Posted on 07/10/2012 11:15:27 AM PDT by pietraynor
Guy walks in a bar.
The regulars look up. The guy's a stranger. Around his neck he's wearing the Congressional Medal of Honor. The regulars put down their shot glasses and crowd around the guy. They befriend the hero and buy him drinks. They're honored by his company.
Turns out the guy's a phony. He was never in Korea or Vietnam or Iraq or Afghanistan. He never was anywhere. He never saw combat. He never was even in the military. He bought the medal online.
So the regulars take the guy out back and give him the beating he deserves. The guy calls the cops.
The Supreme Court gets the case and rules 6-3 that the guy can wear any medal he wants, even if it is the highest award for bravery the country can give out. It doesn't matter if he earned it or not. It doesn't matter if it is legitimate or not. It doesn't matter if he lied about it to cage drinks.
Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/columnists/ci_21042129/its-not-stolen-valor-its-free-speech#ixzz20FFRLbSO
(Excerpt) Read more at lowellsun.com ...
You wouldn’t think I would be posting here, especially since I’m a brane surjun from Hardvard...but I are.
If he’s healthy enough to call the cops then the guys didn’t beat him up enough.
Legally it shouldn't matter, but it does indicate that the guy wearing it is a lying scumball, and he should expect any non-legal consequences like getting the crap beaten out of him if his lies are discovered. The first amendment protects free speech from government interference (except when telling the truth about an incumbent during election season - thank you rino Juan McCain) Doesn't mean that there shouldn't be non governmental consequences.
To apply this logic across the board it seems it would be legal to impersonate a State Trooper, Sheriff’s Deputy, Local Policeman, a Secret Service agent or an FBI agent.
Or, just for fun, you could represent yourself to be a Senator, a Judge, a lawyer (but why?), a brain surgeon, a sex therapist or a gynecologist.
If you ever wanted to be an astronaut, a fighter pilot, a nuclear submarine commander or a Navy Seal now is your chance.
Good thing the statute of limitations has expired on convincing people in a bar in N. Conway NH that you and your friend invented Snausages.
Congress shoud “tax” all those who wear medals they did not earn. A billion dollars a medal. Justice Roberts said they can do it.
Congress shoud “tax” all those who wear medals they did not earn. A billion dollars a medal. Justice Roberts said they can do it.
I don’t grok this angle on the case. The beating was clearly contrary to established law under any conceivable circumstances (I’m not hearing about any citizens arrest which it was necessary to effect by said beating). I have no sympathy for the chesty thumpers should they be hauled in on charges by police and convicted in front of a black female Clinton judge. With that said it ought to be considered fraud and civilly actionable to obtain favors by false pretenses no matter if you’re impersonating a general or a handicapped person.
Isn’t there a crime called “Criminal Impersonation”
You cannot impersonate a police officer, or a military officer, how is this any different?
Thats not how to hold a blanket party...
How do you identify some one you have never seen...
There is a huge difference between donning an officers uniform and trying to get on base and boss people around and claiming that you ONCE were an officer.
You can claim you once were a Police officer, but you cannot put on a Police uniform and a fake badge and issue traffic citations.
You can claim you once were a brain surgeon - but you cannot put on scrubs and go into the hospital and start cutting on people.
Notice the difference?
This is obviously a crime that applies only when the disguise is for the purpose of attempting to impose the rights of such an officer. Nobody bothers the weird gay bars where people masquerade as officers because others think it’s sexy, but the masqueraders are not trying to obtain favors or impose upon the unknowing or unwilling.
I like Benjamin Franklin. Can my printer impersonate the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing?
It is neither stolen valor (you cannot steal valor) or free speech (unless you are conservative or Christian,you can say about anything you want), it’s FRAUD . . . obtaining something you want under false pretenses, even if it is only someone’s respect and admiration.
It’s very notable here how many who have supposedly sworn to uphold the constitution, thumb their nose at plain vanilla garden variety law, which has withstood every manner of constitutional challenge, that forbids the extralegal conduct they propose to enter into. The law is NOT “what you can get away with is okay.”
I can understand the temptation. But I cannot condone it.
Under contract law, unilateral mistake does not void a contract- if I offer to give you $1,000 for your watch because I think it’s a genuine Rolex (it’s a cheap knockoff) and you accept it, I cannot win in court if I sue to get my money back.
So if I gave this jerk a benefit solely because I thought he earned a MoH the SCotUS tells me that’s my tough luck-
but if my bar has a “MoH winners drink all they want for 1 cent!” promotion, then I could sue him for fraud and collect damages (?)
If someone snookers your mere friendship under a pretense, when found out that person ought to be called to account, whether shamed and shunned, or whether explicitly forgiven (but in no case excused).
If someone snookers a material favor, you might have a civil case. If there isn’t a law backing this up, there perhaps should be one. It’s no better to snooker drinks at a bar because you masqueraded as a general than if you snookered a handicap parking spot when you weren’t handicapped.
But the scumbag took/received gifts based on his lie. He conned people. He should be liable, imo. Otherwise, if he announced that it’s fake, and then received the gifts, it’d be ok.
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