When we began following Orly Taitz’s Birther litigation back in September, we never thought we’d end up with her cell phone [on speed dial](http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/birther_orly_taitz_responds_to_judges_20k_fine_sho.php).
Well, it turned out to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. But the last year (OK, fine, half year) has been full of bumps and setbacks for the attorney/dentist who is the country’s most prominent purveyor of the conspiracy theory that President Obama is not a natural born U.S. citizen.
Here, in chronological order, are some of the low points of Taitz’s year:
* August 3: MSNBC’s David Shuster calls out Taitz on live TV after she lashes out at “Obama’s brownshirts” in the media. Said Shuster: “You’re making a reference to Nazi Germany, and to a lot of us who lost relatives in the Holocaust, this is deeply, deeply offensive.” Watch it [here](http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/orly-taitz-vs-david-shuster.php).
* August 6: In a sign of an intra-Birther power struggle, fellow conspiracy theorist Andy Martin [publicly](http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/birther-vs-birther-andy-martin-calls-orly-taitz-incompetent-and-obvious-crackpot.php) declares it’s time to “shut down the Orly Taitz circus.”
* Sept. 16: Federal Judge Clay Land, who is presiding over a Georgia Birther case, [belittles Taitz](http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/judge-puts-birther-orly-on-notice.php) in a widely circulated order that accuses Taitz of failing to understand legal principles grasped by “any middle school civics student.” Land adds: “Unlike in Alice in Wonderland, simply saying something is so does not make it so.”
* Sept. 17: A fellow member of the California bar [files a complaint](http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/orly_complaint.php) in response to Taitz’s call — during an interview with TPMmuckraker — for Judge Land to be tried for treason.
* Sept. 21: Army Captain Connie Rhodes, Taitz’s own client in the Georgia Birther case, [sends a letter](http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/army_captain_client_threatens_taitz_with_bar_compl.php) to the judge renouncing Taitz as her counsel. Rhodes, who sent the letter while deploying to Iraq, tells the judge that Taitz submitted an emergency filing without Rhodes’ permission or blessing.
* October 13: A frustrated Land [fines Taitz](http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/judgement_day_birther_taitz_fined_20000_for.php) $20,000 for repeated frivolous filings. “When a lawyer files complaints and motions without a reasonable basis for believing that they are supported by existing law or a modification or extension of existing law, that lawyer abuses her privilege to practice law,” he writes. “When a lawyer abuses her privilege to practice law, that lawyer ceases to advance her cause or the ends of justice.”
* October 14: Appearing on Joy Behar’s show, Taitz is forced to [explain](http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/orly_taitz_to_joy_behar_judge_who_fined_is_the_del.php) why she described the judge as “delusional”:
* November 12: An affidavit from a prospective witness in a California Birther case alleges that Taitz asked witnesses to perjure themselves — [and much worse](http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/affidavit_in_birther_suit_contains_extraordinary_c.php).
* December 3: A Taitz court filing [reveals](http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/new_orly_taitz_filing_in_dismissed_case_i_get_deat.php) that one of her children was taunted by a teacher, who “pointed to a newspaper article and commented that the judge says ‘your mother tells witnesses to lie.'”
The Taitz saga is far from over. She has now [embarked](http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/orly_taitz_opening_salvo_in_birther_appeal.php) on an appeal to fight the $20,000 fine. We’ll being keeping track of her filings in the new year.
