BORN IN THE USA?
The latest on eBay's 'Kenyan birth certificate'
Now it's an autographed photograph for sale
Posted: July 01, 2009
9:11 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
The eBay auction seller who has tried multiple times to sell an allegedly genuine copy of Barack Obama's "Kenyan birth certificate" now is offering for sale a photograph of individuals who reportedly contributed to the strategy through which the still-unproven document was obtained.
And the seller, identified as "colmado_naranja," who claims to have obtained the document while traveling Africa, suggested more information will be revealed on a planned YouTube video.
"My user name is InspectorSmith. I've had the account for some time. I have never uploaded anything. ... So this will be the first time that I've ever uploaded anything. So you'll get your document yet, up close and personal," the seller wrote on the latest eBay posting.
The seller explained previously that Kenyans had boasted Barack Obama II was born in the Coast Provincial Hospital in Mombasa at 7:24 p.m. on Aug. 4, 1961, which correlates to speculation that has existed over the president's birthplace since prior to his election.
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The seller made four attempts to auction the "evidence," which would presumably render Obama ineligible to serve as president for violating the "natural born citizen" clause. The eBay website has a policy forbidding the sale of certain government documents, which presumably led to the auction page being removed.
Screenshot of the seller's fifth attempt, with bids approaching $1,000,000, shortly before it was remove |
In the fifth attempt at auctioning "the truth about Obama," the seller didn't mention the birth certificate, offering instead a "dissertation" on Obama's birthplace, and the auction page still disappeared.
Now the seller has posted an offer of an autographed photograph of a couple of the people who purportedly helped obtain the document. There were several dozen bids, bringing the price to $365 today.
"I want to make clear that this whole endeavor to obtain information on O's birth was a three man job (more accurately 2 men and 1 lady). Andylenny. Smith. Dawnella Wilson. Smith and Andylenny are (due) the credit for actually getting their hands on the proof. Dawnella Wilson is due credit for financing the whole undertaking. The photo in this listing is up for auction. On the left is Smith and on the right is Andylenny. This photo will be signed by Smith, as Smith. This will be the only autographed photo put up for auction. One auction, one winning bidder, one photo. No more," the seller wrote.
The latest auction is active as of this afternoon on eBay.
The seller offered thanks to the eBay community, those who wrote in about the issue, attorneys and paralegals who made contacts and "all military personnel that have written to me with their support, opinions and offers as hired guns."
"There won't be anymore eBay auctions for documents, stories or dissertations," the seller wrote.
"After the YouTube video I will be heading over to WorldNetDaily to talk with Joseph Farah. I will disclose everything to them," the seller continued. Contact between the seller and WND has so far been limited to an exchange of e-mails.
And no such YouTube video could be found today.
The seller also addressed doubts held by Jerome Corsi, a senior WND staff writer who traveled to Kenya and Hawaii to investigate Obama's birth circumstances.
"I have great respect for you. You're not just a talker but, a doer as well. While many have talked of O's birth, you actually went abroad to get something tangible. Congrats. However, just because you couldn't pull it off doesn't mean that I wasn't able to."
While WND has made repeated outreaches to colmado_naranja, the validity of the claims – as well as the previously advertised "Kenyan birth certificate" – remain a mystery. The seller has so far declined to allow the document to be seen or photographed.
In the original listing, colmado_naranja explained, "I am not posting any photos of the birth certificate here on eBay. I have not seen this birth certificate anywhere on the Internet, to post it here on eBay would lead to a flood of facsimiles on the Internet. This would inadvertently decrease the value of the certificate as well."
Corsi, who traveled to Kenya last year to look into Obama's past, was skeptical of the entire offering.
While there, immigration authorities detained him and his publicist to prevent him from holding a news conference revealing what he had discovered. Eventually, thousands of dollars in bribes were required to set the writer free.
Corsi told WND that despite contacts in government offices, the help of others and even the offer of financial reward, the Coast Provincial Hospital in Mombasa would not confirm Obama's birth there nor provide access to records.
"When I was there, I tried to get records from that hospital, but I couldn't do it," Corsi said. "The hospital either had no records or wouldn't release them.
Corsi wouldn't rule out the possibility that the eBay seller may have somehow obtained a genuine document but stated only that his efforts in Kenya proved fruitless.
WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama's status as a "natural born citizen." The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, "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."
Some of the lawsuits question whether he was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama's American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.
Other challenges have focused on Obama's citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.
Complicating the situation is Obama's decision to spend sums estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to avoid releasing a state birth certificate that would put to rest all of the questions.
