Guide Plt.2129
August 22nd, 2010, 13:29
OR, write your own title.
I never really intended to protect the Constitution for it to be twisted or misused, perverted, if you will. But I did do so, at the risk of someone picking it up and using it against me. Or misuse it so that someone could inflate their ego on my dime. Or someone could tell tales about when they were in Burma with Mick and Doc. Or in Beirut with Bill and John. Or....you get my drift.
The First Amendment. I could go on for hours about how I believe the founding fathers thought it should be used. And the protections it gave the common citizen. No citizen is really common per say, each is a unique individual, and has an opinion, and sometimes that opinion needs to be protected under that blanket First Amendment. And sometimes a rare individual comes along with an opinion that is kinda whacked out, but still it falls under the protected rights under the First Amendment.
Throwing garbage and calling men returning from a war zone vile filthy names is protected. For the life of me I have to really try to make it stretch that far, and not somehow lump it with "enemy of the Constitution" and "giving aid and comfort to the enemy". My free speech on this is: "If ya dont like it here, close the door on the way out, dont come back"...and I'm being nice.
My uniform.
I earned it.
Men who went before me bought it for me.
And men after me assure me the right to at the least, wear it, to my funeral.
But it is mine, no matter what, it is my right to wear it to my funeral, represent the Marine Corp with an honorable life after I earned it, and in no way disrespect it in any manner or form. This includes medals, awards, chevrons.
The faker. There is no way his First Amendment right is to wear the medal, the uniform, say he earned them.
That is way to much of a stretch.
Not according to a judge.
Read this one, and then I think we need to look long and hard at this judge, write some emails/letters, make some phone calls, exercise our First Amendment rights a little. And check this First Amendment right out out: "hang 'em™".
http://www.military.com/news/article/judge-rules-stolen-valor-act-illegal--.html
DENVER -- A law that makes it illegal to lie about being a war hero is unconstitutional because it violates free speech, a federal judge ruled Friday as he dismissed a case against a Colorado man who claimed he received two military medals.
Rick Glen Strandlof claimed he was an ex-Marine who was wounded in Iraq and received the Purple Heart and Silver Star, but the military had no record he ever served. He was charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail to falsely claim to have won a military medal.
U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn dismissed the case and said the law is unconstitutional, ruling the government did not show it has a compelling reason to restrict that type of statement
http://www.military.com/news/article/court-rules-stolen-valor-act-unconstitutional.html
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.
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.
I never really intended to protect the Constitution for it to be twisted or misused, perverted, if you will. But I did do so, at the risk of someone picking it up and using it against me. Or misuse it so that someone could inflate their ego on my dime. Or someone could tell tales about when they were in Burma with Mick and Doc. Or in Beirut with Bill and John. Or....you get my drift.
The First Amendment. I could go on for hours about how I believe the founding fathers thought it should be used. And the protections it gave the common citizen. No citizen is really common per say, each is a unique individual, and has an opinion, and sometimes that opinion needs to be protected under that blanket First Amendment. And sometimes a rare individual comes along with an opinion that is kinda whacked out, but still it falls under the protected rights under the First Amendment.
Throwing garbage and calling men returning from a war zone vile filthy names is protected. For the life of me I have to really try to make it stretch that far, and not somehow lump it with "enemy of the Constitution" and "giving aid and comfort to the enemy". My free speech on this is: "If ya dont like it here, close the door on the way out, dont come back"...and I'm being nice.
My uniform.
I earned it.
Men who went before me bought it for me.
And men after me assure me the right to at the least, wear it, to my funeral.
But it is mine, no matter what, it is my right to wear it to my funeral, represent the Marine Corp with an honorable life after I earned it, and in no way disrespect it in any manner or form. This includes medals, awards, chevrons.
The faker. There is no way his First Amendment right is to wear the medal, the uniform, say he earned them.
That is way to much of a stretch.
Not according to a judge.
Read this one, and then I think we need to look long and hard at this judge, write some emails/letters, make some phone calls, exercise our First Amendment rights a little. And check this First Amendment right out out: "hang 'em™".
http://www.military.com/news/article/judge-rules-stolen-valor-act-illegal--.html
DENVER -- A law that makes it illegal to lie about being a war hero is unconstitutional because it violates free speech, a federal judge ruled Friday as he dismissed a case against a Colorado man who claimed he received two military medals.
Rick Glen Strandlof claimed he was an ex-Marine who was wounded in Iraq and received the Purple Heart and Silver Star, but the military had no record he ever served. He was charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail to falsely claim to have won a military medal.
U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn dismissed the case and said the law is unconstitutional, ruling the government did not show it has a compelling reason to restrict that type of statement
http://www.military.com/news/article/court-rules-stolen-valor-act-unconstitutional.html
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.
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.