Americans: who's your favourite naturalized U.S. citizen?

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Linflas

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
John McCain

:roll:

§ 1403. Persons born in the Canal Zone or Republic of Panama on or after February 26, 1904
(a) Any person born in the Canal Zone on or after February 26, 1904, and whether before or after the effective date of this chapter, whose father or mother or both at the time of the birth of such person was or is a citizen of the United States, is declared to be a citizen of the United States.
(b) Any person born in the Republic of Panama on or after February 26, 1904, and whether before or after the effective date of this chapter, whose father or mother or both at the time of the birth of such person was or is a citizen of the United States employed by the Government of the United States or by the Panama Railroad Company, or its successor in title, is declared to be a citizen of the United States.

Where's your sense of humor?

 

[irishScott]

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: irishScott

Originally posted by: dennilfloss

Originally posted by: irishScott
Asimov and Einstein top my list.

Bet you like Von Braun too.

Yeah, he's up there.

Von Braun was a proper no-bullshit all-genocide heil hitler nazi. He personally recommended slave labour for the building of the V2 rocket.

The why did he defect?

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: irishScott

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: irishScott

Originally posted by: dennilfloss

Originally posted by: irishScott
Asimov and Einstein top my list.

Bet you like Von Braun too.

Yeah, he's up there.

Von Braun was a proper no-bullshit all-genocide heil hitler nazi. He personally recommended slave labour for the building of the V2 rocket.

The why did he defect?

I guess because he wanted to stay alive, and if possible, get lots of money to build rockets. He would probably have defected to the Russians or the British or whoever if they found him first.

 

[jjones]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
John McCain

He was born on US soil to two American parents... he's a natural born citizen even if the US soil he was born on was in Panama.

Doesn't even matter if he wasn't born on US soil. American parents only need go to the embassy or consulate and register a US birth abroad and the child is considered a natural born citizen.

 

[irishScott]

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: irishScott

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: irishScott

Originally posted by: dennilfloss

Originally posted by: irishScott
Asimov and Einstein top my list.

Bet you like Von Braun too.

Yeah, he's up there.

Von Braun was a proper no-bullshit all-genocide heil hitler nazi. He personally recommended slave labour for the building of the V2 rocket.

The why did he defect?

I guess because he wanted to stay alive, and if possible, get lots of money to build rockets. He would probably have defected to the Russians or the British or whoever if they found him first.

You guess? Everything's properly cited in the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun

Slave Labor:

Think you got him mixed up:

SS General Hans Kammler, who as an engineer had constructed several concentration camps including Auschwitz, had a reputation for brutality and had originated the idea of using concentration camp prisoners as slave laborers in the rocket program. Arthur Rudolph, chief engineer of the V-2 rocket factory at Peenemünde, endorsed this idea in April 1943 when a labor shortage developed.

In Wernher von Braun: Crusader for Space numerous quotes from von Braun show he was aware of the conditions, but felt completely unable to change them. From a visit to Mittelwerk, von Braun is quoted by a friend:

It is hellish. My spontaneous reaction was to talk to one of the SS guards, only to be told with unmistakable harshness that I should mind my own business, or find myself in the same striped fatigues!... I realized that any attempt of reasoning on humane grounds would be utterly futile. (Page 44)

[edit]

Arrested by the Nazis, Hitler himself only reluctantly conceded to his release:

Combined with Himmler's false charges that von Braun was a Communist sympathizer and had attempted to sabotage the V-2 program, and considering that von Braun was a qualified pilot who regularly piloted his government-provided airplane that might allow him to escape to England, this led to his arrest by the Gestapo. Kammler, highly dedicated to Himmler, is thought to have been instrumental in these activities.

The unsuspecting von Braun was detained on March 14 (or March 15)[13], 1944 and was taken to a Gestapo cell in Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland), where he was imprisoned for two weeks without even knowing the charges against him. It was only through the Abwehr in Berlin that Dornberger was able to obtain von Braun's conditional release and Albert Speer, Reichsminister for Munitions and War Production, convinced Hitler to reinstate von Braun so that the V-2 program could continue. Citing from the "Führerprotokoll" (the minutes of Hitler's meetings) dated May 13, 1944 in his memoirs, Speer later relayed what Hitler had finally conceded: "In the matter concerning B. I will guarantee you that he will be exempt from persecution as long as he is indispensable for you, in spite of the difficult general consequences this will have."

Admittedly, his primary motivation for defection was fear of becoming a Russian POW:

The Soviet Army was about 160 km from Peenemünde in the spring of 1945 when von Braun assembled his planning staff and asked them to decide how and to whom they should surrender. Afraid of Soviet cruelty to prisoners of war, von Braun and his staff decided to try to surrender to the Americans.

