Kerfuffles

The Economic Stimulus Miracle

“The Economic Miracle” worked so well in Europe and the UK, that we are now giving it a go here in the land of the free. Whoopee! Now we Americans are more European than the Europeans.

Discrimination Bordering Upon Bigotry! Only ‘natural born’ Citizens Need Apply!

It is right there in the United States Constitution in Article II, Section 1, Clause 5, which states: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”

Discrimination upon the basis of national origin, discrimination upon the basis of age, and discrimination upon the basis of residency status! How about that?

In this past presidential election we had two candidates running for the office described above who admittedly were born on foreign soil, one in Panama and one in Nicaragua. The candidate who won, Barack Obama, describes himself as born in the state of Hawaii, however he has released no proof of his birthplace other than a generated Certificate of Live Birth, and there are reports that his own family members, and Kenyan government officials are conflicted over where exactly he was born.

Some Constitutional scholars spout off the legal definition of “natural born citizen” is one who was born within the jurisdiction of a national government, i.e. in its territorial limits, or born of citizens temporarily residing abroad. However, I found NO legal definition of “natural born citizen.” The phrase is not defined anywhere in the Constitution. In 1790, the Congress, attempted to make clarification with the Naturalization Act of 1790 that stated “And the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond the sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens.” Seemingly this definition would have covered John McCain as a “natural born citizen,” except that in 1795, the Congress made another clarification, the Naturalization Act of 1795, which removed the words “natural born” and stated that children born to citizens beyond the seas are citizens of the U.S., but are not legally considered “natural born citizens” of the U.S. This confusion over the meaning of the Constitution’s “natural born citizen” is why the United States Congress passed a bill endowing Senator John McCain with “natural born citizen” status, so that, if elected President, he would be legal under the Constitution.

This murkiness over the Constitutional definition of “natural born citizen” has caused considerable scenarios to be proffered as to why Barack Obama is not Constitutionally qualified to be President, even if born in Hawaii. Some of them have to do with the young age of his mother at his birth, who would not have had enough years of standing as a United States citizen to automatically confer American citizenship upon him, if he had been born in Kenya. It sounds far-fetched to you and me, but someone, somewhere has found some quirk in the law that seems to state that. (For other examples see sidrx at Pajamas Media.)

Other deniers claim that because Barack Obama was born a British citizen, as a son of a British father, regardless of where Obama himself was born, he cannot be considered a “natural born citizen.” That came as a shocker to me, as I had always considered myself a “natural born citizen,” even though I was born in Maryland of a British father. But, apparently, I am not only NOT a “natural born citizen,” according to some, I am not even a citizen of the USA, an interesting fact to discover at my age. At least I am in good company. It’s me, President-elect Barack Obama, and President Chester A. Arthur. It must be true as I read it at a BLOG.

If the Constitution were truly the Law of the Land, certainly a definition of “natural born citizen” would have been offered by the Supreme Court or the Congress by now. Or there would have been a law passed by the Congress that no candidates could run for president unless first vetted for eligibility according to Article II, Section 1, Clause 5. Of course, any American with a brain knows that we no longer live under rule of the Constitution, hence all of this kerfuffle over where Barack Obama was “really” born matters not one wit. He will be inaugurated President of the United States and will remain so, regardless of where in the world he was born.

Here is a long, involved treatise written by Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley to try and convince us that, oh yes, we are a nation of Constitutional laws, and as such it would have been “Unconstitutional” for John McCain to serve as United States President as he is NOT a “natural born citizen.” Turley describes how he and his cohorts, while wrapped in the mantle of the U.S. Constitution, were all ready and willing to go to court to stop McCain’s “Unconstitutional” inauguration. Of course, the election happened a bit differently, and Jonathan Turley’s erudite but laughable opinion on “natural born citizen” suddenly turns 180 degrees as applied to Turley’s favored candidate, Barack Obama.

If we were truly living under the Constitution, Hillary Clinton would be unqualified to be appointed from the United States Senate to Secretary of State. Yet, no one, not Barack Obama, nor the American media, is offering any explanation of how her appointment can be Constitutional. Other American Presidents who disregarded the “Emoluments Clause” of the Constitution were Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, who both got away with it, as will Barack Obama. President George W. Bush who wanted to nominate Senator Orin Hatch for the Supreme Court was told that would be Unconstitutional and he accepted that ruling and did not nominate Hatch. All of the above support my view that the United States Constitution is just a quaint and moldering document under glass at the National Archives, existing only to hammer heads, when needed, of those with unpopular ideas. It is now generally disregarded as little more than a venerated historic document.

