New Stolen Valor Act passes House
CBS and Associated Press report that the new Stolen Valor Act has passed in the House of representatives.
The House’s 410-3 vote on what is known as the Stolen Valor Act came less than three months after the Supreme Court struck down the original act on the grounds that it violated First Amendment free speech rights.
The new bill attempts to get around the court ruling by making clear that it applies only in cases where people lie about a military record with the aim of obtaining payment or other benefits.
I wonder if we should request FOIAs on those 3 who voted against it. Their names are; George Miller (D-CA), Justin Amash, (R-MI), Ron Paul (R-TX).
Category: Ron Paul, Stolen Valor Act
Gentlemen…start your engines…or FOIA requests, as the case may be.
haha, ron paul idiocy never ceases
Ron Paul voted against?
Glad to hear it passed but this is mind boggling hearing Ron vote against it. He is known for actually reading the bills so I’m curious to know what was the red flag for him.
Ron Paul…what a fucking shock. Biggest phony of them all voting against it.
I’m surprised, with Paul actually having served and all.
From his website, the Amash guy claims he explains why he voted yes/no on every bill on his Facebook page, but I looked just now and no info yet.
Good! Now maybe there will be some punch behind the law. RP must have voted “ney” as a favor to Kokesh.
I’m still wondering why anyone with half a brain cell would vote against it. It’s bad enough we had 16 no-votes (although Paul was campaigning, so one could understand that) but this one is pretty much a no-brainer.
Sadly, the chances of this one getting to the President’s desk this session are slim, but at least the bill will get to the Senate.
This should have some bite, and to be honest its they scam artist and thieves that need to be locked up. Not that the guy that simply lies about service to impress people at a bar isn’t a piece of crap, but the ones that consistently do it will invariably end up using it to scam someone or an organization out of a free meal, shelter, financial aid or a job. The wearing of these medals has always been illegal, now if someone just runs their suck hole, even with wearing the medals just to get a job or a place in the veterans shelter they can be hammered.
OK, we have laws on the books for fraud. The DA should not spend resources running after every asshat who claims to be a SEAL in a bar. What we need is something to cover the middle ground. I would like to see two things: 1 a SV act that punishes any SV with the intent to gain. This would take the “damage” element out of the crime. For example, to be convicted of Fraud you have to actually be successful in most cases. So, make a law that says that attempted fraud using SV carries the same punishment as “successful” fraud. 2: extend “impersonating and officer” down to include NCOs.
Here is an interesting UTAH law on impersonating an officer: http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE76/htm/76_08_051200.htm. I think a federal version of this, which applied to NCOs too, would beat a whole class of clowns who parade around in uniform. Also interestingly, someone just used the Alvarez case to challenge VA’s impersonation statute… they lost.
Has any of our lawyers and JAGs been able to read a copy of the new bill yet? Would you please give us readers your impression of it’s effectiness? Thank You in advance.
@12
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s1728/text
Correction: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1775rh/pdf/BILLS-112hr1775rh.pdf
After reading, it’s been considerably watered down from the Stolen Valor Act of 2011.
@ 15 Rochambeau, if it’ll pass SCROTUM scrutiny…I mean SCOTUS scrutiny and has the power to punish these a$$hats then it’s good, IMHO.