However, it appears the nazis threatened his life as well:

In April, as the allied forces advanced deeper into Germany, Kammler ordered the science team to be moved by train into the town Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps where they were closely guarded by the SS with orders to execute the team if they were about to fall into enemy hands.

He may have been a nazi, like most Germans at the time, but he certainly wasn't a "proper no-bullshit all-genocide heil hitler nazi".

 

[imported_Lothar]

Alfred Hitchcock.

 

[zoiks]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Dude, Celine Dion?

Whatever country she's from can keep her as far as I'm concerned. :thumbsdown:

:thumbsup:

 

[ja1484]

Let me immediately reply, because I keep track of these things.

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Dude, Celine Dion?

Whatever country she's from can keep her as far as I'm concerned. :thumbsdown:

Canada.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Have to go with Einstein

 

[HannibalX]

I don't play favorites.

 

[DangerAardvark]

Christopher Hitchens.

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: irishScott
<snip>

He was well aware his rockets were being fired at civilians, and well aware they were being built by slaves. I have read that he did personally endorse the use of slave labour and that he regularly toured the factory and saw the slaves working, however I don't have a reference for that...

In any case, he could have simply refused to design any more weapons for the nazis at any time. Or he could have defected early and helped the good guys win the war, but he didn't, he stayed until the end.

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
John McCain

John McCain is not naturalized, but was born a citizen under Federal Law. This is why most legal experts don't think it is a Constitutional issue that he run for President. His parent are both US citizens and were in the Panama Canal zone on US Government business. At that time the Canal Zone was US territory.

 

[irishScott]

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: irishScott
<snip>

He was well aware his rockets were being fired at civilians, and well aware they were being built by slaves. I have read that he did personally endorse the use of slave labour and that he regularly toured the factory and saw the slaves working, however I don't have a reference for that...

In any case, he could have simply refused to design any more weapons for the nazis at any time. Or he could have defected early and helped the good guys win the war, but he didn't, he stayed until the end.

Did you read the wikipedia link? Or what I quoted? The only way he stayed out of Nazi jail was because Hitler deemed him "indispensable" to the V-2 project. I quoted his statement about the slaves, and the wikipedia link references his constant touring of the facilities and his apparent indifference to the conditions.

And yes, maybe he agreed with Hitler and such, as most Germans did at the time. Remember that all Germans were being fed propaganda up the arse, and very few knew about the extermination camps.

I'm not saying the guy was a saint, but you're making him sound like another Pol Pot.

 

[Colt45]

?????? ?????.

 

[BoomerD]

Meh, once they're naturalized, they're just citizens. No favorites, but they STILL can't hold the office of President or Vice-President, no matter how "popular" they are.

 

[Xylitol]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
Any mexican.

My favorite is either Juan Rodriguez or Jose Hernandez

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: Xylitol

Originally posted by: shortylickens
Any mexican.

My favorite is either Juan Rodriguez or Jose Hernandez

But if they become naturalized citizens, aren't they Americans, not Mexicans?


Single citizenship FTW.

America needs to invalidate dual citizenships...make up your minds...

 

[Pocatello]

Dr. Wernher von Braun and Dr. Albert Einstein.

 

[Xylitol]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: Xylitol

Originally posted by: shortylickens
Any mexican.

My favorite is either Juan Rodriguez or Jose Hernandez

But if they become naturalized citizens, aren't they Americans, not Mexicans?


Single citizenship FTW.

America needs to invalidate dual citizenships...make up your minds...

I was just kidding
I think that you should either be American or your own country (none of this dual bullcrap)

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

America needs to invalidate dual citizenships...make up your minds...

Originally posted by: Xylitol

I think that you should either be American or your own country (none of this dual bullcrap)

Why? What if I want to be dual Canadian and American? What have you got against that?

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: Steve

Originally posted by: BoomerD

America needs to invalidate dual citizenships...make up your minds...

Originally posted by: Xylitol

I think that you should either be American or your own country (none of this dual bullcrap)

Why? What if I want to be dual Canadian and American? What have you got against that?

Yea - I hold a dual citizenship, although neither of them are American. Why shouldn't I?

And I don't think America can simply 'invalidate' dual citizenships. Nobody can simply take citizenship away from someone else.

 

[OpenThirdEye]

My Dad!!

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: Steve

Originally posted by: BoomerD

America needs to invalidate dual citizenships...make up your minds...

Originally posted by: Xylitol

I think that you should either be American or your own country (none of this dual bullcrap)

Why? What if I want to be dual Canadian and American? What have you got against that?

Yea - I hold a dual citizenship, although neither of them are American. Why shouldn't I?

And I don't think America can simply 'invalidate' dual citizenships. Nobody can simply take citizenship away from someone else.

But we could refuse to grant citizenship to anyone who is unwilling to give up their prior citizenship.

I agree with BoomerD - if you're going to come here and join our country, you ought to go all the way.

 

[radioouman]

Bob Hope?