Consistently Reaffirmed

Here’s another argument for the jus soli case for citizenship, versus the jus sanguinis.

Just in the case you may not be aware of the two terms’ meaning, they are Latin literally interpreted as “law of soil,” and “law of blood,” more commonly referred to as “by soil,” and “by blood,” respectively, and refers to the principle of citizenship being obtained from the location of one’s birth, and of citizenship obtained through ancestry of one’s parents’ citizenship.

Here’s a simple explanation to further clarify:
• Under the principle of jus soli, one who is born in San Francisco, California is a citizen of that city, state, and of the United States.
• Under the principle of jus sanguinis, one who is born in San Francisco to parents of Indian and Jamaican extraction is Indian and Jamaican.

Once again, jus soli refers to “the principle that a person’s nationality at birth is determined by the place of birth,” while jus sanguinis refers to “the principle that a person’s nationality at birth is the same as that of his natural parents.”

Historically, jus sanguinis came from Roman law, whereas jus soli came from English common law.

Before proceeding further, some background is helpful for greater understanding.

Kamala Harris with her Jamaican grandmother Miss Chrishy in Browns Town Jamaica

The jus soli system, sometimes also referred to as the “birthright citizenship” system, is common in developed nations that desire to increase the number of their own citizens (population).

A few nations that use jus soli are:
• Argentina
• Barbados
• Brazil
• Canada
• Colombia
• Jamaica
• Mexico
• Pakistan
• Peru
• United States
• Uruguay

Several European nations follow the principle of jus sanguinis, which generally means that citizenship is conferred by birth, and is obtained from a parent who is already a citizen of, or naturalized in that nation. The principle of jus sanguinis is contrary to jus soli because, according to the principle, the mere fact that a person is born in a nation does not, in and of itself, confer citizenship.

Some European nations that use jus sanguinis are:
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Ireland
• Luxembourg
• Portugal
• Romania
• Spain
• United Kingdom

Some nations have a blend of the two – soli, and sanguinis – although one is typically predominate.

If a nation adheres to the “jus sanguinis” or right of blood system, the child inherits a parent’s citizenship. So, for example, if your father and mother were each from a different jus sanguinis nation and you were born in a jus soli jurisdiction, you would be able to claim citizenship in three countries.

And, as is often the case, there are exceptions to whatever rule a nation follows because of treaties with other nations, including, for example, the determination of citizenship of children born to foreign diplomats, who are recognized as being citizens of the country that sent their parents there, as is done in the United States.

As well, people born on a foreign flagship or airliner are entitled to claim citizenship in the country under whose flag the vessel was registered.

The 14th Amendment, Section 1 states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall

Secession: We Fought A War Over This

Secessionist billboard campaign by League of the South, as seen in Montgomery, Alabama

Hate, or Heritage?

Recent news reports indicate that a billboard campaign through Lamar Advertising by League of the South in the Southeastern United States of Florida, Alabama and Georgia, has met with opposition. The billboards prominently displayed one word – SECEDE – which almost completely filled the area, listed their group name, and a URL. The campaign billboard locations were in Montgomery, Alabama, Tallahassee, Florida with another one planned for Atlanta, Georgia in the summer. More specifically, League of the South and their 15,000 members have been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “a neo-Confederate group that advocates for a second Southern secession and a society dominated by “European Americans,” and since 2000, “the SPLC began listing the league as a hate group.”

Dr. J. Michael Hill, PhD, President, League of the South, a racist white supremacist neo-Confederate group headquartered in Killen, Alabama

It is a description to which

One Beer to Avoid At All Costs

Rarely do I encounter something so scathing, so terrible, so atrocious that is worthy of some horrible review; but in this case, I shall make an exception.

Friends, if you are a beer drinker, if you enjoy quaffing the suds, if on occasion you like to try new and different things, or if you are a dedicated palate adventurer (like me), I encourage WARN you to AVOID AT ALL COSTS this beer.

When I read the label upon which was printed “wheat beer,” it did not indicate anything other than “wheat beer.”

