I was thinking about some of the stereotypes that Birthers believe about their opponents and that led to constructing in my mind how a real “O-bot” like the birthers imagine would behave. Certainly the stereotypical Obot would be partisan and unfair. He would be unwilling to tolerate dissenting opinions. He would spin the facts to his own advantage. In fact what I envisioned would be very much like a Birther, only on the other side of the issue. Such a character would be very unlike me.
This being the Season of Lent, a time of repentance and reflection, I offer this non-repentant, but self-reflecting disclosure: In 2009, my “thought experiment” transmogrified [I got to use that word again!] into a real experiment. In the Jekyll/Hyde tradition, I created the character of Obot1 and the web site Obots.org. The site adopted the tag line, “Birthers need not apply, ever” to emphasize censorship of anything birthers wanted said.
I took some care to hide the origins of the site. Up until the recent movement of my sites, Obots.org had a distinct IP address from any of my other sites. It was registered in a protected name. It used a very different WordPress Theme, and a different set of features (e.g. it had a Tag Cloud, random posts and a calendar). Of course, all comments were moderated. I even used a different format for site links. But most importantly, I tried to make the writing style distinct from what’s here. It must have worked because no one ever suggested that I was behind Obot1.
I’ve been thinking about writing this article for the past few days and my exchange with Scientist in comments, and Dean Haskins’ visit provided some context. In the former case I give the example of what this site could be like if it took a radical tilt in the partisan direction. Dean’s discussion of the Sunahara birth certificate reminded me of another very different situation, but one that still involved the vital records of a child who died in infancy. That story (that I alluded to in comments today) resulted in one of the roughest articles to appear at Obots.org.
There really hasn’t been any activity at Obots.org to speak of for some time. I think it has served its purpose, and I doubt if there will be much activity in the future (unless I get really motivated about something). One final tie-in with Obama conspiracies is the birther view that the person normal people see as President Obama himself has a dark and evil hidden personality.
“One final tie-in with Obama conspiracies is the birther view that the person normal people
“see as President Obama himself has a dark and evil hidden personality.
Congratulations on being normal while those who disagree with you are abnormal.
The birther view has some research and evidence to back it up:
Cashill, Jack: Deconstructing Obama
Sinclair, Larry: Barack Obama & Larry Sinclair – Cocaine, Sex, Lies and Murder?
Are you playing a spoof of a Birther, or are you actually serious?
Fascinating. I discovered obots.org in the fall of 2009, and I recall noticing that it seemed somehow isolated from the “mainstream” of antibirther activity. For that reason it was the only antibirther site I ever bookmarked, because I couldn’t rely on other sites to jog my memory about its existence.
Just the other day I fired up the link, noticed the flurry of activity in early 2011, and briefly wondered who was the author of the site. Doctor C never crossed my mind.
“Are you playing a spoof of a Birther, or are you actually serious?”
.
If you click on his name it takes you to a birther site, and it seems very hateful. Hate is a toxic poison and is a major component of a birther persona. Kenneth seems to be afflicted. Birthers are very confused and don’t realize that opposing Obama politically has nothing to do with birtherism. The sad part is that birtherism has a negative impact on their personal life and families. Perusing some of his articles makes one feel sorry for him.
If I remember correctly, your approach to Jack Cashill’s arguments and evidence is to diligently ignore them.
Biden’s son arrest of Larry Sinclair served Obama’s interests in making Sinclair marginalized, but the records Mr. Sinclair has politely requested in order to corroborate or refute his account have not been provided.
While you’re not actually a doctor, the record indicates you’re a top notch amateur psychiatrist (e.g., “birthers run around like lunatics”, have “delusions”, and aren’t as “normal” as others). Please be advised that those such as yourself who seek to maintain multiple identities are often referred to in the psychiatric community as “schizophrenics.” Schizophrenics also often claim credentials that they have not actually earned, such as calling themselves “Dr.”
Thanks for asking.
This “Kenneth Olson” persona is upset by anti-birther insults and name-calling while he hurls insults and calls names!
Our friend Kenneth must have matriculated at the “Pee Wee Herman” school of debate: “I know you are but what am I?”
Do not insult Pee Wee Herman, he is trying to make a comeback, associating him with Kenneth is going too far, I demand an apology!
