Anchors Away?
Before all you nautical nerds yell at me, I know the correct phrase is "anchors aweigh."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchors_Aweigh
Anyway......
Lately there has been a lot of talk about the new Arizona 'immigration laws' and all that they entail. One of the latest arguments is the question of whether or not "anchor babies" should be denied naturalized status despite being born here.
"Lemme splain, no, that would take too long, lemme sum up..." Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride.
An "anchor baby" is what people refer to as a child born to illegal immigrant parents but by the virtue of being born on US soil the child is a natural born American citizen and the parents are typically allowed to stay for the sake of "keeping families together."
In the past, an anchor baby was the road to citizenship. I was one of those anchor babies... my parents' legal status notwithstanding, (and I am NOT saying that they had me solely for that reason) the fact is that if you had a child here in the 70's, after a certain amount of time you were allowed to apply for citizenship and were rarely denied. Immigration laws in general were pretty lax in those days, and this was just one loophole. Getting married with an American, which you can still do, is still common practice. But no longer can you claim citizenship because your child is an American. Especially if you are illegal! Now I think the rule is that the child is an American with all the rights afforded all Americans, BUT, the parents have to leave. They can take the child with them, or leave him/her with relatives legally here. If they take the child back 'home', the child can return on his/her own with full citizenship status when they are 18. Don't quote that, I just think it's like that.
"Every Person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States. This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons." Senator Jacob Howard, Co-author of the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, 1866.
Republicans in Arizona have recently made a push for a law that would deny an 'anchor baby' his American Citizen status because they were born under false pretenses. (their parents being here illegally and by that logic the child should have never been born here)
Also, not all countries offer automatic citizenship by birth.
And until the 14th amendment was adopted and written into the Constitution, it was not offered here.
The 14th Amendment starts off like this....
"Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside...."
It was written to offer former slaves born in the USA full citizenship status.
Those are the Republicans arguments.... I actually have no opinion on the matter right now, I am more interested what everyone else thinks and more importantly, why they feel that way. PLEASE LEAVE RACISM OUT OF IT! That is not a valid argument.
I have a cousin, she is Ecuadorian. Her two daughters were born here. In my opinion, she was smart. When she got pregnant she applied for a visa to come visit the US. It was granted and she flew here 8-9 months pregnant. Her daughter was born an American. When her visa was up, she went back home. After some years, she became pregnant again. Once again, she came here to have her baby. On a personal level, I think she has given her 2 daughters the greatest gift on this planet. So for her, and them, I am glad.
Here is where the slope gets slippery. Article II, Section 5 of the Constitution requires that the President MUST be a Natural Born Citizen. The purpose for this being that the President's allegiance can never be questioned.
Now, my cousin's daughters were born here and are American citizens but for all intents and purposes, they are Ecuadorian. That is all they know, that is where they grew up, that is where all their friends and family are. (not including 'distant' cousins like me) If they were to rise to the office of the President of the United States of America, assuming they came here and made that their goal, where would their allegiance be? I personally believe that in matters concerning Ecuador at least, they would be Ecuadorian first.
Enter Barack Obama. Many dispute whether or not he actually was born on US soil. Is his allegiance first to America? Would he die for it? I personally also doubt this.
I want to know what you folks believe... please comment.
Do you agree or disagree that we should deny 'anchor babies' their American citizenship status.
Gubment Handouts… Benevolence or Malevolence?
An excerpt (with a few edits for application's sake) to a liberal kook friend of mine, but you should be able to get the pic...
Question... You are all about helping the masses right? You are also against the American Empire Machine... You must be if you asked me to read that book (the book is 'Confessions of an Economic Hitman')... What do you think has given rise to "The Machine"? Fed Gov and Big Business Elite have worked together because Fed Gov's part has been to turn those who are INdependent and make them DEPENDENT because this is how Fed Gov power is derived. If every person in this country was independent, who could liberals get to vote for them?!?! Why would anyone who has everything they need, vote for anyone who is promising to go after those who have everything? This is why it is irrefutable that entitlement perpetuates the supposed imperialist American Elite. And let me say that I am not against helping those who not only "need", because that is subjective, but who ASK FOR IT, AND as long as I am in a position to give, and not being FORCED to give.
