ShareThisWASHINGTON - On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision this past week to weigh whether the most odious of speech is protected by the Constitution, another test of offensive expression is percolating its way to the justices.
Much like the pending case involving the spewing of hateful words at military funerals by members of the Westboro Baptist Church is a controversy concerning the legality of the Stolen Valor Act, a law Congress enacted to make it a crime to pass yourself off as a military veteran if you are not.
Since the act was signed by President George W. Bush in 2006, federal prosecutors have brought charges against at least 48 people, including several who falsely claimed to be Medal of Honor recipients. Now, a phalanx of lawsuits is challenging the law, calling it an unconstitutional infringement of the First Amendment and an overreach by government.
Those opposed to the law say it essentially criminalizes the act of bragging. There already are statutes that can be used to prosecute those who use such a fraud for tangible gain or cause clear harm by perpetrating it, this argument goes. But simply lying to make yourself seem braver or more accomplished should not be a crime.
Supporters of the law say deliberate lies are not protected speech, and note that no less a Founding Father than George Washington -- who created the Purple Heart medal -- wrote that, should anyone not entitled to the honor "have the insolence to assume the badges of them, they shall be severely punished."
The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, one of the most enduring and relentlessly active of anti-war outfits, put out the word this past week to its comrades to prepare for the "U.S. Out of Afghanistan and Iraq Now" demonstration March 20 in Washington.
What's most needed, apparently, are coffins -- not to use for fallen protesters or police, but for props. So, in an e-mail alerting its members to the upcoming event, the coalition requested everyone to bring coffins, which marchers will use to symbolize the "victims of war from Iraq to Afghanistan, Palestine, Pakistan, Lebanon, Somalia, Yemen and the U.S." The idea is for marchers to hoist hundreds of them as they march past the White House, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, a military recruitment center and the Mortgage Bankers Association of America and The Washington Post.
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., has an idea that might help U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq relieve stress: Let them drink alcohol.
Citing an investigation by the privately owned Military Times newsweeklies that found an increase in prescription-drug use and self-medication by deployed troops to ease stress, Webb told a hearing of a Senate Armed Services subcommittee this past week that it would be worth investigating whether the current ban on drinking in war zones should be lifted.
Webb, a former secretary of the Navy and a Vietnam vet, mused that one of the primary reasons for the U.S. military ban abroad is the desire not to offend host nations -- where imbibing alcohol is largely verboten.
The Pentagon has hailed the alcohol-free war-fighting force as a benefit, evidenced in fewer behavior problems, health maladies and accidents.
In advance of the unveiling of its "National Broadband Plan" March 17, the Federal Communications Commission has made public the results of its consumer survey undertaken to discern why one-third of the country -- 93 million Americans -- does not have high-speed Internet access in their homes.
The answers gleaned were largely unsurprising: 36 percent of those without it (28 million adults) cited the cost as the reason they were not hooked up. About 20 percent (17 million) said they were digitally illiterate and about 19 percent (15 million) said they don't need or use the Internet, and are content to remain that way.
Likely more surprising will be parts of the FCC's plan, which Congress ordered it to produce. The most controversial recommendation is expected to be that the government provide free or very cheap broadband service. That notion has ticked off the National Association of Broadcasters because, for one reason, it would entail the government taking back at least some of the privately owned TV spectrum, perhaps via auction.
Another pillar of the plan is expected to be the creation of a Digital Literacy Corps that would fan out to rural and poor parts of the country as proselytizers and trainers.
(E-mail Lisa Hoffman at hoffmanl(at)shns.com. For more columns, go to www.scrippsnews.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Washington Calling
