Lakin pleads guilty on all but one charge

I’m still working for a living, so I’m not really up on this. I suggest you visit CAAFLOG for excellent coverage that I will be reading along with you):

He is, on the evidence and by his own admission under oath, a criminal to be sentenced in accordance with the UCMJ.

SPECIAL NOTE:  Colonel Sullivan and civilian attorney and military justice maven Phil Cave will be on blogtalkradio tonight at 2100 EST to discuss the day’s events. Should be lots of additional insights and analysis to be had then.

About Dr. Conspiracy

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54 Responses to Lakin pleads guilty on all but one charge

  1. Black Lion says:

    From the noted birther site ORYR a Lakin update….

    http://obamareleaseyourrecords.blogspot.com/2010/12/lieutenant-colonel-terry-lakin-court.html

    The main stream media should be ashamed for their non-investigative reporting on the Lt. Col. Lakin court-martial, and the Obama eligibility issue in general. I find it disgusting that the media wait until the day of the actual court-martial trial to report LTC Lakin’s plight that begun more than a year ago. Out of all of the media outlets in this country why must they all regurgitate the same AP story? Do we not have any journalists left? You can view the regurgitated AP report at ABC, Fox, Forbes, LA Times, WTOP, and Yahoo. Image source.

    UPDATES: I am awaiting a phone update via Commander Charles Kerchner who is attending LTC Lakin’s court-martial trial at Fort Meade. This post will be updated throughout the day as more details are available… -snip 11:49am-

    12:14 – LTC Lakin pleads guilty to 1 of 2 charges. LTC Lakin pleaded guilty to not meeting with a superior when ordered to do so and not showing up at Fort Campbell in Kentucky where he was supposed to report. LTC Lakin pleaded not guilty to a second charge of missing a flight he was required to be on. -Source.

    1:52 – Snippets via Stars and Stripes; The guilty plea won’t erase Lakin’s bid to challenge the president’s legitimacy in court. Those charges dealt with secondary issues, not his direct refusal to deploy… …His attorneys were expected to challenge that issue later Tuesday, although the military judge hearing the case already has placed tight restrictions on how far she’ll let them go… …At the hearing, Lakin told the court that he still believes that questions surround Obama’s presidency but that he should not have refused to meet with his superiors and report to Fort Campbell, Ky., while making his protest. “I was praying and soul searching,” he said. “I believed there was a question that needs to be answered to ensure a valid chain of command. But I had asked every question, done everything else I could short of disobeying orders, without success.” -Source.

    3:15 – Snippet via CAAFlog(anti-Lakin site); …Judge Lind found his guilty pleas to be provident and accepted them. The defense then moved to dismiss the dereliction of duty spec as an unreasonable multiplication of charges in light of the accused’s guilty plea to Specification 3. The prosecution did not oppose the motion, and Judge Lind granted it. She then entered guilty findings on Specifications 1-3 of Charge II and on Charge II itself. LTC Lakin elected to be tried by a panel of officers. The defense asked the judge to advise the members that LTC Lakin had pled guilty to violating lawful orders, and that his pleas were accepted. Neither side attempted to use voir dire to explore their theory of the case. Of the ten officers named to the court by the convening authority, nine had heard about the case; one expressed an opinion negative to the accused, and the judge granted a challenge for cause for that member. The prosecution did not exercise any peremptory challenges; the defense challenged one member, leaving eight. All are O-6s. …The state of play now is as follows: trial will begin at 1500 hours with opening statements on the missing movement offense. Source.

    And as usual a hilarious comment….

    Anonymous said…
    The Obots making these anti-Lakin, pro-Obama predictions are doing so to ease their own nervousness. They took a huge gamble on Obama, and when even Saturday Night Live starts mentioning it in a way that isn’t necessarily mocking, you know the issue is cracking open along with his Presidency and the Democrat Party.

    This is becoming the same pattern we saw with both the Nixon and Clinton scandals:

    1. Dead silence
    2. Grassroots concern
    3. the mocking of ‘conspiracy theorists”.
    4. nervous joking (where we are now)
    5. All hell breaks loose.

    We’re one step away. Keep the pressure up and we’ll get to step 5, but we have to keep the pressure on Rush, Hannity, Fox news, etc. Eventually, they’ll choose coverage over the humiliation of being silent when MSNBC has given it coverage.

    ~ Redd Dogg, a rural name for a big city boy.

    December 14, 2010 10:18 AM

  2. Black Lion says:

    I guess the birthers are finally getting their case in the MSM….lol.

    Military ‘birther’ pleads guilty
    From NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski

    The Army lieutenant colonel who refused to deploy to Afghanistan because he claims President Obama is not a natural-born American has pleaded guilty to one charge against him.

    Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin pleaded guilty to not reporting to Fort Campbell (KY) for his deployment to Afghanistan. Lakin claims the order from President Obama as commander-in-chief is “unlawful” because he has not proven he was born in the United States.

    Lakin could face up to 18 months in prison, but Army officials tell NBC News instead of jail time it’s “likely” the court will order him discharged from the Army.

    That could prove to be expensive. Army officials say at 18 years of service, Lakin is two years short of full retirement, which over a lifetime could total as much as a couple million dollars in retirement pay and benefits.

    Lakin still faces court martial on a second charge of missing his flight to Afghanistan.

    http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/14/5649206-military-birther-pleads-guilty

    And in the comments section, the best comment….

    Grand Moff Joseph
    It’s also been expensive for the military to go through the undue hassle of prosecuting this nutjob.

    But, on the other hand, I’d rather have some gay soldiers who will give their lives if needed to perform their duties over some whackjob who refuses to do anything because he has too much tinfoil wrapped around his head.

