Ellie Lavi is an American citizen who lives in Israel.  She gave birth to twin daughters, Maya and Shira, in Israel.  Under current U. S. law, and even the laws through much of the 19th and 20th centuries, her daughters would ordinarily be American citizens as is the foreign-born 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

But to have children, Ellie underwent in-vitro fertilization.  Even though Ellie would likely be named as the legal mother of the children and thus legally responsible in America, she's not their mother in regards to citizenship.

Twins born in Japan faced a similar dilemma.  In that case, they weren't accepted as Japanese citzens even though their parents were Japanese.  Their birth mother was American.

Supposedly the American law was made to prevent people from fraudulently claiming they are Americans.  Apparently there is a significant threat to America from foreign-born fetuses.

As usual, the law is years behind the world of physical reality.  The first successful in-vitro birth was back in 1978, over 30 years ago.  And it can be worse--with some combination of these conflicting laws in various parts of the world, children could be born without a country.

Details and links below

Below is from http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_citi.html

Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in the gaps left by the Constitution. Section 1401 defines the following as people who are "citizens of the United States at birth:"

• Anyone born inside the United States *
• Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person's status as a citizen of the tribe
• Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
• Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national
• Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year
• Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21
• Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)
• A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.

Image is probably from 1909 and is found at  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Protest_against_child_labor_in_a_labor_parade.jpg

But in the modern era, if the government wants to shut it down, all they have to do is tell IP providers, "don't let anybody in our nation connect to these websites." That's what's happened in China, and now it's what SOPA and PIPA intend to do in America.

Their stated reason is to stop piracy and protect trademarks and copyrights, which we support. But it would mean sites like Facebook, Wikipedia, Twitter, MySpace, blogs, and many other sites would have to police every single post under threat of their site being cut off from every single person in America. There would be no right to a jury, no right to a trial, no "innocent until proven guilty." Besides that, those sites couldn't afford to do that and stay in business.

Currently, someone who sees a violation can report it, and the violation can be removed. But under these laws, a violation could mean blocking the entire website. Even Wikipedia, which has worked since the beginning to remain objective, is going black on January 18 in protest because this could mean a threat to the Internet as we know it.

If you live outside of the United States but post or visit any internet site in America, or you access any part of the internet from America, SOPA and PIPA could affect you too.

For more details, go to https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/how-pipa-and-sopa-violate-white-house-principles-supporting-free-speech. To see the bills, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act of HR.3261) is at https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/how-pipa-and-sopa-violate-white-house-principles-supporting-free-speech and PIPA (Protect IP Act of 2011 or S.968) is at http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s968/show.

The following sites associated with The Loveshade Family decided to go on strike on January 18 in protest: The Loveshade Family, Alden Loveshade, Lorien Loveshade, Discordian Division of the Ek-sen-triks CluborGuild, and the associated Miley Spears.  We chose not to put the Loveshade Family Blog on strike because it specifically addresses this issue and allows people to make comments.

While the Order of the Pineapple site decided to place a banner with a link to the protest, it decided not to go on strike because January 18 is Pat Pineapple Day and the day the Order is presented.

In South Fulton, Tennessee, firefighters stood and watched as a family's home burned to the ground.  Why didn't they fight it?  Because the family hadn't paid a $75 protection fee.

If you have a system where people have to pay to get fire fighters to save their home, then you can't give it out for free, can you?  Of course renters could lose their possessions because their landlord didn't pay, and people struggling to buy food who can't afford the extra money may be out of luck--and a home.  And a fire could spread from an unprotected home to a protected one.

So why make such a system to begin with? Should we have to pay a fee specifically for the police or they won't investigate if we're assaulted, robbed, or raped?  And if we don't pay does that mean we can't get arrested?

In much of America, essential services have been paid out of taxes.  That's what tax money is for.  Protection money is for gangsters.

Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/tennessee-family-home-burns-while-firefighters-watch-191241763.html

See an earlier case where three dogs and a cat died in a fire in an unprotected home at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39516346/ns/us_news-life/t/no-pay-no-spray-firefighters-let-home-burn/

Image of a house fire using gasoline by Kpahor, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.  For details see http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:House_fire_using_gasoline.jpg

After four years of blogging about his case, there seems to be nothing more we can do to help him. But we can do something for others, quite possibly including you, the reader

The so-called Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 was passed in the emotional wake of the Oklahoma City bombings.  It had a tremendous effect on one of the most fundamental principles of a free society, that of habeus corpus.  In short, it made it much more difficult for a person who was rightly--or wrongly--convicted to have their case reviewed.

