[dragoon500ly]

After reading the opinon provided by James (thanks for that info by the way!), I'm still troubled by the comments that the judges made concerning Mr. Alveraz. Now I'm not a lawyer and quite frankly have no desire to be a lawyer. So I can only present my own humble opinion.

Stolen Valor strikes very close to home. In the VA Hospital in New Orleans, there was a veteran's consular, with a wall full of impressive degrees, a veteran of 25-years in the Navy, a former SEAL and a Vietnam-era Medal of Honor winner. He was there to help fellow veterans cope with PTSD and other mental issues. He campaigned loud and long for "his boys" He was quite the spokesman for understanding PTSD....and it was all a lie.

This consular had indeed served in the Navy, for all of three years, the closest he ever got to Vietnam was serving time in the brig in San Diego for shoplifting from the Navy Exchange. His college degrees, you guessed it, all false as well. His Medal of Honor, that he wore at every photo op, he had purchased at some flea market. But that wasn't the worst of it. For over ten years he had served as a consular to hundreds of veterans. The lies and harm this one individual did stagger the mind.

And he is not the only one.

When the records of what SOG had done during the Vietnam War started coming out, there was another "hero" who went before Congress and confessed to having been ordered to rape and murder civilians in order to have the crimes blamed on the VC. In three days of testimony, in chilling detail, he explained how it happened, and how the CIA as well as senior Army officers, gave the orders. It later turned out that this self-confessed war criminal had been kicked out of basic training for mental issues. He had never left the United States.

Mr. Alvarez, took the public forum to proclaim that he was a veteran and a Medal of Honor winner. Why did he do this? What poltical gain was so necessary that he step forward and lie through his teeth? I cannot and hope that I never will understand the thinking that goes behind this.

I don't strive to cut any political axes, I have been known to vote independent or even write in Mickey Mouse for President, so disgusted I have been with the recent crop of of political hacks trying for that office. But I do believe that individuals that will stoop so low as to claim honors that they do not deserve and have never earned should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, because, by their very actions, they demean every member of the Armed Forces, they demean every servicemember that has suffered injuries or who have paid the highest price. Our servicemembers deserve better than this.

This is the point that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals missed. From the opinon I read, I get the impression that the Dept of Justice failed to prove Mr. Alvarez's action to the extent that Stolen Valor required. In which case the 9th acted correctly, but I am still deeply troubled by the opinions of the judges who almost brush off what Mr. Alvarez did by comparing it such white lies as "I took out the trash," or "I only lost $10 dollars gambling." His action strikes deeper than this.

Perhaps, I simply don't understand modern values where everyone is a "every day hero". To me, a hero is that individual who did something "above and beyond the call of duty", someone that risked their very life to help another. Someone that gave their life so that another might live. Sadly, the actions of Mr. Alvarez fails to meet that standard.