So, I offered this simplified analogy to David Farrar, and I'm pretty proud of it for a not-lawyer and all.
Quote:
You say the judge could not assume without the birth certificate being submitted that the president was an NBC, but for you to offer an argument that he is not an NBC, you must acknowledge for purposes of legal argument that he says he is one–otherwise you would not have a claim to argue.
Since the burden of proof is yours, you are obligated to prove that he is not what he claims to be, which is an NBC. He is not required to prove that he is.
Let me use a hypothetical. You join my karate school because I say I’m a black belt certified karate instructor. After losing several tournaments, you conclude I’m lying and sue me for fraud. I skip the hearing, and the judge says, “I’ll give you a default ruling in your favor right now.” You decline, saying, “No! I want the case heard on its merits so I can prove she’s not a black belt certified karate instructor!” In other words, you accept the burden of proof to show I am not what I claimed.
First exhibit–-a record of your losses; this proves only that you suck, not that I’m not an instructor. Next exhibit–-a copy of my license from my Website, which your lawyer’s IT guy claims has to be fradulent because it has layers. That does not prove I’m not an instructor. Next, your lawyer presents several self-proclaimed karate historians who suspect my legitimacy because I’m not Asian, which they claim–without evidence–that 95% of black belts are. Their testimony is the only evidence the lawyer submits of their “expert” value as witnesses. Further, they’ve never been trained as karate instructors or taken part in licensing karate insturctors. Finally, your lawyer swears in someone who says I advertised myself in 1980 as a certified Tai Chi instructor.
None of this proves that I’m not a karate instructor and, based on the merits of the evidence presented, the judge concludes it’s not enough to prove that I’m not what you are alleging I falsely claimed to be: a certified karate instructor. Thus, he rules against you and in my favor.
Now do you see why you lost? It was presumed he was claiming to be an NBC, which is why he submitted his name for the ballot. You acknowledged this was his claim and you were contesting it. Yet, you provided no valid evidence or experts to cast doubt on this claim. The judge had no choice but to rule your case was insufficient to challenge the defendant’s claim. He is the defendant because he’s DEFENDING himself against your allegation that he's not what he claims to be--an NBC.
For the record, I am not a black belt in anything. (Do you think they serve borscht at the Gulag? I like borscht.)