Tag Archives: US State Department

Drafting a definition for Natural Born Citizen (update)

by Dr. Conspiracy on 30. Sep, 2009 in Citizenship

I’m working on a definition for Natural Born Citizen to be submitted to the Urban Dictionary. The current definitions there are highly unsatisfactory and have net negative response from those who rate them.

This blog has published definitions before including:

Unfortunately my original article is far too long to fit the 1500 character limit of the Urban Dictionary, and in any case, I want something short and easy to read. So here is a draft for comment. Keep in mind that the following is just 38 characters under the limit, so I can’t add anything substantial without removing something else.

A US Circuit Court said “all persons born in the allegiance of the United States are natural-born citizens. Birth and allegiance go together.” US v. Rhodes (1866). This principle has been cited approvingly by subsequent courts including the US Supreme Court in US v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) that said:

“The 14th Amendment affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and under the protection of the country, including children here born of resident aliens, … The Amendment, in clear words and in manifest intent, includes the children born within the territory of the United States, of all other persons, of whatever race or color, domiciled within the United States.” (more…)

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When will the Birthers be happy?

by Guest Contributor on 07. Aug, 2009 in Guest Essays

Once again, we read a long discussion, with a rational-sounding style, laying out the facts, so it appears, about citizenship in the United States. Is it reasonable and is it true?

Our guest commentator has doubts, and responds to When will the Birthers be happy?

ARTICLE SAYS: World Net Daily, has actively covered many of these issues relating to Obama’s eligibil[i]ty over the last 8 months and have a collection of all eligib[i]lity related articles. See http://bit.ly/147bkD

RESPONSE: Interesting to note that, before the issue seemed such a potential publicity boon, WND reported that its own experts determined the COLB to be authentic:

“OBAMA’S CERTIFICATION OF LIVE BIRTH UTILIZING FORGERY EXPERTS ALSO FOUND THE DOCUMENT TO BE AUTHENTIC. The investigation also revealed methods used by some of the bloggers to determine the document was fake involved forgeries, in that a few bloggers added text and images to the certificate scan that weren’t originally there.”

WND also reported that the claims that Obama lost any hypothetical American citizenship he had as a child is not supported by US citizenship law:

“In short, the suit claims Obama was not born an American citizen; lost any hypothetical American citizenship he had as a child [ITALICS IN ORIGINAL(Editor's note: This point is not supported by U.S. citizenship law)END ITALICS]; may not now be an American citizen and even if he is, may hold dual citizenships with other countries. ….

(more…)

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Mass hysteria is not a constitutional crisis

by Dr. Conspiracy on 12. Mar, 2009 in Dr. C. Comments

Dr. Conspiracy

Dr. Conspiracy

I visited Bravenet.com and commented on this statement I found there:

“Well, it’s not quite as simple as all that and the sooner we can all be satisfied that Obama is or is not a natural born citizen, the better. To postpone that finding for a year or two and then find, conclusively, that Obama is not eligible to serve as president would be disastrous.”

That question was settled the day Congress certified Obama’s election as President. Those of us who eat and breathe this subject have tracked every doubt back to its foundation in — well, its foundation in nothing.

The main piece of evidence Obama was born in  Kenya is a tape recording attested to by a fake-named African con man which if listened to in full to says Obama was born in Hawaii. That’s followed by the incredible fantasy that Hawaii will happily give anybody body anywhere a birth certificate that says they are born in Hawaii (citing laws that didn’t exist at the time, and which don’t say what is claimed). And of course the fake named document expert who signed his affidavit in California “XXXXXXXXXXXX”. (more…)

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Orly Blog Soetoro Fact Check

by Dr. Conspiracy on 28. Jan, 2009 in Citizenship, Evidence, Guest Essays, Orly Taitz

Orly's Recent Post by "Linda O" Proclaims Proof that Obama used the name Barry Soetoro at Occidental. (more...)

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Factchecking Lynn Stuter’s latest

by Guest Contributor on 13. Jan, 2009 in Guest Essays

Factchecking Lynn Stuter’s latest, The Traitors in Congress, NewsWithViews.com, Jan. 13, 2009.

Ms. Stuter continues her record of continually publishing provably inaccurate information as “true” and “undisputed fact.” Let’s take a look at her latest missive.

Lamenting that Congress certified President Obama as President-Elect, accepting the Electoral College vote, Ms. Stuter then purports to cite a list of “undisputed facts” (more…)

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Natural born citizen

by Dr. Conspiracy on 17. Dec, 2008 in Citizenship

With this odd fellow we elected President has come discussion about the Constitutional requirements for being President, and in particular that pesky little phrase “natural born citizen”. There are some very long (and some long-winded) discussions about that this means. I personally think the thing is being over analyzed.

I hit the Concise Oxford English Dictionary for the “old meaning” of the term, and it provided a very simple definition: “having a position by birth”, so “natural born citizen” means being a citizen at birth. There’s nothing new here, and indeed this is what is usually understood by the term. If you look at all the uses of “natural born”, it means “born with” some characteristic, e.g. natural-born storyteller, natural-born swimmer, natural-born athlete, natural-born mathematician, natural-born musician, and on and one. A natural born citizen is just someone born with the quality of being a citizen.

At first blush, this would seem to be a slam dunk answer for Barack Obama’s natural born citizenship, since the fourteenth amendment defines: “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”. There’s no question in my mind that Barack Obama was born in the United States. Some quibble about the latter part: “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”. Keep in mind that now we are talking about citizenship in general, not the qualifications for President. Some argue that the children of non-citizens born in the United States should not be citizens because they are subject to the government of their parents, that they have divided jurisdiction. This non-citizenship for the children of non-citizens would be a big surprise to hundreds of thousands of Americans with US Birth Certificates and carrying US Passports, and to the US State Department and most of the population. However, the question of citizenship for the children of non-citizens was settled long ago by the United States Supreme Court in the case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark. Wong was born in the US, the child of two Chinese temporary workers. He tried to re-enter the country and was denied entry because he was not a citizen. The Supreme Court in a 6-2 vote declared that he was indeed a citizen. (more…)

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