January 9, 2009

Another Pintek Update

Last December 16 (widely regarded as Beethoven's birthday, by the way), I wrote:
I wonder if Mike Pintek is still "not convinced" that President-Elect Obama is a US Citizen. I wonder if KDKA asked him.
Because when he was on the Quinn and Rose show in August the mighty Mike Pintek is quoted as saying:
That brings us to -- back to Obama. Obama, he takes off, he's in Hawaii now. He claims that's his home. We wonder. I still keep wondering about his birthplace and his birth certificate. I'm still not convinced that he actually was born a natural-born citizen. I'm still not convinced about that. But we may never be able to prove that either without a real, honest-to-God birth certificate.
Got some e-mail from astute reader Rita:
Pintek had Obama Birth Certificate is fake Philip Berg Nutcase on in 7PM hour

That didn’t take long – he already has this nutcase on peddling his lies about Obama’s birth certificate and his hope that the Supreme Court will side with him.
I didn't hear the show so I have no way of knowing whether Mike's now "convinced" but I do know that Philip Berg was successfully sued for legal malpractice:
U.S. District Judge J. Curtis Joyner's 10-page opinion in Holsworth v. Berg is packed with criticism of the conduct of attorney Philip Berg of Lafayette Hill, Pa.

"Other attorneys should look to Mr. Berg's actions as a blueprint for what not to do when attempting to effectively and honorably perform the duties of the legal profession," Joyner wrote.
And:
Joyner blasted Berg for filing the fraud claim, calling it an "irresponsible decision" because the claim was "utterly barren of any scintilla of legal principles."
I wonder if Mike asked him about that. Or about this:
Philip J. Berg, Esquire, former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania and political activist, an attorney with offices in Montgomery County, PA and an active practice in Philadelphia, PA today, on the 1st anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bush vs. Gore which "anointed" Bush as President writes to three (3) U.S. Supreme Court Justices, Justices O'Connor, Scalia and Thomas requesting that they agree to "Voluntary Disbarment" for failing to "recuse" themselves in said case and other violations.
Or about Berg's 9/11 conspiracy theories.

I'm guessing not.

The comments are now open. Keep it on-topic (if you go off topic, I reserve the right to delete you) and keep it rational (same here - if you go teh crazie, you'll be deleted.)

UPDATE E-mail from the Lovely Rita:
To be fair Mike was playing a bit of the skeptic, but not by much. Mike said he had thought the matter had been put to rest until a caller earlier in the week brought it up and said it was going to be in front of the Supreme Court. Mike then contacted Berg. Mike mentioned he had Berg on several times when he was doing radio for a Baltimore station.

Berg claimed the justices were going to consider his case today, and then again next week (I believe next Friday though Monday was also mentioned). Berg also was saying if this fails they are going to try to challenge Obama’s executive decisions in court. Berg also claimed he has suit with

Retired U.S. Airforce Colonel Hollister against Barry Soetoro a/k/a Barack Hussein Obama demanding to know Obama’s real name and if he is constitutionally qualified to be President. Plaintiff, Gregory S. Hollister, is a resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado and Hollister has “standing” and needs a decision so he knows whether or not to follow any Order of Soetoro a/k/a Obama. http://nationalwriterssyndicate.com/content/view/840/2/

Berg was all over the place still claiming the birth certificate is fake. That Republican governor Linda Lingle, for reasons he didn’t entirely explain why a Repub would do it, has locked access to the record. Also trotting out that Obama was really born in Kenya and his Kenyan grandmother has stated she saw him born. That he lost his citizenship when his Indonesian step-father adopted him. That the immigration papers have not been produced when Obama came back to the states with his mother.

Mike had him on from 7PM to 8:30PM. Berg claimed he had been or was going to be on 9 shows yesterday. Mike got a lot of callers thanking him for putting this fruit cake on. Nary a caller disputing Berg. I didn’t call in but got the fun of being derided for instant accessing Mike with the message that this was a new low for KDKA, that Berg is a fruit cake and asking how many times does Hawaii officials have to claim the birth certificate is real! Berg had some wacky explanations on how Hawaii hadn’t really verified the certificate was real.

