45 days, 14 hours and counting.....

I always thought I knew what a "natural born citizen" was -- until today. Our Constitution says that a president must be a "natural born citizen." I thought that "natural born citizen" meant someone with at least one parent of U.S. citizenship, no matter where that person was born, as long as they did not hold citizenship in any other country. Today, after listening to various legal experts and reading a variety of news sources on the internet, I am amending my previous understanding so that now I believe that a "natural born citizen" is one born in a U.S. state or territory with at least one parent a U.S. citizen.

But even with that new bit of information, I'm absolutely amazed that the United States Supreme Court may actually decide to hear a case regarding Barack Obama's citizenship. The Chicago Tribune reported today about at least 10-15 court cases trying to challenge Barack Obama's citizenship status in order to prevent him from being inaugurated in January, even though the state of Hawaii has certified the legitimacy of his birth certificate on file in that state and both Media Matters and FactCheck.org have established the facts in this case.

It is all a bunch of malarkey being perpetuated by the extreme right, by those who see an Obama presidency as some sort of threat to their beliefs. The only possible threat he holds for them is that their far-right, evangelical religious fanaticism will not be shoved down the throats of the rest of us who happen to be the majority of U.S. citizens.

If the Supreme Court is arrogant enough to agree to hear this case, it only shows us just how far afield at least two branches of the government have veered under soon-to-be ex-president Bush.

The Inauguration of Barack Obama can't happen soon enough!