  3. Arthur says:

    Could someone familiar with hysterical evangelicalism please explain the theology behind this foaming passage from Butterdezillion:

    “Remind me, Lord, that this sin – this mockery of justice, these lies, and the trollish laughter at all this is good and right – these sins, in the election and since, in this court-martial, and here at FR – these sins were smeared on You. The Father threw You out of His presence in disgust at THESE SINS that You willingly bore, that You willingly confessed as Your own even though You knew they were not. The Father has already burned You with acid for these sins.”

    Is she actually saying that:

    Jesus bears the sins of those who are prosecuting Lakin?

    God threw Jesus out of his sight for being smeared with these sins?

    God threw acid on Jesus for bearing these sins?

    And i thought Scientology was bizarre.

  4. Majority Will says:

    Black Lion: Redd Neck: We’re one step away.

    . . . from federal prison.

  5. Keith says:

    Arthur:
    Experience tells us that birthers willquickly invent a reason that explains Lakin’s guilty plea, and which also allows them to maintain his innocence.My guess is that birthers will say he was forced to plead guilty after agents of the President threatenedLakin and his family with violence. Rather than becoming an object of scorn, Lakin will become a martyr.

    Orly is already claiming that the Judge was putting words in Lakin’s mouth during the “providency inquiry”. In other words, the Judge was making absolutely sure that Lakin knew exactly what he was pleading guilty to and its consequences, and that is ‘putting words into his mouth’?

  6. Arthur says:

    Keith:
    Orly is already claiming that the Judge was putting words in Lakin’s mouth during the “providency inquiry”.In other words, the Judge was making absolutely sure that Lakin knew exactly what he was pleading guilty to and its consequences, and that is putting words into his mouth’?

    As I understand it, a “providence inquiry” is required by the UCMJ to ensure the accused exactly understands what he/she is pleading guilty to. How typical of Taitz to twist something she has no experience with and doesn’t understand into some kind of dastardly deed perpetrated by the government.

  7. Arthur: Could someone familiar with hysterical evangelicalism please explain the theology behind this foaming passage from Butterdezillion

    Fundamentalist Christians would say that Jesus atoned for the sins of the world at his crucifixion. While Jesus suffered on the cross, the guilt of sin for persons both past and present was transferred to Jesus requiring that God abandon Jesus (“My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”) because God could not look on sin.

    This is one view of the theology of atonement. The Lakin prosecutors fit in as sinners in the general sense. I have no idea where the acid comes from. It sounds rather bizarre to me the way it is put, though.

  8. Majority Will says:

    Keith:
    Orly is already claiming that the Judge was putting words in Lakin’s mouth during the “providency inquiry”.In other words, the Judge was making absolutely sure that Lakin knew exactly what he was pleading guilty to and its consequences, and that is putting words into his mouth’?

    From caaflog.com:

    Phil Cave says: (December 14, 2010 at 6:47 pm)
    “I should note that both Dwight and I declined an offer from Ms. Taitz to appear on a tape for her Russian language program explaining how America is the new Russia, and thoroughly undemocratic.”

    http://www.caaflog.com/2010/12/14/united-states-v-lakin-liveblogging-day-one-wrap/#comment-22364

  9. Majority Will says:

    “The military judge announced findings on the four Article 92 specifications at the end of the providence inquiry. When she asked the accused and counsel to rise, “Dr. Kate” — a prominent birther — rose in the audience and bowed her head (seemingly in prayer) as the guilty findings were announced.” – http://www.caaflog.com/

    The crazy is strong in this one.

  10. charo says:

    “The 32nd Cavalry, 101st Airborne Division deployed without its surgeon. The unit is still at FOB Bostick. Its surgeon is here in court, LTC Terrence Lakin.”

    No one is taking the place of Lakin. I know this seems entirely unlikely, but is it possible that he could still be deployed with some kind of reprimand?

  11. charo says:

    charo: “The 32nd Cavalry, 101st Airborne Division deployed without its surgeon.The unit is still at FOB Bostick.Its surgeon is here in court, LTC Terrence Lakin.”No one is taking the place of Lakin.I know this seems entirely unlikely, but is it possible that he could still be deployed with some kind of reprimand?

    “He also testified about the difficulty of getting a last-minute replacement for LTC Lakin when he didn’t obey his orders.”

    Nine months later and no one found?

  12. charo says:

    charo:
    “He also testified about the difficulty of getting a last-minute replacement for LTC Lakin when he didn’t obey his orders.”Nine months later and no one found?

    In another poignant moment, COL Roberts identified the specific doctor who deployed to Afghanistan to take LTC Lakin’s place: MAJ Dobson.

    Okay. I saw this at the very end.

  13. Majority Will says:

    charo:
    In another poignant moment, COL Roberts identified the specific doctor who deployed to Afghanistan to take LTC Lakin’s place:MAJ Dobson.Okay.I saw this at the very end.

    Happy to help.

  14. Sef says:

    So, do we have a list of the peanut gallery occupants today?

  15. G says:

    Sef: So, do we have a list of the peanut gallery occupants today?

    We have a partial list mentioned at several places. Here’s the best one I found so far:

    http://ohforgoodnesssake.com/

    Thus far she has recognized: Orly, Pastor Manning (plus 3 others with him she does not know), Dr. Kate, No-Nonsense Nancy, Kerchner (+1 large man with a cane with him), Ducky, and she “thinks” Pam Gellar (and perhaps some others but not in my notes). There is also a very small, petite Asian woman there who no one seems to know but Phil says she’s been at every hearing, and also a small Colonel no one seems to know but is passing out typewritten pages of “material” to anyone and everyone who will take them. She’s not had time to read it but Dwight and Phil have it and I’m sure will explain it on the show this evening.

  16. G says:

    Sorry, here is a more specific link for the quote I put above:

    http://ohforgoodnesssake.com/?p=14944

    The whole article on today’s events is worth reading and even includes some photos.

  17. US Citizen says:

    Damn. “All hell broke loose” and I missed it.