According to what I have read of the birth certificate conspiracy, I believe Barack Obama was born in the United States. He probably believes as I believe about myself, that we are “natural born” citizens even though our fathers were British subjects when we were born. Deniers - think about this. Is it possible that Barack Obama, himself, created this smokescreen over his birthplace to drive you to distraction as a way to divert attention from the more serious and controversial plans he has for his new nation?

UPDATE: The Supremes Sock it to the Deniers, according to Michelle Malkin.

Obama’s Birth Rumors

Britain socks it to Muslim Women. Forget the Magna Carta, if you are a Muslim woman. Welcome to Sharia law, even here in Britain.

“A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the harder you beat them, the better they be.” ~~Old English Proverb

British ministers have quietly given Sharia courts power to rule on Muslim civil cases, ranging from divorce and financial disputes to domestic violence. The traditional British legal system is not available to all Britons. Britain is now a segregated society; there are women with rights and women with none. Sharia judges have been sanctioned at five courts in London, Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester and Nuneaton, Warwicks and two more are planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The British ministers tell British women that there is nothing to worry about if they are not Muslim, as both parties in a dispute must agree to abide by the Sharia rulings. Once that happens, Sharia rulings are enforceable with the full power of the British judicial system. Many British lawyers consider this an advancement into what they see as “legal pluralism.”

Oh happy day for Muslim women! Now they can freely “choose” to inherit much, much less than their brothers. They can “choose” NOT to press criminal charges against their male-batterers. Now they can show their dedication to their Muslim faith and families by “choosing” to submit to Sharia law. However, one wonders, did anyone ask these Muslim women if they would feel safer from beatings and honor killings under Sharia law, than under traditional British law?

Sharia Law Now In Britain

Reform “Spells” Big Changes for Britain

Prime Minister Gordon Brown supported the reform as did Labour, the Lib Dems and the Conservatives.

Britain’s parliament has voted to introduce contentious changes to their English language in order to spell hundreds of words the American way; thereby bringing their antiquated language into the modern era.

The agreement standardizes (not standardises) numerous spellings and adds three new letters - o, z and er - to the alphabet. A large majority of Britain’s lawmakers backed government proposals to phase in the changes during the next six years.

But a petition against the move was signed by 33,000 Britons and 100,000 Canadians who argue it is a capitulation to America’s already too powerful influence upon the English-speaking world. Proponents counter the move will make the English language more uniform globally, making such things as internet searches and legal documents easier to understand.

The agreement will standardize spelling by spelling “standardise” as it should be spelled (not spelt) - “standardize.” The new agreement will remove the stilted “ou” in order for words to be spelled (not spelt) more phonetically, turning, for example “Labour” (such as ‘The Labour Party’) into “Labor”. Henceforth, and forever more, the unpronounceable “re” at the ending of words will be transformed to “er”, as it should be. There are no “theatres” in American, only “theaters.”

Friday’s vote came after a unified form of the old English language was originally agreed with seven old English-speaking countries in 1991.

The official language of more than 300 million people worldwide, American is spoken in the United States of America, including all of its territories. In addition, American is not only the language of global business, it is the language of world-wide art, science, and literature. American is the second language for virtually all inhabitants of the globe who have a second language, including some Britons. Even the French, when forced to speak a second tongue, always choose American over English.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the British Parliament are expected to ratify the accord, with the blessing of the Queen, who has agreed, with the stipulation that “The Queen’s English” henceforth be awarded the status of a National Treasure.

With apologies from Kerfuffles to BBC News, and asking “Why can’t the British be more like the Portuguese?”

Revenge of the Picasa2 Nerds

How great is this? The famous American lady photographer, Annie Leibovitz , won the gig to shoot the Queen on her eightieth birthday. During the shooting, Annie the First requested, ever so politely, that Elizabeth the Second remove her gem-encrusted sparkling spiked tiara from her royal head, in order to make a more down-to-earth and interesting portrait. Elizabeth, Head of Church and State, was so stunned at this extraordinary “decrowning” demand from a mere mortal, that she lost her queenly temper and regally stormed out of the palace chamber, dragging her train behind her. Actually, she did not drag her velvet train as it was most carefully carried by the Queen’s ladies in waiting.