I just loved the letter that the Republican Liberty Caucus sent to an Orly Taitz operative about why a birther is not welcome at their Rally for Liberty. Short and sweet and reflective of the thinking of the vast majority of members of the Republican Party:
Dr. Taitz and the Rally for Liberty
Dear Elaine,
I saw you RSVP’ed, expressing an interest in seeing Dr. Taitz speak at the RLCCA’s Rally for Liberty event.
It is the position of the RLCCA that President Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States of America. Unfortunately, Dr. Taitz does not agree, and as Dr. Taitz makes her disagreement the primary point of her campaign, the RLCCA has retracted the invitation to Dr. Taitz.
I apologize for any inconvenience this causes you or Dr. Taitz.
Sincerely,
Parke Bostrom
Secretary, RLCCA
—-
“The state of Hawai’i has said that he was born there. That’s good enough for me.”
Representative John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives (R-OH).
—
“[The President’s eligibility] “I don’t think it’s an issue that we need to address at all. It is not an issue that even needs to be on the policy-making table right now whatsoever.
I think the president is a citizen of the United States, I think this president wants what’s best for this country.”–Representative Eric Cantor, House Majority Leader (R-VA)
—
Question: “Do you question [President Obama’s] faith and citizenship?” [former Alaska Governor Sarah] Palin was asked during an onstage interview hosted by the Long Island Association. Her answer was brief and to the point: “I don’t, and those are distractions,” she said to some applause. “What we’re concerned about is the economy. And we’re concerned about the policies coming out of his administration and what he believes in terms of big government or private sector. So, no, the faith, the birth certificate, others can engage in that kind of conversation. It’s distracting. It gets annoying and let’s just stick with what really matters.”
Again? He could pair up with Orly for a courthouse tour. They can doubkle up on PeeWee’s bike and have another Big Adventure, looking for a birth certificate.
I’m pretty sure it’s not at the Alamo.
Do you hear yourself??!! Larry Sinclair makes a bullshit accusation and then wants to request someone (likely President Obama) to give him records to back it up??!! You see, this is why birthers never get anywhere and NEVER win ANYTHING…….they don’t understand the basics of the legal system.
Listen up, dude: IF YOU MAKE AN ACCUSATION, YOU HAVE TO THEN SHOW EVIDENCE TO PROVE IT. You do not get to accuse me of something and then require me to give you proof of your accusation. So go out and YOU GET WHATEVER PROOF YOU THINK will get President Obama off ballots, frog marked out of YOUR White or whatever, cause doing it your way has not and WILL NOT WORK……EVER!!
WRONG!!!
Mario Apuzzo told me in strictest confidence that he heard from Leo Donofrio that Phil Berg had told him that Barack Hussein Obama’s original, long form, vault copy, Kenyan birth certificate is being stored in the basement at the Alamo. It is being guarded by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Maricopa County Deputy Sheriffs for an October surprise release.
All those adobe building looks the same.
+10 for the using the classic opening to a nutter post: “WRONG!” The endemic and predictable opening makes me think all these birther trolls are cloned. Or sock puppets. It is nice of them to tell you up fron that everything that follows will be “WRONG!” Helps avoid confusion and wasted thought.
RIGHT!!!
Amen.
It’s in the basement!
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.” “So had the stairs.”
DrC:
That was some very clever and creative stuff. Congratulations!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I haven’t paid a lot attention to Jack Cashill. I think I mentioned him in 8 articles:
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/tag/jack-cashill
I found him to be a petty liar and a character assassin for hire. People I find beneath contempt, I mostly ignore. Also, this blog is primarily about Obama’s presidential eligibility. Whether Obama wrote Dreams is of peripheral interest only, When I did take Cashill on was where he presented that doctored photo of Obama’s leg. That was funny, really funny, and had nice visual impact.
As for Larry Sinclair, I was just never motivated to delve into his world. Sinclair never seems to have caught on.
Liars are inherently less interesting to me than deluded true believers.
Thanks, Squeeky. I did get in a few good licks 😉
I particularly liked:
No ice cream treat for you tonight.
PS: You’re confusing schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder.
Thanks. I have been thinking about an article on Birthers as a hate group, and this could be good background.
DrC:
Do we have your permission to pull out the PAW (Psychological Assault Weapon) and use it on Mr. Olsen??? If so, I wanna use the Ridicule Setting.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Sure, but I would recommend the ludicrous setting.
