________* (<----*A bunch of foul expelitives, and some cuss words too, here.)

[Guide Plt.2129]

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...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...itutional.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.

[V8403]

Public Law 109–437
109th Congress
An Act

To amend title 18, United States Code, to enhance protections relating to the
reputation and meaning of the Medal of Honor and other military decorations
and awards, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stolen Valor Act of 2005’’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Fraudulent claims surrounding the receipt of the Medal
of Honor, the distinguished-service cross, the Navy cross, the
Air Force cross, the Purple Heart, and other decorations and
medals awarded by the President or the Armed Forces of the
United States damage the reputation and meaning of such
decorations and medals.

(2) Federal law enforcement officers have limited ability
to prosecute fraudulent claims of receipt of military decorations
and medals.

(3) Legislative action is necessary to permit law enforcement
officers to protect the reputation and meaning of military
decorations and medals.

SEC. 3. ENHANCED PROTECTION OF MEANING OF MILITARY DECORATIONS
AND MEDALS.
(a) EXPANSION OF GENERAL CRIMINAL OFFENSE.—Subsection
(a) of section 704 of title 18, United States Code, is amended
by striking ‘‘manufactures, or sells’’ and inserting ‘‘purchases,
attempts to purchase, solicits for purchase, mails, ships, imports,
exports, produces blank certificates of receipt for, manufactures,
sells, attempts to sell, advertises for sale, trades, barters, or
exchanges for anything of value’’
.
(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF CRIMINAL OFFENSE RELATING TO FALSE
CLAIMS ABOUT RECEIPT OF DECORATIONS AND MEDALS.—Such section

704 is further amended—
(1) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c);
(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
‘‘(b) FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT RECEIPT OF MILITARY DECORATIONS
OR MEDALS.—Whoever falsely represents himself or herself, verbally
or in writing, to have been awarded any decoration or medal authorized
by Congress for the Armed Forces of the United States, any
of the service medals or badges awarded to the members of such
forces, the ribbon, button, or rosette of any such badge, decoration,

18 USC 704 note.
18 USC 1 note.
Stolen Valor Act
of 2005.
Dec. 20, 2006
[S. 1998]
VerDate 14-DEC-2004 09:39 Dec 29, 2006 Jkt 059139 PO 00437 Frm 00001 Fmt 6580 Sfmt 6581 E:\PUBLAW\PUBL437.109 APPS16 PsN: PUBL437
PUBLIC LAW 109–437—DEC. 20, 2006 120 STAT. 3267
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 1998:
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 152 (2006):
Sept. 7, considered and passed Senate.
Dec. 6, considered and passed House.
Æ
or medal, or any colorable imitation of such item shall be fined
under this title, imprisoned not more than six months, or both.’’;
and

(3) in paragraph (1) of subsection (c), as redesignated by
paragraph (1) of this subsection, by inserting ‘‘or (b)’’ after
‘‘subsection (a)’’.

(c) ENHANCED PENALTY FOR OFFENSES INVOLVING CERTAIN
OTHER MEDALS.—Such section 704 is further amended by adding
at the end the following:

‘‘(d) ENHANCED PENALTY FOR OFFENSES INVOLVING CERTAIN
OTHER MEDALS.—If a decoration or medal involved in an offense
described in subsection (a) or (b) is a distinguished-service cross
awarded under section 3742 of title 10, a Navy cross awarded
under section 6242 of title 10, an Air Force cross awarded under
section 8742 of section 10, a silver star awarded under section
3746, 6244, or 8746 of title 10, a Purple Heart awarded under
section 1129 of title 10, or any replacement or duplicate medal
for such medal as authorized by law, in lieu of the punishment
provided in the applicable subsection, the offender shall be fined
under this title, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.’’.
(d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Subsection (c) of such section
704, as so redesignated, is further amended—

(1) by inserting ‘‘ENHANCED PENALTY FOR OFFENSES
INVOLVING’’ before ‘‘CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR’’; and
(2) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
‘‘(2) CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR DEFINED.—In this
subsection, the term ‘Congressional Medal of Honor’ means—
‘‘(A) a medal of honor awarded under section 3741,
6241, or 8741 of title 10 or section 491 of title 14;
‘‘(B) a duplicate medal of honor issued under section
3754, 6256, or 8754 of title 10 or section 504 of title
14; or
‘‘(C) a replacement of a medal of honor provided under
section 3747, 6253, or 8747 of title 10 or section 501 of
title 14.’’.
Approved December 20, 2006.

http://ftp.resource.org/gpo.gov/laws...ubl437.109.pdf