Lt. Scott Easterling has entered a novel fight while serving in Iraq: he is suing President Barack Obama. Easterling is calling the President an “impostor” and challenging his right to issue commands while his birth status is in question. It is one of a series of lawsuit challenging the right of the President to serve on the basis of his birth status. It appears that he could be joined by Senator Richard Shelby in the litigation. Shelby has refused to accept Obama citizenship until he sees a birth certificate.
Easterling is supporting challenges filed by California attorney Orly Taitz and her Defend Our Freedom Foundation. He issued a statement: “As an active-duty officer in the United States Army, I have grave concerns about the constitutional eligibility of Barack Hussein Obama to hold the office of president of the United States,” wrote Scott Easterling in a “to-whom-it-may-concern” letter.
The statement will raise an interesting question for an active soldier. It appears that Lt. Easterling is still following orders and he does have a right to file a lawsuit. However, calling the Commander-in-Chief an “impostor” in an out-of-court statement could be the grounds for discipline under the military code. Here is the statement that he released to the public:
To Any and All Interested Parties,
As an active-duty Officer in the United States Army, I have grave concerns about the constitutional eligibility of Barack Hussein Obama to hold the Office of President of The United States. He has absolutely refused to provide to the American public his original birth certificate, as well as other documents which may prove or disprove his eligibility. In fact, he has fought every attempt made by concerned citizens in their effort to force him to do so.
Until Mr. Obama releases a “vault copy” of his original birth certificate for public review, I will consider him neither my Commander in Chief nor my President, but rather, a usurper to the Office – an impostor.
My conviction is such that I am compelled to join Dr. Orly Taitz’s lawsuit, as a plaintiff, against Mr. Obama. As a citizen, it pains me to do this, but as an Offficer, my sworn oath to support and defend our Constitution requires this action.
I joined the Army at age 40, after working in Iraq as a contractor with KBR in ‘05/’06. I chose to work with KBR to support my troops and then left that lucrative position when the Army raised it’s maximum enlistment age to 40. Upon completion of Basic Training, I entered Officer Candidate School and commissioned as a 2LT in August 2007. After completing the subsequent Basic Officer Leadership courses, I was assigned to Ft. Knox and shortly therafter deployed to Balad, Iraq. I was promoted to 1LT on Feb. 2, 2009 and I have approximately five months remaining of our fifteen month deployment.
I implore all Service-members and citizens to contact their Senators and Representatives and demand that they require Mr. Obama prove his eligibility. Our Constitution and our great nation must not be allowed to be disgraced.
Very Respectfull,
Scott R. Easterling
1LT OD/LG
United States Army
[Update: Now a second soldier has reportedly joined Easterling in his challenge to the President’s legitimacy.
The case may follow the same course as the court martial of Lt. Ehren Watada for his public comments against the Iraq war. His case led to some novel appeals and a mistrial. 
Hmmmmm….Maybe Obama is American-born, maybe not….but McCain also had some problems in that regard. Either way, Ahnold will be brihnging this up in the next election.
-I’ll be bahck,
commoner
You call me “dumb” because YOU can’t answer two simple questions about your messiah. That is rich!
You don’t know where he was born or who certified the birth.
You like it when he keeps you in the dark.
Mushroom ignoramus.
Jeffy,
Your stupidity knows no bounds. You’re just another dumb sucker on the Republican teat. Yes it’s alright for you to sniff at Rush and Sean’s rear ends just like your dog does, perhaps they’ll even let you kiss them there.
Oh, wait, that’s not even an ace, is it? What is that? A joker? Why no it isn’t! It’s an Uno card. “0” points at that. You’re not even playing the right game, Tommy.
Yea my dog has one of those “Brooklyn” “birth certificates” too He was born in the laundry room–we don’t know who his daddy was either.
Cabbage patch dolls come with the “real kind” of “birth certificate”, don’t they?
Where? Who?–You just don’t know.
My dear Mr. T. Jefferson,
You must understand that there is a reason people have declined to supply the evidence which you claim to be necessary to support Pres. Obama’s qualifications under the Constitution. The common law and the rules of evidence have developed over the centuries to accommodate the notion of the “reasonable man.” That is to say, our legal system regards as evidence a statement, writing, photograph or other document which would tend to prove (or disprove) some fact which is material to the issue in dispute. Whether the cumulative evidence in a particular case is sufficient to support a claim or position is determined with reference to whether reasonable men, having heard and considered that evidence, could reach the conclusion that was reached. There is no requirement in the law, nor could there be, that legal determinations must satisfy those with serious mental deficiencies, paranoid delusions or other conditions manifesting themselves in the sort of neurotic fastidiousness of intellect which does not admit of rational deliberation. With all due respect, your comments, both substantively and in their organization, strongly suggest that you occupy one of these unfortunate categories. You should not be surprised, therefore, if thoughtful people appear unwilling to engage you in conversation on anything other than the most trivial matters of daily life.
