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Okay, I get it. You are for a private citizen....

Posted By: sam on 2008-10-30
In Reply to: From innocent pub plant in a rally to podium sidekick - in front of a rally...yeah....

being subjected to a background check for asking a question. That says more about you than what you say about Joe.

The difference between you and me is...I would be as outraged by this if had been done to someone who asked Obama and a question and was subjected to this. But of course, we know that isn't going to happen, now don't we?

So much for liberals championing civil rights. What a joke that has become!!


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But what is this PRIVATE

forum doing on an MT site?? Anyway, I have researched and contacted someone at ForuMatrix. I just want to know why a privately owned conservative board is on an open MT board masquerading as a **politics** board, all inclusive. I have never paid much attention to how these things were run but if the politics board is really the conservative board, then it needs to go somewhere else or there should be another board for the rest of us, moderated and administrated by a liberal, a green, an independent. Not many people of any stripe come here anymore and that is because the board has gotten so heavy handed conservatively. It does not matter what we say, we get the same rhetoric back from you. We're idiots, we ooze hate and loathing, we hate democracy, we love the terrorists, we are socialists (at least I get that a lot), we hate capitalism...The board has gone downhill progressively since 2004. The only opinions that matter are yours and Brunson/Nan's.


P.S. Why makes you think I am crying. I am inquiring and I intend to find out what I want to know.


Public or Private?
This is a direct quote from the TOS, accessed through the above link provided by Goldbird: *All posted articles and replies are PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE on the Web*

...yet in one of the MQ threads, Goldbird stated this board was PRIVATE and financial discussions, real or speculative, were not allowed.

So is MTStars a PUBLIC board or a PRIVATE board? Choose one -- Can't be both at the same time.
PP comes out of our taxes. NOT a private org.
Why do you think so many taxpayers are sick of it?  When does the "tax us til it bleeds stop?"
It shouldn't be. It's a private decision, not one to
.
Private insurance and SCHIPS not the same.
SCHIPS is for CHILDREN, not parents. Federal mandates that seek to raise the age of allowable coverage for natural children of parents with PRIVATE insurance makes perfect sense. Parents (not the govt) pay premium on young adults who would otherwise not be able to afford insurance. What's the problem here?
Hello. They are referring to PRIVATE insurance.
Do you have kids? Would you like to see them go to college? Graduate school? Law school? Medical school? Would you or would you not like to have the option to carry YOUR OWN CHILDREN on your insurance beyond age 17? I think that parents who want to cover their kids (and other members of their family, for that matter, like parents, in-laws, sisters, brothers, etc) should have that choice under a group rate that would be cheaper than individual policies that some of them otherwise would not be able to afford. It's called medical care reform and the aim is to INSURE people, not exclude them. got it?
I actually went to a private CHRISTIAN school.....

Throughout high school.  I'm not saying I would never put my children there, but at this point they have a good school and I am happy with it.  BTW, at their school they actually pray still, say the blessing, pledge the flag, etc.  Not sure how they get away with it, but yea they do it.


Capitalism is when private owners run businesses
xx
Taxpayers will pay for Gonzales' private attorney
This is incredible.

Lawyers from the Justice Department's civil division often represent department employees who're sued in connection with their official actions. However, Gonzales' attorney recently revealed in court papers that the Justice Department had approved his request to pay private attorney's fees arising from the federal lawsuit.

Dan Metcalfe, a former high-ranking veteran Justice Department official who filed the suit on behalf of eight law students, called the department's decision to pay for a private attorney rather than rely on its civil division "exceptional."

"It undoubtedly will cost the taxpayers far more," he said.

According to a person with knowledge of the case, the Justice Department has imposed a limit of $200 an hour or $24,000 a month on attorneys' fees. Top Justice Department attorneys generally earn no more than $100 per hour. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

Asked why Gonzales made the request, Gonzales spokesman Robert Bork Jr. said that his client "values the work that the department's civil attorneys do in all cases" but thinks that "private counsel can often be useful where (department) officials are sued in an individual capacity, even where the suit has no substantive merit."

