The New York Times has once again stirred the pot by speculating that perhaps Senator John McCain is not a "natural born citizen," a requirement to become President of the United States, because he was born (of American citizens) in the Panama Canal Zone.

Poppycock. Not everyone agrees with my insightful analysis, though:

In a paper written 20 years ago for the Yale Law Journal on the natural-born enigma, Jill Pryor, now a lawyer in Atlanta, said that any legal challenge to a presidential candidate born outside national boundaries would be "unpredictable and unsatisfactory."

"If I were on the Supreme Court, I would decide for John McCain," Ms. Pryor said in a recent interview. "But it is certainly not a frivolous issue."

I think this is indicative of where lawyers separate themselves from society because they make things more complicated than they need to be (of course, they make (lots of) money because what they do is so complicated).

But to me, a simple layman who has a passing understanding of the English language, the interpretation is simple: if you were a US Citizen at the moment of your birth, either through your presence within the United States or by dint of having at least one American parent, you are a "natural born citizen." If you had to petition to become a citizen, you are a "naturalized citizen." To my mind, the universe of citizens is broken in to two parts: natural born and naturalized.

I'm sure it's more complicated than that. But it shouldn't be.