Video: 'No more mosques. Period.'
Dr. Sanjay Gupta | BIO
AC360° Contributor
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent
Opinion: 14th Amendment is key to the American experiment
Cristina Rodriguez
Special to CNN
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/OPINION/08/17/rodriguez.14th.amendment/tzleft.rodriguez.cristina.courtesy.jpg caption="Cristina Rodriguez says that's been crucial for cohesive, casteless U.S. society" width=300 height=169]
The latest constitutional amendment being floated by some Senate Republicans - to deny citizenship to children born in the United States to unauthorized immigrants - is not new.
Calls for modification of the 14th Amendment's birthright citizenship guarantee have appeared during other moments of immigration-related hand-wringing. The question is whether the idea is a good one.
And the reform is not unthinkable from a democratic point of view. In fact, the United States and Canada stand apart from other major immigrant-receiving societies in the breadth of birthright rules. The United Kingdom amended its laws in 1981 to provide that only children born to citizens, or permanent residents born in the U.K., are citizens at birth.
Video: Ordinary soldiers, extraordinary men
Barbara Starr
CNN
48 killed, many hurt in suicide attack outside Iraq recruitment center
Mohammed Tawfeeq
CNN
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://www.cnn.com/video/world/2010/08/17/bpr.damon.iraq.suicide.attack.cnn.640×360.jpg caption="The suicide bomber detonates his vest as men were lining up outside the center" width=300 height=169]
At least 48 people were killed and scores were wounded Tuesday morning when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest in central Baghdad as men were queuing up outside an Iraqi army recruitment center, the interior ministry said.
The attack took place in the Bab al-Moudham commercial area. It comes amid the country's political crisis and the U.S. troop drawdown ahead of President Barack Obama's August 31 deadline for ending all combat operations.
At least 129 people were wounded in the blast.
The Iraqi government has been pushing to increase security ahead of the drawdown, which would leave a residual U.S. force of 50,000 troops focused on stability operations as well as advising and assisting Iraqi security forces.
Video: Should Obama have weighed in on mosque?
Dr. Sanjay Gupta | BIO
AC360° Contributor
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent
Video: Is technology making us dumber?
Dr. Sanjay Gupta | BIO
AC360° Contributor
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent
Video: Craigslist suspect dies in custody
Randi Kaye | BIO
AC360° Correspondent
Letter to the President #575: 'I believe when it comes to beliefs'
Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/08/16/gall.mosque.site.jpg caption="As I have watched the wildfire debate over this planned mosque near New York's Ground Zero, I have been struck by how, especially when it comes to religion, the more things change the more they don't. " width=300 height=169]
Reporter's Note: President Obama is a Christian and so am I. So maybe we need some more input when we talk about the religious freedoms of others, or as I suggest in my daily letter to the White House perhaps we should make sure that is what we are talking about.
Dear Mr. President,
As I have watched the wildfire debate over this planned mosque near New York's Ground Zero, I have been struck by how, especially when it comes to religion, the more things change the more they don't. Once again, just as we have so many times we find ourselves debating precisely what freedom of religion does mean or should mean. And for me, it's like high school algebra: none of the answers come easy.
So I'm doing what I often do in such cases. I'm considering the opposite; as in, what does freedom of religion not mean?
For starters, it doesn't mean you can stand up and yell Jesus in a crowded theater. Or Buddha, or Allah, or Abraham. In other words like most rights, it is not absolute. Polygamy is illegal whether or not some twisted founders of new age cults or anachronistic followers of old sects (and yes, I noticed the pun) like the idea. And Big Love aside, all indications are that it is not the cupcake party that some might expect.
Plumes of Gulf oil spreading east on sea floor
CNN Wire Staff
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://www.cnn.com/video/us/2010/08/17/lavandera.canyon.oil.cnn.640×360.jpg caption="Oil traces said to spread east on sea floor" width=300 height=169]
A new report set to be released Tuesday renews concerns about the long-term environmental impact of the Gulf Coast oil disaster, and efforts to permanently plug the ruptured BP oil well have been delayed again.
Researchers at the University of South Florida have concluded that oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill may have settled to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico further east than previously suspected - and at levels toxic to marine life.
Initial findings from a new survey of the Gulf conclude that dispersants may have sent droplets of crude to the ocean floor, where it has turned up at the bottom of an undersea canyon within 40 miles of the Florida Panhandle. The results are scheduled to be released Tuesday, but CNN obtained a summary of the initial conclusions Monday night.
Beat 360° 8/16/10
Ready for today's Beat 360°? Everyday we post a picture you provide the caption and our staff will join in too. Tune in tonight at 10pm to see if you are our favorite! Here is the 'Beat 360°' pic:
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, on August 16, 2010 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Have fun with it. We're looking forward to your captions! Make sure to include your name, city, state (or country) so we can post your comment.
Update: Beat 360° Winners
Staff:
Joey Gardner
“Take it down a notch, Sanchez.”
Viewer:
Jenny from Los Angeles
"Entertaining the religiously diverse crowd at Daughter's wedding, Sec. of State Hilary Clinton conducted the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in a rendition of 'When a Man Loves a Woman'"
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