In fact, nothing on the entire label nor the bottle nor the carrier warned me, or informed me.

The description on the carrier read: “Wheat Beer Snap! You’ve just captured an unfiltered wheat beer full of refreshment and a smile-inducing flash of tart at the finish.” On the bottle, these words also appeared: “Wheat beer brewed with spices.”

That’s it.

Normally, I’ve found some wheat beers exceptionally tasty, while others have miles to go before they begin to perfect their craft.

This beer was from a well-known, and highly respected craft brewery, whose offerings I have come to enjoy.

I write of none other than

The Weird, Weird West

In another forum, a long-time friend of mine had shared something which others and I found curious… to say the least.

It is the following “news” item.

My thoughts on that item follow.

Federal Reserve: Economy “Strengthening” & “Generally Expanded”

“Most Districts reported strengthening in existing home sales, while prices were described as steady to increasing, with declining inventories noted in the Boston, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Dallas, and San Francisco Districts.

“Automobile sales were flat over the past six weeks but are up year-over-year.

“Demand for consumer credit remained relatively strong,

Mitt Romney picks up another porn star endorsement

Jenna Jameson Endorses Mitt Romney: ‘When You’re Rich, You Want A Republican In Office’

The Huffington Post  | By Nick Wing Posted: 08/03/2012 11:57 am Updated: 08/03/2012 5:32 pm

Retired porn star Jenna Jameson waded into the 2012 presidential race on Thursday, choosing a San Francisco strip club as the venue to announce her support for GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

CBS San Francisco has her comments:

“I’m very looking forward to a Republican being back in office,” Jameson said while sipping champagne in a VIP room at Gold Club in the city’s South of Market neighborhood. “When you’re rich, you want a Republican in office.“

With an estimated net worth of $30 million and a resume that includes 160 films, Jameson ranks as one of the porn industry’s wealthiest players.

Jameson’s endorsement may come

New fans find that film ain’t dead yet!

It may be on life support, but it’s still hanging on.

The odd thing about it is, that anyone can take a crappy picture, and most do. Lens flares, inaccurate color balance and other “quirky” things about these inferior quality cameras for some reason, endear them to their users.

Go figure.

—

Just When You Got Digital Technology, Film Is Back

May 30, 2012, By JENNA WORTHAM

When is the last time you took a photo with an old-school camera — the kind that doesn’t have a wireless connection, needs to be loaded with finicky rolls of film and is too bulky to slide into a back pocket?

A panoramic image captured by one of Lomography’s cameras, the Spinner 360. (Lomography)

Unless you are a professional photographer or an artist, it has probably been a while. Most people have abandoned film cameras for digital models or, more recently, smartphones outfitted with lens accessories and apps like Instagram that make photo-sharing extremely simple.

But film photography is having another moment in the sun, thanks to some hip, quirky companies like Lomography and the Impossible Project, which are resurrecting this seemingly archaic art for

Whoah, Nellie! FTC Investigation into @FaceBook’s @Instagram buyout may delay IPO

It’s entirely unusual for so many people to voluntarily relinquish so much private information. As well, FaceBook has deliberately deceived many people with their  (lack of) “privacy” policy. In this information era, people are becoming the commodity. But, it’s always been true, that if you don’t want folks to know about it, don’t share it.

—

Probe may delay Facebook Instagram deal

May 10, 2012 7:13 pm

By April Dembosky in San Francisco

The United States Federal Trade Commission will be investigating FaceBook’s US$1Billion buyout of Instagram. The logos of the Facebook (L) and Instagram (C) apps are pictured on an IPhone in Cologne, Germany, 09 April 2012.The social network Facebook, flush with cash as the company steers toward public trading scooped up the Instagram mobile photo-sharing application for about 1 billion dollars in cash and stock, on 09 April 2012. San Francisco, USA, based Instagram, with more than 30 million users, is one of the most popular free photo-sharing application on Apple’s App store. EPA/Rolf Vennenbernd

A competition probe into Facebook’s $1bn acquisition of photo-sharing service Instagram threatens to postpone the closure of the deal beyond the second quarter, the target set by the company in its initial public offering documents.

