Uncommon valor meets common crap

You know, fellow travelers, every now and then my fellow human beings surprise even me with the depths they will sink to. Witness one Steve Burton, 39, of Palm Springs, CA. who today plead not guilty to the charge of "unauthorized wearing of military medals or decorations." Burton, a bank officer whom has never served in any military service, allegedly wore a Marine Lt. Col. uniform festooned with medals to his high school class reunion earlier this year. He has also published photos in a blog post that show him wearing a Marine Gunnery Sgt. uniform, also covered in medals. Not just any medals, mind you. We're talking Navy Cross, Silver Star, Purple Heart, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Service Medal and various campaign and service medals, plus a friggin' combat action ribbon! I'm all for due process and not rushing to judgement, but in this case the whistle blower is a Navy Lt. Cmdr. classmate who saw this turd at said reunion, copped a picture with him and sent it to the FBI. The FBI then uncovered the blog post photos and comments detailing his supposed combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. In this case, I'm gonna rush just a bit on the judgement. For those who want the full report, it can be found at http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/12/california.medals.charge/index.html

The fact that this slimy creature is wearing decorations earned by the likes of Puller, Edson, Vandegrift, Halsey and Spruance makes me and, I hope, every American with any respect for the military service, ill. The worst part is, the penalty for this crime, a federal misdemeanor, is only one short year in prison. I truly think the Romans had a better take on this one. A conviction would have denied the perpetrator fire or water within 500 miles of the country's boundaries and confiscated all of his wealth and property. They then went about eradicating every piece of evidence that the turd in question ever existed. Alas for modern lenience! Hopefully, this maggot can share a post conviction cell with former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Cunningham is an actual, if disgraced, winner of the Navy Cross for service in Viet Nam. Cunningham may be one of the most corrupt elected officials in the history of elected officials, but at least he got his decoration legitimately. Now, wouldn't that be an interesting cellmate conversation?