WND has reported that among the documentation not yet available for Obama includes his kindergarten records, his Punahou school records, his Occidental College records, his Columbia University records, his Columbia thesis, his Harvard Law School records, his Harvard Law Review articles, his scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, his passport, his medical records, his files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records, and his adoption records.
"Where's The Birth Certificate?" billboard in Pennsylvania |
The campaign followed a petition that has collected almost 400,000 signaturesdemanding proof of his eligibility, the availability of yard signs raising the question andthe production of permanent, detachable magnetic bumper stickers asking the question.
The eBay birth certificate seller is a self-proclaimed "collector of old Dominican and Cuban money" and has worked in the Congo.
"This spring I traveled through Kenya and its capital Nairobi. I was overwhelmed by the 'iconicized' face of U.S. President Barack Obama that displays itself throughout the country. I had lunch at a small eatery and noticed that the club sandwich with fried plantains was now known as 'Obama's Plate of the Day,'" the seller wrote on the initial auction page. "As an American I was bombarded with questions in English (English is national language of Kenya) on my feelings and opinions of a Kenyan governing the United States of America. The first several times I responded in saying that not enough time had elapsed since Barack Obama's appointment as president of the U.S.A., and that I'd have to hold my official opinion until at least January 2010, a year in office might be sufficient for me to judge his ability to govern the U.S.A.
"Naturally I thought that by 'Kenyan' they were referring to Barack Obama's blood, being that his father Barack Obama Sr. was a native of Kenya. After a day and a half of my being in Nairobi I learned that they were literally referring to President Barack Obama Jr. as being born in Kenya, a native of Kenya."
The seller also cited the fact that Obama has not release his "Hawaiian" birth certificate. His administration, the seller says, "in an attempt to put the birth certificate issue to a rest, has presented the American public with a fake, forged, fraudulent Hawaiian birth certificate."
The "certification of live birth" posted online and widely touted as "Obama's birth certificate" does not in any way prove he was born in Hawaii, since the same "short-form" document is easily obtainable for children not born in Hawaii. The true "long-form" birth certificate – which includes information such as the name of the birth hospital and attending physician – is the only document that can prove Obama was born in Hawaii, but to date he has not permitted its release for public or press scrutiny.
Oddly, though congressional hearings were held to determine whether Sen. John McCain was constitutionally eligible to be president as a "natural born citizen," no controlling legal authority ever sought to verify Obama's claim to a Hawaiian birth.
If you are a member of the media and would like to interview Joseph Farah about this campaign, e-mail WND.
Related offers:
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Previous stories:
eBay warns buyers off $1 mil 'Kenyan birth certificate'
Will 'truth about Obama' be sold on eBay?
'Kenyan birth certificate' remains eBay mystery
'Proof' of Kenyan birth twice scrubbed by eBay
For sale on eBay: Obama's 'Kenyan birth certificate'
Eligibility issue hits local news
Farah's $10,000 birth certificate challenge
Billboard cartel says no to questioning Obama
Senator calls for vetting of candidates' eligibility
Compare Obama's 'birth certificate' with real one
Shocker! Most Americans know of Obama eligibility questions
Posey: Eligibility document plan not personal
Support rising for eligibility verification demand
Gibbs gets 2nd shot at eligibility question
2nd congressman: Prove eligibility
Americans vote with wallets to see Obama birth certificate
Birth certificate billboard mania continues
U.S. bonkers for Obama birth certificate billboard
THE FULL STORY: See listing of more than 200 exclusive WND reports on the eligibility issue
Obama flack laughs off birth certificate question
Start your own eligibility billboard campaign
Appeal promised in eligibility lawsuit
Obama: Where have all his records gone?
Grassroots sign on to eligibility billboard campaign
Trifecta: 3rd media outfit bans Obama eligibility ads
Businessman boots Lamar over eligibility issue
2nd major billboard company rejects eligibility campaign
Obama's 'birth certificate' not acceptable in Hawaii
Eligibility billboards dubbed 'misleading'
All topics open to discuss – except Obama eligibility
'Birthers' take eligibility to next level
Cover-up: CBS bans eligibility billboards
White House dialogue site scrubbed of eligibility posts
Eligibility explodes on White House 'dialogue' site
Surprise for Obama on White House 'dialogue' website
If that's a birth certificate, I'll …
Obama mouthpiece laughs off birth certificate request
Americans vote with wallets to see Obama birth certificate
Bob Unruh is a news editor for WorldNetDaily.com.