Lies and Liars

As I settle in to write my weekly column, I glance at the television. On Fox News, Neal Cavuto has a guest 'expert' telling us, the people, that the massive snow storms uncharacteristically blanketing the nation are, indeed, a product of man-made global warming. Having an aversion to being lied to, I quickly change the channel.

On CNN, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is telling us, the people, that he is innocent! He is going to fight, fight, fight, and, by the way, "Patty and I thank you for your support." He is so sincere that he almost makes me believe that, yes, this dude is innocent. I see how easy it is to be taken in by a convincing scoundrel. After all, we, the people, had a lot of practice during the Clinton years.

I finally click off the TV and start perusing my notes. Another headline jumps out at me. It appears that Obama's incoming Chief-of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel, had direct talks with the Illinois governor on filling Obama's Senate seat. Hold the phone. Didn't Obama tell us unequivocally, ".. What I'm absolutely certain about is that our office had no involvement in any deal-making around my Senate seat. That I'm absolutely certain of."

This statement requires a willing suspension of common sense and political realities. As Rick Moran points out: "We already know that at least two top advisors (Advisors "A" and "B" in the taped transcripts released in the criminal complaint against Blagojevich) had discussions with Blagojevich and his people about the Senate seat."  And the Chicago Times reports that Emmanuel had several discussions with Blago.

Someone is lying. Of course, calling someone a liar, (unless he's George Bush) is not allowed in the 'polite society', unless of course, the label refers to a conservative.

Random House dictionary defines lie as "a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive." Technically, this makes Obama a liar. Ditto the majority of politicians who lace their coveted face time with political spin that has no connection to existing facts.

Changing the name of an apple to an orange, doesn't make the apple an orange. And lying convincingly to millions of people doesn't make the lie truthful. All it means is that, once again, the liar has gotten away with fooling most of the people, most of the time.

We, the people, are being lied to on a daily basis by the very people we elected to represent our interests. Worse yet, we have been made to accept the ridiculous proposition that calling a spade a spade means we are, gasp, judgmental. After all, the very bedrock of political correctness is the notion that everyone has their own 'truths.'

Day after day, we are forced to accept ridiculous notions as facts merely because they are presented by media anointed 'experts.' We are told outright lies are only 'misstatements' as if they were made accidentally. We are forced to redefine liars as those who have 'spoken out of context.'

Let's get this straight - someone lies to us and it's our fault for not understanding the underlying truth beneath the patent falsehood? Yep, that's about the size of it.

I, for one, never agreed to those rules. I never, ever, gave my consent to the powers that be that they could change the English language to their own purposes. Words still have meanings. And politicians still lie. And that is not right.

As a conservative, I hold to the notion that any relationship must be based on trust and respect. I don't trust people who lie to me and then tell me it's my fault. I have no respect for those who have elevated spin to an art form and expect me to blindly accept the wisdom of their words, words whose only meaning is to confuse and obfuscate.

We the people are being treated as if we are a nation of idiots. We are the proverbial wife who comes home to find her husband in bed with another woman, whose husband denies it and asks, "Who are you going to believe? Me, or the evidence of your own eyes?"

On a daily basis, we are told to eschew common sense, the evidence of our own eyes, in favor of those who take pride in manipulation and then demand we accept their version of truth. Our media elite and elected politicians have adopted whole Shakespeare's saying "There is no right or wrong, only the definition that makes it so." But allowing these scoundrels to supply the definition of right and wrong is akin to having a convicted felon supply his own sentencing guidelines.

The only response to liars is to call them liars. By not doing so, we become complicit in their lies, which only leads to more deception. Of course, there are those among us who believe that 'this is just the way things are.' To them I say, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. After all, you can't rape the willing.