JeffyBoy,
I won’t dignify you by using your pseudonym because Jefferson was too great a person to be associated with the likes of you.
Obama’s birth certificate issue by the State of Hawaii doesn’t list the hospital he was born in, nor the person making the delivery. You know what neither does mine and I was born in Brooklyn.
The truth is though this is not about the Constitution, as Buddha referenced by mentioning Bushes unconstitutional behavior,this is about your guy lost and you don’t like who won. You don’t care one bit about the Constitution because Panama is not the US or an official territory, so McCain’s birth could also be in question. Had he won you would keep your mouth shut, just like you did when SCOTUS stole the 2000 election.
You are not a patriot, you are more like the football fan who doesn’t protest a wrong call as long as it helps his team, you are more like a sports fan. Too stupid, or stooped in Rush and Sean’s propaganda to have a single independent thought. What is probably the most pathetic about you is that you probably are not one of “the haves and have mores” that Bush called his base, you’re just another working guy who doesn’t vote what’s best for his own interests and acts like a rabid football fan of the Detroit Lions. They also represent the current skills of your political party.
roflmao
My but you are simple creature.
If that’s your issue that’s not going away, I call and raise you the war crimes of the Bush Administration and the billions of tax dollars wasted on no compete contracts with Halliburton and criminal banking executive bonuses under their watch.
Read ’em and weep, neocon puppet. Looks like I’ve got a straight flush to your ace high, sucker.
One more time you ignorant cowards:
What Hospital?
Who signed the “Birth Certificate?”
I thought so!
Hi FFLEO,
I think this group is on crack! Here’s a christian news service saying how govt. elites find god irrelevant–
“What’s happened is [that] the elitists — the people who run American society, from the public education system to certain governmental institutions and figures — have basically decided that God is irrelevant to public discussion,” says Whitehead during an interview with OneNewsNow. (from Onenewsnow)
I truly don’t know what these people are talking about. Are they listening to our politicians? I just don’t see how any honest assessment of our political class can make the claim, “that god is irrelevant to the discussion”. It’s pretty much all god, all the time. In fact it’s rather nauseating. I would be much happier if these people showed the power of god in their life, not by shouting to the rooftops about him but by showing kindness and justice in their actions.
I wasn’t certain what you meant about the bankers. These people are usually VIPs in the church, the mosque and the synagog etc. They use their religiosity in much the same way as the political class–to convince people of their piety so nobody will look too hard at what’s really going on. But tell me what you meant.
To all you know-it-alls out there:
What hospital was BO born in?
Who was there, Who signed the “certificate”?
Every valid birth certificate tells you this! I have five in my hand right now, from 4 different states.
You don’t know the basic facts, You cant say when, where, or who. You are ignorant. This is the United States Constitution!
BO’s account: “Whell, um, Hawaii somewhere near, um, Kenia, Hawaii. There was a drunk in the alley, mom had a bottle of cheap wine and the drunk was after it, boy did he get a show . . . and, oh, yea, um, grandma told me she put the afterbirth in a baggie in the freezer at work.”
This issue is NOT going away.
Hi Jill,
Whatever someone “believes,” the President of the United States should not be able to make such statements to a captive audience in a government building as a governmental official. If he really “believes” that he can pray to “god” and get blessing instead of having to think and work for the change he is promising, then Mr. Obama is just an African-American version of G.W. Bush.
I want the man to succeed because we all will fail if he does not. However, I cannot understand how an intelligent person can spew the ‘god bless this n’ that’ while people are hurting and that mysterious strange “god” is currently unavailable for *his* own comments and/or direct blessings.
I am just a middleclass man, but if I were one of those rich bankers—who are stealing our money—I would spend every dime in a 1st Amendment lawsuit to keep “god’s” name out of government because the president—especially so—must not be a subservient beggar to a vaporous idea somewhere out yonder in the ether.
FFLEO,
I LOVED YOUR RANT!!! I am groaning under the weight of all the godblessing as well. It has the same meaning as when I go to a church and everyone is saying, “god bless” or when I went to the hindu temple and the presenter said, “namaste” and launched into a competition.
