From Jeff this morning, we start off with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals response:

Philip Berg’s attempt to delay the election until after Illinois Sen. Barack Obama produces his birth certificate and other documentation proving his constitutional eligibility to serve as president of the United States has been rebuffed by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. This afternoon [October 31], Circuit Judge Thomas Ambro denied the Emergency Motion for an Immediate Injunction to Stay the Presidential Election of November 4, 2008 Pending Resolution of the Petitioner’s Appeal filed by Berg two days ago.

Sorry, but I don’t think anyone would have actually kept the general election from occurring solely based on what is factually known on this issue, so I personally see this is a bit of a non-starter. Here’s the actual denial paragraph:

DENIED. For the reasons ably expressed by the District Court —and not addressed in Plaintiff-Appellant’s Emergency Motion— it appears that Plaintiff-Appellant lacks standing to challenge Senator Barack Obama’s candidacy for the Presidency of the United States. Accordingly, Plaintiff-Appellant has not shown a likelihood of success with respect to his appeal.

Philip Berg responded thusly:

“The Third Circuit took the wrong position, again saying that I don’t have standing,” he said. “If I don’t have standing, then nobody does. Nobody does. It’s not right. I am doing my best to stand up for the rights of every American citizen to question, according to basic provisions of our constitution, the eligibility of the man who very likely could be elected the next president of the United States in four days’ time.”

“Judge Surrick said that nobody had that right,” Berg said, noting that the district court judge suggested that Congress “should set up a mechanism for this sort of thing in the future.”

“We’re not dealing with the future, though,” Berg said. “This election is in four days, and now we’re leaving the hopes and wishes of all citizens who want the constitution followed with the Supreme Court.”

Regarding the standing issue, Mr. Berg has mentioned in certain court papers that, per Vermont v. United States, 529 US 765 (2000):

[t]he United States Supreme Court has held … that a private citizen such as the relator herein has standing to bring an action under the False Claims Act as this.  Thus, there can be no valid assertion whatsoever that the relator does not have standing to bring this instant action. The United States Supreme Court has expressly held otherwise.

Berg uses this to conclude, in part, the following:

Upon his wrongful election, defendant has received payment from the United States Government, specifically from the United States Department of the Treasury, of a salary as a United States Senator.  This payment of a salary to defendant Obama results from his submission of a false claim, within the full meaning of the False Claims Act, that he is a United States citizen entitled to a salary as a United States Senator.  He is not, as he cannot legally hold this federal office by virtue of his not being a United States citizen.

This would be a fascinating twist, if all of this comes to fruition and proves that Sen. Obama is not truly a US citizen.

Speaking of birth certificates, there are a couple of things happening. The first as reported by Jeff and the AP (via HonoluluAdvertiser.com):

State officials say there’s no doubt Barack Obama was born in Hawai’i

Health Department Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said today she and the registrar of vital statistics, Alvin Onaka, have personally verified that the health department holds Obama’s original birth certificate.

Fukino says that no state official, including Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, ever instructed that Obama’s certificate be handled differently.

She says state law bars release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible interest.

Some Obama critics claim he was not born in the U.S.

Earlier today, a southwest Ohio magistrate rejected a challenge to Obama’s citizenship. Judges in Seattle and Philadelphia recently dismissed similar suits.

Berg responds accordingly:

“If they’re verifying that they’re having a birth certificate, they’re looking at it in violation of the governor’s instructions that nobody should be looking at it,” Berg said, referencing recently-refuted reports that Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, a republican and reportedly close friend of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, had sealed all records connected with Barack Obama. “Either way, I can only assume that they’re only referring to the forged Certificate of Live Birth posted across the Web until I see otherwise.”

Which is interesting to note (“…nobody should be looking at it”), as Andy Martin suggests that HI officials affirmed the existence of a previously-unseen original COLB (Certificate of Live Birth):

(HONOLULU)(November 1, 2008) Internet powerhouse Andy Martin has ignited a firestorm in Hawai’i over Barack Obama’s bogus “original” birth certificate. Martin won a stunning victory Friday afternoon (October 31st) when the State of Hawai’i backed his assertion that there was an original, “typewritten, 1961″ birth certificate, called a “Certificate of Live Birth” or “COLB” in Hawai’i, that no one has previously seen. Hawai’i officials retrieved and examined the document after Martin filed a lawsuit seeking access to the historic 1961 original.

