Sources are questionable
Friday, November 28, 2008 12:36 AM PST
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E-mail this articleNov. 28 Letters to the Editor
Sources are questionable
I can only wonder at the quality of source material that Sylvia Schumacher (Nov. 17) and Per Johansen (Nov. 22) relied on concerning Barack Obama.
My daughter was born in a Japanese hospital in Japan. Her mother is a Japanese citizen. I was a civilian with no connections to the U.S. government. Upon application at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, my daughter was issued a “Certificate of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States of America” by the U.S. State Department and had her own U.S. passport when about two weeks old.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) today told me the following: Where a person is born has no bearing on U.S. citizenship. If either or both parents are U.S. citizens at the time of birth, the principle of “jus sanquinis” applies and the child is deemed a U.S. citizen. The nationality of the non-U.S. citizen parent is of no consequence. There are some other details, but the factors just listed are the main requirements.
Also, the requirements for being president do not stipulate that one be born in the U.S.; only that one be a U.S. citizen at birth (natural born).
Carl Torgerson
Longview
Words are powerful
Words are powerful and misused create powerful distortions. Why is it when a peaceful, non-confrontational group of folks want to picket at the play “The Laramie Project,” they are a “hate group,” while the organization of students for a peaceful, non-confrontational response to the picketing effort is all sweetness and light? Same behavior, different verbiage. Where is tolerance on that side?
If Matthew Shepherd had been a heterosexual, given the same brutal treatment, would anybody have stood up for him? If a grandmother is assaulted at an ATM, it’s just another news story, but if that person happens to be “gay,” suddenly “hate is involved” with a much more severe penalty imposed. That is not equal rights but “special” rights that tramples on the rights of the rest of us.
Just as it is possible to love a child but not everything he does, it is possible to love people with differing values. I hope that view can be shared by both sides.
Diana Kennerud
Woodland
Officials protect the community
It’s nice to see that since Planned Parenthood is not promoting sexual promiscuity with impunity in the bowels of Cowlitz County officialdom sexually transmitted diseases are on the decline.
Thank God and all the county officials who have accepted their responsibility of protecting the community and not tried to contract out this most important state mandated and funded county responsibility.
Wow. It’s also nice to see Cowlitz County taking its fiduciary responsibility seriously.
Jerry Ross
Kalama
Bill gets a third term
Ah, the irony of it all. During the campaign the left’s battle cry was, “If you elect John McCain it will be a third term for George Bush.” Well now, Barack Obama, a man with little experience, is appointing to his cabinet a whole bunch of Bill Clinton retreads, including Hillary Clinton herself.
Looks like old Bill will get his wish and get a third term. Of course, Obama didn’t have much choice when you look at who he has associated with in the past. One thing for sure, we all need to pray that nothing happens to Obama, one can only shudder at the thought of that lame-brain Joe Biden in the Oval Office or even worse, God forbid, Nancy Pelosi.
Daniel Stanley
Longview
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