Stolen Valor Act unconstitutional

[lifeon2]

I have a hard hat..........just sayin.

[asmo]

Unless you're accompanied by a construction worker, Indian chief, cowboy and soldier. Then it's fabulous.

[Jer]

While I think it's a cheap thing to do, nobody is harmed by someone pretending to be something they are not. There was no loss of life or property, and nobody was hurt by it. Why punish someone for acting like a retard in a nonviolent manner? And what does locking them up accomplish?

I tend to agree with this. While I think it's disgusting I think we have far too many laws as it is and one less is alright by me... even if I support the spirit of the law itself. Sometimes we just need to take a step back and let the asshats weed themselves out, even if it is only morally. IMO the SCOTUS has more important things to worry about and other things such as this are clearly distracting them from making the right decision on more important topics.

[Big E3]

If pretending to be in the military was a crime I would be tempted to support it if for no other reason than getting some of the Hollywood anti-gun Libs off the streets. I happen to know for a fact that more than one of the Hollywood antigun crowd have been actually captured on film impersonating military or law enforcement personnel. The list is long but I would like to see at least some of them off the streets, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, George Clooney, Kevin Bacon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone just to name a few. Talk about ill gotten gains, how about the amount of money these people have made from impersonations. OK, Maybe that's a little extreme, but if we are going to have laws wouldn't it be great to use them to some advantage. I think that all military vets should be pissed that anybody is trying to act like they have been where you have been, but we've all seen where the camels nose under the tent can lead. I say be proud of your accomplishments and whenever possible vote with your dollars.

[tmckay2]

I agree with those who say jail time for these idiots is a bit much. Sure I hope karma bites them in the ass but if we worried about everything a person does people literally wouldn't be legally allowed to breath. I get what the vets are saying but every peoPle group has something that really chaps their hide and we can't just make all those things punishable by jail time. Now for those who get benefits by faking it they should fall under felony forgery in my opinion as should (and maybe they do) Medicare and Medicaid frauds. Frankly if a guy is walking around declaring his service exploits and awards he likely isn't a real vet. Out of all the friends, family and acquaintances I have that are gets I've never known a single one to brag about what they did or were awarded.

[pepito]

I am really on the line on this issue. I would rather be given the freedom to recreate the famous deliverance scene to the perpetrators than have them arrested.

[Fmedges]

This guy's obituary said he has 3 tours in Viet nam and was also a POW. The problem? He joined the Army in 1981. Buried in a veterans cemetery is this still an OK free speech issue?

[CapLock]

I say dig his ass up and throw him out. If it makes some here feel better...go ahead and lock him up.

[Jer]

This guy's obituary said he has 3 tours in Viet nam and was also a POW. The problem? He joined the Army in 1981. Buried in a veterans cemetery is this still an OK free speech issue?

That seems like a pretty simple paperwork issue easily addressed by those deciding who gets to get buried at a veterans cemetery or not. Why do we need laws at the federal level for it? Would it have prevented this oversight in the example you cited? I don't see how.

Listen, we can give an example here and there that would make ANY law seem important. I was HORRIBLY inconvenienced to the tune of over a month, multiple trips to the DMV and an entire moth of lost income due to a new set of laws put into place regarding homemade trailers. The laws don't match up so you MUST get a special verification & inspection through CSP that not only cost more than a traditional VIN verification but the worst part is appointments with CSP are over a month out. No big deal, right? Wrong. Temp tags are only good for a few days. So there is no possible way to pull a trailer on the streets. I was informed this at the begging of a month in which I do 90% of my aerations. When I asked what the reasoning was I was given some sob story of a beautiful teenage girl who was killed on I25 because someone's homemade trailer fell apart at highway speeds and a bar came through her windshield killing her.

My first thought was: So what? Sounds like she was following too closely. My second thought was: What kind of a country have we become where we have to pass law after law because of a couple isolated incidents? Giving our liberties that veterans fight for away with each stroke of the pen. People say 'Well, I think we have too many laws already' until it's a new law that THEY find fits their own personal beliefs. Enough is enough. Draw the line. Just because you don't support a law doesn't mean you're a hater of whomever it was going to support. Most of these situations are far more complex than that. I'm sure those real veterans who fought for our freedom that are laid to rest next to him would feel that our freedom is an important thing and laws stripping us of our freedoms shouldn't be taken lightly. That's not to say someone has the RIGHT to do such dastardly things as an exercise of their right to free speech because I don't think it should be protected as such. At the same time, that doesn't mean that I think there should be a law at the federal level outlawing every single damn thing that isn't expressly protected in our civil rights. Sometimes things should just be common sense.

I'd like to see such people get the shit kicked out of them. I also think there are some jerks in life who should get the shit kicked out of them for just being jerks but that doesn't mean we need laws at the federal level for each of the things they do that makes them assholes.

[Jer]

I say dig his ass up and throw him out. If it makes some here feel better...go ahead and lock him up.

There you go. Problem solved. No need for the federal government to waste millions of our dollars to make such decisions and go after the few 'boogey men' perpetrating these acts. No need for federal bureaucracy to deal with something that appears pretty to those with common sense simple to address. Sometimes the easiest solution is the best.