Posted by Erica
An individual using the tag smrstrauss has been an extraordinarily busy fellow and an annoying enigma on the internet since late 2008, but now his identity is known. Mr. smrstrauss has contributed countless hours, days, weeks, months, and thousands of comments to defend Barack Obama against everyone who questions the President’s eligibility. Smrstrauss sometimes writes long essay comments, and he often cites case law, so if you didn’t know better, you would be excused for thinking he’s an attorney. I can assure you he is not!
I also need to take this opportunity to backtrack on a supposition I previously made about the identity of this man. Based on the comments of another blogger who claimed to have researched the name smrstrauss, he concluded the person was D.C. Shadow Senator, Paul Strauss, who also happens to be a Democrat Superdelegate. After the in-depth research I have just done on smrstrauss, I now know he is not that person, and retract my comments suggesting otherwise.
Such intense activity by smrstrauss would make sense if Obama is paying him to confuse people about his eligibility to serve as President, but I have no way to confirm this without filing a Freedom of Information request of the administration.
If smrstrauss is not being paid by someone, then his efforts must be a labor of love, and for that President Obama may eventually consider bestowing the Presidential Citizens Medal upon this gentleman for his obsessive/compulsive determination to defend The One, irrespective of the truth.
Here are some of the qualifications for nomination:
U.S. citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service outside of their regular jobs, including individuals:Obama's long-term problem regarding his eligibility will plague the rest of his presidency if he continues to be evasive, so I assume smrstrauss will be very busy for a long time yet. With public angst growing because of Obama’s policies and political maneuvers, and as citizen anger mounts, people will begin to ask if there is any way we can legally remove Obama from office before 2012. The answer is, yes we can.
Who have a demonstrated commitment to service in their own community or in communities farther from home. Someone who has engaged in activities that have had an impact in their local community, on a community or communities elsewhere in the United States or on fellow citizens living or stationed around the world.
Who have helped their country or their fellow citizens through one or more extraordinary acts. Individuals who have demonstrated notable skill and grace, selflessly placed themselves in harm’s way, taken unusual risks or steps to protect others, made extraordinary efforts to further a national goal, or otherwise conducted themselves admirably when faced with unusually challenging circumstances.
Even though the Obama administration, the media, left-wing blogs, and a fair number of befuddled conservatives would have you believe the eligibility question only refers to Obama’s place of birth, this couldn’t be further from the truth. By accepting that false premise, and considering no alternative, many people have been duped. As a result, they have fallen in line with the Alinskyites, and adopted their methodology of ridiculing dissenters to silence their opponent's speech.
There are basically two groups of individuals who question Obama’s eligibility:
- Birthers: Those who say Obama wasn’t born in the States, and
- Constitutionalists: Those who believe that the Founding Fathers used razor-precise words in the eligibility clause in order to prevent anyone with dual citizenship from enjoying the privilege (not the right) of serving as President. It is believed the Founders did this for national security reasons to avoid potential dual allegiances. Constitutionalists believe the definition of the term “natural born Citizen” legally supercedes a person’s place of birth. Obama has dual citizenship with the U.K. through his father, who was on a temporary visa in the U.S.
Because constitutional analyses requires a knowledge base of legal precedents, an historical understanding of primary source documents used by our Founders over 200 years ago to design the Constitution, and some intense mental gymnastics to put the puzzle pieces together, it’s not surprising many people take the lazy route and say, “Stop! This legalese makes my brain hurt. I don’t want to hear what you have to say!” Then they have a knee-jerk reaction and miscategorize you as a birther, even if you believe Obama was born in the U.S.
Ridiculing someone is a lot easier than trying to understand arguments that need to be heard in a courtroom. That’s the only venue where the eligibility question can be adjudicated, and that is all we constitutionalists request. What will be, will be, once that decision has been made. Such a legal judgment cannot be made by Congress, because non-binding resolutions don’t settle law, as the Senate tried to do when they declared John McCain was a natural born Citizen. No blogs, including Jefferson’s Rebels, can definitively prove the question, nor can comments made by all and sundry in the comment sections of mainstream and alternative media articles. All we can do is argue amongst ourselves, and that helps Obama.
This brings me back to the mystery man, smrstrauss, whom I’m about to uncloak. He will be pleased to know that I do not intend to reveal his real name and address, but I do want to provide readers with some details that may be useful for future reference, as well as some serious questions for readers to ponder and investigate if you have the means.
Since at least October, 2008, smrstrauss has regularly commented about the eligibility question on virtually every conservative blog which raises the issue. He has also commented on mainstream media sites that discuss the controversy. In fact, smrstrauss has left so many comments on the internet that a keyword search for his tag returns a huge, and continuously growing, number of hits. For example, on January 29, 2010, the search returned 17,500 hits! Just ten days later on February 8, 2010, the search returned 18,900 hits. And today, February 11, 2010, the search returned 19,100 hits. Now to be fair to smrstrauss, some of those hits will be responses to his comments and thus cite his name. Not long after this article is published, I’m confident the number of hits will be even larger. Try a keyword search yourself to test the results.
