Probation officer gives office BJ to boot-camp teen
Fake War Heroes: We Don't Want Government Trying to Regulate Our Lies
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 10:04 am
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"I am an American soldier. I volunteered for the infantry and I want to deploy to Afghanistan so that I can join those who are fighting against the terrorists who threaten our way of life.
"However, I have NOT yet deployed. I am not an Iraq veteran, nor an Afghan vet. There is no combat patch on my right shoulder. The only decorations on my dress uniform are the infantry blue cord and the three ribbons that are automatically granted to all soldiers in this age.
"This is something that I would never lie about which is why I chose to so blatantly clear it up. For starters, such lies would constitute a disastrous career move. If not actually illegal, wearing false decorations would instantly strip you of any shred of respect you ever had.
"Next, it's insulting to the real veterans. An unproven coward wearing honors that are bestowed only upon the bravest Americans is an insult that same group. It's disgraceful. And lastly, not one of those decorations has any significance in and of its physical self.
"Give me $50 and an hour, and I'll come back from the local military supply depot with the Distinguished Service Cross (the next thing below the Medal of Honor, which cannot be bought AT ALL), the Combat Infantryman's Badge, and a Special Forces and Ranger tab. I'll be the most decorated dude in American history. And it'd all be meaningless.
"My point is, without the incredible heroism backing it up, military decorations are just cheap pieces of metal and fabric. Having said all that, I'm going to spin some heads here and come out in support of Mark. I will say that I want the 9th Circuit's decision to be overturned because I HATE the 9th Circuit and all that it stands for. But that grudge is personal.
"Again, let me stress that lying about military decorations is the mark of a coward and nothing could be more abhorrent. Yet, the criminality of lying is in my book limited to only a few circumstances: falsely claiming rape (Crystal Mangum should be in prison), lying under oath, lying to hinder police investigations, impersonating a police officer (this differs from war hero as there is an aura of power and authority with police officers that could physically endanger members of the public, ie potential rapist using flashing blue lights to pull over victims and catch them off guard), etc.
"Lying to portray yourself as a war hero isn't a crime. Lying to get a girl to sleep with you isn't a crime. Lying to get the day off from work isn't a crime. These lies are varying degrees of laziness, sleaziness and, in the first case, downright heinousness. But they aren't criminal.
"As far as I'm concerned, Skyler Smith's punishment should be life imprisonment in his own house of shame. Let him know that anywhere he goes, everyone who knows his name will shun him as a coward. His friends will distance themselves, and his family will cry in utter disgrace. He shouldn't go to prison or pay a fine. He should simply live his life in shame. And he will as long as America continues to worship its true heroes.
"I am an authentic believer in small government. As such, you will often see this argument from me. The government has no place to punish liars like Smith and that ilk; his punishment lies in the popular opinion of the American people.
"Similarly, the government does not have the right to stop the Ground Zero Mosque. Obama on Friday felt compelled to remind me of the freedom of religion, but he fails in his arrogance to recognize that I fully acknowledge that freedom. And that many of the mosque's opponents, including myself, have never asked the government to stop this project. What we believe is that its construction should be stopped by the loud voice of the American people saying "NO".
"There is criminality and there is douchebaggery. Criminality, robbery, murder, theft, these things should be stopped with laws and severe punishments for breaking those laws. Douchebaggery, on the other hand, doesn't involve the government.
"The government should not be called in to stop fake war heroes, or insulting mosques, or sleazy husbands and whorish wives. Those are issues where the main deterrent should be the united scorn of the common man."
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