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After years of pretending to be a Navy SEAL and a member of law enforcement, a Rhode Island felon is facing multiple years in California and Rhode Island prisons after finally slipping up because of expired vehicle tags. William Burley pleaded not guilty to charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and in possession of ammunition on Wednesday in Morongo Superior Court. Just the previous week in the same court, Burley, a Yucaipa resident, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, a prohibited person in possession of ammunition and receiving stolen property. Due...

memory hole reminder The first documentary evidence that Vietnamese communists were directly steering John Kerry’s group Vietnam Veterans Against the War has been discovered in a U.S. archive, according to a researcher who spoke with WorldNetDaily. Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2004/10/27207/#615wufvA5oZXKuWK.99

I was doing some web surfing on the Stolen Valor Act and was looking at articles about him when I ran across the link to the above obituary. I think this is him. Everything the description fits him perfectly (e.g., lived in Houston; studied Tibetan Buddhism; his "cherished friend" Alvin Chan) and the photo pretty much looks like him (minus the glasses, soul patch and goatee, of course). Does anyone know whether or not he really is dead? I couldn't find anything else on the web except this obituary. If he really has died, you would think that all the...

The Army has revoked the Special Forces military occupational specialty of an Arkansas political candidate who claimed he served as a Green Beret in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kenneth Aden, a Democrat running against incumbent Rep. Steve Womack for Arkansas' 3rd District, has said in interviews he served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Green Beret, though a DD-214 and other documents he released to substantiate the claim only raised questions. In a statement Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Special Warfare Training Center at Fort Bragg, N.C., said Aden was dropped from Special Forces training in April 2008 "after failing...

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court cited First Amendment rights to free speech in striking down a law that made it a federal crime to falsely claim to have been awarded military-honor medals. The 6-3 majority opinion upheld a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that had declared unconstitutional the Stolen Valor Act, a 2006 statute Congress passed "to protect the reputation and meaning" of military honors.

The Supreme Court struck down the Stolen Valor Act today, saying that the First Amendment defends a person's right to lie -- even if that person is lying about awards and medals won through military service.

Timothy Michael Poe won over the crowd and the judges of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” even before he began to sing, with his moving story of blocking a grenade blast in 2009 to save his buddies in Afghanistan – an act of heroism he said broke his back and left him with a brain injury.

Personal note: Back on June 03, 2011 I posted the story of a Tuskegee airman's death, It is now determined that his story was a hoax. Original Post: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2729241/posts Today's story: In November 2011, Samuel M. Garrison Jr. was honored posthumously with his name featured on the new Watkins-Logan-Garrison Texas State Veterans Home. Garrison died May 26, 2011, at age 88 as a celebrated war hero, a famed Tuskegee P-38 fighter pilot who told mesmerizing stories of long-ago dog fights and downed enemy aircraft. In the two years before his death, he signed autographs, attended receptions and accepted a mayor's...

Federal agents seeking clues about Bobby Thompson's true identity got a warrant to search a storage locker in Oregon on Wednesday and found two suitcases packed with about $1 million in cash. U.S. marshals who tracked down the fugitive believe it is money Thompson collected as part of a sham charity operation he ran for years in Tampa. His charity, U.S. Navy Veterans Association, reported collecting millions of dollars from across the nation in the name of needy veterans. Also stashed in the Portland storage unit were boxes full of birth certificates, credit reports and other personal information needed to...

False claims of military service could lead to a $500 fine or six months in jail under legislation sent to Gov. Bill Haslam for his signature by a Monday night state Senate vote. The Senate vote on HB2491 was 33-0 with Sen. Becky Massey, R-Knoxville, as sponsor and virtually no debate. The House had approved earlier with a vote of 93-2 with Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, as sponsor. "Apparently, there were some people putting on their tombstones that they were World War II or Vietnam veterans," Massey told colleagues in a brief Senate floor discussion. Dunn said earlier that a...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared sharply divided Wednesday over a law that makes it a crime to lie about having been awarded top military honors. The justices engaged in spirited debate over the constitutionality of a 2006 law aimed at curbing false claims about military exploits. Some justices said they worried that upholding the Stolen Valor Act could lead to other limits on speech, including laws that might make it illegal to lie about an extramarital affair or a college degree, or to impress a date.

High Court Dilemma: Can Lie About Medal Be Crime? Xavier Alvarez was in good company when he stood up at a public meeting and called himself a wounded war veteran who had received the top military award, the Medal of Honor. Alvarez was lying about his medal, his wounds and his military service, but he wasn't the first man to invent war exploits. He was, however, one of the first people prosecuted under a 2006 federal law aimed at curbing false claims of military valor. Concerns that the law improperly limits speech and turns people into criminals for things they...

