Conduct Unbecoming of An Officer2

Part I, Chapter 5 Conduct Unbecoming of an Officer
Apart from those birthers who create the disinformation to feed the gullible, the birther movement has its heroes even if their plaster saints more closely resemble the comic relief. Or the not-so-comic relief. Take Walter Fitzpatrick, for instance. Once the Executive Officer of the USS Mars, the former Lieutenant Commander Walter Francis Fitzpatrick III was forced into retirement from the Navy after being overlooked for promotion three times due to a career-stagnating letter of reprimand on his record for misusing the ship's Morale, Welfare and Recreation Fund. Now, however, he has found a bit of celebrity as the idol of birthers everywhere, who seem utterly bewildered and outraged every time he manages to get himself arrested as if disrupting the session of a grand jury or stealing sensitive documents from a courthouse were merely harmless pranks to be overlooked. On April 1, 2010, Fitzpatrick attempted a citizen's arrest on grand jury foreman Gary Pettway during session at the Monroe County Courthouse in Madisonville, Tennessee. While attempting to instigate a convention of the grand jury to look into the President's supposed ineligibility, Fitzpatrick had made an astounding discovery of blatant disregard for the rule of law. Or so he thought. What he learned is that, according to the laws of Tennessee, the foreperson of a grand jury serves a term of no 1
Part One, Chapter Five
Conduct Unbecoming of an Officer
more than two years, while Pettway had served faithfully as grand jury foreman for 27 years! In the face of such brazen contempt for the law (and angered by the grand jury's refusal to investigate Obama's eligibility, never mind that the only grand jury that can move against a sitting president is the House of Representatives), there was only one thing for Fitzpatrick to do: arrest Gary Pettway. But in his determination to right this terrible wrong, Fitzpatrick overlooked one rather significant fact: a grand jury foreperson may be reappointed upon the completion of his term, and there is no limit to the number of times they may be reappointed. According to the conclusions reached by a Tennessee appellate court which had struck down a similar challenge made in 1983, the position does not come with term limits. Unsurprisingly, Pettway did not comply with the arrest. Instead, after Fitzpatrick ignored his repeated requests to leave the room while the grand jury was in session, Pettway asked the officers present during session to remove him. Fitzpatrick, however, did not go quietly and ended up arrested himself, charged with preventing or disrupting a lawful meeting, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, retaliation against a public official for past action and civil rights intimidation.1 Despite Fitzpatrick's boneheaded oversight and subsequent arrest that he could only blame on himself, some of the good ol' boys were right fired up at that thar revoltin' development. Including Carl Swensson, who, like Fitzpatrick, is a leader in the birther organization, American Grand Jury, a group whose candidly stated mission is "to remove Barack Obama from Office" because "he is a fraud and traitor [who] has never been eligible to hold the office of the Presidency." On a video depicting Fitzpatrick's failed attempt to arrest Gary Pettway which led to his own arrest, Carl Swensson provided a voice-over narration and commentary. Speaking of Pettway's supposedly illegal appointment as grand jury foreman, Swensson said, Now Colonel [sic] Fitzpatrick had absolutely no idea of this when he
1
For the complete transcript of Fitzpatrick's hearing, visit: "June 28, 2010 Transcript of the Hearing Arraignment Walt. Native and Natural Born Citizenship Explored. WordPress, 10 July 2010. Web. 30 June 2012. <http://nativeborncitizen.wordpress.com/2010/07/10/june-28-2010-transcript-of-the-hearing-arraignment-walt/>.
started the process. And by challenging this, he is now arrested and is incarcerated and has been since 10:30 in the morning on April 1 He did this for us. What do you intend to do for him and for this country? If we don't come to his assistance, if we don't get to the courthouse, if we don't call 'em, if we don't walk and march on that courthouse, and that Sheriff's Department, we don't deserve the freedoms we have.2 So, apparently it's our patriotic duty to come to the rescue of morons who jump to conclusions and get their stupid selves arrested because they don't understand the law and act out of ignorance. There just aren't enough hours in the day. The protests for Walter Fitzpatrick alone would be a full-time job! A much more workable solution would be for Walter to learn to ask someone about situations he doesn't understand before attempting a citizen's arrest. Some, however, took Swensson's impassioned but misguided call to arms as a literal call to arms, which led to a confrontation that might have turned ugly. On April 20, 2010, Darren Wesley Huff, who accompanied Fitzpatrick during his attempted arrest of Gary Pettway and captured the incident on video, arrived at the courthouse with about 15 of his buddies, some of whom were armed. Huff himself was packing a Colt .45 and an AK-47 assault rifle. Fortunately, their visit was anticipated; Huff and crew were met at the Monroe County Courthouse by approximately 100 policemen. The police were ready for this because Huff had told an FBI agent who came to his home in Dallas, Georgia that he was ready to help take over the courthouse if necessary. He also disclosed his plans to the police during a traffic stop on his way to the showdown at the courthouse, which included completing the citizen's arrests that Walter Fitzpatrick had intended when he was arrested. (Pettway was evidently supposed to be the first of a series.) Ive got my .45 because aint no government
2
Citizens' Arrest. Prod. Carl Swennson. Perf. Walter Francis Fitzpatrick III. YouTube. American Grand Jury, 05 Apr. 2010. Web. 11 July 2012. filmed by Darren Wesley Huff. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV80ppr7z4&lc=YtWxistDHP9gOzCU0kZm2enpyp2nGupES66ZkdFpR0Q&feature=inbox>.
Part One, Chapter Five official gonna go peacefully, he explained.
Thankfully, the police at the courthouse quelled the impending disturbance without the use of force. Darren Huff was eventually convicted of carrying a firearm in interstate commerce with the intent to use it in a civil disorder and sentenced to four years. During his trial, which Huff described as the most humiliating thing I have ever been through, Huff struggled against tears. My government has called me a potential domestic terrorist, he sobbed.3 Now why would anyone call him a nasty thing like that? Although Huff claimed under oath that he never said he had any intention of taking over the courthouse (whatever "taking over the courthouse" actually entailed), this statement was contradicted by two employees of his local bank, who both testified they heard him say he planned to take over the courthouse. The bank employees then notified the FBI, which prompted the agent's visit to his home in Dallas, Georgia, on the day before he left for Tennessee. Perhaps the next time Darren Huff plans to storm a courthouse with the intent of taking it over, he should resist bragging about it beforehand. As for poor ol' Walter Fitzpatrick, he was convicted of disrupting a lawful meeting and resisting arrest. (The remaining charges were either dismissed or he was acquitted.) At the sentencing for resisting arrest, Fitzpatrick probably would have gotten off with a light sentence without jail time, but he delivered a prepared statement claiming the court had neither jurisdiction over him nor a lawful case against him and walked out. The judge informed him otherwise (after having the deputies return him to the courtroom) and sentenced him to the maximum of six months, prompted by his disrespect of the court. Regarding the theft of court documents, this incident took place on December 7, 2011, again, in
3
Rayfield, Jillian. "' I Refuse To Be Intimidated' : Birther OathKeeper's Trial Heads To Jury." TPM. TPM Media LLC, 25 Oct. 2011. Web. 21 July 2012. <http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/birther_oathkeepers_trial_heads_to_a_jury_after_he.php>.
the Monroe County Courthouse. A courtroom clerk had collected the completed applications for an upcoming grand jury class. When the documents containing personal information of the various applicants turned up missing, a review of the videotape revealed a man positively identified as Walter Fitzpatrick removing the documents from the courtroom. It was never found out what Fitzpatrick intended to do with the private information of the various grand jury applicants, but evidently the courthouse employees were not amused. When the authorities arrived at his home, Fitzpatrick proved unwilling to cooperate and refused to come to the door. Following protocol, the police then announced their intent and forcibly entered the home. Fitzpatrick was again taken into custody, this time charged with tampering with governmental documents. His trial is slated for September of this year. Mischievous little imp, isn't he? Yet somehow, this chronic victim of self-inflicted woes seems to invoke outpourings of sympathy from the birthers. In a December 30th blog entry, Orly Taitz bemoaned Fitzpatrick's fate, claiming the OBAMA REGIME IS TRYING TO BRAKE [sic] COMMANDER FITZPATRICK.4 Sharon Rondeau, editor of the electronic tabloid The Post & Email who took over after the departure of the site's founder John Charlton, has written many articles expressing her support of Fitzpatrick. I wouldn't recommend anyone try to find them, however, since the site now requires a paid subscription. Based on what I've read from this site before it required a subscription, it was overpriced even when it was free. But Rondeau hasn't been selfish with her paeans for Walter Fitzpatrick. The website Gulag Bound, for instance, has three articles concerning Walter Fitzpatrick in which Rondeau at least contributed.5 But Rondeau is hardly a lone voice when it comes to indignant outcries at the hardships of
4
Orly, Taitz. Web log post. Defend Our Freedoms Foundation. WordPress, 30 Dec. 2011. Web. 9 June 2012. <http://www.orlytaitzesq.com/?p=29798>. 5 Sharon, Rondeau. "Walter Fitzpatrick." Walter Fitzpatrick. Gulag Bound, n.d. Web. 09 June 2012. <http://gulagbound.com/tag/walter-fitzpatrick/>. Rondeau authored two articles and wrote the introduction for another.
