Comments on: Free Speech And Fraud

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:14:52 +0000

I agree. Not all people we deal with would go with us. I mean, we can’t please everybody.

We must at least try.

By: UCrawford

UCrawford — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:25:04 +0000

For anyone who’s interested, here’s an article about an FBI agent, Thomas Cottone, who actually hunts Medal of Honor fabricators. As of 1998 he said he hadn’t put any of them in prison…he thought exposing them was enough:

http://www.homeofheroes.com/a_homepage/community/imposters/cottone.html

By: vlatro

vlatro — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:45:57 +0000

This isn’t the place for criminal justice, but rather the much overlooked “social justice”. It should be made clear by every concerned party that this man has no sense of honor or respect for our veterans. He would disgrace them while using the first amendment as a shield for his actions. I believe the first amendment would work equally in favor those who speak out against him. People in his community should paint the town with flyers that have his picture and name, as well as a brief description of his misdeeds. His employer should, for reasons of conscience, let him go. His family should disown him. He should be ostracized by the community and literally cast out. With any luck he would take his own life and his children would flush his ashes down the nearest toilet.

In this case above all others, the point is accountability. Without that there is no such thing as honor or disgrace. To let him go unpunished is more than an offense to those who hold medals, it’s an offense to the very principals of honor itself. A discredit to every honest choice you’ve ever made in your life, every sacrafice, every effort to better your self or the world. Everyone with a sense of civic duty, loyalty or patriotism is degraded by his actions.

I agree, this is not (nor should it ever be) the role of government, but as a people we have a responsibility to hold each other accountable for our misdeeds. We are doing ourselves, and especially Mr. Alvarez a great disservice by not exemplifying this shortcoming. How is he to ever become anything better than what he is if he can’t understand the most basic principals of respect. What kind of children would he raise? What would their values be if he did not himself ever realize his failings as a human being?

The stolen valor act is B.S.
We don’t need government to organize a good public beating.

By: T F Stern

T F Stern — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:14:30 +0000

I think UCrawford pretty much got it said. No reason to waste taxpayer money on this fellow; let his shame be his reward.

By: UCrawford

UCrawford — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:17:22 +0000

I suppose if military service was somehow relevant to his qualifications on the job that would be a reason to prosecute…but that doesn’t appear to be the case here either. I think Ben’s probably right…the guy’s just an ass and I suspect that when time comes around again to vote he won’t be keeping his job.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:07:44 +0000

He wasn’t speaking under oath right? I don’t see how this isn’t covered by free speech. The guy is an ass but this shouldn’t be illegal.

By: UCrawford

UCrawford — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:28:10 +0000

Doug,

You know, honestly I don’t find his actions to be all that criminal. I’m no fan of people who fabricate military credentials, but unless those fabrications are directly related to whatever act of criminal fraud he perpetrated (like claiming military benefits) it seems to be more of an act of tastelessness and stupidity than anything else. Most of the people who do that sort of thing aren’t so much evil as just pathetic and possibly mentally ill. The public scorn and personal shame they face from their communities and the people who know them when they’re outed (and they very often are outed) are sufficient punishment in my opinion. Often the results of that are harsher than anything the criminal justice system could reasonably come up with.

Besides, it’s not like the awards system for the military is the ultimate judge of who a person is. While decorations and medals are appreciated and I think are worthy of respect, any soldier who’s been in for a significant period of time can probably recite to you multiple occasions where people were rewarded for instances when they didn’t deserve recognition and ignored in instances where they did. It’s often very arbitrary:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/06/eveningnews/main2335058.shtml