And In Lesser News Today, Republicans Win One: You Have a Constitutional Right To Lie
Republicans are celebrating their one victory today: The right to lie is constitutionally protected.
The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a federal law called the Stolen Valor Act which prohibits a person from falsely claiming that he has been awarded a military honor.
The case involved Xavier Alvarez who was an elected member of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District Board in Pomona, California. In 2007 Alvarez said at a public water district board meeting that he was a retired Marine, had been “wounded many times,” and had been “awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor” in 1987.
So, expect every Republican running for office to now claim they have a degree from Harvard and a Congressional Medal of Honor.
And this decision comes just in time to save Mitt Romney’s rump, here’s a website that list all 344 (so far) lies he’s told since he started running for President.
Thanks to Star for the heads-up.
I’m telling you Romney gives me the creeps, the hair on the back of the neck creeps.
1But let a Democrat lie about sex and there’s hell to pay! Right, Bill? Right, John?
2I live in New Zealand now. It was startling, at first, to hear people charged with “dishonesty.” I like that, as an official charge. It would clear out a lot of Congress and then I might not hold it in such contempt.
3Only 344? I guess I didn’t notice all the reps. Fact is I haven’t heard Mittens tell the truth about anything since last year.
4Hey, just because they have the right to lie, doesn’t mean that making lies won’t be advertised and end up biting them in the ass.
5I don’t understand why the GOP, who claim to honor soldiers, would be happy that it’s okay to lie and claim military honors that you didn’t earn. Did Obama say something about not liking the idea or what?
An article in the lefty British press about Romney’s incessant lying:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/21/mendacious-mitt-romney-bid-liar-in-chief
And 85% of the $25 million spent by leading conservative groups has been spent on ads that objective analysts have called deceptive, usually proclaimed as “fact” or “truth”:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/06/27/507408/85-percent-of-ads-from-leading-conservative-interest-groups-were-labeled-deceptive-by-fact-checkers/
6Rhea, today’s Republican party is terrified that any penalty for lying will ultimately come back to bite them. And not without cause . . .
7There are quite a few laws already that penalize anyone falsely claiming military rank or honors in order to obtain benefits or preferences to which they would not otherwise be entitled.
8The “Stolen Valor” law, however, attempted to make simple lying about military service, rank, etc. illegal and yes, one’s right to lie is constitutionally protected: by the First Amendment.
This has been a big issue in our home because Mr. Cat is very active in the VVA and his chapter had a sad case of “Stolen Valor”. A member claimed various exploits in Viet Nam and it was learned the man actually never left the USA. The liar had not benefited financially in any way by his tales and a State Police investigation was duly dismissed.
This absolutely horrifies me. I understand about free speech, and I’m in favor of that — But there are just some things that don’t fall under that umbrella. Lying about service in the military (and pretended medals) takes away from the people who really did serve honorably and bravely, as opposed to just liars. I’m not even marginally okay with this decision — it should be hideously offensive to all veterans and their families. It is to mine.
9While part of me says this decision is correct, and part of that may simply that I am dubious of anything Thomas and Scaliwag are for, as a vet I’m dismayed.
There is a benefit to simply being believed, as cairocat points out. I technically earned a Good Conduct Medal, but it isn’t on my DD-214 so I won’t claim it (discharged a couple of weeks early and paper work didn’t quite match reality, but not enough to hang around to get it corrected).
10When I broke up with my boyfriend he moved to a little English village, and subsequently died there…as we were preparing his memorial in Ca, the obituary from England was in my daughter’s possession and she was reading it to me on the way as we were planning what to say—
11I was stunned and horrified–it was full of pious remorse for all the people he had killed in Vietnam, and stated that that was the cause of his depression that he had worked out with the help of the vicar, etc. and of his glory as a pilot—but he NEVER went to Vietnam…I told my daughter-she scrubbed that part of the memoir, and afterwards with family and friends we double checked–No truth to the story-NONE. Made up from whole cloth, and that gave him a funny foothold into English concern for the “shellshocked”–I am sorry that people feel the need to embellish their lives–it really does take away from those who actually serve and need our support to reclaim their lives, after being in hell that’s called war…