Walter Fitzpatrick. A web search will uncover a variety of sites supportive of Fitzpatrick with urgent pleadings to come to his aid. One such blog called Give Us Liberty 1776, owned by Gary Wilmott, directed its message to all veterans, advising them that an honorable and patriotic retired military officer is being unlawfully incarcerated. Therefore, according to Wilmott, veterans have a duty to the oaths they took prior to entering active duty and must do their level best and set our fellow warrior free, claiming that Fitzpatrick had been sentenced to six months by a corrupt judge in an unlawful court. Veterans' marching orders were to phone the elected public servants [and] demand that LCDR Fitzpatrick be set free and the criminal perpetrators be brought to justice.6 As a veteran, therefore included among those compelled by this urgent command, I consider myself obligated to respond at once. I share here my response in its entirety: No. The Passive-Aggressive Insubordinate But when it comes to military icons in the birther movement, none have received more media coverage or are more revered by birthers than ex-Lieutenant Colonel Terrence Lee Lakin. By all accounts, Lakin was a top-notch Army physician with a spotless record in his near eighteen years of service. But that all changed in March of 2010, when Lieutenant Colonel Lakin started ignoring orders. Bizarre as it may seem, a decorated army physician, little more than three years from retirement,7 actually sabotaged his own career by acts of rank insubordination. Predictably, his sudden disregard for command authority met with his court-martial, imprisonment and dismissal from service, resulting in a forfeiture of pension and benefits. Lakin had publicly announced his intentions on a video produced by an organization calling itself the American Patriot Foundation, Inc., released on March 30, 2010. In stiff, tight-lipped
6
"URGENT ACTION ITEM: HELP LDCR Walter Fitzpatrick, III (US Navy-Ret.)." Web log post. Give Us Liberty. Blogger.com, 30 Sept. 2011. Web. 1 July 2012. http://giveusliberty1776.blogspot.com/2011/09/urgent-action-item-help-ldcrwalter.html 7 Terry Lakin's first day of active duty was on June 18th 1993.
monotone, Lakin explained his intention to defy what he called illegal orders, including an order to deploy to Afghanistan, maintaining that if [Obama] is ineligible [for the presidency], then my orders, and indeed all orders, are illegal, because all orders have their origin with the Commander-in-Chief as handed down through the chain of command. It is absolutely inconceivable that someone who has attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel could be so ignorant as to the nature of command authority in the military. Does he truly believe that all orders have their origin with the Commander-in-Chief as handed down through the chain of command? He would soon learn better. Or rather, as he would reveal during his court-martial, he always knew better, which would indicate that he was lying when he made that patently false statement. And his disinformation wouldn't stop there, either. Any reasonable person, looking at the evidence currently in the public domain would have questions about President Obama's claim to be a natural born citizen. The evidence in the public domain at the time this video was produced was an image of Obama's Certification of Live Birth (which is considered a self-authenticating document and prima facie evidence in any court of law), corroborating statements from both the Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle (a Republican who stumped for John McCain during his presidential campaign) and the Hawaii Director of Health Dr. Chiyome Fukino, and two birth announcements appearing in the Honolulu Advertiser and the Star Bulletin. If any reasonable person still wishes to cast doubts in light of this evidence, they may be assured that the courts would have no such trouble. Obama's eligibility remained in doubt, Lakin claimed, because he refuses to release his original, birth certificate, dating from 1961, and bearing the signature of the doctor who delivered him. As birthers have done since the incipient stages of the movement, they have promoted the lie that a short-form birth certificate is somehow less valid than a long form and that a valid birth certificate 7
requires an attending physician's signature. As pointed out in Chapter One, both the long and short form birth certificates are considered prima facie proof, and neither one bears more weight than the other in a court of law. But birthers have never allowed facts to stand in their way. When asked by a CNN reporter following Terry Lakin's arraignment on August 6, 2011, How is it that I can see it on the internet, but Colonel Lakin can't? Lakin's civilian lawyer Paul Rolf Jensen replied, Well, sir, I don't know what you're seeing, but I haven't seen an original, long-form certificate, signed by the doctor that gave birth to him [sic], the very same document that Colonel Lakin was ordered to produce in order to deploy. How is it that Jensen hasn't been charged with impersonating a lawyer? Aside from the fact that Jensen is ignoring (or ignorant of) the fact that the short form birth certificate is considered self-authenticating and prima facie evidence in any court proceeding, making it just as valid as the long form, and that Obama's short form is an original according to Federal Rules of Evidence, Terry Lakin himself never produced a birth certificate bearing the signature of the doctor that delivered him. (Or, according to Jensen, gave birth to him. Jensen apparently isn't aware of where babies come from.) So, Lakin and his amorphous attorney are caught lying yet again. Yet convincing birthers of Lakin's heroism depends upon creating this impression, that the short form birth certificate is somehow not valid, or less valid that the so-called original. In another of his disinforming videos, Lakin claimed, the online Certification of Live Birth is not an original birth certificate. Announcers on CNN and MSNBC said that this is an original birth certificate, but that isn't true.8 Yes, it is true. As explained in Chapter One, the short-form birth certificate meets the legal definition of original. In the Federal Rules of Evidence, Article X, CONTENT OF WRITINGS,
8
Apfinc. "Lieutenant Colonel Terry Lakin Discusses the Denial of Access to Key Witnesses." YouTube. YouTube, 09 June 2010. Web. 29 July 2012. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv60KwoL9mo>.
1:22-1:38 8
RECORDINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS (informally known as the Best Evidence Rule), Rule 1001, Definitions That Apply to This Article, includes the definition of original. Rule 1001 (d) reads in part, An 'original' of a writing or recording means the writing or recording itself or any counterpart intended to have the same effect by the person who executed or issued it (emphasis added). Obama's short form birth certificate is produced by the Hawaiian Department of Health, the same office that maintains the vital records of births that occurred in the state. It is therefore a counterpart intended to have the same effect by the person who executed or issued it, and meets the criteria for being an original document as defined in the Best Evidence Rule. Oblivious to this fact and probably spurred on by his clueless attorney, Lakin claimed that the deficiency of the computer generated abstract is that it is missing the key identifiers of a hospital name and a doctor's signature.9 But the validity of a short form birth certificate, despite the missing key identifiers, has been covered in Chapter One. It is repeated here because of a particular fact that Lakin's supporters should find very troubling. Or they would, if they weren't so dishonest that they've determined to cling to this lie, regardless of how often it gets refuted or what inconsistencies are exposed. But whether birthers are willing to give up their lies or not, the fact of the matter is that Terry Lakin's own birth certificate is also lacking an attending physician's (or midwife's) signature. It also has no hospital administrator's signature, for that matter. In fact, the only signature it has is the stamped signature of the Colorado state registrar. Just like Obama's short form. But don't take my word for it. Terry Lakin's own birth certificate is available on the internet.10 The birther website American Patriot Foundation has posted an image of Terry Lakin's birth certificate,which I will share here, on the following page.
9
"Lieutenant Colonel Terry Lakin Discusses the Denial of Access to Key Witnesses." 2:10-2:22 To see Lakin's birth certificate on the American Patriot Foundation's website, please visit: http://www.safeguardourconstitution.com/images/stories/documents/apf02-tlakincertificateoflivebirth.pdf
10
10
As you will notice, there is no signature of any attending physician or hospital administrator. This is particularly odd since there are blocks which call for the signatures of both (18a and 20), but these have been filled with typewritten names, not signatures. So, again, despite Lakin's and his inept attorney's suggestion that a birth certificate must have the signature of the delivering physician, and claims that Lakin himself had to produce one, Lakin apparently doesn't even have one. Lakin's birth certificate is an unsigned hospital record photocopied onto a background and given a raised seal from the state of Colorado. You'll also remember that Lakin demanded that Obama's birth certificate must date back to 1961, the year Obama was born. Lakin's birth certificate surprise, surprise is dated in 1994, but Lakin was born in 1965. Yes, the hospital record that was used to create Lakin's birth certificate is dated 1965, but that hasn't been signed by anyone; it has signature blocks, but no signatures. It isn't difficult to imagine what the birthers would say if Obama's birth certificate looked like Lakin's. Obviously, Lakin's birth certificate is a poorly-crafted forgery. You Had Your Chance On March 30th, the day that the American Patriot Foundation released Lakin's factually bankrupt video, Lakin had an appointment to speak to his brigade commander, Colonel Gordon R. Roberts. I should not fail to point out that Colonel Roberts wears the Medal of Honor, the most esteemed award in the military. In fact, Colonel Roberts was the only Medal of Honor awardee on active duty at that time. While Colonel Roberts had been unable to make the appointment, Lakin met the brigade Executive Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Tsehai Crockett-Lynn. During his testimony at his court-martial, Lakin gave this account of his meeting with Colonel Crockett-Lynn: My counsel at the time [Paul Jensen] and I presented her with a letter that I had written to our Commander-in-Chief, asking him to validate that he was eligible to hold the office of Commander-in- Chief, and that I was
11
planning on disobeying orders until I received proper validation.11 This, of course, would include his orders to deploy. Upon learning of this, Colonel Roberts (according to his own testimony at Lakin's courtmartial) consulted with Staff Judge Advocate and prepared a counseling statement for Lakin, advising him that defying orders to deploy could carry serious consequences, including forfeiture of pay, imprisonment and dismissal from the service, which would result in a loss of pension and benefits Lakin would normally receive upon retirement. He then directed Lieutenant Colonel William Judd, Acting Commander of the DiLorenzo Clinic at the Pentagon, where Lakin was currently employed, to have Lakin report to Colonel Roberts' office at 1345 hours, March 31. Lakin essentially thumbed his nose at the summons with a terse and breathtakingly disrespectful reply for Colonel Roberts, You had your chance, without even including an appropriate honorific, such as Colonel or sir. (Lakin would later blame his attorney, Paul Jensen, for that response.) Lakin could have (and as it turns out, should have) been arrested for his insubordination, but Colonel Roberts is evidently a very patient man. Upon receiving word of Lakin's refusal, Colonel Roberts then sent the counseling statement to Lieutenant Colonel Judd to hand-deliver to Lakin along with written orders from Roberts commanding Lakin report to his office at 1700 hours. Again, Lakin was a no-show. After this second snub, Colonel Roberts summoned him a third time, this time, as Roberts testified, with the caveat that we'd have him escorted to my office if he failed to show. Faced with either reporting as ordered or being forcibly dragged there, Lakin finally reported to Colonel Roberts' office on April 1. And Colonel Roberts was able to communicate his concerns. His
11
United States v. Lieutenant Colonel Terrence L. Lakin. Scribd Inc. Army Trial Judiciary, First Judicial Circuit. 06 Jan. 2011. Print. page 123, lines 1-3. For a full transcript of the hearings prior to and the case of United States v. Lakin, please visit: http://www.scribd.com/doc/61504686/LTC-Terry-Lakin-Court-Martial-Trial-Transcript-of-ProceedingsDecember-14-15-2010
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testimony during Lakin's court-martial is especially interesting, as it shows Roberts' rationale behind his forbearance. I was concerned, potentially, about his mental health. This was aberrant behavior, something that I could not see anything like on his record. He had previously deployed to Afghanistan and had served a year there, and the commanders got concerned that potentially it was PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] or something else at work there, so my first concern was him. My second concern was whether or not he fully understood the legal ramifications for the proposed action that he was taking in not deploying. My third concern was his family, and if they fully understood what the probable consequences were if he continued with his proposed course of action. My last concern was his defense counsel, and primarily because I'd been made aware of internet postings that he'd posted, and that was certainly contrary to what you'd think defense counsel would advise him to do.12 Colonel Roberts seems to be a very patient and compassionate man. Lakin himself would give his own version of these events in an interview with Devvy Kidd, a columnist and staunch Lakin supporter who was substitute hosting for John Stokes of the Liberty Broadcasting Network. Never an effective speaker to begin with, Lakin sounds particularly sheepish even by his own standards as he stammers his way through this particular portion of the interview. It's as if he knows he's uttering a bald-faced lie, but can't help himself.
