Timothy Baldwin on the Oath and Oath Keepers
Today, politicians do not take their oath to the constitution seriously or literally. Even worse, they do not even understand the principles that formed the constitution’s existence and words. The evidence is all around us of this fact, and freedom suffers because of it. Unfortunately, many of the people of the states not only do not hold our politicians accountable to the constitution, but also do not take their own oath to the constitution seriously and literally.
Many attorneys, sheriffs, deputies, judges, military officers and soldiers raise their right and swear an oath to, for all practical purposes, whatever the United States Supreme Court, Congress or President says, or whatever their superior officer commands. The fixed, immutable principles which founded our country have been virtually killed and buried, largely because the oath to the constitution has become meaningless.
This is why when I learned of the Oath Keepers, I was immediately attracted to its platform and ideology. I wanted to be a part of a group of men and women who are willing to do what our founders did: to sacrifice their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to the truths we hold to be self-evident.
As an attorney, I want others to know that I take my oath to the principles of our constitution seriously–principles that are expressed in our Declaration of Independence and by our forefathers who bequeathed to us a heritage worth upholding and defending.
If you believe in the same and have taken an oath to do the same, then you should join these men and women of the Oath Keepers and stand together in harmony in the preservation and perpetuation of our freedom.
Sincerely,
Timothy Baldwin
Please donate and support Oath Keepers mission, every little bit helps!
December 11th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Hey Timothy,
Welcome to Oath Keepers.
I just wanted to thank you for standing up for your beliefs.
I wanted to thank you for being an Oath Keeper.
Eddie Gilbert
USMC SSgt 70-78
Peace Officer 97-present
December 11th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Thank you Sir for joining us. Your professional understanding of the Constitution underscores the validity of our organization. It seems you understand Oath Keepers to be correct under the law, and therefore endorse us. The opinion of those formally educated to know the difference between Constitutional right and wrong, like yourself and Stewart, is invaluable to this cause. You wipe away the mud that has been slung at us to reveal the righteous truth beneath for all to see.
December 11th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Timothy,
Welcome to Oathkeepers and thank you for joining us.
December 11th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
tim, it is an honor to have you on our team, with respect donald
December 12th, 2009 at 12:29 am
I heard that some public schools do not allow students to even recite the pledge of allegiance the way I did when I was young. If this is so, how can we expect the current generation to believe in abstract ideas like the Constitution and Bill of Rights?
December 12th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Welcome Tim! I’m grateful to have you on board. It is truley a great blessing to stand among men and women who reverence the founding documents of this nation and honor the God who has so blessed us in the past!
December 28th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
http://www.starbulletin.com > News >
Watada discharged
The Army grants the officer’s resignation under “other than honorable conditions”
By Gregg K. Kakesako
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Sep 26, 2009
(Single Page View) | Return to Paginated View
First Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned military officer to refuse deployment to Iraq because he believed it was an illegal war, has won his three-year legal battle with the Army.
With little fanfare the Army at Fort Lewis, Wash., accepted the resignation of the 1996 Kalani High School graduate, and he will be discharged the first week in October.
Rather than seek a second court-martial against the artillery officer, the Army will grant Watada a discharge under “other than honorable conditions.”
Joseph J. Piek, Fort Lewis spokesman, said, “This is an administrative discharge, and the characterization of Lt. Watada’s discharge is not releasable under the privacy act.”
Watada, 31, told the Star-Bulletin in a phone interview yesterday that he was “glad to finally bring this chapter to a close and to move on.”
“The actual outcome is different from the outcome that I envisioned in the first place, but I am grateful of the outcome.”
Watada said he was “thankful to the people from all walks of life that supported me and agreed with my stand.”
In May, Watada won a significant legal victory when the U.S. Department of Justice dropped efforts to retry him. The Army had wanted to appeal U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle’s decision last October that a second court-martial would violate Watada’s constitutional protection against double jeopardy.
Following the Justice Department’s decision, the Army made it clear the only course available to Watada is what the Army calls “resignation for the good of the service in lieu of general court-martial,” Watada said yesterday.
Watada could either voluntarily resign or be forced out with a discharge “under other than honorable conditions.”
Watada said the result would be the same, except it would take longer if he was forced out.
Ken Kagan, one of Watada’s Seattle attorneys, said last night, “Lt. Watada had previously tendered his resignation on more than one occasion, and each time, it was rejected. This time, however, it was accepted, apparently only when the Army realized it could not defeat Lt. Watada in a courtroom.”
Kagan described Watada as “a hero and a patriot. Lt. Watada took a lonely stand as a matter of conscience, never attempted to spread discord within the ranks and never sought to evangelize about his ethical convictions. More importantly, he never disparaged the service and the sacrifices made by countless other soldiers and officers who obeyed their orders. He realized that each member of the armed forces must make her or his own decision, according to the dictates of conscience, just as he did. He always understood it to be an intensely personal decision.
“It is our belief that history will treat Lt. Watada far more favorably than the United States Army sees fit to regard him now.”
Watada said he turned in his resignation papers in July, and they were approved by the commanding general at Fort Lewis and sent to his higher headquarters. Watada learned of the Army’s final approval on Sept. 16.
Watada said that he does not know whether he will stay in the Pacific Northwest, where he attended Whitworth College, or return to the islands.
Before he was charged, Watada, an artillery officer, had requested to be assigned to Afghanistan instead of Iraq and even offered to resign from the Army. Both requests were denied.
Initially, Watada was charged with missing the 2nd Infantry Division’s 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team’s deployment on June 22, 2006, considered by the Army as the most serious charge, and conduct unbec- oming an officer.
