Houston - "Man arrested, accused of stolen valor"

[vonGarvin]

So that's the Frontiersmen Mess Kit  ;D

You've got it wrong.  This guy is much too lean to fit into one of their uniforms ;D

 

[mariomike]

I really do think there IS such a thing as a well-deserved punch in the face.  This guy is living proof IMO.

I agree. More importantly, I think President George Washington - the man who created The Purple Heart,  America's first military decoration -  felt the same way when he wrote:
"Should any who are not entitled to these honors have the insolence to assume the badges of them, they shall be severely punished."
I think Washington would view this as a LIE, not a Freedom of Speech issue.

I think back then Tar and Feathering, then riding out of town on a rail was popular.

One of the reader's comments suggested he should be sentenced to Community Service - cleaning toilets in a local V.A. hospital.

 

[Journeyman]

President George Washington.....
I think back then Tar and Feathering, then riding out of town on a rail was popular.

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799)1

1826: The first line of rails in the New England States is said to have been laid down at Quincy, Mass., 3 miles in length and pulled by horses. 2

It's a slow day....just waiting for the Superbowl ;D


1. "George Washington," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington
2. "Railroad Timeline History," http://www.sdrm.org/history/timeline/

 

[armyvern]

Would tar & feathered then strapped to the back of a horse suffice then?

(My apologies to Edward - the only good pic I could find comes from his era vice Washingtons).

 

[Journeyman]

Would tar & feathered then strapped to the back of a horse suffice then?

Too kinky for me, thanks  >

(My apologies to Edward - the only good pic I could find comes from his era vice Washington's).

You know he's going to get you for that one  :nod:

 

[Michael OLeary]

1826: The first line of rails in the New England States is said to have been laid down at Quincy, Mass., 3 miles in length and pulled by horses. 2

I believe that "riding out of town on a rail" referred to a fence rail, not the railroad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_the_rail

 

[Journeyman]

Well, something learned -- no longer a wasted day 



Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. 
~Thomas Szasz 

 

[George Wallace]

Looks like we found the origins of the Sasquatch.

 

[mariomike]

Someone is obviously pretty mentally ill, wouldn't you say????

I don't know. But, it seems to be a popular defence for bad behavior, when all else fails. Perhaps too much potty training as an infant? Or, was it society's fault? 
In fact, the defence in the Denver case claims, "that his client suffers from bipolar personality disorder and has other mental health issues."

I think if you have enough money to pay them, a good defence lawyer can beat almost any charge, or at least, get the charges and sentence reduced. Some say ( was it Johnnie Cochrane? ), "Money talks, and B.S. walks".  Although, sometimes even a Conrad Black has to face the music.
What was it Caryl Chessman said about  “fundless and friendless"? Not that these guys are on trial for their lives.

Here is a story about a U.S. Army Captain who was forced to retire for wearing unearned medals:
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/army-captain-accused-wearing-unearned-medals-retire

Another about a USN sailor:
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/01/yorktown-sailor-charged-falsely-wearing-medals

I think we have a thread somewhere about this guy:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/11/phony-navy-medals.html

 

[Steel Badger]

Just as an aside..... I followed the link to the Legion of Frontiersmen Central Deathstar command page....

Under affiliated units they have a link to the PPCLI.....
Clicked on that an it brought me to the PPCLI page here on Army.ca

Do we have a mole, or is the Techoviking REALLY  His uberness Prince Leopald Waltstein XVI?

 

[Michael OLeary]

Technoviking does not belong to the Frontiersmen; Technoviking pwns the Frontiersmen.

 

[vonGarvin]

Do we have a mole, or is the Techoviking REALLY  His uberness Prince Leopald Waltstein XVI?

Curses!  Foiled again!

 

[Michael OLeary]

To bring this one back on track:

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100206/NEWS11/100209810

Law barring lies about medals is tested

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 06, 2010

DENVER — The federal courts are wrestling with a question of both liberty and patriotism: Does the First Amendment right to free speech protect people who lie about being war heroes?

At issue is a three-year-old federal law called the Stolen Valor Act that makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail to falsely claim to have received a medal from the U.S. military. It is a crime even if the liar makes no effort to profit from his stolen glory.
More Times Breaking News

Attorneys in Colorado and California are challenging the law on behalf of two men charged, saying the First Amendment protects almost all speech that doesn't hurt someone else. Neither man has been accused by prosecutors of seeking financial gain for himself.

Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School who is not involved in the two cases, said the Stolen Valor Act raises serious constitutional questions because it in effect bans bragging or exaggerating about yourself.

“Half the pickup lines in bars across the country could be criminalized under that concept,” he said.

Craig Missakian, a federal prosecutor in the California case, argued that deliberate lies are not protected. He also said the Constitution gives Congress the authority to raise and support an army, and that includes, by extension, “protecting the worth and value of these medals.”

The Stolen Valor Act revised and toughened a law that forbids anyone to wear a military medal that was not earned. The revised measure sailed through Congress in late 2006, receiving unanimous approval in the Senate.

Dozens of people have been arrested under the law at a time when veterans coming home from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are being embraced as heroes. Many of the cases involve men who simply got caught living a lie without profiting from it. Virtually all the impostors were ordered to perform community service.

In one case, a man posing as a Marine war hero was accused of using his hero status to receive discount airline tickets and a free place to stay near Phoenix.

Defense attorneys say the law is problematic in the way it does not require the lie to be part of a scheme for gain. Turley said someone lying about having a medal to profit financially should instead be charged with fraud.

