While making my usual daily rounds on the internet, I noticed Chuck Z sounding off about the overturning of The Stolen Valor Act, which, in essence, makes it a crime to falsely claim to have won a decoration from the United States Military. Opponents of the Act deem it unconstitutional…
Apparently lying is protected under the First Amendment…
Now, I’m not always the most truthful fellow in the pool. And anytime any of us old warhorses start off a sea story with “Now this happened to me when I was on liberty in Thailand…” folks should start putting one hand on their wallet, and the other on their family jewels, because there’s a whopper inbound… But these are sea stories, anecdotes, tall tales that carry no claim of truthfulness, legal counsel, or historical accuracy…
… But when a fellow lies about having received a decoration, especially a decoration that sways public sentiments to the point where the public is at risk of being made the victim of fraud, on top of the damage done in the public eye towards legitimate holders of the decoration, well, is THAT covered by the law?
I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me that this country’s laws are starting to do a better job protecting criminals than they do protecting the interests of those who won through personal valor, effort, and/or initiative a decoration while serving the Nation.
I’m just sayin’…
August 1st, 2010 - 08:54
Yeah! What you said.