Stolen Valor is Libel

The Washington Post just wrote about a First Amendment challenge to the Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a Federal crime to lie about having earned medals or honors during military service.

While the statute apparently includes criminal penalties including fines and prison time, we understand that the vast majority of these cases have been punished with community service, to include in veterans facilities. Shaming these clowns in public seems to be appropriate, though we'll leave the details to legislative judgment.

We do take exception to one of the First Amendment arguments, namely, that no genuine medal recipient is injured by someone who, not for compensation or financial gain, falsely claims military honors. Here's why:

Some assclown who falsely claims a military honor not only claims to be like the genuine heroes;

He also claims that the genuine heroes are like him.

And that's libel.