I had not realized that Obama's "proof" of Hawaiian birth is so shaky. Snopes Internet copy here. Apparently Snopes is happy with it since someone claims to have seen the real thing. But Snopes does point out that no seal impression is visible. I'm curious why the Certificate No. is blacked out - like what possible reason??

Snopes goes so far as to criticize those not accepting its shaky "proof" as being "Conspiracy Theorists". WOW - is that me??



"Bay Area News Group - Friday December 17, 2010"
Paper edition

Its listed website "www.insiderbayarea.com"
Jpg of the article


NATION

`Birther' sentenced for refusing order to deploy to Afghanistan

Army doctor gets six months in prison, dismissal

By Andrea Siegel
Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE - An Army doctor convicted of disobeying orders to deploy to Afghanistan because he questioned whether Barack Obama is eligible to be president was sentenced Thursday to six months in a military prison followed by dismissal from the Army.


Lakin
Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin stood stoically in his dress uniform as an eight-person military jury handed down the punishment, which also includes forfeiting pay and allowances. He was given a few private minutes with his parents and brothers before being taken into custody. The sentence, which came after nearly five hours of deliberation by the panel, ended the three-day court-martial at Fort Meade.

Lakin had become a hero of the "birther" movement when he refused to report for a second deployment to Afghanistan until he received an answer to his question of whether President Obama is a natural-born U.S. citizen constitutionally eligible to be president.

Supporters of the movement say Obama, the first black president, was not born in Honolulu in August 1961. However, such conspiracy theories have largely been squelched, and the Obama campaign released his Hawaii birth certificate in 2008.

Lakin's goal was to invite a court martial in the hope that a judge would force the opening of Obama's birth and other records. But the judge, Col. Denise R. Lind, ruled against Lakin in a pretrial hearing and barred him from using Obama's birth certificate as an issue for his defense. On Tuesday, Lakin pleaded guilty to disobeying orders;

On Wednesday, the panel convicted the physician, who had been working in a Pentagon clinic, of not showing up for deployment.

The outcome of the courtmartial has cost Lakin, a Greeley, Colo., native with only a little more than two years until retirement, his $90,000 annual salary, allowances, benefits and lifetime pension. His wife and three young children were not in court.

The result of the proceedings crushed his supporters, some of whom traveled from across the country.

"Lt. Col. Lakin showed more courage in the courtroom than the panel of members of the military and the prosecutors and the defense and certainly the judge," said Kate Vandemoer, a Bismarck, N.D., hydrologist.

Hilda Millinar, of Millersville, a retired civilian financial manager for the Army, said that as a result of this case, people sworn into the military should no longer have to promise to protect the nation from foreign and domestic enemies. The reason, she said, is "because Obama is the enemy."

Others were upset with the way Lakin's civilian defense attorney, Neal A. Puckett, a retired Marine Corps lawyer and lieutenant colonel, spoke about them when he depicted Lakin as a naive man who now realizes that he followed the wrong advice by pressing his questions about Obama with the Army.

"He essentially called us crazy. The audacity of him to call us crazy," said Theresa Cao, a Washington peace activist.


The article above says "However, such conspiracy theories have largely been squelched, ..." - well, yeah - Lakin is surely squelched - for 6 months.

Ya know, I like science, a lot. In science it is considered a "good thing" to question and to probe. Apparently in current politics and news media, questioning and probing is a "bad thing". Even legislators are not given time to read/study the legislation they are supposed to pass - the current motto is "Just say YES".

Reminds me of the U.S. soldier who went to prison rather than take off the U.S. uniform and put on a ?NATO? uniform during the Clinton attack on the Balkans in the early 1990s. (Christians vs Muslims, Clinton helped the Muslims.) Wish I could find the old news clipping.

Ya know, the way we are dorking around with the military - maybe enlisting is a poor idea.
Reminds me of the fall of the Roman empire - towards the end, people subject to the draft would cut off their right thumbs (sword hand) so they would not be drafted - soon the "uncivilized tribes" were hired for Roman defense - then soon no more Roman empire. Africa did not send grain to Rome as tribute. So Romans got hungry, mostly left Rome. I suppose the Citizens of Rome terrorized the country side looking for food. "Interesting times".