Terry Lakin is in jail, tonight. The Birthers helped put him in there. They are morally obligated to make certain he and his family are provided for once he leaves prison. The question is, will they?

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Not long after the 2010 elections left the Democratic Party in disarray, Senator Mitch McConnell --never the most tactful of fellows -- said that "the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term President."

Such a sentiment revealed the man' total short-sightedness, and willingness to put the political ahead of the personal. 307 million persons, in act -- many of whom need some real help right about now.

He's not the only person to put the political above the personal this season, though.

A more tragic episode played out at Fort Meade this last week, when, at long last, former LTC Terry Lakin -- now a decommissioned prisoner -- had his Court Martial for a variety of charges, all stemming from his well-publicized refusal to obey orders because he was not convinced that President Obama was eligible to serve.

You see, LTC Terry Lakin was persuaded, like perhaps far too many people in America today, that, all reasonable evidence to the contrary, Barack Obama had not proven that he was a natural born citizen.

Like those persons, whom we call Birthers, Lakin did not believe that Obama's Certification of Live Birth (COLB) was legitimate enough for him to be deployed to a war zone in good conscience. Neither the proof that had been unearthed to reveal its authenticity, nor the shredding of the "proof" to reveal it as a fake, were enough for him.

LTC Lakin wanted more proof before he got on a plane, and he publicly refused to follow his orders to do so until he got that proof. I don't know if he expected Obama to call up The Doctor and use his TARDIS to whip Lakin back to the moment the President was born, in Hawai'i, or whatever, but somehow I wonder if even that would have been enough.

So Lakin got a questionable dogbite lawyer -- Paul Rolf "Otis" Jensen -- to help him publicize his mutiny. And numerous persons -- fellow Birthers, some more well-known than others -- cheered him on for doing so.

I'm talking about people like:

* Alan Keyes, who you may remember carpet-bagged to Illinois to run against Barack Obama when he ran for the Senate, and has been decrying him as the devil's hand on Earth ever since.

* Orly Taitz, the Birther Queen, who has made a mockery of California's bar standards in her quixotic quest to unseat the President by way of the legal system.

* Joseph Farah, publisher of World Net Daily, who claims he's not a Birther, but also takes credit for turning it into a major issue.

* Rev. James Manning, Pastor of ATLAH in Harlem, who likes to call Obama a "long legged mack daddy" when he pounds his pulpit.

And various and sundry other people, who took up Lakin's cause with total glee.

You see, all other cases up to this point had been attempts to put the President on trial, or gain "discovery" so they could get their hands on the documents the President was supposedly hiding. But now here, at last, was a case where a person had put HIMSELF on the chopping block.

At last, some noble soul was willing to throw his own freedom and livelihood into the meat grinder to prove the case once and for all.

But then came the actual legal wrangling, and it all came apart. Lakin's Birther-centric plan of attack was shot out from under him: star witnesses were turned away, discovery denied, and all attempts to turn it from a case of disobeying orders into a referendum on the President's legitimacy were hog-tied, black-sacked, and tossed into a river to drown.

In the end -- no longer encumbered by the aforementioned dogbite lawyer -- Lakin got sensible legal counsel, but too late to do anything but duck and cover. He pleaded guilty to one charge, was found guilty of another, and was sentenced.

Six months in prison. Stripped of his rank. Thrown out of the Army.  

Worst of all, his pay and pensions were taken from him.

As of this writing, Lakin is in prison. His wife and child are going to spend the holidays without him. The next six months are going to be tough on them, and, with the possibility of his license to practice medicine being stripped from him -- if some crusading jackass with no heart decides to get uppity -- his future looks pretty grim, too.

Am I excusing his stupidity because it came to a disastrous end? No I am not. His foolhardy mutiny affected the lives, livelihood, and safety of others. His naïveté forced another soldier to deploy in his place, disrupting that man's well-deserved time away from the front.  

His was not a victimless crime, and he has been accordingly punished. Maybe too lightly, given its severity, but I defer to the judgment of those more qualified in such matters.