The Federal Trade Commission has launched the investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter, and has already begun collecting information from at least one of the social network’s largest competitors. The process could also further slow Facebook’s already lagging mobile strategy.

The competition probe – routine for any deal more than $66m – is likely to take six to 12 months, according to several experts. But Facebook said in its IPO documents last month that it expected the deal to close in the second quarter.

“That’s terrifically optimistic,” said David Balto, a former policy director at the FTC who now works as an anti-trust lawyer.

Competition experts expect that the Instagram merger will ultimately be approved, but they believe regulators will apply close scrutiny to the deal because of the steep price that Facebook paid and the high profile of the companies.

“They’re going to want to take some months to investigate and understand the market and other players,” Mark Lemley, a professor at Stanford Law School, said. “And there may be more parties with an interest in submitting information.”

Facebook has acknowledged that

Don’t worry. Be happy! : The pursuit of happyness & health

Don’t worry… be happy!

You’ll live longer, too!

If you’ve not seen the 2006 motion picture “The Pursuit of Happyness,” starring Will Smith, I wholeheartedly encourage you do so. It’s based upon the real-life story of Chris Gardner, and his struggle with homelessness in San Francisco, and eventual rise to prosperity in the world of financial trading. Mr. Gardner makes a cameo appearance at the end of the film as he strides across the street while Mr. Smith and his son also walk by.

—

The happiness-health connection

More information

Get your copy of Positive Psychology: Harnessing the power of happiness, mindfulness, and personal strength Positive emotions have been linked with better health, longer life, and greater well-being in numerous scientific studies. On the other hand, chronic anger, worry, and hostility increase the risk of developing heart disease, as people react to these feelings with raised blood pressure and stiffening of blood vessels. But it isn’t easy to maintain a healthy, positive emotional state. Positive Psychology: Harnessing the power of happiness, mindfulness, and personal strength is a guide to the concepts that can help you find well-being and happiness, based on the latest research. Click here to read more »

Published: April 17, 2012

Want to feel better and improve your health? Start by focusing on the things that bring you happiness. Scientific evidence suggests that positive emotions can help make life longer and healthier.

But fleeting positive emotions aren’t enough. Lowering your stress levels over a period of years with a positive outlook and relaxation techniques could reduce your risk of health problems.

Pathways to happiness

In an early phase of positive psychology research, University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson of the University of Michigan chose three pathways to examine:

• Feeling good. Seeking pleasurable emotions and sensations, from the hedonistic model of happiness put forth by Epicurus, which focused on reaching happiness by maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain.

• Engaging fully. Pursuing activities that engage you fully, from the influential research by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. For decades, Csikszentmihalyi explored people’s satisfaction in their everyday activities, finding that people report the greatest satisfaction when they are totally immersed in and concentrating on what they are doing — he dubbed this state of intense absorption “flow.”

• Doing good. Searching for meaning outside yourself, tracing back to Aristotle’s notion of eudemonia, which emphasized knowing your true self and acting in accordance with your virtues.

Through focus groups and testing hundreds of volunteers, they found that each of these pathways individually contributes to life satisfaction.

Things that won’t make you happy

People tend to be poor judges of what will make them happy. Here are some widely held myths about what will bring happiness:

Another perspective on “Ching Chong, Ching Chong Cha”: 名嘴嘲諷中文 華裔領袖促道歉_星島日報_加拿大多倫多中文新聞網。 Canada Toronto Chinese newspaper

名嘴嘲諷中文 華裔領袖促道歉_星島日報_加拿大多倫多中文新聞網。 Canada Toronto Chinese newspaper.

