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Today's Poll: Should birth-right citizenship in the Constitution be amended?

By Howard B. Owens
Howard B. Owens

How does it lack clarity? The constitution grants citizenship (through the 14th amendment) to any child born in on US soil. Some people want to change that.

Aug 4, 2010, 9:20am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Yes, because if the poll question is too long, the URL breaks.

And it's quite obvious what it means as it is, because it's not like there's a lot of options -- maybe, maybe gradients of how it's done, but either you get to be a US citizen because you're born here, or not, is the bottom line.

Aug 4, 2010, 9:39am Permalink
bud prevost

Had the immigration reform of 1986 been followed up with the federal government doing their job, this would be a non-issue. Instead, we have almost double the number of illegals that were present in the mid 80's, and a nation that is quickly becoming spanish speaking.
Anchor babies have become a pathway to government assistance for many non-citizen parents. It is a practice that needs to be stopped. Tougher border patrols and stricter adherence to existing immigration laws would stop enabling illegals to enter our nation and have children here.

Aug 4, 2010, 10:03am Permalink
Doug Yeomans

If the parents are not legal citizens of the US when their child is born on US soil, their child should not be a US citizen. I know that raises the question of "what citizenship does the child have?" That's fairly easy from a logical standpoint. The child has the same citizenship as its father.

Here's a can of whoop-worms. Was Obama born on American soil to parents with American citizenship?

"The Constitution's provisions are very small for qualifying for president. One, be over 35, and he is. Two, be in the country 14 years, and he has been. Three, be a natural-born citizen. He is not."

"Obama's family did not take to Stanley Ann Dunham Obama very well, because she was white, according to Sarah Obama. Shortly after she arrived in Kenya Stanley Ann decided to return to Hawaii because she later said, she did not like how Muslim men treated their wives in Kenya. However, because she was near term the airline would not let her fly until after the birth of her baby. Obama's grandmother said the baby—Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.—was born in Kenya and that shortly after he was born, Stanley Ann returned to Hawaii."

Watch the ENTIRE clip before you comment.

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Aug 4, 2010, 5:40pm Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Let's see, the State of Hawaii has a valid birth certificate for Obama. His birth was announced AT THE TIME in the Honolulu Advertisers.

Yet this nonsense that he's not natural born keeps popping up.

Amazing.

And I didn't watch the clip. I don't need to subject myself to propaganda that has already been proven false time and again.

Aug 4, 2010, 5:52pm Permalink
Doug Yeomans

It hasn't been proven, actually. McCain gladly handed over all of his documents proving where he was born. Obama still has not. His birth certificate is still in question as to its validity.

Aug 4, 2010, 5:57pm Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Obama has handed over ALL he needs to hand over -- his birth certificate. Hawaii officials have stated they have an official, real, authentic birth certificate on file. There is absolutely no question of certificate's authenticity and validity.

If you asked me to produce any more than a birth certificate, I couldn't. That's all I have. Are you going to say I'm not a natural born citizen?

And logically, there is simply no getting around that birth announcement in the newspaper. There's no conspiracy theory big enough to explain that away.

Aug 4, 2010, 6:11pm Permalink
Dave Olsen

Once again, if we would just follow the Constitution that those crazy, radicals wrote to guide this country, this too would not be an issue. It's precisely so-called "Constitutional Law Scholars" like Barack Obama wherever he was born that are constantly twisting it around.

The 14th Amendment, 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....."

Key words for this discussion: subject to the jurisdiction thereof. If the parents are here illegally then they are not subjects of the jurisdiction are they? If they have no permanent address and are sending money to their home country, they are obviously going back, and they should take their children with them. Simple to me, but then I'm a pretty simple guy.

My answer to the poll is no.

Aug 4, 2010, 6:18pm Permalink
Bea McManis

Doug, you picked the wrong thing to push buttons. The birther thing is too old and way to silly to waste the bandwidth.
Try again, tomorrow with something else.

Aug 4, 2010, 6:41pm Permalink
Jeremiah Pedro

Not an Obamafan, not a conspiracy nut either, in regard to his birth records. But wasn't Doug baiting an argument Howard?

Aug 4, 2010, 7:41pm Permalink

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