Today's Washington Post has a profile on Taitz, and it is clear the reporter thinks she is more than a little off:

Taitz has drafted voluminous court pleadings, filing at least five Obama-related cases; a hearing on a California case took place yesterday. In addition to making appearances on radio and television, she blogs and travels the country speaking. She has drummed up supporters at a gun show; joined "tea party" demonstrations against taxation; shouted at, and been shouted at by, MSNBC hosts.

All of which is not to say that her effort is going well. In September, U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land dismissed a Georgia case that Taitz brought on behalf of a military doctor, Connie Rhodes, which held that Rhodes should be spared deployment to Iraq because Obama is not constitutionally qualified to be commander in chief. More than just rejecting it, he excoriated it.

"Unlike in Alice in Wonderland, simply saying something is so does not make it so," Land wrote scathingly in his order dismissing the action. Singling out Taitz for criticism, he accused her of using the legal system to further a political agenda.

Taitz, breathtakingly, reacted by accusing the judge of treason and comparing herself to Nelson Mandela. She fired off a response that suggested the judge was bowing to "political pressure" and "external control." Land promptly issued another order requiring Taitz to tell him why he should not fine her $10,000 as a sanction for her misconduct. Today, a copy of that order lies on the floor of her car.

But as ridiculous as Taitz and others are in their quest to discredit the President, what other motives are at play here?

Scientific American writes that strongly held biases may be the reason for this type of fact-avoidance. Opening the article with an example of when Lena Horne refused to perform at a GI event when German prisoners of war were seated in front of African American servicemen, Steve Mirsky explores how implicit social cognition research summarizes this problem:

At a talk [Harvard University psychologist Mahzarin Banaji] gave in October 2008 to a group of science journalists, Banaji discussed research she did with Thierry Devos, now at San Diego State University, that examined bias against Asians. They found that volunteers linked white Americans more strongly than Asian-Americans with, well, America. Banaji and Devos then decided to do what even they thought was a "bizarre" study: they had people gauge the "American-ness" of famous Asian-Americans, such as Connie Chung and tennis player Michael Chang, versus European whites, such as Hugh Grant.

The study found that white Europeans are more "American" than are nonwhite Americans in most minds. [...]

That result helps to explain how MSNBC's Web site in 1998 could have run the remarkable headline "American Beats Out Kwan" with a story on how Tara Lipinski defeated fellow American Michelle Kwan in a figure skating competition. A Seattle Times article quoted the then director of the Japanese American Citizens League, reaching for a silver lining: "Maybe there's a little progress in that they don't see Lipinski as a foreign name anymore."

Little surprise, then, that in a study done during the 2008 election campaign, Devos found that John Mc­Cain (who, ironically, was born in Panama, albeit at a U.S. naval base) was seen as more "American" than Obama. But even British ex–prime minister Tony Blair was seen as more "American" than Obama, a finding that nearly made me spit out me bangers ‘n' mash.

As Mirsky points out, bias does play a heavy role in what we accept as "fact." So, it is as Liza Mundy - who has also written a biography of Michelle Obama - writes in the Post:

There are those who say that even if Obama were to provide every last record down to dry-cleaning receipts, no proof could satisfy birther proponents. In Taitz's case, there's what she calls "a two-prong test." Bucking the common view that "natural born citizen" — the constitutional requirement for a U.S. president — means, generally speaking, born on American soil, she argues that to be president a person must not only be born here but must also be the child of parents who were both U.S. citizens at the time of his birth. She allows that her decidedly non-mainstream interpretation would knock out her two older sons, born when she had only a green card, before she became a U.S. citizen.

Who needs facts and figures if we can just reinvent reality?

Burden of Proof on Obama's Origins [Washington Post]
Birth of a Notion: Implicit Social Cognition and the "Birther" Movement [Scientific American]

Earlier: Orly Taitz Just Wants To Save Your Tax Dollars
Esquire Takes On Obama 'Birther' Insanity
MSNBC Brings Birther Circus Into Full Public View

Fairstein argues that media attention, and a rap sheet, is a fair punishment for Brown and "justice" for Rihanna.

