The Purple Heart
THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT–In my opinion, lying about one’s military service, and, especially, claims of valor ranks right up there with wife beating and abusing animals.
I have know of a few of these boasters, including a U.S. Representative from Oregon, Wes Cooley, whose military service claims were debunked by a long thought dead sergeant who surfaced and said Cooley’s claims were pure BS. Cooley was hounded out of office, and later arrested for fraud in another state (on a different matter).
The First Amendment protects free speech and this includes the right to lie about military service. This is something that I have to agree with. The golden rule here is, don’t believe everything you hear, especially if it has to do with military service.
There is a law on the books called the Stolen Valor Act which makes it a crime to falsely claim to have earned medals in the military. The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals struck it down saying the government can’t act as a “truth police” to punish lies that cause no harm.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the case. I have a hunch that free speech will prevail and we will have to find another way to hold those who lie about military valor accountable for their actions.
From wiki: The Stolen Valor Act of 2005, signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 20, 2006,[1] is a U.S. law that broadens the provisions of previous U.S. law addressing the unauthorized wear, manufacture, or sale of any military decorations and medals. It makes it a federal misdemeanor offense to falsely represent oneself as having received any U.S. military decoration or medal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_2005
I can’t vouch for this site but these people report those who are lying about military service: http://www.reportstolenvalor.org/
Related story: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/us/justices-take-case-on-lying-about-honors-from-military.html
Categories: Everything else
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