There they go again..

by Saul Bloodworth

I just read that there is a legal challenge to Obama's citizenship and I can't believe this nonsense is still going on. To be President, you have to be born an American citizen, not born within the borders of the USA. So says the Constitution. If one of your parents is an American, you're an American, end of story.

Otherwise, Obama (and the same goes for McCain) would not only be not an American, he would be an illegal immigrant. You don't become an American by simply spending time in the country. If you are not natural born, you need to apply for a Green Card and eventually for citizenship.

So, there is some red tape involved. Citizenship does not rub off. Since neither Obama nor McCain ever applied for a Green Card (unless I am deeply mistaken) and never took advantage of an amnesty (which involves, I believe, also applying for a Green Card) they are both either Americans or illegal foreigners. There is no third way.

And, coming to think of it, I have never heard of a child of an American born during a vacation overseas that needed to apply for a Green Card. That would be quite difficult, by the way. Imagine, you're on vacation in Paris and your give birth in a French hospital. If that child were not an American but French, you could not even take it back home because you can't take a French citizen out of the country without consent.

To be clear: The Amendment in the Constitution that declares someone an American if he/she is born here does not work the other way round, the same way it does not become dark if you cover your eyes with your hands. And it was not introduced to make immigration easier (at this time, every white person who made it to the shore was granted citizenship or sent back). It was introduced to give citizenship to black people born in the U.S. (albeit not to Native Americans born in Territories).

So, knock it off!

Ms. Big

by Saul Bloodworth

Ann Coulter broke her jaw, now her jaw is wired (surgically), so she needs to shut up, at least for a while or two. Well, you can't make that stuff up. Now people are asking, how did that happen? My first theory was that she tried to adapt to the new times by giving a blow job to a black guy. But then I realized that this theory would not be PC, let alone family-friendly, as this blog aspires to be, so I dropped it.

Here is another little known fact about Ann Coulter: She said that the only regret she has about the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh is that he did not bomb the New York Times Building. Gee, the only? Wasn't McVeigh a convicted Neonazi who killed 168 Americans and was close to the Aryan Nations? Later, his friends burned down the Holocaust Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana (where McVeigh was executed).

So, if Ann Coulter had said that the only regret she had about Adolf Hitler was that he did not bomb the New York Times offices in London during the Blitz, would she have gotten away with it? I'm afraid so. In her defense, she does look pretty Aryan.

Bring in the Public Safety Committee

By Saul Bloodworth

I'm back! I have been traveling quite some time, now I have some catching up to do. First, I would like to mention an appearance by Bill Kristol on the Daily Show, and yes, I know it was some time ago, but I still think it was remarkable.

Of course, Kristol is the same unapologetic Republican scumbag he's always been, but that's not the point. In the beginning of the interview, Stewart asks him about the New York Times, and Kristol goes like, "bah, The New York Times, who cares." Well, last time I checked he was employed by The Times. That's something Stewart also reminded him of, and then he said: "Well, they have one good columnist." I assume he was talking about Bob Herbert.

Corrected me if I'm wrong but dishing the paper you work for in public, especially on a popular TV show, used to get you fired when Punch Sulzberger was still in charge. What the fuck are they thinking at The Times? Or are they so desperate they put up with every scumbag?

The Forever War

by Saul Bloodworth

Yesterday, I attended a book presentation; the author was Dexter Filkins, a distinguished journalist from The New York Times. The title of the book was The Forever War. The book is, of course, about the war in Iraq and the occupation, and Filkins was rather glum. The surge did work, he said, even more, paying every member of the Sunni resistance $300 a month works. However, as soon as the U.S. would pull out, chaos would erupt, and a bloodbath would occur.

Well, I'm sure he knows Iraq better than I do (even though he admitted not to speak Arabic, then again, New York Times' reporters are not that great in speaking foreign languages). Anyway, he seemed well informed and he had spent a lot of time there. The striking thing, however, was not that he did not see a way out, he also saw nobody at fault. He said something along the lines of: "We did not want this war, you did not want this war, what can we do?"

Huh? This is not George W. Bush's war. Bush had an approval rating of 90 percent when he started his little Blitzkrieg against the Middle East, and he had an approval rating of more than 60 percent when the U.S. army attacked Iraq. The New York Times endorsed that war. So, now, everybody is a victim? Did they all follow orders?

The Sun Also Shines

by Saul Bloodworth

I might be swept up in Obamania (I'm only human, sort of), but has anyone else noticed that relationships between blacks and whites have improved seemingly overnight? I live in a building where about one third of the tenants are black; not that there are any tensions, so far (except I once nearly got into a fistfight with a sister in the laundry room) but I did have the impression that blacks are mostly keeping to themselves.

Not any more. Suddenly everybody in the elevator is smiling. White people are congratulating black people and vice versa. It's as if someone has made the sun shine. And you have the same feeling just walking down the streets: Instead of that only so slight undercurrent of agressivity/fear. Everybody want to love everybody.

Even the girl at that chicken place who is always in a bad mood, smiles. And, two more things: Two white girls I know suddenly showed up with a black guy at my watering hole. Well, maybe I'm reading too much into this. But still.

Keeping the Clothes

By Saul Bloodworth

Here are two topics I would like the MSM to investigate, not out of necessity, but out of spite: Does Sarah Palin give her new $150.000-clothes to charity, and is her daughter Bristol going to marry that Levi-guy (my guess is, no)?

Seriously, here is the thing that strikes me most about the election. I have been in Harlem yesterday, everybody was celebrating, of course. Crowds of people taking the streets, music, drums, weed. The interesting part was that there were as many white than black faces. Even more, there was no animosity between Whites and Blacks.

I think this is huge. And there is more change to come.

