BadFiction - a look at bad movies and worse politics

Dispatches from Birtherstan - 15 April 2011

In today's dispatches, maybe the closest the birtherstani have ever come to a win as Arizona's undead birther law passes the State House and goes to the Governor's office. The admitted liars at World Nut Daily are also claiming the people who run CPAC are fundraising to flog the Indonesian citizenship myth.

The Pest and eFail announces a boycott of Bill O'Reilly for not being crazy enough to believe them. Obama twits the birthers a bit more. And the GOP is going to have to continue to ignore their sane members and go after the birther vote.

14 April - Crooks and Liars describes the quest for Presidential peen in Arizona's birther bill.

"Apparently, requiring presidential candidates to provide a long-form birth certificate before allowing their names on the ballot in Arizona -- despite it already being a federal requirement to run for president -- was a bit too much for a few GOP lawmakers. So they made some amendments: if you can't find your birth certificate, and you have a penis, a document describing your lack (of) foreskin will suffice.

A circumcision certificate -- a document given to the parents of a male Jewish child after his foreskin is snipped off during a circumcision ceremony -- is not a legal document (see an example of one here) but if you have one, under the amended bill, it's apparently enough to prove you're a U.S. citizen and your name can be permitted on the ballot in Arizona.

Pulling out your penis in front of election officials, however, will not prove citizenship -- and, in the worst case scenario, could get labeled a sex offender.

Do I really need to be the one to tell them that Muslims males get circumcised too? Oy. I guess we need to root out all those stealthy Scandinavians planning to run for president.

You have to laugh, if only to keep from pulling all your hair out in the face of such stupidity."

Dispatches from Birtherstan - 14 April 2011

In today's dispatches, some of the inmates at the Pest and eFail seem to think "United States" means "united except for that unamerican Hawaii, can we throw them out of the club?" The head of the RNC isn't a birther, but doesn't want to offend the insane part of his base. Papers in Phoenix poke fun at that state's birther bill. Donald Trump has a "great relationship" with "blacks", even though he finds their support of Obama "scary".

World Nut Daily is worried the undead marmoset bearer is going off script, while their lack of things like "ethics" and "honesty" and "sanity" are called into question. And A 12 year old girl shows more honesty and knowledge of the Constitution than most birthers seem to have.

13 April - Don't you just love the patriots at the Pest and eFail?

"Bob Porrazzo says:
Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 5:32 AM
Folks, if I may inject something here…Hawaii shouldn’t even be the 50th state…
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/HAWAII/hawaii.html?q=HAWAII/hawaii.html"

"Harry H says:
Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 11:55 AM
I agree with Bob Porrazzo’s comment that Hawaii should never have been made a state, and I support independence for Hawaii. Don’t know the technicalities involved in rescinding statehood, but Hawaii is not united to America by geography or culture and should be set free. It can take its fraudulent favorite son with it."

You know, there are 1,102 sailors within USS Arizona, 54 sailors in USS Utah, and 34,000 veterans that rest in Punchbowl National Memorial Cemetery. Why don't you ask them how "American" Hawaii is??

Dispatches from Birtherstan - 13 April 2011

Today's dispatches has a Kansas man who sued to try and keep Obama off the state balllot. (and was told "no".) The Pest and eFail finally realizes that the State of Hawaii doesn't give out a "long form" anymore, so of course they have to make it some deep dark conspiracy. Mitt Rommey seems to be courting sane Republicans.

Media Matters covers the World Nut Daily / Donald Trump link, The Pest and eFail lie about Hawaiian State Law (and, well, everything else). Rep. Eric Cantor hopes Trump isn't being serious. Arizona's undead birther bill makes it out of the state senate, and Lucas Smith's painting gets noticed - and sold.

And a tip of the hat to "Jennifer C", who managed to give me the remaining keys to the puzzle of who is the person using the name "BJ Smartazz". Turns out the birther puppeteer has a long history of insanity. And by insanity, I mean at or beyond Orly Taitz or Theresa Cao level of nuts.

12 April - The De Soto Explorer reports an attempt to keep Barack Obama off the 2012 ballot.

"A Wichita man on Monday petitioned top state officials to keep President Barack Obama off the Kansas ballot in 2012, saying that the president wasn’t eligible for the office because he has failed to prove he was born in the United States.

“I’m saying that he (Obama) is going to file documents to be on the Kansas ballot. At the time, I would like the state of Kansas to be prepared,” said David Merton Shultz."

The result?

"The State Objections Board rejected Shultz’s request by a 3-0 vote, with members agreeing that the petition was too early. Under state law, any challenge of a candidate being on the ballot must be made within three days of that candidate officially filing his or her candidacy in the state."

