1

Philip J. Berg and the Trouble With Lawsuits

A particular figure has gained some traction in the conservative blogosphere lately.  That man's name is Philip J. Berg, and he is a lawyer.

Now, to those singularly obsessed with the "birth certificate" issue, two basic truths seem to play a hand in this.  One is that they obviously never see natural sunlight. The other, and equally important, is they don't really care who this man is, provided of course that he is against Obama and gives their cause some play in the media.  Berg has met this criteria reasonably well.  What some don't seem to realize is this guy's actual history.

The first thing of note is that, before becoming obsessed with taking out Obama, Berg was obsessed with taking out BUSH.  That's right.  Phil was pretty mad about the 2000 election, and perhaps rightly so.  In 2001, he sought to remove all the Supreme Court justices that had voted in Bush's favor in the famous Bush v. Gore case.

Of course, Berg didn't stop there.  You see, he is a rampant 9/11 conspiracy theorist.  His ranting can be easily found online, as such:  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5255032592388273934

As such, Berg filed a lawsuit against Bush and 154 others alleging that they had conspired to bring about the attacks that day. Despite a lack of real evidence, Berg pursued it with zeal, only, as in the case of his previous suit, to see it completely rejected in court.  As with his more recent Obama suits, Berg re-filed this suit only to have it rejected again.

Berg's bad behavior as a lawyer doesn't stop with conspiracies, though: unlike the suits he had filed, Berg himself was successful sued for malpractice by former clients 2005.  That's right.  In a lawsuit pertaining to ERISA (Employment Retirement Income Security Act), Berg had apparently failed to file a response to a complaint in the suit, resulting in his clients having a default judgement entered them.  These former clients decided to sue Berg for malpractice and won the case; the judge found that Berg's own charge of fraud "was inadequately pled, not grounded in fact, time-barred, and utterly irrelevant to the pending malpractice action against him."  In the end, Berg was fined $10,000 and forced to spend a little time in ethics training.  The whole case can be found here: http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/05D0679P.pdf

This is the guy websites like "RepubX" have recently decided to align themselves with.  This, ironically, is also the sort of guy radical leftists were aligning themselves with not long ago.  He represents the problem with using a lawsuit as "proof" for a case's legitimacy; Berg himself has, consistently and constantly, proven not only his own cases but his very strategies and lawyerly ethics to be illegitimate.  As well, he's consistently and on multiple occasions proved what reasonable people already know.

That most conspiracy theorists are nuts.

5

The frightening nature of anti-muslim bigotry.

I should preface this by saying that I am an agnostic.  There may or may not be some kind of higher power out there.  I find most stories behind religions to be pretty implausible and I doubt I'll ever believe in any of them.  To me, people arguing over which religion is "right" is like arguing which person has the superior imaginary friend.  Harsh I realize, but that is my bias.

With that stated, I obviously don't have any preference for the religion of Islam.  I don't see it as being any more or less strange or crazy than the others.  It's just a set of beliefs like any other, which people have the right to believe or not believe in.  As with any religion, some will use that set of beliefs for good and others will use it to justify some pretty awful actions. 

With that stated, it is disturbing to see the level of hatred and inherent distrust that many people in our great country still have for the people of the Muslim faith.  People who are essentially just human beings like anyone else are still continually derided by some simply for subscribing to that faith instead of their own.  Even worse, there is a clear racial element to this prejudice; many people, often not understanding that there are many differences in the first place between arabs and people of middle-eastern descent, assume that anyone roughly of that descent is automatically a muslim.  They also assume that anyone from either group is automatically of a pro-terrorism mindset and can't be trusted.  These are just human beings, with the same emotions and imperfections and dreams and needs as anyone else.  And they are being treated as dangerous, sub-human individuals who must be deported at all costs for essentially no reason other than that they exist.  Oh, for the days when racists just wanted to keep other people off their lunch counters and away from their drinking fountains instead of advocating for them to get kicked out of the country entirely.

Some of the recent talk involves conspiracy theories as to President Obama's heritage and religion of choice.  All the actual evidence of course suggests that Obama is a Christian, as with every president before him.  But I'm not here to debate that point anyway.  What's disturbing about these theories isn't just the blatant disregard for fact and logic but the fact that anyone would care.  What exactly would it matter if we did have a Muslim president anyway?  Is it somehow bad for people of other races, creeds, and religions to want to serve the people and contribute to the American dream?  What does it say about the lingering hate in our country that the mere thought of someone of a different race or religion serving in our government still inspires such overt bigotry and fear?

Our constitution says that: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."  That means any religion.  Anyone, regardless of religious beliefs, can still participate in our society, enjoy the same rights, and, yes, openly serve the public.  Clearly, we have a long way to go before every one of our fellow citizens is willing to recognize that fundamental right.

2

Obama's Identity: Secret Hitler

For months we've been attempting to track down the secrets of Obama's elusive history.  I'm pleased to say that sources at the deli down the street from me have made a breakthrough, and they've finally discovered the true identity of Mr. Obama.

Here's the proof: not long ago, Obama spoke to an audience in Cairo, which I'm told is the place the nazis go to in the first Indiana Jones movie.  That's enough right there, people!  Deli researchers are working around the clock to examine VHS tapes, and we're confident we'll find Obama shooting at Indy somewhere in the footage.  More importantly, though, Obama rebuked deniers of the holocaust by asserting that it did, in fact, happen. 

Think about it, though.  Obama was born in 1961...or rather, so he claims.  But the holocaust and World War II happened in....dun dun dun....the 40s!!!!  How could Obama know something for sure that happened before he was even alive, unless...

We've found the missing link, people.  How else could Obama know it happened unless he was there?

Open up your eyes, people.  We've been lied to.  Examine the footage.  Don't you see the resemblance?  Has anyone checked Obama's birth certificate for nazi symbols?  And why won't Obama submit to strip-searches?  Could he be hiding a swastika tattoo on his ass?

We're through the looking glass people.  End your blindness and wake up.  We thought we'd stopped Hitler, but he's been alive the whole time, and looking remarkably young I might add.  In any case, we must stop him now.  For America.  For the world.  For Indiana Jones.

For the children.