Charles Miller, a Justice Department spokesman, said the department wouldn't have any comment on the reasons for the approval and wouldn't answer questions about the cost to taxpayers.

private pilots laid off just before the holidays!?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081121/bs_nm/us_gm
If those were my children, I would send them to private school too -
Can you imagine the nightmare of keeping those children safe now in a public school? The interruptions to scheduling and life the other children would have to go through every day to be able to go to school with the president's children?

I don't blame him one bit for putting his children in a private school! And yes, I know they were in private school before too and if he can afford it himself, then that is okay too. Don't subsidize private school for people with my money though...
If your in public office, you have no private life (mn)
.
If you want to have a private conversation with JTBB, take it off-line.
If you post to the forum, it's fair game for anyone.

Oh, and incidentally, if I felt comfortable posting my CV on a public forum, you'd be very embarassed by the "clueless" characterization.
Homeland Security opening private mail





  MSNBC.com

Homeland Security opening private mail
Retired professor confused, angered when letter from abroad is opened


By Brock N. Meeks

Chief Washington correspondent

MSNBC

Updated: 5:55 p.m. ET Jan. 6, 2006



WASHINGTON - In the 50 years that Grant Goodman has known and corresponded with a colleague in the Philippines he never had any reason to suspect that their friendship was anything but spectacularly ordinary. 


But now he believes that the relationship has somehow sparked the interest of the Department of Homeland Security and led the agency to place him under surveillance.


Last month Goodman, an 81-year-old retired University of Kansas history professor, received a letter from his friend in the Philippines that had been opened and resealed with a strip of dark green tape bearing the words “by Border Protection” and carrying the official Homeland Security seal.


“I had no idea (Homeland Security) would open personal letters,” Goodman told MSNBC.com in a phone interview. “That’s why I alerted the media. I thought it should be known publicly that this is going on,” he said.  Goodman originally showed the letter to his own local newspaper, the Kansas-based Lawrence Journal-World.


“I was shocked and there was a certain degree of disbelief in the beginning,” Goodman said when he noticed the letter had been tampered with, adding that he felt his privacy had been invaded. “I think I must be under some kind of surveillance.”


Goodman is no stranger to mail snooping; as an officer during World War II he was responsible for reading all outgoing mail of the men in his command and censoring any passages that might provide clues as to his unit’s position.  “But we didn’t do it as clumsily as they’ve done it, I can tell you that,” Goodman noted, with no small amount of irony in his voice. “Isn’t it funny that this doesn’t appear to be any kind of surreptitious effort here,” he said.


The letter comes from a retired Filipino history professor; Goodman declined to identify her.  And although the Philippines is on the U.S. government’s radar screen as a potential spawning ground for Muslim-related terrorism, Goodman said his friend is a devout Catholic and not given to supporting such causes.



A spokesman for the Customs and Border Protection division said he couldn’t speak directly to Goodman’s case but acknowledged that the agency can, will and does open mail coming to U.S. citizens that originates from a foreign country whenever it’s deemed necessary.


“All mail originating outside the United States Customs territory that is to be delivered inside the U.S. Customs territory is subject to Customs examination,” says the CBP Web site.  That includes personal correspondence.  “All mail means ‘all mail,’” said John Mohan, a CBP spokesman, emphasizing the point.


“This process isn’t something we’re trying to hide,” Mohan said, noting the wording on the agency’s Web site.  “We’ve had this authority since before the Department of Homeland Security was created,” Mohan said. 


However, Mohan declined to outline what criteria are used to determine when a piece of personal correspondence should be opened, but said, “obviously it’s a security-related criteria.”


Mohan also declined to say how often or in what volume CBP might be opening mail.  “All I can really say is that Customs and Border Protection does undertake [opening mail] when it is determined to be necessary,” he said.