The director of counseling at a nonprofit for veterans in Houston confessed Wednesday to lying about his military record and falsely claiming a Silver Star and other medals. Paul Schroeder, 40, portrayed himself as a decorated Special Forces sergeant first class who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and Central and South America. In his job at the nonprofit PTSD Foundation of America, Schroeder mentored veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and led group therapy sessions at local churches and the Star of Hope Mission. He also lectured at least half a dozen...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that a federal law making it illegal to lie about being a war hero is constitutional and making false statements is not always protected free speech. ... The Colorado case involves Rick Strandlof, who was arrested after claiming he was wounded in Iraq as a Marine and had received military medals. His lawyers have acknowledged the claims were false.

A serviceman identified as U.S. Army Corporal Jesse Thorsen campaigned in uniform tonight for Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) at Paul's Iowa presidential campaign headquarters.Thorsen was called on stage by Paul to address the crowd during Paul's speech marking his third place finish in the Iowa caucuses. Thorsen endorsed Paul on stage while in uniform.Earlier in the evening, Thorsen did a live interview in uniform with CNN's Dana Bash. The interview was cut short as the feed froze. However, in the brief time on air, Thorsen spoke of his support for Paul and gave his opinion on U.S. military policy and...

No ****, there I was...up to my eyeball's assholes in plastic BBs, with airsofters as far as the eye could see. OK, in reality, my company, Evolved Tactical Systems, had a booth at an expo held by Evike as a part of their parking lot sale this weekend. As we're showing our wares, I spy a young man in Marine Corps Charlies shuffling by my booth. Now, I was in the Army, not the Marines, but sometimes, you just know what wrong looks like. And this kid was wrong as two boys ****ing in a church on Sunday. I give...

WALTHAM, Mass. -- A Lowell man is under arrest and accused of lying to police about being a high-ranking official in the Marines. The man told an officer that pulled him over that he was trying to collect toys for the organization “Toys for Tots.” He was even wearing a uniform and medals he did not earn. The officer that pulled the man over was a former Marine himself and he was not fooled by the man’s disguise. The man was arrested on his way to Shopper’s Café in Waltham. The restaurant was holding a “Toys for Tots” event and...

The claims of a dedicated member of the Occupy Buffalo movement that he saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan are not supported by Army records. Christopher M. Simmance has told several media outlets, including The Buffalo News, that he served as many as three tours of duty in those war zones and that he was severely injured in Afghanistan. Service records obtained from the Army, however, show he was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., for three years and he left the active-duty Army in January 2001 -- before the 9/11 terror attacks. Simmance insists his Army records are incomplete. He...

Uploaded by johnnyb34435 on Nov 13, 2011 I decided to have the usual Place year fun whenever veterans day or memorial day comes around I dress up in my best military costume go to the bar and get all the drinks I want for absolutely nothing it seems that the American sheeple will buy anyone all the drinks they want as long as they feel that they're paying back for the so call freedom they never lost.

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear an important First Amendment case to decide whether the freedom of speech includes a right to lie about military honors. The justices voted to hear the government’s defense of the Stolen Valor Act, a 5-year-old law that makes it a crime to falsely claim to have earned medals for service in the U.S. armed forces. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last year struck down the law on free-speech grounds and said the government cannot act as the “truth police” to punish lies that cause no direct harm. “The sad fact is,...

I think that I may have stumbled onto a very large problem. I am working with a guy that says that he was a Marine and I am 99% sure that he isn't. He has got a really great story going and he has fooled a lot of people. I need a place to go to so that I can prove that he isn't a marine. I can already proove several of his other stories are fabrications but this is the key. I have read online that is a rather big problem, especially for the Corps and the Seals. Can...

I'm no military expert, but... ...this just doesn't look right.

City Council candidate David Oh issued a formal apology Thursday for what he described as carelessness in describing his five-year stint in the Army National Guard - an issue that led some veterans to complain he was embellishing his military record. Although Oh was assigned to a National Guard Special Forces unit, he said he should have been more careful as a candidate in his use of the terms Special Forces and Green Beret, both used to describe elite units whose combat soldiers typically have endured months of rigorous training. "I apologize to the public for any confusion or misimpression...

Last August, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus revoked a Silver Star medal formerly held by retired Navy Captain Wade R. Sanders. In a short, vague memorandum to the Chief of Naval Personnel, Mabus cited "subsequently determined facts and evidence surrounding both the incident for which the award was made and the processing of the award itself" as the reason. Such an action by the Navy is virtually without precedent. There was no press release and no announcement. Eleven months later, a bare-bones report was finally published by the Navy Times. American Thinker picked up the story from WinterSoldier.com, and...

Am in DC tonight with old network friends and fiends. The word in DC is that John Kerry is working the media HARD to try to get himself back in headlines. Kerry still wants very much to be Prez. He is promoting the idea that, politically, Obama is a "dead man walking." Kerry claims he can save the Dem party by running in the primaries to the LEFT of Obama.... and be elected in both the primaries and the general! Idiocy... and old political news hands agree!