    Will there be another or this it?
    I expected more fire and brimstone. 🙁

  18. Joey says:

    Major Dobson, who had to take Lt.C. Lakin’s place in Afghanistan has his wife on the witness list for the prosecution. Mrs. Dobson will probably testify at sentencing which is the government’s way of sticking the knife in Lakin just a little deeper.
    Also, it came out in testimony today that Lakin requested and TOOK his pre-deployment leave AFTER he had refused to deploy.

  19. Rickey says:

    charo:
    In another poignant moment, COL Roberts identified the specific doctor who deployed to Afghanistan to take LTC Lakin’s place:MAJ Dobson.Okay.I saw this at the very end.

    The initial comment by Col. Sullivan was a bit confusing. It likely means that Lakin is still technically assigned to his unit and they had to take Maj. Dobson from a different unit.

    In fact, Maj. Dobson may still be officially attached to a different unit and is only temporarily assigned to Lakin’s unit.

  20. NBC says:

    Dr Kate appears to have fallen asleep at the Lakin hearing

  21. Slartibartfast says:

    I just read Dr. Kate’s article on the hearing (or at least the parts she was awake for ;-)) after listening to Phil, Dwight, and Mari – boy did they attend different hearings! I posted the following at Dr. Kate’s:

    Well, that account of the proceedings was certainly different than what I heard from CDR Cave and COL Sullivan on Reality Check’s special on day one of the court martial over at blogtalkradio. I wonder which version will prove to more accurately predict the outcome…

    Dr. Kate,

    Is it true that you were offering tic-tacs to Lakin supporters only and that you were upset that Dr. Taitz was talking to two Obots?

    but she must have her moderation turned up to eleven while she’s out giving aid and comfort to her hatriots in the form of tic-tacs because it didn’t get through (maybe I shouldn’t have used ‘Evil Obot’ as my handle…).

  22. charo says:

    Joey: Major Dobson, who had to take Lt.C. Lakin’s place in Afghanistan has his wife on the witness list for the prosecution.

    It looks like he just got back in April of this year. I wonder when he was redeployed? His wife is also a physician in the army with the rank of Major. Her testimony will be a very tough moment for LTC Lakin.

    http://www.defence.gov.au/op/afghanistan/gallery/2010/20100419/index.htm

    http://www.news.ku.edu/2010/august/23/dobson.shtml

  23. charo says:

    charo:
    It looks like he just got back in April of this year. I wonder when he was redeployed?His wife is also a physician in the army with the rank of Major.Her testimony will be a very tough moment for LTC Lakin.http://www.defence.gov.au/op/afghanistan/gallery/2010/20100419/index.htmhttp://www.news.ku.edu/2010/august/23/dobson.shtml

    I need to go back to bed. The photo is not the same Major Dobson and therefore he did not come back in April of this year.

  24. ellid says:

    G:
    We have a partial list mentioned at several places.Here’s the best one I found so far:http://ohforgoodnesssake.com/

    Isn’t No-Nonsense-Nancy the one whose family has banned her from seeing her grandchildren until she drops the conspiracy business?

  25. ellid says:

    Joey: Major Dobson, who had to take Lt.C. Lakin’s place in Afghanistan has his wife on the witness list for the prosecution. Mrs. Dobson will probably testify at sentencing which is the government’s way of sticking the knife in Lakin just a little deeper.
    Also, it came out in testimony today that Lakin requested and TOOK his pre-deployment leave AFTER he had refused to deploy.

    What a patriot. NOT.

  26. Tarrant says:

    Butterdezillion’s problem is one of false certainty – there are a lot of birthers out there who hate Obama and therefore believe whatever happens to be said that’s negative about him – hence people parroting the Pakistan ban years after it was debunked.

    Butter, though, believes she has done the research. She has read the laws, read the court decisions, read the statements by officials of Hawaii, and read the UCMJ. But not being knowledgeable in the actual mechanics of the law, she comes to erroneous conclusions, but ones she believes in “good faith” to have been solidly researched and backed up by the laws and judgments she has read.

    She also takes a quite absolute and literal read of everything – she quite honestly believes that because Dick Cheney forgot to say “Any objections?” at the end of the electoral vote count, that there is no real legitimate government right now and won’t be until they reconvene, he says it, then gavels it closed again, and that there might be people out there that had objections but they’re so literal that they’ve been silent for two years waiting to hear those words to raise them. She has also opined that Cheney intentionally didn’t say those words so that at the end of Obama’s Presidency he can say “Ha! I didn’t ask for objections, so the last 4 years are hereby void!” as if such a claim would not be estopped by laches.

    Or that when Hawaii days the information on the posted BC matches what they have on file, that it is an “indirect admission” that the posted image is a forgery because they didn’t say it WAS a BC from them, just that it “looked right”.

    Because of that she is really frustrated – she feels like judges and lawyers have misread and misapplied her clear reading of the law, that Congress interminably is ignoring this. It’s much more frustrating to believe you’ve done the research and feel like you’ve come to the right answer, than it is to just believe because you hate the guy.

    The problem of course is that it is she that is misreading and misunderstanding the law and court decisions, but you’ll never get her to believe that because unlike most birthers, she really has spent a lot of time doing the research – she just has the answer wrong.

  27. Dave says:

    Tarrant — even given all of that, I am still baffled that she has lumped in LTC Lakin’s lawyer Puckett with those who are out to get him.

