How Many Agree With the Dingbat Judge Who Has Slapped Veterans in the Face?

This discussion has been raging on military.com. The judge is not against the military. However, he feels that the law needs to be tightened up. As it is now, someone who tells a war story could be charged under the bill. That would mean that many, many vets would be in the slammer. I believe that someone should be prosecuted for wearing awards and trying to claim benefits or money in the form of discounts or donations. The problem deals with the concept of legally punishing those who lie and to what extent. If this were applied to civilian resumes the jails would be filled. I have served in the military and when I got out, I had 9 ribbons. I however, do not go around wearing them because I personally feel that while I awarded 3 for things that I actually did, most were gimmies. I have no idea why they were awarding ribbons for desert storm for those who did not serve on the ground. While I am a desert storm era vet, I never set foot there and I do not claim to be a Desert Storm vet even though my dd214 has it on record. That is why I like the Marine Corps system. Their awards are truly earned.

By the way, what the person did in the case was that he claimed to be a veteran while he did not serve. The difference between this and claiming to be a judge is that he was not claiming to be a current service member. If I claim to be a police officer and try to act as one, that is different. I can claim to be the president as long as I do not try to act as it. There are mentally ill people who claim to be rulers of the world. Look at facebook and see how many people claim to be something that they are not.

By the way, an scammer who was trying to get a job and said that they were a vet, would be caught because you have to supply a dd214 in order to get vet points. This kind of thing does not last for very long. Also most companies do background checks on this stuff and you can't fake a background check. Although a jerk claimed to be an former Marine and actually talked his way into joining an Army reserve unit. He served as an e-5 without even going to basic for awhile. He was caught and prosecuted for impersonating military member. In this case he should have been prosecuted.

The only backing you would have is finding an example of somebody violating the Stolen Valor Act and using it to commit fraud. That is the key. The judge said that just putting somebody in jail for claiming something they aren't(which is despicable in my eyes), is no different than you saying you scored 4 touchdowns for Polk High so many years ago. I agree there should be special exemption for falsely claiming military service and/or any awards associated with it being an eight time war vet(6 tours in OEF and 2 in OIF), and believe that was the intent with the SV Act in the first place. I guess protecting liars is more important than protecting integrity.

He's stupid. That's like answering: No, I've never committed a crime nor have I ever been convicted of a felony" when you did and the judge saying it's "okay" because it's free speech.

What a maroon. He should get his ruling overthrown by the Supreme Court.

Not me.

We should ask the judge how he would feel if someone was impersonating or claiming to be a Federal Judge. I fancy his answer will not be along the lines of “1st amendment right.” What do you think?

Heard about this on Doc Savage's show monday or tuesday, this judge is a piece of garbage.

agree he is a dingbat, synonomous with being a judge in most case methinks.

Not me!