Federal judge calls soldier's Obama challenge 'frivolous'

Maj. Stefan Cook, U.S. Army Reserve

TAMPA, Fla. – An American soldier questioning the eligibility of President Obama to hold office has had his latest legal challenge dismissed "as frivolous and wholly without merit," though the basic constitutional issue has yet to have a legal ruling.

The Aug. 6 order by U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara came less than two hours after motions were filed by Maj. Stefan Cook, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve who is seeking a firm determination whether the commander in chief of the Armed Forces is a "natural born citizen," a requirement for those holding the presidency.

"There was no reasoning, no nothing," said Maj. Cook, who noted previous legal decisions in his case included three or four pages of legal explanations.

"It's ridiculous. They're not even saying why it's frivolous and without merit. You can say that to anything with no justification or reason. That's crap. So much for jurisprudence in this country."

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Cook's latest motions sought for his case to be reheard in Florida after a judge in Georgia declared lack of jurisdiction, as well as an attempt to have Judge Lazzara, a nominee of President Bill Clinton, recuse himself from the case for possible bias.

Lazzara had previously stated that he, too, did not have jurisdiction in Florida, so he had dismissed the case without prejudice. Cook sought a rehearing of the matter with a different jurist, which prompted the denial with the "frivolous" remark. No judge has addressed the main substance of Cook's complaint regarding the natural-born citizenship of the president.

WND asked the Lazzara's office about why there was no explanation in the judge's "endorsed order," and Sandra Hartman, Lazzara's judicial assistant said, "That's standard procedure if a judge wants to use it."

She also indicated, "There's nothing sealed in this case. It's a public record."

U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara of Tampa denied the latest motions by Army Maj. Stefan Cook "as frivolous and wholly wiithout merit."

As WND previously reported,
the Department of Defense allegedly compelled Cook's private employer,
Florida defense contractor Simtech, to fire the major from his civilian
job after he had his military deployment orders revoked amid his legal
challenge to Obama.

"I don't have another job yet," said Cook. "I'm working on trying to find something. I have a very broad but deep background in a variety of subjects and I have built my experience that way just in the event of some catastrophic experience like this."

He also said his legal fight was for "the greater good of the country."

"I might get crushed in the wheels, in the gears of the Chicago machine, but if it's for the greater good and if we can gain some kind of definitive ruling or clarity on eligibility, then that's OK."

MSNBC host Keith Olbermann is calling Maj. Stephan Cook a "jackass" and "the worst person in the world." (Click for video)

Cook, 49, has been verbally flayed in the national media, labeled by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann as a "jackass" and "worst person in the world" along with his California attorney Orly Taitz. Olbermann said:

When I was a kid in the '60s, thinking ahead toward possibly getting drafted, I thought, "You know, if it comes to that, I'm not going to make up some political context or pretext. I'm not gonna invent some sudden philosophical epiphany that I'm a conscientious objector. I'm just gonna say I really don't want to get shot and killed in Vietnam or anywhere else." Too bad Major Cook doesn't have the guts to say that. Then, he might be deserving of his rank, rather than an embarrassment to all those who have served without cowardice. "Don't ask, don't tell" is still throwing out men and women willing to die for their country, but somehow we have room for this jackass Cook and the skirts of this conwoman Taitz behind which he hides.

When told of the remarks, Cook responded, "Keith who?"

"Perhaps Mr. Olbermann would have cared to join me in Kuwait from February 2002 through September 2003, when Saddam and his buddies were shooting Scud [missiles] and such where I was located at Camp Doha. Perhaps Mr. Olbermann would also have cared to join me in January/February of 2008 while I was knocking around in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Should I ever get the opportunity to deploy to either of the two again, he's welcome to join me there."

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Cook also wants to clear up confusion among some who suggest he had some sort of ulterior motive to "set up" the government by volunteering for duty and then filing legal action.

An article in Stars and Stripes noted, "the Army reservist's intention appeared not so much to fight for America as to fight against President Barack Obama, in furtherance of a bizarre conspiracy theory."

The Florida resident tells WND he originally volunteered for duty in Afghanistan last October, before the presidential election ever took place. He was responding to a "help wanted" ad placed by the military.

But a potentially serious health threat known as a pancreatic neoplasm put his plans in jeopardy, and he asked officials in December to stop the deployment process due to his condition.

"I actually had [deployment] orders, then got a positive diagnosis," Cook said, explaining he still wanted to go overseas after a recovery time of about six months.

Cook underwent surgery in January of this year, but doctors were not successful in removing the tumor on his pancreas.

By February, the soldier says he had seen Internet traffic that raised questions about the legitimacy of Obama to serve as president, and he contacted attorney Taitz to sign on as a secondary plaintiff in her California litigation. He stresses he did not seek to be a primary litigant.

Despite still having the tumor, Cook was making good medical progress, and so he renewed his effort to get deployed in Afghanistan.

"I wouldn't have even thought about putting in for orders unless I had 'thumbs up,'" he noted.

In May, he got the medical green light, and by early June, was given the order to go to Afghanistan.

"I was doing my pre-combat checks, getting my personal affairs in order, doing my training, preparing myself to go to Afghanistan, and then maybe about two weeks or 10 days out from report date, I started thinking about the whole legality thing and lawfulness of orders. And that is the time when I contacted Orly and said we need to file [in Georgia where I was based] because of this. This was early July."

Cook maintains that even to this day, he's ready and willing to be deployed "in a heartbeat."

"This is what I do. This is what I trained for the past 21 [expletive] years," he emphasized. "If I have the opportunity to deploy tomorrow to Afghanistan, I wouldn't even think twice about it if the guy sitting in the White House issuing orders was certified as legitimate, [issuing] a lawful order. I 'd be on the next C-17 across the pond."

To date, President Obama has refused to release his long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate, which would include details including the name of his birth hospital and attending physician, both of which could be a starting point in determining his eligibility for office.

His press secretary has only mentioned the release "on the Internet" of an image puporting to be a "Certification of Live Birth," a document without such names, and which can be issued to children not even born in Hawaii.

WND has also
reported that among the documentation not yet available for Obama includes
his kindergarten records, his Punahou school records, his Occidental College
records, his Columbia University records, his Columbia thesis, his Harvard Law
School records, his Harvard Law Review articles, his scholarly articles from the
University of Chicago, his passport, his medical records, his files from his years as an Illinois state
senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records, and
his adoption records.

Additionally, the president may be using his political action committee funds to stomp out
eligibility lawsuits brought by Americans, as he has paid more than $1.35
million to his top lawyer since the election.

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issue, please contact WND.

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