Posted on 02/04/2010 1:16:04 PM PST by AstroTurf _Queen
An organization dedicated to honoring the nation's prisoners of war and missing in action service members is outraged that a federal law against lying about military medals is facing First Amendment challenges. Lawyers in California and Colorado cases have made similar arguments against the "Stolen Valor Act," saying that lying is protected by the First Amendment unless it does real harm.
(Excerpt) Read more at onenewsnow.com ...
Well, if you take the “thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” out of the courtroom, then ok, I guess /sarc
Must be...Obama couldn't tell the truth if his life depended on it!
Of course it is, or should be. Because you would not want Obama or John Kerry decided what is “true,” would you?
Dissent against Global Warming? You’re a liar, and go to jail.
Say John Kerry got fake medals? You’re a liar, and go to jail?
Say a fetus is a child? You’re a liar, and go to jail.
Etc.
Lies must be protected, for fear of who judges what is true.
Now, if someone cons someone by lying (e.g., gets government benefits), well, that’s fraud, and a completely different story.
Commerical fraud, perjury, treason, libel, slander, and inciting a riot are all examples of speech that is not protected by the 1st Amendment.
If liars want to wear medals they didn’t earn, I guess it should be OK if James O’Keefe and his partners dress up as phone repairmen.
That is a good point you make. If a lie is not the truth, then exactly who is it who determines what is true and what is not, what is a lie and what is not?
What about the phony soldiers who serve in the anti-American war movement who did not serve in the US military and give false accounts at rallies of witnessing warcrimes?
Wow... How can he actually try to challenge this? Making false claims about receiving such honors is essentially fraud. Does this guy think slander/libel should be ok too?
So does that mean I can now perjure myself in court or give a false statement to a police officer or misreport my income to the IRS, so long as it “does no harm”?
Not surprising coming from California and Colorado. “Stolen Valor” should also be applied to military service, not just medals. I’ve met so many posers, usually Lefties pushing an anti-war position.
Had a guy at the office who presented himself as a former Naval officer. I had my suspicions, but since I was Army I didn’t know the intricacies of the Navy. My boyfriend exposed this guy when the claim of service on a type of vessel that doesn’t bear the kind of name he stated. I laid a trap and he fell right in. From that time he knew that he had been exposed,and that there was only contempt for his actions. I should have gone to our owner, but didn’t. The poser was soon fired anyway. Can’t figure out why he’d do such a thing.
I didn’t think anyone would stoop this low, but obviously I underestimated humanity.
I believe the Constitution protects your right to speak, however, it doesn’t protect you from the consequences of choosing the wrong words, such as fraud, libel, slander, threats, etc.
Admiral Boorda must be turning over in his grave.
He committed suicide over a combat V device on a Bronze Star that he was not entitled to wear back when he was CNO.
Of course, he was active Navy at the time, different rules.
In a court after a person has been sworn in, NO
If a person puts on such a pretense in order to get advancement in public office or private, it’s a substantial fraud and deserves notice of the law.
Repairmen are not in the same catagory as service members. O’Keefe and his crew used an undercover journalistic tactic. His actions were not to defraud someone, but to expose the truth. Big difference.
former Sgt, US Army (1976-1984
>>saying that lying is protected by the First Amendment unless it does real harm.
>
>Commerical fraud, perjury, treason, libel, slander, and inciting a riot are all examples of speech that is not protected by the 1st Amendment.
Treason, as defined by the Constitution, would be hard to do by simply speaking.
So I guess it would be Consitutionally protected for me to claim that I was a lawyer. Or a judge.
I’m a supreme court justice!
It is not the lying in itself that is the issue. The underlying issue is fraud. The lying is done in order to obtain some intangible or tangible benefit of being considered a war hero. That is fraud. Not protected free speech.
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