  28. ellid says:

    Tarrant: Butterdezillion’s problem is one of false certainty – there are a lot of birthers out there who hate Obama and therefore believe whatever happens to be said that’s negative about him – hence people parroting the Pakistan ban years after it was debunked.Butter, though, believes she has done the research. She has read the laws, read the court decisions, read the statements by officials of Hawaii, and read the UCMJ. But not being knowledgeable in the actual mechanics of the law, she comes to erroneous conclusions, but ones she believes in “good faith” to have been solidly researched and backed up by the laws and judgments she has read.She also takes a quite absolute and literal read of everything – she quite honestly believes that because Dick Cheney forgot to say “Any objections?” at the end of the electoral vote count, that there is no real legitimate government right now and won’t be until they reconvene, he says it, then gavels it closed again, and that there might be people out there that had objections but they’re so literal that they’ve been silent for two years waiting to hear those words to raise them. She has also opined that Cheney intentionally didn’t say those words so that at the end of Obama’s Presidency he can say “Ha! I didn’t ask for objections, so the last 4 years are hereby void!” as if such a claim would not be estopped by laches.Or that when Hawaii days the information on the posted BC matches what they have on file, that it is an “indirect admission” that the posted image is a forgery because they didn’t say it WAS a BC from them, just that it “looked right”.Because of that she is really frustrated – she feels like judges and lawyers have misread and misapplied her clear reading of the law, that Congress interminably is ignoring this. It’s much more frustrating to believe you’ve done the research and feel like you’ve come to the right answer, than it is to just believe because you hate the guy.The problem of course is that it is she that is misreading and misunderstanding the law and court decisions, but you’ll never get her to believe that because unlike most birthers, she really has spent a lot of time doing the research – she just has the answer wrong.

    Or, as Alexander Pope said so long ago,

    “A little learning is a dangerous thing,
    Drink deep or sip not from the Piraean spring.”

  29. Black Lion says:

    A ridiculous pro Lakin article…

    Crucible of a Hero
    By Richard Kantro
    When Lt. Col. Terry Lakin, M.D. walks out of the chamber where he has faced a court-martial this week, he will emerge — regardless of the verdict — a towering American hero.

    Nothing like the stupendous display which he has mounted — of principled, sustained self-sacrifice and fearless defiance — has been seen in decades on the American political stage. Together with the peril of actual battlefield engagement, it ranks alongside the greatest courageous stances even of the American Revolution itself. Patrick Henry, Nathan Hale — those kinds of stances.

    This case is of shatteringly great significance, and if you don’t know about it, well, you can thank the cowards, commies, and crooks at your favorite mainstream media Bureau of Disinformation, National Desk. Lt. Col. Lakin has been abandoned by the establishment press, dastards and lackeys almost to a one. In a just post-Obama world, there is hope that one day, there will come the destruction of a thousand shameful careers in what was once journalism — via abdication by the press of its vital role as Fourth Estate; desertion of its watch as the protector of American liberty; and its own unforced, alacritous auto-castration.

    For historical background and the underpinnings, foundations, and history of this case, see Lt. Col. Lakin himself and Thomas Lifson, both in April 2010; see also http://www.safeguardourconstitution.com.

    Briefly summarized, the issue is this: Earlier this year, Dr. Lakin refused an order — an agonizing and drastic step for a loyal military man — to deploy for a second time to Afghanistan, where, in addition to in Bosnia, he has already served in dangerous combat areas. Indeed, he announced his refusal to obey any orders from his commanding officers, men he admires and respects, and the contravention of whose directives has caused him significant personal anguish. The reason is the overwhelming doubts and suspicions — national doubts and suspicions, not just personal ones — about the egregious likelihood of Barack Hussein Obama’s ineligibility to serve as commander-in-chief.

    The genesis of these doubts: the failure and probable inability of said Barack Hussein Obama — he of the reclusive records, wagging forefinger, and sibilant esses — to release for public delectation a valid Hawaii birth certificate. Despite a lengthy series of gas-lighting blandishments on the part of a cadre of partisan sycophants in government and media that such documentation has been shown and that it has long been time to move on, it is an inarguable fact that no such birth certificate has ever seen the light of day. The wan attempts to substitute such signal evidence of citizenship (a simple document, which millions of Americans routinely must produce) — the so called “certification of live birth,” issued in 1961 by the State of Hawaii — is a smokescreen, and a wispy one.

    This is all the more outrageous in view of the fact that John McCain, scion of a family of naval officers — if he were any more American, he’d be a bald eagle — was made the subject of consideration by the august U.S. Senate, which felt it had to take up and pass judgment on the satisfactoriness of McCain’s own natal bona fides.

    Yet no reciprocal imprimatur was made of His Oneness — not by the marshmallow press, not by the Senate, not by the voters, not by the various boards of election, not by any statutes — which don’t exist to begin with — to enforce natural-bornness, and certainly not by the inscrutably reticent Mr. McCain himself, who threw that fight as surely as would any over-the-hill boxer who knows his legs aren’t what they used to be and who needs cafeteria money and a hotel room for the week.

    In fact, there is more than a certified, long-form birth certificate — a lot more — about Barack “Barry Soetoro” Hussein Obama that no one outside the hermetic world of sworn-to-silence hospital personnel, state vital records workers, and college bursar-level functionaries has ever seen. A partial list would include, in addition, Neolani kindergarten records, the Obama-Dunham marriage license, the Obama-Dunham divorce records, the Soetoro-Dunham marriage license, Soetoro adoption records, the Punahou School application and records, Noelami Elementary School records, the Soetoro-Dunham divorce records, consistent selective service registration info, SAT scores, LSAT scores, Occidental College records, financial aid records, passports, Columbia University records, putative Columbia thesis on “Soviet Nuclear Disarmament,” Harvard University records, Harvard Law Review records, any writings as president of the Harvard Law Review beyond one tough anti-fetus fragment, Illinois bar records, certificates of baptism or adoption, medical records, Illinois State Senate records from 1997-2004, Illinois State Senate schedule, law practice client list while at Davis, Miner, Barnhill and Gallard, University of Chicago scholarly articles, and more. Oh, but we do have a document from the Fransiskus Assisi School in Jakarta, a Catholic institution, which shows him enrolled as Barry Soetoro — as a Muslim and an Indonesian.