12
United States v. Lakin. The testimony of Colonel Gordon R. Roberts may be found from pages 264, line 6, to 273, line 9. http://www.scribd.com/doc/61504686/LTC-Terry-Lakin-Court-Martial-Trial-Transcript-of-Proceedings-December14-15-2010
13
Devvy Kidd: Well, eventually you were charged with, I believe -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- missing movement, disobeying orders and declining to meet with the brigadier [sic] commander. Is that correct? Terry Lakin: Right, when I, when I missed my movement date, the brigade commander called me up to, to talk to him, and I had never done anything, you know, even remotely close to this so, yeah, I was, I was very scared [emphasis added]. Uh, I didn't know whether he was going to have MPs waiting at his desk, you know, to take me in custody right then and there, or... I also didn't have any legal representation with me, and I didn't know that anything that I said to him, uh, would and could be used against me for additional charges, and so I, I, I probably made a mistake in not going up to report to see him by his orders. But, um, y'know that was just, y'know, in hindsight I probably should have gone to see him. But as it happened, the prosecution or the government, they pile on every charge they can against you, so they, despite the brigade commander only wanting to meet with me only once, he, he had told me three times to come up. And they certainly charged me with all those four [sic] counts [emphasis added]." Devvy Kidd: "Mm-hm, well, that's very common. The government, whether it's the military, they're going to throw everything they can at you, to see what sticks."13 It may be very common, but if Lakin is not a liar, then he's a mental incompetent who can't
13
"Interview of LTC Terry Lakin by Devvy Kidd." Interview of LTC Terry Lakin by Devvy Kidd. Terry Lakin Action Fund, 23 June 2011. Web. 23 July 2012. <http://www.terrylakinactionfund.com/tlafradio/96-tlafradio20110623a.html>. Interview is by Liberty Broadcasting Network
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remember the relevant details his own court-martial; something so important and recent should be better retained in memory. Perhaps Colonel Roberts' concerns for Lakin's mental health are justified. First, this did not happen when Lakin missed [his] movement date. His two (not three) instances of refusing to report to Colonel Roberts occurred on March 31, 2010. He was ordered to report to Fort Campbell for deployment by 1500 hours, on the 12th of April. Therefore, his defiance of Colonel Roberts happened thirteen days before his scheduled date to report to Fort Campbell. More importantly, Lakin was not charged with "disobeying orders" from Colonel Roberts four times. The charge sheet, found with the transcript of Lakin's court martial, consolidates Lakin's instances of disobeying orders under Charge II: VIOLATION OF THE UCMJ ARTICLE 92. Under Charge II, there are four specifications, one for each instance of disobeying orders. The first count of defying orders was when Lakin was charged with disobeying Lieutenant Colonel William Judd, who had ordered him to report to Colonel Gordon Roberts' office. LTC Judd had issued this command on his own authority as Acting Commander of the DiLorenzo Clinic at the Pentagon. It was then that Colonel Roberts issued written orders to Lakin, commanding him to report to his office later that day. That constituted the second specification, and that was the only instance of disobeying orders from Colonel Roberts. (It is worth pointing out that for sentencing purposes, Judge Lind ruled that these two separate instances of Lakin's insubordination were multiplicious, meaning that, for the purposes of sentencing but not for findings they would be treated as one charge.14) The third and fourth counts of disobeying orders did not involve Colonel Roberts, but were concerning his failure to report to Ft. Campbell to deploy with his unit and were orders from Colonel Peter McHugh. So, while he was charged with four counts of disobeying orders (though the Judge Lind ordered the fourth count dropped as an unreasonable multiplication of charges for the purposes of
14
United States v. Lakin, page 442, lines 14-21
15
findings15), he was charged with defying Colonel Roberts only once.16 Despite having served his sentence and been dismissed from the Army, Lakin still can't refrain from smearing a Medal of Honor awardee with the accusation of summoning him multiple times for the purpose of piling on charges. This was the man who gave him every possible chance to comply with his orders to deploy and who would have been well within his rights to have Lakin arrested for twice refusing to report to his office as ordered. On the subject of his arrest, it seems perplexing that Lakin cites his fear of being taken into custody as a reason for avoiding Colonel Roberts. First, at that time, he had only announced his intention to defy his orders to deploy, but hadn't yet done so; therefore, there would be no reason to have him arrested. Second, he plainly stated on his video that he was inviting his own court martial; getting arrested should have been his intent, or at least something he was prepared for. Ducking Colonel Roberts, in Lakin's own inimitable non-confrontational style, would also fly in the face of birthers' depiction of their hero Terry Lakin as a courageous patriot, even committing the nearblasphemy of likening him to the founding fathers.17 Choosing his personal dignity over defiance, Lakin finally wised up and reported to Colonel Roberts' office as ordered rather than be escorted. However, Colonel Roberts' attempts to steer him from his purpose were in vain. On the 12th of April, after deliberately missing his flight to Fort Campbell, Lakin instead reported to the Pentagon, his duty station prior to this deployment. If Lakin harbored any delusions about returning to work at the DiLorenzo Clinic after skipping out on his deployment, they were quickly dashed when his building pass to the Pentagon was confiscated, along
15
United States v. Lakin. Page 164, lines 11-12. Transcript at http://www.scribd.com/doc/61504686/LTC-TerryLakin-Court-Martial-Trial-Transcript-of-Proceedings-December-14-15-2010 16 United States v. Lakin. The charge sheets are not numbered pages on the document, but appear between pages 8 and 9. 17 LoneStar1776. "Book Review of OFFICER'S OATH by Terry Lakin - Http://www.safeguardourconstitution.com." YouTube. YouTube, 10 July 2012. Web. 30 July 2012. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSVAStGbgZQ>. Begin listening at the 13:00 mark.
16
Part One, Chapter Five with his government-issued laptop computer.
Despite his bold (if idiotic) assertion that all orders are illegal if Obama is constitutionally ineligible, Lakin's stance on defying orders was remarkably inconsistent. After ignoring his orders to report to Fort Campbell, he complied with orders to work at Walter Reed Hospital while awaiting court-martial. While working at Walter Reed, he also complied with the orders that forbade him from seeing patients; his activities were confined to administrative paper-pushing, which he performed as ordered, distasteful as it was to him. For all Lakin's reputed skill as a surgeon, it was wise to restrict him to non-essential clerical work; had he been allowed to work as a surgeon, Lakin might have decided in the middle of a life-saving procedure that his orders to perform the surgery were illegal and walked away from the operating table, leaving the patient to die there. Why not? He was willing to leave the troops in his own unit without a surgeon by refusing to deploy. Showtime at the Courthouse! Lakin was eventually served on July 22, 2010. Paul Jensen, Lakin's civilian defense counsel, would attempt to turn the hearings into a birther circus, but Judge (Colonel) Denise Lind would have none of it. While Lakin's first hearing on August 6, was merely an arraignment Lakin was charged with Missing Movement, Failure to Obey a Lawful Order from a Superior Commissioned Officer, and Dereliction of Duty it was at the next hearing, on September 2nd that the fun began. The defense had a most ambitious list of witnesses and evidence to be subpoenaed. Aside from an excessively large list of character witnesses, which the judge ordered to be pared down, the civilian defense attorney Paul Jensen wished to call in Alan Keyes and President Obama. Further, he requested all documents pertaining to Obama's admission and applications for financial aid from Punahoe School, Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard University. He also called for all documents pertaining to Obama's birth from the Hawaii Department of Health and various custodians of such records, including 17
Dr. Chiyome Fukino. These documents and witnesses were necessary, according to the defense, to determine the President's eligibility to serve. However, the prosecuting attorney Captain Jonathan Kobrinski contended that determination of the president's eligibility was completely irrelevant, because the legality of orders, contrary to the impression Lakin and Jensen sought to cultivate, does not depend on the eligibility of those higher up in the chain of command. Citing case law, specifically United States v. New, Captain Kobrinski maintained that any order which does not compel an obviously illegal act is presumed to be a lawful order. AR 600-20 and case law makes it very clear that command authority remains in the subordinates, to the extent that it cannot be interfered with by, and does not depend on, some sort of constant rule of some higher authority. Captain Kobrinski further maintained that even if the defense were correct that all orders in the military originate with the commander-in-chief and even if Obama were ineligible, the orders given to Lakin must still be presumed lawful, under the de facto officer doctrine, which clearly holds that if an officer is acting under the color of authority, regardless of whether some questions about the legitimacy of that authority, acts under color of that authority, they are presumed to be lawful. Incidentally, the de facto officer doctrine would also counter the suggestions of birthers that Obama must not only be removed from office, but everything he's done as President while in office must somehow be undone; The Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, must be nullified, along with the Supreme Court appointments of Sotomayor and Kagan. Balderdash. Under the de facto officer doctrine, even if a sitting president were found ineligible, the acts he performed while under the color of office would still remain in effect. But Jensen was sticking to his guns. Obama's ineligibility would render all orders given in the military to be illegal, reiterating the claim that Terry Lakin had made in his video released on March 30. Jensen also introduced a hitherto unheard line of reasoning to bolster this idea. Referring to the 18
President's speech delivered at West Point on December 1, 2009, in which President Obama announced his plan to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan18, Jenson argued that the president's ineligibility would mean that he would not have the authority to order the additional troops; therefore, any military orders given to advance this intent would be illegal. He confirmed this position in his exchange with Judge Lind. Judge Lind: Defense, I'm a little confused on one issue. I understand the theory - correct me if I'm mistaken here - that the theory that you are positing to the court is that there is a chain of command; that these three officers gave orders that were in furtherance of a larger presidential directive, the one that you want me to take judicial notice of that the President outlined at West Point the 30,000 additional Afghan troops that orders in furtherance of that objective, if the President is not qualified under the Constitution to be the President, under a trickle-down theory that orders in furtherance of that are illegal, and service members have no duty to obey. Is that correct? Jensen: That is correct, Your Honor. 19 Jensen also confirmed that this was a distinct position from his stance that all orders in the military would be illegal if the president were ineligible. Subpoenas of the requested witnesses and documents were therefore necessary to determine whether or not Lakin was truly defying lawful orders. It becomes unclear whether Jensen's primary concern was for his client, or for the birther agenda. Even if Lakin were found guilty despite Obama's supposed ineligibility (which Jensen seemed
18
Obama, Barack H., speaker "Obama's Address to the Nation on the Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan, December 2009." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 01 Dec. 2009. Web. 24 July 2012. <http://www.cfr.org/pakistan/obamas-address-nation-way-forward-afghanistan-pakistan-december-2009/p20871>. 19 United States v. Lakin. Page 38, lines 10-18. Transcript: http://www.scribd.com/doc/61504686/LTC-Terry-LakinCourt-Martial-Trial-Transcript-of-Proceedings-December-14-15-2010
