On President’s Day, Let’s Remember Our “Psychiatrically Handicapped” Presidents

This is the latest post in what I half-jokingly call The Kimberlin Saga^®.  If you are new to the story, that’s okay! Not everyone reads my blog.  The short version is that Kimberlin has been harassing me for over two years, his worst conduct being when he attempted to frame me for a crime.   I recognize that this might sound like an incredible claim, but I provide video and documentary evidence of that fact; in other words, you don’t have to believe my word.  You only have to believe your eyes.  So, if you are new to the story, go to this page and you’ll be able to catch up on what has been happening.

So as I mentioned previously, I try to do a yearly tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  I celebrate the Fourth of July, although not typically on my blog, I advocate for the idea of a national holiday to celebrate the end of slavery, and so on.  But President’s Day?  I admit I barely even notice it going by.  I think it is the combination of the vagueness of the holiday (“Celebrate all Presidents?  Even the really crummy ones like Andrew Johnson?  Or Harrison who was only president like a month anyway?”) and the generalized power worship that goes along with it that conspires in my heart to make it so that among holidays this one leaves me kind of cold.  But it is worth doing a post this year.

Why?  To make a simple point in rebuttal of one of Brett Kimberlin’s most silly, overwrought arguments in his silly, overwrought opposition to my motion for leave to exceed the page limit on replies, which I shared with you last week.  In it, he wrote that I supposedly “admittedly suffers from multiple psychiatric handicaps.”  By which he means my dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADD, which most people call “learning disabilities” or “learning differences.”

Some kind people have said that they were offended by that and its oddly gratifying to see them offended (because it shows how attitudes have changed about such disabilities), but I admit my first reaction as to chuckle at what a serious mistake he made.  Yes, it is outrageous—as much so as if he held being Jewish against a Jew—but it was also just so transparent and doomed to failure.  Really, as I drafted my reply to that motion I realized that Brett has no idea how bad a mistake he had made.  But, dear reader, I am going to have to play my cards close to my chest for now.  When I reveal what I wrote, you will hopefully see exactly why his mistake was so much more serious than you are likely to guess.  He opened doors to arguments that he is really not going to enjoy seeing, stuff I probably couldn’t have said to the court at this stage, otherwise.  And that is besides the fact that an attempted appeal to bigotry is inherently an act of bad faith.

And as I was writing my draft, I found it was useful to show the judge how normal learning disabled people were, by giving a short list of famous learning disabled people.  So I mentioned people like Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Whoopi Goldberg (she literally has to have her scripts read to her and she recites her lines entirely from memory), and... several presidents of the United States.  Who precisely?

Well, this guy, for one...

…that would be Woodrow Wilson, who was dyslexic.  For that matter, the man who signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law, George Herbert Walker Bush...

...is dyslexic as well.  There have also been rumors that George W. Bush was also dyslexic, but these mainly came up in the context of liberals attacking him and calling him stupid as a result.  So on one hand, if Bush Jr. was dyslexic one suspects that they would be even more reluctant than usual to admit it because of that ugliness.  On the other hand, this is why the Democrats promising to protect the civil rights of disabled people always rings so hollow for me.  Seriously, if the Republican party attacked Obama for being black—and I mean really did this, and not in some MSNBC alternate universe—would you be surprised of African Americans wrote off the Republican party?  Other dyslexics in the oval office included Andrew Jackson,...

...and while this site doesn’t specify what specific disability they had, it lists…

Dwight D. Eisenhower and…

...John F. Kennedy as both having unspecified learning disabilities.  Even the man who said that all men are created equal...

...Thomas Jefferson, was created (born) with dyslexia.  Wrap your head around that, folks: the man who wrote one of the most influential and eloquent documents in human history, the Declaration of Independence, was dyslexic. (Then again if you go to this page on famous dyslexics, you will see several famous writers, too.)  Oh, and one more guy you might have heard of:

...George Fricking Washington.  He had both dyslexia and dysgraphia.  So for those keeping score, dyslexics account for half the “population” of Mt. Rushmore:*

So if it wasn’t for people with these supposed “psychiatric handicaps” we might have lost our war with England.  Hell, without him and Jefferson we might not have even rebelled against England at all!  And then we would all be speaking English!

Joking aside, what is obvious to any reasonable person is that learning disabled people are just like anyone else.

I mean, besides Andrew Jackson.  That guy was crazy:

(Although I am kind of with Jackson on that secessionist John C. Calhoun.)

Joking aside, whatever flaws these Presidents have, it has no more to do with their disabilities than Bill Clinton’s hearing problems (he uses hearing aids) had to do with him having his affair with Lewinsky.  It is neither a reason nor an excuse for any of their personality flaws.

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* And while he is not a president, Winston Churchill was also dyslexic.  So was General Patton.  For those keeping score, that means that Adolf Hitler had his arse kicked by four men with handicaps that Hitler would have called “useless eaters” (the other two being FDR, with his physical disability, and Eisenhower mentioned above).  This kind of thing is why I say that God exists, and he has a sarcastic sense of humor.

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My wife and I have lost our jobs due to the harassment of convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin, including an attempt to get us killed and to frame me for a crime carrying a sentence of up to ten years.  I know that claim sounds fantastic, but if you read starting here, you will see absolute proof of these claims using documentary and video evidence.  If you would like to help in the fight to hold Mr. Kimberlin accountable, please hit the donation link on the right.  And thank you.

Follow me at Twitter @aaronworthing, mostly for snark and site updates.  And you can purchase my book (or borrow it for free if you have Amazon Prime), Archangel: A Novel of Alternate, Recent History here.  And you can read a little more about my novel, here.

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Disclaimer:

I have accused some people, particularly Brett Kimberlin, of reprehensible conduct.  In some cases, the conduct is even criminal.  In all cases, the only justice I want is through the appropriate legal process—such as the criminal justice system.  I do not want to see vigilante violence against any person or any threat of such violence.  This kind of conduct is not only morally wrong, but it is counter-productive.

In the particular case of Brett Kimberlin, I do not want you to even contact him.  Do not call him.  Do not write him a letter.  Do not write him an email.  Do not text-message him.  Do not engage in any kind of directed communication.  I say this in part because under Maryland law, that can quickly become harassment and I don’t want that to happen to him.

And for that matter, don’t go on his property.  Don’t sneak around and try to photograph him.  Frankly try not to even be within his field of vision.  Your behavior could quickly cross the line into harassment in that way too (not to mention trespass and other concerns).

And do not contact his organizations, either.  And most of all, leave his family alone.

The only exception to all that is that if you are reporting on this, there is of course nothing wrong with contacting him for things like his official response to any stories you might report.  And even then if he tells you to stop contacting him, obey that request.  That this is a key element in making out a harassment claim under Maryland law—that a person asks you to stop and you refuse.

And let me say something else.  In my heart of hearts, I don’t believe that any person supporting me has done any of the above.  But if any of you have, stop it, and if you haven’t don’t start.