Minister of Science and Chief Protector of the Faith

Friday, July 24, 2009

The First Rule of Being Stuck in a Hole is to Stop Digging

 

When attempting to prove that President Obama is not a U.S. citizen by falsely stating that he was born in Kenya, the "Birthers" are forgetting this minor point:

[...] even though a child is born outside the United States, if at least one parent was a U.S. citizen at the time of the child's birth, the child automatically "acquires" citizenship.

UPDATE: I think I have it wrong, as Freida Bee has pointed out:

The US Foreign Affairs Manual states that "it has never been determined definitively by a court whether a person who acquired U.S. citizenship by birth abroad to U.S. citizens is a natural born citizen [...]". [ 1 ]

"To date, the Naturalization Act of 1790 has been the only U.S. law explicitly conferring 'natural born' citizenship. In 1795, Congress removed the words 'natural born' from the law; the Naturalization Act of 1795 says only that foreign-born children of American parents 'shall be considered as citizens of the United States.'" [ 1 ]

On the other hand, according to John McCain's birth certificate, he was born in Colon, Panama. And at the time Colon was not in part of the Panama Canal Zone. [ 2 ]

Article II of the Convention Between the United States and the Republic of Panama states: "...the cities of Panama and Colon and the harbors adjacent to said cities, which are included within the boundaries of the zone above described, shall not be included within this grant.'" [ 3 ]

"Colon was surrounded by, but not part of, the former Panama Canal Zone." [ 4 ]
 

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10 Comments:

At Fri Jul 24, 09:46:00 AM, Blogger Some Guy said...

I love a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, but this one is just sad.

 
At Fri Jul 24, 12:13:00 PM, Blogger Randal Graves said...

Acquires, read: stolen. Stop protecting the silly humans from our robot overlords!

 
At Fri Jul 24, 01:06:00 PM, Blogger Freida Bee said...

I only remember what was taught to me from 5th grade here, but aren't the requirements for citizenship and presidentiality different?

I thought there was a quip on being born in the US (or on its soil).

I'll put my ignorance out there as a possible teachable moment, so that what may be a misconception of others can be corrected by someone not too lazy to just look it up, as I, apparently, am.

Love the pic!

 
At Fri Jul 24, 01:40:00 PM, Blogger Dr. Zaius said...

That may be true...

The US Foreign Affairs Manual states that "it has never been determined definitively by a court whether a person who acquired U.S. citizenship by birth abroad to U.S. citizens is a natural born citizen [...]".
http://tinyurl.com/czfrsy

"To date, the Naturalization Act of 1790 has been the only U.S. law explicitly conferring 'natural born' citizenship. In 1795, Congress removed the words 'natural born' from the law; the Naturalization Act of 1795 says only that foreign-born children of American parents 'shall be considered as citizens of the United States.'" http://tinyurl.com/czfrsy

On the other hand, according to John McCain's birth certificate, he was born in Colon, Panama. And at the time Colon was not in part of the Panama Canal Zone.
http://tinyurl.com/mmb6cs

Article II of the Convention Between the United States and the Republic of Panama states: "...the cities of Panama and Colon and the harbors adjacent to said cities, which are included within the boundaries of the zone above described, shall not be included within this grant.'"
http://www.bartleby.com/43/47.html

"Colon was surrounded by, but not part of, the former Panama Canal Zone."
http://www.coloncity.com/

 
At Fri Jul 24, 02:09:00 PM, Blogger Freida Bee said...

I found this link, too, and can actually not claim to have remembered this from 5th grade, but rather more likely read some reference to in in regards to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I'm pretty sure Obama and McCain satisfy the requirements, but since McCain's is less clear, any "birther" argument is pretty much assinine.

As always, thank you, and I hope this does not exclude you form your run for president. Otherwise, I'm outta work, here. ;)

 
At Fri Jul 24, 02:13:00 PM, Blogger Dr. Zaius said...

Freida Bee: But of course this would not exclude me from serving as President of the United States! I was born in Ape City, which is near the Forbidden Zone. These are on America's East Coast!

 
At Fri Jul 24, 03:02:00 PM, Blogger Ubermilf said...

I
can't
handle
the
stupidity
any
longer

 
At Fri Jul 24, 11:53:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Funny I just pointed out something similar at Nov 5th. I have known some military kids born thusly to one American Citizen outside the U.S.

Um? It doesnt matter. Either way Obama has provided adequate proof. If it were that easy to get past our immigrant laws regarding POTUS, no doubt we would have had a President Arnold by now.

 
At Sat Jul 25, 05:01:00 PM, Blogger Comrade Kevin said...

And this grabbed the attention of the mainstream media why?

 
At Sat Jul 25, 10:46:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It didnt really grab the attention of main stream media. Fux News and various Tin Foil Hat brigades yelled it from the rooftops repeatedly like deranged un-neutered alley cats til the rest of us had to look.

Happy now?

Me either.

But if only they could prove Obama is an illegal immigrant. Then Ice could pick him up just before various S. states secede from the union, and reinstitute Mosaic Law for shits and giggles.

 

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