Can one person be responsible for that much activity? Maybe, if that’s all he does with his time. Then again, maybe not. It’s equally possible that smrstrauss is coordinating with a small army of obots, all using his tag and perhaps sharing a password, since many sites require registration. If so, could this be a rogue operation of Obama devotees, or it could also be a paid disinformation campaign? Are tax dollars being used for this? Does anyone remember Cas Sunstein’s arguments for cognitively infiltrating “conspiracy” blogs? Perhaps smrstrauss is simply the managing director of a government-funded obot machine.
I met smrstrauss when he attempted to post comments on Jefferson’s Rebels that I viewed as disinformation. Recently, he has used three different ip addresses:
173.76.208.195 - located in Arlington, MA
96.237.177.91 - located in Arlington, MA
173.76.235.195 - located in Groton, MA (a sports facility about 35 miles from Arlington)
Based on his political donation records, it’s possible that smrstrauss presently may be unemployed. Furthermore, most of his comments have been written in the middle of a work day, although there are a number of comments recorded in the evening. If he is being paid, we might need to take a closer look at an employer he listed on his contribution forms. In previous years, Smrstrauss worked for IDC, Inc. This very large corporation is headquartered in Framingham, MA, about 19 miles from the home of smrstrauss. Business Week describes IDC as follows:
IDC is a market intelligence and consulting firm. It specializes in providing market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. The firm provides global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries across the globe. Through its subsidiaries, it focuses its research and consulting services on energy and utility industries and research and consulting services to users and providers of financial industry technology; retail industry executives and vendors serving retailers, government executives and the vendors who serve them; health and life sciences industry executives, and the suppliers who serve them; and business and IT decision-makers. The firm offers IDC trackers, research reports, multi-client studies, subscriptions services, events, consulting, go-to-marketing, pricing and leasing valuation services, investment research services, IT advisory tools, executive advisory group, and speaker’s bureau. It provides its services to IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community. The firm serves business intelligence and analytics, digital, open source, security, small and medium business, telecommunications, virtualization, VOIP, and wireless and mobile market areas. IDC was founded in 1964 and is based in Framingham, Massachusetts with additional offices in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. It operates as a subsidiary of International Data Group, Inc.Coincidentally(?), the Obama administration works with, or is sympatico with, IDC in numerous political areas. For example:
Obama makes quick move to update WhiteHouse.gov
Obama Team Used IDC Data for Economic Stimulus Plan
Six Principles for Running an Awesome Social Media Marketing Campaign, Just Like Obama
2010 State of the Union Address: IDC Government Insights Sees Government Information Technology Opportunity
Go to IDC’s home page and enter “Obama” as a keyword to view many more results.
As indicated above, Smrstrauss has donated heavily to political campaigns. I will not link to those because it would reveal his name. However, between 2004 and 2008, he contributed $13,500, with donations split between the DNC, America Coming Together, John Kerry, and a few other individual candidates, and perhaps most importantly, $2300 to Obama for America.
Coincidentally(?), again, smstrauss’s donation to the Obama campaign occurred in October 2008. That is the very same month that smrstrauss seems to have begun his marathon of opposition comments on the internet. So of course I have to ask if there is a connection. What agreement, if any, did smrstrauss get in return for his $2,300 investment in Obama? Was he promised payment, perks, or privileges? Or maybe smrstrauss is wrangling for that Presidential Citizens Medal. If he gets nominated, I’ll be sure to point him out to the blogosphere.
You the reader, smrstrauss, and thousands of others can argue with each other until we’re blue in the face. We each think we're right, but ultimately the only venue that has the power to define the meaning of the term “natural born Citizen” is the court. Ultimately, it may have to be the Supreme Court, but it could also happen in a D.C. District Court. Therefore, all that constitutionalists ask is for the court to hear both sides of the argument.
There is, in my personal biased opinion, only one pending lawsuit which might achieve this goal, and that is Kerchner et al vs Obama et al. If you are a constitutionalist and want to help the litigant with services or donations, visit ProtectOurLiberty.org. For legal analysis, visit attorney Mario Apuzzo's blog where you will find a wealth of legal commentary. Apuzzo is working pro bono. Even smrstrauss has left his mark on Apuzzo's blog.
Bottom line. A court needs to hear the merits of a case before a judge can make a ruling. However, so far virtually every case has been halted at the door of the courthouse with the claim that the plaintiff lacks standing, which simply means the plaintiff lacks the authority or right to file the lawsuit. Many plaintiffs believe the courts are using circuitous technicalities to avoid hearing their cases because some judges fear the administration. If that is true, the American justice system has truly lost its way.
So long as judges slam the door to the court before a case can be heard, this question will remain a festering wound in the public's mind. The American justice system will return to its constitutional principles if and when a courageous judge finally agrees to hear the merits of a case.
[P.S. For those of you who are frustrated that I did not reveal the true name and address of smrstraus so that you could make trouble for him, let me say that I am willing to share specific details with the RIGHT person for the RIGHT reason should that become necessary, but I must emphasize that my primary goal is simply to awaken public consciousness about obot activities. The public needs to understand how they are being manipulated, and by whom. Genuine researchers who need to know more about the activities of smrstrauss are invited to email me using the Kontactr form in the sidebar. However, do not assume that I will haphazardly reveal the results of many hours of investigation to anyone who contacts me.]
Jefferson's Rebels