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oddly convinced of) ascertaining this would certainly be relevant to the sentencing phase of the trial as a mitigating factor in determining Lakin's sentence. Determining the President's ineligibility had much greater magnitude than the liberty and career of Terry Lakin. Jensen bloviated away, insisting that all of the military, indeed all of the country, needed the soidisant question of Obama's eligibility resolved. Your Honor, if the President is ineligible, we need to know that. You need to know that. Colonel Lakin needs to know that. The government needs to know that. The American people need to know that. That Jensen was more interested in the birther agenda than exonerating his client becomes even more apparent with his argument that the judge should just go ahead and let the discovery go forward, and the court can settle the question of admissibility later. After all, birth records and college transcripts are very easy to get. Institutions, whether they be a state or a large college, are generally understood to receive such records requests on a continuing basis, that's why they have offices set up to produce records. In the normal course of business, in response to a subpoena, the records will be produced, without inconvenience to anyone.... When Judge Lind requested that Jensen confirm this bizarre proposition, that if it is easy to get the records, there should be a distinction in the relevance and necessity determination than if it is hard to get the records, Jensen maintained that it was. It should have some bearing on your analysis, because we're talking about something that's very convenient and easy to address. Of course the court should do that. That way, even if Lakin gets hung out to dry, at least Jensen will the records that he was just dying to get a hold of. And after all, what's the big deal anyway? If the court errs, and permits the discovery, what is the loss? What is the loss? What is the harm to anyone? The judge then recessed the court while she prepared her ruling on the defense's request to subpoena those records. The prosecution felt no need to add anything further after Jensen's argument. 20
Despite all this bluster and ballyhoo about a break in the chain of command that would supposedly render all military orders to be legal, the fact of the matter remains that military authority does not depend upon the solvency of the chain of command. The very idea is an affront to common sense. Would a soldier in basic training suddenly no longer have to take orders from his drill sergeant if, by some freak accident, something happened at his brigade headquarters which took out his brigade commander? If not, why not? It's a break in the chain of the command, isn't it? And let's not forget, despite his confidence that Obama would be proven ineligible, not even Jensen claimed to know this for a fact. Imagine the difficulty the military would have in enforcing discipline if anyone could simply start defying orders merely by raising a question as to the congruency of the chain of command. It's too preposterous for consideration. But it was important for Jensen to attempt to create this impression, that Obama is not constitutionally eligible, and that somehow makes all orders in the military illegal. This would justify the need to subpoena all the President's records he wants. Something, anything that can be distorted into an argument that President is not eligible to hold office. The birther agenda has nothing to do with protecting the Constitution, a document which they seem to know very little about; it is about their hatred of the President. If birthers are outraged over Lakin being denied discovery, they miss the point that even if Obama were not eligible, Terry Lakin would not have been exonerated. After listening to both sides present their views on the subject of the legality of orders issued in the military should the President have been ineligible, Judge Lind recessed the court, and delivered her ruling when the court reconvened. Her decision, as related to the question of a need to determine the president's eligibility, are condensed here. Citing the conclusions reached in United States v. New, Judge Lind clarified that a subordinate's obligation to disobey an illegal (or unlawful) order applies only to an order that is palpably illegal on 21
its face and applies only to a positive act that constitutes a crime. In other words, an unlawful order refers to an order to perform an obviously illegal act. Reasonable orders, such as Report to my office or Report to Fort Campbell are not orders to perform anything illegal; therefore, the subordinate must assume they are lawful orders, not defy them because of some break in the chain of command, even if the subordinate could prove that a sitting president is constitutionally ineligible. Moreover, the defense's suggestion that a sitting president's ineligibility negates an officer's authority to issue orders, Judge Lind called an erroneous view of the law. Similarly, the idea that military subordinates would no longer have to obey orders was equally erroneous. Refusal to obey orders on the grounds that they were in furtherance of some (in the subordinate's mind) unconstitutional presidential policy, as Judge Lind pointed out, is not unprecedented. She gave two recent examples, United States v. Huet-Vaughn and United States v. New. In both cases, evidence to address the constitutionality of the policies themselves was not permitted. Such evidence was irrelevant in proving that both Huet-Vaughn and New defied orders that were patently lawful. Simply put, it is not for the troops to decide the constitutionality of military function, then disobey orders if they decide that the use of the armed services is in violation of the Constitution; an unlawful order is an order that is unlawful on its face, an order to do something which is obviously criminal. But if birthers still want to believe this idiocy, that all orders in the military are illegal if the President is not eligible, they need only listen to Terry Lakin on the subject, in his own words, which he gave during his court martial. When questioned by Judge Lind, Lakin admitted that he knew at the time that his orders to report to Colonel Roberts' office were lawful orders. Judge Lind: Did you understand at the time that failure to report, both for Specification 1 at 1345 to Colonel Roberts, and for Specification 2, the order to report at 1700 to Colonel Roberts's office, were lawful 22
Part One, Chapter Five orders? [emphasis added] Lakin: Yes, ma'am.
Judge Lind: Do you understand now that they are lawful orders? Lakin: Yes, ma'am. Judge Lind: Did you believe then that you had the duty to obey those orders? Lakin: Yes, ma'am. Judge Lind: Do you believe now that you had a duty to obey those orders? Lakin: Yes, ma'am, I should have.20 So, contrary to his claim that if he [Obama] is ineligible, then my orders, and indeed all orders, are illegal, Lakin concedes that he understood, at the time and now, that the orders he received were lawful orders. Lakin makes it even clearer during the sentencing phase of his courtmartial, when examined by his civilian defense counsel, Neal Puckett. (In an uncharacteristically sensible move, Lakin had dismissed Jensen. And with Jensen's departure, all conceit that Terry Lakin actually acted appropriately in defiance of supposedly illegal orders went with him.) Puckett: You didn't believe, as your orders were written, they were illegal, did you? Lakin: No, I had Puckett: So no, you didn't believe they were illegal, but you were concerned that there's still this Constitutional issue, so you used the occasion of these orders to raise the level of visibility on the question, did you not?
20
United States v. Lakin, page 137, line 11-20
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Lakin: I did. I think that this is such an important question, our country needs an answer.21 So, while Lakin is telling the world that all orders have their origin with the Commander-inChief, as handed down through the chain of command, he knew for a fact that wasn't true. Birthers should not be expected to resent being lied to by their hero. They've been swallowing and perpetuating lies since the inception of the movement. And by his own admission, Lakin's only reason for attempting to push this tripe onto the American people was to raise visibility on the birther issue. This is further confirmed in this same exchange between Lakin and Puckett. Lakin also confirmed that he knew as anyone in the military should know that command authority does not depend upon the eligibility of the Commander-in-Chief, or any other higher-up in the chain of command. Puckett: Because you've had the sage and experienced advice of Major Kemkes and Mr. Puckett, isn't it true that you now understand you really knew at the time - that Army commanders have their own authority to issue orders? Isn't that right? [emphasis added] Lakin: I do understand that. Puckett: And when Colonel Roberts says, "Come see me," what that means is, "Come see me," right? Lakin: It does. Puckett: His authority as the commander exists completely independently, you now understand, from the authority, or lack thereof, of the current holder of the Commander-in-Chief slot, isn't that right? Lakin: I do understand that.22
21 22
United States v. Lakin, page 419, lines 1-6 United States v. Lakin, page 424, lines 10-20
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Puckett then addressed Lakin's insultingly disrespectful response to Colonel Roberts, which was blamed on Jensen. You never told Colonel Roberts, 'You had your chance,' did you? Puckett asked. The gentleman is a Medal of Honor recipient, Lakin replied. No, I would never disrespect him in that way.23 Of course not. Lakin only disrespects him by ignoring his orders, and smearing him in interviews, but he wouldn't disrespect him by telling him that he missed his chance. Having abandoned his inane claims that an ineligible President makes all military orders illegal and whatever designs he may have had of cracking open the President's records to find something, anything that could be distorted into an argument that Obama was not a natural born citizen, Lakin was basically left trying to impress upon the court that he had learned his lesson. When Puckett asked him if he was afraid to go to war, Lakin replied he was not. I would deploy tomorrow. That's my job. That's my duty. Pressing the point, Puckett alluded to a recording of a radio interview that was played earlier in the trial, in which Lakin was asked, Would you do this again? and Lakin confirmed that he would, Without a doubt. Referring to that same question, Puckett asked, What's your answer today? I would not do this again, Lakin replied, citing poor information as the reason for his earlier response, and that he has better information now. Puckett then asked, Why should these good people [the jurors] let you keep your job? Because I don't want it to end this way, Lakin replied. I want to continue to serve the military. I think I have done a lot of training, and I think I have unique skills that the Army can use, especially on the battlefield; my family practice experience is ideal for that setting. My osteopathic skills, manipulating people and using that modality to help people out with muscular-skeletal issues.
23
United States v. Lakin, page 420, lines 11-13
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I've been trained in acupuncture now, and the use of battlefield acupuncture is incredible for pain management, for stress and psychiatric issues on the battlefield. I don't know anybody that has my training in family practice, occupational and environmental medicine and acupuncture skills, and being a flight surgeon who has been on numerous deployments. It crushed me not to be on the deployment, and I feel that I cheated myself out of a deployment. I'm ready. I can serve the Army. I can be on a plane tomorrow and deploy. I would truly do that. Such a shame Lakin was willing to deprive our troops in Afghanistan of all this expertise, leaving the unprepared (by his own admission) but dutiful Major Dobson to pick up the slack at a moment's notice. It's staggering that anyone in the military could support Lakin. He knew his orders were lawful he admitted this but he decided to pretend otherwise just to advance a lunatic conspiracy theory, and was willing to leave our troops without a surgeon with all those wonderful skills he just listed. Sickening. Absolutely sickening. And he would have us believe that it crushed him to miss his deployment. After leading Lakin to renounce every bad decision he had made, including his disrespectful response to Colonel Roberts (which was blamed on Jensen), Puckett asked Lakin about his determination to remain in the Army. Puckett: What are you willing to do to continue to be a flight surgeon in the Army? What price are you willing to pay? Is there any limit? Lakin: No. I would deploy at any time. I'm deployable. Puckett: How about punishment? Is there any limit on the punishment you'd be willing to serve to keep your job in the Army?
26
Part One, Chapter Five Lakin: No. Puckett: It is judgment day, isn't it? Lakin: Of course it is.