Some will cry that his plea deal-five years of probation and 180 days of community service-is "celebrity justice," but I disagree. I think it's an instance in which the media attention to the plight of both celebrities, the assailant and his victim, helped keep the heat on both of them. In Rihanna's case, for the better: She has survived the attack and freed herself of an abusive partner who, as Oprah said, would indeed hit her again. In Brown's case, the media attention made him acknowledge his guilt and be punished for the crime.

So, Rihanna got out of the relationship, and Chris Brown said he did it, and that's the justice our system provides? Probation?

Fairstein even acknowledges that the prosecutors had a really good case — including a victim who was in court and willing to testify.

The prosecutor had the evidence he needed to go forward. Calls to 911 made by the terrified victim and photographs documenting the nature of her injuries: a bloodied face and choke marks that might have served to convict Brown had Rihanna chosen to stand by her man and not cooperate with the district attorney's office.

But she was there, which put the prosecutor in an even better position vis-à-vis even Chris Brown's defense lawyer.

It's at this point that Fairstein's biases start to shine through. She writes:

Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg will sentence Brown to five years of probation and 180 days of community service, in the form of labor. While some will complain that he got off with "only" probation, the disposition in this case is harsher than my 30 years of prosecuting batterers had me betting it would be.

Do you know how Fairstein knows what Schnegg will sentence Brown to? Because that was part of the plea agreement arranged with prosecutors. In Fairstein's 30 years of prosecuting batterers, if the ones she accepted pleas from got off lighter than Brown, it's because Fairstein allowed them to. Prosecutors have a lot of discretion in how to accept pleas, and what pleas to accept and judges generally go along with the sentencing agreements worked out amongst the lawyers.

To that end, Fairstein explains why so many abusers got off light on her watch — and why certain offenders won't ever catch a break.

In the average first arrest of a 20-year-old man with no criminal history and visible means of support-forget R&B star status-most cases are reduced to misdemeanors with a probation period of less than one year. Few communities have the resources to offer meaningful programs that try to re-educate offenders.

In other words, you'll get off easier for beating your partner if:

• You're young;
• You've never been caught and convicted for a crime before (two things which have a lot to do with class, race and financial means in our "justice" system);
• You have money;
• And, implicitly, you can convince prosecutors that you will get into therapy to keep from doing it again (which, Fairstein acknowledges, isn't an option for people without means).

Fairstein (again, a former New York prosecutor) takes Judge Schnegg (an L.A. judge) at her word that Brown is getting treated like any other abuser.

The judge specified that she expects Brown to "be treated the same as any other defendant who would come into this court," so that he will be picking up garbage or removing graffiti-that is, physical labor, which most perps on probation never have to do. He's got to pay a fine and take a year's worth of classes for batterers-and yes, he's young enough to learn something from that.

But, actually, multiple sources confirm that felony domestic violence sentences in L.A. quite often involve a minimum of three months in jail in addition to the fines, counseling and community service that offenders are expected to perform. In fact, given the strength of the prosecutor's case, one would think that at least a couple nights in the clink would not and should not have been off the table.

And if you still aren't convinced that Fairstein has a few biases, check this sentence out:

[Rihanna] ended her relationship with Brown, despite the efforts of some of his older thug role models to shepherd them back together [emphasis added]

Fairstein's talking about Sean "Diddy" Combs, who is only a "thug role model" if you're a wealthy white woman who thinks all African-American men who produce and perform hip-hop music are "thugs."

Rita Smith, the Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and NOW's President, Kim Gandy, strongly disagree with Fairstein that Brown's sentence represents justice for Rihanna. Gandy tells Radar:

"I was very surprised that he will get no jail time. Paris Hilton got jail time for heaven's sake. This man beat Rihanna to a bloody pulp and he's not going to spend a day in jail," said Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization of Women.

Smith adds:

"It's not that Chris Brown didn't get more serious consequences. Most batterers on't get more serious consequences."

Justice for Rihanna [Daily Beast]
Women's Groups Outraged Over Chris Brown Sentence [Radar]

Related: California Domestic Violence Charge [Stephen G. Rodriguez & Associates]
California Domestic Violence Laws [California Criminal Defense Lawyers]
Diddy Opened His Home To Chris Brown And Rihanna 'As A Friend' [MTV]

Earlier: Ted Bunch Tries To Stamp Out Sexism, One Abuser At A Time