During the programme photographer US celebrity snapper Annie Leibovitz sizes up the Queen in her full regalia and ventures: “I think it will look better without the crown, because the garter robe is so…” . Before the photographer can finish … the Queen raises her eyebrows, fixes the snapper with an icy stare, and snaps: “Less dressy? What do you think this is?” TV cameras follow the Queen storming off with an official lifting the large train of her blue velvet cape off the floor as the Queen tells her lady-in-waiting: “I’m not changing anything. I’ve had enough dressing like this thank you very much.” This is all according to reports from Britain’s Daily Mail.

Leibovitz, being the pro that she is, managed to snap the footage of the stormy whirlwind and captured Her Majesty’s face at the very moment that Majesty was contemplating sending Annie to the Tower of London. It gets even worse, for although Queen Lillibett may have given commoner Annie a piece of her mind, it was actually Annie who got the last laugh, with this — the official photographic portrait of the long-lived queen. Not only is Elizabeth “uncrowned”, but Annie has turned her into a vampire looking Munster Queen.

And I bet Annie did it with Picasa 2 too, using the “Focal B & W” effect, although she will never admit it.

UPDATE: Since I first “reported” this event as it appeared in Britain’s “Daily Mail”, the title has been changed to “BBC lied about Queen’s ‘tantrum’” after the BBC apologized to both the Queen and Annie for misrepresenting the behavior of both. So the new news is that the Queen and Annie are good and proper folks and it is the BBC that deserves contempt … I guess. It is a bit much for Kerfuffles to find and follow the truth here, however, Annie’s portrait of Queen Lillibett Munster has not changed … yet.

The “MDs with IEDs” of Britain’s National Health Service.

Praise the Lord that this ‘benefit’ of socialized medicine has not yet come to American patients. And praise the Lord too (and the Republicans) that our country has not ‘yet’ implemented Saint Hillary’s socialized medicine plan. It was those rascally Republicans who denied the benefit of ‘MDs with IEDs’ to America by destroying Hillary Clinton’s plan for a national health care system. (IEDs are improvised explosive devices: Wikipedia.)

Those wondering why seven of the suspects in the foiled bombings by Al-Qaeda in the United Kingdom were medical doctors, need wonder no longer. It has been announced that all eight of the suspected terrorists were employees of the UK’s National Health System, the motto of which now seems to be “Those Who Cure You Will Kill You.”

Many years ago, the vast majority of doctors in Britain’s NHS were British-trained and British-born. Today “Foreign Doctors Are the Lifeblood of NHS.” The United Kingdom still trains its share of homegrowns, however many, many of the UK’s graduates choose not to practice under socialized medicine. That was a situation that NHS easily surmounted as they merely replaced the local doctors with foreigners who were not nearly as demanding as the British doctors, even though as far back as the year 2000 there were complaints from the British people: “Row Over Foreign Doctors”.

Now it has come to this: the socialization of medicine in the United Kingdom is responsible for medical doctors who are choosing to create patients rather than cure them. Today’s British NHS seems to be staffed by “MDs with IEDs”. If the British people are curious about the terrorists living in their nation who can afford to blow up pricey Mercedes Benz automobiles, they need look no further than their own NHS, which went abroad recruiting foreign doctors. “Terror Ringleader is Brilliant NHS Doctor.”

And speaking of The Lord — Jesus was a physician too and referred to Himself as such. He set a powerful example for all doctors to try and follow. See Mark 2:17 and Luke 4:23.

Medical doctors whose faith teaches them to cure people and then kill them, such as the above mentioned NHS physicians (NHS, July 2007), should read the teachings of Jesus who said “Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.” Those who follow in the footsteps of the Master Healer will lead happier lives on earth, and be well rewarded in Heaven — minus the 72 virgins.

