When I was a little boy I had occasion to attempt to avoid getting in trouble. I often found very inventive ways of making sure my mother and father didn’t find out that I did or didn’t do something I was suppose to or not suppose to do. For instance if it was my turn to take out the trash and I forgot or was just to lazy to do it I would fall back on the old tried and true “It’s not my turn, I did it yesterday” knowing full well my brother did it yesterday. Or if I broke something I’d use the old, “I found it like that” knowing full well that I had turned the knob too hard and broke it off. But those were the little things and I could usually come to some childish justification that I could live with by convincing myself that it really wasn’t that big of a deal and it really didn’t hurt anyone anyway.
Those were the little things, but what I was usually most uncomfortable doing was telling the straight up lies. The real whoppers. You remember, it was the one where you knew you were just telling a bald faced lie. “No Dad, I didn’t smoke a cigarette.” “No way Mom, I didn’t skip school.” “No Sir, I didn’t snitch that candy from the store. Bobby gave it to me.” Or maybe I just plain lied and blamed someone else, usually my unsuspecting brother, for doing whatever the wrong may have been. I remember on those occasions that I would tell these lies thinking that it wasn’t my bottom that was going to get blistered so it must be okay. But in reality I was never really comfortable telling one of these whoppers so they were very few and far between.
Those were the lies of boyhood and I eventually out grew them and learned the lessons my parents and grandparents taught me and showed me through example. I eventually learned that you don’t lie, cheat, or steal and anyway you couch it, a lie is a lie. They taught me that even the subtle little misleadings were really lies. They taught me that saying “Oh, sorry but I forgot” was just as much a lie as “Oh, sorry but I had to do something else” if it simply wasn’t the truth. In other words they taught me right from wrong and they taught me that little wrongs are just as wrong as big wrongs and they taught me that there are consequences to telling lies. They taught me that there were real consequences and what those consequences were.
Now that I am an adult I have to ask myself this. Has George W. Bush grown up and what did George H. W. Bush teach him about lying? Apparently the answer is he has not grown up and his father didn’t teach him anything and that appears to be true of the fathers and grandfathers of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condi Rice and quite a few others in the Bush administration such as Scooter Libby. Monday evening, March 20th, 2006 the most recent example of George H. W. Bush’s fatherly failings and George W. Bush’s lies was demonstrated on Keith Olberman when Keith played two video clips. One of the clips was of George W. Bush from a speech he gave in, I believe it was, 2002 when he clearly falsely connected al Qaeda and Iraq and Saddam Hussein and one from Monday, March 20th, 2006 when he denied having ever connecting them. Well I would like to tell you that I don’t consider myself the morals police but I do consider myself a somewhat average and honest person and I consider myself somewhat intelligent and capable of recalling past events and interpreting what I hear somewhat accurately. In light of that I will tell you that on March 20th, 2006 George W. Bush once again lied to the American people. I will also tell you that I know that I have heard George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Condi Rice do this same thing repeatedly over the last five years and here is what I think.
Using any standard of common sense and real ethical values George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Condi Rice are liars. My daddy, if he were alive would tell me that and I would believe him. Plain and simple they are liars in my daddy's book, they are liars my granddaddy's book and they are liars my book and they are not the example I want my children to follow. Having said that I also believe it is incumbent upon the Congress to perform their constitutionally mandated duty of oversight and to initiate an investigation into these instances of dishonesty on the part of the President and take appropriate action. It is also my humble opinion that if the results of those investigations are that the President is guilty of high crimes and or treason he should be impeached. I am, as an American citizen, simply demanding that Congress fulfill their responsibility under the constitution. In other words I want our Congress to set the correct example for our children and I believe that is also in the constitution somewhere. Well, as my daddy would say "if it ain't it oughta be."
Those Are The Sergeant Majors Thoughts On That.
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