New Obama Favorablity Rating
AP-GfK Poll conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications. Feb. 16-20, 2012. N=1,000 adults nationwide. Margin of error 4.1.
“Do you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of Barack Obama?”
Favorable: 57%
Unfavorable: 42%
Unsure: 1%
Refused: —
http://www.pollingreport.com/obama_fav.htm
I ran across Obots.org fairly recently. It did catch my eye a bit longer than the others usually do, but then I forgot about it. I’m not sure what my thoughts were that led me to linger over it longer than usual, but I do remember it being somehow different.
You should have linked it under The Bad.
Oh, yeah now I remember.
It actually looks quite good for a partisan piece; very news paperish. But when the movement was declared dead in November, and no new articles were written, I didn’t figure their was any point in bookmarking it.
And I apologize for my post above. I meant that you should have linked it under The Good.
Well, I don’t think I could have linked to it under either. It doesn’t meet my standards for “Good.” Good doesn’t mean “anti-birther” but “good source of reliable information.”
Hear that Squeeks? Live up to your link.
It’s amazing to me how many hundreds of themes I had to go through to find anything I thought appropriate. This one is commercial, but the Inove theme used at Obots.org is a free one.
Thank you for your assistance. I’ll defer to your superior wisdom as to what psychiatric disorder you’re suffering from.
You are, after all, an accomplished Doctor of Pretension.
You still don’t get an ice cream treat tonight.
Oh my God, Kenneth! Where do you come up with these zingers?! If you ever need work, don’t forget that middle school kids are always looking for put downs.
Gee, thanks, Arthur. I spend a lot of time with professional comedians, like Frederick Cartmon Darby, Jr.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-IDR7n0jPY
Feel free to sing along!
Oh. My. God. Frederick Cartmon Darby, Jr.! I know him! He’s like, 127 years old. Whenever I can’t sleep I watch that marvelously unfunny short film he made, “Knitting Needles.” Only four minutes long, but I’m out after the first plot point.
AH, the roar of greasepaint, or whatever. That explains why you believe all this Birther stuff. You have accidentally succumbed to inhalant poisoning from the “grease.” Symptoms can include: hearing loss, limb spasms, central nervous system or brain damage, or bone marrow damage.
This would account for your inability to HEAR the truth about the law, and the brain damage would explain why you believe Donofrio and Taitz as opposed to the rest of the legal community. I wonder if you spazz around any in jerky and uncontrolled movements???
Let this be a lesson that one should never forget to look for an organic cause of mental problems.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
(blowing the smoke away from the barrel of the Psychological Assault Weapon. . . )
I really want the voting feature for posts like this…. 😆
Is KO really taking the menace of the P.A.W. as an offer of psychiatric care? 😉
*yawn* Talk about lame and painfully out of tune. Totally unwatchable.
Dr. C writes of Jack Cashill: “I found him to be a petty liar and a character assassin for hire.”
Now, that’s really a bit stingy, isn’t it? Cashill has a PhD from Purdue, several books on literary fraud, several columns, and the audacity to take on the world’s most powerful man and alleged literary lion in a thoroughly researched tome.
If Cashill is actually a liar, wouldn’t you have to call him an epic or gargantuan liar?
Bonus question: Are you familiar with Frank Marshall Davis, and Obama’s freaky-deaky poem “Pop”?
Kenneth:
Jack Cashill is a gargantuan liar of epic proportions. Happy now?
My happiness is not contingent on your thoughts or behavior. Thanks for asking!
Cashill has admitted embarrassment and error in the photoshopped Obama case. Perhaps someday you can enlighten everyone about what he lies about.
Why would C-Span host a gargantuan liar of epic proportions?!
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/298382-1
Haven’t they been showing the Republican debates?
Because people like you would sit and watch it?
You asked the question; I answered. No thanks necessary.
Arthur, your helpful generosity is matched only by your modesty.
Dr. C claims:
“Obama Conspiracy Theories since 2008 has been your one-stop destination for conspiracy theories and fringe views about Barack Obama.”
Cashill’s theory that Bill Ayers wrote most of Obama’s first book, and Larry Sinclair’s claim that he gave Obama a masculewinsky are as fringe as it gets, and yet Dr. C won’t address them!
Is Dr. C a bigger liar than Cashill, or a smaller liar?
Thanks in advance!
Thanks Kenneth! But you must have misread the subtext of my posts, as I’m only modest around my betters.