And he's a repeat offender

"In 2010, Kobach said Obama would resolve questions about his citizenship by producing a detailed birth certificate. A year before that, he joked at a GOP barbecue that Obama and God shared something in common because neither has a birth certificate.

Shultz, 63, who described himself as a movie prop engineer, said he has done hundreds of hours of research and has concluded that Obama, a Democrat, hasn’t proved he was born in this country. That would make him ineligible to be president because the U.S. Constitution says only natural born citizens of the United States may be eligible for the office, he said."

But he's not a racist, honest!

"Shultz questioned the validity of Obama’s certificate of live birth, and said Obama’s supporters have spent a lot of time and money to smear those who question where he was born as racists or so-called birthers."

Well, if it wasn't for the fact that so many of the birthers ARE racist......

"Shultz said it was peculiar that a “mulatto baby” was born and yet no one from the hospital remembers the occasion. “That was not a common occurrence. It would stick in someone’s mind,” he said"

1) Racist much?
2) Hawaii has been a melting pot for a long time now. A mixed race child in the early 60's would not be of note.

"Shultz said he would be back at the appropriate time to file a challenge, and asked that state officials pass a law similar to one considered in Arizona in which a candidate for president would be required to show proof of citizenship to get on the ballot. “I’m here to partner with you guys,” Shultz told members of the Objections Board.

But Stegall told him, “The task of this board is not to provide help with you coming back later.”

In other words "go away, you bother us"

Dispatches from Birtherstan - 12 April 2011

In today's dispatches, Paul Guthrie aka "Padawan Pauly" writes more of his "Natural Law" blather and not even the birtherstani are willing to accept it, particularly not Mario Apuzzo. Professional Seditionist Sharon Rondeau touts the freedom of speech standard that the Pest and eFail upholds (unless, of course, you happen to support Obama or otherwise disagree with their party line.) Convicted forger and felon Lucas Smith writes a soft-core porn story as a declaration in support of Theresa Cao, which Holy Cao herself submits along with a mass of Sovereign Citizen droppings.

Sedition in the comments of the Pest and eFail? It's WAY more likely than you think. We have advice to reporters interviewing the undead marmosets attached to Donald Trump's skull. Some birthers are realizing Lucas Smith may be less than credible (which of course they blame on Obama.) Joseph Farah admits that World Nut Daily lies though their teeth for their stories. Sher Zieve and Neil Turner form "Seditionists for Trump". Dr. Kate tries to tell the birthers it's aways been about de Vattel, and that they've always been at war with Eastasia.

The Pest and eFail seems to have a flexible viewpoint on "acceptable times to override, bypass, or rewrite the Constitution", while continuing their tradition of whiney letters. One of their favourite seditionists throws Sarah Palin under the bus. April Downs gets released from her torture. And a quick trip to the PUMA litterbox known as PUMAPac results in some major irony.

11 April - Wading though the comments on Padawan Pauly's latest written defecation, I'm finding not even many birthers are willing to believe his tripe.

"Mike says:
Monday, April 11, 2011 at 11:11 PM

...Up until DNA identification it was impossible to prove who the father was of all any and all children born in the world. All you had was
1. The mothers word that she was not intimate with another male at the time of conception.
2. Similarities in features between the father and child.
Given that it is expected that a women would lie on this issue for obvious reasons a Natural Born Citizen status could not be conveyed by the status of male."

Something that's been pointed out to him before.

Dispatches from Birtherstan - 8-11 April 2011

In an extra-long dispatches (sorry about forgetting to post friday), World Nut Daily goes all Polariky. The birthers get another court loss. Media Matters goes into birther debunking. Pam Barnett continues her courtroom jihad against Damon Dunn for daring to get more votes than Dr. Orly. PolitiFact comments on the Sarah Obama myth - and Ron McRae tries to use Lucas Smith's work to back his claim.

Salon debunks World Nut Daily. Mysterious scars. The sponsor of Arizona's birther bill flies to meet Trump - and is given homework in return. Trump seems to have a birtherstani connection with - drumroll please - World Nut Daily, while he continues to check off a list of which debunked birther talking point to throw out each day. Meanwhile, Trump shows how thin-skinned he is when his birtherism is challenged by things like "facts", "evidence" and "reality".

The Pest and eFail continues their support of sedition and racism. Sen. Rubio tells Trump to knock it off. More bile from Dr. Kate, along with her admiration for Lame Cherry AND threats from her floaters as well. Dr. Orly is annoyed that World Nut Daily called her lies for what they were.

