December 29, 2010

Column #1,531

Where’s Obama’s Birth Certificate?

By Mike McManus 

                Lt. Col. Terry Lakin is in prison because he asked a simple question, that Army authorities refused to answer:  “Where were your born, Mr. Obama?”

                This highly decorated Army physician, who has served 18 years in places such as Afghanistan, Bosnia and Washington D.C., was court martialed on December 16, sentenced to six months in prison, denied pay and benefits, stripped of rank and discharged from the Army.

                His crime?  For more than a year Lakin asked through his chain of command and his Congressional delegation for proof that President Obama is constitutionally eligible to serve as his Commander-in-Chief.

                The Constitution requires that the President be “a natural born Citizen.”  Obama has not provided that proof, which should be easy - a “long form” birth certificate with hospital and attending doctor’s name and signature.

                Obama told “Newsday,” on August 22, 2010 that “The only people who don’t want to disclose the truth are people with something to hide.”

                Exactly!

                In April Col. Lakin refused military orders to deploy to Afghanistan for a second time.

He acknowledges, that for the first time, and “at great peril to my career and future, I am choosing to disobey what I believe are illegal orders…because I believe all servicemen and women, and the American people deserve the truth about President Obama’s constitutional eligibility to the office of the presidency… If he is ineligible, then my orders, and indeed all orders, are illegal because all orders have their origin with the Commander In Chief.”

Col. Lakin asserted, “President Obama, I ask you to respect and uphold the Constitution, be transparent and show your honesty and integrity.  Release your original, signed birth certificate – if you have one - thus proving your birth on American soil and thus assure the American people you are lawfully eligible to hold the Office of President.

                “I and all other service members may then continue to serve our country, at risk of injury, or the ultimate sacrifice, knowing that we do so for our country, the Constitution and the legitimate leader of the greatest, free republic ever.

“The Constitution matters!  The truth matters!” he concluded.

Readers may have seen a document called a “Certification of Live Birth” published on Obama’s campaign website, and flashed in the news media; but it was not a birth certificate signed by a physician, with the names and addresses of his parents.

However, the national news media did not report Obama’s failure to produce the real birth certificate.  When the “World Net Daily” (WND) website published stories telling the truth, it was dismissed as fulminations of “birthers,” by media talking heads.

Some of us who knew better, remained mute.  

WND billboards appeared, asking “WHERE’S THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE?” Still, the national news media, many of whom admire Obama, ignored the issue. Lawsuits went nowhere.

Therefore, Col. Terry Lakin did the courageous thing, by refusing an order to go back to Afghanistan given by a chain of command led by a President whom he considered fraudulent.  He invited a court martial in hopes that during his trial he could present evidence.

That was not to be.  The Army’s investigating officer refused Lakin’s request for Obama’s actual birth certificate, and his request that Hawaiian officials be summoned to testify.

His wife, Pili, told me: “I was worried,” by her husband’s brave stand. Now she says, “He wants to make sure no one is dying for someone who is not supposed to be President.”

Fortunately, Lakin has finally accomplished what he set out to do.

First, newly elected Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D), asked his state Attorney General and his Health Department to release additional information about the president’s birth.  He told “The New York Times” that he was disappointed that people doubt Obama’s place of birth. “It’s an insult to his mother and to his father, and I knew his father, and I knew his mother.  They were my friends.”

Second, CNN’s Chris Matthews cited a “New York Times” poll in April reporting that only 58% of Americans believe Obama was born in the U.S.  A fifth said he was born elsewhere, and 23% said they didn’t know. “Why hasn’t the President himself not demanded that they put out the initial document?” Matthews asked on his Monday show.

Finally, Obama’s Kenyan grandmother, his half brother and half-sister say they were present at his birth in Kenya!

What’s important now is that Hawaii’s Governor and Chris Matthews have joined Col. Lakin in demanding proof.

I predict the certificate won’t be found and America will face a constitutional crisis.