Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Case from Fringe Anti-Obama Activists

You knee-jerk reactionaries love to prattle on and on about how "separation of church & state" isn't in the U.S. Constitution. This statement only becomes true when you add "the exact words" before it. Its true, the EXACT WORDS "separation of church & state" are not in the Constitutuion. But as any American who has taken the time to read the Constitution could tell you, the Establishment Clause CLEARLY delegates religion to be OUTSIDE of the sphere of government. Period. If you need so badly to see your religion reflected in the formative documents of your nation, you are in the wrong country. All of history shows that you and all other religious conservatives are revisionists bent on reforming our beloved republic into a theocracy of your own image. You will CONSISTENTLY FAIL.

Grey Matter,

I'm sure I don't have to tell you that "separation of church and state" isn't in the Constitution. If enough voters, Christian or not, decide they agree on values, there's nothing unconstitutional about that. And there's nothing in the Constitution that prohibits one's values as coming from religion. While the Constitution avoided establishing a government-backed religion because of all the problems that would cause, it also never meant to exclude all beliefs that came from religious faith from public life and government. This country was founded on the free exercise of religion.

Ryan C, you wrote: “I love this rationalization where Christians and conservatives cease to be so when they are bad(apparently they become Republicans).

“That way Christians and conservatives can never do anything wrong!”

There’s no rationalization here about one group becoming another, or ceasing to be who they are if they do wrong, etc. I was simply using the same term - “Republicans” - used in the sentence I was replying to. Go back to that post and you’ll see why I responded as I did. And these different groups do overlap but aren’t necessarily the same. There are Republicans who aren’t Christians, and Republicans who aren’t socially conservative either. That’s why I made that distinction.

Ryan C, you wrote:

"Well if its only your family that are racists."

I used the word "relatives" and I didn't specify how many people I was referring to. And even if it was my entire family who were Democrats, as these relatives are, or Republicans with racist views, why should that in any way reflect negatively on me? I don't imagine you want to be responsible for all the beliefs held by all of your relatives.

Well, I guess this paves the way for a 2012 Presidential match between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Hugo Chavez. Chavez will claim he was born in Cleveland, and wrest the nomination from Obama. Schwarzenegger, who we all thought was born in Austria, will photoshop a Callyforkneeyah birth certificate and he'll be good to go!

Well, the politicians have been ignoring the Tenth Amendment for 150 years, so who cares about that pesky little "natural born citizen" requirement?

"Republicans do have affairs, have children out of wedlock and commit all manner of sin.
But if they’re Christians, or socially conservative, they don’t create and push TV shows"

I love this rationalization where Christians and conservatives cease to be so when they are bad(apparently they become Republicans).

That way Christians and conservatives can never do anything wrong!

"The only people with racist views in my circle, which includes many Christians/conservatives, are relatives who make racist remarks whenever we get together."

ROFLMAO!

Well if its only your family that are racists.

Actually, how is dual citizen-ship meaning that you must not be a natural-born citizen?

Obama was born to an American mother, and also on US soil, so isn't automatically a US citizen from birth (and thus a natural-born citizen). Even if he has dual citizenship, isn't he then just a natural-born citizen who has dual citizenship? Can't you be natural-born but still have another citizenship?

Isn't the understanding of natural born meaning you were conferred US citizenship from birth, by virtue of having an American parent or being born on US soil, and not someone who later applied for citizenship, irregardless of this whole dual citizenship thing?

Bonita,

Dual citizenship? Only someone without U.S. patriotism could apply British rules governing citizenship over U.S. rules governing citizenship. Think about it.

(Religious overtones typo)

Let me make this clear. I am not saying everybody on the right preaches bigotry. But there is a faction of people like this.

The right, instead of being a coalition of more moderate conservatives and fiscal conservatives in addition to the social and religious conservatives, now seems considerably dominated by ultra-conservatives and the religious right. Regardless of this whole issue of gay marriage, the thing is the influence of the religious right over the Republican party is eroding the principle of the separation of church and state in some of their policies.

GreyMatter,
Republicans do have affairs, have children out of wedlock and commit all manner of sin.
But if they’re Christians, or socially conservative, they don’t create and push TV shows like “Swingers,” “Gossip Girl,” (which ran an ad with the letters for “Oh my G-,” with the letter “F” also inserted in there, running across the screen), and “Secret Diary of a Call Girl.” They also don’t create, promote and defend books like “Harmful to Minors,” which itself promotes sexual activity by children (The first sentence is: “In America today, it is nearly impossible to publish a book that says children and teenagers can have sexual pleasure and be safe too") even while condemning Mark Foley’s reprehensible behavior and making political gain from it.

Ryan C., you wrote Barack Obama was born at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children.

Articles such as “Ancestry of Barack Obama” (About) and “Who is Barack Obama?” (Snopes) say he was born at Queen’s Medical Center.

