Lies, Damn Lies and Constitutional Crisis
Honesty...it's such a lonely word....everyone is so untrue.
Honesty....is hardly ever heard....and mostly what I need from you.
Sometimes the old adult contemporary tunes speak volumes of truth...in an untrue world. It's a sad day when Billy Joel has to remind us again not to be such liars.
But it's not surprising...lies are the new truth. Everybody's doing it. School teachers, business owners, football heroes, even the head of the United States Justice Department has no problem sitting in front of the Senate committee and bold lying through his teeth.
A recent bout of food poisoning had me laid up in bed for a day, which gave me a chance to catch up on world events. I watched...
-Utah mine owner Bob Murray tell us that the mine collapse was due to an earthquake, only to have seismologists inform us all that there was no earthquake. Seems Bob Murray is a liar. And worse, he has prevented his miners from unionizing, he has paid MILLIONS in fines for previously violating safety regulations, and his Republican friends (whom he has donated nearly 1 million dollars to) have only made it easier for his lying ass by putting yet another incompetent liar in the Federal office of mine safety, so Bob Murray's failure to care for the safety of the men and women who have made him rich can go unnoticed. Do we all need to watch Coal Miners Daughter, and Silkwood again to understand the plight of the American worker?
-Quarterback, correction, FORMER quarterback Michael Vick seems to feel that the paltry NFL salary he was making is not enough and was apparently running a full service dog fighting establishment and gambling "hall" to bring in some extra cash. Like he needed it, because he was running his side biz right on the property of his huge estate. What appalls me is the blatant lie he tried to perpetrate. While even a cursory fly over his property revealed his illegal operation, he was defiant that he had any involvement. He didn't know anything about it. I know it's hard, cuz I always find myself chasing those pesky dog fighters off my property. Wait no I don't...hmmm seems someone is trying to pull the wool over our eyes... Plus the lie he told the Atlanta Falcons when he signed his contract stating that he would abide by the law and not embarrass the franchise. You know the contract they all sign. The one he was paid the millions of dollars for, that bought that beautiful estate he was "not" torturing dogs on. It is my sincere hope that the Falcons sue him for breach of contract and get some money back for the poor fans who start the season without their talented but lying ass QB.
-And sadly I got to see about 6 hours of the Dateline special, "To Catch a Predator". I am usually not a watcher of this kind of stuff, COPS, or any other reality law enforcement show. I can't stand "Dog the Bounty Hunter". But sitting in bed, you get sucked into stuff, and what makes the show so compelling is the range of men that show up at the decoy house to meet with a 11, 12, 13 year old boy or girl. Married men, with their own children, teachers, clergy, and a whole bunch of pizza guys which should make you think twice about letting the kids order pizza. White, asian, hispanic, black, middle-eastern, race seems to play little difference with the pedophiles that show up with liquor and condoms and dildos. Luckily there is no real child there, the decoy is an 18+ actor. To catch a liar, in this case, you have to be a liar, and the fact that these men are set up by a whole team of grown folks with no actual child present does produce an ethical concern. If in fact the 'predator' was chatting with someone who was 18, and lied to say she was 13, and if in fact the predator went to meet the fake 13 yr old who was actually 18, one could argue that there is no laws against hooking up with 18 yr old liars. But intent is the actual crime, not the just the act. The predator INTENDED to meet a 13 yr old for sex, and if he ended up finding a set up and a jail sentence, well you'd think one less predator off the street is a justifiable end, even if the means are messy. But you'd be wrong...in the fact that a predator is off the street. Most of these men received less than a week of jail time and a few years probation. One of them was even picked up the next day trying to meet some other kid at McDonalds. One of the predators was caught at the decoy house the day after he went to court for the conviction he had the last time he ended up going to the decoy house on a previous episode. Lightning does strike twice, and so does stupidity. And yes the men all tell the same lies: it's the only time I ever did this, I just wanted to tell the kid to be careful, I always carry chocolate condoms. But law enforcement is also lying to us. It tells us we're safe, while it lets pedophiles off with a slap on the wrist and their name on a list. All the while, non violent weed smokers do real hard time for takin a toke. Apparantly smoking weed is far more deadly to society than smokin 13 yr old pole. Although that has the sound of a lie to me.
And of course, I was able to catch up on all the latest Senate debacle. And watch for myself the gall of Alberto Gonzales as he told lie after lie to the Senate committee, with a smirk no less. The real trouble with Alberto's lies are that the reduce the Constitution to shreds: by refusing to answer honestly the questions posed by the Senators, Mr. Gonzales destroys the system of checks and balances that the founding fathers built this country on. The executive branch is to be checked by Congress and by the Judicial branch, the judicial branch is checked by the executive and legislative, and so on. But the current executive branch has joined in cohoots with the judicial, or more accurately criminally "packed" the judicial branch with nepotistic patsy's, and so we've left the Constitutionally mandated job of "checking" the powers of the president to Congress, not exactly the worlds truth telling team. Capital Hill is filled with hypocrites who sleep around with hookers while advocating a moral agenda of "no sex before marriage", who preach about environmental waste while using their jet to tour around and get votes, burning more fossil fuels for the cause of reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. With back biters and pork barrelers and greedy wealthy elites, who take the peoples votes and campaign dollars and then take big vacations and huge raises once they are elected. "If only they'd elect me, I'd make them pay"
So lying is all the rage. It seems no wonder that my niece lies to my face. It doesn't surprise me when people tell me they will be somewhere, do something, call, or whatever the promise is and then they do not show up, do what they said, call, or whatever the promise was. I saddens me, it makes it harder to do my job, but I'm not surprised. Lying is the new truth.
But that leaves me with Billy Joel ringing in my ears...
Honesty....is hardly ever heard....and mostly what I need from you....all.