© 2006 MSNBC Interactive




src=http://c.msn.com/c.gif?NC=1255&NA=1154&PS=69728&PI=7329&DI=305&TP=http%3a%2f%2fmsnbc.msn.com%2fid%2f10740935%2f

src=http://msnbcom.112.2o7.net/b/ss/msnbcom/1/G.9-Pd-R/s27230400008802?[AQB]&ndh=1&t=8/0/2006%208%3A25%3A24%200%20300&pageName=Story%7CU.S.%20News%7CU.S.%20Secur%7C10740935%7CHomeland%20Security%20opening%20private%20mail%7C&g=http%3A//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10740935/print/1/displaymode/1098/&ch=U.S.%20News&c3=Brock%20N.%20Meeks&c4=U.S.%20News&c5=U.S.%20Security&c7=handheld&c8=N&c15=10740935&c16=Story&c18=17&pid=Story%7CU.S.%20News%7CU.S.%20Secur%7C10740935%7CHomeland%20Security%20opening%20private%20mail%7C&pidt=1&oid=javascript%3AprintThis%28%2710740935%27%29&ot=A&oi=589&s=1024x768&c=32&j=1.3&v=Y&k=Y&bw=644&bh=484&ct=lan&hp=N&[AQE]

© 2006 MSNBC.com




URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10740935/


Remember when they declared family private and off limits
It's a can of worms I don't think they really want to open. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of light Aunti Zeituni can shed on the REST OF THE STORY (that is if she ever gets the chance) after the election. seh obviously holds nothing but the highest regard for her nephew and sounds like a really interesting person.

What is amazing about the fallout is that no one seems to be questioning that "highly unusual" shrub directive to ICE to issue as many deportation orders as possible before Tuesday. To me it's sort of like calling for mass executions in the Texas gas chambers (hurry up, hurry up) before anybody finds out that a couple of the death row inmates are innocent. One has to wonder what he meant by "politically sensitive" deportation cases.

Hopefully, it is a moot point. An executive order from a lame duck president with approval ratings in the low 20s is likely to be ignored by the ICE anyway.
Dems Target Private Retirement Accounts
More control coming?  Thanks, but no thanks.  I have a brain and like to think for myself.  See link below.
Ummm. Hello. Anybody home? SCHIPS is not private insurance.
since the bill has not gone through the Senate or signed into law, state guidelines have not changed either.
that's because he is a U.S. citizen
x
This is exactly why a citizen who
has the right to a voice won't use it for fear of being ridiculed and/or totally shredded by the coverage. In some cases, he or his family may find themselves under attack. Shameful. But I am sure we are all equally protected by HIPPA!!!
a citizen of the

bustling metropolis of Zberg uses a "fancy" word like rhetoric - town must be proud of their new mayor. Yee-haw!


 


How can you vote if you are not a US citizen?
You say you will vote for McCain if Hillary is the dem nominee. Then you say you will never become an American citizen if she is elected president. Color me confused...
Yes, and I believe Sarah is a least a US citizen.
nm
Only if every citizen gets $75,000, homeowner or not!
If you give $75,000 to every homeowner to pay their mortgage, you better give $75,000 in cash to each and every citizen who is not currently a homeowner. By the way, I notice that the right-wing posters are all for this pay-my-mortgage idea. What happened to the right-wing mantra about the democrats wanting everything for free? It looks like you guys will be the first in line to get your mortgage paid!
Arnold is a citizen but
He can't run for president because he is not a natural citizen.
No-bama, No-citizen...
Pennsylvania lawsuit alleging that Barack Obama is not a “natural-born citizen” of the United States took an unusual twist this week, after a federally mandated deadline requiring Obama’s lawyers to produce a “vault” copy of his birth certificate expired with no response from Obama or his lawyers.


The lawsuit, filed by former Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General Philip J. Berg — a self-avowed supporter of Hillary Clinton — alleges that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and is thus “ineligible” to run for president of the United States. It demands that Obama’s lawyers produce a copy of his original birth certificate to prove that he is a natural-born U.S. citizen.


Berg's suit and allegations have set off a wave of Internet buzz and rumors, though Obama could easily have put the matter to rest by providing the federal court with the basic documentation proving he is eligible to take the oath of a president. But Obama has apparently decided to deny the court and the public that documentation.


