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Lt. Col Terrence Lakin has pled guilty to the charge of failing to report for duty. Lakin is a birther who denies President Obama was born in the United States and, so, argued he was not bound by his commands because President Obama is not really the commander-in-chief.
To be clear, there is a word for birthers: Dumb. But, being dumb is no crime. Being insubordinate in the military, however, is a crime. The idea that an officer thinks he can arrogate to himself the right to determine the political legitimacy of the government is among the more frightening ideas I have ever encountered in my researches of U.S. history. General Douglas MacArthur, filled with ambitions of Caesarian proportions, held similar views and Harry Truman never served the nation so well as when he fired MacArthur.
Lt. Col. Lakin should go to jail. And he should be dismissed from the Army. He is a disgrace.