Cashill made his “mistake” about the photoshopped Obama pic because he is quick to believe and repeat any lie about Obama, no matter how ridiculous. That shows he has a terminal case of Obama Derangement Syndrome, and his writings should be ignored.
Unless they are as funny as his photoshopped “mistake”- then he should be mocked.
His theory that Ayers wrote “Dreams” is pure ODS.
No, you seem to be the liar here. Doc C gave you a direct response, in which he explained that he has covered crazy Cashill in at least 8 different articles on this site.
So, you’ve already been given a valid answer and you have chosen to shamefully ignore and misrepresent it.
It really isn’t that hard to find the answer yourself. All you have to do is type Cashill into the Search pane on this site and a lot pops up. Here, I’ve done it for you, since you come across as too craven and lazy to do it for yourself:
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/?s=Cashill
Now obviously, I can’t hold your hand and make you read. But hey, you’ve earned being treated by contempt by being given an honest answer and then turning around and coming across as such a blatent lying @ss, with your latest post.
Bottom line: Nobody here cares about Cashill’s past achievements. His recent activities, writings and intentional photoshop fraud failures demonstrate that he’s gone off the rails and whatever credibility he had has now been flushed. So yeah, he’s debased himself into a discredited hack and we have every right to not care one lick what that old fool thinks.
Some ODS garbage is simply so beneath credibility and contempt that it doesn’t deserve any coverage at all. Simple as that. If you chose to bottom feed and swim in the sewer of skeemy smears, that is your problem, not ours. To lend credence to such utter cr@p only reflects upon you.
G wiz! The catalogue of my flaws grows with every simple question I put to you deep thinkers!
Seriously, though, Dr. C claims:
“Obama Conspiracy Theories since 2008 has been your one-stop destination for
conspiracy theories and fringe views about Barack Obama.”
Isn’t Dr. C’s unwillingness to address the evidence and arguments in Cashill’s “Deconstructing Obama” kind of like Captain Quint of “Jaws” not being interested in the great white shark?
NO. It is not.
You’ve been repeatedly given a full answer to this. You simply don’t like the answer you’ve been given. Tough. You are simply not entitled to a pony.
As to your flaws, if you wish to not put them on full display for us to note, than learn to communicate without invoking them.
G, far be it from me not to follow your sage advice! I checked the 8 “Cashill” articles.
25% are about the photoshop error that Cashill conceded to an error on. Most of the others aren’t about Cashill at all, and merely contain brief dismissive references to him.
Where’s the head-on, insightful analysis we’ve come to expect from Dr C?
Can we all agree that Dr C, in pursuing the truth, should not be deferential to Cashill’s vastly superior academic credentials and career achievements?
No.
Again, you obviously didn’t actually read what Doc C. wrote. Most of his article about Deconstructing Cashil, is about the abundant fallacies and crank tricks that Cashill fills his current writings with. The whole Cashill photoshopping debacle isn’t even part of that equation… although it was such an EPIC FAIL on its own, that Cashill discredited himself from that farce alone.
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2011/03/deconstructing-jack-cashill/
And that is just that one article. So I find your flippant dismissal of what has been covered on that crank to be quite hollow.
As I said, his past bonafides are irrelevant. He’s gone full-bore ODS crank, as has been documented, analyzed and discussed in that article and the others.
Credibility is easy to lose. It is extremely hard to regain it, once lost. Therefore, Cashill is no more worthy of being taken seriously than Jerome Corsi issuing “Where’s The Birth Certificate”.
You keep trying to Concern Troll this irrelevant and worthless issue. Get a clue – you’re just digging yourself a hole and gaining no sympathy from anyone. You can slavishly chose to worship Cahsill all you want – that is your choice. But you are not entitled to have anyone else care diddly squat that you do.
i have a PhD from a higher-ranked school than Cashill and post-doctoral experience at a very famous hospital. I have publiished numerous peer-reviewed articles (none of Cashill’s books are peer-reviewed) in well respected journals. iI also have about`a dozwen US patents and at least 25 foreign ones (I haven’t checked in a while). Now that we have establlished my credentials, I say Cashill is a sleaze-bag who doesn;t care about the truth.
So there!!
Bully for you, Dr. Science! What was your PhD in, and what were you hospitalized for?