The Constitution provides that any U.S. citizen is eligible to become president if the person is 35 years of age or older and is a natural-born citizen; that is, born in the territorial United States.


By failing to respond to the Request for Admissions and Request for the Production of Documents within 30 days, Obama has “admitted” that he was born in Kenya, Berg stated this week in new court filings.


Berg released a long list of “admissions” he submitted to Obama’s lawyers on Sept. 15, and asked that they produce documents relating to Obama’s place of birth and citizenship.


Instead of responding, lawyers for Obama and the DNC asked the court to dismiss the case. But Judge R. Barclay Surrick of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has issued no ruling in the case that would have given Obama’s lawyers more time.


“There are lots of legal ways to stonewall,” a well-placed Republican attorney told Newsmax, who was not authorized to comment officially on the case. “But failing to respond is not one of them.”


“The first thing they teach you in law school,” he added, “is don’t put a complaint like this in a drawer. That’s how a nuisance case can become a problem.”


The 30-day deadline for defendants to comply with a discovery request is set forth in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedures.

“It all comes down to the fact that there's nothing from the other side,” Berg said after he filed a motion on Thursday for summary judgment.


“The admissions are there. By not filing the answers or objections, the defense has admitted everything. [Obama] admits he was born in Kenya. He admits he was adopted in Indonesia. He admits that the documentation posted online is a phony. And he admits that he is constitutionally ineligible to serve as president of the United States.”


In a contentious case, lawyers on both sides will haggle over the production of documents, and will frequently go beyond the deadlines, several lawyers told Newsmax.


“The rules are more often complied with in the breech rather than the observance,” a senior trial attorney who has close ties to the Democrat Party, but is not involved in the current case, told Newsmax.


“Lawyers frequently do not return telephone calls or meet discovery deadlines because of sheer inadvertence. Therefore, we do not consider a failure to respond as a ‘violation,’” he said.


Allegations surrounding Obama’s place of birth have been swirling for months. Earlier this year, the Obama campaign sought to put down the rumors by making available a computer-generated Certification of Live Birth, issued in 2007 by the State of Hawaii. [See the Certification of Live Birth — Click Here.]


Respected conservative blogger Ed Morrissey called the Berg lawsuit a “conspiracy theory” that had been put to rest by the Obama campaign over the summer but ”has arisen like a zombie yet again to suck the credibility out of the conservative blogosphere.”


However, the 2007 document produced by the Obama campaign omits key information that normally appears on birth certificates in the United States, including the name of the hospital where he was born, the size and weight of the baby, and sometimes the name of the doctor who delivered him.


In addition, the critics of the 2007 document note that Obama's father is described as “African,” a term used today. The formal language in official documents at the time — 1961 — would have identified his race as “Negro” or “Colored.”


The Web site snarkybytes.com has produced a vault copy of a Hawaii Certificate of Live Birth from 1963, issued by the Hawaii Department of Health. [See the vault copy — Click Here.]


In addition to naming the hospital and more details about the baby, the 1963 vault copy also includes the “usual residence of the mother,” and the “usual occupation” of the father. None of this information appears on the 2007 Live Birth certificate produced by the Obama campaign.


Berg has been a perennial political candidate in Pennsylvania, having run in Democrat primaries for attorney general, lieutenant governor, governor, and other offices without success. He served as deputy attorney general of the State of Pennsylvania from 1972-1980.


His credibility was tarnished by work he did for the far-left “9/11 for the Truth” campaign, which alleged in a federal lawsuit that the collapse of the twin towers in New York was caused by “controlled demolition” ordered by the president of the United States.


Nevertheless, in recent weeks, lawsuits have been filed in seven additional states demanding that Barack Obama produce an original vault copy of his birth certificate, to dispel the rumors that he is not a natural-born United States citizen.


The latest suits have been filed in state and federal courts in Hawaii, Washington, California, Florida, Georgia, New York, and Connecticut to compel Obama to release his birth records.


