The officer refusing Army orders until Barack Obama documents his eligibility to be president and commander in chief is hitting the airwaves tomorrow to answer questions about his challenge to the president. Lt. Col. Terry Lakin is scheduled to be on the G. Gordon Liddy show tomorrow from 10-11 a.m. EDT.

As a conspiracy theorist I think this is a plot all intended to create a Wuterich issue thereby delaying any action while litigation is ongoing about out-takes. I did check, and there is no definition in the DSM IV for guano loco (but a change in the soon to be released DSM V may be expected perhaps). [n.1]

“Rather than contesting the suit,” Day wrote, “the Army took the highly peculiar step of revoking the major’s deployment order, suggesting that the Pentagon generals are not entirely confident that they can demonstrate the legitimacy of their purported commander in chief. “The Pentagon’s decision to back down rather than risk exposing Obama’s birth records to the public means that every single American soldier, sailor, pilot and Marine now holds a ‘get out of war free’ card.”

The major – referring to the abortive case of Major Cook — was on voluntary orders. He could have just as voluntarily asked to revoke them at any time up until the day before going. He chose to express his request to revoke the voluntary orders through litigation. So why not just revoke the orders. That’s not backing down.

A spokeswoman for the case, Margaret Calhoun Hemenway, told WND that whatever the “assignment” amounts to, Lakin’s access privileges were revoked, his computer was confiscated and he “is not permitted to support his Hippocratic oath … and take care of the troops as a doctor and a surgeon.”

This is standard procedure for anyone who is placed in a disciplinary status and won’t be working in the Pentagon anymore. Then of course, if it was a government computer the government is entitled to take it back. It’s organizational property, has to be accounted for, and LTC Lakin doesn’t need it anymore. There’s nothing sinister about that. He had the opportunity to practice his Hyppocratic oath, and along with his oath as a commissioned officer. He’s given both up.

n.1. The Urban Dictionary defines guano loco variously:

Crazy, in fact probably totally insane. Acting in the manner of Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah’s sofa or Joaquin Phoenix on the Letterman show. Hearing voices and imagining things that haven’t happened or people saying things that they haven’t. Possibly caused by some recent trauma, however more than likely always present just brought to the surface in times of high emotion.

His Greeley relatives are putting distance between themselves and his birther campaign. Lakin’s father Frank told the Greeley Tribune Friday that his son’s video wasn’t representative of the family. “This does not reflect the opinions or the attitude of the family by any means,” he said. “We’re Obama supporters.”

A posting at Buzzflash.com asserts that LTC Lakin is also a member of the Tea Party.

A comment from LtCol Christopher Matthews, USAF (Ret.) on CAAFLog

[M]ilitary appellate courts adopted the de facto officer doctrine long ago — see, e.g., United States v. Jette, 25 M.J. 16 (C.M.A. 1987); United States v. Watson, 37 M.J. 166, 168 (C.M.A. 1993); and United States v. Brown, 39 M.J. 114 (C.M.A. 1994). CAAF not long ago denied petitions on a pair of Air Force cases where we upheld convictions by courts-martial convened by an officer ineligible to assume command as the GCMCA, so I believe the law on this point to be unchanged.

An article at Huffington Post posits that the ultra conservatives are “taking advantage” of military people such as LTC Lakin, as part of an all out assault on the military – a strange position for the far right who once accused those who didn’t support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as being traitors.

Why put this man’s career in jeopardy over a lie? For the same reason Glenn Beck is taking advantage of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation to pay for a hate filled rally or Sean Hannity is scamming wounded warriors and their kids.

(There have been a number of reports about the extravagant expenditures of Sean Hannity that are charged off to the charity. I believe the Salvation Army has an overhead of about 4%, the rest of their donations going to the charity work.)

The Colorado Independent reports that:

Terry Lakin, the Army Doctor who has refused orders to deploy to Afghanistan, hasposted online the letter he wrote to Pres. Obama last week explaining his decision.

If he is correct, then all orders are illegal since President Obama was sworn in? Thus an additional charge at his court-martial (in addition to Article 88, UCMJ, Article 92, UCMJ, for unlawful political activity) should include theft perhaps or wrongful receipt of government funds or some other wrongful taking – like his pay checks? Military personnel are routinely prosecuted for taking and keeping BAH they are knowingly not entitled to and failing to report the matter?

Query. If President Obama is not lawfully president, who is? Well is it not Vice-President Biden? There has been no issue raised that VP Biden is not lawfully elected. Either way, military orders, assuming they come from the president qua president, must come from VP Biden then. So LTC Lakin is getting lawful orders. See, we can all make silly arguments about this.

Here’s an interesting piece from the Guardian in the UK (a liberal paper):

Lakin’s outburst of birtherism should not be seen in isolation. Instead, it’s further evidence that rightwing hate, aided and abetted by leading Republicans, has gone mainstream. Remember when people, especially conservatives jumped on DHS for issuing a warning about extremism.

The first warning came a year ago, when the department of homeland security predicted a rise in rightwing extremism fuelled by economic calamity and the election of our first black president. News of the report, and especially about a warning contained therein that military veterans might be pulled into the movement, set off criticism among conservative bloggers. Yet it proved prescient.