Obama has falsely claimed to have placed the “original” on the Internet. Factcheck.org has falsely claimed to have seen this document and posted it on the Internet; that is not true. CNN has falsely ridiculed Martin.

…

“My lawsuit started a firestorm in Hawai’i. The circuit judge has set a hearing for November 18th (a report in the Honolulu Advertiser for November 1st for an earlier hearing date of November 7th is inaccurate; that date was cancelled).

…

“Now Obama, Factcheck.org and CNN have been exposed as liars. I said there was a ’secret,’ original, typewritten birth certificate that had never been disclosed, and that document was the original COLB, not the phony ‘original’ that CNN placed before its viewers.

“Why would Hawai’i officials review the vault document at the Eleventh Hour if my lawsuit wasn’t causing a furor in Hawai’i state government? Why? The Friday before the election?

“Mine is the only logical, rational, properly prepared lawsuit that has been filed to open Obama’s secret records. I sued in the proper state in the proper court against the proper officials for the proper remedy. And they are responding properly. The judge has properly, although not as quickly as I would have preferred, set a hearing to consider my claims. I have not filed outrageous or exaggerated pleadings.

“I merely sought access to a document based on its scholarly and news value and because I had been tipped by my sources inside state government that Obama was lying. My network of informants within state government helps me and guides me. Others filed lawsuits outside Hawai’i that have either been dismissed or discredited. My ‘little engine that could’ is chugging along.

Mr. Martin is intending to have a news conference at the southeast corner of Huron and Webash Streets in Chicago at 3:00pm today (Saturday, November 1).

My sources also tell me that HI Gov. Linda Lingle is in receipt of information that alleges that Sen. Obama’s birth certificate (the one ordered to be sealed) is not only counterfeit, but written and typed by a certain intelligence office outside of the US. This would obviously be a serious national security issue if the allegations are true.

On the tape issue front, Jeff writes accordingly:

“I have the [Sarah Obama] tape,” Berg said. “The transcript of the tape is in the Supreme Court filings, along with the two affidavits from the individuals.”

The audio of the tape will be released, Berg said, as soon as he “reviews some legal issues.”

To me, his answer sounded a bit like it had come from the editor-in-chief of African Press International, who stalled and made excuses and continued to dig himself and his “news organization” into the hole after refusing to produce audio evidence of a purported conversation with Michelle Obama, during which the would-be First Lady purportedly said a few off-color comments. I smelled a fraud when the API story first came out, and I didn’t much like hearing the “legal issue” excuse on this one as well. So I pressed Berg on it.

“The tape exists,” he said. “I have it. The transcript and affidavits have been included with the filings at the Supreme Court.”

Now, as far as I know, the Supreme Court procedurally cannot accept evidence save for what is in the record from the lower court. This is, after all, a review and not a new proceeding. Still, Berg is adamant that he is doing the right thing.

“We are proceeding on the basis that I have standing and that Barack Obama does not meet the qualifications to serve as president of the United States. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will see that,” he said. “Listen, there’s an easy way to handle this. There’s been an easy way to handle this from the beginning. Ideally, the Supreme Court should issue an order on Monday morning that Obama submit all information by 5:00 p.m. on Monday afternoon or have his name stricken from the ballot. I hold out hope that the Supreme Court, the people charged with upholding the United States Constitution, will do what they can to avert a certain constitutional crisis.”

API continues to assert today that Fox News will be airing their Michelle Obama tape and that they were originally approached by Fox News:

The negotiation was initiated by Fox News Network not API. This point has to be understood and that means they are interested in doing the right thing.

API was contacted by Fox News Network the same day the story broke out on the 15th of October. Negotiations started the same day in the UK and a week later it moved to New York in order to streamline the facts that each party involved had raised.

“The agreement on, and verification of Michelle Obama tape was concluded on the 28th October at 10.00 am (N.Y time), in Fox News Network Offices, 18th floor, located at 1211 Ave of the America’s in New York”

Therefore, the tape will be aired by the Sean Hannity Show and Greta Van Susteren Show as stipulated in the agreement. The agreement states clearly that the tape will be aired before the elections that takes place on November the 4th. [emphasis theirs]

At this point, i would completely believe Mr. Berg over his Sarah Obama tape than I would over API, as we now know that Berg’s tape is in the SCOTUS’ possession. I will continue to cover what API says in this regard about their purported evidence in case something does come to fruition from all of their claims.