As a positive side note, I hope you saw the article about Americans volunteering in droves even NOW, even without jobs!! In the article is says that "we are not sitting around playing Xbox!" How friggin admirable to see Americans not sitting around waiting for their checks. A kook I know, talks about "people not having equal opportunities". Do these folks have equal opportunity? Could they not sit back and say "there are no jobs... BOO HOO!!!"? The equality is in the equal right to make your money, not in those who make the money, parsing it out equally.
POTUS Has Not Spoken to the BP CEO?!?!
President Obama appeared on the Today Show and said that he has not spoken to British Petroleum's CEO Tony Hayward... "and here's why..." Obama said, "when you speak to someone like that they tell you what you want to hear." Are you serious Mr. President?!?!?! First of all, who is he to presume to know what Hayward is going to say? Secondly, SO?!?! You talk to the guy, knowing that if you are as pissed as the president claims to be, you say "Look Tony, don't feed me this crap!" Even if that was his concern, why not talk to the CEO's of other oil companies and see if they have advisors that can help. The guy had a freakin' BEER SUMMIT to talk about what all parties could have done better in the Louis Gates mess, why not have an Oil Company Summit?!?! THIS IS A CRISIS! A CATASTROPHE! A CALAMITY!
I don't know about anyone else, but I don't wanna hear how pissed off the president is and how he wants to find out who's "ass to kick". I want him to keep talking to whoever he needs to, to get this "hole plugged up!" Stop having award ceremonies for Paul McCartney and taking vacations and show some real empathy for the fisherman and all of the people being affected by this CRISIS!!
Cronyism – Take a Good Look at Those at the Top
This is an excerpt from an email I received from my wife. I should preface this post with the fact that she absolutely abhors politics, policy-type current events or anything closely resembling these.
PS: Did you hear that the government was overthrown in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic?
A lady named Roza Otunbayeva declared herself the country's interim leader.
She is the head of the Social Democratic Party and a member of it's parliament. She was a foreign minister for 2 years under the former president.
She quit to protest the former president's appointing of one of his brothers as ambassador.
Kurmanbek Bakiev was the former president there (who was over-thrown).
It was mostly done because of the increases in fuel and electricity rates after he sold public utilities - to companies his friends owned. (Bad boy).
That former president's son owned television stations, banks and mobile services. The people took back those companies. (Probably just in time. Wow.)
There's an airbase that is important to the supply line to the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, nearby. (So I guess the US has reason to be concerned about all of this.)
So we need to take a look at the top people in the Administration. What are their qualifications? Who vetted these people? Google: Cass Sunstein, Valerie Jarrett, Van Jones, Anita Dunn. You can also research a little further into Rahm Emanuel (Chief of Staff), David Axelrod (Senior Advisor) and a host of others who came up through "The Chicago Way".
One Nation Under “Place idol here”
If you can believe it, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is at it again. This time, because they have had a hard time convincing the majority of this country that it is somehow wrong and violates the Constitution, that we say "One Nation Under God", they have decided that we should tell our children that they can "opt out" of pledging allegiance to their country.
Treason - the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign's family
Someone... ANYONE! Please tell me how this "kindred spirit of perfidy" is allowed to exist in this country?!?! I for one, will not stand for these "half-baked nitwits" (one of the terms allowable by Congress, that won't offend anyone) telling my children that they can opt out.
Is it not enough, that we can no longer wish people a Merry Christmas? Is it not enough that we are being forced to take down the Ten Commandments from the halls of Courts that share the values upon which this country was founded?!?! Is it not enough that those of us who say "God Bless You" are looked at with condemnation?!?! I have conformed and stood by while you make less of my Christian faith, but I will be damned, if I do not expect, no, DEMAND that my children pledge allegiance to their country. If you don't believe that we are one nation under God, that is your right, but don't propagate your doctrine using the minds of our young, impressionable children.
To the ACLU and any of its advocates: STAY AWAY FROM OUR CHILDREN!!