Lawsuits in Washington and Georgia are seeking state superior courts to force the states’ secretary of state, as the chief state elections officer, to require Obama to produce original birth records from Hawaii, or else decertify him as a candidate for the presidency.




Ironically, Obama mentions his birth certificate in passing on Page 26 of his 1995 memoir, “Dreams of My Father.” “I discovered this article, folded away among my birth certificate and old vaccination forms, when I was in high school,” he wrote.


Lawyers for Obama and the DNC did not return calls for comment on the current status of the case, or explain why the Obama campaign did not simply put to rest the whole controversy by releasing the birth certificate that Obama apparently cherished as a teenager.


In the past, questions about Sen. John McCain's legal status have arisen. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone at a U.S. Army hospital. McCain had legal experts vet his constitutional qualifications, and he also disclosed a copy of his birth certificate.


born in Kenya folks.......not born in the USA!

His MOTHER was a U.S. citizen

Good Lord, this gets more ridiculous every day.


Republicans favor giving poor families subsidies to afford private schools. Obama opposed.
Yet Obama sends his daughters to a private school, 29,000 for EACH KID. Hypocrisy, here we come. Geesh, not even in office yet.
700 billion dispersed to every citizen would only come to
.
His father was a Kenyan citizen. We all know that. What is ...sm
your point. He was not adopted by his Kenyan father. The point is that his mother was an American citizen. It doesn't matter where he was born. What is it that you don't understand about that? Mexicans and Canadians, as well as students and others from many other foreign citizens give birth every year and their children are American citizens. If what you say is true, and I do not believe it for a minute, why would you think that an American citizen giving birth in a foreign country would not automatically convey citizenship onto her baby? Get real. This is not what the constitution intends. This is just a diversionary tactic by desperate people.
Ummm....I am a concerned citizen. What he does now...
affects we the people directly. He HAS the job. Someone has to scrutinize him...his faithful certainly aren't going to. This choice just shows he intends to continue his Chicago connections. All that denial...little white lies? Now that he has the job...he doesn't care. So far not feeling really trustful toward the O.
I know it does - his mother was underage citizen
Hence his citizenship then went to his father's nationality. He was still born in Kenya. Doesn't change anything.
He was never a US born American citizen
Let me repeat - Never was an American citizen, never was, never happened, nothing to denounce. He was born a Kenyan, moved to Indonesia and became an Indonesian citzen. What part of that are you not understading. If you were never an American citizen to begin with there is nothing they can take away. CRIPES ALMIGHTY! How many more times do people have to post that. There are NO documents to ever prove he was. You just don't listen.
If he is not a bona fide citizen, he

CANNOT be president. Only American CITIZENS can become president. Don't you understand that?


It doesn't matter if his mother was an American, he married an American, his kids were born in America. If he was born in another country, he cannot be president. He can't serve in the Senate either, but evidently, his credentials weren't checked that close when he became a senator.


I wish he would produce his original bc and get this over with.


Yeah. They have to be born citizen, not
a naturalized citizen. Which is why "the Governor" will never be the Prez.
Yeah, he won! Who cares if he is a citizen?!
nm
This should disturb every honorable citizen

Our own government won't even let us be free.......


http://52.thelastoutpost.com/video-4/police-state/cia-embedded-in-every-state-government.html


 


Here is a comment made by a citizen in

At least the person making the comment actually knows what the problem is in this country.......the illegals and all the wonderful freebies they take at our expense but having no business getting them in the first place, while legal citizens do without.......... I see this with my transcription ALL the time. 


 


"I work for a doctor's office: majority of Medi-Cal patients are non-english or limited english speakers, so I can assume they haven't been here long -- - lots of Medi Cal patients seem from India & Iran & Mexico. We have kids who have Healthy Families plan -- most those kids translate for us to their parents who are from Mexico or Russia -- & invariably, they've got 4 siblings crowded around. Daily we get several hard-luck calls from people (who have no accent at all) who don't have insurance & need to be seen but can't afford to pay . . . I don't understand how you can be new to the state or country & receive all those fabulous benefits, even though you haven't contributed taxes or usefulness to the state . . The 'big guys' working for the state still get their bonuses . While State of California workers get $75 toward a new frame and basic lenses with a big co-pay, State Assembly & Legislature can choose up to a $400 frame, with no copay. NOT FAIR!"


