Megyn Kelly discusses the Stolen Valor Act in regards to the First Amendment with two other lawyers.
I think Julia Morrow’s grandfather would disagree that he “won” the Purple Heart considering the prerequisites of that particular award. And “Everybody lies” hardly seems an adequate defense.
The local news station, which will remain nameless, since they don’t want to mention us, discovered that the reason Michael McManus is wearing a bandage on his pointy noggin is because he had a panic attack when the feds came to arrest his pathetic ass;
His attorney says McManus’ head was bandaged today because he had suffered a panic attack, but gave no more information. If he is convicted on charges of stolen valor, McManus could be sentenced to up to a year in federal prison.
In related news, one of our diligent readers wrote that she commented on nearly every Old Media website which mentioned McManus and she chastised the Old Media outlets for not crediting the milblogs for the take down. She claims that every one of her comments were removed. As TSO said, he spoonfed that reporter for weeks until he finally summoned the testicular fortitude to knock on big, bad McManus’ door.
You’re welcome, fuckstick. Advice for the next time you come to the milblogs for help; pound sand, stickboy. Practice writing obituaries and police blotters.
So the conversation about the constitutionality of the Stolen Valor Act continues among the chattering classes. The Associated Press does it’s best to muddy the waters by asking nimrods like Jonathan Turley;
Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School who is not involved in the two cases, said the Stolen Valor Act raises serious constitutional questions because it in effect bans bragging or exaggerating about yourself.
“Half the pickup lines in bars across the country could be criminalized under that concept,” he said.
Yes, that’s a real and certain danger to our culture isn’t it? It’d be a crying-ass shame if douche-bags weren’t able to lie to babes in bars. Or if Turley wasn’t able to lie to GWU co-eds.
Dozens of people have been arrested under the law at a time when veterans coming home from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are being embraced as heroes.
Many of the cases involve men who simply got caught living a lie without profiting from it.
That’s kind of why the law was written – because laws against fraud for monetary profit already exist. And there is a profit involved in the lies, whether or not it’s tangible. Strandlof lied because he wanted to be a big deal, and the politicians who used him at their events and in their ads profited from his false message. Just like our Michael McManus profited by having CNN believe his message that the Army booted a Lieutenant Colonel after twenty-years of service because he’s gay – regardless of whether it was a monetary profit or a political profit it was still a profit.
Manny Alvarez tried to profit with his lie in the form of an elected office. Even if the profit is merely adulation from peers, it’s still a profit from fraud. Those who’ve used the uniform for cheaper airfares, or even free drinks at a bar, still profit from others’ heroism and sacrifice.
And if you can’t get some strange without sticking to the truth about yourself, build a porn collection and stay at home, doofus.
Doug Sterner, a friend of this blog, quotes George Washington;
Sterner noted that Washington created the Purple Heart, the nation’s first military decoration, and wrote: “Should any who are not entitled to these honors have the insolence to assume the badges of them, they shall be severely punished.”
I can’t leave the subject without quoting TSO’s man-crush, Peter Lemon, an honest-to-God hero;
Army veteran Pete Lemon of Colorado Springs, who received the Medal of Honor for turning back an enemy assault and rescuing wounded comrades in Vietnam while injured himself, supports the law, saying that pretending to have a medal can bring undeserved rewards.
“It gives you the power to entice somebody into marriage,” he said. “It could give you the power to be able to join an organization, get special treatment with regards to getting tickets to a football game, getting license plates, getting preferential treatment in a job situation.”
We got word earlier this evening that the FBI arrested our General Ballduster in Houston. We’ve been waiting for the local Houston station to broadcast the story since they were the ones on the ground that actually got him arrested. But it was really you guys who emailed the story to each other until it got into some hands that recognized him.
He looks like a soldier. He says he’s a soldier. But he’s not a soldier. And now he is facing charges for lying about his resume. When we started asking questions, so did the FBI.
The man, who the FBI says is nothing but a fraud, even showed up in a military uniform at Houston Mayor Annise Parker’s inauguration. The problem is that he didn’t earn any of the medals he was wearing.
Michael Patrick McManus was arrested Friday night after a federal judge signed a warrant for his arrest. The FBI says he was arrested without incident. The blog reads like an old time wanted poster: Wanted for stolen valor. Do you know this man? Reward.
“Just looking at the guy, the appearance is that he was a truly decorated serviceman,” said a man who took one of the photos of McManus.
I farted around with the embed code for the video and couldn’t get it right – just go to the link to see it.
Thanks to Mrs. Greyhawk for the poster.