And if this Denofrio guy was so concerned about the US Constitution being upheld, I wonder where he was when Bush effectively shredded it by denying habeas corpus to detainees and opened Guantanamo Bay.

Or where he was when Bush and no-bid contracts that had questionable political benefits. Or when Bush violated international law by employing Blackwater (considered to be "mercenaries").

Oh wait, Bush was definitely a natural born citizen, so it's not an issue. He may be a natural citizen but he sure didn't seem to have America's best interests in mind!

Erika,

You know, maybe if the right would stop having all this "holier-than-thou" mentality, and how they have "family values" unlike the "Godless, heathen Democrats/liberals". I find it particularly galling the Republicans often go on and on about family values (some have even outright said voting for a Democrat meant you'd go to hell), when their own people get into affairs, Bristol Palin got pregnant out of wedlock e.g.

I wouldn't be judgemental about that, but I do think they should eat their words if they harangue Obama and the left about their "lack of family values" and demonize pro-choice people as being baby-killers, when THEY themselves aren't whiter then snow. Palin goes on about how she's a proud Christian, then she turns around and talks about "pro-America" and questions people's patriotism.

Hey, I read the Bible too. And the Bible said "let who has never sinned cast the first stone". And that we should not judge.

Ryan C., on "Something to warm the right wingers heart."

The only people with racist views in my circle, which includes many Christians/conservatives, are relatives who make racist remarks whenever we get together. They are firmly Democrats, though, and voted for Obama on the economic issues. They never heard how Frank, Dodd and all sorts of other Democrats were involed in the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac crisis because the media simply censored that information, which is a huge scandal in and of itself. See “Who Caused the Economic Crisis?” (Factcheck), “Fannie Mae and the Vast Bipartisan Conspiracy,” (Slate), “How Washington Failed to Rein In Fannie, Freddie” (Washington Post), “Dodd and Frank, step down,” (Providence Journal), “If Not Now, When? (Hartford Courant), and “Senator Dodd’s Notion of Courtesy.” The last two discuss how Sen. Dodd failed as promised to release documents related to loans he got from Countrywide, which was involved in the sub-prime mess. Yet I just saw a soundbite from him on the news tonight talking about how the heads of the car companies shouldn't be trusted since they helped cause the crisis.

Democrats and liberals also just get a pass on racism. Sandra Bernhard's unprintable remarks on Sarah Palin would have been publicized to the ends of the earth if she were a conservative. And how about Rep. Pete Stark (the only openly atheist member of Congress), who called Louis Sullivan a “disgrace to his race” and referred to Rep. J.C. Watts in 2001 as “current Republican Conference chairman, whose children were all born out of wedlock."

Hello,

UNDER US LAW, ANYONE BORN ON US SOIL AUTOMATICALLY BECOMES A US CITIZEN FROM BIRTH = NATURAL-BORN CITIZEN. Got that, tin-foil hat conspiracists?

Unless the person is born to non-US citizen parents who choose their child to get their original country's citizenship, as long as you are on US soil, your child is a US citizen. And I would think that for dual-citizenship, won't you kind of have to specifically apply for it too? Can anyone enlighten this point?

But otherwise, some of these fools apprently have not gotten the memo that out country is a big ditch and needs to be driven out of it. Some are soooo worried about letting "anyone" be President. Well, I say, someone like Bush may have been a natural-born US citizen but I wonder how much he cares about America with all those midnight regulations that allow mining companies to dump waste into streams. I say Obama can't do worse.

Joe the Plumber meet Leo Donofrio. Common sense traded for fifteen minutes of fame. Tsk, tsk, shame, shame.

"The suit in the us supeme court has nothing to do with him being born in Hawaii or conspiracy theorys. Obama was of british citizenship at birth."

Actually the point was that Obama was of dual citizenship as conferred by his father's citizenship even if Obama was born in the US (in HI).

Natural born citizen says nothing of dual citizenry and refers to the condition of being a citizen at birth.

Which would fall under a couple of categories;

- Being born in the United States
- Being born to parents who were citizens of the United States, if one was not born in the United States.

"Check it out for yourself before you go around calling everyone crazy get your facts straight."

Awww right wingers don't like being called names after spending 8 years calling anyone not blindly loyal to Bush, traitors.

FYI
The suit in the us supeme court has nothing to do with him being born in Hawaii or conspiracy theorys. Obama was of british citizenship at birth. Check it out for yourself before you go around calling
everyone crazy get your facts straight.
The following came from factcheck.org

“When Barack Obama Jr. was born on Aug. 4,1961, in Honolulu, Kenya was a British colony, still part of the United Kingdom’s dwindling empire. As a Kenyan native, Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by The British Nationality Act of 1948. That same act governed the status of Obama Sr.‘s children.
Since Sen. Obama has neither renounced his U.S. citizenship nor sworn an oath of allegiance to Kenya, his Kenyan citizenship automatically expired on Aug. 4,1982.”

Psst - JL. Start checking out the archives at change.gov. It'll help you get a handle on your concerns.