[2011-01-21] Share

本報記者任薇薇三藩市灣區報道
電台名嘴在節目中搞怪模倣胡錦濤發言和嘲諷中文語言，華裔國會議員紛紛譴責林堡（Rush Limbaugh）種族主義的言論，加州眾議員方文忠將提請州眾議院亞太裔立法黨團促林堡向華裔道歉。
聯邦眾議員趙美心(Judy Chu)稱林堡的言論令她感到「震驚和恐懼」。她發表聲明指出，「謾罵華人和嘲諷中文語言是幼稚和冒犯性的伎倆。不認同和批評一個國家的政策是一回事，妖魔化其人民是另一回事。

Comedy is a “two way street.” That is, it conveys a message, and the message is about us, our circumstances and situations. What makes comedy funny, first of all, is that it MUST address reality – the known. We cannot discuss something that cannot be known, for as the byline to this blog reads, “… there is no such thing as nothing.”

Delving into the philosophical, we understand comedy also on two levels, again, both which are firmly rooted in reality.

Now, having addressed that element, it is proper and fitting to address the other, or obverse element – that is, the opposite element – which element is not humor.

The man Rush Limbaugh has never

Interview with Roger Young, a retired FBI Agent who specialized in child pornography and obscenity cases

NOTE: In ALL cases – WITHOUT exception – obscenity is illegal, as the SCOTUS has stated in Miller v California (1973). That case established a 3-pronged standard by which to determine if something was obscene, or not: It had to be utterly devoid of “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” That remains true today, just as it did then.

And now, just as then, child pornography remains illegal – practically on a worldwide scale. There are less than a handful of nations that do not penalize the possession or production of child pornography. The case of Traci Lords, who in 1984 when aged 15 deceived, and defrauded pornography producers by falsifying a government-issued ID in order to work in the industry is one case in point to illustrate. When it was learned a couple years later – shortly after her actual 18th birthday in 1986 – that her TRUE age at the time of production was NOT 18, ALL the material she had made up to that point was then destroyed by whomever had it, because for legal purposes, it would be, and was, considered child pornography. She continues to work in the entertainment industry today, but not in sexual entertainment.

Further, sex trafficking of adults also remains illegal now, just as it did then. And frequently, the individuals whom proffer human smuggling/trans-national transport-relocation services for individuals (females, primarily) to enter the United States, or other nations, are also involved in narcotics smuggling, and global organized crime syndicates.

It should be further borne in mind that almost all Christian, Muslim and Judaic religious traditions condemn pornography, and other forms of sexual entertainment. ––Ed.

---

Is porn “really” that big of a deal?

“These extremists feed on fear, hate and terror.”

At the 1964 Republican National Convention at Cow Palace in Daly City, adjacent San Francisco, CA, then-NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller was granted five minutes to address the delegates. He was booed for over 16 minutes.

At the time, the Republican party’s sweetheart was Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, and the party was in jeopardy of being hijacked by subversive ideologues from the Ku Klux Klan, John Birch Society, Communists and others whom Goldwater and the party at large refused to repudiate. Appealing to racist elements, and Southern Democrats, Goldwater later became the party’s presidential nominee, only to be resoundingly defeated  in the November General Election by incumbent LBJ – Lyndon Baines Johnson – whom had become president upon JFK’s death. Goldwater’s defeat was one of the widest margins in American political history.

Ku Klux Klansmen rally in support of Barry Goldwater, 1964.

In his later years, having resigned, then re-elected and succeeded by John McCain, Goldwater’s extremist libertarian ideals included abortion, gay rights, and anti-religious sentiment.

I wonder – to what extent have those same subversives successfully infiltrated the party, our airwaves and national governance today?

The following is the text of Governor Rockefeller’s remarks from The Rockefeller Archive Center, and are available online. See http://www.rockarch.org/inownwords/nar1964text.php.

*****************************************************************************

FOR RELEASE AT 6:00 P.M., PDT, TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1964 ROBERT L. McMANUS, PRESS SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNOR

TEXT OF REMARKS BY GOVERNOR NELSON A. ROCKEFELLER PREPARED FOR DELIVERY BEFORE THE THIRD SESSION OF THE 1964 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION IN MOVING ADOPTION OF THE AMENDMENT TO THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF EXTREMISM, COW PALACE, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA JULY 14, 1964

Mr. Chairman, fellow delegates, I move that the following language be inserted in the proposed 1964 Republican Platform