Who cares about the "birthers"? Natural Born Citizen defined



It seems the "birther" conspiracy theorists have gone into stealth mode--much like Paris Hilton. You just don't hear much about their cause anymore. I was intrigued by some of the evidence they presented, but ultimately, Obama's birthplace would appear to be irrelevant. Much more important to the Constitutionality of Obama's eligibility are the citizenship of his parents. 

From NoBarack08's Weblog:
There has been much debate as to whether the term “Natural Born Citizen” has ever been legally defined or will some court have to finally define it, such as the Supreme Court of the United States.  The term “Natural Born Citizen” is a requirement for only two positions within our government, President and Vice-President.  What did the Founding Father’s and Framers of the United States Constitution mean to do or accomplish by placing this requirement for the highest office?
First off, let us look at what the Framer’s used as a guide.
The Founding Fathers of the United States, used Vattel’s Laws of Nations as their guide and reference to meanings and definitions within our Constitution.
The myth that the founding of American Republic was based on the philosophy of John Locke could only have been maintained, because the history of Leibniz’s influence was suppressed. The American Revolution was, in fact, a battle against the philosophy of Locke and the English utilitarians. Key to this struggle, was the work of the Eighteenth-century jurist, Emmerich de Vattel, whose widely read text, The Law of Nations, guided the framing of the United States as the world’s first constitutional republic. Vattel had challenged the most basic axioms of the Venetian party, which had taken over England before the time of the American Revolution, and it was from Vattel’s The Law of Nations, more than anywhere else, that America’s founders learned the Leibnizian natural law, which became the basis for the American System.
Read more

Brother, can you spare a Potomac?



With the value of the US dollar plunging, some creative types in Washington are giving the Fed a run for their money. It's ironic to note that not only is the U.S. government borrowing tons of money from China, but the first "money-maker" featured in this story is Chinese. Coincidence? :-P

Why Switzerland Has The Lowest Crime Rate In The World



It makes sense. Criminals would think twice if they knew that their potential victims could easily kill them. Think Luby's Massacre or even 9/11 pilots. If people could legally carry weapons to more places, there would be far greater risk for the bad guys.

Who would've thought that those lederhosen-wearing, chocolate-making dudes were such bad-asses?

Jay Leno Show looking for a new scheduler?


Was this someone's idea of a cruel joke? Or is NBC trying to show that the US government doesn't have a monopoly on incompetence?

Hollywood's newest and heaviest star was booked on the same show where Jay got the big scoop interview with the winner of this season's The Biggest Loser reality TV series. Awkward!! (Being the nice guy that I am, I will refrain from posting some of the Twitter comments I've read about that.)

The irony is that the Biggest Loser won himself a paltry $250,000 while Gabby Sidibe--the star of Precious--probably made millions and is now a celebrity.

Lights, cameras, sheep!

3 guys known as the "Baaa Studs" create hilarious performance art. The performers? Lots of sheep (wearing battery-powered light-suits) and some pretty hard-working sheep dogs. This is an incredible and funny video. Thanks to my bro, Frank, for reminding me about it.

TARIQ ALI: “Obama’s Afghan-Pak Syndrome"


Some good insight on the Afghan conflict--the kind that doesn't fit in 1-minute stories on the nightly news.

SNL covers the Party Crasher and Tiger Woods stories





As much as I objected to ridiculous overplay of these news stories by the MSM, you gotta hand it to the hilarious crew over at Saturday Night Live. Funny stuff!

Now Announcing Blog Posts with Twitterfeed


I'm going to add a little publicity to this thing with Twitterfeed. Twitterfeed lets you create a feed from any rss url and specify to post the title and url of a blog posting (for instance) to your Twitter account. Pretty cool. So, one less thing to think about if you're a blogger (like me) and you want to tweet/announce new postings from your blog (or from any web page that generates rss code.)

If you're on Twitter and you want to generate more buzz about your blog, this is really a no-brainer.

In case you're wondering, you can follow this blog at http://twitter.com/MyNetGems.

Stop YouTube From Displaying Related Videos on Your Blog Posts





YouTube has added a new feature which lets you customize embedded videos easily. It is now possible to turn off the related videos that show up at the end of your embedded video. Click the customize button and then uncheck the option to include these videos. You can check out the video above and see that there are none given at the end. (Brings back memories of "old" YouTube!)


A Modern Parable -- Does it Remind You of Anything Else?



Thanks to Dr. Mercola of mercola.com for this!

Dylan Ratigan interviews Ron Paul about Bernanke

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Ron Paul on the Economics of Obama's Surge



Video and great comments as always by folks at the Daily Paul at the link.

O is the New W



Barack Obama has finally decided that we haven't spent enough money or lost enough lives or sufficiently fanned the flames of anti-American hatred, so today he called for the deployment of some additional 30,000+ soldiers to Afghanistan. Hope? Change? Bush!


Part 1


Part 2

From michaelmoore.com

Obama: "We Did Not Ask for This Fight"
Bush: "We Did Not Seek This Conflict"

Obama: "New Attacks are Being Plotted as I Speak"
Bush: "At This Moment ... Terrorists... are Planning New Attacks"

Obama: "Our Cause is Just, Our Resolve Unwavering"
Bush: "Our Cause is Just, Our Coalition [is] Determined"

Obama: "This Is No Idle Danger, No Hypothetical Threat"
Bush: "The Enemies of Freedom Are Not Idle"

Obama: "We Have No Interest in Occupying Your Country"
Bush: "I Wouldn't Be Happy if I Were Occupied Either"

(I can't wait for the YouTube video of this! Here's the best comparison video I found so far...