Posted on 03/11/2011 4:37:00 PM PST by Red Steel
LINCOLN — President Obama won an electoral vote from Nebraska in 2008 but couldn’t seek re-election in the state under a bill heard by lawmakers Thursday.
Legislative Bill 654 would bar Obama’s name from appearing on the Nebraska ballot because his father was not a U.S. citizen.
The measure requires presidential and vice presidential candidates to prove they are eligible for the nation’s highest office before they could be candidates in Nebraska.
LB 654 is among a dozen pieces of legislation introduced around the country in response to questions about Obama’s citizenship.
State Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial, the bill’s introducer, said LB 654 would “instill confidence in the election process by assuring voters that candidates for the highest offices in the land have been properly vetted by government officials.
“No such process currently exists on the federal or state level,” he said in a statement of intent.
But LB 654 goes further than many other proposals and further than current interpretations of what the Constitution requires.
The U.S. Constitution requires the president to be a “natural-born citizen,” as well as 35 years old and a 14-year U.S. resident.
Christensen’s bill requires that candidates produce documents showing they are U.S. citizens by birth and that both of their parents were U.S. citizens at the time of the candidate’s birth.
Nellie Ristvedt of Crete supported the bill, citing legal sources that define “natural born” as being born on U.S. soil to citizen parents.
By that definition, she said neither GOP candidate John McCain nor Obama were qualifed as candidates. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, although to U.S. citizens.
Ristvedt said “natural born” hasn’t been clearly defined by the courts, which have rejected repeated challenges of Obama’s citizenship.
She said LB 654 would provide the basis for a lawsuit to clarify the term.
“The issue is the rule of law,” she said.
But Sen. Scott Price of Omaha questioned why Nebraska should pass a law so it could be challenged in court, thus forcing the state to bear the expense of fighting a lawsuit.
Richard Hedrick of Lincoln opposed the bill, saying it was unnecessary and designed to pacify the so-called “birthers.”
LB 654 would require presidential candidates to provide certified copies of their birth certificates, a key demand of those who believe Obama wasn’t born in the United States.
The belief persists although Hawaii officials have repeatedly confirmed that Obama was born in that state and his birth certificate has been made public.
Nebraska is one of at least 12 states where legislation has been introduced this year seeking more documentation of a president’s citizenship. In Iowa, GOP Sen. Kent Sorenson introduced a measure last week to require anyone running for president to produce a birth certificate.
Measures in Montana, Arizona and New Hampshire have failed. Proposals are pending in Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Connecticut, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia and Maine.
Nebraska’s Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee took no immediate action on the bill.
It is unlikely to find the votes to advance, although Christensen’s legislative aide, Dan Wiles, said the senator would be willing to delay its implementation to the 2016 election to avoid the Obama controversy.
Wiles said the senator doesn’t believe candidates need to have been born to U.S. citizens, but he included that requirement in the bill to provoke discussion.
Ping. Up your alley...
I can’t believe that, after two years of the Kenyan, Americans still don’t think that it’s a good idea to demand that the president be an American as stated in the U.S. Constitution. Sickos.
Everybody knows he is illegal. The damage he has been doing is beginning to pile up so deeply that even some of the more sane elected Libtards are beginning to feel the heat. The lid will blow off of this constitutional travesty that is Obama.
Hmmmmm, is she avaliable for a date?
Martha Stoddard is just another uninformed “sheeple”! She doesn’t do her homework!
“...The belief persists although Hawaii officials have repeatedly confirmed that Obama was born in that state and his birth certificate has been made public...” BULL CRAP!
Aside from your being nuts picture. You had stated that “NE legislators also have no...”
It seems those putting the boot to neck don’t suffer the same affliction. Henceforth, [certain] NE legislators do!
Perhaps “Roger Calero, a Hispanic communist who was not born in the US, whose parents were both non-citizens, and who is not a US citizen himself.” Should make another attempt to run for president in this state.
I stand corrected...
You won’t hear me say this out loud, here, at a sports event, but GO CORNHUSKERS! And I can safely say, SOCK it to the KENYAN!
“Christensen’s bill requires that candidates produce documents showing they are U.S. citizens by birth and that both of their parents were U.S. citizens at the time of the candidate’s birth.”
“Nellie Ristvedt of Crete supported the bill, citing legal sources that define “natural born” as being born on U.S. soil to citizen parents.”
The wheel grinds along..
Don’t be too hard on her. She interviewed me after the hearing and was very careful to listen closely to what I was saying. She is a gentle person and seemed genuinely grieved by what she was hearing. I was disappointed in what she wrote but I think she probably had pressures that you or I don’t necessarily know about. I think it all needs time to sink in. We’ve been hearing this stuff for a long time already, but it may all be very, very new to her.
When all is said and done, I do believe she will turn out to be one of the good guys in the media. But if so she will have to be very cautious. She seems like a lovely person and I’m hoping that when she’s had time to think it through, she’ll do what she can to support the America we love.
“In order for a person to qualify to be a presidential candidate in Nebraska, the bill would require an affidavit in which the candidate swears:
“On the day I was born, both my birth father and my birth mother were citizens of the United States of America.”
Looks like Janet Reno’s truck trailer hitch.
I’ve done so much research on the NBC issue I tend to have a very short fuse with people who should know what is going on. I admit that one line seemed out of sync with the rest of the piece. She gets a second chance.
I relate to that SO much. I’m the same way. And at first I was very angry about this article too. Then I started thinking about how I’ve had 2 years to process all this and I STILL can’t believe this can be real, even though I know it is. It just takes some time. I’m digging through some things that somebody else is presenting to me and I’m so cautious about it to make sure I’m not missing anything I should have caught. So it takes some time.
The fact that she mentioned that I had cited legal sources saying NBC is someone born on US soil to 2 US citizens is a step in the right direction, and as somebody point out to me, she was not overtly disrespectful of me or my views. If we can get the media to actually engage with the content rather than with the Alinsky-type stuff that’s heading the right direction at least.
They should see if that animal could lend them his balls.
Why would Justice Clarence Thomas be so secretive for being in Omaha, Nebraska?
Wasn’t the Panama Canal Zone US Territory at the time McCain was born there. Puerto Ricans are born in America, and so are residents of Washington DC and Guam. Wasn’t the Canal Zone similar to Guam?
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