But I am angry -- very !&*#ing angry -- at a number of people who created the atmosphere of incredulity that clearly poisoned this otherwise-intelligent man's ability to tell fact from fantasy. While the decision to act on what he "learned" from them was his own, and therefore his own fault, these people bear no small responsibility to having helped turn him into a victim of his own gullibility.

Birthers, I accuse you.

Terry Lakin is in jail tonight because of you .

A mother and child are going to spend this Christmas apart from the man they love because of you.

His personal and economic future is in jeopardy because of you.

And what, pray tell, are you doing about it? Blogging or writing "news" articles isn't enough. Making speeches and using him as a martyr figure aren't enough. Telling people to donate to Lakin's "defense fund" at Jensen's web page (now just going to support "the foundation's communication efforts") are clearly not enough.

I challenge you Birthers, one and all -- put your money where your mouth is.

Terry Lakin just lost out on a massive amount of money -- namely, his lost pensions -- to go be the canary in your coalmine. If you have ANY decency, even a minuscule shred, I challenge you to donate money to help make up for what he lost.

But don't give it to Paul Rolf "Otis" Jensen, the way Joseph Farah -- and Jensen -- want you to. Find a way to give it directly to Lakin's family, to help with court costs and living expenses.

And I challenge the high-profile Birthers, especially Joseph Farah, to work to make this happen, and be amongst the first, most public, and most generous of donors to this fund.

Joseph Farah? Cough it up. Goddess only knows how much cash Whirled Nut Daily has been making off this non-issue you're oh so happy to take credit for making. I challenge you to pay some of it back.

Pay a LOT of it back.

Orly Taitz? Make with the moolah. If you can afford to fly all over the US to molest innocent legal workers with your crazy lawyer tricks, you can afford to donate some buckos to a much worthier cause.

Take some of your weekly eyeshadow allowance and pay up.

Rev. Manning? Pass the plate, you convicted felon, you. You thought this man's cause was important enough to go to the courtroom for? It's important enough to provide material support now that it's gone right down the toilet and taken him with it.

Pass the plate several times, sir. I'm sure you can afford it, and I know you remember what prison was like. You got a second chance. Make sure Lakin gets one too.

Alan Keyes? Oh yes, you. Especially you. I'm sure various conservative outfits keep you well-paid to preach morality in politics. Now's your chance to show some of that compassion you think our President lacks because the devil sent him down to Foggy Bottom, there to do the devil's work.

Pay the hell up, Keyes. Pay early and pay often.

And the rest of you nameless people out there in Birtherstan? You claim there's millions of you? Well here's your chance to show it by simply donating a dollar. If you all of you did, Lakin and his family would be set for life, regardless of what happens after he gets out of prison.

Pay a dollar to show you think he was right to do what he did.

Me? I'm not paying a single cent, past the "money" of time I spent writing this. I think he was wrong to do what he did. Naïve and well-meaning, but ultimately wrong, Wrong, WRONG.

But I also believe that, while speech is free, it should have consequences. The consequence for this man's judgment being melted like plastic in a microwave when exposed to the toxic Birther fumes you all have been exuding since 2008 is that, when someone leaps on a grenade for your cause, you help them out.

I encourage everyone who reads this to e-mail a friendly suggestion to Mr. Farah that, since he's the one who takes credit for creating the Birther movement, through WND, he's morally obligated to take care of anyone who is harmed by it. If a month goes by after publication of this article and we hear no reply from Mr. Farah either way, then I guess we'll know the cut of his sense of journalistic responsibility, won't we?

Authors Website: http://rant-farm.blogspot.com/

Authors Bio:

J. Edward Tremlett is a lot of things, currently. He's back in the states after a seven-year stint in Dubai, UAE. He's been published in such diverse places as The American Partisan, the International American, The End is Nigh, Pyramid Magazine and Worlds of Cthulhu.

He's proudly in the thrall of the evil people who make bad things happen all around the world. He gets paid to shill for them on sites just like this, and is well-paid to do so. He also stole your car, ate your lunch, and had an amazing time with your lover while you were at work. But don't tell anyone. The machine is listening, always.

Please be aware that numerous things that are said are not to meant be taken seriously. Please be aware that serious things that are said are meant to be taken numerous ways. Please be seriously numerous with those things that are meant but not said, rather than said but not meant. Please be. : )