Lucky number 7After a longish preamble (in VII parts), Murray Bessette at the Foothill Cities blog concludes, as I did here, that the Stolen Valor Act is a bad idea and not the right instrument to punish non-Medal of Honor winner Xavier Alvarez.
Bessette also echoes a point I made about the sleeping watchdogs*: Given the singular nature of those who are deserving of this nation’s highest honor, someone, either citizen, blogger, or journalist, should have had enough interest to look here for Xavier Alvarez’s name to learn the story of his exploits.
Indeed. And now that the deal has been done, it's up to the people to show a similar level of interest in their elected officials and mount a recall if they're really that outraged. Waiting on a federal prosecutor to peel this guy out of his board seat is lazy.
*I confess that I spent a year while at the Claremont Courier investigating a scandal at Three Valleys and I don't think it changed a thing.
Posts
1 comment:
I think you and I are maybe the only ones bothered by the whole Richard Hanson saga of some years ago. I don't get it; he promotes his assistant--well beyond her competence--then stalks her when things go sour, then the water district pays her off; and the new directors coming in, to their shame, do nothing about it. As to Rambo, I personally heard him make his boasts about the Medal of honor and in June of 2007 did contact the Medal of Honor Association (I'm doing this from memory). I even queried about medals for actions on "secret" missions and was told that the citation still would be public, if a little vague. I concluded there was not medal of honor and informed someone in authority--I won't say who. The problem, as you know it, is that the voters in his district--South Pomona--known for their activism and acumen in having elected him in the first place, have to take the action
Post a Comment