O's Birth Certificate: The Next Go Round

I'm not a "birther," or whatever label they're sticking on those today who are trying to get President Obama to release his original birth certificate. Nor am I a "truther," which is obviously a self applied misnomer of a label if there ever was one. I'm not a conspiracy nut of any kind. I turned in my tinfoil hat back in 1991 along with my secret decoder ring. The fact is, I'm too old to be a wacko anymore. At my age, if I acted that way or held those beliefs, people wouldn't use any of those labels. They would probably just call me a creepy old geezer. As far as I know, no one calls me that.

I say all of the above to preface this article from the American Thinker by Terrence Lakin, M. D. It's clear if you read Dr. Lakin's piece, that this man is no wacko. A military doctor for 18 years, Dr. Lakin has decided to refuse deployment orders for a second tour in Afghanistan. He explains...

I would be glad to obey this order and provide a certified copy of my original birth certificate with common, standard identifiers, including the name of an attending physician and a hospital. Every day in transactions across the country, American citizens are required to prove their identity; standards for identification have become stricter since the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Since fall 2008, I have been troubled by reports that the president's original birth certificate remains concealed from public view along with other records which, if released, would quickly end questions surrounding his place of birth and "natural born" status. Many people mistook the online Certification of Live Birth for an original birth certificate. Until the summer of 2009, the Hawaiian Department of Homelands would not accept this Certification of Live Birth to determine native Hawaiian identity -- the Department insisted upon also reviewing an original birth certificate.

Dr. Lakin's decision is based on the following position...

Since Nuremberg, My Lai, and even Abu Ghraib more recently, the military has been taught the hard lessons of following illegal orders [italics mine]. Any reasonable person looking critically at the information and evidence currently in the public domain about Obama's birthplace would have questions about President Obama's claim to be a natural born citizen. I made the decision to disobey all military orders, including my deployment order to Afghanistan, in pursuit of the truth of whether President Obama can legally occupy the high post that he holds today and which entitles him to send servicemembers into harm's way.
The United States serves an example to the rest of the world of a stable, civilized, democratic government, where all men are equal under the law and the rule of law is cherished and obeyed. The U.S. military teaches and promotes the rule of law and civilian control of the military to many other nations and military forces around the world. Every soldier learns what constitutes a lawful order and is encouraged to stand up and object to unlawful orders. This is called the "duty to disobey."

As I said, I'm not a "birther," but Dr. Lakin, who is obviously risking a court martial for this action, is taking an unusual, and in my opinion, courageous approach. I for one will be interested to see where this goes and how it plays out. If you're interested, read the entire American Thinker article and follow the link at the end that Dr. Lakin provides.