Watada participated in anti-war rallies here and on the mainland and held numerous interviews denouncing Bush. Two of those activities were the basis of the charges of conduct unbecoming an officer. Conviction on all counts would have meant six years in prison and a dishonorable discharge.
One of his biggest supporters was his father, Bob Watada, who retired to farm in Eugene, Ore.
“I am very happy he is getting out,” the elder Watada said, “and getting on with his life.
“I firmly believe he did the right thing. I supported him all the way, and I continue to support him.”
Watada’s first court-martial ended in a mistrial in February 2007 when military judge Lt. Col. John Head believed that Watada did not understand the terms of a plea agreement. He had been charged with denouncing President George W. Bush and the Iraq war and refusing to join his Stryker brigade unit when it deployed.
The mistrial occurred before Watada’s attorney could put on a defense.
To block a second court-martial, Watada’s attorneys sued in U.S. District Court.
The Army had been contemplating prosecuting Watada for his anti-war sentiments, citing statements against the war and Bush that were not part of the original court-martial. Watada could have been court-martialed for conduct unbecoming an officer for making those statements.
However, Piek said yesterday, the last two remaining specifications under Article 133, conduct unbecoming an officer, have been dismissed.
Watada, who has been working a desk job since the mistrial, was supposed to have been discharged on December 2006, but his legal proceedings have kept him at Fort Lewis’ I Corps.
The 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team served three combat tours in Iraq.
First Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned military officer to refuse deployment to Iraq because he believed it was an illegal war, has won his three-year legal battle with the Army.
FL MORRIS / DECEMBER 2006
View Large Version >>With little fanfare the Army at Fort Lewis, Wash., accepted the resignation of the 1996 Kalani High School graduate, and he will be discharged the first week in October.
Rather than seek a second court-martial against the artillery officer, the Army will grant Watada a discharge under “other than honorable conditions.”
Joseph J. Piek, Fort Lewis spokesman, said, “This is an administrative discharge, and the characterization of Lt. Watada’s discharge is not releasable under the privacy act.”
Watada, 31, told the Star-Bulletin in a phone interview yesterday that he was “glad to finally bring this chapter to a close and to move on.”
“The actual outcome is different from the outcome that I envisioned in the first place, but I am grateful of the outcome.”
Watada said he was “thankful to the people from all walks of life that supported me and agreed with my stand.”
In May, Watada won a significant legal victory when the U.S. Department of Justice dropped efforts to retry him. The Army had wanted to appeal U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle’s decision last October that a second court-martial would violate Watada’s constitutional protection against double jeopardy.
Following the Justice Department’s decision, the Army made it clear the only course available to Watada is what the Army calls “resignation for the good of the service in lieu of general court-martial,” Watada said yesterday.
Watada could either voluntarily resign or be forced out with a discharge “under other than honorable conditions.”
Watada said the result would be the same, except it would take longer if he was forced out.
Ken Kagan, one of Watada’s Seattle attorneys, said last night, “Lt. Watada had previously tendered his resignation on more than one occasion, and each time, it was rejected. This time, however, it was accepted, apparently only when the Army realized it could not defeat Lt. Watada in a courtroom.”
Kagan described Watada as “a hero and a patriot. Lt. Watada took a lonely stand as a matter of conscience, never attempted to spread discord within the ranks and never sought to evangelize about his ethical convictions. More importantly, he never disparaged the service and the sacrifices made by countless other soldiers and officers who obeyed their orders. He realized that each member of the armed forces must make her or his own decision, according to the dictates of conscience, just as he did. He always understood it to be an intensely personal decision.
“It is our belief that history will treat Lt. Watada far more favorably than the United States Army sees fit to regard him now.”
Watada said he turned in his resignation papers in July, and they were approved by the commanding general at Fort Lewis and sent to his higher headquarters. Watada learned of the Army’s final approval on Sept. 16.
Watada said that he does not know whether he will stay in the Pacific Northwest, where he attended Whitworth College, or return to the islands.
Before he was charged, Watada, an artillery officer, had requested to be assigned to Afghanistan instead of Iraq and even offered to resign from the Army. Both requests were denied.
Initially, Watada was charged with missing the 2nd Infantry Division’s 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team’s deployment on June 22, 2006, considered by the Army as the most serious charge, and conduct unbec- oming an officer.
Watada participated in anti-war rallies here and on the mainland and held numerous interviews denouncing Bush. Two of those activities were the basis of the charges of conduct unbecoming an officer. Conviction on all counts would have meant six years in prison and a dishonorable discharge.
One of his biggest supporters was his father, Bob Watada, who retired to farm in Eugene, Ore.
“I am very happy he is getting out,” the elder Watada said, “and getting on with his life.
“I firmly believe he did the right thing. I supported him all the way, and I continue to support him.”
Watada’s first court-martial ended in a mistrial in February 2007 when military judge Lt. Col. John Head believed that Watada did not understand the terms of a plea agreement. He had been charged with denouncing President George W. Bush and the Iraq war and refusing to join his Stryker brigade unit when it deployed.
The mistrial occurred before Watada’s attorney could put on a defense.
To block a second court-martial, Watada’s attorneys sued in U.S. District Court.
The Army had been contemplating prosecuting Watada for his anti-war sentiments, citing statements against the war and Bush that were not part of the original court-martial. Watada could have been court-martialed for conduct unbecoming an officer for making those statements.
However, Piek said yesterday, the last two remaining specifications under Article 133, conduct unbecoming an officer, have been dismissed.
Watada, who has been working a desk job since the mistrial, was supposed to have been discharged on December 2006, but his legal proceedings have kept him at Fort Lewis’ I Corps.
The 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team served three combat tours in Iraq.