FactCheck finds Trump to be a lying sack of crap with a bad comb-over. Padawan Pauly finds a kindred spirit. Sarah Palin repeats the "$2 Million" claim, which Salon traces back to - World Nut Daily! Walter Fitzpatrick gives legal advice to Theresa Cao. Dr. Chiyome Fukino, in a "don't you people have LIVES??" moment, confirms that, yes indeed, she has seen Obama's "long form" birth certificate, so can't the crazy people shut up?? Miki Booth promply shows Dr. Fukino that no, the crazy people can't shut up.

Philip Berg tells Dr. Orly "you're can't have me dismissed, I'm a plantiff!". The Pest and eFail hopes Arizona goes full-tilt de Vattelist. Hollister is getting grumpy. And "BJ Smartazz's" Thomas video gets booted from YouTube.

7 April - Jack Cashill at World Nut Daily seems to be channeling Polland/Polarik. As his latest claim about Obama shows.

"In his definitive 2010 biography of Barack Obama, "The Bridge," New Yorker editor David Remnick features a photograph of a dapper young Barack Obama sitting between his grandparents on a Central Park bench.

The bench is real. The grandparents are real. The wall behind them is real. Barack Obama is not. He has been conspicuously photoshopped in. Who did this and why remains as much a mystery as Obama's extended stay in New York."

O RLY?

"The irrepressible researcher Orly Taitz secured a document through the National Student Clearinghouse on Obama's Columbia attendance.

The document confirms Obama's graduation from Columbia with a political science degree in 1983, but it places him there only in the 1982-1983 academic year.

"As there is no record of Obama residing anywhere else in the United States from September 1981-September 1982, or attending any other university," Taitz infers, "by way of simple deduction it becomes clear that his visit to Pakistan lasted not a month or two, as he claims, but over a year."

I guess he didn't notice the World Nut Daily article the day before that put the lie to that claim.

They can't even keep their lies straight.

"Securing a visa for this trip in 1981 was apparently possible for an American but not easy. Although Remnick interviews Obama's friends about the Pakistan leg, he gives no accounting of Obama's stay in Indonesia, if, in fact, there was one."

Well, it was easy enough that the New York Times gave instructions on how to do it in a tourism piece in August of that year.

Cashill's piece seems to be based on this 19 March 2011 video on YouTube

By the way, The comments on that video are rather funny. "Amateur photoshop" and "clone tool abuse" are some of the nicest comments about the Obama-less picture.

Dispatches from Birtherstan - 7 April 2011

Today's dispatches has much more about tribble life-support system Donald Trump. Who seems to have done his homework on birther lies, but not so much when it comes to the facts of why they're lies in the first place.

We also have a Tim Adams transcript, which World Nut Daily tries to turn around and spin. Al Jazeera comments on the birtherstani while Birther Edwin Vieria Jr.'s sister Meredith interviews Trump.

World Nut Daily tells both Dr. Orly AND James Manning they're wrong. The Pest and eFail walks to a Trump spokescritter, while they're also asked "where's the money?" And Arnie Rosen combines two long-standing traditions of the Pest and eFail, namely threatening sedition AND whiney letters.

3 April - A transcript of Tim Adams' interview on Reality Check Radio is now available.

(Scribd link here)

And remember that affidavit he submitted?? Well it seems it was written for him by World Nut Daily......

" MR. ADAMS: If you want to go over the affidavit, I can,can tell you about that.

I had agreed, - I had been willing to do an affidavit lastJune, but, um, I¶m poor, so, uh, this past year, uh, some of the folks with, at World Net Daily, or affiliated with World NetDaily, they paid for the lawyer to draw the thing up. They, uh,sent it up here and I had it, uh, notarized and signed, and swore out the statement and sent it back. There¶s no duplicity going on there, that's just the way it was done.

RC: So, you, did World Net Daily pay you for the affidavit?

MR. ADAMS: No, they just paid - someone associated withWorld Net Daily, I forget who, it might have been Mr. Corsi, um,had their attorney draw it up. So they paid for the attorney services to draw the document up.

Foggy: And did the attorney talk to you before he drew it up?

MR. ADAMS: Yeah. They contacted me about two or three times on the phone before they sent it up here and told me whatI had to do with it when it arrived. And then I faxed it down back to them.RC: But they, they wrote it for you then?

MR. ADAMS: They wrote out the document based on my testimony. Yeah. Yep.

Dispatches from Birtherstan - 5-6 April 2011

(From "Estiveo" at The Fogbow)

In today's dispatches, a "birther week in review". Donald Trump's hairpiece and it's life-support system tell those silly Hawaiians what their "state" laws REALLY are. Tennessee's birther bill is the latest to assume room temperature, while Oklahoma amends theirs to be more sane.

Dr. Kate shows some "Real Stupidity", as opposed to "Pretend", and she also plans to have fellow seditionist Sharon Rondeau on her fact-free show. Dr. Orly tries to get Philip Berg kicked off his own case, while Berg wakes up and realizes both that Obama is running again AND that PayPal button has been quiet of late.

