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Posers are useless and can cause a security problems

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  • Posers are useless and can cause a security problems

    Judges make wrong decisions again.

    Appeals court: Stolen Valor Act unconstitutional
    August 17, 2010 - 10:06pm

    PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - A three-year-old federal law that makes it a crime to falsely claim to have received a medal from the U.S. military is unconstitutional, an appeals court panel in California ruled Tuesday.

    The decision involves the case of Xavier Alvarez of Pomona, Calif., a water district board member who said at a public meeting in 2007 that he was a retired Marine who received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration.

    Alvarez was indicted in 2007. He pleaded guilty on condition that he be allowed to appeal on First Amendment grounds. He was sentenced under the Stolen Valor Act to more than 400 hours of community service at a veterans hospital and fined $5,000.

    A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with him in a 2-1 decision Tuesday, agreeing that the law was a violation of his free-speech rights. The majority said there's no evidence that such lies harm anybody, and there's no compelling reason for the government to ban such lies.

    The dissenting justice insisted that the majority refused to follow clear Supreme Court precedent that false statements of fact are not entitled to First Amendment protection.

    The act revised and toughened a law that forbids anyone to wear a military medal that wasn't earned. The 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. Almost all the impostors have been ordered to perform community service.

    The U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles said it was deciding whether to appeal Tuesday's ruling.

    http://wtop.com/?nid=104&sid=2029810

  • #2
    those lies don't really harm anyone but the person telling them if he was setting in the wrong VFW or A. Legion with the wrong crowd. We have a guy in our town that tells stories about being in Vietnam and everyone knows that he wasn't even in the boy scouts.His wife is just as nut as he is, she claims he wakes up at night and ducks for cover. In 1969, I was out of the Army and I used to work on his dads snow plow truck, he was about 11 in 69 and i've told him a dozen times that he wasn't even old enough to be in Vietnam, he dosen't get embarrased at all and i usually don't pay any attention to him.
    Last edited by crossbow; 08-18-2010, 01:03 PM.

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    • #3
      When is it ok to lie? If someone will lie about that when does he not lie, is there a line you can draw?

      I have told every employer i have had in the last 20 years, in my interview, "i will not lie for you. But the flip side is i will not lie to you."

      How do you or could you trust someone that will lie to you? It is a serious thing give someone your word, is not it?

      I have had "friends" in the past that i have made plans with, that have lost interest or found someone better to hook up with. Do you really think if something happens i could trust them, with the life of my family?

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      • #4
        I was in the military and have run across more than a few of these posers. They are usually dealt with by asking a few simple questions that any vet could answer. I used to let them bother me. Now it is just fun to expose them and make them look like the fools they are.

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        • #5
          If you will never LIE, you are setting yourself up for failure.

          **survival situation, you get too lazy and make a mistake, you now find yourself outnumbered 2 to 1... they ask if you have any food and supplies... and you say what survivalist?***

          I say, no man, I was just about to ask you guys if you had any food...

          God will understand when I get to the pearly gates if I had to lie to protect me and my family's ability to survive...

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          • #6
            OH, and I dont know how you can make someone lieing about a medal a crime. Thats a balancing act on the Freedom of Expression. Yes it is a terrible thing to do, yes it makes them pinheads, but I don't think you can make it a crime. I believe it would easily lose on appeal.

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