discredited" live birth form, Schulz says.

Last summer, Obama's campaign presented a digital copy of his certificate of live birth. After critics questioned its authenticity, staff at FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, said they had seen, held and examined the actual birth certificate.

•"Hawaiian officials will not confirm" that Obama was born in their state, Schulz says.

Initially, Hawaiian officials said that privacy laws prevented them from releasing a copy or confirming that Obama's copy was authentic. But in late October as questions persisted, Hawaii's health director and head of vital statistics reviewed Obama's birth certificate in the department's vault and vouched for its authenticity.

•Schulz says that legal affidavits state Obama was born in Kenya.

The affidavits that Schulz refers to are filings by the Obama critics themselves in the court cases challenging Obama's citizenship.

•Obama's paternal grandmother is recorded on tape saying she attended Obama's birth in Kenya, Schulz says.

The group's Web site posted what it says is a transcript of a long-distance phone
conversation in Swahili and English from late October between a questioner in the United States and Sarah Hussein Obama, in her Kenyan home. The translator said he was one of two interpreters conducting the interview in a crowded hut during a celebration, over a speaker phone that dropped the call three times. A copy of the recording was not provided by Schulz.

• Schulz says that "U.S. law in effect in 1961 [the year of Obama's birth] denied citizenship to any child born in Kenya if the father was Kenyan and the mother was not yet 19 years of age."

If a child is born in the United States—as Hawaiian officials state that Obama was—that child is a U.S. citizen regardless of his or her parents' nationalities. If born to an American parent outside the U.S., the law at the time would require the U.S. citizen parent to be at least 19, which Obama's mother was not. The provisions of this law were subsequently loosened and made retroactive for government employees serving abroad and their families. It appears that this would not apply to Obama's mother. The matter would seem to be academic: Hawaiian officials vouch for Obama's birth certificate.

•Schulz says that in 1965, Obama's mother relinquished whatever Kenyan or U.S. citizenship she and Obama had by marrying an Indonesian and becoming a naturalized Indonesian citizen.

U.S. law lists the specific acts and formal procedures necessary to relinquish U.S. nationality. The statute requires the acts be performed voluntarily and with the intention of relinquishing one's nationality. In many instances, one must be 18 to renounce one's citizenship. Obama moved to Indonesia in 1968 and moved back to Hawaii
while still in grade school. There is no indication that Obama renounced his
U.S. citizenship.

Schulz supports his argument with a reproduced Indonesian school document that states Obama's citizenship at that time as "Indonesian." But the same document also lists Obama's birthplace as " Honolulu, Hawaii."

Schulz, interviewed by the Tribune on Tuesday, said his concern about Obama's citizenship is not partisan. "We never get involved in politics," he said of We The People. "We avoid it like the plague."

Final thoughts.....

The money Mr. Shulz and his foundation is using to fight a lost cause, could have been better spent on helping some of the people facing foreclosure, or even some of the children in foster homes. This is a complete waste of time and I am sure his little "hissy fit" will come to an end soon, especially when Mr. Obama assumes the presidency on January 20, 2009. Legal experts have said that the appeal has little chance of succeeding, despite appearing on the court's schedule.