Lying About Vietnam

i think it's definitely something more than just lying. i don't see how you could sustain such a lie for so long without some kind of unusual psychological profile.

"In 1979, Mr. Harkin, then a congressman, participated in a round-table discussion arranged by the Congressional Vietnam Veterans' Caucus. 'I spent five years as a Navy pilot, starting in November of 1962,' Mr. Harkin said at that meeting, in words that were later quoted in a book, Changing of the Guard, by Washington Post political writer David Broder. 'One year was in Vietnam. I was flying F-4s and F-8s on combat air patrols and photo-reconnaissance support missions. I did no bombing.'"

The Journal continues:

"That clearly is not an accurate picture of his Navy service. . . . Mr. Harkin's Navy record shows his only decoration is the National Defense Service Medal, awarded to everyone on active service during those years. He did not receive either the Vietnam Service medal or the Vietnam Campaign medal, the decorations given to everyone who served in the Southeast Asia theater."

"It turned out Mr. Harkin had not seen combat and was stationed in Japan."

Heard the alarm clock screaming with pain,
Couldn't find myself so I went back to sleep again
So fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Every time I shut my eyes all I see is flames
Made a marble phone book and I carved all the names
So coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.

I smell something burning, hope it's just my brains.
They're only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains
So stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Where were you at the time of the crime?
Down by the Cenotaph drinking slime
So chain my tongue with whisky
Stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.

You put your bombers in, you put your conscience out,
You take the human being and you twist it all about
So scrub my skin with women,
Chain my tongue with whisky
Stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Meanwhile, in the other SCOTUS decision today

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Thursday striking down the Stolen Valor Act says the 1st Amendment "protects the speech we detest as well as the speech we embrace," according to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

By a 6-3 decision, the high court said the right to lie about medals and military service, while "contemptible" and worthy of outrage and ridicule, is protected by the 1st Amendment.

To allow the government to outlaw certain speech because it is based on false statements would invite a Ministry of Truth as written about by George Orwell in his novel "1984" about totalitarianism, Kennedy said.

The decision came in the case of Xavier Alvarez, a former member of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District governing board in eastern Los Angeles County.

At his first meeting, Alvarez had claimed he was a former Marine and recipient of the Medal of Honor; in fact, he had never served in the military. After being charged, he resigned from the board.

Somehow I missed that Dennehy was one of these impostors. Quoting from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Dennehy

Rather than immediately chase his dreams of stage and screen, Dennehy enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1959, actively serving until 1963. Although he said in numerous interviews that he had spent five years fighting in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, even telling harrowing tales of being hit by shrapnel, it was revealed in the 1998 book Stolen Valor by B.G. Burkett that Dennehy had never served overseas at all during his time in the military. Later that year, Dennehy admitted to the tabloid The Globe "I lied about serving in Vietnam and I'm sorry. That was very wrong of me. There is no real excuse for that. I was a peace-time Marine, and I got out in 1963 without ever serving in Vietnam. I started the story that I had been in 'Nam, and I got stuck with it. Then I didn't know how to set the record straight." Nonetheless, in 2007 Dennehy once again told a reporter that he had served in Vietnam, this time Joanne Kaufman of the Wall Street Journal.

no shit!

i had a vaguely positive opinion of him, but that's really crazy. the detail about 2007 is just awful.

some discussion of the alvarez case in the Supreme Court threat btw

And just like that, Mario Savio has company.

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/000/615/109/321184_display_image.jpg?1294245459

with a culture that venerates its military as much as we do, this kind of thing has to be expected...

this too:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42975023/ns/us_news-life/t/pastor-my-tale-being-navy-seal-was-just-ego-builder/

There's also this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/americas-got-talent-eliminates-controversial-contestant-tim-poe/2012/06/27/gJQAZBlr6V_blog.html

‘America’s Got Talent’ eliminates controversial contestant Tim Poe

Tim Poe, the “America’s Got Talent” contestant who caused controversy when questions arose about his honesty regarding his past as a soldier, was officially eliminated from the NBC competition on Tuesday night.

The 35-year-old veteran sang George Strait’s “The Chair” at the Las Vegas finals, but didn’t impress judges Howard Stern, Sharon Osbourne or Howie Mandel.

“I don’t know that he holds up to other singers on this show at all,” Mandel said after a snippet of Poe’s performance.

Stern remained noncommittal. “We have a lot of great singers that we saw,” he said. Mandel proclaimed, “Let’s look at more and we’ll make a decision.”

Then, at the end of the episode, Osbourne is seen sadly telling a montage of people (including Poe), “The fact is, you won’t be coming to New York.”

Poe caused a stir earlier this month when he appeared in earlier rounds of the show, and told the judges that his stutter was the result of a 2009 injury in Afghanistan. However, no one one could find records of his injury. Later, it was revealed that the show producers had showed a photo of Poe on patrol in Afghanistan that wasn’t Poe at all — instead, it was U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Norman Bone.

Poe told a TV station in Texas that, “he believed he was telling the truth but doesn’t know what is real,” writes the AP, and that his fiancee says Poe accidentally submitted the wrong photo to producers because he was in a hurry.

According to published reports, Tuesday night’s Vegas finals were actually taped a month ago -- which means that Stern’s recent quotes about “if (Poe) makes it through Vegas, let America vote about him” were apparently for “suspense” purposes.

some have questioned stern's own vietnam record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrszMfUevYE

SCOTUS made the right call on this one. besides, why make it illegal when people are just shamed and humiliated eventually anyway?