Reader "Jennifer C" earns both my thanks and my horror for finding more videos from "BJ Smartazz", including a rant about Clarence Thomas that looks like a kids show as done by "Stormfront". And JB Williams is upset that 1) Obama outraised McCain in 2008, 2) got more votes than McCain, and 3) is likely to do so again in 2012.

3 April - rANT Farm does a great "Birther Week in Review"

"

Question: Do you believe there is any possibility that President Obama was not born in the United States?)

Bachmann: You know, that is probably the least important issue in the United States right now. The most important issue is dealing with the economy and with job creation... I believe in accomplishing things and getting something done, and that's the least of my interests."

Hear that? That was a silent sound of a million Birthers going What you say?

Whether that was a feint to sound less crazy or a genuine admission of uncaring has yet to be determined. I'm willing to bed even money that our favorite journalist, Joseph "Mr. Mustache" Farah, will no doubt have something to say about this lapse of faith next week. "

Dispatches from Birtherstan - 2-4 April 2011

(Mike Luckovich, 30 March 2011)

Been a long weekend in birtherstan. Lucas Smith paints a picture of Dr. Orly that is pancake-free but still disliked by her. Walter Fitzpatrick should be on a law enforcement watch list somewhere, since he's ratcheting up the crazy. Dr. Kate continues her calls for military coups and general racism-filled rants.

The Pest and eFail comes up with a great idea, and by great I mean "another record fail", while making a claim about FactCheck that turns out to be completely untrue, (which doesn't stop Polland/Polarik from taking credit for it.) Sam Sewell passes on emailed rumours on the internet. While the birtherstani may be the best thing to happen to Obama for his newly-announced 2012 campaign.

We have another debunking of Polland/Polarik's work, while Dr. Kate is upset that the American Stinker won't publish her writings. The floaters in her cesspool continue to drive away their families. Glenn Beck says Donald Trump birtherism makes him uncomfortable. More whiney letters from the Pest and eFail. And Dr. Orly can't do basic math and reading.

31 March - Convicted forger Lucas Smith shows the "artist" in the term "con artist", as he posts a sample of his latest work.

(Scribd link here)

It's a painting called "Orly Taitz and her Exhibits". Created March 2011, and 21 5/8" by 29" 5/8", painted on acrylics on recycled canvas.

"I first met attorney Orly Taitz, in person, in September of 2009. She is a very beautiful woman and I believe that many of her male supporters (maybe just about all of them except for one or two) are secretly in love with her. Not that there is anything immoral or unethical about that. Who wouldn’t be attracted to a wealthy, powerful and physically attractive person? If I wasn’t a married man I would probably sleep with her even though she is 20 years my senior but I don’t know if I would love her though. I don’t love someone just because they are physically (or visually) attractive."

My oatmeal is about to hit the wall.

Dispatches from Birtherstan - 1 April 2011

Birtherstan tends to be a location where the population are fools 365 days a year. And today is no exception. We have Herman Cain following Donald Trump's lead. Kerchner writing a letter demanding the US Army immediately dismiss all charges against inmate Lakin. While the Tea Party rally in DC was small, the birther presence was there.

Reality Check Radio interviews Tim Adams, and his story doesn't hold up under questioning. Lawrence O'Donnell wonders what the hell Donald Trump or the roadkill tribble on his head are doing. Sher Zieve spews forth in the Pest and eFail. Robin of Berkeley seems to be testing the waters of birtherstan.

And finally the Pest and eFail has their readers sockpuppets resend their own whiny letters to Fox News, while a perfect storm of crazy develops as Padawan Pauly and Theresa Cao join forces, and a 1914 civics text gives information the de Vattelists won't much like.

31 March - According to Alex Pareene at Salon, Herman Cain has followed Donald Trump's lead in going birther.

"In an interview with a conservative Florida blog, Cain said Trump wasn't "off base," and added that although Cain himself had not given the matter much thought, he decided Obama should "prove he was born in the United States."

(The president has proved that, already. But Cain hasn't "studied enough to have a view one way or the other" on the matter of reality versus feverish make-believe, so who can blame him?)

This is a great development. The more press Trump gets, the more other candidates -- be they fringe or supposedly mainstream -- will attempt to wrest control of the media's precious attention. The easily distracted political press will only focus on the famous or the crazy, so to become the former you must sound like the latter. By May, Rick Santorum will be asking how we can be sure the president isn't a lizard person."

It may be more accurate to say that Trump is following Cain's lead though. As I reported on 23 July 2010, he was playing flirty birther games with Fantasy Tiddlywinks League member Carl Swennson.