StormWarning’s Counterterrorism

Indeed, these are the best and worst of times. This election will undoubtably bring out the worst in people and unquestionably show just how little our society has advanced. In many ways, I, a patriot and a server of our country through deeds and actions, feel ashamed of some of my fellow country men.

These days are complicated by the continuing Global War on Terrorism (GWOT); it is also complicated by the lack of true sense of the meaning and scope of this War among the general population; it is also complicated by the poorly communicated missions of the GWOT and Iraq; it is further complicated by self-proclaimed citizen journalists who feel they have a right somehow to judgmentally defame other people, draw incorrect (yet correctable - but never corrected) conclusions, use innuendo to discredit people, and generally, in my opinion, diminish many of the rights and privileges that our Founding Fathers fought valiently for, and for which thousands of American soldiers have died defending in previous wars in which the enemy were so much more easily defined and identified.

These are the best of times because our country, regardless of whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, has broken barriers of race and sex to bring to the American people, certainly to those of the Democratic pursuasion, a choice between a woman and a Black man. And yet, these are the worst of times.

These are the worst of times. Why? To start with, you must examine the most recent rumor that Senator Obama is not even a “natural born citizen” of “these here United States” and therefore should not be allowed to run for, let alone win the Presidency in November. Why? Because in one corner or two of the blogosphere, it has been alleged that Obama is somehow hiding the fact of the country of his birth. So first let us examine the definition of a “natural born citizen:”

Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in those gaps. Section 1401 defines the following as people who are “citizens of the United States at birth:”

- Anyone born inside the United States

- Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person’s status as a citizen of the tribe

- Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.

- Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national

- Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year

- Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21

- Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)

- A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.

Anyone falling into these categories is considered natural-born, and is eligible to run for President or Vice President. These provisions allow the children of military families to be considered natural-born, for example.

Weary? I don’t know about you, but I’m committed to voting for John McCain, I’m just appalled at the behavior of some of the pseudo-”intelligencia” out there.

It is indeed the worst of times.

Is it “liberal” to be concerned that Fox News (that clarion of “fair and balanced” conservative news) referred to Michelle Obama as “baby mama?” Maybe it is since even the “respectable” conservative blogsphere is trying to justify it.

Know what? I’m ashamed of those people who consider attacking the wife of the candidate as being somehow justified. And I don’t care if some of you start to call me names as well. It may well be time for me to suspend this effort for the duration of the Presidential Election. Why? Because purposely, this is not a political blog…the purpose is to comment on world events and the GWOT. But it is impossible for me not to comment on the political landscape.

And yet, if you’re not already too surprised, but actually got this far, it seems that even Fox News has some degree of decency and has apologized for the slap.

Fox News has possibly revealed itself to be sexist, racist, and out of touch, all at the same time! The network has come under fire for referring to Michelle Obama as a “baby mama” during a segment in which anchor Megyn Kelly interviewed conservative pundit Michelle Malkin. The two were discussing a conservative group’s planned anti-Obama documentary when a caption popped up on the screen reading: “Outraged liberals: Stop picking on Obama’s baby mama!”

Go ahead a freakin’ call me a name or two, but while you’re at it, watch my right foot

(as it kicks you out the door).

Indeed, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.”

By the way, in case “you” missed the literary reference, the above quote is from Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities.” Also, this post is related to: Whites in America - ‘ineradicably racist’