Here is a comment made by a citizen in

At least the person making the comment actually knows what the problem is in this country.......the illegals and all the wonderful freebies they take at our expense but having no business getting them in the first place, while legal citizens do without.......... I see this with my transcription ALL the time. 


 


"I work for a doctor's office: majority of Medi-Cal patients are non-english or limited english speakers, so I can assume they haven't been here long -- - lots of Medi Cal patients seem from India & Iran & Mexico. We have kids who have Healthy Families plan -- most those kids translate for us to their parents who are from Mexico or Russia -- & invariably, they've got 4 siblings crowded around. Daily we get several hard-luck calls from people (who have no accent at all) who don't have insurance & need to be seen but can't afford to pay . . . I don't understand how you can be new to the state or country & receive all those fabulous benefits, even though you haven't contributed taxes or usefulness to the state . . The 'big guys' working for the state still get their bonuses . While State of California workers get $75 toward a new frame and basic lenses with a big co-pay, State Assembly & Legislature can choose up to a $400 frame, with no copay. NOT FAIR!"


If you are a US citizen, he is YOUR president - sorry about that chief - nm
X
So then you think every citizen should have unlimited visits with the President? sm
Gee, 280 million people in the United States.  24 hours in a day.  Yeah, that will work.
As a citizen/poster from hurricane country
nm
445,000 per citizen is the bill for the bail outs.
And what then? The govt will own our homes and regulation will take on a whole new meaning.

This is called fascism.
If Obama is a natural born citizen,

then why doesn't he provide it to the court, along with his medical and educational background?  I don't think a scan of a birth certificate does it.  Give the evidence to the court.  Factcheck.org has the Annenburg connection, so it is not an objective source.


Does that not bother you that he will not do the right thing?  If he has nothing to hide, why is this buried in the legal system?  Get it over with and provide it to the court.


 


 


His mother was a natural-born US citizen...sm
and lived in the US all her life before she gave birth at 18. Your statement only applied. to children born to naturalized citizens who are living outside the US, the purpose being someone who comes to this country and becomes naturalized, then after a few years moves to another country, cannot expect their children that are born in that other country be considered natural-born citizens with the right to run for president. I will double check with my brother tonight, but I am pretty sure that is how he explained it.
Yes, it IS a free country, and he is an AMerican citizen...
and should have the right to ask a Presidential candidate a question without fear of reprisal. That is not what happened. Just because you don't like him, you don't think he has rights? Do you know what that sounds like? Put on your jackboots and sleeve ornament and stand up for the right to quash any kind of freedom if it doesn't help the big "O." Good grief!! This is ridiculous!

Bottom line: NO ONE forced Obama to answer the question, and NO ONE forced him to give a socialist answer. Is there a part of that that escapes you?
I am a concerned citizen too. You can call it "sore
nm
And Chicago Citizen of the Year in 1997
1. Was Ayers the leader of a terrorist group?

The FBI labeled the Weather Underground "a domestic terrorist group" whose members took credit for bombings of the U.S. Capitol, Pentagon and other government buildings. The bombings were designed to cause property damage, not hurt people. Ayers never has been accused of killing anybody.

But three Weather Underground members accidentally killed themselves while making bombs in New York City in 1970. In 1981, two police officers and a security guard were killed when other members of the group committed an armed robbery.

2. How long was Ayers "underground"?

Ayers and his wife, Weather Underground member Bernardine Dohrn, were on the lam 10 years before surrendering in 1980.

3. Were they ever convicted of "terrorism" charges?

No. Ayers faced federal riot and bombing-conspiracy charges, but those charges were dropped because of illegal wiretaps, break-ins and mail interceptions by authorities. Dohrn served less than a year behind bars for non-bombing activities tied to the group.