While I'm at it, did anybody notice that CNN forgot to count Alaska yesterday?

Voting Florida Style

by Saul Bloodworth

The election has started, and the first complaints are coming in — by international observers. The OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation), an international body based in Europe, has sent some 50 to 100 observers to the U.S, however, they are kept from observing.

One group, led by the Patrick Meinhard, a member of the German parliament (and a liberal, which means center-right in Germany), was turned away in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The group was only allowed to monitor one single location. On top of that, it was one that has been handpicked by Florida authorities.

"This is inacceptable," Meinhardt told the Financial Times in Germany. "You can't tell election observers what they can or cannot observe." Meinhardt is especially upset, since this happens in Florida, of all places, the State that became famous for voter fraud and voter roll cleansing in 2000.

It should not surprise anybody that this is not covered by the American media.

International Observance

by Saul Bloodworth

I'm back in New York - boy, it's a lot colder here than in Albuquerque, let alone Tucson. The TV has only two programs; either McCain/Palin speaking, or Obama speaking (what happened to Biden when I was away?). It's sort of like watching TV in the Soviet Union except their blacks are called Caucasians.

Speaking of which, Russia is one of the few countries that does not send its own experts to observe the elections in the U.S. But it does so under the umbrella of the OSCE, as do a number other countries.

The OSCE, the Organization for Security and Co-operation is a 56-member, non-partisan organization that monitors governance and fights terrorism. It is based in Europa, the U.S. is also a member. It has sent 47 election observers to a number of states in the U.S., including North Dakota. In addition, there is team of 13 international experts based in Washington, D.C.

According to an interim report about the 40 states observed by the OSCE so far, "voter registration issues have sometimes been contentious, and an increase in registered voters raises questions about the capacity of polling stations. In addition, lawsuits across the nation have involved challenges to voter identification laws and the maintenance of voter registration lists".

According to other reports, there are up to 100 international observers, including some from Poland and Portugal. Even Kazakhstan is sending observers. That will be the most watched election in history. You betcha.

New Mexican Independence

by Saul Bloodworth

After nearly one week in New Mexico and Arizona, I finally met the first person who did not tell me that he or she'd plan to vote for Barack Obama (although, at this point, I believe I might be magically drawn to aging hippies, because there must be some Republicans somewhere). That person was a guy I talked to at the Albuquerque Press Club; he works for Northrop Grunman and Homeland Security, it's one of these jobs, "if I'd tell you what I'm doing I would have to kill you."

Well, I met him on Halloween, at a party, he was a little drunk and he told me he had voted for Bob Barr (early voting). Bob Barr! No, he couldn't get himself to vote for either McCain or Obama, he said. Much less Palin. I asked him whether he was aware that he was, in essence, wasting his vote. He knew, but he did not care.

He was, by the way, dressed as John McCain himself, complete with a very sweaty-looking rubber mask, and he was accompanied by "Sarah Palin" and a very pregnant "Bristol Palin". I was dressed as the Devil. It was an easy costume.

He added that he wished the U.S. had many more parties, a Green Party that deserves its name, a Libertarian Party, real conservatives, you name it. But what can you do, he said. I asked him why he, at least, had not voted for Ron Paul. "I would have, but he is not on the ballot," he said. I think Sarah Palin is in for a rough surprise. I got pretty drunk so I don't remember much more.

Rolling The Dice

by Saul Bloodworth

Last night, I drove back to New Mexico, to Acoma. Acoma is an Indian reservation 60 miles west of Albuquerque. The Acoma tribe has some 6000 members, 4000 of which live on the reservation, the rest someplace else, mainly in New Mexico and Arizona. I asked some tribe members about the election, and I got some mixed reactions.

So first, a woman who works for the local cultural center told me that half of her staff isn't even going to vote. They believe, for them, it does not matter who becomes President. Later, I had lunch with two tribal members, two men in their fifties.

One of them told me he was leaning towards John McCain, even though he was a Democrat. "I met McCain one, he is a honest guy", he said. But more importantly, McCain has supported gambling on reservations, and that's how the tribe is making a living (a friend told me later that McCain, meanwhile, has shifted his support to Las Vegas gambling).

The other guy, however, was voting for Obama, not because of McCain, but because of Sarah Palin. He had read someplace that she had threatened to take away the sovereignty of the Native American tribes in Alaska. That would be something she could not do as a Governor anyway, but as a Vice President, maybe. He was not even sure if that was true, but he was taking no chances.

Does it matter? New Mexico has about 200.000 Native Americans, ten percent of the population. So it might, if they'd vote.

Rolling The Dice

by Saul Bloodworth

Last night, I drove back to New Mexico, to Acoma. Acoma is an Indian reservation 60 miles west of Albuquerque. The Acoma tribe has some 6000 members, 4000 of which live on the reservation, the rest someplace else, mainly in New Mexico and Arizona. I asked some tribe members about the election, and I got some mixed reactions.

So first, a woman who works for the local cultural center told me that half of her staff isn't even going to vote. They believe, for them, it does not matter who becomes President. Later, I had lunch with two tribal members, two men in their fifties.

One of them told me he was leaning towards John McCain, even though he was a Democrat. "I met McCain one, he is a honest guy", he said. But more importantly, McCain has supported gambling on reservations, and that's how the tribe is making a living (a friend told me later that McCain, meanwhile, has shifted his support to Las Vegas gambling).

The other guy, however, was voting for Obama, not because of McCain, but because of Palin. He had read someplace that she had threatened to take away the sovereignty of the Native Americans in Alaska. That would be something she could not do as a Governor, but as a Vice President, maybe. He was not even sure if that was true, but he was taking no chances.

Does it matter? New Mexico has about 200.000 Native Americans, ten percent of the population. So it might, if they`d vote.