Teatime in old Britain is not what it used to be when our grannies spoke of the time honored tradition according to “The Hammer”. Hot tea is no longer being served in the dainty porcelain teacups. No, the British have never cottoned to that cold beverage quaintly served in mason jars in the American South - Iced Tea! It is another beverage. English teatime has now evolved into a feast of more sustenance. First it was the tiny cookies that they think are “biscuits”. They then began serving real biscuits with jam, but they called them “scones”. Then came the tea sandwiches, salads, champagne, and so much food that no one ate “supper” anymore. However they never knew it, as they think “supper” is dinner anyway. Now it’s party-time! Supping or sipping tea has never been so popular before this innovation. Upper crust hostesses have always served “high teas” with clotted cream and other extravagant delicacies. And yes, they do eat that “clotted what-ever-it-is” on biscuits that they call scones. Now a “high tea” really lives up to its name! The “oh so elegant” now have to provide for sleepovers afterwards, as no guest is in proper driving condition to serve as a “designated driver”, if they have those in England. Now everyone, including the “designated drivers”, are “sozzled” and passed out on the floor. Too bad the Brits never caught onto the Southern idea of “cookies” and “iced tea” with a twist of lemon and a sprig of fresh mint. Who can blame them, living on such a damp, foggy and chilly island, overshadowed by the Europeans, yet within whistling distance of American taunts?

All of England Drunk: “What is the explanation behind this national drunk? There is undoubtedly an alarming trend of increased alcohol consumption in England,’ said Dr. John Sweetmeat from the British Institute on Substance Research, a public health organization critical of more liberalized liquor laws in the UK. Drinking is a way of life in England. If you aren’t drunk, you soon will be.”

This post was first made at Kerfuffles in June 2005.

Michael Barone writes that all Europe has become divided into three parts. He writes in a blog essay entitled “What the Italian elections mean”, that there is Old Europe, New Europe and the Anglosphere.

Jacques Chirac’s leadership has once again doomed his countrymen, this time with his surrender on the employment law. France will have more stagnation, but they will be in good company with other Old Europeans such as Germany and Italy.

The off shore island nations of the United Kingdom and Ireland are still more Anglo-Saxon than European, much to the chagrin of the French.

Small countries like the Netherlands and Denmark and the former Communist countries of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and others have effective, intelligent governments and thus are considered “New Europe”.

New is new and old is old and never the Anglo Saxons shall be European.

I ♥ Kerfuffles
Kerfuffle, Kerfuffles, Kerfluffles and Kerfuffels! What Is The Meaning of Kerfuffles?

No, it is not a sack of potato chips! With so many, many visitors arriving daily, searching for the elusive meaning of the name of my blog, “KERFUFFLES,” I will once again provide the definition that I gave when I made my first blog posting at “Kerfuffles” in February of 2005. Although it is an ancient Gaelic word, it had fallen into the abyss of oblivion, until found and resuscitated by the author of one of the first blogs I started reading, James Taranto. Yes, that Mr. Taranto - the county seat of Ontario, or however the Canadians describe that city. Yes, the Taranto overlooking Wall Street at the corner of “Best of the Web”. To Mr. Taranto goes the credit for standardizing the word’s spelling in American usage. However, be forewarned that the British have yet to adopt our way so that oftentimes strange spellings are encountered, such as “curfluffels.”

Kerfuffles is honored that her word has been made famous by our plain-speaking President, however the rest of the world is asking how did such a word as “kerfuffle” become a part of the vocabulary of the straight-talking Texas cowboy, George W. Bush. Speaking yesterday of his administration’s warrantless surveillance program, Mr. Bush said that it had “created quite a kerfuffle in the press,” according to Boston.com News “President Bush Talks `Kerfuffle.’”

In the whole wide world of words, “kerfuffle” is considered one of the world wide word’s weird ones, according to the Weird Word’s Dictionary. From an ordinary dictionary we find: “kerfuffle - a noun: a commotion, a disorderly outburst or tumult; ‘they were amazed by the furious disturbance they had caused’ [synonym: disturbance, disruption, commotion, stir, flutter, hurly burly, to-do, hoo-ha, hoo-hah].

Google Kerfuffles — or check out these other “Kerfuffles” in the Kerfuffles Blogosphere, of which I know nothing more:

• Orthodox Kerfuffles
• Of Kerfuffles, Konspiracies, and Kossacks
• Is Anderson Cooper Kerfuffle-icious?

Hat Tip to WuzzaDem, who wrote “Do you know a web site or blog that repeats the same theme over and over?” How about this one: There’s a War On! Here is another: I ♥ Kerfuffles. “Arrrhhh and Avast!” to the Pirate’s Cove for bellowing kerfuffles from the briny main. Kerfuffles is highly honored by the kerfuffle flattery, and will be listening to the President’s news conference today for any further mentions of her word. ;)

UPDATE: Kerfuffles didn’t hear anymore kerfuffles from President Bush. (Pronunciation)