A Vietnam veteran who defended Sen. John Kerry against "Swift Boat" attacks in the 2004 presidential race has been stripped of his Silver Star by the Navy -- more than a year after he was sentenced to prison on a child pornography charge. But the Silver Star wasn't stripped from Wade Sanders because of the child porn conviction, per se.

This guy showed up for his son’s graduation from basic training at Fort Benning dressed like this. According to our source, the MPs escorted his monkey ass off post; Notice that on the desk in the last picture, the nose picker even had a Green Beret to round out the ensemble. I’m surprised the MPs didn’t shoot him on sight out of fear. His real name is Nick Androsky according to someone who found his Facebook profile . Check his photos “Routine Patrol” and the one of him jumping at 30,000 feet from the Space Shuttle, I suppose. But here's...

A man who appeared in a Navy SEAL uniform at a Thousand Oaks school event this week apparently never served in the Navy, military officials said Wednesday. Salhem Dreasden was among those in uniform Tuesday at a tribute to soldiers at Ladera School. The school was honored at the event for outstanding patriotism and support of the armed forces. Dreasden was wearing a Navy uniform that bore his last name, the words "SEAL TEAM," the trident pin insignia of the elite unit and twin bars indicating the rank of Navy lieutenant. The name Salhem Dreasden, however, does not appear anywhere...

It seems like people want credit for being heroes-- even when they are far from it. Now that Osama bin Laden has met his end at the hands of Navy SEALs, there are many that want to jump on the bandwagon. One case is a pastor from Pennsylvania, Jim Moats, who has been telling his congregation for five years that he was a Navy SEAL in Vietnam: Apparently at least part was based on Steven Seagal's 1992 film Under Seige: Among other things, Moats said he was subjected to waterboarding when he trained at Little Creek Amphibious Base in Virginia...

As long as there have been Navy SEALs, there have been men pumping up their resumes or thumping their chests in bars with bogus claims of being one of the Navy's elite warriors. The latest crop includes a Pennsylvania minister who let his congregation believe he was a SEAL and repeated the lie to a newspaper, and there's no sign of such bogus claims abating anytime soon, especially after a secretive team of Navy SEAL commandos killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. A retired Navy SEAL from Virginia who devotes much of his time to outing the phonies said he's...

In the wake of the dramatic Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden's compound earlier this month, it was perhaps to be expected that some expansive soul would step forward to claim the prestige of a fabricated tour as a SEAL for himself. Such tall tales are not uncommon, after all, amid high-profile military actions. This time the exposed fabricator was a preacher--though people who monitor this brand of public lie note that members of the clergy are often tempted into such misrepresentations. More curious still, the prevaricator in question seems to have lifted at least some details of his...

The town of Cass Lake embraced Elizabeth McKenzie last month when she arrived at the high school in her Army uniform for a welcome home ceremony. Though she isn't a tribal member, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Honor Guard gave her a blanket and an eagle feather to honor her as a woman warrior for her service in Afghanistan. There was a tribal drum ceremony and a reception line. Accepting the town's gratitude, McKenzie talked about the close calls she'd had and a war injury that brought her home. She led the march in the high school gym, carrying...

BALTIMORE—William G. Hillar, age 66, of Millersville, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to wire fraud in connection with a scheme to lie about his military experience and academic credentials in order to gain employment for teaching and training. The plea agreement was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Special Agent in Charge Robert Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service - Mid-Atlantic Field Office. “William G. Hillar lived a lie and based his teaching career on military experience he did...

PASADENA -- The Stolen Valor Act, under which former water board member Xavier Alvarez was fined and ordered to perform community service in 2007, was upheld as being unconstitutional. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier ruling determining that a law barring people from lying about their military heroics was a violation of free speech.

After being struck in the face and head by shrapnel while on patrol in Iraq in 2005, Aaron Joshua Lawless performed first aid on a fellow soldier and returned enemy fire with a damaged gun, before being struck by an explosive device — an ordeal that earned him a Purple Heart and Silver Star. At least, that's how Lawless recounted his time in Iraq to his employer, a Maryland gun store, and the Glock gun-manufacturing company, which decided to honor Lawless as its 2008 "Glock Hero." The 25-year-old and his wife received a trip to Las Vegas, two Glock guns...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Wednesday he will work to eliminate what he called tax loopholes and giveaways that cost taxpayers billions of dollars and will try to find bipartisan agreement on further health care changes to cut costs. Blumenthal, Connecticut's longtime attorney general, spoke by telephone to reporters just before he was sworn in. The Connecticut Democrat defeated Republican Linda McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. "The system is rife with special benefits, giveaways and loopholes in our tax code that cost us billions of dollars," Blumenthal said.

