Found thanks to Moe Lane
Speaking of This Ain't Hell(well, I wasn't actually), it appears that Calumet Park, Illinois Mayor Joseph DuPar is a vile bastard.
“As a Sergeant in the military, I received the Medal of Honor with (4) Bronze Stars for my Leadership.”
Screw everything else; falsely claiming to have been awarded the MoH should cause this clown to be shunned by anyone with a sense of honor. Making that claim and then suing someone for daring to talk about your lies... downright disgusting.
6 comments:
Shunned hell. It's a crime now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_2005
(Full disclosure: Jug Burkett is a valued personal acquaintance.)
It is; problem is getting the bastards to actually prosecute him.
In fairness, there is (IIRC) a Vietnamese Honor Medal that was awarded for non-combat service. And you do get bronze stars for subsequent awards of a decoration. So, a REMF could conceivably end up with an Honor Medal, 2 awards of the Vietnam Service Medal, a subsequent award of his Good Conduct Medal, and a subsequent award of his Overseas Deployment Ribbon, all without leaving MACV.
MichigammeDave
An award referred to by an American in the context of their service to the US as "the Medal of Honor", though is never some other country's award.
And for the MoH and multiple awards you get oak leaves or gold stars, depending on the branch. (And nobody's ever gotten more than two. Ever.)
So there's no way this claim was ever plausible even on its face.
(That said, I oppose the Stolen Valor Act's current wording as a civil liberties issue.
It should be legal for reenactors to wear appropriate decorations, or for people to wear authentic military costumes for costume parties or at Halloween, for instance - which the current law criminalizes.
As disgusting as it is to have people really (as opposed to in costume) claim decorations they have not earned, mere lying (rather than lying under oath or falsifying a contract) is not and should not be criminal.
If I lie about what car I drive to impress someone, I'm a douchebag and an ass, but not a criminal.
If a politician lies about his cars for political reasons (ie, pretending to drive American only, as I recall happened in the last set of elections or the one before), he's a douchebag and an ass, but not a criminal.
The First Amendment doesn't really let there be any room for a "but it's a military award and insults our nation's troops!" exception.
Public disgust and shaming should handle that, not men with guns and jails.
Thus, really, I agree with Firehand completely. He should be shunned, and his lawsuit is disgusting.)
MichigammeDave, if someone who served in the army specifically says I received the Medal of Honor with (4) Bronze Stars for my Leadership. he's not talking about a Honor Medal.
To that point, I have to say this: if he accidentally said MoH when he meant the other, (this may betray a lack on my part)I cannot imagine him, when asked about it, not correcting it immediately. That he, instead of correcting, not only refused to answer questions but files this suit? That tells me he knows exactly how the lie is going over and does not have the balls to deal with the excrement storm he's triggered.
This guy might actually be so *stupid* that all the training he received in military decorations went right over his head, and he actually believes Vietnamese tinsel is a MOH, and his four bronze campaign stars are Bronze Stars. I mean, that isn't any stupider than thinking one can get away with falsely claiming a MOH...
But it's still a frivolous lawsuit and he ought to be slapped with a fine plus the defendant's legal fees and all court costs. His lawyer should be up in front of a disciplinary board explaining why he filed a lawsuit with Exhibit A disproving the case. And if the Holder Justice Dept. was anywhere near honest, this guy would get a chance to convince a jury that he was too stupid to know the difference between medals.
Unfortunately, there's not much we can do about it if 51% of the voters feel a rank idiot, liar, and crook will best represent them. Sometimes I think we ought to revive the ancient Athenian custom of ostracism. That is, with each Congressional election, hold a nationwide reverse-popularity contest. If over 50% of the voters pick the same guy, he's banned from politics, government jobs, and all jobs in news or entertainment for 10 years.
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