Nevada drafts Stolen Valor Bill
Since the federal Government seems to be dropping the ball on protecting veterans from being the victims of stolen valor, several states have picked up that ball. Nevada is the latest to draft legislation;
“These citizens feel their service to country has been cheapened, demeaned, or otherwise disgraced by those who impersonate them,” [Assemblyman Scott Hammond, R-Las Vegas]said.
Anton said there is no difference between a white lie and fraud. But if the courts insist on basing stolen valor on the legal definition of fraud, then so be it.
“Fraud is making out something that is totally untrue,” Anton said Tuesday. “A white lie could be like when your wife asks, ‘How do you like my dress?’ And, you say, ‘That’s great.’ While that might be a white lie, it might save your marriage.”
Of course, the legislature has to battle with the pseudo-intellectual press which has become more tolerant of it’s own lies over the past ten years. In an editorial, the Las Vegas Review-Journal tries to sound like it’s editorial board has a brain cell, but only ends up sounding smarmy and tolerant of snake-oil salesmen;
Fraud already is a crime. Carving out a special niche fraud for “stolen valor” is redundant, superfluous and a huge waste of lawmakers’ time. As for criminalizing the act of misleading someone, we would proffer a codicil: Make it a crime for politicians to mislead voters. That would fill the jails.
How about we make misleading readers in the press a crime – there wouldn’t be a media staff left on the planet. How about we make awarding Pulitzer Prizes to illiterate buffoons a crime? There’d be no Pulitzer board.
How about we take all of the editorial board members in the country who haven’t been in the military, don’t understand the life of the soldiers who protect their freedom to be smarmy pea-wits and drop them in the mountains of Pakistan during the up-coming Spring Offensive so they can stop calling the claims of unearned medals “white lies”.
Category: Media
“Fraud already is a crime. Carving out a special niche fraud for “stolen valor” is redundant, superfluous and a huge waste of lawmakers’ time.”
Assault, battery, and murder are also already crimes, yet those crimes are additionally prosecuted as “hate crimes” or “civil rights violations” when the victim is a member of a specific race, gender, or sexual orientation and the preparatory isn’t. So, why don’t we call members of the military a “protected class” and any harm brought to them by decreasing the legitimate value of their service a “hate crime.”
The state is where this legislation belongs, IMO. Prosecution is at the state and county/city level, where the victims and villains operate. A national bill is too easy to defeat, as we’ve witnessed, and serves as an un-necessary battlefield for veterans to waste resources on. My opinion only.
FYI The Review Journal is part of that Right Haven (we will sue your as for using part of our story) copyright BS.
So might want to wipe this….
P.S. the LVRJ is a right leaning paper, just so happens they have one new editorial guy who wrote the story (Steve Sebelius) who is a raging liberal. He used to run the free weekly newspaper here in Vegas, so liberal they wouldn’t print it in Berkley.
They just hired him about 3 weeks ago, much to the discredit of a fine editorial staff.