4. How are Ayers and Dohrn viewed now?

At least before this campaign, they were mainly seen as respected college professors. After getting his doctorate in education at Columbia University, Ayers joined the University of Illinois, where he gained a national reputation pushing innovative -- some say controversial -- approaches to educating at-risk youth. Dohrn has a national reputation for pushing reforms of the juvenile justice system. Ayers has published 15 books. He sits on civic boards with Mayor Daley, who in 1997 awarded Ayers the city's "Citizen of the Year" award. Ayers and Dohrn live in Hyde Park, not far from the Obamas.

5. So how well do Ayers and Obama know each other?

Ayers and Obama served on separate boards associated with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, an education-reform group that Obama began chairing in March 1995 and continued to work with through 2000. Ayers served on the Chicago School Reform Collaborative, which made recommendations to the board on grant awards during those years. Ayers and Obama occasionally would see each other in those roles.

Also, Ayers served alongside Obama between December 1999 and December 2002 on the board of the not-for-profit Woods Fund of Chicago. That board met four times a year, and members would see each other at dinners the group hosted.

The RNC's statement that "Obama's first campaign was launched at a gathering at Mr. Ayers' home" stems from a 1995 "meet-and-greet" coffee that Ayers and Dohrn held for Obama at their home when Obama was making his first run for the Illinois Senate. Obama's presidential campaign has described the event as an opportunity for Ayers and Dohrn to introduce Obama to their neighbors.

In 2001, Ayers gave $200 to Obama's campaign. A year ago, the two met walking through the neighborhood where they both live.

6. How does Ayers respond to the Republicans' charges?

He doesn't. He has declined to comment to the Sun-Times or any other media since Sen. Hillary Clinton first raised him as a potential problem for Obama in April during the Democratic primary.

7. What does Obama say about Ayers?

During a primary debate, Obama underplayed his relationship with Ayers: "This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know, and who I have not received some official endorsement from," Obama said. "He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis. The notion that somehow, as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense."

8. Is it fair for McCain to criticize Obama on this issue?

Factcheck.org has this take: "Voters may differ in how they see Ayers, or how they see Obama's interactions with him. We're making no judgment calls on those matters. What we object to are the McCain-Palin campaign's attempts to sway voters -- in ads and on the stump -- with false and misleading statements about the relationship, which was never very close. And Ayers is more than a former 'terrorist,' he's also a well-known figure in the field of education."

9. Has Ayers ever apologized for what he did with the Weather Underground?

Not exactly. In 2001, Ayers told the Sun-Times he regretted that "people were hurt, that three of my dear friends were killed, that we were stupid, immature, intolerant and unwise. I regret that I hurt people's feelings." He did not regret "throwing myself as wholeheartedly as I could figure out into opposition to war and to the system of racial injustice."

A review of Ayers' memoir Fugitive Days that appeared in the New York Times on Sept. 11, 2001, quoted Ayers saying, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough." Three days after the terrorist attacks, Ayers clarified: "My memoir is, from start to finish, a condemnation of terrorism . . ."

10. Are all former alleged terrorists/radicals shunned?

No. Former IRA bomber Gerry Adams is welcomed at the White House as a peacemaker. Former PLO leader Yasser Arafat was too. Former Students for a Democratic Society member and Ayers friend Tom Hayden was elected to the California State Assembly. Former Black Panther Bobby Rush is a congressman representing Chicago, as is former Puerto Rican independence activist Luis Gutierrez.
Canadian citizen just on the news stating how its
nm
Yeah well, Bush was President and you were a citizen...
there were wars on several fronts and you darned well wanted to know every little thing he knew including who he saw in the White House, but you don't demand the same out of your godlike hero the great and powerful O. What is WRONG with this picture? You know what the scary thing is? You don't SEE what is wrong with this picture. lol.
Obama must be United States Citizen to be president!!!!

Until he proves to all the people of the United States that he was born a US citizen, how can anyone support him for president!  Are we all that desperate?


Correct, Arnold is not a natural-born citizen. sm
Neither of his parents were American citizens when he was born. He is a naturalized American citizen and cannot run for president unless there is an amendment to the US Constitution.