One of the men challenging the law is Xavier Alvarez of Pomona, Calif. He had just been elected to a water district board in 2007 when he said at a public meeting that he was a retired Marine who received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration.

His claim aroused suspicion, and he was indicted 2007. Alvarez, who apparently never served in the military, pleaded guilty on condition that he be allowed to appeal on the First Amendment question. He was sentenced to more than 400 hours of community service at a veterans hospital and fined $5,000. The case is now before a federal appeals court.

The other person challenging the law is Rick Glen Strandlof, who claimed he was an ex-Marine wounded in Iraq and received the Purple Heart and Silver Star. He founded an organization in Colorado Springs that helped homeless veterans.

Military officials said they had no record that he ever served. He has pleaded not guilty, and a judge is considering whether to throw out the charge.

The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in California quoted Alvarez as saying in 2007, “I must have mis-said things. It wasn't supposed to go that way.” Strandlof's lawyer has said his client may suffer from bipolar disorder or other problems.

Attorneys challenging the law say that lying about getting a medal doesn't fit any of the categories of speech that the U.S. Supreme Court has said can be banned: lewd, obscene, profane, libelous or creating imminent danger to others, such as yelling fire in a crowded theater.

Army veteran Pete Lemon of Colorado Springs, who received the Medal of Honor for turning back an enemy assault and rescuing wounded comrades in Vietnam while injured himself, supports the law, saying that pretending to have a medal can bring undeserved rewards.

“It gives you the power to entice somebody into marriage,” he said. “It could give you the power to be able to join an organization, get special treatment with regards to getting tickets to a football game, getting license plates, getting preferential treatment in a job situation.”

Doug Sterner, a military historian, said the law embodies the wishes of the nation's first commander in chief, George Washington. Sterner noted that Washington created the Purple Heart, the nation's first military decoration, and wrote: “Should any who are not entitled to these honors have the insolence to assume the badges of them, they shall be severely punished.”

“I think that speaks to the intent of the framers,” Sterner said, “that George Washington saw this kind of lie outside the scope of this freedom-of-speech issue.”

 

[brandon_]

that's sickening on how so many people lie about being the military... accutaly, It's sickening so many of these people pretend they get all these medals, and honours, when in fact they did absolutly nothing to deserve this. 

ManBearPig where are you at? ;D

 

[REDinstaller]

MBP might be a bit busy, those CIA badges are hard to make using a peti point kit. lmfao ;D

 

[Journeyman]

The Stolen Valor Act revised and toughened a law that forbids anyone to wear a military medal that was not earned. The revised measure sailed through Congress in late 2006, receiving unanimous approval in the Senate.

So a law passed unanimously by a group who, arguably, care only about being re-elected and so do what the majority of vocal electors want...

...is being challenged by a group who, arguably, care only about the financial gravy train of keeping a legal challenge going.

The fact that any elected group could find unanimity on any subject should speak volumes to the parasite lawyers involved in this  :

 

[mariomike]

This challenge may change violation of the Act from a misdemeanor to a felony.

"Hollywood cares more about its stars than the Defense Department about its own.":
http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/12479-Hollywood-cares-more-for-its-vets-honors-than-the-Defense-Department.html

A similar story about bogus PoW medal and benefits claimants: "It's stealing from the dead," he says. "It's a form of sacrilege.":
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=7314175

Of interest:
President Johnson was officially awarded the Silver Star. He always wore it on his lapel, and wasn't shy about waving that lapel in peoples faces.
However, his biographer, Robert Cato wrote: "The most you can say about Lyndon Johnson and his Silver Star is that it is surely one of the most undeserved Silver Stars in history, because if you accept everything that he said, he was still in action for no more than 13 minutes and only as an observer. Men who flew many missions, brave men, never got a Silver Star."
In other words, in this particular case, a medal was awarded for seemingly political reasons.

 

[Journeyman]

Sadly, the legal challenge to the Stolen Valor Act now serves to strengthen the posers. 

Link

  Appeals court rules Stolen Valor Act unconstitutional
Bill Mears, CNN August 18, 2010 1:13 p.m. EDT

Washington (CNN) -- Lying about military honors is not a crime, a federal appeals court has ruled, tossing out the prosecution of a California public official who falsely claimed to have won the prestigious Medal of Honor.

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 there was inadequate "compelling governmental interest" when Congress passed the Stolen Valor Act in 2006.

.........

Alvarez was prosecuted on one count of falsely verbally claiming to have received the medal. He had conditionally pleaded guilty, reserving his right to later appeal on constitutional grounds. He was fined $5,000, given three years' probation, and resigned last fall from the utility board based in Claremont, California.

.........

As for Alvarez, he is currently in the California State Prison in Centinela, convicted separately earlier this year for defrauding the water district, according to court records.

Complete article at link, above

 

[57Chevy]

Of interest:
President Johnson was officially awarded the Silver Star. He always wore it on his lapel, and wasn't shy about waving that lapel in peoples faces.
However, his biographer, Robert Cato wrote: "The most you can say about Lyndon Johnson and his Silver Star is that it is surely one of the most undeserved Silver Stars in history, because if you accept everything that he said, he was still in action for no more than 13 minutes and only as an observer. Men who flew many missions, brave men, never got a Silver Star."
In other words, in this particular case, a medal was awarded for seemingly political reasons.

It does seem to fall within the guidelines pertaining to American decorations: Silver Star
and the Citation is clear.

 

[Gravja]

Seems to be alot of this going around lately. 

Heres another link.  Hope its not a repost but here.  This individual was caught aswell.

http://www.georgiapacking.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=49635