    I stated at the outset is that Lakin’s stature is assured despite the verdict. Here’s why. The charges are (i) that he missed his deployment flight and (ii) conduct unbecoming an officer. He has, in the early stages of his trial, been denied discovery and the presentation of witnesses, evidence, or argument in defense of his position. That position necessarily goes to the heart of whether Obama should hold the White House keys. Conviction on the charges seems inescapable. The military court is not likely to risk uncovering an inconvenient truth about the acting president if there be one. Were Lakin to be exonerated — which seems all but impossible — then the tribunal would be staring in the face the propriety of all things Obama — a task far too sensitive for it. And the question of his provenance would fairly beg itself into being before the court could adjourn. And on the other hand, if Lakin is convicted, well, society will be no closer to probing the mystery of the guarded origins and persona of the Commander-in-Thief. This will make doubly urgent Lakin’s reach for the grail of truth and the case for others to take up his cause.

    Among all the comfortable, set-for-life politicos, officials, appointees, careerists, officeholders, aides-de-camp, campaigners, supporters, friends, and hangers-on in and during the Obama era, there has not been a single high-level, principled resignation. No stand in protest of what, if Obama’s position is the usurpation it could be, is the most devious high crime ever perpetrated by and against American government. Lakin’s honorable course is a rebuke to today’s so-called leaders, who, cowering in suspense, would not all taken together approach the equal of this man.

    Terry Lakin is putting at risk his own life, his own fortune, and his own sacred honor. He has invited his own court-martial, scorn, possible conviction, and disapprobation; loss of rank, position, and pension; loss of the future; danger to family and impoverishment; and possible hard jail time at Leavenworth. All this for the exalted goal of fealty to a Constitution his every step of the way towards protecting which is blocked by the government that administered the oath he took, and which oath he must contravene only to be able to honor it in the extreme. The greatness of battlefield valor stands elsewhere; this is bravery of another order.

    This is the kind of courage — after the crawling, burrowing, light-averse invertebrates of the political landscape have long since slithered away and vanished — that gets statues of a man built in public squares. This kind of courage gets folk songs and laureate poems written for a man, and they will be written for this one. This kind of courage guarantees — even a hundred years from now — that parents will still be proud to give their little boys names like Terrence Lakin Jones.

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/12/crucible_of_a_hero.html

  30. Black Lion says:

    The WND spin of the Lakin article….

    WASHINGTON – Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, the officer who raised questions about Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president only to be struck down by a military court’s banishment of evidence about his concerns, was convicted today by Judge Denise Lind on three counts of disobeying orders during the first day of his court martial.

    Lakin pleaded guilty to four counts related to disobeying orders, but one count was subsequently dismissed by Lind at the request of Lakin’s counsel, Neal Puckett. Lakin stands convicted of two counts of failing to obey orders to meet with his commanding officer and one count of failing to report as ordered to Fort Campbell, Ky., to join the 101st Airborne Division prior to the unit’s deployment to Afghanistan.

    Unlike the civilian legal system, a military court can immediately convict any defendant who pleads guilty to a crime.

    The Army flight surgeon still is contesting what most observers consider the most serious charge, “missing the movement” of a commercial airliner that was to take him to Fort Campbell.

    Lakin openly admits he willfully chose to disobey orders to deploy to Afghanistan over concerns that his orders were not lawful. Lakin is not sure whether President Barack Obama is a legitimate commander-in-chief of the armed forces because Obama has failed to prove he is eligible under the U.S. Constitution to occupy the Oval Office.
    …….

    ——————————————————————————–

    ——————————————————————————–
    BORN IN THE USA?

    Lakin guilty on 3 counts
    Army doctor still fighting most serious charge

    ——————————————————————————–
    Posted: December 14, 2010
    9:50 pm Eastern

    By Brian Fitzpatrick
    2010 WorldNetDaily

    Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin
    WASHINGTON – Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, the officer who raised questions about Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president only to be struck down by a military court’s banishment of evidence about his concerns, was convicted today by Judge Denise Lind on three counts of disobeying orders during the first day of his court martial.

    Lakin pleaded guilty to four counts related to disobeying orders, but one count was subsequently dismissed by Lind at the request of Lakin’s counsel, Neal Puckett. Lakin stands convicted of two counts of failing to obey orders to meet with his commanding officer and one count of failing to report as ordered to Fort Campbell, Ky., to join the 101st Airborne Division prior to the unit’s deployment to Afghanistan.

    Unlike the civilian legal system, a military court can immediately convict any defendant who pleads guilty to a crime.

    The Army flight surgeon still is contesting what most observers consider the most serious charge, “missing the movement” of a commercial airliner that was to take him to Fort Campbell.

    Lakin openly admits he willfully chose to disobey orders to deploy to Afghanistan over concerns that his orders were not lawful. Lakin is not sure whether President Barack Obama is a legitimate commander-in-chief of the armed forces because Obama has failed to prove he is eligible under the U.S. Constitution to occupy the Oval Office.

    Lakin deliberately exposed himself to a court martial in the hope of forcing Obama, during the “discovery” process, to prove he is eligible to serve as president by producing identity documents including his birth certificate. Lakin hoped the documents would establish whether Obama is a “natural born Citizen,” as required of any American president by Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution.

    (Story continues below)

    Lakin faces a maximum of 18 months in prison and dismissal from the military for the three convictions. The “missing movement” charge still being contested, Article 87 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, “shall be punished as a court-martial may direct” according to the UCMJ, with the punishment possibly amounting to four years at hard labor.

    As reported earlier by WND, Puckett acknowledged the convictions were inevitable after Lind denied Lakin the right to discovery, and forbade the defense from producing any evidence or experts who might persuade the court martial panel, a jury of Army officers, that Lakin’s deliberate disobedience of orders was justifiable.

    Even before the trial, Lakin admitted he had knowingly disobeyed orders. In fact, he warned his military commanders that he intended to disobey orders to deploy to Afghanistan as part of Obama’s surge strategy in order to force the Army to put him on trial.

    Puckett announced last week that his goal, under the circumstances, no longer was to have Lakin acquitted, but to persuade his court-martial panel not to send him to prison.
    ……..

