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"      In the another decision today that undoubtedly got lost in all the shouting, the Supreme Court delivered a stout defense of every American&amp;#039;s right under the First Amendment to be a gigantic bullshit artist. They struck down the (really very silly) Stolen Valor Act by which lying about your military decorations was made an actual federal criminal offense. This also represents one of the very few examples of pushback against the thoroughgoing fetishization of the military that present everywhere from the newsroom sets of Washington to every major-league ballpark. The case involved a guy named Xavier Alvarez who, while running for the water board in California, claimed he&amp;#039;d been awarded the Medal of Honor. (This strikes me as a rather high-profile lie to tell to win a seat on the water board, but no matter.) The FBI \u2014 ! \u2014 busted him and he got convicted. He appealed on the basis of his First Amendment right to be as dishonest as he wanted to be. Today, the Court agreed, Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy declared: Lying was his habit. Xavier Alvarez, the respondent here, lied when he said that he played hockey for the Detroit Red Wings and that he once married a starlet fromMexico. But when he lied in announcing he held the Congressional Medal of Honor, respondent ventured onto new ground; for that lie violates a federal criminal statute, the Stolen Valor Act of 2005. Xavier Alvarez is... The Most Interesting Man In The World. And, speaking of gigantic bullshit artists, Rick Santorum chimed in on the health-care decision, too, apparently from halfway up a padded wall. &amp;quot;I believe so strongly that if we do not defeat President Obama this November and elect more conservatives in the House and Senate, our country&amp;#039;s future prosperity is at risk. We saw the absolute disregard President Obama showed for the Supreme Court&amp;#039;s ruling on the Arizona immigration law, that I have no doubt that he sees today&amp;#039;s ruling in his favor as a mandate that he can now do whatever he chooses by any means possible...President Obama believes he is above the law, entitled to abusing his power to get what he wants, and willing to violate the constitution and the oath he was sworn to uphold. He has proven to be a very dangerous person to have this kind of power, and if he is not stopped this November, I am fearful that the make-up of this country as established by our founders will never be the same.&amp;quot; This is, of course, the same Rick Santorum who famously referred to Willard Romney as the &amp;quot;worst possible candidate&amp;quot; to run against the president on the issue of health care. Xavier Alvarez and the rest of the Red Wings approve of this message. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a14683/united-states-vs-alvarez-decision-10118676/>