Puckett: You've invited this court-martial, so you invite the sentence, don't you? Lakin: Yes. Puckett: Whatever these people say is right is right, isn't it? Lakin: It is. Puckett: Are we done disobeying orders, Lieutenant Colonel Lakin? Lakin: Yes, we are. Puckett: Forever? Lakin: Yes.24 So, rather than play the birther martyr to the full, defiantly insisting on the justness of his actions, Lakin admitted he was wrong and opted to beg for mercy. Worse, he admitted in court that he knew the entire time that his orders were legal, despite his claim that if Obama were ineligible, then my orders, and indeed all orders, are illegal, because all orders have their origin with the commanderin-chief, as handed down through the chain of command. And while the jury of his peers was merciful, it was not so magnanimous as to simply let Lakin go on his merry way and continue to serve. This chapter has already run long, and it would not be possible to do justice to Captain Jonathan Kobrinski's masterful closing argument which took up an even eight pages in the transcript. Those interested are encouraged to read it.25 In the court transcript which I have been referencing, the
24 25
United States v. Lakin, page 429, lines 3-18 United States v. Lakin, Korbrinski's closing argument is found on page 455, line 8 to page 464, line 7,Transcript:
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prosecution's closing argument beginning on page 455, line 8 and ends on page 464, line 7. Relentlessly, he drove the point home that Lakin's sole purpose was drawing attention to the eligibility non-issue, that he knew what he was getting into, and was willing to leave the troops in his own unit without a surgeon for the sake of a political ploy. The accused earned a dismissal when he turned his back on his duties as a soldier and as an officer. He turned his back on his unit and on the United States Army. The essence of being a soldier is when you receive an order that is lawful you might disagree, but once you understand it is an order you put aside your personal misgivings and you execute. He is not a soldier. He will not be a soldier. Ordinarily, expressing sympathy for Neal Puckett as Lakin's defense attorney would be akin to expressing sympathy for Johnny Cochran; how do you feel sorry for someone who's defending the guilty? But Mr. Puckett deserves credit for willing to take over the case that Paul Jensen had reduced to shipwreck. Essentially, he depicted Lakin as a dutiful but nave soldier who was momentarily duped by the birther movement, but has learned his lesson and should get another chance. Again, passing the blame for Lakin's actions on the bad advice of Paul Jensen. That suggestion, however, rings decidedly hollow in light of the fact that Lakin has published a book in an effort to capitalize on his notoriety. While he did not get the twenty-four months that the prosecution requested, Lakin was sentenced to six months in Leavenworth and dismissed from service. Aftermath Despite Lakin's cowardice and dishonesty laid bare or perhaps because of it he is revered by birthers to this day. The outspoken and vulgar Ann Barnhardt, for instance, produced a video giving a little speech in which she practically canonized Lakin.26 This "stalwart patriot and true hero," Barnhardt adoringly assures us, "will go down in history and will be remembered for centuries to come as one of
http://www.scribd.com/doc/61504686/LTC-Terry-Lakin-Court-Martial-Trial-Transcript-of-Proceedings-December-14-152010 26 AnnBarnhardt. "Ann-Barnhardt-Discusses-Terry-Lakin.flv." YouTube. YouTube, 17 July 2011. Web. 30 July 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZaK2pDKSMY>.
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the first men to stand against the Obama regime and as the Obama regime's first domestic political prisoner." Lakin, she claims, "ensured and guaranteed that history will not be able to look back at our culture and ask, 'Was there not a single decent American citizen willing to stand up against the Obama regime? Did these stupid fools just sit and watch as their country was taken over by an obvious fraud and not one of them said a word?'" She further pronounced him "the proxy representative to all loyal, intelligent, alert, moral Americans." Amidst all this sycophantic gushing (and redundant expressions, like "proxy representative," stupid fools and "ensured and guaranteed") was her condemnation of Obama's "truly psychopathic mental comportment." To illustrate her point, she created an analogy to tell the story from the usurper Obama's perspective. In her rather vapid metaphor, she likened Obama's role in the Lakin odyssey to that of a new employee in a prestigious company in a job that requires a security clearance. However, due to an oversight, the new employee was hired before the corporation could collect the employee's birth certificate, and if the birth certificate wasn't forthcoming, the secretary of the secretary of the secretary of the person in charge of security clearances would lose their job and face felony charges which would likely result in prison time. In her insipid and inaccurate illustration, the "new employee" obviously represents President Obama, while Lakin is the secretary of the secretary of the secretary. Not producing a birth certificate and allowing an utterly innocent person to go to prison, according to Barnhardt, would only be the response of a psychopath. The analogy fails, however, because Obama had produced a document that is considered self-authenticating and prima facie proof of his birth in Hawaii; therefore, there was no clerical error that resulted in a failure to file the employee's birth certificate. Furthermore, unlike the secretary of the secretary of the secretary in Barnhardt's illustration, Terry Lakin is no innocent bystander. Since Obama had produced a birth certificate, and it could have been only Lakin's stupidity or dishonesty behind his obstinate refusal to see it as such that caused him 29
to disobey orders, the only way this analogy would even remotely resemble Lakin's situation is if the new employee had actually produced a valid birth certificate, but the secretary of the secretary of the secretary insisted it was not legitimate, despite what U.S. law says, and stubbornly refused to do their job until their own arbitrary and artificial standards of a valid birth certificate were met. Under such circumstances, the secretary of the secretary of the secretary of the head of the security clearance records would deserve to be fired. And if this unaccountable refusal to do their job resulted in this secretary being brought up on criminal charges, convicted, and sentenced to jail, then he has only himself to blame. But unconcerned for the lies she is perpetuating, Barnhardt tells us that "by taking his heroic stand, by truly living out the words of his oath," Terry Lakin supposedly uncovered the magnitude of corruption in our government, our military "and in the so-called press, which we now know for a certainty is nothing more than a paid propaganda service, whose sole function is to perpetually fellate the Obama regime." This crude metaphor from Barnhardt is indeed ironic, considering her obsequious and effusive rhapsodizing of Terry Lakin in this video. It's a good thing that her guest spot on the Terry Lakin Action Fund radio show was done over the phone rather than in person. Otherwise Ann Barnhardt would have had little to say; it's difficult to talk with your mouth full. While Lakin was serving his sentence, birthers continued to portray him as a martyr to the cause. Lakin's brother Dr. Greg Lakin had appeared on Andrea Shea King's radio show, basically to bemoan the fact that Lakin was languishing in prison. And it was during this show that yet another aspect of Terry Lakin's dishonesty would be exposed, this time through the wiles of a kindly but cagey gent known as Fogbow Foggy. He called into the Andrea Shea King show and, in his own seemingly innocuous way, single-handedly tripped up Greg Lakin into selling out his brother. Priceless! 30
On the phone, Fogbow Foggy sounds harmless enough. Perhaps that's why Greg Lakin and Andrea Shea King were drawn in so effortlessly. I have a question for Greg, Foggy said. Doesn't Terry have a daughter that was born in Hawaii? He does, Greg replied. He was at Shofield Barracks for many years, at the military base there as a physician. His daughter was born in Hawaii. The next question seemed so obvious that Greg Lakin and Andrea Shea King should really be ashamed of themselves. So, I'm wondering why it probably would have made his appeal to the public more powerful if he had gone ahead and gotten a long-form birth certificate for his daughter. If he could order one today, y'know, like everybody wants Obama to do, and pay ten or fifteen bucks to order the long-form birth certificate, and then show it to people and say, 'I got my own daughter's longform birth certificate. How come Obama can't get his?' Did he ever try that? You know, he did, Greg replied, oblivious to what he was just admitting. He tried to do it through the mail, and I actually tried to do it personally when I was over there A very interesting disclosure, Greg. So, while Terry Lakin was complaining ad nauseum about these so-called key identifiers that are absent from Obama's short form, neither Greg nor Terry were able to obtain a long form for Terry's own child, who was born in the same state. Yet, somehow, Terry Lakin demands that Obama produce a long form, when the short form is all he was all he was able to get for his own child. Foggy then posted a link in Andrea Shea King's chatroom, from the state of Hawaii about a social program for ethnic Hawaiians called Hawaiian Home Lands. Foggy was specifically referring to the section which read, "Although original birth certificates (Certificates of Live Birth) [long form] are preferred for their greater detail, the State Department of Health (DOH) no longer issues Certificates of Live Birth. When a request is made for a copy of a birth certificate, the DOH issues a 31
Part One, Chapter Five Certification of Live Birth [short form].27
If they [ethnic Hawaiians] can't get a long form birth certificate, and if Terry couldn't get a long form birth certificate for his own daughter, then how is President Obama supposed to get a long form birth certificate for himself? Right, Greg replied. Well, that's a good question, Andrea Shea King agreed. Yes, indeed. It certainly is a good question. So, Terry Lakin, for all his demanding that Obama produce a long-form birth certificate, with a doctor's signature and name of the hospital, could not get one for his own child. Well, I think that's something that's fairly recent within the last few years, because it's always been before y'know I understand we've all gone to electronic records now, but Foggy then pointed out that Washington State gives a wallet-sized birth certificate now, and North Carolina, like Hawaii, no longer gives a long form birth certificate. Having driven the point home, Foggy then twisted the knife. I just don't understand how President Obama could get unless they put him above the law that says that you can't get a long form birth certificate any more. I don't see how he could possibly get a long form birth certificate. Marco Ciovanni, who had been in attendance but not participating, could finally take no more. He broke in and attempted a bit of spin control, asserting that the birth certificate is just part of the equation. Except that anyone looking objectively at Terry Lakin's videos knows perfectly well that it's all about the birth certificate. And Greg had just been lamenting about how Obama had just been vacationing in Hawaii and evidently couldn't be bothered to drag himself over to the health department and get a long-form birth certificate.
27
"Applying for Hawaiian Home Lands." Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. State of Hawaii, 2005. Web. 29 July 2012. <http://hawaii.gov/dhhl/applicants/appforms/applyhhl>.