    Other observers in the courtroom were critical of Puckett’s strategy.

    Orly Taitz, one of the attorneys spearheading the legal efforts to compel Obama to produce his birth and citizenship documents, criticized the strategy of conceding guilt on three charges.

    “Even if you beat the fourth charge, what have you gained?” Taitz argued. “He’s still facing 18 months in prison, loss of retirement benefits and dismissal from the service.”

    Taitz acknowledged that Puckett’s hands are tied by Lind’s earlier rulings effectively forbidding what might be the most effective line of defense, the argument that any order originating with Obama might in fact be illegal as long as Obama’s eligibility remains unproven.

    “He’s reduced to arguing a technicality,” Taitz told WND. “The whole trial is a sham, a farce. They’re not allowed to discuss the only real issue here, Obama’s eligibility.”

    Retired Navy Lt. Commander Charles Kerchner, the plaintiff in an eligibility suit recently rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, doubts that justice will be done in Lakin’s court martial.

    “They have not allowed him discovery and exculpatory evidence, which the Constitution affords all of us,” said Kerchner. “I don’t know what legal rabbit [the defense is] going to pull out of a hat but they’re obviously planning something.”

    Lakin’s brother, Dr. Greg Lakin, was more upbeat about Puckett’s defense strategy.

    “[Puckett] wants to focus on the big issue here,” Greg Lakin told WND. According to Lakin, Puckett chose to concede the smaller matters in order to direct the court martial panel’s attention on the “missing movement” charge, which is most closely linked to Obama’s personal authority because it ties directly to the order to deploy to Iraq as part of Obama’s surge strategy.

    “The president has taken full credit for the Afghanistan deployment, he signed the order,” said Greg Lakin. “Terry will have a chance to say his piece during the sentencing portion of the trial.”

    http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=239805

  31. G says:

    NBC: Dr Kate appears to have fallen asleep at the Lakin hearing

    LOL! When we were talking about how the Birthers will look at FAIL as a *win* in another thread … well, “Dr. Kate” has just shown us their latest bizarro-world interpretation in that post:

    “Undeterred by the weight of the charges, LTC Lakin and his attorney, Neal Puckett, deftly executed a strategy that left the government prosecutors red-eared and shaken by the magnitude of their own mistakes and inability to articulate a valid claim.”

    Seriously? Is she really so delusional that she could be there at the trial and only see some fantasy play-out of events in her own head instead of what was actually occurring in front of her face… or is she just flat out making up l-i-e-s for her gullible follwers to swallow…

  32. G says:

    charo:
    It looks like he just got back in April of this year. I wonder when he was redeployed?His wife is also a physician in the army with the rank of Major.Her testimony will be a very tough moment for LTC Lakin.http://www.defence.gov.au/op/afghanistan/gallery/2010/20100419/index.htmhttp://www.news.ku.edu/2010/august/23/dobson.shtml

    Thanks for the links & info on the Dobson family. Good find!

  33. G says:

    ellid:
    Isn’t No-Nonsense-Nancy the one whose family has banned her from seeing her grandchildren until she drops the conspiracy business?

    Yeah, I’m fairly sure that was her… but then again, so many of the birthers have here and there dropped similar tid bits of info from their private life that their friends & families have ostracized them, due to their hate driven nuttiness that it is hard to keep all their situations straight.

    The sad thing is that you would think the important family & friend support structure shunning them would be a critical wake-up call clue that their “issues” lie within themselves and not Obama…

    But obviously, these are birthers we are talking about… completely impervious to reason and reality and probably hopelessly beyond help.

  34. G says:

    Tarrant: The problem of course is that it is she that is misreading and misunderstanding the law and court decisions, but you’ll never get her to believe that because unlike most birthers, she really has spent a lot of time doing the research – she just has the answer wrong.

    Still no sympathy for her. We’ve had BZ on this forum several times in the past and tried to be patient and polite in listening to her rants and claims and looking at her posts compared to the evidence she described.

    …there was simply no “there” there.

    I don’t give her any credit for her “research” – in fact, I think her efforts if anything are just another strike against her – as she sees things that aren’t there and nitpicks at meaningless straws.

    She often comes to conclusions and makes statements about her research findings that are completely contradicted by the very information she links to.

    Therefore, no sympathy for the massive amounts of hours she’s wasted on her so-called “research” here… what is the point of investigation if you refuse to see what the information actually provides and if you make quixotic leaps and connections between unrelated information that have no support in any of the info you actually found.

    She could have simply pulled a SvenM and spent a day creating her fantasy fiction scenarios and come up with the same useless and baseless results, without all those “thousands” of hours of research that don’t actually support her “cause” at all and often show her conclusions to be the nonsense that it is.

  35. US Citizen says:

    I wonder how many of these pro-Lakin birthers will be ready to support him financially later when his pension is canceled?
    After all, this is a man destined for town square statues and the history books.
    What patriot would ignore the call to support such a hero? 😉

    Btw, that Richard “I have a thesaurus” Kantro is amazing.
    In one paragraph he considers McCain to be an American hero.
    In the next, he criticizes him.

  36. Black Lion says:

    From: http://www.caaflog.com/2010/12/14/united-states-v-lakin-liveblog-ii/

    “We have fresh information from Colonel Sullivan, on site at the Lakin court-martial at Fort Meade, Maryland.

    LTC Lakin pled guilty to all four of the Article 92 specifications alleged in Charge II (media reports had suggested mixed pleas to these offenses). The accused pled not guilty to Charge I and its Specification, which allege the offense of missing movement.

    During the hour-and-a-half long Care inquiry, LTC Lakin acknowledged no less than half a dozen times that the orders he received were lawful, and that he in fact had a duty to obey them. Judge Lind found his guilty pleas to be provident and accepted them. The defense then moved to dismiss the dereliction of duty spec as an unreasonable multiplication of charges in light of the accused’s guilty plea to Specification 3. The prosecution did not oppose the motion, and Judge Lind granted it. She then entered guilty findings on Specifications 1-3 of Charge II and on Charge II itself.

