Thus Spake Russ

Posted By Russ Emerson on October 23, 2011 at 4:27 am

• Ugh. One more day like that and I'm calling it quits for the week. Of course, since tomorrow is the last day of the work week anyway…. #
• What, no pepper spray? Dang. // RT @RaleighNews: Police arrest 19 demonstrators at Occupy Raleigh: http://t.co/Se8uig9w #
• Priorities, people. *My* priorities. // RT @PolarCoug: Live simply. So I can have more, Please. Thank You. #
• "Panzermistkopf." // RT @JonahNRO: There really needs to be a German word summarizing David Axelrod. #
• Oh, no… I'm out of half-and-half. #FirstWorldProblems #
• Unforeseen "benefit" of being well over a year overdue for a haircut: Kismet thinks he has a new toy. #cats #
• Obama: MLK Jr. would have supported #OWS – http://t.co/a1G8bGeZ – In other news, we appear to have a colossal douchebag in the Oval Office. #
• Euphemisms, always euphemisms. RT @NathanWurtzel Details? RT @jpodhoretz: Oh my God–I was POLLED! I was POLLED just now! By Quinnipiac! #
• Argghh. One of my meds, very cheap & effective (albeit w/ side effects), has been taken off the market. The replacement: 6 times the cost. #
• Obama is in NC today? I *knew* I felt a disturbance in the Force. #tcot #jedi #
• My stupid cellphone reboots every time I try to look at a text message. I may have to buy a smartphone. #FirstWorldProblems #
• Kismet caught a lizard in the garage, brought it in the house, then lost it. Yay. He's still looking for it. Hunting=10, keeping=1. #cats #
• How weird is it that it's easier to give Mycah an IV than it is to get her to swallow a pill? #OhBother #cats #
• Just getting to tonight's #RedEye if @BillSchulz 's shirt didn't say "Chicago" on it, I'd swear he was dressed like Sailor Moon. #
• Pet peeve #825 female officers who insist on being called "Sir." This seems to happen only on TV; I've never seen it in real life. #castle #
• Good "take" on tonight's debate. // RT @proteinwisdom: Debate reaction: my thoughts… http://t.co/fHmVmQBQ #
• Why yes, I *am* still awake. My internal clock is so totally screwed up. #
• Maybe, just maybe, Joe Biden needs to know what it's like to be Ned Beatty in "Deliverance. " http://t.co/X1SfFRdj #
• I just managed to stab myself with a mechanical pencil. I may be a klutz, but at least I'm a high-tech klutz. #
• ICYMI: Thus Spake Russ: Quote of the Day – http://t.co/wONU0FOm #
• The work week begins. As usual, I am surrounded by cats locally and exploding routers remotely. Damn, I love this job. #
• Sorry, Geico, you lost me with that "goldfish sushi" ad. Repellant. #
• 10"? 10"? Pantywaist. RT @rjgrace: <=== ate an entire 10" pizza… :::beeeelch::: #fatasstweets #
• [Update to the general public indicating that despite my silence, I am in fact alive.] #
• LOL // RT @CatsPolitics: It's not Gaddafi, it's Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler". http://t.co/ZYuJC9We #
• Probably against the Laws of Physics in most jurisdictions. // RT @rjgrace: Pluto is a dwarf planet. Anyone wanna toss that one around? #

Category: Twitter | Comments Off on A Week’s Worth of Twitter Updates
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Posted By Russ Emerson on October 22, 2011 at 10:50 am

So, color me shocked, the Washington Post ran a hit piece against Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL). Weak and easily refuted, the only thing surprising about the story is that they chose to run it now instead of waiting until he becomes a presidential contender, which he surely will be some day.*

The story wasn’t terribly serious, but it’s already being used by elements of the Left (as well as the usual members of the Tinfoil Hat Brigade [link via Flopping Aces]) to make the argument that, although he was indisputably born in the United States, his parents were not yet naturalized citizens, and therefore Rubio, not being a “natural born citizen,” is Constitutionally ineligible to be President.

The problem lays in what makes a “natural born” citizen. The Rubio Birthers, borrowing an argument from the Obama Birthers, claim that the parents must be US citizens for a child to be a “natural born” citizen. This is rankest nonsense of the first order.

Let’s move forward from here with one premise: that the Constitution was written for ordinary people like you and me to read and understand, without requiring gaggles of lawyers, Supreme Court penumbras, and stare decisis to make plain — or worse, alter — the meaning of the black-letter text of our founding document.

Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution tells us the requirements for holding the office of President:

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

That’s fine as it is, though of course the “or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution” part is quite obsolete.

Now let’s look at the Section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which defines what a citizen is:

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.

You, like I, may have noticed the utter lack of the qualifier “natural” preceding the word “born.” So there are only two qualifications for being a citizen:

1. you have to be either
• born here or
• naturalized, and
2. you must be “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.

The “born here” bit has in practice been extended to include US territories, overseas military bases, embassies, and whatnot.

Item 2, by the way, would tend to militate against birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens, as the parents are not “subject to the jurisdiction,” which means a great deal more than merely being “subject to being arrested and deported.”

So a plain reading of the Constitution would indicate that the expression “natural born” is used only to distinguish “born here” from “not born here, but here as of 1787″… and of course the second type no longer exists.**

In practice, then, as well as in the black-letter text of the 14th Amendment, you’re either born here or you’re naturalized. Rubio, having been born here to parents legally (“subject to the jurisdiction”) here, is clearly eligible for offices under Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution — that is, the Presidency or Vice Presidency.

---

* I’m going to guess 2024 — he’s a young guy, with plenty of time.

** Unless there are some 230+ year olds that have escaped our notice. Hey, you never know.

Category: History, Idiots, Politics | 1 Comment »
Tags: birthers, Constitution, Rubio, WaPo