Seriously, though, could you do this humble civilian a favor and explain to G that Dr. Con’s article “Deconstructing Jack Cashill” is about the still unexplained social security number and has nothing to do with the “Deconstructing Obama” book?
I’d rather apply science to the so-called “unexplained” social security number. Why do you have the number you have? Why do I have the one I have? You will say, but, but, Connecticut. Science demands to know the frequency at which people have numbers different from the state they lived in when they applied. In the small set of people who post here there have been at least a few claiming they or a family member has such a number. So, maybe it isn’t that unusual at all. It might be like flipping tails 5x in a row. The odds are 1/32, so if I find that, it does not mean the coin is loaded.
Mitt Rmoney and Rick Santorum’s SSNs are also unexplained. Would you care to explain their #s to me? Oh, what’s that, they haven’t released theirs? Nor their birth certificates. They are obviously hiding something…
I didn’t say it was about his book. I said it was about his writings. In specific, it is deconstructing an article he wrote.
The point here is that sample of his recent writings is chock full of fallacies, as Doc. C explained in that article.
When you have the failed photoshop fraud followed by an article chock full of ODS bunk, why would you even bother paying attention to anything that person writes from that point forward?
Those examples make it perfectly clear that Cashill is an irrational hack when it comes to expressing his views on Obama. So again, how stupid and gullible would one have to be to knowingly realize Cashill’s irrational bias on a subject and THEN have any interest in an entire book the crank publishes on that same individual?
As I said before, that is not very different from caring about Jerome Corsi’s “Where’s the Birth Certificate”… or even worse, his “follow-up”, “Where’s the REAL Birth Certificate”. It is nothing but trashy cr@p tabloid fodder for those desperate to get their catnip hate fix on and who don’t care about accuracy or truth; just smears.
Only someone else who was already suffering severe ODS anddesperate for their confirmation-bias fix would pay any attention to such crank dreck. Guess we know where that puts you…
My article exposes Cashill as a charlatan. He simply lacks the credibility to bother with him.
However, one article as you know, but conveniently fail to acknowledge, does take Cashill on directly and expose him as a fraud. So once is not enough?
Dr. Con claims Cashill is a charlatan who lacks the credibility to be bothered with.
But Dr. Con also claims to be fascinated by fringe views, and that:
“Obama Conspiracy Theories since 2008 has been your one-stop destination for conspiracy theories and fringe views about Barack Obama.”
Why are Cashill’s fringe views presented in “Deconstructing Obama” unworthy of the scrutiny of our diligent and scientific Dr. Con?
Does Dr. Con only address fringe views that are credible?
If Cashill is a truly a charlatan, with a PhD from Purdue, and a track record of examining literary fraud, Dr Con should be able to cooly and calmly explain to everyone how and why a Doctor of Philosophy in American Studies can go so terribly wrong.
Right?
What part of we consider Cashill to be beneath our contempt and not worthy of paying any attention to. do you not understand?
You want to write about him – do it at your own blog. What are you, his publicist?
We think he’s nothing but a washed out hack crank here. Neither interesting enough nor worthy enough of devoting further attention.
Desperate, much? *sheesh*
You must be the touchiest bunch of scientists the world has ever seen.
Seriously G, which fringe viewer is not beneath contempt at this site?
I would guess, lies. I believe Dr. C said as much.
You quote: “Obama Conspiracy Theories since 2008 has been your one-stop destination for conspiracy theories and fringe views about Barack Obama.”
He doesn’t say every lie.
Nor, for that matter, do one-stop shops carry everything under the sun, despite variety and sampling.
i’m playing a spoof of a birther… sorry i missed you guys the other night… lol…
The ones that are merely entertaining in their kookiness.
I do care if he is from Kenya! That would make his Presidency and everything he has done so far iallgel and mute. That would all be reversed and allow us to restore the republic. If he is natural born then great, Impeach him, try him for war crimes and throw the bumb in jail. His name isn’t Obama anyway I’ve changed it to Obomb’em! It suits him very well. He should also be tried for treason! But it’s not just him that would have to be tried you would have to go back several decades and get all of them that are still alive, they also helped in this mess. Kick the mega banks outta here and let them play monopoly somewhere else. Oh and don’t forget to round up all the CEO’s before they leave.
*yawn* I suspect just another dumb kid pretending to Parody Troll a crazy birther to get his kicks. Comes across as too desperate of an attempt to come across crazy.