Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Remember when birther queen Orly Taitz was fined $20,000 for Rule 11 sanctions by a judge who had finally tired of her shenanigans in court? An appeals court has just upheld that ruling and ordered Taitz to pay the fine. The ruling was short and sweet:
We have fully considered Taitz's arguments. We find them unpersuasive and therefore affirm the district court's sanctions judgment.
I'm sure Taitz has already woven this latest thread into the tapestry of conspiracy with which she clothes herself.
Politics
Comments
Short and sweet is the judicial equivalent of “STFU!”
Posted by: Chilidog | March 16, 2010 12:35 PM
She will no doubt be appealing this to SCOTUS. I expect no less. Crazy to end.
Posted by: MikeMa | March 16, 2010 12:37 PM
What a lovely turn of phrase, Ed! I can picture a garment covered in little yammering lunatics constantly moving about with fists shaking.
Posted by: momkat | March 16, 2010 12:55 PM
And lucky for her since she's going to lose the rest of her clothes in this settlement.
Posted by: KathyO | March 16, 2010 1:04 PM
A reminder -- I just went to Orly's blog and my antivirus software popped up a warning about a malicious script. Her blogging ability obviously matches her legal skills.
Posted by: tacitus | March 16, 2010 1:07 PM
And once in front of the Supreme Court, she will have her chance to FORCE the false President to present evidence that he's not a shapeshifting lizard person impersonating a natural-born US citizen!! (or some such nonsense) lol
Posted by: doctorgoo | March 16, 2010 1:16 PM
Just perfect. I will have to remember that one.
Posted by: Dr X | March 16, 2010 1:29 PM
tacitus @ 5:
I second that. Orly's site is constantly infected with malware that she is incapable of keeping off. I suspect she visits a lot of Russian language sites and gets infected curtesy of the Russian mob.
Do NOT go to her site.
Posted by: Chilidog | March 16, 2010 1:45 PM
Firefox + NoScript, people. There's no reason to let random sites run their javashi^H^Hcripts.
Better yet, kick the Micro$oft habit.
</nerdvangelist>
Posted by: Ivan | March 16, 2010 2:12 PM
Hey, be careful what you say about Orly.
When Palin becomes POTUS Orly will be her AG.
Posted by: Rob Jase | March 16, 2010 2:22 PM
Much entertainment prior to that point. SCOTUS rules (see Groklaw) require that petitions for writs of certiorari be filed by lawyers admitted to practice before the Court. I could be wrong, but I rather doubt that Orly is so admitted. Expect much logorrhea on that, for starts.
Then, assuming she can find some lawyer qualified to file the petition (and risking the hazards associated with doing so) there's the chest-thumping about the filing itself.
Followed by the two-word reply: "Certiorari denied." The Court doesn't often waste words on telling people to STFU.
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | March 16, 2010 2:27 PM
At least until a Supreme Court seat comes vacant.
--
Hmmm. Orly/vacant. Those two words seem to belong together.
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | March 16, 2010 2:29 PM
Call me an anti-dentite if you must, but I wonder if it's a coincidence that both Orly and Don McElroy are dentists... Is there some vast dental conspiracy to make us all really stupid?
Posted by: James Sweet | March 16, 2010 2:34 PM
DC @ 11, "Then, assuming she can find some lawyer qualified to file the petition "
Unfortunately, Orly was admitted to the SCOTUS Bar last February. Some ambulance chaser vouched for her (probably her fellow Daft school chum Levy) and they let her in.
Of course if the Cal Bar would hurry up and suspend or even yank her license, then she would be SOL.
Posted by: chilidog | March 16, 2010 2:40 PM
James Sweet @ 13:
They also seem to have a predilection for creationism and global warming denialism. I think the easier it is to get your "Dr." title the higher the probability woo will be promoted in areas totally unrelated to the reason the "Dr." was assigned. Which leads me to chiropractors . . .
Posted by: Michael Heath | March 16, 2010 2:41 PM
I'm sure Taitz will uncover that one of the Circuit Judges has a cousin who went to the same college as someone whose sister has a friend who works for the Obama Administration. The puppet strings are obvious!
Posted by: Screechy Monkey | March 16, 2010 2:42 PM
Monkey, she won't even go that far. In her latest filing in the Quo Warento case that is still pending, she accuses the justice department of being part of a RICO conspiracy. No, I'm not making that up.
Posted by: Chilidog | March 16, 2010 2:51 PM
Possibly, but engineers have also been observed to have a penchant for Creationism, and most of us don't get to call ourselves Dr. (Question: If I have a Master's Degree, how come nobody calls me Master? grumble grumble)
In regards to engineers -- and much of this logic would apply to dentists -- by theory is: An engineering degree exposes you to science, but doesn't go deep into it, nor do you get experience with the actual scientific research process. For many, it seems, the science education one gets with an engineering degree is just enough rope to hang yourself with. Furthermore, in the day-to-day course of our jobs, we perform analyses in a manner that is almost like the scientific method, except that the burden of proof is lower, and conclusions that are based solely on intuition or personal preference are not necessarily even that bad. (If there's two different architectures for a given system, and the costs and benefits are fairly equal, a project manager strongly preferring one architecture over the other for purely arbitrary reasons is actually a good thing... just get the job done and stop arguing about it!)