(However, I really would like to see GWB’s military papers!)
Forget Obama’s birth certificate, I want to see the birth certificate of the guy/gal/whatever that Obama and Bush always asks to bless U.S. at the end of each speech. This culprit: “May god bless us, may god continue to bless America (even when he/she/it got us into each mess in the first place). Oh, I forgot, also li’l bobbie Jingle bell’s request during the Republican rebuttal to Obama’s speech to throw in the continuation of god’s blessin’ of Louisiana for all them storms, floods, death, n’ destruction.
Seems to me this god person has been causin’ a mighty big fuss and ruckus since mankind has walked ‘god’s green earth’. I want to know for sure and for certain—reasonable doubt aint ‘nuff—of this anthropomorphous alien’s place of birth to ensure that he is legally a U.S. citizen to be making all of our *blessed decisions* while whisperin’ in our U.S. Presidents’ ears or echoing *his* voices in their heads.
We can see Mr. Obama, so I think we all can at least agree that he exists, fake birth certificate or not. However, we caint see god, so I am a bit more suspicious and skeptical of god than I am Obama, just barely though. I ain’t askin’ for god’s DNA, nor even a long-form birth certificate, the short form will suffice. I mean, what if god really is a muslim, Holy Cow!
For any Active Duty/Reservist Judge Advocates’ out yonder: is god subject to an Article 80? Lindsey Graham would know, but I bet he don’t read this blawg.
Snarky Turned OFF
Thanks for the lead, soonergrunt. Here is the text.
“Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”
Elements.
(1) That the accused was a commissioned officer of the United States armed forces;
(2) That the accused used certain words against an official or legislature named in the article;
(3) That by an act of the accused these words came to the knowledge of a person other than the accused; and
(4) That the words used were contemptuous, either in themselves or by virtue of the circumstances under which they were used. Note: If the words were against a Governor or legislature, add the following element
(5) That the accused was then present in the State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession of the Governor or legislature concerned.
Explanation.
The official or legislature against whom the words are used must be occupying one of the offices or be one of the legislatures named in Article 88 at the time of the offense. Neither “Congress” nor “legislature” includes its members individually. “Governor” does not include “lieutenant governor.” It is immaterial whether the words are used against the official in an official or private capacity. If not personally contemptuous, ad-verse criticism of one of the officials or legislatures named in the article in the course of a political discussion, even though emphatically expressed, may not be charged as a violation of the article.
Similarly, expressions of opinion made in a purely private conversation should not ordinarily be charged. Giving broad circulation to a written publication containing contemptuous words of the kind made punishable by this article, or the utterance of contemptuous words of this kind in the presence of military subordinates, aggravates the offense. The truth or falsity of the statements is immaterial.
Lesser included offense.
Article 80—attempts
Maximum punishment.
Dismissal, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 1 year.
lets see, Mrs. Obama had little Barack in Kenya and was so sure he would be president someday she faked his birth certificate and quickly moved to the islands so she could establish his American citizenship, then she married a muslim man and moved to Indonesia so there could be doubts about whether he is a muslim or a christian. Then she went to live with her parents in Kansas so he can claim to be a midwestern salt of the earth kind of guy. Then they all moved back to the islands so as to cover the trail so he could be president some day.
Makes sense to me.
lets anyone want to blast me, that was humor and I think the issue should be laid to rest unless there is a real “smoking gun”
This officer needs to spend more of his time doing the job that he is being paid to do. It has already been well said by others here that the State of Hawaii provided the original and the Supremes, a very Republican Supreme Court, already denied a hearing on this issue. Case closed. Former Fed, Vince provided you with a link so that your concerns can be dealt with, besides, since when do states give up original documents like birth certificates, without court orders? I will agree that Obama should request the original be delivered to a neutral 3rd party expert as soon as George W. Bush provides the original documents from his Air National Guard unit to prove he was not AWOL.
I think this guy is going to get REAL familiar with Article 88, UCMJ.
The investigators have done everything possible to verify the authenticity of the certificate. The “client” has done everything possible. The officials in Hawaii have certified that the certificate is authentic. Independent examiners have studied it.
All reasonable people are convinced.
There is not even a scintilla of evidence suggesting need for more examinations.
These nuts will never accept any evidence at all.
Everybody else has moved on.
Read all about it at Fact Check:
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html
Vince,
I have to concur with Former Federal LEO.