The latest news in the tragicomic case of LTC Terrence Lakin, by way of TPM Muckraker: as expected, the case has been turned over to a general Court Martial, and this Friday he will be appearing in court for a formal arraignment.
As stated by a press release at Safeguard Our Constitution:
The Army has now referred charges against LTC Terrence Lakin for a General Court Martial. This action triggered the appointment of a Military Judge to preside over the trial, which will likely be scheduled before October, and held in Washington, D.C. at Ft. McNair.
On August 6, 2010 at Ft. McNair in Washington, D.C., the court will convene for the purpose of Judge Lind taking Lakin's plea to the charges which consist of "missing movement" and of refusing to obey orders. Today Lakin stated: "I am not guilty of these charges, and will plead "not guilty' to them because of my conviction that our Commander-in-Chief may be ineligible under the United States Constitution to serve in that highest of all offices. The truth matters. The Constitution matters. If President Obama is a natural born citizen then the American people deserve to see proof, and if he is not, then I believe the orders in this case were illegal." If convicted, Lakin faces up to four years at hard labor in a federal penitentiary.
It's also clear that, under the defacto officer doctrine, that even if Obama was ineligible to be President, then Lakin was still duty-bound to carry out all orders, and is still guilty of both charges. Which means that, either way things go, LTC Lakin is screwed.
This latest bit of news is the most noise we've heard from Lakin in a while. The last major salvo fired was a "waaah, the Army won't let me do what I want in court!" video posted up at his website, in which the LTC, without irony, complained that what his many critics have been saying all along was going to happen actually DID happen.
It would seem the only people surprised were Lakin and his civilian lawyer, Paul "Otis" Jensen, who got into it with Anderson Cooper on his show some time ago. You would think a competent lawyer would tell his client how to proceed in order to save his butt as much as possible, but it seems that Mr. Jensen, who normally handles dog bite cases, is on a mission, and doesn't give two tugs on a dead canine's co*k about his client's well being.
But getting used is something of a theme in this case. It has become terribly obvious that LTC. Lakin is a naive but well-meaning fellow who's being used like a sheep in a minefield by his Birther allies at the American Patriot Foundation. They clearly don't care what happens to him, so long as they either get closer to the goal - the ever elusive total discovery - or at least make President Obama look bad for not handing over the goods on demand like a good little Negro.
Yes, I said it. It's about time people looked past the slick ads and well-done websites and saw that, beating around the black heart of the Birther mythology, there's a thick thread of horror that some black fellow with a Muslim-sounding middle name is now our President.
Maybe not all the Birthers are racists, but you can't tell me with a straight face that the fear of a black planet isn't fueling a good deal of the forward thrust on this non-issue.
Is Lakin a racist? I doubt it. But what about the people backing him? Who are the American Patriot Foundation? Where do they get their money? Who runs it? And why?
Maybe it's not the President's secret files we need to see, here...
So, since it's Tuesday night, and we should be playing some music, here's an oldie from the vaults for Terry Lakin. Blue Oyster Cult, from the awesome "Fire of Unknown Origin" - 'Don't Turn Your Back.' If I could give the poor man any advice right now, this song would cover just about all of it. "Danger surrounds you."
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