For more than six decades, Howard Manoian revelled in his heroic reputation as one of the men who landed in Nazi-occupied France on D-Day.Instead of the fabled 82nd Airborne Division, as Mr Manoian claimed, his unit was the 33rd Chemical Decontamination Company, a far less prestigious outfit which always operated well behind the front line. Manoian's war wounds were also non existent, although he did suffer a broken middle finger while on standby in England, and then heavy bruising to another hand. He always told admirers he had been hit by German machine gun bullets in the left hand and...

DENVER (AP) -- The Justice Department is battling to save a federal law that makes it illegal to lie about being a war hero, appealing two court rulings that the statute is an unconstitutional muzzle on free speech. The fight could be carried all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court...

Locals expressed satisfaction, but little surprise Friday in response to news that a man already accused of pretending to be a highly decorated Marine colonel is also charged with embezzling more than $30,000 from the Department of Veterans Affairs.Michael Delos Hamilton, 67, of Richlands, was indicted Thursday on four counts: giving false accounts to VA officials about top-secret exploits in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, during which he was injured multiple times and saw the deaths of many of his men; collecting in excess of $30,000 in disability payments in the last three years due to false combat claims; wearing the...

DENVER -- The U.S. Justice Department will appeal two court decisions that said a federal law making it illegal to lie about being a war hero is unconstitutional. Federal prosecutors in Colorado said Friday they will appeal a ruling by a federal judge in Denver that the Stolen Valor Act violates free speech. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, ruling in a California case, also found the law unconstitutional. Late Thursday, prosecutors asked that court to reconsider. The law makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail to falsely claim to have...

I reported two weeks ago that President Barack Obama would be heading to Connecticut for an intimate DNC dinner of about 50 people at $30,400 a head, and now the White House has announced that Obama will also be stumping for U.S. Senate hopeful Richard Blumenthal while he's there. A source tells me the event will be Sept. 16, the same day as the DNC fundraiser, at the Marriott Hotel in Stamford, Conn. The DNC event is at a private home in nearby Greenwich. Blumenthal said in a statement, "His visit will make a difference for us, energizing our supporters...

Days after the U.S. officially ended combat operations and touted Iraq's ability to defend itself, American troops found themselves battling heavily armed militants assaulting an Iraqi military headquarters in the center of Baghdad on Sunday. The fighting killed 12 people and wounded dozens. It was the first exchange of fire involving U.S. troops in Baghdad since the Aug. 31 deadline for formally ending the combat mission, and it showed that American troops remaining in the country are still being drawn into the fighting. The attack also made plain the kind of lapses in security that have left Iraqis wary of...

US troops have been called in to help Iraqi forces battle insurgents who attacked an army base in Baghdad, killing 12 people, officials say. It marks the first such use of US troops since the end of US combat operations five days ago.

In 2005, Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., sponsored the Stolen Valor Act that made it a federal crime to lie about receiving military medals or honors from the military. Breaking the law could lead to a fine and a sentence of six months. Lying about being awarded the Medal of Honor, a Purple Heart or other top honors could carry a prison sentence of up to one year.In 2006, the bill passed easily through the House and unanimously in the Senate. Last week, however, the Stolen Valor Act ran smack into the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals -- insert your...

TULSA, Okla. — We may be in Oklahoma, but here in the American heartland, it's not "OK" anymore. Though thousands of fans — here for the fifth of eight Sean Hannity Freedom Concerts — are fired up to support our troops serving in harm's way, they are anything but enthusiastic about what's happening in Washington. Perhaps that's because so many of us — including the millions of Americans now unemployed, underemployed and struggling to keep their homes out of foreclosure — remember President Barack Obama's promise in February that "jobs will be our No. 1 focus in 2010." Pollsters and...

I have a pair that's from my high school days. I'm 47 years old, so that makes the underwear about 30 years old. Can anyone top that? The underwear is boys' size 20, but they still fit. They're a little threadbare, but that's an advantage on a hot summer day. I think I can get at least a few more years out of them. (Obviously, I don't wear this pair every day. I wear them mostly for dirty outside jobs.) I'm a lifelong bachelor, so I don't have a wife to throw away my stuff that's old but still good....

Blumenthal has slipped below the 50 percent mark of support against Republican Linda McMahon in the state’s U.S. Senate race. Blumenthal, the state’s longtime attorney general, picks up 47 percent of the vote, while McMahon earns 40 percent. Five percent prefer some other candidate, and 7 percent remain undecided. Support for McMahon is unchanged from last month, despite her GOP primary win Tuesday. Blumenthal’s support is down 6 points since last month. In June, Blumenthal held a 56 percent to 33 percent lead over McMahon, the former head of Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment.

I ran across this historical collection of photos of First Family Weddings and I thought that I'd post some of them for your enjoyment. Many of these I've never seen before. Please go to the link to see all of them.

Link Only An astonishing history of lies.