As a result, we think we know more about science than we do, and worse yet, talented engineers will constantly find that their intuitive conclusions on technical matters are often correct and/or useful. All that is a recipe for thinking we know better than the "experts" on scientific topics.
Furthermore, most engineers spend most of their time working to create a system rather than to understand it. In other words, if you can find a plausible way to accomplish X, and then build it, that becomes reality. Not so with science -- if you find a superficially plausible way to explain X, that doesn't mean that's reality. As an engineer, I often find that if I have some intuitive flash of how the world could work, it is difficult to let go of that when I later discover that it turns out the world doesn't actually work that way, due to some irrelevant idiosyncrasy. I imagine that if a Creationist engineer, for example, comes up with what he/she feels is a plausible description of the origin of life, it would seem a mere inconvenience if evidence were presented in favor of some other plausible description. "Okay, maybe your way works too; but so does my way!"
I think some of the same things apply to dentists... an education that involves science, but doesn't go very deep, and doesn't expose students to the research process... a habit of applying intuition to technical matters... etc.
Posted by: James Sweet | March 16, 2010 2:58 PM
James Sweet @ 13:
It's the fluoride, of course.
Posted by: Kenneth Fair | March 16, 2010 3:43 PM
Count me as an anti-dentite. Do we have regular meetings?
Posted by: DGKnipfer | March 16, 2010 4:01 PM
Orly Taitz is insane, which would be funny if it wasn't sad. Am I the only one who finds her somewhat hot?
Posted by: Gargamel | March 16, 2010 4:06 PM
Gargamel, I find her revolting but I may be in the minority. Insanity scares me way more than any combination of looks can overcome.
Charles Lincoln said he loved her. Her husband had sex with her at least a few times as there are kids. The birthers seem delighted whenever she shows up somewhere but that could be a popcorn thing.
Maybe a poll thingy is in order here:
I am a birther and think she's hot.
I am a birther and think she's not.
I am not a birther and think she's hot.
I am not a birther and think she's not.
Posted by: MikeMa | March 16, 2010 4:29 PM
Orly's a bunny boiler.
You might enjoy a wild night, but you'd be forever looking over your shoulder afterwards.
Posted by: Chilidog | March 16, 2010 4:34 PM
Posted by: Gargamel | March 16, 2010 5:02 PM
Posted by: James Hanley | March 16, 2010 5:42 PM
I agree with those who feel Orly will appeal this decision until the End of Days.
Or failing that, until a judge gets sick of her lunatic rants, and tosses her bony ass in jail for contempt of court until she pays up.
Posted by: CHV | March 16, 2010 5:50 PM
I personally can't even notice someone's body once I determine her frontal lobes are sillicone.
Posted by: Azkyroth | March 16, 2010 8:49 PM
Poor little Orly Taitz. In my opinion this is what the small portions of the republican party of "birthers, baggers and blowhards" have brought you. They are good at "Follow the Leader" of their dullard leaders, they listen to Beck, Hedgecock, Hannity, O'Reilly, Rush and Savage and the rest of the Blowhards. Are you surprise at what they do when you know what they think? The world is complicated and most republicans (Hamiliton, Lincoln, Roosevelt) believe that we should use government a little to increase social mobility, now its about dancing around the claim of government is the problem. Although most republicans are trying to distant themselves from this fringe they have a long way to go.
Posted by: Montana | March 16, 2010 9:34 PM
A reminder -- I just went to Orly's blog and my antivirus software popped up a warning about a malicious script. Her blogging ability obviously matches her legal skills.
\I had the same problem. There was no warning, but something popped up, and I had to exit firefox to get it out.
\Oily is running for Sec of State, CA, while appealing to the UN for help against her persecution.
Entertaining she is.
Neferkheperre
Posted by: Neferkheperre | March 16, 2010 10:20 PM
All Orly Taitz had to do was convince the judge not to apply the original $10,000 sanction. That is it. In her adventure in Wonderland she has received no favorable court decisions. Why does she continue to bother?
Posted by: AnotherBird | March 16, 2010 10:41 PM
Orly and her coat of many criers?
Posted by: wheatdogg | March 17, 2010 5:45 AM
Just a quick note. Reportedly Orly is planning on requesting that her appeals case be heard by the entire 11th circuit court en banc. never mind that the three judge panel was unanimous in dissing, I mean dismissing her case.
Posted by: chilidog | March 18, 2010 10:43 AM