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For those who are worried about the damage this disclosure might have done to the cause, not to worry. The next day, Andrea Shea King commented on the stir that her show with Greg Lakin had caused, and decided she needed to do some editing. Here are her comments on the subject, and she evidently takes great pride in her growing editing skills. Well, you know, last night's show if you missed last night's show, you, uh, missed a very good show. We had, um, uh, Lieutenant Colonel [sic] Terry Lakin's brother, Dr. Greg Lakin on with us, along with um, uh, Marco Ciovanni um, who has started the trust fund for Dr. Terry Lakin's family to help support them while he's serving his sentence at Leavenworth, six month's sentence over at Leavenworth. And there was quite a bit of controversy over it last night, or about the show. A lot of hubbub over this birth certificate thing and, and editing shows and you know, like I said, since last night's show about Lieutenant Colonel Terry Lakin in Leavenworth apparently, there was a lot of talk about it today. So I did a little editing. I'm getting pretty good at this. I'm getting pretty good at editing (30:26 at January 21, 2011) Andrea Shea King doesn't seem to be able to pull of lying with the imperturbability of Joe Farrah. When Joe lies, he does it in a matter-of-fact, deadpan style, without the slightest hint that his mendacity creates any kind of moral dilemma with him. Andrea, however, can't quite keep the coquettishness out of her voice as she coyly intimates that she performed a damage-controlling hatchet job on Foggy's phone call. But I have no doubt that Andrea's association with WND will soon having her telling lies with the best. Though she might want to be a little more cautious about what she admits on the air. I Get Email When I learned about all this, I was disgusted. Here was Terry Lakin, demanding Obama produce a long-form birth certificate, while he was unable to get one for his own daughter, who was born in Hawaii. So, I dragged my Facebooked self over to the Terry Lakin Action Fund page, and 33
posted a response to someone's comment that Terry Lakin had acted with courage: Terry Lakin did not act with courage. He acted with dishonesty. He claimed (inaccurately) that only Obama's birth certificate with a doctor's signature was valid but his brother revealed in a call in radio show that Terry Lakin was unable to produce a long form birth certificate with a doctor's signature for his own daughter, who was born in Hawaii. So, in other words, as Terry Lakin's brother [Dr. Greg Lakin] revealed, Terry was demanding something from Obama that he himself couldn't get. Marco, recognizing the danger of this revelation, handily edited that portion out of the radio show. I wasn't sure what type of response I would get, probably just have my post removed when the administrator of the Terry Lakin Action Fund page returned. I certainly was not expecting to get an email from the Trustees of the Terry Lakin Action Fund themselves. And it seemed that Greg Lakin had erred about which of Terry's children was actually born in Hawaii. According to this letter from the Trustees, it was not Lakin's daughter, but his son. Here is their email to me, interspersed with my open response. I really wish you and others would drop this continual nonsense about Terry's son and the one, lone, pointless caller. My response: Yes, I'm sure the trustees would very much like for that embarrassing episode on the Andrea Shea King show to be forgotten. First of all, the caller on that day (Andrea Shey [sic] King Show) was blatantly trying to waste our time. We cut him off because of his drolling [sic] and continually [sic], pointless drivel about the [birth] certificates. This was confirmed by his response the next day when we 34
edited out his nonsensical discussion. He reveled in how he had 'bamboozled us' when in fact is was he that sounded stupid. My response: Foggy did not sound stupid, and you know it. And you did not cut him off because of his pointing out that long-form birth certificates are no longer issued in other states besides Hawaii. You cut him off (and edited his discussion) because he quite deftly caused Greg Lakin to expose his brother's hypocrisy: namely that he insists that Obama provide a long form birth certificate, because (as Terry would have us believe) only a birth certificate with an attending physician's or midwife's signature and the name of the hospital is valid. Greg had just gotten through complaining that Obama was on vacation in Hawaii, and that he wouldn't pick up a long-form birth certificate, yet neither he nor Terry could get a long form for Terry's own son. Terry knows for a fact that Hawaii no longer issues them. And it bears repeating that Terry Lakin's own birth certificate doesn't have an attending physician's signature either. Their email to me continues: By the way, there are no 'rights to be heard' on radio. It was ASK's show and she is free to edit as she wishes. My response: Thank you for admitting that the discussion was edited. And while there are no rights to be heard on the radio, there are laws against presenting someone in a false light. Which is what you did to Foggy. So that you and others will stop wasting your time and our time about this here is your answer: 1. We did pursue a long form BC for Terry's son. Hawaii has made the process so arduous (you have to through the Lt. Governor's office) that neither Terry, nor anyone with legal authority or time to do so, has had a 35
chance to go to HI (which you have to do) to do all the paperwork. So Foggy is correct and you are demanding from Obama what Terry Lakin could not get for his own son (or for himself, for that matter)? Thank you for confirming that. Although the whole business of having to go to the Lieutenant Governor's office sounds a bit suspicious. 2. In any case the entire argument is fallacious and [a] huge waste of time. It matters not one iota if Terry possesses the LFBC for his son (they did have one but it was lost in a move). This has NOTHING to do with Obama's eligibility. All we care about is if Obama has one (which he has not produced to any legally viable level). And that is incorrect. The short form is as legally viable as the long form (see Part One, Chapter One: Ignoring His Birth Certificate). They are both considered self-authenticating and prima facie evidence establishing Obama's birth in the state of Hawaii. Neither document is considered more credible than the other. But you already know that, since that's all the Hawaii Department of Health was willing to give to Terry Lakin for his own son. 3. And, in contrast to Obama you can actually go to the hospital where Terry's son was born, there is ONE social security number, a clear residence path, there are baby pictures, family pictures, school records, team rosters, parties, friends, etc. all of whom have 100's of pictures, memories, and related parts of his son's history, and his son is only 12. You can also go to the hospital where Obama was born. If there's so many social security numbers, why hasn't Orly publicized them all? Orly has shown repeatedly that she has no reservations about posting social security numbers. So, where are the rest of these social security numbers, if she's so certain that they're all his? Obama also has baby pictures, family pictures, childhood friends the 36
recollections of more than a dozen of his childhood friends are recorded in a compilation called Our Friend Barry, by Constance Ramos, available at Amazon books. It's unclear what point Marco is trying to make by pointing out that Lakin's son is only twelve years old, but if it's to suggest that Obama should also have hundreds of pictures, also, I couldn't disagree more. Apparently, Marco needs to be reminded that Obama was born in 1961. Taking pictures during his childhood wasn't the simple matter of whipping out a cellphone, taking a picture to be downloaded to a computer. Photography involved getting out a cumbersome camera, complete with film which came in 12 exposure, 24 exposure and 36 exposure rolls. (And don't forget the flash cubes for those indoor shots!) Then the film had to be taken somewhere to be developed (unless you owned your own darkroom). Of course a twelve-year-old child today would have an ample amount of photographs. Taking and saving pictures has never been easier. I'm not sure why Marco would miss this obvious point. Perhaps the interview with Greg Lakin on Andrea Shea King's radio show has him very nervous. 4. Lastly, the argument, as stated, a [sic] logically flawed. I could ask you if you are qualified to build a nuclear reactor. Your inability to do so does not render all nuclear engineers ineligible. The idiocy of this comparison is going a long way to convince me that the trustees have been spooked by Dr. Greg Lakin's embarrassing blunder. The ability to build nuclear reactors depends upon one's education, resources and inclination (and I'm sure there's a permit involved there somewhere), not something that is evenly distributed by laws and nature. Obtaining a birth certificate is merely a matter of having one's birth documented and kept on file by the Department of Health. It's not a matter of skills and resources. If you're a U.S. Citizen by birth, you can get one. It's a very democratic process; we all have equal rights to it. We do not have equal rights to the ability to build a nuclear reactor. If Terry Lakin cannot produce what he considers a valid birth certificate for his own son (or himself), then 37
he is being dishonest when he tries to pretend that it's so easy for Obama to produce one. Unless, as Foggy points out, you consider that Obama is above the law and able to get birth records that are denied others. The email concludes, Please, please, please stop this re-hashing this [sic] story. Oh, please, please, please? Sounds a bit desperate, Marco. I should stop rehashing this story? I should stop pointing out that Terry Lakin is a hypocrite and a liar? Stop pointing out that Terry Lakin flushed his military career not out of principle but as a political ploy and that he was willing to leave the troops in his own unit in Afghanistan without a surgeon? No. I won't do that. No matter how vehemently you beg, I will not please, please, please stop exposing Terry Lakin for the fraud, liar and coward that he is. And that concludes my response to Marco. But as much as Terry Lakin's handlers if there is more than one, since the only one I've ever spoken to is Marco Ciovanni would like to pretend that phone call never happened, the good birther debunkers at The Fogbow managed to save on audio and transcribe the entire conversation.28 Rebel Without A Clue While Terry Lakin did not inspire a wave of insubordination within the military to protest Obama's supposed ineligibility, there is one pale imitator who deserves mention. On Saturday, August 14, 2011, an Air Force Staff Sergeant named Daryn John Moran announced to the world via his blog that he no longer obey[s] the Commander-in-Chief because he has no credible proof that he is an American.29 He further claimed that he had been AWOL from duty
28
An MP3 of Fogbow Foggy's original call may be downloaded at: http://www.thefogbow.com/snd/Foggy_Original_Call.mp3 The version that appears after Andrea Shea King's editing may be downloaded here: http://www.thefogbow.com/snd/Foggy_Edited_Call.mp3 The transcription of the call (with the portions excised by Andrea Shea King may be found here: http://www.thefogbow.com/docs/transcript.pdf 29 Moran, Daryn J. "Daryn J. Moran | TheBlaze.com." Breaking News and Opinion on The Blaze. TheBlaze.com, 11 Aug. 2011. Web. 22 Jan. 2012. <http://www.theblaze.com/users/daryn-j-moran/>.
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since Thursday (the date of this entry fell on a Saturday) and that he wouldn't be returning to active duty, preferring to defend the Constitution from our domestic enemy B. Obama, calling the Certificate of Live Birth a proven forgery. Moran's advent in the birther movement would meet with mixed reviews from the birthers. Some were enthusiastic. Others much less so. One of this most vocal supporters was Pastor James David Manning, who called for his listeners to support him30, even suggesting that Moran is prepared to lead a movement.31 If it seems unclear that Manning is suggesting that Daryn Moran aspired to become leader of the birther movement, Moran's correspondence with The Post & Email was much less ambiguous. As things stand, B. Obama is on notice. I plan to lead all true Americans in the fight to expose his lies, remove him from his job before the next election, and when feasible under the rule of law, arrest him. Nobody has stepped out to be the leader against B. Obama. I will do it.32 And where Lakin ultimately proved during his court-martial that he was unwilling to become the martyr for the birther cause, Moran would not be deterred by threats of arrest. It's simple, he wrote on his blog. Arrest B. Obama or arrest me. So, enter Daryn Moran, AWOL from the Air Force in protest of the President's ineligibility, unafraid and not to be dissuaded by fear of arrest. Unfortunately for this hero and aspiring leader of the birther movement, the Air Force itself would publicly disclose a version of events that would cast Moran's principled and fearless stand in a different light. As reported in the Air Force Times, Moran was not AWOL, but already on approved leave and outprocessing pending his discharge from the Air
30
Manning, James D. "An Appeal To Support Staff Sergeant Dayrn Moran and Activist James Borden." An Appeal To Support Staff Sergeant Dayrn Moran and Activist James Borden | ATLAH Media Network. ATLAH Media Network, 20 Sept. 2011. Web. 11 June 2012. <http://atlah.org/2011/09/20/an-appeal-to-support-staff-sergeant-dayrn-moran-and-activistjames-borden/> 31 Manning, James D. "Update On Staff Sergeant Daryn Moran." ATLAH Media Network. ATLAH Media Network, 25 Aug. 2011. Web. 11 June 2012. <http://atlah.org/2011/08/25/update-on-staff-sergeant-daryn-moran/> 32 Rondeau, Sharon. "Update from Former Air Force SSgt Daryn Moran Following His Discharge|The Post & Email." The Post & Email|News. Wordpress, 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2012. <http://www.thepostemail.com/2011/08/23/update-fromformer-air-force-ssgt-daryn-moran-following-his-discharge/>.