TSO phoned me from the road yesterday about a Rand Paul/Adam Kokesh video. I hope I found the right one, because it appears that there are several on Youtube. This one is from last summer and filmed in Kentucky;
It’s funny, but I agree with everything they said – but it’s what they don’t say that makes them dangerous. Like in other clips where Kokesh mentions “humble foreign policy”. Yeah, that sounds like what we need right now, what with Chavez building up his military for a confrontation to our south and negotiating away oil to China. With North Korea expected to build a missile that can reach the US by the end of next year. With Iran threatening the Middle East and Europe. Russia trying to rebuild the old Soviet Union. Yeah, let’s be humble.
I wonder if Rand knows he’s discussing gun rights with a convicted arms smuggler (sorry, a little Gordon Duff-style hyperbole there).
Too Kooky for Kentucky finds white supremacists supporting Rand Paul just like they supported his father. Here’s another Kokesh for Congress video edited by Josh Paul. I can’t find any familial ties to Ron Paul, but it’s a bit coincidental.
I think it’s hilarious that Kokesh avoids talking about IVAW these days. There’s a reporter for Stars and Stripes who did an interview with me and Army Sergeant last summer about the IVAW who is holding up publishing the interview until he can interview Kokesh who won’t return the reporter’s call. Kokesh now likes to call himself an “Iraq War veteran” instead of an IVAW member these days. I guess the need for xanax and gin has worn off.
The grand queen of all moonbats, Cynthia McKinney has been deemed worthy of receiving the “Peace through Conscience” award from the European Moonbat organization Munich American Peace Committee, a group of disaffected Americans in Germany;
Included in McKinney’s program is a meeting with the Munich American Peace Committee (MAPC – www(dot)mapc-web(dot)de) which will present to McKinney its third annual award, “Peace through Conscience,” during the ceremonies of the Munich Peace Conference on the evening of February 6, 2010. The MAPC Peace Prize is normally awarded by the previous year’s winner.
Who was last year’s “winner”. Why, it was none other than our favorite derelict Andre Shepherd, an IVAW member who gained notoriety by deciding he wouldn’t spend a year playing X-Box in Iraq with his unit while his German girlfriend kept company with the folks who stayed in the rear.
Shepherd won the prize for applying for refugee status in Germany because he thinks the Army will put him to death for deserting.
McKinney and Shepherd on the same stage can’t be good for the rest of us. I suspect it will be like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters. I suspect that Germany’s resident American commie Darnell Stephen Summers will be there, too.
If there’s any Army CID guys reading this, here’s your opportunity to snag Shepherd when he leaves that lonely refugee station where the Germans are holding him. I believe that’s the only place he’s safe from y’all. Of course, as soon as I get done typing this, I’ll be contacting my connections in Germany.
Last month I wrote about the Denver Post going squishy on Richard Strandlof’s impending trial for a violation of the Stolen Valor Act. The Post wrote that convicting him would violate his 1st Amendment right to free speech. Well, apparently, there’s some case law that says otherwise.
In 2008, Xavier Alvarez, while running for office on his local water board made the following statement on the campaign trail;
“I’m a retired Marine of 25 years. I retired in the year 2001. Back in 1987, I was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. I got wounded many times by the same guy. I’m still around.
Aside from the sheer idiocy of the comment, Alvarez, in his motion to dismiss, stated;
The law is overbroad for other reasons. It applies not only to mistakes but to
innocent bragging as well. It includes satire. It would apply to person to claim they had
received a military decoration while playing a role in a play or movie. Certainly the
government’s interest in banning such speech is outweighed by the First Amendment
rights implicated.
Yeah, when I saw Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge, as Gunny Hiway, state he wearing the Congressional Medal of Honor, I didn’t for a moment think he was trying to imply that he was awarded the CMH. In response, the court wrote;
Here, this Court is presented with a false statement of fact, made knowingly and intentionally by Defendant at a Municipal Water District Board meeting. The content of the speech itself does not portray a political message, nor does it deal with a matter of public debate. Rather, it appears to be merely a lie intended to impress others present at the meeting. Such lies are not protected by the Constitution.
As Defendant’s statement does not merit the protection of the First Amendment, the statute under which Defendant is being prosecuted, 18 U.S.C. § 704, cannot be deemed unconstitutional as applied in this case. Furthermore, a legislative act is facially unconstitutional only when no set of circumstances exist under which the act would be valid. United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 745 (1987). In finding that the application of 18 U.S.C. § 704 is not unconstitutional as applied here, this Court therefore concludes that the
Act is not unconstitutional on its face.
So, nice try, Denver Post/Strandlof/Rutherford Institute…try again.
Thanks to 1stCavRVN11B and POW Net for the .pdfs.
Our friends at POW Net asked if we can help them bring down this phony. He’s Michael RS Teilmann. He’s the Executive Director of the Bob Hope Hollywood USO. But there’s some funny stuff going on in his records. For example he claims he’s a general, but his records show he was discharged in 1978 as a major.
And take the list of medals in his FOIA – he shows several Republic of Vietnam service medals, but his Form 2-1 shows no foreign service;
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