    LTC Lakin elected to be tried by a panel of officers. The defense asked the judge to advise the members that LTC Lakin had pled guilty to violating lawful orders, and that his pleas were accepted. Neither side attempted to use voir dire to explore their theory of the case. Of the ten officers named to the court by the convening authority, nine had heard about the case; one expressed an opinion negative to the accused, and the judge granted a challenge for cause for that member. The prosecution did not exercise any peremptory challenges; the defense challenged one member, leaving eight. All are O-6s.

    The state of play now is as follows: trial will begin at 1500 hours with opening statements on the missing movement offense. Regardless of how the members find on that offense, LTC Lakin will proceed to sentencing. He is, on the evidence and by his own admission under oath, a criminal to be sentenced in accordance with the UCMJ.

    Update: Many folks had wondered whether there would be a deal in the case. There was no deal.

    Some additional comments from the colonel: there were no signs of protest outside Fort Meade, but many luminaries of the birther movement are present in the courtroom, including Orly Taitz and Charles Kerchner. Decorum in the court has generally been good.”

  37. Black Lion says:

    Document Provided by the American Patriot Foundation

    Lakin timeline of concern of CinC’s Constitutional eligibility:

    OCT/NOV/DEC 2008

    October was looking at volunteering to deploy with my old unit that was deploying to Iraq.

    Started to learn more about the issues and concerns. Stopped my efforts to volunteer to deploy.

    JAN/FEB/MAR 2009

    Sought out opinions from supervisors, friends and family.

    Called Legal Assistance at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. They returned my call. I discussed with some staff member. He stated he needed to research a little and would call me back.

    I called at least 1-2x/per week for about 3 weeks with leaving messages on voice mail or not getting an answer.

    Proceeded to submit an Article 138 through my Company Commander against BHO. This was submitted at the end of March 2009.

    Received official reply 11 June 2009 from Company Commander. In conversing with him, he said I had the right to submit Congressional complaints.

    APR

    24 April submitted question to Sens Alexander and Corker, and Congressman Wamp.

    MAY/JUNE/JUL 2009

    Sought further advice from friends.

    June Received email response from Senator Alexander’s staffer. Conversed with Congressman Wamp’s staffer (Steele) several times. Steele submitted complaint to Office of Military Legislative Affairs.

    JUL 2009

    Change of jobs to work at the Pentagon

    AUG/SEP/OCT/NOV

    Continued to dialogue with friends, leaders, supervisors regarding my concerns and seeking advice.

    NOV 20, 2009

    Submitted Art. 138 against GEN Casey, Army Chief of Staff. Reply 11 DEC.

    http://www.safeguardourconstitution.com/images/stories/documents/apf06-jagletter0717_001.pdf

    http://www.safeguardourconstitution.com/images/stories/documents/apf03-lakintimelineofconcern.pdf

    Key documents list – right margin here:

    http://www.safeguardourconstitution.com/who-is-ltc-terry-lakin.html

  38. Black Lion says:

    Army Birther Pleads Guilty To Brave Birther Stand

    Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, the Army doctor who went on YouTube to brag about how he was not going to report for deployment to Afghanistan because Barack Obama did not personally come over to his house and provide THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE, has pled guilty to doing this very thing. But he has not pled guilty to a second count, missing his flight to Afghanistan — probably because airplanes don’t exist either. (If they do, why didn’t the airplane send him a certificate that says it was manufactured and exists, huh?) Anyway, this man faces up to 18 months in prison, but by the time he’s sentenced, the Kenyans will have sold all white Americans off to slavery in the communist knowledge-economy factories anyway.
    But don’t worry, the people sentencing this man are the same bureaucracy that employed Alvin Greene pointlessly for all those years:

    but Army officials tell NBC News instead of jail time it’s “likely” the court will order him discharged from the Army.

    Still, there’s a sort of happy ending:

    That could prove to be expensive. Army officials say at 18 years of service, Lakin is two years short of full retirement, which over a lifetime could total as much as a couple million dollars in retirement pay and benefits.

    All because it’s not illegal to be deployed to Afghanistan under a president who lost the majority vote of the American people — as Lakin was the first time — but is to be deployed by a man who is a little bit worldly.

    http://wonkette.com/432447/army-birther-pleads-guilty-to-brave-birther-stand

  39. James M says:

    Word at CAAFLOG, “Convicted” on all counts.

  40. Bovril says:

    Looks like

    http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/national/story/8782543/

    FORT MEADE, Md. — A military jury has convicted an Army doctor who disobeyed orders to deploy to Afghanistan because he questions President Barack Obama’s eligibility for office.

    The jury on Wednesday found Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin of Greeley, Colo., guilty of missing a flight that would have gotten him to Fort Campbell, Ky., for his eventual deployment. He was convicted of a charge of missing movement by design.

    His attorney had argued that he should be convicted of a lesser charge.

    Lakin had already pleaded guilty to another charge against him. All told, he now faces up to three and a half years in prison.

  41. Arthur says:

    G:
    LOL!When we were talking about how the Birthers will look at FAIL as a *win* in another thread … well, “Dr. Kate” has just shown us their latest bizarro-world interpretation in that post: Is she really so delusional that she could be there at the trial and only see some fantasy play-out of events in her own head instead of what was actually occurring in front of her face… or is she just flat out making up l-i-e-s for her gullible followers to swallow…

    Yes, and yes.Nevertheless, the depth of her dissembling is shocking. Her estimation of the trial reminds me of the laughable equivocations of Baghdad Bob.

  42. G says:

    Arthur: Yes, and yes.Nevertheless, the depth of her dissembling is shocking. Her estimation of the trial reminds me of the laughable equivocations of Baghdad Bob.