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Force.33 So, while Moran would claim he was absent without leave, the Air Force itself would say otherwise. This disclosure prompted waves of derision from the anti-birthers, and probably some cringes among birthers. The anti-birthers gleefully left taunting comments on YouTube videos in which Moran was featured. In the wake of this damaging revelation, Moran attempted a bit of spin control. He claimed was expected to report but defiantly stayed home. But the Air Force had seemingly decided not to make an issue so close to his discharge date. When they found out I would no longer report under their conditions or follow orders they decided to put me back into a leave, or vacation, status. By Wednesday, they had orders for me and I went in and in a matter of hours was done outprocessing.34 Which doesn't change the fact that he was already slated for honorable discharge, that he complied with orders to complete his outprocessing and was out four days after he announced his decision to go AWOL and won't be returning to active duty. To be fair, not even Moran himself would claim his involuntary separation was for his stance on the birther issue. At least not yet. As he wrote on his blog, I was due to get out soon under an administrative and Honorable discharge for a 'Personality Disorder', because I told them homosexuality is sin. (Contrary to appearances, no source has confirmed that the reason for his discharge was an evident inability to conform to the Air Force weight standards.) Once out of the military, Moran immersed himself in the birther movement. Moran would relate his doings since his discharge in a video released on September 6. When delivering his sermon (the only word that would fairly describe it), Moran seemed overly concerned with proper enunciation, and
33
Fontaine, Scott. "Birther Staff Sgt. Not AWOL, Leaving Air Force - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times." Air Force News, Pay & Benefits, Careers, Entertainment, Photos - Air Force Times HOME. Gannett Government Media Corporation, 17 Aug. 2011. Web. 22 Jan. 2012. <http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2011/08/air-forcebirther-staff-sergeant-not-awol-081711/>. 34 Rondeau, Sharon. "Update from Former Air Force SSgt Daryn Moran Following His Discharge|The Post & Email." The Post & Email|News. Wordpress, 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2012. <http://www.thepostemail.com/2011/08/23/update-fromformer-air-force-ssgt-daryn-moran-following-his-discharge/>.
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the excessive care made his delivery seem robotic. Worse, he seemed to favor archaic phrases and overwrought language. The combination made him sound incredibly bombastic. Moran first spoke against the President, who purposely and repeatedly rejects the Constitution, and does his personal best to promote and protect Islam and destroy freedom for real Americans. (Apparently, Muslims can't be real Americans, and the whole freedom of religion thing in our First Amendment is a bit of a problem.) Moran maintained with absolute conviction that the long form birth certificate produced by Barack Obama was forged, and defied anyone to prove otherwise. The presidency, he declared, was taken captive by a man who lies about his birth to an entire nation. Pontificating on those who dismiss birthers as a fringe element, Moran stated, True lunacy is the inability to recognize truth. That which is silly, fringe, minority and terrorizing is the man Barack Obama and all of his followers. So, take that, you silly, fringe, minority and terrorizing followers of Obama! At times, his outdated language seemed more appropriate for the King James Bible than a political commentator or leader of a movement who would like to be taken seriously. With Christlike solicitude for those he believed would be his followers, he delivered his tender assurances: Those of you who hang your hat on the Natural Born Citizen clause of the Constitution, do not leave me or think for one second that I am not with you. Which brings to mind the words of Christ, "and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matthew 28:20 King James Version. Woe to those that support him [President Obama], for they will fail. Barack Obama will fail," Moran blustered. And woe to the scribes and Pharisees, too! (Matthew 23:13-16 King James Version) Those blind guides! "He will not bring his gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, pedophilic, immoral, godless, 41
Part One, Chapter Five perverted ideas of sexual activity to my kitchen table
Which leaves me to wonder what sort of sexual activity does get brought to Daryn Moran's kitchen table. Kidding aside, there are some pretty despicable accusations in that laundry list of sexual proclivities. When has Barack Obama said or done anything in support of pedophilia, for instance? Moran ably demonstrates the birther propensity to level charges without regard for fairness or accuracy. Apparently not concerned with backing up with some cold hard facts to what amounts to some pretty serious charges, the orotund and rotund Moran blustered on, railing against the soi-disant Ground Zero Mosque (which is neither a mosque, nor located at Ground Zero), the growth of Islam in the U.S. (that pesky freedom of religion thing, again), the Transportation Security Administration (the TSA, who should get their filthy hands off of real Americans), TSA's criminal boss, Janet Napolitano[, who] should be thrown in jail for sponsoring terrorism against Americans, the laws not permitting us to record on video thug cop[s] with something to prove (which are more Communism and Socialism). He then gave a shout out to his former comrades-in-arms, the Marines Semper Fi, Marines! And to the Air Force, his more recent comrades-in-arms, he asked, Do you think my aptitude scores to enter the military in the four subject areas all in the nineties mean nothing as far as intelligence? Do you think my measured I.Q. of 127 means nothing? Do you think all the real Americans out there who believe everything I'm saying now are just lunatic and fringe? Do you think you could possibly sound more full of yourself, Moran? While I understand these are rhetorical questions, his ASVAB scores and I.Q., while respectable, don't quite enter the realm of bragging rights. And to the last question, most definitely. Get a grip on yourself, Moran said. You first, Moran. 42
Regarding the flag and the Constitution, Moran stated, To me, they mean everything, and I am willing to die to protect them and the real American way of life. A willingness to lay down your life for the sake of the flag and the Constitution is certainly the mark of a true patriot. But for all his bravado, daring the authorities to arrest him and his professed willingness to lay down his life, Moran would ultimately prove he does not possess that kind of mettle. He continued his rant against the gay agenda and abortion (Don't even get me started on that.) and the tragically lost SEAL Team Six. How much blood do we need to see? I believe I have six to eight pints myself. An adult male has closer to six quarts of blood, not pints. But regardless of how many pints of blood Mr. Measured-IQ-of-127 thinks he has coursing through him, they were all going to go 100% to this war in America. Agonzing as this video was to sit through, Moran's next effort Daryn Moran to DC to arrest Obama,35 released on September 26, 2011 would be much better. Perhaps it was the jeering from the anti-birthers that prompted him to produce it. Pomposity and pretense were drastically reduced with this effort, as was his mechanical delivery. This time he was on fire, fairly bouncing in his chair with indignation. Daryn Moran, it seems, was mad arguably in both senses of the term. Like the title implies, Daryn Moran intended to go to Washington D.C. to arrest the President, I'll gas up the car, drive in my vehicle to Washington D.C., knock on the President's door and tell him he's coming with me. He further vowed President Obama is gonna be on the run for the remainder of his days. Moran then went on to inform the Mayor of Omaha, the County Sheriff and the City Council, I'm gonna do your job. The job of the Sheriff, apparently, was to put out an arrest for
35
David0ortiz78. "Daryn Moran to DC to Arrest Obama 001.MOV 26 Sep 2011.mp4." YouTube. YouTube, 27 Sept. 2011. Web. 30 July 2012. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oek1-K35D34>.
Daryn Moran's wife, apparently the smarter half of that relationship, originally removed her husband's video, concerned over the fact that it disclosed their address. However, the video was reposted by another member of YouTube. The url directs to the video's new location. 43
Obama. It is unclear what Moran thinks the Mayor and the City Council are supposed to do about an ineligible President. He expressed his support for Walter Fitzpatrick, calling for us to follow his example. I'm not sure why Moran thinks that birthers getting themselves arrested for disrupting grand jury proceedings and stealing documents from a courthouse will advance the cause of birtherism, but whatever. And to the military out there, stop hiding Obama. Stop protecting him! He is a criminal! If any are wondering if Moran had any apprehension that his attempts to arrest the president would result in his own arrest or possibly something worse Moran scoffed at the idea. I'm not gonna go to jail. You're not gonna throw away the key and have me in jail for life. You're not gonna get away with it. It's not gonna happen. Not gonna happen. But Moran's plans wouldn't stop with the arrest of the President; the other two branches of government weren't getting off scot-free. Oh, no! To the Congress and the Supreme Court, he vowed, You're next! First is the President. Comin' for you, Barack Obama. Comin' for you! The Supreme Court and the Congress is next. But I'm coming for you, Barack Obama, first. So call your Secret Service coward! Let's see. That's 435 members of the House of Representatives, 100 Senators and nine Supreme Court Justices. That's a lot of arrests! And really, Moran, Coward? Why is it an act of cowardice for the President to rely upon the Secret Service for protection against disinformed lunatics? I'm certain that those elected officials with Secret Service protection would contest that point. But Moran's citizen's arrest of President Obama would have to follow a rather macho test of physical prowess first. You wouldn't even do in an arm-wrestling match with me if I asked you, he sneered. You probably wouldn't do a forty-yard dash. 44
Oooh, I'm sure all the birther chicks are just weak in the knees, Moran. Such a shame we never got to see the sprinting competition between Daryn and the President. I'm not a gambling man, but if I were, my money would be on the President. Wimp, Daryn taunted. Coward. Coward. Not even the thought of being shot and killed by the Secret Service would deter this fearless champion of birtherism. Put a bullet in your uh gun, look in your sites, and shoot me when I'm coming. Go ahead! It's better than living under tyranny and dictatorship. Orly Taitz, despite her indefatigable efforts toward the birther cause, doing 99% of the work in this area,36 found time to put in a good word for Moran, in a blog entry referring to Moran as recently retired officer, she expressed her hope that the Secret Service will not be shooting at him. Moran is neither retired from the military, nor was he an officer, but Orly was never particularly big on factual accuracy. Orly claimed that this most egregious cover up makes many people extremely livid and red with anger. She further predicted that unless Obama is prosecuted, people like officer Moran will be rising.37 I'm no authority as to how the Secret Service operates, but I doubt they would have shot Moran for merely trying to arrest the President. John Hinckley Jr. actually shot President Ronald Reagan along with three others. Nonetheless, he was taken alive. And while Moran would be making his planned trip to Washington D. C., there would be no attempt to arrest the President. Whatever designs he had of swaggering (or waddling) up to the doors of the White House flanked by a bevy of belligerent birthers38 had been aborted. As he explained to
36
Taitz, Orly. "Reminder! Do Not Donate to Bloggers, Who Use Logo art2superpac on Their Websites." Web log comment. Dr. Orly Taitz, Esquire. WordPress, 21 Jan. 2012. Web. 5 Feb. 2012. <http://www.orlytaitzesq.com/?p=30598>. 37 Taitz, Orly. "This Recently Retired Officer Is Going to DC Unarmed, I Hope That the Secret Service Will Not Be Shooting at Him." Web log comment. Dr. Orly Taitz, Esquire. WordPress, 27 Sept. 2011. Web. 5 Feb. 2012. <http://www.orlytaitzesq.com/?p=25985>. 38 I'm putting birthers on notice that their official collective noun is bevy. And if they don't like it, I can come up with something more fitting. Such as asylum. Or perhaps klan would be the most appropriate.