Berg also offered a million dollars on Mike’s show to anyone who could prove conclusively that Obama is a natural-born U.S. Citizen. When Mike questioned him if he had a million he admitted he didn’t but was sure his supporters could raise it. He claims his supporters have sent 50,000 to 60,000 letters to each Supreme Court Justice wanting them to pursue this case.

Berg was certainly peddling the idea that his case was going to be seriously heard and that the country was heading in to a constitutional crisis.

Thanks for posting the info that Mike has this whack job on. Sad that KDKA is continuing to mislead the gullible that Obama is not the legitimate president. I’m not a big Marty Griffin fan, but he at least has won some respect from me for telling callers and emailers that this Obama is not a citizen is crap. And Marty has also won my respect in some local issues lately especially taking the PA Unemployment people to task for citizens not being able to contact them via phone.

12 comments:

  1. Pintek, like Honsberger, USED to be semi-sane semi-conservatives that were actually listenable back in the day. Both went completely round the bend following the 2000 election.

    First!

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  2. i agree. i used to listen to both of them. not now, no way.

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  3. How is this checkmate? Are you making the assumption that Berg has some absolute and unshakeable proof that Obama is not a citizen? I suspect even the Supreme Court will not act on mere innuendo. I suspect using a recording of someone as irrefutable evidence would violate Obama's sixth amendment rights, unless you have decided Obama is not a citizen and you can strip Obama of any constitutional protections and move right to torturing him. As any good conservative would want to do.

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  4. Ted,

    Berg still doesn't have standing.

    Congress, which does, under the Constitution, certified the elction.

    By refusing to void the election results, Congress did not abdicate their authority. They exercised it.

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  5. Yay comments!

    Rational and on-topic? Where's the fun it that? :P

    Anyway...some people just need to believe goofy, disproven conspiracies, I guess. Apparently, Pintek is one of these people. And Ted.

    Conservatives really aren't doing much to regain their credibility, are they?

    Still ranting about these bizarre Obama conspiracies, all of them jumping ahead of each other to justify singing that stupid song...they really aren't doing much to make themselves look better.

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  6. Many legal issues are judgment calls, worthy of debate.

    Even with respect to legal issues that are not judgment calls -- settled issues -- there are lawyers and followers whose lack of judgment can create the illusion of a genuine difference of reasonable opinion.

    My judgment is that Berg is an exceptionally unreliable source of legal information and that he and his antics aren't worth 10 seconds of concern among serious adults.

    Anyone who disagrees, and is willing to wager on Berg's side, is invited to lose money to me. Anyone who disagrees, and is not willing to wager, isn't worth wasting time on.

    (My opinion would change were a judge to order President-elect Obama to produce evidence, but until that occurs Mr. Berg is a crackpot with a legal degree and his followers are especially gullible crackpots.)

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  7. Pintek appears to be losing his marbles, by the way. Showcasing Berg displays poor judgment, and treating him as a serious interviewee squanders credibility at an unsustainable rate.

    Talk show host overboard!!!

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  8. I'm guessing that Pintek is looking to make a "big splash" as he returns. I'm sure there is serious pressure to "get some numbers," as the radio business is in really dismal shape right now.

    So....it's likely that he and Hons and the rest of these guys will ratchet up the loony, fringe stuff. Conspiracy theories enthrall people and they generate ratings, unlike rational discussions....

    In addition, they now have a "new Clinton." Everything that goes wrong, from the weather to the traffic on the Parkway West, will be blamed on Obama!

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  9. wow, Dayvoe caved again. Comments are back.

    KDKA said the top story of 2008 was the Economy. Why weren't there any posts here about it?

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  10. Um, Bob, I believe it's because it's the 2PJ's blog and not yours. Don't like it, don't read it.

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