    LOL! Ahhh yes, “Baghdad Bob”!!! Unlike Dr. Kate, I actually found “Baghdad Bob’s” outrageous boasts and fictional statements to be endlessly entertaining. Reminds me, I always meant to track down the talking Baghdad Bob action figure on the internet… I’ll put that back on my Christmas List. LOL!

  43. FUTTHESHUCKUP says:

    LOL. Didn’t take the jury long at all.

    FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A military jury has convicted an Army doctor who disobeyed orders to deploy to Afghanistan because he questions President Barack Obama’s eligibility for office.

    The jury on Wednesday found Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin of Greeley, Colo., guilty of missing a flight that would have gotten him to Fort Campbell, Ky., for his eventual deployment. He was convicted of a charge of missing movement by design.

    His attorney had argued that he should be convicted of a lesser charge.

    Lakin had already pleaded guilty to another charge against him. All told, he now faces up to three and a half years in prison.

    http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2010/12/15/court-martial-of-birther-continues-for-2nd-day/

  44. aarrgghh says:

    the cold harsh reality brought upside the birfers’ heads seems to sting just a little too much for some. time to beat a hasty retreat into the safety of our echo chambers … (via freeperville)

    I am most disgusted with the conservative yappers who failed to do their job. Gee! I already knew the Marxist media was traitorous.

    I have essentially stopped listening to talk radio. Some things are deal breakers. I will never trust them again. I can’t even stand to hear their voices. I now depend solely on Free Republic to get an overview of the news

    5 posted on December 15, 2010 4:03:57 AM EST by wintertime

  45. Keith says:

    Day two – Per CAAFLog: Guilty as charged.

    The CO, the replacement doctor, and the replacement’s wife are testifying at the sentencing hearing.

  46. Black Lion says:

    United States v. Lakin liveblog IV
    34 Comments By Christopher Mathews, December 15, 2010
    LTC Lakin now stands convicted of one specification of missing movement in violation of Article 87, UCMJ, and three specifications of failure to obey lawful orders in violation of Article 92.

    Sentencing proceedings are underway.

    Update: Colonel Sullivan reports that after receiving the answers to their inquiries (reported in the previous liveblogging entry), the members deliberated for twelve more minutes before returning their verdict. The court-martial moved immediately to sentencing.

    The prosecution played in its entirety LTC Lakin’s YouTube video announcing his plans to refuse to deploy. At the conclusion of the tape, the birthers in the audience stood and gave sustained applause. The military judge did not gavel the court to order; she simply let them finish. I am reasonably certain that their outburst will not count against the accused; but in no way could it have helped.

    The prosecution called Colonel Roberts, the brigade commander and MOH recipient, to the stand as their first live witness. He testified that the accused’s behavior was unprofessional and had a negative impact on the unit. Cross examination was limited and, according to Colonel Sullivan, “didn’t really go anywhere.”

    MAJ Dobson, the doctor who had to replace LTC Lakin on short notice, testified next. He recounted how two days after arriving in theatre, the unit suffered a mass-casualty attack, with sixteen wounded. He said that he was not, in his opinion, as well-prepared to deal with the attack as he would have been had he had longer to prepare for operations at the FOB. The defense suggested on cross that the deployment was probably a good career opportunity for the major personally. Another point which will likely not go over well.

    The next witness was MAJ Dobson’s wife, herself a combat veteran, who testified that she and her husband had to forego some coursework they had planned to take together, and that as a result of his short-notice deployment, he missed the award ceremony in which she was awarded the Bronze Star. She also testified about how hard it was to prepare their young son for his dad’s sudden and unexpected departure.

    Sentencing resumed at 1545. So far, not a good day for the accused.

    http://www.caaflog.com/2010/12/15/united-states-v-lakin-liveblog-iv/#comments

  47. Keith says:

    Interesting comment on the CAAFLog post BL links to above: (I marked it up to distinguish what I think is the quote from Manning and the quote from HST)

    H.S. Thompson says:
    December 15, 2010 at 4:05 pm (Quote)

    RE: Manning
    I didn’t see this mentioned in the other comments. From his website:

    LT Col Terry Lakin Court-Martial Live Coverage *Update Wed. 12-15-2010*

    Dear Listeners,

    While attending the Lt Col Terry Lakin trial I was detained by military police and threatened with trespassing charges here in Ft Meade Md. We were interrogated for nearly three hours, searched, ask to sign statements and read the Miranda right . They placed us in separate rooms. They released us after the trial was over. More details to come later today.

    Both prosecution and defense have rested in the court-martial of Ltc Terry Lakin. The jury has the case and are presently in deliberation.
    http://atlahmedianetwork.org/?page_id=65

    For a supposed Xtian, Manning has a lot of trouble with the truth so who knows if they really yanked him for trespassing. In his post the day before he does say he talked with Dowd who attributed a different surname to him so maybe he did enter with a false ID or something.

  48. Keith says:

    I missed an ending blockquote tag.

    the paragraph beginning “Both prosecution…” I am pretty sure is from HST. As best as I can make out, the Manning quote is the one paragraph following “Dear Listeners”

  49. Rickey says:

    The liveblog at CAAFlog is fascinating.

    The most damaging testimony, as regards sentencing, came from Lakin’s replacement, Major Dobson. An aggravating factor is that Lakin took pre-deployment leave even though he had already decided that he was not going to deploy.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if they throw the book at him.

  50. Judge Mental says:

    It’s a complete train wreck!

    The only thing missing so far is his sentence being doubled by the panel as a deterrent to others, the increase being wholly inspired when the panel noted the presence of loud birther cheering of his ‘video’ from the gallery lol.

  51. FUTTHESHUCKUP says:

    Too little, too late. “You had your chance.”

    ‘Birther’ reverses course, says he would deploy

    FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) – An Army doctor who disobeyed orders to deploy to Afghanistan because he questioned President Barack Obama’s eligibility for office told a jury he was wrong to do so and would now deploy if he could.

    http://www.wrcbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13681043

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