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Sharon Rondeau of The Post & Email, it seems that during the wee hours of the morning after he posted his video, he had gotten a visit from the County Sheriff escorting two agents of the Secret Service, who didn't agree that his intentions didn't constitute a threat against the President. Moran told his version of events of this nocturnal visit. Oddly, as he told his tale, his disdainful attitude toward them was replaced with seemingly deep respect. Only a day earlier, he was taunting the Secret Service, calling them Obama's little guards and securities, daring them to arrest him or even shoot him, wondering how many of them it would take to stop him but the two agents who had supposedly visited Moran the night before had left him sufficiently cowed to make him reconsider his mission. So, apparently, the answer to his question was zero. It would take no Secret Service agents to stop him, because he never went through with it. Their job and full concern was the protection of the President of the United States,39 Moran explained to Rondeau. He even permitted the visiting agents to take his picture, so he says. Further, they advised him that he would not be able to arrest or even get near the President. Moran had apparently given the matter some thought; he conceded to Rondeau that declaring an intention to arrest someone is partly a threat. Which sounds about as reasonable as being partly pregnant. Referring to the Secret Service agents who called on him, The gentlemen were nice. They were polite, Daryn reported, as if calling on someone unannounced at three in the morning were the height of good manners. And I told them I was there to help and answer their questions. However, much of this first installment of Rondeau's interview with Moran was dedicated to another issue. Specifically about Daryn's prospects since his discharge. He disclosed that there had been no income to his household since his discharge date on August 18 (four days after his AWOL announcement), but apparently feels that his fellow birthers should pay the bills for him. there isn't
39
Rondeau, Sharon. "Daryn Moran: "The Goal Is to Have Obama Tried in Court" | The Post & Email." Daryn Moran: "The Goal Is to Have Obama Tried in Court" The Post & Email, 28 Sept. 2011. Web. 30 July 2012. <http://www.thepostemail.com/2011/09/27/daryn-moran-the-goal-is-to-have-obama-tried-in-court/>.
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any reason why they can't put their money together and support military people who have spoken out I don't see anything wrong with that, Moran said. Maybe there isn't anything wrong with that, but perhaps birthers would prefer to keep their own money and speak for themselves. We have freedom of speech, after all, and even the outright lies of the birthers are protected speech. Perhaps the birthers feel that their cause could have a better spokesman than someone who claimed his impending honorable discharge for an adjustment disorder was actually the Air Force's efforts to sweep me under the rug, to say nothing of his claim that he was AWOL to protest Obama's supposed ineligibility when in fact he was on administrative leave and four days before his discharge. But Moran's involvement in the birther movement would be his rationale for not actually looking for a job since his discharge, explaining to Rondeau that his birther activism in Omaha has kept him tied up, and Ive been concerned about how an application for a job would go over when I go in for an interview and I have to explain the whole story, and I might need to tell them things that they might not like. So, he hasn't even bothered to look for a job to support his wife and children? I wanted to focus on the things that I was doing while I could before I was absolutely forced to take any job that I could to be able to support my family. I actually did ask an individual for some support, and I gave him a plan, and Im talking about monthly financial support. Very interesting. In the month since his honorable discharge, Moran had not even looked for a job to support his family, preferring instead to pass out flyers in Omaha, claiming that his involvement in the birther movement keeps him too "tied up" to look for work. But birthers should pool their money and support "military people who have spoken out" in support of the birther movement. Like himself, for instance. At least he was helpful enough to submit his plan for ongoing monthly support to some 47
unnamed individual. I'm sure this individual, whoever it was, was very appreciative of Moran's willingness to explain just how much money he would need per month to stay active in the birther movement as their leader. In that same article in The Post & Email. When asked about Terry Lakin, Moran committed what may have been a fatal mistake as far as his ambitions to become a "career birther" were concerned. It is perhaps understandable, in light of the fact that Terry Lakin is the only birther who actually has a fund set up to support him, that Moran would wish to compare himself favorably to Lakin. But in light of what Lakin has gone through dismissal from service, prison time, loss of pension and benefits Moran did himself no favors with his gratuitous diss of Terry Lakin. Moran related to Rondeau that he had attempted to contact Lakin to ask about Ft. Leavenworth, but his request was rebuffed. Moran explained that Lakin is in a probationary type period where he may not speak out about things or risk further jail time. What a farce. I will not obey any such stupid arrangements. But, he must do what is best for himself and his own family. We are on the same side, though I have handled it much differently. I am at war with B. Obama. He is scared of him.40 Moran's chances of being accepted as the spokesman of the birther movement and getting himself a career in birtherism were doubtful at best; the birther movement had long been established by the time Moran attempted to hop on the bandwagon, and the figureheads firmly in place. Moran was a latecomer who took his stand on the eligibility issue at a time when his career was already slated to end involuntarily, less than a week prior to his discharge date. By contrast, Terry Lakin was in good standing with the military when he chose to defy orders, then court-martialed and spent five months in prison, then was dismissed from the Army, losing his retirement and benefits in the process. Birthers revere him as a martyr.
40
Rondeau, Sharon. "Update from Former Air Force SSgt Daryn Moran Following His Discharge|The Post & Email." The Post & Email|News. Wordpress, 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2012. <http://www.thepostemail.com/2011/08/23/updatefrom-former-air-force-ssgt-daryn-moran-following-his-discharge/>.
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As if Moran's claims of being AWOL and characterization of the reasons behind his discharge weren't problematic enough, along with his failure to even try to arrest the President, this latecomer with his honorable discharge is now attacking someone who threw away his retirement for the birther movement? Comparing himself to Terry Lakin would have only served to underscore the stark contrast between the circumstances in which these two were discharged. Insulting Lakin as being "scared of" Obama was a mistake that proved fatal to his already near-unattainable ambitions. On her blog/website (http://barnhardt.biz), in an entry dated October 11, 2011, Terry Lakin disciple Ann Barnhardt wrote, I just received an email blasted to his [Daryn Moran's] list from his email account announcing his intention to declare to his mental health counselor in Washington D.C[.] that he wants to kill Obama. Moran actually said this in an email? I find this hard to believe. Why would Moran, a resident of Omaha, have a mental health counselor in Washington D.C.? And why did Barnhardt, along with all the other recipients of this email, fail to report this alleged threat to the Secret Service? This email list, if it ever existed, most likely consisted of birthers, but it seems strange that none of the alleged recipients would be concerned enough to notify the authorities of a desire to assassination. Barnhardt then implored her readers, Please don't enable this, describing Moran as deeply, deeply mentally ill and a sick man, with a sick family of enablers behind him. She concluded her comments on Moran by expressing her wishes that he gets the treatment he needs, and I feel sympathy for him in the context of the sympathy one feels for any mentally ill person. And that is all. But returning to Moran's dreams of becoming the spokesman of the birther movement and living off of birthers' money, it now makes sense that his appearance in D.C. ostensibly to arrest the President (which he never tried to do) coincided with the Values Voter Summit, which was attended by many prominent figures in the birther movement, including Executive Director of the indefinitely postponed Birther Summit Dean Haskins. So, while rubbing elbows with his fellow birthers (or his 49
birther-subjects, as he might have it) Daryn Moran would have the opportunity to present his plan. And to what did he owe this sense of entitlement, this conviction that birthers should pool their money and support him and his family on an ongoing monthly basis, while he doesn't even have to look for a job? For claiming to be AWOL in protest of Obama's supposed ineligibility at a time when he was already on leave four days before his honorable discharge for what he called an adjustment disorder, then claiming that the Air Force had only done this as a means of sweeping something under the rug? For making what amounts to an idle threat excuse me, partly a threat against the President, claiming to be unafraid of arrest, even being shot and killed, but ultimately balked by a visit from the Secret Service? For his attack on Terry Lakin, suggesting Lakin was afraid of the President? How much do birthers think that's worth? Apparently, ten people or so collectively thought it was worth close to 500 dollars. At least that's what he reported on his next (and apparently final) video41, which he made the week after his visit to Washington D.C. This video would differ markedly from the fire and bravado of the previous, when he contemptuously scoffed at the threat of arrest, or even being shot. Now it seems a more somber, dejected Moran had replaced the previous incarnations. After thanking his donors and offering to share some photos and videos of his trip to D.C., he read a prepared speech from his Droid phone. While the tired, discouraged tone was new, the targets were not. He still claimed that we lived under tyranny, that Obama was ineligible, etc. The Secret Service prevented me from arresting Obama when I went to D.C. Last week, he said, apparently referring to their nighttime visit prior to his trip to Washington and not to any confrontation in Washington D.C. In any case, he did not attribute his lack of support due to any shortcoming of his own, nor to the disinformation perpetuated by the birther movement, but concluded, We are not a nation of brave,
41
Guadalupesanc59. "Daryn Moran Oct 9-2011." YouTube. YouTube, 09 Oct. 2011. Web. 30 July 2012. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDvanrhWQkY>.
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honest citizens, but cowardly, fearful shells of souls obeying Obama. He also claimed unspecified suffering to his health, welfare and family, because we are not a nation of law any more. Is he absolutely sure that it wasn't due to his failure to look for a job? He further describe Americans as too apathetic, uninformed, unpatriotic, and without personal character or pride and conscience to say and do what needs to be done. Good to see that, regardless of his discouragement, Moran's trademark pomposity and selfrighteousness were intact. It's always someone else's fault, isn't it, Moran? And it's not because those professed experts who pronounce Obama's birth certificate a forgery are full of crap. It's all us spineless Americans, isn't it? Perhaps one day, you will have the courage to look inward, or to the birther movement itself, if you wish to find fault. I am embarrassed to call myself an American under the current circumstances, he said. Really? Well, Moran should remember that he's free to leave the U.S.A. at any time. Expatriation is the right of every citizen. And I certainly wouldn't want anyone who's ashamed of this country to feel obligated to live in it. Continuing his weary tirade against Americans who wouldn't back him up, he said, My disgust truly has moved from Obama to the people within our occupied borders; people of no backbone toward the media, neighbors, family, coworkers and the tyrannical government. Moran has made no appearance in the birther movement since his departure; evidently, he's left and not looked back.
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Part I, Chapter 5 Conduct Unbecoming of an Officer

Part One, Chapter Five