In the case of Troy Davis, his options were very limited from the beginning.  Even though seven of the nine witnesses against him recanted their testimony, some saying they were coerced by the police, and one of the two remaining witnesses was said to have confessed to the killing of officer Mark MacPhail, Davis could not get a true new trial.  The closest was when the U. S. Supreme court did something it had not done in 50 years: let a man be tried to be found innocent.

We will be making an effort to get that law changed, and will post more information later.

For now, here are the last words of Troy Anthony Davis:

"I'd like to address the MacPhail family. Let you know, despite the situation you are in, I'm not the one who personally killed your son, your father, your brother. I am innocent.

"The incident that happened that night is not my fault. I did not have a gun. All I can ask ... is that you look deeper into this case so that you really can finally see the truth.

"I ask my family and friends to continue to fight this fight.

"For those about to take my life, God have mercy on your souls. And may God bless your souls."

Article at http://news.yahoo.com/troy-davis-maintains-innocence-final-words-035511137.html

Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Troy_Davis_Execution_Protest_2011_Shankbone.JPG

You can find all our blog entries on Troy Anthony Davis by clicking on http://www.loveshade.org/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=troy+anthony+davis

So many people would rather take a chance on killing an innocent man than on not killing one who's guilty.  America is a nation that likes to see people killed whether in fiction or fact, whether at home or overseas. A former head of the FBI said Troy Davis' case should be reheard.  Even U.S. District Judge William T. Moore Jr., who did not find him innocent in an extremely rare U.S. Supreme Court-approved hearing, said he believed a majority of jurors, based on current evidence, would have found him guilty. A majority. You don't convict someone, let alone kill them, on a vote of the majority.

We've been blogging about the case of Troy Anthony Davis for four years, and sincerely hope the so-called Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) of 1996 gets reviewed.  For those who don't know, this relatively new law makes it extremely difficult for a person wrongly convicted of homicide to get new evidence considered.  Because of this law, even with a great deal of evidence of innocence, the wrongly-convicted will likely die.

Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed at 7 p.m. Wednesday, September 21.

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UPDATE: An eleventh-hour please to the U. S. Supreme Court was made.  Davis' execution was put on hold.

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LINKS

See article quoted above at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44592285/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

To see all our entries on Troy Anthony Davis, click on http://loveshade.org/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=troy+anthony+davis

Image is from http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/206/images/troydavis.jpg The copyright remains with them.

It appears Davis cannot get another appeal; his lone hope is clemency from the state Board of Pardons and Parole which has set a hearing for September 19.  (Information on petitions people can sign is below).

Troy Davis was convicted on no physical evidence; the primary evidence was that of witness testimony.  But after his conviction, most of the witnesses recanted their testimony, some saying they were coerced by the police.  One of the remaining witnesses against Davis, Sylvester "Redd" Coles, was identified as a possible suspect.  In fact some said they heard Coles admit to the killing.

A conviction requires more than most; it requires unanimous consent of 12 jurors.

Prosecuters said the recants were not valid, and that Coles may have falsely said he committed the murder to enhance his image.

If Davis is granted clemency, he would likely be sentenced to life in prison.  Supporters say that would at least give time to prove his innocence.

The board did not grant clemency in 2008; however, the five-member board now has three new members.

PETITIONS

More than 50 legislators in George; William Sessions, former head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and thousands of people worldwide have a signed a petition asking for clemency for Davis based on the questionable level of evidence.

Reps. John Lewis and Hank Johnson have introduced a bill called the Effective Death Penalty Appeals Act.  Under current law, it is extremely difficult to get evidence of a person's innocence heard by the court after a wrongful conviction, and they hope to get that changed in Georgia.

Note: you do not have to be a member of one of these groups to sign the petitions:

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=12970 Amnesty International USA Petition

http://www.ncadp.org/#Troy_Front_Page National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Petition

http://www.naacp.org/campaign/davis NAACP Petition

LINKS

http://www.reddingnewsreview.com/newspages/2011newspages/lewis_johnson_11_100000082.html

http://www.ajc.com/news/troy-anthony-davis-execution-1160699.html

http://www.ajc.com/news/parole-board-to-again-1162012.html

To see all our blog posts on Troy Anthony Davis, click on http://www.loveshade.org/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=troy+anthony+davis